ART. XV.-Buddha's Secret from a Sixth Century Pictorial APART from its importance as an illustration of the earlier intellectual life of humanity, the Buddhist Ontology, the most wonderful, perhaps, the world has seen, possesses a paramount interest for all who would arrive at a right understanding of the religion and ethics with which it is associated. Buddha formulated his view of life into a twelve-linked closed chain called "The Wheel of Life or of 'Becoming"" E41471 (Bhavacakra), or The Causal Nexus (Pratitya Samutpāda); which he is represented, in the Vinaya itself, to have thought out under the Tree of Wisdom. The way in which the narrative is couched, leads, indeed, to the impression that it was precisely the insight into this "Wheel of Life," which constituted his Buddhahood, and distinguished him from the other Arahats. However this may be, he gave it a very leading place in his philosophy, so that the stanza recounting its utterance, Ye dharmmā hetu, etc., termed by English writers, 'The Buddhist Creed,' is the most frequent of all Buddhist inscriptions, and was certainly in old days. 1 Vinaya Texts, vol. i. pp. 74-84. "Of all objects which proceed from a Cause And he has explained their cessation also; This is the doctrine of the great Samana."-Vinaya Texts, i. 146. |