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THE DOCTRINE OF MASKARIN GOSALA
Dandin, “bearing a staff,” denotes, in general, thc pilgrim ascetic (samyūsin), whether of the Brāluman or of the Jaina orders. Buddhist monks also carry a staff, but thcirs is named khak khara; for it is provided with a set of rings that produce a inonotonous claicring (khak), which announces the approach of the otherwise silent mendicant as he walks along the street or comes with his begging bowl for his daily meal. The Buddhist monk never asks for alms but halts in silence on the threshold, waiting to know whether he is to be given soincthing; and when the bowl is filled he departs-again without a word. Only the sound of his khakklara is hcard. And this is the same as the sound of the staff of the Bodhisattva named Kșiti-garblia, “Ilc whose womb was the earth" or "Born from the earth.” Kșitigarbha, with his klabhara, wanders eternally through the spheres of hell, comforting the tortured beings and rescuing them from darkness by his very presence, indeed by the very sound of his staff.97
Masharin Gosāla ("Gosāla of the pilgrim stall") was a contemporany of Malāvīra and the Buddha. Ilis encyclopedic systematiration of the universe was akin to the tradition of the Jainas. Apparcnily ıhe wo docuines were related, being derived from some main uadivjon of pre- Iryan natural science and psychology. Judging from the cvidence available, this must have been a most claborate, highly classificatory survey of all the divisions of the natural world. Gosāla's interpretation of the tcaching can be reconstructed in its main outlines, and in some of its details, from the reports and criticisms contained in the early Buddhist and Jaina texts.
The followers of this much-abused and freely slandered teacher were the so-called ājīvika-those prosessing the doctrine ter med a-jiva. Jiva is the life-monad. The prefix ä- here signifies
87 The concept of the Bodhisattva will be discussed at length, infra, pp. 534-552.
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| SR No. | 007309 |
| Book Title | Philosophies of India |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell |
| Publisher | Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd |
| Publication Year | 1953 |
| Total Pages | 709 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 34 MB |