The Foundations of Buddhism

I68 The Buddhist Path

(bhik~u!bhikkhu) or nun (bhik~wfi/bhikkhuni). In practice, the,

strength of commitment of both may vary, but generally, of course,

the monastic way of life represents the ultimate commitment to

the religious life, the ultimate expression of faith. But for lay

follower and monastic alike, the three 'jewels' remain powerful

objects for the ritual and devotional expression of their faith.

The precise form the earliest devotions took is unclear, but

they centred around the worship of stfipas. Thus the Buddha

himself is presented as recommending that faithful monks, nuns,

laymen, and laywomen visit the four sites where he was born;

gained awakening, first taught Dharma, and died; he adds that any

one who dies with a serene heart in the course of making such

a pilgrimage will gain a good rebirth.^6 Given the Indian cultural

context, worship no doubt took a form not entirely dissimilar from

more contemporary Buddhist practice: the making of offerings

-especially of flowers, incense, and lamps-and the chanting of

verses and formulas as the basis for the recollection of the qual-

ities of the Buddha, Dharma, and Satigha.^7 Early Buddhist art

is often described as 'aniconic' since it avoided representing the

Buddha in human form, using instead various symbols (an empty

seat beneath the tree of awakening or the wheel of Dharma),

but from the second century CE the Buddha image increasingly

became a focus for such devotions and meditations. Another

ancient ritual practice important for the subsequent history of

Buddhism and which seems to be witnessed already in the earliest

writings is the recitation of certain sfltras as protective charms

(rak~ii/paritta).^8 The Vinaya describes monks circumambulating

a monastery and chanting to protect the Buddha when they

believe his life is threatened.^9 One of the oldest such protective

. chants is the Atiiniitiya Sutta, a charm to protect the monk medit-
ating in the forest from unsympathetic demons (yak~a/yakkha).^10
Alongside specific charms for the protection of women in child~
birth or the pacifying of dangerous snakes, for example, chanting
Buddhist texts and formulas, such as the refuges and precepts,
in general came to be regarded as effective in protecting one against

the dangers of disease and accident. The second-or first-century

BCE Milindapanha, while acknowledging the inability of such