both
by the court and by the people. The King himself regards some of them
with such awe as to humiliate himself in their presence. The
extraordinary respect which everyone shows them has sometimes inspired
in them so much pride, that they have ventured to attempt to occupy the
throne, But when the King discovers anything of the kind he takes their
lives, as was the case some time ago in a rebellion, the author of
which was a Bonze, whom the King executed.
These
Bonzes are clad in yellow, and wear on their loins a small red cloth as
a waistband. They make an outward show of great modesty, and they never
appear to manifest the smallest degree of passion. At four o'clock in
the morning they rise at the sound of bells to say their prayers, and
they do the same towards evening. There are certain days of the year
when they withdraw from the conversation of men to live in retreat.1
Some live on charity, and others have well-endowed dwellings. As long
as they wear the garb of Bonzes they cannot possess wives, and they
must relinquish it if they desire to marry. They are for the most part
very ignorant, and know not what they believe. It appears, however,
that like the idolaters of India they believe in the transmigration of
the soul into many bodies. They are forbidden to take the lives of
animals ; nevertheless, they make no scruple about eating animals which
others have slain, or which have died naturally.2 The god whom they worship
1
This is the retreat practised by monks in the rainy season (vassavâsa,
vassa, Sanskrit vârsika) when the country is swamped, and the roads are
impassable (H. Kern, Manual of Indian Buddhism, 80).
2
Ball quotes a story, which may be a libel, of Burmese chasing fowls
till they died of exhaustion, by which kind of ' killing no murder '
they believed they had not done wrong, though they ate the fowls. The
Burmese are always glad to dispose of any animal a sportsman may shoot,
and will even eat snakes if he kills them. The King of Burma (Ava), it
is said, used to keep sheep, one of which would conveniently die
whenever meat was required at the palace. (See H. Gouger, The Prisoner in Burmah, 1860,
p. 52.) Buddha did not forbid the use of meat, and he is said to have
died after a meal on wild boar's flesh which, as a Râjput, he was
permitted to eat ; but Rhys Davids {Buddhism, 80) thinks that
it means mushrooms. A saying of his is quoted : ' Those who take life
are in fault, but not the persons who eat the flesh : my priests have
permission to eat whatever food it is customary to eat in any place or
country ' (Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, 327). Modern
