The Monks Before Christ: Their Spirit and Their History

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A. Williams, 1870 - 144 pages

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Page 77 - replied the prince, " are creatures so ignorant, so weak and foolish, as to be proud of the youth by which they are intoxicated, not seeing the old age which awaits them ! As for me, I go away. Coachman, turn my chariot quickly. What have I, the future prey of old age, — what have I to do with pleasure?" And the young prince returned to the city without going to his park.
Page 76 - said the prince to his coachman. " He is small and weak, his flesh and his blood are dried up, his muscles stick to his skin, his head is white, his teeth chatter, his body is wasted away ; leaning on his stick he is hardly able to walk, stumbling at every step. Is there something peculiar in his family, or is this the common lot of all created beings ? " '
Page 111 - And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins ; and he did eat locusts and wild honey...
Page 117 - And when he hath given evidence, during that time, that he can observe their continence, he approaches nearer to their way of living, and is made a partaker of the waters of purification ; yet is he not even now admitted to live with them ; for after this demonstration of his fortitude, his temper is tried two more years, and if he appear to be worthy, they then admit him into their society. And before he is allowed to touch their common food, he is obliged to take tremendous oaths, that in the first...
Page 114 - ... the principal part of human life, which is the prospect of succession; nay, rather, that if all men should be of the same opinion, the whole race of mankind would fail.
Page 116 - These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as raises our admiration. Nor is there any one to be found among them who hath more than another ; for it is a law among them, that those who come to them, must let what they have be common to the whole order...
Page 77 - that man is sinking under old age ; his senses have become obtuse, suffering has destroyed his strength, and he is despised by his relations. He is without support and useless, and people have abandoned him, like a dead tree in a forest. But this is not peculiar to his family. In every creature youth is defeated by old age. Your father, your mother, 503 all your relations, all your friends, will come to the same state ; this is the appointed end of all creatures.
Page 79 - Sir,' replied the coachman, * this man is one of those who are called bhikshus, or mendicants. He has renounced all pleasures, all desires, and leads a life of austerity. He tries to conquer himself. He has become a devotee. Without passion, without envy, he walks about asking for alms.' " ' This is good and well said,' replied the prince. ' The life of a devotee has always been praised by the wise. It will be my refuge, and the refuge of other creatures ; it will lead us to a real life, to happiness...
Page 117 - But now, if anyone hath a mind to come over to their sect he is not immediately admitted, but he is prescribed the same method of living which they use for a year, while he continues excluded : and they give him also a small hatchet, and the forementioned girdle and the white garment.
Page 117 - ... to outshine his subjects either in his garments, or any other finery; that he will be perpetually a lover of truth, and propose to himself to reprove those that tell lies; that he will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul from unlawful gains; and that he will neither conceal...

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