from the world by keeping from them the enjoyment of its luxuries, and preventing the acquisition of personal property.
The obligation to observe these rules commenced with the novitiate; a condition which, in Buddhist as in Catholic communities, precedes that of complete ordination. The novices are termed Sramanera, a word meaning little Sramanas, while the monks themselves are either Sramana or Bhikshu. Both these designations serve to express the nature of their vocation; Sramana being "an ascetic who subdues his senses," and Bhikshu "one who lives by alms" (H. B. I., pp. 275, 276). The sisters are called Bhikshuni, and they are said to owe their origin to Maha Prajapati, the aunt of the great Sramana Gautama, who obtained from her nephew, through the intercession of the beloved disciple Ananda, the permission for her sex to follow their brothers in the way of salvation by poverty and chastity (Ibid., p. 278).
There can be no question that, according to the original practice of the mendicant orders, the vow was taken for life; and this is, I believe, still the custom in most of the lands where Buddhism is in the ascendant. But in Siam, the monastic vow can at any time be cancelled by the superior of the monastery; and this rule, which involves a gross abuse of the original institution, renders temporary asceticism universal in that country (Wheel, p. 45). Another kind of degeneracy has occurred in Nepaul, where the ministers of religion, who elsewhere must be monks, are permitted to be married (Hodgson, T.R.A.S., vol. ii. p. 245).
The objects proposed to themselves by Buddhists, in embracing an ascetic life, are precisely the same as those proposed to themselves by Christians. By denying themselves the pleasures of this world, they hope to obtain a higher reward than other mortals; whether in the shape of birth in a happier condition, or in that of complete emancipation from all birth whatsoever, which is the supreme goal of their religion. The means they pursue to attain these ends are also similar. The Pratimoksha Sutra, or Sutra of Emancipation, which forms the universal regula in all their monasteries, is worthy of a St. Benedict or a St. Francis. It lays down with the minutest elaboration, not only all the moral precepts that must be obeyed by the monk
