,,the ,,metaphysic ,,of ,,christianity ,,and ,,buddhism4 ,a ,,symphony4 ,,by ,,major-,,general ,,dawsonne ,m4 ,,strong1 ,c4,b4 7,late ,indian ,army71 ,,author ,,of ,,selections ,,from ,,the ,,bost,n ,,of ,s,,di1 ,,translated ,,into ,,english ,,verse4 ,let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon4--,bible4 ,,london3 ,,watts ,,co41 #ag1 ,,johnson',s ,,court1 ,,fleet ,,st4 #ahii4 ,,lovingly ,,dedicated ,,to ,,my ,,wife ,,in ,,memory ,,of ,,our ,,sojourn ,,in ,,the ,,east4 ,,contents4 ,,chap4 ,,page ,,introduction vii ,i4 ,,jesus ,,and ,,gotama #a ,,ii4 ,,god ,,and ,,the ,,kosmos #cc ,,iii4 ,,soul1 ,,self1 ,,individuality1 ,,and ,,karma #ee ,,iv4 ,,heaven ,,and ,,nirvana #hb ,v4 ,,some ,,concluding ,,remarks #ajc ,,at ,,the ,,malagawa ,,temple1 ,,ceylon #aac ,,appendix3--,,metrical ,,adaptations ,,of ,,buddhistic ,,legend ,,and ,,scripture3-- #a4 ,the ,last ,words of ,gotama ,buddha to his ,favourite ,disciple ,ananda #aae #b4 ,samsra and ,nirvana #aaf #c4 ,rejoice #aah #d4 ,the ,goal #abj #e4 ,buddha and the ,herdsman #abc #f4 ,buddha and the ,king #abf ,,introduction4 ,si notre foi diffre quant la forme et aux dogmes1 nos mes restent toujours d'accord sur un principe ternel et divin4--,,george ,,sands4 ,an immense difficulty has to be encountered by those who have been deeply impressed by the value and beauty of ,christianity when they are called upon to consider the claims of other faiths4 ,anyone who has had within his experience and under his observation such an exceptional case as that of a sincere ,christian who1 from childhood to old age1 has set before him the ideal ,christ and the ,christian conception of an all-compassionate ,father--a ,christian whose inner light has been so pure that no darkness of doubt has ever dimmed it1 and no doctrinal warfare has ever stained its radiance--he1 ,i contend1 has an almost insuperable obstacle to overcome when he attempts to associate holiness and purity1 of the same supreme order1 with the followers of other religious systems which have been formulated for the comfort and salvation of humanity4 ,it is doubtful if any ordinary adherent of the ,christian faith1 however extensive his sympathies towards persons outside his own flock1 has ever been able to pass this barrier1 which always seems to interpose itself when search is made for a common bond of union with an alien belief4 ,a man may have lived many a year in the ,east1 and witnessed there1 with deep appreciation1 the purity1 the endurance1 the touching self-denial of the devout peasantry1 and the beautiful charity of the poor towards the poor2 or he may have associated with saintly ascetics in ,india1 and with the yellow-robed and gentle religieux of ,ceylon2 he may have surveyed the famous temple of that fair island1 in the intense stillness of a tropical night1 till all identity of self seemed to vanish in the solemnity of the surroundings1 and the only sound was that of a monk's intoning voice heard from within the dungeon-like apertures of the building1 and the only light that of the fitful fireflies amid the lofty and drooping foliage2--yet1 in each and all of these experiences1 that aroma of holiness1 so perceptible at times in our own religious atmosphere1 would somehow seem strangely absent to the unacclimatized senses1 and no halo would be distinguishable by a vision which had been restricted by prejudice4 ,still more difficult is it to rise to the same height of reverence for a saintly and surpassing personality if it is presented in sacred records other than those to which one has owned a prior allegiance4 ,nevertheless1 the discovery in other religious systems of a correspondence with one's own particular persuasion must assuredly tend towards the attainment of that attitude of mind commended by ,st4 ,paul of being all things to all men4 ,to pave the way towards the acquisition of this mental posture in relation to religious concepts is the main object ,i have had in view in composing this small book4 ,it has been said that no age has more needed a departure in this direction than our own4 ,on the one hand1 sectarian hatred and dogmatism almost obscure the great truths common to all mankind2 on the other1 merciless and destructive criticism1 in undermining much that used to be generally accepted1 seems at times to threaten even the foundations of truth4 ,some people1 however1 maintain that there is an appreciable value to be attached to all dogmatic declarations1 and that those who are working in strictly-confined theological grooves are contributing1 as specialists1 to a knowledge of the whole4 ,even if these workers are possessed of all the uncharitable qualities sometimes attributed to the narrow-minded1 yet they may be held deserving of encouragement in view of the probability that the more their limited ideas become exposed to the light by their enthusiastic endeavours to assert them as final truth1 the sooner will their imperfections be obliterated4 ,the fragmentary opinions they cling to will then be discovered to possess no value except as constituent elements of the whole4 ,others go the length of advocating that the flames of bigotry should be fanned to furnace-heat in order that the feeding fuel may be the more rapidly consumed4 ,in any case1 the more apparent it becomes that every religion worthy of the name springs from a root common to all1 and is really1 at bottom1 the one true cosmic religion1 and that the variations are superficial and unimportant in themselves1 the greater will be the advantages accruing to humanity in the political1 social1 and moral spheres4 ,in other words1 the advantage to be derived from the study of the obscure phases of religions lies in this--that1 in so doing1 our minds are better able to grasp the solidarity of religious thought and aspirations throughout the world4 ,we are enabled to see more clearly that all religious forms1 and even formless philosophies1 however crude and idolatrous the former may appear to people of wide culture1 and however mystical and evasive the latter may be regarded by those of narrow vision1 are but the effects of one cause common to all4 ,when we have got rid1 ,buddhistically1 of the idea of separateness1 or1 in a ,christian sense1 have exercised self-suppression1 we can then proceed to eliminate the notion of separateness in religions and philosophies4 ,thus1 whether we are ,determinists or ,indeterminists1 we shall experience the sensation that1 according to the law of development1 it is in the scheme of things for us to struggle forward on our several paths1 not in antipathy to1 but hand in hand with1 those who make use of different modes of progression towards one identical goal4 ,missionary propagandism1 under these conditions1 will have the same raison d'tre1 and our cherished symbolisms will in no wise suffer4 ,holding this view1 ,i have felt no misgivings as to the propriety of placing side by side1 as it were1 the historical and radiant figures of ,jesus the ,christ and ,gotama the ,buddha1 and of indicating an analogy between the essential features of the two systems of religion which these great deliverers of a world on earth have fashioned and commended for the acceptance of their fellow creatures4 ,indeed1 ,buddhism should occupy a very large place in the affections and admiration of all true ,christians on account of the many points of resemblance discernible in the characters and gospels of ,gotama and ,jesus4 ,st4 ,augustine1 the great vindicator of ,christianity1 clears the ground for an assimilation of the two systems4 ,he writes3 ,for the thing in itself which is now called the ,christian religion really was known to the ancients1 nor was wanting at any time1 from the beginning of the human race until the time that ,christ came into the flesh1 from which the true religion which had previously existed began to be called ,christian2 and this in our day is the ,christian religion--not as having been wanting in former times1 but as having in later times received this name4 ,kppen says3 ,as1 from the standpoint of ,buddhism1 all men--nay1 all beings--are brothers1 children of one sin1 sons of the same nonentity1 thus all religions of the globe appear to it as related1 as sprung from one source2 all pursuing the same end1 and arriving at the same goal4 ,the religious views1 creeds1 etc41 etc4 444 of all nations1 ,churches1 schools1 sects1 and parties1 however diverse they may seem1 are hence1 according to the conception of the believing ,buddhist1 not alien1 but inwardly akin4 ,they are merely peculiar forms1 modifications1 obscurations1 degenerations of the same truth--of one law1 one faith1 one redemption4 ,for him there is only one doctrine and one ,way2 and all religions belong1 in one way or another1 to this doctrine1 and are all on that ,way4 ,among the things that can never be shaken are the foundations of ,christianity1 ,islam and ,buddhism1 and other cognate religious systems4 ,here and there1 perchance1 a steeple may come down with a crash1 a minaret may fall1 a pagoda crumble into dust2 but the foundation-stones1 laid beneath the surface1 buried in mystery1 and encompassed by darkness1 remain irremoveable1 changeless1 and eternal4 ,it is1 then1 in this brooding darkness which envelopes their occult sources that we must take our stand2 and not until we have grown into and become one with the encircling gloom1 and been subjectively steeped in it1 can we hope to understand or pronounce a fair judgment upon what is the less obscure and objective4 ,the comparative study of religions requires approach with an open and receptive mind1 and a large amount of intuitive sympathy with all4 ,it cannot be fairly undertaken if the initial object of investigation is to mould the one or the other to the shape of personal fancy4 ,mr4 ,arthur ,lillie1 a most interesting exponent of ,buddhism in relation to ,christianity1 says that the study of an ancient religion is not philosophy1 but pure history4 ,this may be true1 in a sense2 but1 at the same time1 it is necessary that the records of the past should be studied in a philosophical and synthetic spirit1 with an ,impressionist rather than a pre-,raphaelite tendency4 ,mr4 ,lillie hardly makes due allowance for the measure of failure which must accompany all human efforts to do justice to a great idea1 and perhaps overstrains the theory that literary and philological analysis have had their day1 and that archology and history should now reign supreme4 ,in connection with the placing of too great a reliance upon the letter of venerated records1 a warning--serious enough if we appropriate it to ourselves--has issued from the pen of the ,rev4 ,spence ,hardy1 who1 in a passage of his book1 entitled ,eastern ,monachism 7p4 #aff71 emphasizes with tremendous force the precarious position of those who take their stand solely upon sacred books4 ,the priests of ,india1 he writes1 are encompassed by weapons that may be wrested from their hands and used to their own destruction4 ,when it is clearly proved to them that their venerated records contain absurdities and contradictions1 they must of necessity conclude that their origin cannot have been divine2 and1 the foundations of the system being thus shaken1 the whole mass must speedily fall1 leaving only the unsightly ruin as a monument of man's folly1 when he endeavours to form a religion from the feculence of his own corrupt heart or the fancies of his own perverted imagination4 ,it may be apposite here to demonstrate how far short of the ,pauline standard the cultivated ,european critic falls1 by referring to some remarks of the ,rev4 ,prof4 ,bruce in one of his ,gifford ,lectures,a of last year1 in which he treats of ,gotama's views concerning the moral order of the universe4 ,of the two leading doctrines of ,buddhism1 ,karma is called by him fantastic and ,nirvana morbid2 and1 not content with such a contemptuous dismissal of these remarkable conceptions1 he proceeds to say3 ,the well-being of the race demanded warriors1 brave in the field of battle against evil1 not monks1 immured in cloisters and passing their lives in poverty1 wearing the yellow robe of a mendicant order4 ,a ,vide ,glasgow ,herald1 ,january1 #ahih4 ,this rhetorical flourish may have sounded very effective and convincing as a peroration1 and have produced the desired result of clearing the lecturer from any possible imputation of sympathy with ,buddhism1 except as an ethical system of considerable excellence2 but such a summing-up of ,buddhism is neither more nor less than a throwing of dust in the eyes of beholders1 and is1 in my opinion1 very far removed from the dispassionate survey one would expect from a ,gifford ,lecturer4 ,alighting on such a misrepresentation of his religious system1 a ,buddhist would naturally feel aggrieved1 and his belief in our self-adopted reputation for fair-play all round might be rudely shaken4 ,karma is undoubtedly one of the so-called mysteries of ,buddhism2 but is it in any sense more fantastic than any other religious mystery8 ,is this theory of the transmigration of character 7as it has been somewhat loosely described7 more fanciful in its conception than that of the transmigration of the soul1 a vaguely-apprehended1 feebly-postulated ego1 to a dim locality such as heaven8 ,then1 again1 it may be asked1 what is there so objectionable in a quiet1 unobtrusive resistance to evil1 that it should prompt the lecturer to magnify the importance of a crude aggressiveness8 ,it is by no means true that ,buddhist monks are usually immured in cloisters2 they1 in fact1 move about freely as examples1 within human limits1 of the highest morality1 and they chiefly occupy themselves 7as in ,burma7 with the education of children4,b ,general ,forlong1 in his ,short ,studies in the ,science of ,comparative ,religions1 says3 ,gotama's religion widened from ,jaino-,buddhism into one of work and duty towards his fellows2 his instructions to the order of monks were to the following effect3 that they were not to beg from door to door1 but only to accept gifts in return for services performed2 and this was their service--to be an example to all men4 ,b ,those who have not yet read that pathetically beautiful book1 ,the ,soul of a ,people1 by ,h4 ,fielding1 are referred to chapters x4 and xi41 wherein are set forth the true characteristics1 functions1 and aspirations of the ,buddhist monkhood in ,burma4 ,condemnation of these monks for passing their lives in poverty sounds strangely inappropriate coming from the lips of a ,christian professor2 and1 as to the well-being of the race not demanding the wearing of yellow garments1 one might reasonably ask if it demanded the wearing of a black gown4 ,we must1 in all fairness1 ,i think1 credit ,gotama with possessing a large measure of that ,light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world4 ,sir ,edwin ,arnold1 ,i believe1 refers to the mysteries of ,buddhism as blank abstractions1 but ,i do not suppose he regards them as more blank than the mysteries of other religions4 ,all mysteries are1 in a sense1 blank abstractions1 and the blanker they are the nearer the truth2 and what religion is without them8 ,it may be conceded1 however1 that such a conception as ,ultimate ,reality upon which to fall back in time of need might prove to some minds a more comfortless one than that presented by the ,compassionate ,father of the ,christian ,god-idea4 ,but even this ,christian symbolism has an element of mystery in it4 ,then there is the poetic phase of anthropomorphism1 which is not altogether to be despised from an sthetic point of view4 ,such as the ,mohammedan ,allah1 who is described with exquisite imagery in the ,bostn of ,sdi as a beautiful cup-bearer at ,sufistic banquets1 ,so fair1 ,they spill the wine and stare1,c which recalls the anthropomorphic ,deity of the ,psalms3-- ,in ,his hand is a cup1 and the wine is red4 ,c ,author's translation of ,bostn of ,sdi4 ,another picture of great poetical merit is that of the ,incarnate ,saviour of the ,mexicans1 who does not ascend to heaven on his departure from the earth1 but sets forth upon the wide ocean in a wizard bark of serpent skins for the fabled shores of the kingdom of his ,father4 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 in his preface to ,the ,gospel of ,buddha1 says3 ,a comparison of the many striking agreements between ,christianity and ,buddhism may prove fatal to a sectarian conception of ,christianity1 but will in the end only help to mature our insight into the essential nature of ,christianity1 and so elevate our religious convictions4 ,it will bring out that nobler ,christianity which aspires to be the cosmic religion of universal truth4444 ,it will serve both ,christians and ,buddhists as a help to penetrate further into the spirit of their faith1 so as to see its full width1 breadth1 and depth4 ,the theological formation which has gradually developed into what may be called the crust of creeds1 and which has probably now reached its limits of hardening1 is seen1 from day to day1 under varying influences1 to be cracking into wider and deeper fissures4 ,the curious inquirer now possesses ample opportunities of looking below the surface and observing some of the conditions that have1 in the course of ages1 given rise to the accretions4 ,the deeper we look1 or the further our horizon recedes1 the greater perhaps is the sense of bewilderment and isolation2 yet so to wander is1 at any rate1 to be free2 and we need not just at present fear that ultimate knowledge is nescience1 when our vision will no longer be bounded by any horizon1 and when even vision itself will at last disappear4 ,as it has been stated of science1 so it may be affirmed of all inquiry1 that at a certain stage of its development a degree of vagueness best consists with fertility4 ,christianity and ,buddhism possess three prominent features--the metaphysical1 the ethical1 and the biographical4 ,as the two latter have been so exhaustively contrasted in connection with these systems1 ,i have confined myself in the following pages chiefly to a consideration of their mystical relationship4 ,d4 ,m4 ,s4 ,caledonian ,united ,service ,club1 ,edinburgh4 ,february1 #ahii4 ,,sanscrit ,,and ,,pali ,,terms ,,used4 ,includes everything of which impermanence may be predicated1 or1 which is the same thing1 everything ,,samsk,,ra which springs from a cause4 7,childers47 ,,sankh,,ra ,gestaltungen--,oldenberg's ,buddha1 ,german edition4 ,conformations--,english translation of ,oldenberg's ,buddha4 ,,skandhas ,the five attributes or elements of being--form1 sensation1 perception1 discrimination1 and consciousness4 ,,bhikkhu ,mendicant1 monk1 friar4 ,,bhikshu ,,ak,,sa ,space4 ,the ocean of ,birth and ,death1 transiency1 worldliness1 ,,sams,,ra the restlessness of a worldly life1 the agitation of selfishness1 the vanity fair of life4 7,paul ,carus47 ,,mah,y,,na ,the great vehicle--viz41 of salvation4 ,,hin,y,,na ,the little vehicle--viz41 of salvation4 ,,karma ,action1 work1 the law of action1 retribution1 results of deeds previously done1 and the destiny resulting therefrom4 7,paul ,carus47 ,,erratum4 ,for ,professor ,oldenberg's ,buddhism read everywhere ,professor ,oldenberg's ,buddha3 ,his ,life1 ,his ,doctrine1 ,his ,order4 ,,christianity ,,and ,,buddhism4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,jesus ,,and ,,gotama4 ,for while one saith1 ,i am of ,paul2 and another1 ,i am of ,apollos2 are ye not carnal8--,,bible4 ,in any attempt to appreciate the relationship of ,christianity to ,buddhism it is important to bear in mind1 not only the differences which have characterized the process of their evolution1 but also to recognize that the two religions are1 in their origin1 distinct as to time and locale2 that they developed on different soils1 and have borne fruit of very different kinds2 and that the races which subsequently appropriated them as religious systems were in many respects dissimilar1 and lived under widely divergent conditions4 ,only by regarding these religions as growing apart1 and in no manner connected in this sense1 can we ultimately arrive at a just and logical estimate of the character of the founders4 ,it is not by confounding their sources at the start1 or by attempting to prove that the one system is a product of the other1 that we can in the end draw closer the bonds which seem to unite them4 ,a consideration of almost equal weight is that of the dual nature of the great personalities of ,jesus and ,gotama4 ,we must not confuse the significance of the term ,god with the man ,jesus1 nor the mystical principle embodied in the title ,buddha with the personal and human ,gotama4 ,both ,jesus as ,god and ,gotama as ,buddha are dual personalities1 and combine in themselves tangible and intangible realities4 ,the former is to be regarded as man and ,god1 the latter as ,gotama and ,buddha4 ,but1 while wishing to emphasize the fact of the independent origin of ,christianity and ,buddhism1 ,i have no intention of combating the fact that a spurious ,buddhism had1 in the garb of ,essenism1 established a footing in ,palestine at a date anterior to the ,christian era1 and that1 under the influence of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 the recognized leader of the ,essenes1 a way was prepared and made ready for the great light which was to shine forth afresh in the majestic humanity of ,jesus4 ,the presence of ,essene ,buddhists in ,palestine at that date is a matter of history1 and has been clearly established by prominent ,oriental scholars4 ,moreover1 the ,church of ,england itself has1 through the medium of some of its most reliable authorities1 openly acquiesced in the fact4 ,the ,essenes1 who were1 from the second century before ,christ onwards1 domiciled in the ,holy ,land1 although virtually ,buddhists1 do not seem to have preserved intact the tenets of ,gotama1 though the ethics remained unadulterated4 ,they retained many of the qualities of the monastic ,buddhists1 such as asceticism1 brotherly love1 a rare benevolence towards mankind in general1 and the still rarer consideration for animal life4 ,nor was any departure made from the vows of chastity1 the belief in the transitory nature of things1 and in their attitude of non-resistance to evil4 ,it was rather with regard to metaphysical obscurities that they wandered from the strict teaching of ,gotama2 and we cannot wonder that such was the case when we remember the doubts1 difficulties1 and uncertainties that must have beset the paths of these followers of ,gotama when they had no longer the ,enlightened ,one to point to them the way of truth4 ,especially do they seem to have gone astray in the matter of the doctrine of the soul4 ,this they described as coming from the subtlest ether1 and as lured by the sorcery of nature into the prison-house of the body4 ,the ,essenes derived their ,buddhistic tenets and practices directly from ,gnosticism1 which is said to have prevailed in ,alexandria two centuries before the birth of ,christ1 and its existence in that city owed its origin to the importation of ,buddhism from ,india1 constant communication having been established in those days between ,egypt and the ,west ,coast of ,india as far north as the mouths of the ,indus4 ,further1 the edicts of ,king ,asoka go to prove that at about this time he was on intimate terms and in frequent correspondence with the ,greeks2 also1 that during his reign and under his royal patronage ,buddhist missionaries found their way to ,egypt1 and there scattered the seed from which arose the ,gnostics1 or ,therapeuts1 and the kindred sect of the ,essenes4 ,mr4 ,arthur ,lillie1 in his ,buddhism in ,christendom1 p4 #ge1 writes3 ,the most subtle thinker of the modern ,english ,church1 the late ,dean ,mansel1 boldly maintained that the philosophy and rites of the ,therapeuts of ,alexandria were due to ,buddhist missionaries who visited ,egypt within two centuries of the time of ,alexander the ,great4 ,in this he has been supported by philosophers of the calibre of ,schelling and ,schopenhauer and the great ,sanscrit authority ,lassen4 ,renan1 in his work ,les ,langues ,smtiques1 also sees traces of this ,buddhist propagandism in ,palestine before the ,christian era4 ,hilgenfeld1 ,mutter1 ,bohlen1 ,king1 all admit the ,buddhist influence4 ,colebrooke saw a striking similarity between the ,buddhist philosophy and that of the ,pythagoreans4 ,dean ,milman was convinced that the ,therapeuts sprung from the 'contemplative and indolent fraternities' of ,india4 ,when we travel back from ,essenism to ,gnosticism we approach nearer geographically and conceptionally to the source from which they both originated4 ,gnosticism1 however1 presumes to tell us more than ,gotama chose to reveal as to the beginnings of things1 and enters into details about various spiritual emanations which are at variance with any inferences that can be legitimately drawn from early ,buddhism4 ,in the ,encyclopdia ,britannica1 under ,gnosticism1 we read3 ,the ,supreme ,being1 according to ,gnosticism1 was regarded as wholly inconceivable and indescribable2 as the ,unfathomable ,abyss2 the ,unnameable4 ,from this transcendant source existence sprang by emanation in a series of spiritual powers4 ,it was only through these several powers that the ,infinite passed into life and activity1 and became capable of representation4 ,to this higher world was given the name of ,pleroma1 and the divine powers composing it in their ever-expanding procession from the ,highest were called ons4 ,jesus1 according to the ,gnostic conception1 was one of these higher ons or ,buddhas proceeding from the ,kingdom of ,light for the redemption of this lower ,kingdom of ,darkness4 ,if the above was whittled down to the bare statement that the ,boundless1 to be made perceptible1 had to become active and creative1 and that thus it happened that the ,boundless was manifested by and in the universe1 ,gnosticism1 on this point1 would not greatly differ from what was probably in the mind of ,gotama when he pointed out that the ,uncreated or ,unproduced must have existence1 otherwise the created1 the produced1 could not be4 ,in face of the historically-established fact that ,buddhism had reached ,palestine before the ,christian era had commenced1 and that ,buddhistic influences were widely disseminated throughout the ,holy ,land when ,jesus arose upon the scene1 ,i wish to maintain that ,jesus1 although nurtured in the mixed society of ceremonial and ,essenic ,jews1 cannot be claimed as belonging to the ,essenes or any other sect after he emerged from his long retirement and commenced his ministry4 ,during the time of his withdrawal from publicity it must be assumed that he was growing in wisdom1 and continued to do so until the perfect enlightenment came to him1 when the ,holy ,ghost descended upon him1 and he knew himself to be the ,son and symbol of ,god1 and1 as such1 capable of revealing the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven to those who had ears to hear and eyes to see4 ,this view1 or reading1 of the ,scriptures was the cardinal tenet of the adoptionist ,christology of the ,paulician school in ,armenia4 ,jesus1 as human1 was undoubtedly begotten1 not made1 and died4 ,jesus1 as divine1 became so1 not by the conversion of the ,godhead into flesh1 but by taking of the manhood into ,god--first the natural1 after that the spiritual1 as ,st4 ,paul says4 ,jesus1 as ,god1 was immortal4 ,jesus1 as a perfected soul on earth1 was a presentation of the ,logos1 in the sense given to this term by ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 as forms of speech1 which1 containing in words eternal truth1 is the most important part of the human soul1 when soul is regarded as the formative factors of the various forms and their relations that have been evolving1 and are constantly evolving and re-evolving4 ,jesus was1 in this respect1 altogether independent of his entourage1 although a part of it in all other relations4 ,he utilized what was good and answered his purpose in the tenets of the several sections of the society in which he moved4 ,he was an eclectic1 and stood midway between mystical and anti-mystical ,israel4 ,the ,essenes1 as already stated1 derived their doctrines and customs chiefly from the ,gnostics of ,egypt1 and the origin of the latter has been traced to the propagation of ,buddhism by ,indian missionaries sent to ,egypt in the time of ,king ,asoka4 ,now1 ,gotama ,buddha was1 in point of time1 an earlier presentation of ,logos2 and1 as ,gotama's influences were at work in ,palestine when ,jesus appeared1 it follows in the natural course of things that ,jesus1 as a presentation of this same ,logos1 or ,bodhi1 would have shown a stronger leaning towards the tenets and practices of the ,essenes than towards those of the ceremonial ,jews4 ,the position of ,jesus in ,palestine closely corresponded with that of ,gotama in ,hindustan4 ,gotama was isolated between the ceremonial ,brahmin class and the extreme mystical party4 ,he also assimilated1 as ,jesus did1 in furtherance of his mission1 some of the tenets of each party1 with certain modifications4 ,he shocked the ceremonialists by showing disdain for rites as rites1 and estranged himself from the extreme mystical party by refusing to give his imprimatur to factitious asceticism4 ,in the same manner ,jesus ignored some of the ,essenic restrictions by partaking of wine and animal food4 ,brahmanism suffered corruption through the acquisition by the priests of wealth and power4 ,to the endowment of the ,christian ,church1 and the elevation of its priests to temporal sway by the ,emperor ,constantine1 has been attributed the beginning of the decadence of the ,christian ideal4 ,the decline of true ,buddhism in ,india was due in a great measure to the munificence of ,king ,asoka1 who erected and enriched monasteries and other religious institutions4 ,this led ultimately to many serious abuses1 as well as to deviations from the precepts which ,gotama had endeavoured to inculcate4 ,in ,palestine1 at the commencement of the ,christian era1 the ceremonial ,jews or ,pharisees1,d though a numerically small section1 were the dominant party of ,judaism1 and were represented by dignitaries of an overbearingly proud demeanour4 ,suppressed by them1 the spirituality of the ,essene ,buddhists was thrown into the shade1 and1 when the voice crying in the wilderness was no longer to be heard and the commanding personality of ,st4 ,john the ,essene disappeared from the scene1 ,essenism as an organization came to an end4 ,d ,an indiscriminate denunciation of the ,pharisees is1 ,i think1 unjustifiable4 ,they must be held deserving of commendation in so far as they were guided by conscience to a close adherence to the letter of that ,law which had been delivered to them by the ,almighty1 through ,ezra the ,lawyer1 for strict and undeviating observance4 ,to contend with these ceremonialists of ,palestine and the corrupt ,brahmanism of ,india1 and to further the success of their respective missions in the face of these formidable forces1 both ,jesus in the one case and ,gotama in the other realized the expediency of initiating a mode of proselytism which1 by the humble bearing and unworldly aspect of its agents1 would differentiate it from the arrogant and exclusive methods of the priestly classes4 ,the missionaries whom these new lights sent forth into the world to propagate the doctrine of salvation received explicit instructions not to provide themselves with gold or silver1 or change of raiment and shoes2 in fact1 they were to pose as examples of that humility and forbearance which was the keynote1 in their ethical significance1 of the two systems as formulated for the redemption of humanity4 ,in both cases the spell of this evangelism was soon to be lost in a resurgence of the very evils it was intended to suppress--the pride of ecclesiasticism and the ascendancy of ritual--under the widening shadows of which the underlying truths of symbolism became obscured4 ,as told in the story of the ,great ,renunciation1 ,gotama goes into retirement at an early age2 ,jesus also becomes a recluse4 ,it is probable that he spent the years elapsing between his adolescence and the commencement of his ministry among the ,essenes1 who dwelt in caves in the vicinity of the ,dead ,sea1 where he would have found ample opportunity for meditation1 as well as genial companionship at hand1 if desired4 ,jesus and ,gotama both issued from their retreats and mystic communions1 impregnated with a deep sympathy for a suffering world1 for the weary and heavy laden4 ,they both accentuated with the same fervour of conviction the futility of laying up treasure upon earth1 and pointed to the same mysterious heaven where true joy alone was to be found4 ,but none of the dicta of ,gotama have approached1 either in a doctrinal sense or in uncompromising severity1 the declaration of the ,prophet of ,nazareth as to the absolute necessity of renouncing the most sacred family ties before acceptance could be possible as a true and faithful disciple3 ,if any man come to me1 and hate not his father1 and mother1 and wife1 and brethren1 and sisters1 yea1 and his own life too1 he cannot be my disciple4 ,the use of vehement declamations of this nature was probably forced upon the speaker by the condition of those days1 when it was more than ever necessary to draw a sharp line and to emphasize the depth of the chasm that must divide followers of the ideal from those in thrall to the material4 ,it has been remarked by ,mr4 ,lillie that1 if ,jesus had had to deal with people in a later or more advanced state of civilization1 other methods and other language would in all probability have been used to suit the altered conditions4 ,the attitude towards relations which ,jesus1 in the above-quoted passage1 seems to have expected a disciple to assume may receive some elucidation from a story told in ,visuddhi-,maga1 which is headed by the translator1 ,mr4 ,h4 ,c4 ,warren1,e ,and ,hate ,not his ,father and ,mother4 ,the story1 briefly related1 is to this effect3-- ,a young man left his father's house1 and1 having joined the ,buddhist order of mendicants1 was lost sight of by his parents4 ,the mother sorrowed for the long absence of her son4 ,e ,buddhism in ,translations1 p4 #dcd4 ,meanwhile the young monk had been allotted a cell in a certain monastery4 ,but it so happened that this cell had been provided at the expense of his father1 who was a devout layman4 ,when the father heard that the cell had been occupied1 he set forth to visit the occupant1 and1 as was customary1 to beg him to seek his alms at his house for a space of three months4 ,the young monk appeared at the door of the cell1 in his yellow robe and with shaven head1 and1 unrecognized by his father1 accepted the invitation to receive alms at the house of the layman4 ,day after day he attended at the threshold of his father's house1 and took food from the hands of his parents4 ,still the mother continued to grieve for her long-absent son1 accounting him dead4 ,one day1 as the monk was returning towards the monastery1 after parting on the road with his mother1 the latter's brother1 an elder1 overtook her4 ,she fell at her brother's feet1 weeping and lamenting for her son4 ,then thought the elder3 ',surely this lad1 through the moderateness of his passions1 must have gone away without announcing himself4' ,and he comforted her1 and told her the whole story4 ,the lay woman was pleased1 and1 lying prostrate1 with her face in the direction in which her son had gone1 she worshipped1 saying3 ',methinks the ,blessed ,one must have had in mind a body of priests like my son when he preached the course of conduct customary with the great saints1 showing how to take delight in the cultivation of content4444 ,this man ate for three months in the house of the mother who bore him1 and never said1 ',i am thy son1 and thou art my mother4'444 ,for such a one mother and father are no hindrances1 much less any other lay devotees4 ,on one occasion1 when ,i was privileged to attend an ordination service at ,kandy1 ,i was much struck with an incident which occurred at this time-old ceremony4 ,at the conclusion of the service1 when the melodious intoning of the celebrants had ceased to reverberate in the solemn ruins of the dimly-lighted aisle1 the young initiate was placed at the bottom of the row of monks1 who were seated1 cross-legged1 in the nave of the temple4 ,during the service the lay spectators had been railed off at the entrance1 which faced the shrine1 beneath which the chief abbot presided4 ,but1 when the newly-ordained monk had assumed a sitting posture in the place assigned to him1 the railing was removed1 and his female relations--perhaps his beloved one among them--came forward and prostrated themselves at his feet4 ,the initiate sat with downcast eyes1 unmoved by the demonstration1 recalling to mind one of those statues of ,buddha in which the countenance is represented with that abstracted yet compassionate expression so characteristic of the ,perfect ,one4 ,then also was brought to my recollection that saying of ,jesus recorded in the ,gospel when he turned towards his mother and exclaimed3 ,woman1 what have ,i to do with thee8 ,it may1 ,i think1 be indisputably affirmed that the deep insight of these great reformers into the problems of life1 the profound impression they made upon a vain world1 their sublimated ideas1 their superhuman influences1 their stainless lives--that all these proclaim them to have been veritable embodiments of the mystic ,sophia and one with ,god4 ,separated only by the time appointed for their appearance in the world1 they were both presentations of the same ,logos1 called in ,buddhistic terminology ,bodhi or ,intelligence4 ,whether there was a difference between the quality of presentation in the cases of ,jesus and ,gotama1 whether the one produced a more flamboyant light than the other1 and in what respects and how the media differed1 are questions that can only be answered by ,christians and ,buddhists themselves1 according to the light that is in them4 ,in the person of ,jesus the human became divine4 ,it was not a case of the conversion of the godhead into the flesh4 ,the whole of the so-called ,athanasian ,creed1 read in the light of positive psychology1 appears to be a statement of many important truths1 and1 for all we know1 it may be literally true that1 unless a man makes this creed his own and acts up to it1 he cannot be saved in the sense indicated4 ,the creed is applicable to the needs of the whole world1 and1 therefore1 is rightly called the ,catholic faith4 ,unfortunately its patristic terminology has led the unenlightened to conclude that it is exclusive and sectarian2 consequently1 many earnest ,christians have evinced an inclination to reject it1 and efforts have been made to have it expunged from the ,liturgy of the ,church of ,england4 ,although it may be accepted as a true statement that the typical ,hindu mind1 which ranges over such a vast area of speculation1 will never be induced by missionary zeal to confine itself within the apparently limited formul of ,christian doctrine1 it must not be overlooked that even the symbolism of ,christianity represents and covers a shoreless ocean in which thought can disport itself without ever coming into contact with the limitations of the concrete4 ,the ,hindu mind binds itself1 as it has been said of ,art1 to no creeds1 no articles of faith1 no schemes of salvation1 no confessions4 ,it cannot by its very nature4 ,the unconditioned is its country1 its native land1 its home4 ,christ rose from the dead1 as the purified soul of man will at last be detached from the conditioned1 though still remaining a quality of the conditioned4 ,the ,christ principle1 the ,comforter1 or the ,holy ,ghost1 does not1 with the ascension of ,christ1 leave us comfortless1 but stays with us to the end4 ,with regard to the posthumous appearance of ,jesus and all phenomena of a like nature1 it is not easy to find room in positive psychology for such a thing as a docetic body2 yet it would seem absolutely needful for the logical expansion of such a science to include1 as a speculative possibility1 the seeming existence of loose integrations of matter with apparent form and outline1 of vaporous counterparts of animal organisms1 of aspects of matter not familiar to mankind1 having a place in the general scheme of the apparitional world4,f ,f ,maimonides and the ,kabbalists speak of ,genii--semi-material beings whose bodies are of fire1 air1 water1 mixed with fine earth and visible at times to man4 ,vide ,bible ,folk-,lore 7p4 #aij71 by the author of ,rabbi ,jeshua4 ,further1 unless we doggedly refuse to rely on the published experiences of eminent and trustworthy men1 such as ,mr4 ,myers and his associates1 the case of ,mrs4 ,piper must be taken au srieux4 ,those who accept an animistic solution have undoubtedly cleared a fence1 but there still remains an obstacle before them in the shape of the definition of spirit4 ,in seeking for an interpretation that will harmonize with the general tenor of ,buddhistic philosophy and positive psychology1 it is incumbent that the irrefragable ,law of ,causation1 l'uvre in the phenomenal world1 should be taken into account1 and any attempted effort of explanation of unfamiliar powers1 such as those exhibited by mediums1 demands that a place should be found for them in the mosaic of cause and effect4 ,mediumistic powers1 it seems to me1 are merely an extension of the faculty of expression-reading4 ,efferent nerves discharge impressions which can be read4 ,everyone1 more or less1 can read the expressions of a face1 and learn thereby1 to a limited and imperfect extent1 the thoughts of an individual4 ,in the case of the medium1 the terminal organs of the afferent nerves being hyper-sensitive1 the medium is able to do more than read in a general way the thought of a person by the impression conveyed through the discharge of the efferent nerves of a person4 ,a medium1 therefore1 receives1 in proportion to the degree of hyper-sensitiveness possessed by the terminal organs of the afferent nerves1 the intimate knowledge harboured in the brain-cells of another person1 which is constantly being discharged by the efferent nerves of that person4 ,these powers1 which ,i relegate to the realm of causation1 must not be confounded with ,bodhi1 or ,logos1 which is not subject to any phenomenal law4 ,the founder of the ,brahmo ,somaj1 ,keshub ,chunder ,sen1 idealized ,christ as a universal principle in these striking sentences3-- ,as the sleeping ,logos did ,christ live potentially in the ,father's bosom1 long1 long before he came into this world of ours4444 ,wherever there is intelligence1 in all stages of life1 where there is the least spark of instinct1 there dwells ,christ1 if ,christ is the ,logos4 ,in this right and rational view do not the ,fathers all agree8 ,do they not speak of an all-pervading ,christ8 ,do not they bear unequivocal testimony to ,christ in ,socrates8 ,even in barbarian philosophy and in all ,hellenic literature they saw and adored their ,logos1 ,christ4444 ,i deny and repudiate the little ,christ of popular theology1 and stand up for a greater ,christ1 a fuller ,christ1 a more eternal ,christ1 a more universal ,christ4 ,i plead for the eternal ,logos of the ,fathers1 and ,i challenge the world's assent4 ,this is the ,christ who was in ,greece and ,rome1 in ,egypt and in ,india4 ,in the bards and the poets of the ,rig-,veda was he4 ,he dwelt in ,confucius and in ,sakya ,muni 7,gotama ,buddha74 ,this is the true ,christ1 whom ,i can see everywhere1 in all lands and in all times1 in ,europe and in ,asia1 in ,africa1 in ,america1 in ancient and modern times4 ,he is not the monopoly of any nation or creed4 ,all literature1 all science1 all philosophy1 every doctrine that is true1 every form of righteousness1 every virtue that belongs to the ,son1 is the true subjective ,christ1 whom all ages glorify4 ,he is pure intelligence 7,bodhi71 the word of ,god1 mighty ,logos4 ,scattered in all schools of philosophy and in all religious sects1 scattered in all men and women of the ,east and the ,west1 are multitudinous ,christ-principles and fragments of ,christ-life1 one vast and identical ,sonship diversely manifested4 ,the writer of an article in a review,g says that the expression1 ,logos1 is introduced with startling suddenness by ,st4 ,john in the exordium of his ,gospel1 and that there is nothing in the ,old ,testament or in the ,synoptic ,gospels to prepare the way for it1 or to explain it4 ,he inclines1 the writer says1 to attribute the introduction of the idea by ,st4 ,john to the influence of ,philo-,judus1 who elaborated it from the account of the ,creation given in ,genesis1 to such an extent that he came to call the ,logos1 or intermediary power1 the ,son of ,god4 ,philo1 after profound meditation1 to quote his own words1 heard even a more solemn voice from my soul1 accustomed often to be possessed by ,god and to discourse of things which it knew not1 which1 if ,i can1 ,i will recall4 ,philo1 the writer says1 must have observed that the ,mosaic cosmogony leaves the modus operandi of creation in obscurity4 ,the account given is ',god said1 ,let there be light1' and so on4 ,thus the spoken word of ,god is represented as the efficient cause of creation4 ,but to attribute speech to the ,most ,high was manifestly a concession to the frailty of the human intellect4 ,g ,st4 ,john and ,philo-,judus1 by ,w4 ,e4 ,ball 7,contemporary ,review1 ,january1 #ahih74 ,mr4 ,w4 ,e4 ,ball concedes that the ,logos-idea was prevalent in the ,east long before the time of the ,evangelist1 and in this connection he refers to the ,vedic vach or speech4 ,this notion also possibly emanated from a cosmogony similar to that found in ,genesis4 ,he proceeds to say that the editors of the ,septuagint deliberately set themselves to soften down those passages in the earlier books of the ,bible which were conceived to be most open to the charge of anthropomorphism4 ,a single example will suffice4 ,in ,exodus xxiv4 #i-aa it is related that ,moses and ,aaron1 ,nadab and ,abihu1 and seventy elders1 ascended ,mount ,sinai 'and saw the ,god of ,israel4' ,the ,hebrew text is clear beyond dispute2 but in the ,septuagint the passage reads1 'and saw the place where the ,god of ,israel stood4' ,then we are referred to the one living and true ,god1 who1 according to the ,christian articles of faith1 is without body1 parts1 or passions4 ,as1 however1 in the ,christian ,scriptures it was recorded that he had been seen and conversed with1 it became necessary to assume an emanation or intermediary power for this speaking and visible phase of ,god2 hence1 first1 the unpersonified ,logos of ,philo1 and afterwards the ,logos made flesh in the person of ,jesus according to ,st4 ,john4 ,the writer thinks that1 however much the conception of ,philo in the direction of a ,logos as the ,son of ,god may be minimized in its importance 7on account of ,philo's silence on the divine human as a ,messiah7 with reference to its bearing upon the writings of ,st4 ,john1 there is no doubt that ,philo supplied a theological vocabulary for the expression of ,johannine and ,pauline doctrine4 ,st4 ,john grasped ,philo's conception of the word as not only the revelation of the silent ,god1 but also as a reflection of the invisible ,god4 ,jesus never described himself as the son of ,god4 ,such endeavours1 however1 as the above to fix the genesis and growth of an idea from a concrete statement in a book1 and to hypothecate its translation from one leader of thought to another1 leaves out of reckoning the possibility of ideas finding a place in individual minds by means of a mystical faculty1 or what is commonly called revelation4 ,this mystical faculty is the power of sublimating ideas1 a power1 evolved from materialities1 that1 at a certain stage of thought1 produces a capacity for abnormal insight into the nature of things1 a capacity that can be developed by training2 that is to say1 when the faculty of knowledge becomes so far removed from the mechanical influences of the brain that its connection with the nervous system may be considered to be on the verge of absolute severance4 ,this faculty is due to no individualized external power1 but is simply a development from the totality of things1 their inherent qualities1 their relationship and interactions4 ,both ,philo and ,st4 ,john may be credited with the possession of a certain amount of this abnormal power1 and considered as presentations of ,logos1 but not in the same perfection as ,jesus and ,gotama4 ,bdhi1 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus says1 is that which conditions the cosmic order of the world and the uniformities of reality4 ,bdhi is the everlasting prototype of truth1 partial aspects of which are formulated by scientists in the various laws of nature4 ,above all1 ,bdhi is the basis of the ,dharma2 it is the foundation of religion2 it is the objective reality in the constitution of being from which the good law of righteousness is derived2 it is the ultimate authority for moral conduct4 ,it is evident from historical sources that there were many ,buddhists living at and after the time of ,gotama1 when traditions and legends accumulated1 who had not assimilated his doctrines in their entirety and purity4 ,so it was in the case of ,jesus1 whose followers and interpreters arrived at various conclusions in respect of his teaching4 ,some who have emancipated themselves from the letter that kills1 and have acquired the power of grasping realities1 have conceived the true position of ,jesus and ,gotama to have been that of clairvoyants1 and1 consequently1 it is not to be expected that a complete mastery of the meaning of their communications would ever be attainable by ordinary human knowledge4 ,this latter conclusion1 in respect of ,jesus1 is most clearly established by passages to be found in the ,new ,testament4 ,jesus and ,gotama laboured under the same difficulty3 they knew more than was translatable into language1 or communicable to their followers4 ,parables were attempted as media for imparting a glimmering of this knowledge to the ignorant and obtuse4 ,professor ,oldenberg says3 ,when we try to resuscitate1 in our own way and our own language1 the thoughts that are embedded in the ,buddhist teaching1 we can scarcely help forming the impression that it was not a mere idle statement which the sacred texts present to us1 that the ,perfect ,one knew much more which he thought inadvisable to say than what he esteemed it profitable to say4 ,jesus withheld all explanation as to how evil came into the world4 ,he dealt with it as a fact4 ,he did not even theorize about the origin of evil4 ,he taught1 on the principle of his well-known saying1 ,he that hath ears to hear let him hear4 ,a careful regard to audience is traceable in his use of apocalyptic language about his second coming2 it is to ,jews only--the ,twelve1 or the high priest1 or the ,sanhedrin1 or ,nathaniel1 the ',israelite indeed'--that he speaks of cleft heavens1 cloud chariots1 and attendant troops of angels4 ,with the ,roman governor he avoids ,jewish metaphors 7,encyclopdia ,britannica1 ,eschatology74 ,both ,jesus and ,gotama must have realized the hopelessness of imprinting their so-called esoteric teaching 7which underlay and intertwined with the ethical7 upon the understanding of those who had not cultivated noumenal instincts4 ,gotama had need1 even on his death-bed1 to explain everything all over again to his closest companion1 the beloved disciple ,ananda4 ,in how many ways ,jesus endeavoured to convey the meaning of the kingdom of ,god to his hearers6 ,yet to this day how few have grasped a fraction of its import4 ,the meaning must be felt rather than understood by the intellect4 ,in fact1 it is necessary to become a ,parsifal to do so 7for not many wise men after the flesh are called74 ,also1 one must get as far as possible away from the bondage of the intellect1 which handicaps one in the attempt4 ,a full knowledge of such mysteries cannot be attained until the machinery of the brain is left a considerable distance behind2 until ideas are no longer in positive connection with the neural vibrations of the brain4 ,the clock cannot hear what is going on around it for the noise of its ticking4 ,plotinus says3 ,to reach the ultimate goal1 thought itself must be left behind2 for thought is a form of motion1 and the desire of the soul is for motionless rest1 which belongs to the ,one4 ,neither ,jesus nor ,gotama committed themselves to writing2 hence we are entirely dependent1 in our judgment of the purport of their mission1 upon the general tenour of communications vouchsafed to us by the special correspondents of their era4 ,it is upon these synoptists and other recorders that people build their theories1 and pile up interpretations in various very restricted senses4 ,but defining is truly dethroning in the cases of ,jesus and ,gotama4 ,like the dove in the ,song of ,solomon1 they abide in the clefts of the rocks1 in the secret places of the stairs4 ,the suppliant can only satisfy his thirsty soul with an invocation3 ,let me see thy countenance1 let me hear thy voice2 for sweet is thy voice1 and thy countenance is comely6 ,theism1 ,atheism1 ,deism1 and many other 'isms must be cast out of our minds into the bottomless pit before we can hope to place our trembling feet within even the threshold of their presence4 ,there1 perforce1 we must arrest our progress1 lost in transcendent wonder4 ,this1 as ,carlyle says1 is worship in its highest sense4 ,no allusion was made either by ,jesus or ,gotama to the miraculous circumstances said to have attended their nativity2 and1 although there exist no data for the assumption that the historians of the latter were inspired writers like those of the ,new ,testament1 the messianic halo with which ,buddhist tradition has encircled the figure of ,gotama tends to bring together the personalities of the two reformers into closer pictorial relationship4 ,but this blending of the portraiture cannot be taken in any sense as a help towards wheeling into line the psychological forces in the field of inquiry4 ,nevertheless1 the interest attaching to these traditions as coincidental1 and the consideration that the date of the ,buddhist chronicles is anterior to that of the ,new ,testament1 render them worthy of brief notice4 ,m4 ,ernest de ,bunsen,h says3 ,among a circle of ,indians prophecies were accredited which announced the incarnation of an angel1 called the ,anointed or ,messiah1 who should bring to earth the ,wisdom or ,bdhi from above1 and establish the kingdom of heavenly truth and justice4 ,he would be of royal descent1 and genealogies would connect him with his ancestors4 ,the ',blessed ,one1' the ',god among ,gods1' and the ',saviour of the ,world' was1 according to ,buddhistic records1 incarnate by the ,holy ,ghost1 of the royal ,virgin ,maya1 and he was born on ,christmas ,day1 the birthday of the ,sun1 for which reason the ,sun became the symbol of ,gotama ,buddha4 ,to be like ,gotama is to reach the ideal,i which has been set to humanity1 and to be like ,god4 ,salvation does not depend on any outward act1 but on a change or renewal of the mind1 or a reform of the inner nature1 or faith in the innate guiding power of ,god1 of which the celestial ,buddha1 incarnated in ,gotama1 was held to be the highest organ4 ,the saving faith1 therefore1 was brought by1 and centred in1 the incarnate ,angel-,messiah1 the ,saviour of the ,world4 ,salvation is by faith1 and faith comes by the ,maya1 the ,spirit or ,word of ,god1 of which ,gotama1 the ,angel-,messiah1 was regarded as the divinely-chosen and incarnate messenger1 the ,vicar of ,god1 and ,god himself on earth4 ,according to ,chinese-,buddhistic writings1 it was the ,holy ,ghost1 or ,shing-,su1 which descended on the ,virgin ,maya4 ,the effect produced by this miracle is thus summed up in the most ancient ,chinese life of ,buddha which we at present possess1 translated between ,a4,d4 #be and #aij3 ',if the child born from this conception be induced to lead a secular life1 he shall become a universal monarch2 but if he leaves his home1 and becomes a religious person1 then he shall become ,buddha1 and shall save the world4' ,h ,the ,angel-,messiah of ,buddhists1 ,essenes1 and ,christians1 pp4 #be1 #cb4 ,i ,jesus is the father of all those who seek in dreams of the ideal the repose of their souls 7,renan74 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 in his ,buddhism and its ,christian ,critics1 pp4 #aej-ea1 says3 ,according to the orthodox ,buddhist conception1 there is no doubt about it that the incarnation of ,buddha1 in the person of ,gotama ,siddharta1 has passed away4 ,gotama has died1 and his body will not be resurrected4 ,but ,buddha continues to live in the body of the ,dharma--i4e41 the law or religion of ,buddha2 and1 in so far as he is the truth1 he is immortal and eternal4 ,the whole world may break to pieces1 but ,buddha will not die4 ,the words of ,buddha are imperishable4 ,the idea of the appearance of a periodical ,messiah was extant throughout the ,jaino-,buddhist times1 thousands of years before ,gotama ,buddha entered upon his mission in the field of religious reformation4 ,millions of ,buddhists still believe that their ,lord will come again to redeem his people1 appearing as ,maitri4,j ,the twenty-three ,buddhas who preceded ,gotama--the immortal saints universally acknowledged by the ,jains as coming to earth in divers ages to aid and bless mankind--have been recorded1 with their names1 fathers' names1 and symbols1 reaching as far back1 it has been calculated1 as #f1jjj ,b4,c4 ,the ,blessed ,one said3 ',the ,buddha that will come after me will be known as ,maitriya1 which means he whose name is ,kindness4' ,j ,vide ,general ,forlong's ,short ,studies in the ,science of ,comparative ,religions4 ,the conception of a mystical ,trinity was introduced into both the ,christian and ,buddhist systems of belief at a late stage of their development4 ,in the case of ,buddhism it arose from the simple formula3-- ,i take refuge in ,buddha1 ,i take refuge in the ,dharma1 ,i take refuge in the ,sangha-- that is1 in the ,prophet1 the ,law1 and the ,church4 ,these afterwards were interpreted to stand for the ,self-,existent1 the ,son 7,logos7 or ,sophia 7,wisdom71 and the ,holy ,ghost 7or uniting principle74 ,gotama has also been said to possess three personalities1 and every one of them is of equal importance4,k ,there is the ,dhrma ,kya2 there is the ,nirmna ,kya2 there is the ,sambhga ,kya4 ,buddha is the all-excellent truth1 eternal1 omnipresent1 and immutable2 this is the ,sambhga ,kya1 which is in a perfect state of bliss4 ,buddha is the all-loving teacher1 assuming the shape of the beings whom he teaches2 this is the ,nirmna ,kya1 his apparitional body4 ,buddha is the all-blessed dispensation of religion2 he is the spirit of the ,sangha and the meaning of the commands which he has left us in his sacred word1 the ,dhrma2 this is the ,dhrma ,kya1 the body of the most excellent law4 ,k ,vide ,gospel of ,buddha1 by ,paul ,carus1 p4 #bbg4 ,it was proclaimed1 says ,mr4 ,lillie1 that ,gotama possessed a superfluity of good ,karma1 or ,righteousness1 which was available for all men to partake of1 whereby salvation might be had4 ,he quotes from the ,bible as a parallel to this idea3 ,by the righteousness of one the free gifts came upon all men unto justification of life2 also3 ,by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous4 ,to be saved by the blood in a realistic sense is another way very much accentuated by ,st4 ,paul4 ,to be saved through faith in the blood has been taken to mean1 by some interpreters1 through faith in the genealogy1 or divine stock1 from which ,jesus traced his descent1 as well as through faith in the life 7which is the blood7--that is1 by following the life-example of the ,son1 in contradistinction to the idea of salvation through a materialistic reliance on the details of a violent death4 ,the doctrine of ,predestination1 which holds such a prominent position in ,christian theology1 cannot be excluded altogether from a consideration of ,buddhistic philosophy1 in which1 however1 it bears a somewhat different signification4 ,although both ,jesus and ,gotama made use of the language of free-will as we talk of to-morrow1 which never is1 one is forced to conclude that1 by virtue of their position as manifestations of the ,logos1 they were both aware of the scientific certainty of the non-existence of what is commonly understood as free-will4 ,the very fact of the law of causation being the pivot around which ,buddhist philosophy revolves seems to assure us that this was1 in the knowledge of ,gotama1 the central law of the ,kosmos1 and such that it could not be affected by the will of an individual who was not an independent individual1 but simply part and parcel of the molecular contents of the apparitional world4 ,as ,gotama recognized that the mind and sense of humanity were so deeply ingrained with the notion of free-will1 he was constrained to use the argumentum ad hominem1 and outwardly base his ethical system on a free-will which seemed natural to humanity to believe in1 but which was nevertheless a delusion4 ,the several passages in the ,new ,testament in which the doctrine of ,predestination is plainly set forth are too well known to necessitate their quotation here4 ,st4 ,augustine says3 ,what happens of thee he himself ,god works in thee4 ,never anything happens of thee which he himself does not work in thee4444 ,never is anything done by thee unless he works it in thee4,l ,l ,cf4 ,i form the light and create darkness2 ,i make peace and create evil3 ,i1 the ,lord1 do all these things 7,bible74 ,the universal feeling that we possess free-will is no proof of its reality1 and only on the basis of the axiom that nothing is too unscientific or extraordinary to be possible 7which is sound enough7 can it be accepted as a possibility4 ,even ,locke could not1 for the life of him1 reconcile omniscience and free-will1 although he believed in both4 ,taking free-will as a sensation1 we must pronounce it to be just as illusory as any other sensation1 except as a sensation4 ,on the other hand1 the ,determinist view cannot be classified as a sensation1 but is rather a product of reason4 ,professor ,james says3 ,genuine ,determinism affirms1 not the impotence of free-will1 but the unthinkability of free-will4 ,st4 ,paul writes1 with reference to sin3 ,it is no more ,i that do it1 but sin 7or evil ,karma7 that dwelleth in me4 ,and we are instructed in some parts of the ,christian ,scripture that all good is of ,god1 and not of ourselves4 ,here1 then1 there appears to be a complete obliteration of the idea of free-will in respect of actions either good1 bad1 or indifferent2 and in confirmation of this view it is necessary to remember that the language of free-will was used for convenience sake1 that ,god is distinctly said to have called those things which be not as though they were4 ,st4 ,paul says3 ,the creature was made subject to vanity1 not willingly4 ,possibly he may have had in mind when he delivered this dictum the vanity1 or vain conceit1 of assuming free-will4 ,if it be permissible to assert that we exercise no control1 in the sense of free-will1 over the functions of our digestive organs1 which perform their work without our being sensibly conscious of it 7except in the case of abnormal disturbance71 one would think the assertion might be extended in regard to cerebral functions also4 ,we conceive thought to precede many of our actions1 but if thought is the non-spatial accompaniment of cerebral cell-action1 and the latter is no more amenable to the control of free-will than our digestive organs are1 then those actions which are the sequences of thought cannot be free-will actions4 ,it is generally admitted that there are occasions when an individual acts without exercising free-will2 when1 for instance1 a man loses his head1 as the expression goes1 in a sudden catastrophe4 ,there are also distinctly involuntary actions1 such as blushing1 turning pale1 perspiring1 etc4 ,it seems1 then1 that an individual only exercises his will1 according to general belief1 under certain conditions4 ,but if free-will is acknowledged to be absent under some conditions1 may we not reasonably conclude that it may be absent altogether1 and only exists as an illusion of the senses8 ,anyhow1 circumstances--or1 in other words1 the molecular activities of the universe--appear to be the dominant factor in determining our actions4 ,these activities1 when working through cerebral cells1 turn out thoughts2 when operating through the skin pores1 they produce perspiration4 ,locke1 in his chapter on ,power 7human understanding71 seems to draw very near to an admission of ,determinism1 but then flies away from it1 evidently alarmed by the spectre of irresponsibility4 ,he labours to demonstrate that uneasiness or desire determines the will to the successive 7so-called7 voluntary actions whereof the greatest part of our lives is made up1 and by which we are conducted through different causes to different ends4 ,this is1 as far as it goes1 unadulterated ,determinism4 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus defines freedom of will as the power to do that which one wills1 not as the freedom of a man to will what he wills4 ,indeterminism he declares to be based upon error1 because it attributes to man an exceptional place in the universe4 ,man is supposed to be exempt from the uniform and inexorable law of cause and effect which rules in the universe4 ,he says3 ,the decision of a free man depends upon his character2 but character is only the result of innumerable causes1 which has become a cause upon which other effects follow1 according to the cosmic law of causation1 which must include in its impartial sway man as well as all other integrations of matter4 ,determinism is morally safe1 because man cannot escape from the feeling that he possesses free-will1 which1 nevertheless1 is an illusion1 in the sense that illusions are ideas that have not originated from the data of experience4 ,in ,light 7,april #ahth1 #ahih7 there is quoted the following1 as part of a discourse on ,the ,evolution of ,mind1 delivered by ,professor ,jordan3 ,the plant searches for food by a movement of the feeding parts alone4444 ,the tender tip is the plant's brain4 ,if locomotion were in question1 the plant would need to be differently constructed4 ,it would demand the mechanism of the animal4 ,the nerve1 brain1 and muscle of the plant are all represented by the tender growing cells of the moving tips4 ,the plant is touched by moisture or sunlight4 ,it 'thinks' of them1 and in so doing the cells that are touched and 'think' are turned towards the source of the stimulus4 ,the function of the brain1 therefore1 in some sense exists in the tree1 but there is no need in the tree for a special sensorium4 ,a comment in ,light on this discourse runs as follows3 ,in higher organisms the mind becomes more and more localized1 until in the higher animals it has a special organ--the brain1 which1 however1 is shut up in darkness and 'has no knowledge except such as comes to it from the sense-organs through the ingoing or sensory nerves4' ,being filled with these impressions1 some of which are actual sensations1 while others are memories of past sensations1 the brain must make a choice among them by fixation of attention1 if it is to act properly4 ,to find data for such a choice is the function of the intellect4 ,this1 ,dr4 ,jordan tells us1 is the difference between mind and mere instinct1 or inherited habits4 ,mind chooses1 instinct cannot1 for it is but an automatic mind-process inherited from generation to generation4 ,it must be remembered1 however1 that this faculty of choosing1 said to be possessed by the brain and acquired by a process of development1 is not free1 but conditioned4 ,the terminal organs of the afferent nerves also may be said to possess this faculty of choice1 yet limited by their qualities and the nature of the external influences to which they are submitted4 ,the admission of a faculty of choice does not involve the idea of absolute freedom1 nor need it disturb the ,buddhist conception that there exists nothing behind the organism in the shape of an ego-entity1 or soul1 which chooses or remembers1 and that there is no hidden agent which prompts the conveyance of impressions4 ,if we admit this faculty of choice to be possessed by the brain and terminal organs of the afferent and efferent nerves1 it simply involves the concession that the stored-up memories in the brain1 and the habits acquired by the muscular organism1 as results of past external influences1 act in the manner of choice2 and in this sense only1 it would seem1 can the notion of freedom be scientifically and logically entertained4 ,if the faculty of choice1 in this restricted sense1 as the possession of a pluricellular organism such as man1 is accepted in confirmation of the existence of freedom1 then we must accord the possession of freedom to the simplest form of life4 ,the cellule composed only of protoplasm and a nucleus possesses the very same faculty4 ,m4 ,alfred ,binet tells us of the highly-developed psychical functions of the spermatozoid2 how it searches out the locality of the ovule situated at a distance2 how1 with a sense of direction1 it traverses the whole length of the intervening space1 overcoming all obstacles--which are many--in its path1 to attain the desired object2 and he maintains that such actions cannot be explained by simple irritability1 nor by chemical affinity4 ,the brain may possess this faculty1 and the power to carry into effect the choice1 as qualities of its mechanism2 but there is no discrete entity behind the brain as agent4 ,is it quite certain that1 when consciousness seems to affirm that ',i can choose so and so1' it means more than 'it is possible such and such a choice will take place in my mind'8 ,if it does not mean more than this1 its affirmation is not against ,determinism 7,mind1 ,april1 #ahih1 p4 #aia74 ,even if the faculty of choice is granted1 it is limited in the sense that choice does not always produce the effect chosen4 ,locke and ,hume say ',liberty is a power to act as we choose4' ,but can we choose8 ,are we the original causes of our choice8 ,and what is the power to which action is subjected8 ,must it not be subject to some other power1 and1 therefore1 not free1 unless it is a self-existent power8 ,enough has been said1 perhaps1 on this subject to explain the author's position in assuming that both ,jesus and ,gotama must have been1 by necessity of their omniscience1 well aware of the truth of ,determinism4 ,yet1 having to deal with phenomenal beings1 they were constrained to treat them as such1 and address them in phenomenal terms1 and to lower themselves to the level of those sensations from which the illusive and unconquerable feeling of responsibility arises4 ,the fact of occult powers having been attributed to ,jesus and ,gotama makes it necessary to include in this chapter a brief reference to the subject of magic1,m and to consider in what light we should regard this art in connection with these two characters4 ,m ,magic ,i define as the art of visualizing and utilizing those aspects and qualities of matter that are not familiar to the normal senses4 ,it has been remarked that the opposition to magic has seldom been connected with sceptical doubts as to its reality1 and that the distinction drawn between white and black magic was due to the assumption by the priestly class of the sole right to the exercise of magic in their rites1 and hence magicians who were outside the pale of priesthood were called sorcerers1 or dealers in black magic4 ,the pages of the ,christian ,bible are aflame with magic1 and1 on opening the ,old ,testament1 one seems to stand on the threshold of an unmeasurable cavern1 where dreams the ,great ,magician that inhabiteth ,eternity4 ,no one who has not made of magic1 in its several branches1 a close study--who has not literally soaked in mysticism 7that powerful solvent of definite dogma7--or who is not gnomic1 intuitionally in the know without study1 can possibly pose as an authoritative interpreter of ,god's ,holy ,word4 ,an authority on the ,hermetic ,philosophy says that astrology is to be found throughout the ,bible1 from the very first chapter of ,genesis1 when the stars were set for signs and seasons and days and years1 on to the ,book of ,revelation1 where the wonder was seen in heaven1 the woman clothed with the sun1 and the moon under her feet1 and all the great astrological problems in that book2 and the great truth1 the ,incarnation itself1 announced by the star of the ,epiphany4444 ,all the occult methods of divination more or less find their place in the ,bible and in the scheme of religion4 ,the divination by ,urim and ,thummin is a well-known form of clairvoyance which is practised now4 ,joseph's divining-cup was merely a species of magic mirror1 the form of which is well known now1 and is used by some clairvoyant seers4 ,the use of music by the prophet ,elisha1 when the kings of ,israel and ,judah went out against ,moab1 is precisely the same as is now used by many ,spiritualist mediums and seers1 though not with the same effect ordinarily4 ,and so one might go on with all the forms of divination4 ,it can be clearly proved that divination by cards was known and practised in ,biblical times by the ,biblical prophets2 all this showing that during the times of the ,old ,testament1 and with commendation from the prophets1 and in use by the prophets1 were modes of divination which postulated the truth of the ,hermetic science4 ,it stands to reason that ,jesus as ,god1 and ,gotama as ,buddha1 must have been acquainted with all the laws of nature1 and1 consequently1 were in full possession of so-called occult powers4 ,the manifestations of these powers enter more largely and distinctly1 as true records1 into the life of ,jesus than into that of ,gotama4 ,the acts of ,jesus were one continuous demonstration of occult power1 and his disciples were1 in a lesser degree1 gifted with the same powers4 ,that which is known as ceremonial magic was not made use of to any extent by ,jesus and ,gotama as a method or means for the production of these powers4 ,this was not requisite with them1 as it is in the case of ordinary individuals1 who must have recourse to those aids which have been found by occultists1 after long experience1 to be the most efficient means of attaining their object4 ,clumsier methods have been used with a minimum amount of success2 but1 if the operator desires to arrive at any degree of perfection in the art1 it is just as necessary for him to observe closely the rules laid down by the ceremonialists of magic as it is for a gamekeeper to make use of the accepted symbolism in the training of a retriever--that is1 if the object is to accomplish the undertaking with the least trouble and the best results4 ,jesus and ,gotama1,n on account of their unique position as being en rapport with this power1 had no occasion1 therefore1 to resort to ceremonial magic4 ,n ,gotama1 as ,buddha1 possessed an intuitive insight of the nature of every object in the universe1 a knowledge of the mind of all beings1 and of the finality of the stream of life 7,the ,gospel of ,buddha1 by ,paul ,carus1 p4 #bdd74 ,the ,indian saint ,mozoomdar 7whose acquaintance ,i had the privilege of making in ,india71 in his introductory remarks to ,the ,oriental ,christ1 a book published by him in #ahhc1 points out how estimates of character vary if viewed from different standpoints1 and how1 when the singularity of a nature happens to lie in its manysidedness1 representations of it may be conflicting1 but quite genuine and correct4 ,the whole of the introduction to this work shows such remarkable and original insight into the character of ,jesus1 as judged from an ,oriental point of view1 that ,i cannot forbear to give a few quotations1 more especially as they may tend to help forward the purpose of this chapter by demonstrating how the personalities of ,jesus and ,gotama are interchangeable under certain aspects in respect of their mystic significance4 ,early in the introduction the writer says3 ,it is held that the celestial figure of the sweet ,prophet of ,nazareth is illumined with strange and unknown radiance when the light of ,oriental faith and mystic devotion is allowed to fall upon it4 ,it is a fact that the greatest religions of the world have sprung from ,asia4 ,it has1 with some accuracy1 been said1 therefore1 that it is an ,asiatic only who can teach religion to ,asiatics4 ,in ,christ we see not only the exaltedness of humanity1 but also the grandeur of which ,asiatic nature is susceptible4 ,in the following very plain terms he distinguishes ,christ as the ,logos of the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john1 with which may be classified the ,bodhi1 or ,intelligence of the ,buddhists3 ,he was the thought and energy of ,god4 ,he was the plan of ,god4 ,he was the light of divine reason and love1 as yet involved within the great impenetrable4 ,in that sense the whole universe was at one time merely the thought of the ,infinite ,being4 ,and every one of us has sprung from the formless ocean of divinity that spread through all4 ,john the ,baptist1 he writes1 had announced the kingdom of heaven4 ,jesus pointed to it4 ,pointed where8444 ,he pointed to the kingdom of heaven in his own heart4 ,he pointed to the inner sphere where his disembodied spirit communed with the eternal spirit of life2 and1 beholding ,god in him and himself in ,god1 he exclaimed3 ',i and my ,father are one4'444 ,he also beheld his brethren in him1 and cried3 ',abide in me1 and ,i in you4' ,this1 the writer says1 is pure ,idealism1 and ,christ even idealized his flesh and blood1 and administered them to his disciples as a sacrament4 ,finally1 this enraptured saint of ,hindustan places before the reader two characters in illustration of the distinctions which may be said to exist between ,eastern and ,western conceptions of ,jesus3 ,one of them is an elaborately learned man1 versed in all the principles of theology4 ,his doctrine is historical1 exclusive1 and arbitrary4444 ,he insists upon plenary inspiration1 becomes stern over forms1 continually descants on miracles 444 condemns men to eternal darkness and death4 ,he continually talks of blood and fire and hell 444 he hurls invectives at other men's faith4444 ,all scriptures are false which have grown up outside of his dispensation1 climate1 and authority4444 ,he is tolerated only because he carries with him the imperial prestige of a conquering race4 ,can this be the ,christ that will save ,india8 ,by his side another figure4 ,he is simple1 natural4 ,he is a stranger to the learning of books4 ,out of the profound1 untaught impulses of his soul he speaks4444 ,his doctrines are the simple utterances of a fatherhood which embosoms all the children of men1 and a brotherhood which makes all the races of the world one great family4444 ,all nations respond to his mystical utterances about heaven and earth4444 ,his self-immersed air1 absent eyes 444 which show that his spirit is far1 far away1 point him out to be the ,prophet of the ,east1 the sweet ,jesus of the ,galilean lake4 ,throughout the whole ,eastern world the perfume of his faith and devotion has spread4 ,the wild genius of ,mohammed knew and adored him amid the sands of ,arabia4 ,the tender1 love-intoxicated soul of ,hafiz revelled in the sweetness of ,christ's piety amid the rosebuds and nightingales of ,persia4 ,look at this picture and upon that4444 ,when we speak of an ,eastern ,christ we speak of the incarnation of unbounded love and grace2 and when we speak of a ,western ,christ1 we speak of the incarnation of theology1 formalism1 ethical1 and physical force4 ,christ1 we know1 is neither of the ,east nor of the ,west2 but men have localized what ,god meant to make universal4 ,happily there is no need to substantiate the fact of the immense consolations derived by humanity from the ,christian mode of regarding the past1 the present1 and the future1 with all its dazzling possibilities1 in the direction of a ,new ,jerusalem2 but it must1 indeed1 seem strange to those nurtured amid ,christian influences that a religious system such as ,buddhism1 which does not recognize a ,god or ,soul or ,immortality in the ,occidental sense of these terms1 should claim to have as its product that cur lger temperament which is said to be1 and to have been1 the distinctive characteristic of its countless adherents4 ,when the mind wanders afar from the dogmatic of the scholiast1 the life of ,jesus presents itself with a dramatic force of loveliness and grandeur which1 of its kind1 cannot be surpassed2 and the poetic pathos of the ,new ,testament1 though not so resonant as that to be found in the pages of such works as ,job and the ,prophets1 possesses a pastoral charm of its own at once soothing and stimulating4 ,in ,buddhistic literature1 and in the intensity of ,buddhistic thoughts1 there are extraordinary and unrivalled beauties which are emphasized in a remarkable manner1 in the sympathetic rendering accorded to them by such exponents as ,professor ,oldenberg and ,mr4 ,lafcadio ,hearn4 ,one must be insensitive to a degree if such writers and interpreters of ,buddhism do not succeed in striking a chord of overwhelming harmony throughout the system4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,god ,,and ,,the ,,kosmos4 ,differences veil a fundamental unity4--,,bruno4 ,both ,christianity and ,buddhism can be set to the same music1 the music of the unconditioned4 ,the definition of the ,christian ,god as invisible and eternal1 and as that which has not parts1 body1 or passions1 is incontestably an attempt to convert our thoughts to a belief in1 and appreciation of1 the unconditioned4 ,the entire teaching of ,jesus moves in this direction2 and this will be recognized at once if we permit ourselves to interpret his symbolic utterances in the right and only logical sense4 ,to be saved--that is1 to realize the unconditioned--we must believe in ,jesus2 namely1 in his teaching4 ,if humanity could assume this attitude of mind--if it could attune its thoughts to what ,christian symbolism really means1 or ought to mean--then all the magnificent ritual of the ,holy ,catholic ,church1 the realistic hymnology1 even the shibboleths of the ,salvationist1 would no longer give rise to the supercilious contempt of the so-called intellectual world1 but would everywhere be recognized as the expression of the most exalted philosophy1 and consonant with the latest results of psycho-physiological research4 ,the proud have held me exceedingly in derision1 yet have ,i not shrinked from thy law4 ,everything that teaches us that the end of all things and the goal of all men is a complete realization of the unconditioned is the acceptable word of ,god4 ,gotama1 using a symbolism of his own1 and by means of parables not wholly dissimilar to those employed by ,jesus1 taught the self-same truth4 ,the flesh has to be crucified--that is1 the idea of separateness has to be eliminated--and then only will ,heaven1 ,nirvana1 at-oneness with the unproduced 7with ,god71 be a reality4 ,it is legitimate to speak of ,jesus as ,god1 and ,gotama is known as ,buddha4 ,here we have1 then1 ,jesus-,god and ,gotama-,buddha4 ,but ,god and ,buddha are but two different terms used for the expression of one identical idea4 ,the recognition of ,buddha as an equivalent for ,god has been very generally ignored by interpreters of ,buddhism2 hence the confusion of thought which has existed in this connection4 ,this in some measure may also be due to the fact that ,gotama1 in preaching to the ,brahmins1 made use of the word ,brahma to denote ,god4 ,jesus and ,gotama were gnomic1 or divinely wise--that is1 they knew of the unconditioned4 ,they both ardently desired to communicate this knowledge to the world1 and the way of escape from absolute bondage to the conditioned to a realization of the unconditioned4 ,if1 knowing the way1 man still elects to continue in bondage to the conditioned state1 in a hell of misery or through a series of incarnations1 he can do so by disregarding the injunction1 ,set not your affections on things on earth4 ,gotama pointed out the straight path that leads to a union with ,brahma 7,god72 but there was also a circuitous path indicated by him1 by which we can make golden stairways of our weaknesses4 ,to the different symbolism employed by ,gotama1 and the meaning attached to this symbolism by his exponents1 may also be attributed the failure of many acquainted only with the outlines of ,buddhism to assimilate the term ,buddha with that of ,god in its universalist sense4 ,when we come to a careful and impartial study of the ,gospel of ,buddha1 it is astonishing what a close connection is to be found therein between the ,god idea of the ,christian community and the ,buddha idea of the ,asiatic world4 ,gotama does not1 as many suppose1 exclude the notion of ,god as that of all-pervading ,love4 ,the whole wide world1 he says1 above1 below1 around1 and everywhere1 will continue to be filled with ,love1 far-reaching1 grown great and beyond measure4 ,buddha is the all-loving teacher1 assuming the shape of the beings whom he teaches4 ,this is the second person of the ,buddhist triad1 the apparitional body of ,gotama4 ,the splendid symbolism of the holy1 blessed1 and glorious ,trinity1 three persons and one ,god1 common to both ,christianity and ,buddhism1 falls like the cloudy hangings of a gorgeous sunset between us and the unconditioned4 ,many of the spectators are held spellbound and enslaved by the beauty of the phenomena alone2 a few see its meaning1 and realize the noumenon4 ,the symbol is1 as it were1 a yearning of the visible to suggest the invisible1 the conditioned speaking to us of the unconditioned4 ,the small minority--the ,blessed ,ones1 the ,arhats of ,buddhism1 the saints of ,christendom--they are those who know the ,lord1 who see ,god4 ,yet there remains for every being a sure hope of the deathless life4 ,after many a weary round of births and deaths or long sojourns in ,purgatory1 after many a climb up the dark ladder of life1 every being at last will reach the desired goal1 and see the fulfilment of prophecy when ,god will be all and in all4 ,a great ,orientalist has pronounced ,buddhism to be the most godless of all heathen religions4 ,if this assertion means that the god of the heathens is anthropomorphic and that of the ,buddhists is not so1 then the statement of this distinguished scholar1 though a little staggering at first sight1 may be regarded as containing an element of truth1 but not the whole truth4 ,the question whether the true ,buddhism of ,gotama recognized a god in any sense of the expression still exercises the minds of controversialists4 ,at the very outset of our inquiry into the ,buddhistic conception of a god or no-god1 we are confronted by directly conflicting conclusions arrived at by two eminent authorities4 ,professor ,rhys ,davids regards the true ,buddhism of ,gotama to be nothing but blank ,atheism1 whereas ,mr4 ,arthur ,lillie unflinchingly pronounces it to be ,theism pur et simple4 ,in my judgment1 all the controversy that rages around the ,hinayna,o and the ,mahayna1 which represent respectively the ,southern and ,northern schools of thought1 only confuses the issue2 and the opinions of sectarian ,buddhists1 or even the edicts of ,asoka1 cannot1 ,i think1 be accepted in themselves as directly supporting any hard-and-fast theory regarding the ,theistic or ,atheistic tendencies in the teaching of ,gotama4 ,o ,the ,hinayna1 or ,small ,vehicle of ,salvation1 was the abstract and philosophical presentment of ,buddhism as first conceived4 ,it was more adapted to the sage than to the masses who required a symbolic presentation1 such as is afforded by the ,mahayna1 or ,great ,vehicle of ,salvation4 ,we see the same kind of development holding a place in the history of ,christianity4 ,upon the enigmatical utterances of ,jesus and the mystical sophisms of ,st4 ,paul there has been raised a splendid fabric of dogmatic ecclesiasticism2 and under the shadow of its symbolism the poor in spirit1 the ignorant and the weak1 have found consolations which would not have been theirs if no such development of the abstract principles of the faith had taken place4 ,with reference to the evidence of the edicts1 it must not be overlooked that ,asoka figured as a good ,theist while ,viceroy at ,ujain1 and for some years subsequent to his becoming ,emperor of ,india--a fact which several of his edicts1 ,i believe1 confirm4 ,a ,god1 one ,person 7yet three ,persons in ,one71 without body 7yet walks71 without parts 7yet seen71 without passions 7yet with compassion71 a spirit1 an indefinable1 an illocatable1 incomprehensible substance in which we live and move and have our being1 that cannot be known1 yet can be found 7those that seek after me shall find me71 which some people have beautifully symbolized as a loving ,father and others have debased into a jealous and vindictive tyrant--of such a ,god only1 as an eternally conditionless mystery1 it can surely be established1 from a review of ,buddhistic evidence1 that it is not1 and has not been1 totally ignored4 ,it is difficult to see the force of denoting ,god as super-personal or super-anything4 ,he or ,it is personal1 and everything else as masked by materialities1 and in the sense of all things being his contents4 ,particles of matter are the contents of form4 ,form cannot be manifest without matter4 ,god is pure or shapeless form1 as well as the formative power of form4 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 in referring to the ,god idea of the ,buddhists1 says3 ,no religion can exist without belief in the existence of an ultimate authority of conduct2 but in this sense ,buddhism1 too1 teaches a belief in ,god4 ,the ,abhidharma1 or ,buddhist philosophy1 distinctly rejects the idea of a creation by an ,ishvara--i4e41 a personal creator2 but it recognizes that all deeds1 be they good or evil1 will bear fruit according to their nature1 and they teach that this law1 which is ultimately identical with the law of cause and effect1 is an irreversible reality2 that there are no exceptions or deviations from it4 ,thus law takes1 to some extent1 the place of the ,god idea1 and ,buddhists gain a personal attitude to it1 similarly as ,christians do when speaking of ,god1 in quite a peculiar way4 ,the doctrine of the ,trikya1 or the three bodies1 teaches us that ,buddha has three personalities4 ,the first one is the ,dharma-,kya1 or the body of the law2 it corresponds to the ,holy ,ghost in the ,christian dogmatology4 ,the second personality is the ,nirmna-,kya1 or the body of transformations2 it is transient in its various forms1 and its most important and latest appearance has been ,gotama ,siddhrta4 ,this corresponds to the second person of the ,christian ,trinity1 to ,god the ,son1 or ,christ4444 ,the third personality of ,buddha is called ,sambhoga-,kya1 or the body of bliss4 ,it is the ,christian idea of ,god the ,father4 ,buddha1 in his capacity as ,sambhoga-,kya1 is described as eternal1 omnipresent1 and omnipotent4 ,he is the life of all that lives1 and the reality of all that exists4 ,thus he is the ,all in ,all1 in whom we live and move and have our being4,p ,p ,buddhism and its ,christian ,critics1 by ,paul ,carus4 ,general ,forlong1 in his ,short ,studies in the ,science of ,comparative ,religion1 informs us that the first great ,hindu ,creating ,father was a real ,praj-pati1 ',lord of ,creations'--a true ,hermaik ,brahm2 and1 being depicted as a potent masculine ,zeus1 like to ,yahv1 ,chemosh1 ,amon1 etc41 he in time naturally became distasteful to cultured and pious philosophic minds searching after a great ideal1 and no magnified man1 solar or royal governor4 ,as did ,vedantists1 so have others developed a great neuter ,brahm2 even pious ,christian philosophers have sought1 and some few dared to own1 a ,brahm1 despite the direct anthropomorphic teaching of the ,christian and ,hebrew ,scriptures4 ,thus the ,rev4 ,principal ,caird1 ,d4,d4 7,glasgow ,university71 boldly says1 in his ,gifford ,lectures1 #ahie-f1 that in his view ',christianity knows no such thing as a ,first ,cause1 or an ,omnipotent ,creator and moral governor of the world1 a being framed after the image of man1 an anthropomorphic potentate seated on a celestial throne and dispensing rewards after the manner of an earthly sovereign or magistrate4' ,it is remarkable to find a parallel conception of ,law1 as associated by ,buddhists with the idea of divinity prevailing among the ,egyptians1 who recognized a divinity in those cases only when they perceived the presence of a fixed ,law1 either of permanence or of change4 ,this regularity1 which is the constitutive character of the ,egyptian divinity1 was called ,mat4 ,mat is1 in fact1 the ,law and ,order by which the universe exists4 ,truth and ,justice are but forms of ,mat as applied to human action4,q ,q ,vide ,book of the ,dead 7,british ,museum74 ,in ,mr4 ,arthur ,lillie's book1 ,the ,influence of ,buddhism on ,primitive ,christianity1 there is struck a note of playfulness which almost leads one to suppose that the writer does not intend that he should be taken seriously everywhere in his fascinating pages4 ,this is apparent even in his treatment of the ,jewish conception of an ,almighty ruler1 when he takes for his text 7,judges i4 #ai73 ,the ,lord was with ,judah1 and ,he drove out the inhabitants of the mountains1 but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of iron4 ,in a similar spirit in this connection he would probably handle rather roughly the notion of omniscience4 ,mr4 ,lillie1 further on in his book1 quotes a conversation that is said to have taken place between ,gotama and some ,brahmins on the subject of ultimate union with the ,eternal ,brahma4 ,gotama points out that all their talk about union is foolish talk1 because they know nothing about him4 ,but this does not necessarily imply1 as one would gather from the commentary1 that ,gotama knew nothing of a ,brahma1 or quality of the kosmos or ,buddha1 which was indefinable1 and could only be adumbrated in language1 and no more4 ,his sole intention1 it seems to me1 was to impress on his audience that this ,brahma could not be approached by a factitious asceticism1 and that all speculations as to his nature and origin would be mere waste of time and energy4 ,subsequently1 on p4 #hc1 ,gotama is made to refer to this ,brahma as a non-,theistic ,it--evidently the neuter ,brahm--the absolute1 or the great ,i am of the ,christian ,bible4 ,here ,i would refer en passant to the following passage which occurs on p4 #hd3 ,there are two schools of ,buddhism1 and they are quite agreed in this1 that ,buddhism is the quickening of the spiritual vision4 ,this1 ,buddhistically understood1 is true enough1 but there is a danger of the ,christian reader associating with the expression spiritual the idea of the existence of a spirit in man as an ego-entity4 ,interpreted in this sense1 the expression would be wholly inapplicable to any possible phase of ,buddhistic thought or doctrine4 ,gotama knew of no independent spirit-entity in man1 so there could be no such thing as animistic vision in ,buddhism4 ,in the ,new ,testament it is evident from the context that ,jesus1 when negatively describing a spirit as that which hath not flesh and bones1 was not alluding to spirit in the sense given to it by modern psychologists as ideas1 or as applied to the ,sankhras by the translator of ,professor ,oldenberg's book on ,buddhism1 but had in view those presentations of matter of human shape1 without flesh and bone development1 the appearance of which from time to time has been confirmed by not a few rational and reliable people4 ,with reference to ,mr4 ,lillie's comments on the ,jewish conception of an ,almighty ,ruler1 it may be remarked here that executive omnipotence and omniscience convey the notion of qualities that cannot be philosophically applied to the absolute as conceived by ,brahmins4 ,this is very clearly enunciated in the philosophy of the ,upanishads4 ,mr4 ,a4 ,e4 ,gough1 in his book on this subject1 writes3 ,the ,self 7,brahma1 or ,reality7 is said to be omniscient1 but the reader must not be misled2 this only means that it is self-conscious4444 ,the omniscience of the ,reality is its irradiation of all things4 ,it 7,reality7 knows but knows nothing1 it sees but sees nothing1 it loves but loves nothing2 because ,it is knowledge1 sight1 love1 etc4 ,it transcends the relation of subject and object4 ,in the ,new ,testament we meet with the expression1 ,god is love--that is1 a quality with no objective application4 ,it is the unseen and eternal in contradistinction to the seen and temporal4 ,brahma is ,beatitude4 ,but we must be cautious4 ,brahma is not ,beatitude in the ordinary sense of the term4 ,it is a bliss beyond the distinction of subject and object4444 ,the ,indian philosophers everywhere affirm that ,brahma is knowledge1 not that ,brahma has knowledge4,r ,r ,the ,philosophy of the ,upanishads1 by ,a4 ,e4 ,gough4 ,this is very like ,schelling's idea as portrayed in his account of the ultimate goal of the finite ego3 ,the ultimate goal of the finite ego is enlargement of its sphere till the attainment of identity with the infinite ego4 ,but the infinite ego knows no object1 and possesses1 therefore1 no consciousness or unity of consciousness1 such as we mean by personality4 ,consequently1 the ultimate goal of all endeavour may also be represented as enlargement of the personality to infinity--that is to say1 as its annihilation4 ,the ultimate goal of the finite ego1 and not only of it1 but also of the non-ego--the final goal1 therefore1 of the world--is its annihilation as a world4,s ,s ,vom ich als ,princip der ,philosophie4 ,mr4 ,gough1 in the book already referred to1 remarks that ,buddhism is the philosophy of the ,upanishads with ,brahma left out2 that in ,buddhism ,brahma1 or the inner light1 is replaced by zero1 or a vacuum2 that there is no light of lights beyond the darkness of the world-fiction2 that the highest end and final hope of man is a return into this vacuum1 or aboriginal nothingness of things4 ,this is ,nirvana1 the extinction of the soul2 the path to it is the path of inertion1 apathy1 and vacuity4 ,buddhism expounded in this fashion is likely to produce a very erroneous conception of what it really proves to be4 ,in the first place1 such expressions as vacuum1 emptiness1 voidness1 must not be interpreted solely in a negative sense2 there is a positive sense also to be taken into account4 ,the positive aspect of such expressions has been very clearly set forth by the great ,chinese philosopher1 ,lau-toze1 in the following manner3 ,the thirty spokes unite in the one nave1 but it is on the empty space 7for the axle7 that the use of the wheel depends4 ,clay is fashioned into vessels1 but it is on their empty hollowness that their use depends4 ,the door and windows are cut out 7from the walls7 to form an apartment1 but it is on the empty space 7within7 that its use depends4 ,therefore1 what has a 7positive7 existence serves for positive adaptation1 and what has not that for 7actual7 usefulness4,t ,t ,taken from ,buddhism and its ,christian ,critics1 by ,paul ,carus4 ,secondly1 although ,gotama preached a kind of quietism1 it was not the quietism of inertion and apathy4 ,he exhorted his followers to vigorous activity in the acquisition of knowledge3 ,he who does not rouse himself when it is time to rise1 who1 though young and strong1 is full of sloth1 whose will and thought are weak1 that lazy and idle man will never find the way to knowledge 7enlightenment74 ,if anything is to be done1 let a man do it2 let him attack it vigorously4,u ,u ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 vol4 xvii41 pp4 #fh and #ge4 ,mr4 ,gough says that to gain this extinction the sage must loose himself from every tie and turn his back upon the world4 ,this is very much akin to the way in which a ,christian must act1 according to the teaching of the ,new ,testament1 if he would gain heaven1 union with ,god1 with ,love1 with a quality4 ,but it would be doing injustice to the spirit of ,christianity and ,buddhism to describe their ultimate goals as annihilation1 aboriginal nothingness1 and extinction1 and the path to it as one of inertion1 apathy1 and vacuity1 in the ordinary sense of these terms4 ,the expression annihilation has much to answer for4 ,it has been flaunted scornfully in the face of ,buddhism by ,vedantists of bygone ages and by ,christians of this century2 it has been hurled from pulpits with tremendous vehemence into the ears of bewildered congregations1 and it has formed a text for delighted and triumphant denunciation in innumerable articles--in fact1 with annihilation inscribed on its banners1 the whole host of ,buddha's army has been depicted as marching inevitably to utter and irretrievable ruin4 ,at this juncture let us turn to a later authority1 ,mr4 ,lafcadio ,hearn1 who1 in answer to the question1 ,what remains to rise above all forms and the total disintegration of body and final dissolution of the mind8 sets forth the ,buddhist conception in the following manner3 ,unconsciously dwelling behind the false consciousness of imperfect man--beyond sensation1 perception1 thought--wrapped in the envelope of what we call soul 7which1 in truth1 is only a thickly-woven veil of illusion71 is the eternal and divine1 the absolute ,reality2 not a soul1 not a personality1 but the ,all-self without selfishness--the ,muga no ,taiga--the ,buddha enwombed in ,karma4 ,within every phantom-self dwells this divine2 yet the innumerable are but one4 ,within every creature incarnate sleeps the ,infinite ,intelligence1 unevolved1 hidden1 unfelt1 unknown1 yet destined from all the eternities to waken at last1 to rend away the ghostly web of sensuous mind1 to break for ever its chrysalis of flesh1 and pass to the supreme conquest of ,space and ,time4,v ,v ,lafcadio ,hearn's ,gleanings in ,buddha ,fields4 ,there is no doubt1 as ,general ,forlong informs us in his ,short ,studies in the ,science of ,comparative ,religions1 that ,buddha's followers finally revered him as a god1 mixing up the first high and pure teaching of his faith with all the varied old and new doctrines1 rites1 and follies peculiar to each race and land which developed it4 ,every religion has to submit to this ordeal4 ,it cannot be too often reiterated that a personal moral ruler of the universe1 a gigantic shadow thrown upon the void of space by the imagination1 or a sublimated edition of man located in the sky1 is entirely foreign to true ,buddhism2 and1 although ,gotama deprecated as futile all speculations into the ultimate origin of things1 he1 in his ,buddha capacity1 was aware of the theory of an uncaused cause1 whether called ,aksa or ,dzyu1 or anything else1 from which everything has issued in obedience to a law of motion inherent in it4,w ,this uncaused cause has its counterpart in the incomprehensible ,uncreate of the ,athanasian ,creed4 ,it is the ,god without and the kingdom of heaven within4 ,a ,buddha and ,it are one4 ,w ,vide ,buddhistic ,catechism1 by ,colonel ,olcott4 ,in the ,white ,lotus of ,dharma ,gotama is made to declare that1 though in the form of a ,buddha1 he is in reality the ,self-existent4,x ,on the other hand1 from a purely phenomenal point of view1 a ,buddha is simply a very wise man1 and means ',the ,awakened4' ,x ,vide ,lillie's ,buddhism4 ,buddha1 as a ,buddha1 knew all about the ultimate origin of the ,kosmos4 ,the personal ,buddha1 however1 abstained from any such speculations1 holding that1 for the purposes of practical ethics1 the wise man not only may1 but must1 avoid the distraction of speculation as to any ultimate cause 7,rev4 ,spence ,hardy74 ,self-conquest and universal charity1 these are the foundation thoughts1 the web and woof of ,buddhism1 the melodies on the variations of which its enticing harmony is built up 7,professor ,rhys ,davids74 ,such1 too1 according to the ,christian ,scriptures1 is religion1 pure and undefiled1 before ,god and the ,father4 ,the ,rev4 ,a4 ,sherring points out how the success of ,gotama in overcoming the forces opposed to him is unparalleled in human history4444 ,that a solitary man1 prince and ascetic1 after pondering for five years over all the great doctrines of religions1 priestcraft1 falsities1 the immoralities1 shams1 and confusions of those times1 and the groans and miseries of his countrymen1 that he should devise an entirely new system1 think it out1 and put it in order to meet objectors and overcome their arguments1 and then go forth to the gradual conquest of ,india1 and send forth missionaries who have converted #ejj millions of people--that all this was the ultimate result of that one man's energy1 sagacity1 and resoluteness of will is assuredly one of the most astounding events in the annals of the world4 ,he was a simple philosopher1 reasoner1 and calm disputant1 employing no physical force whatever2 while the morality which he enforced was the purest the world ever saw4 ,general ,forlong1 in quoting this passage1 says3 ,such1 divested of a few professional words1 is the deliberate opinion of one of the best1 the most learned and experienced missionaries4 ,professor ,rhys ,davids seems to level a shaft at the typical ,christian when he says that the ,buddhist saint does not mar the purity of his self-denial by lusting after a positive happiness in a world to come2 nor1 it might be added1 does the essential ,christian who realizes the kingdom of heaven within4 ,if we take the word ,god in a restricted anthropomorphic sense1 and the word soul to mean an entity that survives the body1 it will appear strange to many1 as ,professor ,rhys ,david says1 that a religion which ignores the existence of such a ,god1 and denies the existence of such a soul1 should be the very religion which has found most acceptance among men4 ,the same authority remarks that of any immaterial existence ,buddhism knows nothing4 ,this is true if immaterial or spiritual is taken to mean something altogether divorced from matter4 ,the universe1 according to ,buddhism1 is not merely an arrangement of matter into forms and substances1 but it consists also of the qualities of matter1 and the relationship of the different particles and qualities to each other4 ,the philosophy of ,buddhism1 in this connection1 is ,monism1 which is described by its exponents as a unitary world-conception1 but not a one-substance theory4 ,it does not imply that the world consists either of matter alone or of spirit alone1 or that all its phenomena are motions only2 but that our concepts of spiritual1 material1 mechanical1 and other processes are abstractions1 representing special features of reality2 reality itself being one inseparable and indivisible entirety4 ,the phenomenal is a mode of the noumenal1 as heat is a mode of motion4 ,ex-istence is a mode of istence4 ,there is no beyond1 no behind the veil2 it is all one4 ,if we take1 as a provisional analogy1 the flower of a tree to be the noumenal1 and the root the phenomenal1 they are both--as belonging to the tree--the same1 and yet not the same4 ,the soul might be likened to the blossom at the apex1 at a point farthest away from the earth4 ,the more perfect this soul-blossom becomes1 the nearer it approaches the possibility of entering upon the unconditioned as immortal beauty-- ,like to the flower ,that fades into itself at evening hour1 and becoming thereby identical with truth4 ,beauty is truth1 truth beauty--that is all ,ye know on earth1 and all ye need to know4 ,many people assign to music a power1 exceeding that of all other arts1 of sublimating the emotions of the human heart4 ,altering somewhat the form of the definition of ,poetry as given by ,theodore ,watts1 in his article on the subject in the ,encyclopdia ,britannica1 one might say that absolute music is the non-concrete and artistic expression of the human mind in emotional and rhythmical sounds4 ,the state of the mind under the influence of music has been compared to a sea of emotion--uncurdled by thoughts4 ,this mental condition may also be super-induced1 ,i think1 by means of sculpture1 painting1 and poetry4 ,in fact1 ,i would maintain that the success of an artist1 whether he be musician1 poet1 or painter1 must always be measurable by his power of suggesting the unconditioned1 or of bringing the human mind as near as possible to a thoughtless state of emotion1 and1 finally1 to that of non-emotion4 ,in the gospel according to ,buddha it is written3 ,there lurks in transient form immortal bliss4 ,the true artist can cause this immortal bliss to be felt1 in all its ,nirvanic beauty1 by those naturally susceptible to such influences1 as well as by those who1 by a course of training1 have rendered themselves capable of receiving them4 ,there is no line of demarcation between the noumenal and phenomenal4 ,the one fades into the other1 as all forms and outlines would disappear into the surrounding atoms or cosmic dust under a sufficiently powerful magnifying glass4 ,appearance 7the world of phenomena7 is the real1 as confusedly and partially understood4444 ,the real is the apparent completely understood1 and seen in the light of the whole4444 ,appearance is the appearance of reality4444 ,if we know 'only phenomena1' we must thereby know something of that of which they are phenomena4,y ,y ,vide ,mind1 ,october1 #ahih2 ,the ,one and the ,many1 by ,d4 ,g4 ,ritchie4 ,according to ,buddhistic teaching1 there are two worlds1 so to speak--the one ruled by the law of causality1 the other over which the law of causality has no power4 ,a ,buddhist would say that the man who applies to the strictly unconditioned predicates such as being and non-being1 which are used properly enough of the finite1 the conditioned1 resembles one who attempts to count the sands of the ,ganges or the drops of the ocean4 ,with much the same sort of reasoning ,jesus referred to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven when addressing those who had eyes and did not see1 and ears and did not hear4 ,in view of the apparent fact that the human body has reached its utmost limits of development1 as a physical organism1 there seems to be a thinkable probability that it will eventually1 by a devolutionary process and by the atrophy of its present clumsy and imperfect organs1 return1 step by step1 during the gradual cooling of this planet1 to the condition of the psychic life of a simple cellule1 and ultimately to the unconditioned2 back1 as ,huxley puts it1 to the indefinable latency from which we arose2 or1 as ,carlyle expresses it1 pass stormfully across the astonished earth from ,god and to ,god4 ,starting from the simple cellule1 we see1 in a way1 how ,tanha1 or the desire to extend the scope of activities1 has persistently striven in this direction until the ultimate possibilities of the development of physical organism have been reached in man4 ,this highly-differentiated organism has become more and more sensitive to pain1 more and more dissatisfied with its limitations2 and man1 recognizing these limitations1 desires to abandon them altogether4 ,consequently1 he seeks refuge in the hope of a future life1 where limitations will no longer curb and embarrass him1 and where he will cease to be subject to pain1 passion1 and sorrow4 ,jesus and ,gotama have indicated how by the suppression of this ,tanha1 how by detachment from the things of the world1 we can approach that simple cellular life-stage which is on the road to ,heaven1 ,nirvana1 and the ,unconditioned4 ,it is easy to realize how much pleasanter it would have been for us all if the simple cellule from which we spring had not been so persistently ambitious in the direction of activities4 ,its relatively prescribed functions suggest a most desirable condition of peace compared to that unrest which men miscall delight4 ,human life is but a drop in the ocean of organic existences on this planet--about #a1ejj millions only among countless myriads of beings4 ,it cannot1 then1 be accounted strange in a world containing so great a variety of organisms1 with their varying tastes and needs1 that man should find much that is distasteful and unsuitable to him which is pleasant and acceptable to other beings4 ,the vulture feasts on carrion loathsome to man4 ,man partakes of food at which a rhinoceros would shudder4 ,morality1 as a law and corollary of organized life1 being confined to humanity1 it follows that immorality1 as subversive of this law1 would be of necessity abhorrent to those who appreciate a law without which social life would become intolerable1 and not worth living4 ,but1 when we come to consider why it should be that the exquisite process of the decomposition of flesh should be less pleasing to the senses than the formation and fading of a sunset1 we are forced to the conclusion that the world was not made for man1 but man for the world4 ,the part working indiscriminately with and for the whole is an ethical law observable throughout the universe4 ,all individuals are1 unconsciously for the most part1 carrying into effect the will of ,god by the will of ,god4 ,we speak about individual effort to attain this perfection or avoid that evil1 because we cannot divest ourselves of the feeling of free-will4 ,to speak and act under a sense of free-will is forced upon us by the delusion of separateness4 ,it is often the case that ,god is only recognized in the beautiful aspects of nature4 ,st4 ,paul says3 ,there are diversities of operations1 but it is the same ,god that worketh all in all4 ,we have to see ,god1 not only in the sweet waters1 but also in the deadly swamp2 in the healthy child as well as in the ftid diseases of the sick4 ,that art thou1 as the ,buddhist truly says4 ,the delicious and the disgusting are equally necessary as factors in the scheme of the universe2 there is in both the same cosmic law fulfilling itself4 ,dragons and all deeps3 fire and hail fulfilling his word4 ,a difference only exists in the appreciation of them4 ,this ,monistic view of nature in no respect stands in the way of our regarding ,god as the sublimated reality of an ideal existence4 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 in his booklet on ,the ,idea of ,god1 says3 ,if the idea of ,god is an empty dream which we must expel from our minds1 why not expel all ideas and all ideals8 ,they are just as much and just as little real4444 ,from this point of view a denial of the existence of ,god would1 with consistency1 lead us also to a denial of an integral1 or a logarithm1 or a differential4 ,an integral is just as little a concrete object as is ,god4 ,and the idea of ,god is just as important in the real life of human activity1 human thought and emotion1 as the idea of honesty is in the mercantile world1 that of courage among warriors1 and that of faith in science4 ,buddha has taught that there are worlds more perfect and developed1 and others less so1 than this earth2 and that the inhabitants of each world correspond in development with itself4,z ,mr4 ,lafcadio ,hearn says3 ,the ,buddhist denial of the reality of the apparitional world is not a denial of the reality of phenomena as phenomena1 nor a denial of the forces producing phenomena objectively and subjectively4444 ,the true declaration is1 that what we perceive is never reality in itself1 and that even the ego that perceives is an unstable plexus of feelings which are themselves unstable1 and in the nature of illusions4 ,this position is scientifically strong1 perhaps impregnable4 ,z ,vide ,buddhist ,catechism1 by ,colonel ,olcott4 ,indian philosophers have attempted1 with a fair measure of success1 to overcome the perplexity presented by the idea of diversity in unity4 ,they say that1 as an individual can conjure up visions of various phenomena in his waking state without destroying his sense of unity as an individual1 so there may be a multiform creation in the ,one ,absolute without any suppression of its unitary nature4 ,to the ,unconscious ,absolute phenomena stand in the relation of dreams to the individual who is conscious of dreams on awaking4 ,but the ,unconscious ,absolute does not awake2 therefore ',it' remains unconscious of phenomena4 ,the variety of the world is like the variety of a dream4 ,in a commentary on the ,essence of the ,upanishads the fictitiousness of emanations from unity is thus illustrated3-- ,a belated wayfarer mistakes a piece of rope lying on the road for a snake2 the delusion disappears1 but the rope remains the rope4 ,so with the apparitional world3 the delusion passes1 and unity remains4,,aa ,,aa ,cf4 ,illusions are sensations wrongly interpreted 7,d4 ,g4 ,ritchie74 ,all the figments of the world-fiction may be made to disappear in such a way that pure thought1 or the self1 shall alone remain1 in the same manner as the fictitious serpent seen in a piece of rope may be made to disappear1 and the rope that underlies it may be made to remain4 ,the rope was only the rope all the time it falsely seemed to be a snake4 ,the fictitious world may be made to disappear as the fictitious snake is made to disappear1 and this is its sublation4,,ab ,,ab ,philosophy of the ,upanishads1 by ,a4 ,e4 ,gough4 ,professor ,seth1 referring in his book1 entitled ,the ,position of ,man in the ,kosmos1 to ,mr4 ,bradley's ,appearance and ,reality1 remarks3 ,reality 'must own' and somehow include appearance4 ,in another part of his book he writes3 ,we are ourselves immersed in the process of the universe4 ,we can only live our own life1 and see through our own eyes4 ,if we could do more1 that would mean that we ourselves had vanished from the universe2 the place which had known us would know us no more2 and there would be1 as it were1 a gap created in the tissue of the world4 ,under ,mysticism1 in the ,encyclopdia ,britannica1 we read3 ,our consciousness of self is the condition under which we possess a world to know and to enjoy2 but it likewise isolates us from all the world beside4 ,reason is the revealer of nature and ,god2 but1 by its acts1 reason seems the thing reasoned about4 ,hence mysticism demands a faculty above reason1 by which the subject shall be placed in immediate and complete union with the object of his desire--a union in which the consciousness of self has disappeared1 and in which1 therefore1 subject and object are one4 ,the ,great ,self1 or ,immanent ,power--expressions barely communicable to the understanding by the rather restrictive sounding and abrupt terminology of the word ,god--perhaps nearer in thought to the ,will in ,nature of ,schopenhauer--with which the ,brahmins of ,india sought communion1 has been to them from time immemorial the ,alpha and ,omega of their being4 ,when religion steps in it is a frame of mind1 not a set of opinions4 ,they cannot in truth be called superstitious2 they are1 to coin a word1 substitious4 ,they sink1 plummet-wise1 into the fathomless2 the line is severed1 and they are lost in the depths and caverns of nescience4 ,the concrete1 with them1 has always ranked lower than the abstract4 ,vamado ,shastri1 writing in the ,fortnightly ,review of ,november1 #ahih1 on the theological situation in ,india1 says3-- ,in ,europe1 as ,i understand1 your churches have long ago closed the era of unlimited metaphysical speculation1 retaining only certain mysterious dogmata that are authoritatively prescribed as facts--that are not philosophical discoveries1 but are declarations of revealed truth4 ,you have drawn up your creeds2 you have settled finally all essential beliefs in future rewards and punishments1 in man's redemption from sin and resurrection1 and1 above all1 in a ,divine ,personality4 ,you have numbered and ended the list of your sacred books2 you look for no fresh revelation2 you have regulated by ordinances the rites and ceremonies which unite the worshippers and divide the ,churches4444 ,but ,i want you to understand that we are still wandering in the metaphysic wilderness1 and that ,christianity1 returning at last after an interval of so many centuries1 finds us still engaged on the same problems as those which occupied the schools of ,antioch and ,alexandria and the secret professors of the ,jewish ,kabbala4 ,we have never yet set limits1 either by philosophic criticism or by ecclesiastic ordinance1 to the range of free inquiry or to the thinking faculty4 ,we cannot submit to the restrictions placed by faith upon inquiry into mysteries2 we are driven by our mental constitution to overleap the bounds of sentient experience1 and to construct1 like your ancient heretics1 some intelligible theory of the unconditioned4 ,we are incapable of apprehending a ,personality1 except in the sense of something that masks or represents an incomprehensible notion2 and dogmatic systems are to us no more than the formal envelopes of spiritual truth4 99 99 99 99 99 ,two cardinal ideas run through our deeper religious thought4 ,one is the ,maya1 or cosmic illusion1 which cuts the knot of any difficulty touching the relation between ,spirit and ,matter1 and produces ,unity by exhibiting the visible universe as a shadow projected upon the white radiance of eternity2 the other is the notion of the soul's deliverance by long travail from existence in any stage or shape4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in short1 we have a religion1 but no theology4 ,by ,plotinus ',the ,one' is explicitly exalted above the '' and the 'ideas'2 it transcends existence altogether1 and is not cognizable by reason4 ,remaining itself in repose1 it rays out1 as it were1 from its fulness an image of itself1 which is called '1' and which constitutes the system of ideas1 or the intelligible world4 ,the soul is in turn the image or product of the '' and the soul1 by its motion1 begets corporeal matter4 ,the soul thus faces two ways--towards the '1' from which it springs1 and towards the material life1 which is its own product 7vide ,encyclopdia ,britannica74 ,a consideration of the theosophy of the ,sohar1 or ,book of ,splendour1 does not afford a key to the solution of this problem4 ,we meet there with the same difficulty1 the inconceivable transition point1 where the inactive mingles with the active4 ,ensoph is the ,absolute1 the great ,i am1 the endless1 the boundless1 the incomprehensible4 ,mr4 ,bradley1 in his book on ,appearance and ,reality1 asks whether we really have a positive idea of an absolute defined as one comprehensive sentience2 and he answers that1 while we cannot fully realize its existence1 its main features are drawn from our own experience1 and we have also a suggestion there of the unity of a whole embracing distinctions within itself4 ,identity only exists through differences1 unity through multiplicity4 ,such is the constant thesis of the ,hegelian philosophy4,,ac ,,ac ,vide ,professor ,seth's ,position of ,man in the ,kosmos4 ,the apparent connection between the ,buddhist and ,christian conceptions of a ,god is very ably stated by ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 and with the following extracts from his writings ,i may fitly close the subject of this chapter3-- ,buddhism is commonly said to deny the existence of a ,god4 ,this is true1 or not true1 according to the definition of ,god4 ,while ,buddhists do not believe that ,god is an individual being like ourselves1 they recognize that the ,christian ,god idea contains an important truth1 which1 however1 is differently expressed in ,buddhism4 ,buddhism teaches that ,bdhi1 or ,sambdhi1 or ,amitabha--i4e41 that which gives enlightenment1 or1 in other words1 those verities the recognition of which is ,nirvana 7constituting ,buddhahood7--is omnipresent and eternal4 99 99 99 99 99 ,christianity possesses in the idea1 and1 indeed1 in the very word ',god1' representing the authority of moral conduct in a most forcible manner1 a symbol of invaluable importance2 it is an advantage which has contributed not a little to make ,christianity so powerful and popular1 so impressive and effective1 as it has proved to be4 ,in this little word ',god' much has been condensed1 and it contains an unfathomable depth of religious comfort4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,soul1 ,,self1 ,,individuality1 ,,and ,,karma4 ,verily every man is altogether vanity2 for man walketh in a vain show1 he disquieteth himself in vain4--,,bible4 ,the feat of mental gymnastics performed by ,gotama regarded as a phenomenal being1 which led to the abrogation of soul as an ego-entity from its dominion in the minds of men1 combined with the amazing fact that nearly a third of the population of this planet has1 for many centuries1 enthusiastically acquiesced in this dethronement of animism1 must be regarded as one of the most striking wonders in the religious history of the human race4 ,as astronomical science disposed of the geocentric theory of the universe1 greatly to the advantage of theological progressiveness1 so the exponents of modern psychology hope to dispel the delusion of the ego-centric theory of man1 and to clear the way for a more scientific and a truer conception of that which is commonly understood by the word soul4 ,according to the teaching of these psychologists1 there is no ego-entity1 or hidden and mysterious factor1 that stands behind the psychic and physical organism of man4 ,the soul of man consists of a group of ideas1 and these ideas are in intimate connection with the so-called external world1 as also with what may be expressed as the internal world of a ,being wherein has taken place the development of the hereditary germ4 ,in ,buddhism it appears to me to be a matter of choice whether we apply the term soul to a group of ideas1 which1 in the case of the ,saint1 as sublimated ideas1 synchronously cease with the formative faculty1 and vanish ultimately into the unconditioned1 or to the effects of a man's disposition1 which continue as impressions on the characters of those who receive them4 ,man is a name for a materialized presentation of reality--that is1 for particles of matter assuming form under the influence of a formative faculty and the results of the interactions1 relations1 and qualities peculiar to the particles and this particular aggregation4 ,on the occurrence of what is known as death the components of the body are no longer held together1 as it were1 by the formative faculty1 and the body loses its vitality4 ,but1 in the ordinary course of things1 of form there remains this formulative faculty1 or impulse to re-combine4 ,form is destructible1 yet it remains 'form' in the sense that it has within it the power to renew form4 ,the most important factor in the formation of man is not the material particles that make up his body1 but form4 ,this form is a reality1 but not a materiality4 ,if the interaction of the component parts1 under the influence of externalities1 ceases to work towards the preservation of the formative faculty or re-combining influence1 a material presentation of form will not re-ensue1 and the discontinuance of the formative element is ,reality1 ,truth1 ,nirvana1 ,god4 ,if the desire to describe a triangle on paper does not exist1 the materialized presentation of a real axiomatic triangle will not be formed1 while the perfect triangle still remains a ,reality4 ,in this case1 under certain influences1 the formative faculty has been subdued1 and the consequence is that the material form of the triangle1 in its necessary imperfection1 has not been produced4 ,the perfect triangle is the undescribed triangle4 ,should bubbles on the surface of the ocean be deprived of this formative faculty which made them as they are1 the power to resume their shape after dissolution would be gone for ever4 ,but if the faculty to re-form remained1 they would again crop up on the surface of the sea1 the formative faculty making use of the materials at hand under the influences of form4 ,analogously1 the ,saint1 according to ,buddhism1 who is rid of the formative faculty1 does not re-exist as a phenomenal being4 ,it might be objected that to make use of the expression formative faculty is only to revert to the doctrine of essences and faculties as principles of explanation1 and to rely on the exploded superstition of apriorism4 ,but this is not the case4 ,the formative faculty is a quality of form1 and form is an experience4 ,the intangible and manifest1 such as form1 can as reasonably be credited with qualities as the tangible and material4 ,the soul is a special form of life1 as the flame is a special form of motion4 ,it is also a product of life1 and life is the arrangement and re-arrangement of matter1 subject to form1 with which are associated the qualities of matter and the relations and interactions of these qualities4 ,gotama1 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus remarks1 strange to say1 anticipated the modern conception of the soul as it is now taught by the most advanced scientists of ,europe4 ,st4 ,paul1 too1 may be reckoned as one who1 if he had lived in these days1 would have given his support to that positive philosophy which regards the soul as a product of materiality2 for1 he says3 ,howbeit that was not first which was spiritual1 but that which was natural1 and afterwards that which is spiritual4 ,the first man is of the earth earthy2 the second man 7the soul7 is the ,lord from heaven4 ,when the distinction between the expressions materiality and reality is clearly discerned1 it removes a difficulty out of our way when we come to consider a means of bringing into harmony the ,christian and ,buddhist conception of soul4 ,it has been contended that1 if you deny substance to the soul1 it is tantamount to asserting the non-existence of the soul4 ,but if it is admitted that reality has existence as well as materiality1 this objection falls to the ground4 ,the definition of matter as that which occupies space is not a comprehensive one4 ,it is only the definition of a supposed quality of matter2 it is abstracted in our minds from other qualities4 ,therefore1 if we regard soul1 more especially in its sublimated condition1 as something akin to a quality of matter after matter1 as we perceive it1 has been abstracted1 we have a residuum which both ,christians and ,buddhists alike can accept as an approximate explanation of the nature of soul4 ,the eschatology of the soul1 as indicated in the two systems1 is less easy to harmonize4 ,the soul1 according to ,catholic notions1 after the death of the body1 undergoes a purgatorial process2 and1 in the general view of ,protestants1 awaits--sleeping or waking--in the ante-room of a judgment-hall until a final verdict is pronounced on the ,day of ,doom2 and then1 and not till then1 is it allotted its ultimate rest or unrest4 ,on the other hand1 that which is in ,buddhistic thought the counterpart of this soul1 whether we call it a group of ideas or the effects of ,karma1 must submit1 till absolutely bereft of the formative faculty or desire to live1 to continuous incarnations4 ,this1 however1 does not involve a process of transmigration1 as is sometimes incorrectly assumed4 ,several illustrations have been made use of to explain the migrationless nature of the process4 ,when a lamp is lit at a burning lamp there is a kindling of the wick1 but no transmigration of the flame4 ,a thought is conveyed by words from one to another1 but of the thought itself there is no migration4 ,neither is there migration of any part of an object to a photographic plate1 nor in the reflection of an object in a mirror4 ,it is matter for speculation whether the ,christian idea of tarriance in an ante-room1 and more especially the purgatorial process1 might not be strained in meaning so as to imply that re-incarnation on this planet is the fate of some souls1 prior to their ultimate reception into ,paradise or condemnation to everlasting fire4 ,some such idea1 maybe1 was afloat in the lifetime of ,jesus1 when the question was asked3 ,is this ,elias come again8 ,the ,christian and ,buddhist conception of soul differs considerably as to position4 ,the one stands isolated2 the other is not so posited4 ,the soul1 according to the ,buddhist1 is not a self-in-itself4 ,buddhism does not deny the existence of a soul or individuality1 but denies the independent existence of a soul or individuality4 ,the ,christian conception of the soul corresponds with that of ,kapila1 the founder of the ,sankhya philosophy1 in so far as he conceived the soul to be a kind of transcendent1 sublimated body1 the thinker of our thoughts and the doer of our acts4 ,this dualism was rejected by ,gotama4 ,it is necessary to bear in mind1 with a view to the proper comprehension of ,buddhist teaching in regard to the immortality of the soul1 that1 although the ,samskras1 or soul-forms1 constituting our existence1 come to an end as activities in the case of the saint who has extinguished desire1 there remains an immortal residuum in the unconditioned elements of soul-form which are beyond the reach of death4 ,after death such a saint might be said to have a continued existence 7as others have7 in the effects shed upon others by his ,karma during his lifetime4 ,the difference1 as ,i understand it1 is this3 that1 in the case of the saint1 the formative element of ,karma1 as it has taken shape in bodily existence1 ceases to be from the date of his sainthood2 and subsequently the effects of ,karma1 which must continue to be shed on others as impressions as long as he lives1 are informative--that is1 do not carry with them a desire to live2 and1 consequently1 the saint1 from the date of his sainthood1 may be said to have no continuing existence in the life of another sentient being4 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 in his handy little book1 entitled ,the ,dharma2 or1 ,the ,religion of ,enlightenment1 remarks3 ,buddhism sheds a new light upon ,christian doctrine4 ,thus the continuity in the evolution of life1 which does away with a wrong conception of a separate self1 explains and justifies the ,christian idea of original sin 7or1 as it ought to be called1 'inherited sin'72 for men inherit not only the curse of their ancestors' sin1 but actually consist of their sinful dispositions2 every man is a re-incarnation of previous deeds1 and represents1 for good and for evil1 their legitimate continuation4 ,being1 in a ,buddhistic sense1 in the words of ,professor ,oldenberg's translator1 is the procession regulated by the law of causality--of continuous being at every moment1 self-consuming and anew-begetting4 ,what is termed a souled being is one individual in the line of this procession1 one flame in a sea of flame4 ,so quaintly beautiful is the following dialogue between ,king ,milinda 7the ,greek ,king ,menander7 and the ,saint ,nagasena that1 notwithstanding its frequent quotation1 ,i venture to reproduce it3-- ,the ,saint ,nagasena says3 ',it is not the same being1 and yet they are separate beings1 which relieve one another in the series of existences4' ',give an illustration1' says ,king ,milinda4 ',if a man were to light a light1 ,o great king1 would it not burn through the night8'--',yes1 sire2 it would burn through the night4' ',how1 then1 ,o great king1 is the flame in the first watch of the night identical with the flame in the midnight watch8'--',no1 sire4' ',and the flame in the midnight watch--is it identical with the flame in the last watch of the night8'--',no1 sire4' ',but how then1 ,o great king1 was the light in the first watch of the night another1 in the midnight watch another1 and in the last watch of the night another8'--',no1 sire2 it has burned all night long1 feeding on the same fuel4' ',so1 also1 ,o great king1 the chain of elements of being 7,dhamma7 completes itself2 the one comes1 the other goes4 ,without beginning1 without end1 the circle completes itself2 therefore it is neither the same being nor another being which presents itself last to the consciousness4',,ad ,,ad ,from ,buddhism1 by ,professor ,oldenberg4 ,omar ,khayyam says3-- ,we are no other than a moving show ,of magic shadow-shapes that come and go4 ,the body disappears1 even in ,christian eschatology1 as an earthly body for ever2 but its scattered chemicals are re-utilized1 according to some1 to clothe the soul in heavenly places1 or for purposes of torture and indescribable anguish4 ,others have sought consolation in the thought of the reappearance of the body's elements in various beautiful forms--in the ruby goblet1 in the flowers1 in the foam of the sea3-- ,and this reviving herb1 whose tender green ,hedges the river-lip on which we lean-- ,ah1 lean upon it lightly2 for who knows ,from what once lovely lip it springs unseen6 ,of those believing in the separateness of the soul there may be many who fondly crave that the gentle dews of eternal sleep may fall at last upon its suppliant eyes4 ,he giveth ,his beloved sleep4 ,a writer in the ,monist of ,january1 #ahih1 makes the following remarks in a reference to self3 ,in the psychological theories of ,christianity and ,buddhism there is more agreement than at first sight appears1 for it is difficult to say what we must understand by self4 ',personality' is used by ,christian thinkers in a very loose sense4 ,in the doctrine of the ,trinity it is not incompatible to speak of three personalities in ,one4 ,he quotes texts from ,st4 ,paul's epistles to the ,corinthians3 ,i have planted1 ,apollos watered1 but ,god gave the increase4 ,so1 then1 neither is he that planteth anything1 neither he that watereth1 but ,god that giveth the increase4 ,now1 he that planteth and he that watereth are one4 ,in this connection the writer observes3 ,here1 apparently1 everyone is supposed to have no separate existence whatever1 except in ,god and through ,god4 ,the self1 soul1 or individuality1 which continues after the dissolution of the body1 has been broadly described as character or disposition2 therefore1 in using the term self in a ,buddhistic sense1 we must put aside every idea beyond what is conveyed to the mind by this interpretation4 ,this character or disposition does not come to an end as an activity until ,tanha1 or the thirst to live for living's sake1 is extinct4 ,therefore1 when ,buddhistic thought is converted into conventional language1 we must be cautious how we interpret such a statement as ,we are saved by our individual merits4 ,the we here means only character1 which1 if improved during a lifetime1 carries with it this improvement1 of which a new being will reap the benefits4 ,professor ,rhys ,davids calls the mystery of ,karma a desperate expedient1 a wonderful hypothesis1 an airy nothing1 an imaginary cause beyond the reach of reason4 ,but he previously states that it affords an explanation quite complete1 to those who can believe it1 of the apparent anomalies and wrongs in the distribution here of happiness and woe4 ,so it may be said1 also1 of the mysteries attaching to ,christianity4 ,they satisfy the believer1 though they present difficulties to the reasoner4 ,according to the ,christian formula1 we are1 as ,burton says1 fallen beings1 not through our own fault2 condemned to death1 not through our own demerits2 ransomed by a ,divine ,being1 not through our own merits4 ,the ,buddhist saying1 ,from birth came death1 and the story of the ,garden of ,eden1 seem to possess some figurative connection with the transition of micro-organisms from a fissiparous to a duogynous condition4 ,the amba is endowed with the potentialities of eternal life2 but when the spermatozoid and ovule 7the symbolic serpent and apple7 appeared on the scene1 when the luminous ,adam passed successively through the fissiparous and androgynous states1 and finally became man and woman1 death entered into the world4 ,the writer in the ,monist already referred to1 commenting upon the text1 ,every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour 7#a ,cor4 i4 #e71 says3 ,the coincidence of ,buddhism and ,christianity is remarkable in this passage2 for1 as the ,buddhist ,scriptures speak of the fruits of ,karma1 so ,paul speaks of the rewards of one's labour4 ,mr4 ,lillie1 in referring to the doctrine of re-incarnation1 quotes from an article in the ,church ,quarterly ,review1,,ae in which1 he says1 the author of the article1 in proof of the existence of this doctrine1 adduces the question put by the disciples of ,christ in reference to the man born blind4 ,and if it was considered that a man could be born blind as a punishment for sin1 then it must have been plainly committed before his birth4 ,in the ,white ,lotus of ,dharma there is an account of the healing of a blind man3 ,because of the sinful conduct of the man 7in a former birth7 this malady has arisen4 ,he also remarks that1 in the case of the paralytic 7,luke v4 #ah71 the cure was effected1 not by any physical processes1 but by annulling the sins which were the cause of the malady4 ,,ae ,october1 #ahhe4 ,the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,spence ,hardy1 in his ,manual of ,buddhism1 observes that no one can tell but a ,buddha how ,karma operates or how the chain of existence commenced4 ,it is as vain to ask in what part of the tree the fruit exists before the blossom is put forth as to ask for the locality of ,karma4 ,when the ,king of ,sgal inquired where ,karma resides1 its locality1 ,nagasena replied3 ,karma is like a shadow that always accompanies the body4 ,but it cannot be said that it is here1 or that it is there2 in this place1 or in that place4 ,it has1 ,i believe1 been stated by some writers that it would have been as well if ,gotama had not encumbered his teaching with such a complex and metaphysical theory as ,karma1 and had confined himself to the admirable moral precepts which form the real backbone of his system4 ,it has been thought1 too1 that in introducing ,karma into his scheme of things he was playing the rle of an opportunist1 because he felt it to be necessary for the success of his mission that it should not be altogether severed in outline from such a conception as that of metempsychosis1 which was deeply implanted in the minds of the ,brahmanic philosophers of those times4 ,buddhism would certainly have been incomplete if it had not included mysteries1 as ,christianity would not be ,christianity without an admixture of the indefinable4 ,karma1 as working1 may1 ,i think1 be regarded as one of the essential components of ,christian thought with regard to the soul4 ,it is the working of the soul at the same time1 the being-made-soul or disposition4 ,as the latter it is heritable and appropriable2 its effects are endless1 and this working is carried on1 so to speak1 from generation to generation1 organically and inorganically--in the rock1 in the flower1 and in all animal life--the same producing the same1 and yet not the same4 ,the doctrine of ,karma is justifiably proclaimed as the most important tenet of ,buddhism1 for on it depends the whole system of morality and of individual responsibility2 and yet1 strange to say1 there is no part of ,buddhism which has occasioned so much controversy and difference of opinion4 ,it is at once the foundation of belief for millions of true believers and the basis of scepticism on the part of many who would otherwise willingly concur in the dogmas of this religion4 ,in this respect it holds an analogous position to that of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body in the judgment of ,christianity4 ,is it possible1 some ask1 that a belief in the doctrine of ,karma1 which has exercised so enormous an influence for good over countless millions of human creatures--many of them men of the highest order of culture and intellectuality--should only be resolvable into an airy nothing8 ,we may have to acknowledge that the reason is not able to follow the idea of ,karma through all its phases1 nor yet to assimilate the various postulates which it demands4 ,but can ,christianity boast of doctrines which are always reducible to the canons of reason and common sense8 ,we think not4 ,here1 again1 we find a common ground between these two religions4 ,neither is capable of being wholly defended by matter-of-fact methods2 both demand a certain measure of faith from their adherents4 ,the strength of the dogma of ,karma lies rather in the fact that1 like the ideas of free-will1 heaven1 and ,god1 it is innate in a large portion of mankind2 and it would be sheer presumption to dismiss with a few contemptuous phrases a belief which is deeply embedded in nearly one-half of the human race4 ,the seeming injustice of the unequal distribution of happiness and suffering among human beings is a problem which ,christianity does not attempt to solve4 ,buddhism1 on the other hand1 grapples with the difficulty2 and we have the much-debated doctrine of ,karma as the result4 ,there can be no doubt that this doctrine1 once accepted1 removes all difficulty out of the way4 ,karma is literally action1 or doing4 ,this action1 after death1 and during life too1 bears fruit1 for the consequences of action cannot be destroyed4 ,it is1 in fact1 the scientific theory of the conservation of energy4 ,when the individual dies his ,karma effects are re-incarnated1 as it were1 in another being1 and form the connecting link between the two individuals--the one the author of the ,karma effects1 the other the inheritor of them4 ,in this particular way we have a sufficient explanation and justification of moral retribution4 ,how this second individual comes into existence expressly for the purpose of inheriting the ,karma of the first1 and the nature and mode of the transmigration of ,karma1 are questions which have generally been placed beyond the scope of the human intellect1 and will be considered later on4 ,a way out of this difficulty has been proposed1 by which1 while still adhering to the essentials of the doctrine of ,karma1 we can reduce it to a form more capable of being grasped and supported by our reason2 but it has no authority among the utterances of ,gotama1 and1 in accepting it1 we should be diverging somewhat from orthodox ,buddhism4 ,suppose we take as an analogy the case of a river1 which1 after flowing some hundreds of miles1 is dried up by the heat of the sun4 ,it is evident that the river1 while flowing between its banks1 has been absorbed in a great measure by the porous earth1 and has gone to fructify the soil4 ,the trees1 grass1 and crops which have been produced by its moisture are1 of course1 its ,karma--the effects of its action1 or doing4 ,when it has ceased to flow1 the whole of its ,karma has been dissipated into various effects1 which1 in their turn becoming causes1 exercise their influence over practically the whole earth4 ,there is no ,karma1 intact and integrated1 which1 according to some views of ,buddhism1 should be the raison d'tre of another river4 ,in the same way1 an individual1 while alive1 scatters his ,karma 7or the influence of his character7 among his surroundings4 ,when he has ceased to live he has also ceased to act1 and1 consequently1 there can be no more ,karma4 ,this is one way of getting rid of the idea of a lump of ,karma1 which after death1 in some way or another1 is supposed to produce1 or to have produced1 for it another body1 into which it may carry the defects1 virtues1 vices1 and follies of its originator4 ,another weakness which has been considered inseparable from the orthodox teaching of ,buddhism is the fact that it seems to fail to account fully for the action of heredity4 ,when two people have children1 does it not appear right to think that their children should inherit their ,karma8 ,but it is obviously impossible that this should be the case1 except in the unlikely contingency of both parents dying exactly at the moment of their children's birth4 ,and1 again1 why should a man's ,karma be embodied in an individual having no visible connection with his offspring2 or how can we reconcile the non-existence of self-hood as a permanent entity with the recognition of a more or less self-sufficient ,karma1 which preserves its separateness not only through life1 but after death1 and into life again8 ,these and other similar questions arise1 and demand explanation from the bewildered brain4 ,these questions1 it has been contended1 do not arise as difficulties impossible of solution1 if we consider the analogy given above4 ,the children of two people are obviously their ,karma1 and they appropriate1 so to speak1 a very large proportion of the effects of their doing--as it is only just and reasonable that they should do4 ,innumerable actions on the part of the parents have led up to acquaintance and union1 and the birth of the child is merely the climax of an endless chain of causes and effects4 ,but this process of reasoning closely borders on the confines of metempsychosis1 in the phraseology of which the doctrine of ,karma has often been mistakenly expounded4 ,the doctrine of ,karma is a modification of metempsychosis1 and1 as such1 certainly stands on a more scientific and rational basis than its prototype4 ,in consequence of the intermixture of the two theories in the minds of exponents of ,karma1 much misapprehension has arisen1 and this doctrine continues to be a stumbling-block to students of ,buddhism4 ,a considerable amount of confusion arises also1 ,i think1 from the fact that writers on ,buddhism fail to discriminate between ,karma1 the law of ,karma1 and the effects of ,karma1 although the word ,karma includes the two latter4 ,it is a mistake to assume that ,karma1 interpreted as thoughts1 words1 and actions1 is perpetuated as such1 for each thought1 word1 and action passes for ever away while it happens2 each dies1 yet each continues for all eternity in the effect it produces4 ,the being of a past moment of thought has lived1 but does not live1 nor will it live4 ,the being of a future moment of thought will live1 but has not lived1 nor does it live4 ,the being of the present moment of thought will live1 but has not lived1 nor will it live4 ,it cannot be held1 therefore1 if we read ,buddhism aright1 that ,karma in itself possesses continuity4 ,the ',i' of to-day has to take all the consequences of the actions 7,karma7 which the ',i' of yesterday performed4 ,thus the individualized ,karma of future times will reap all that which the individualizing ,karma of the present time sows4,,af ,,af ,paul ,carus4 ,professor ,rhys ,davids 7,buddhism1 p4 #ajc7 says3 ,identity is preserved in that which alone remains when a man dies2 in the result1 namely1 of his action1 speech1 and thought1 in his good or evil ,karma 7literally his 'doing'7 which does not die4 ,this statement would have gained in clearness if he had written in the result of his good or evil ,karma which does not die1 in the concluding sentence4 ,if we allow ourselves to consider ,karma1 taken in the sense of doing1 as retaining a separateness apart from its diffusion of influences1 and being carried on from generation to generation as an individualized compound1 then we at once find ourselves in direct conflict with the doctrine of inseparateness1 which is the mainstay of the rationality of ,buddhist thought1 the basic concept of ,buddhism4 ,if we understand by the ,samskras that phase of a man's soul which is impressed upon other generations by heredity and education1 and that which is preserved by the law of ,karma and conditions the continuity of man's existence in the whirl of constant changes1 it must be exclusively in the sense that these ,samskras are formative faculties peculiar to1 and always to be found 7in normal cases7 in interconnection with1 those temporary aggregations which present themselves to our perceptions as human beings1 but which are not permanent4 ,it is only when the expressions ,karma and action are used in their widest meaning1 and include this formative faculty1 that they can with propriety be regarded as possessing continuity1 but not permanency4 ,the particular formative faculty ceases to be1 in those exceptional cases when it directs itself to the cessation of all conformations4 ,this self-forming formative faculty1 in its normal condition1 is the cause of the continuity of being1 or becoming4 ,its disappearance is happiness4 ,we find this ,buddhistic truth very clearly stated in the ,new ,testament4 ,he who loses his life shall find it--which1 being interpreted1 is ,he who loses the formative faculty shall find the deathless4 ,karma1 as thought1 speech1 and action1 must be regarded as the ethical individuality1 and the body as the corporeal individuality4 ,as things in themselves they are both impermanent1 but the effects of both are lasting4 ,there are physiological and local as well as psychological results to be taken into account4 ,the body is continually shedding effects1 and lives again after death in its diffused elements2 so ,karma gives off effects and lives again in its moral results2 yet both these individualities are inseparably connected as long as the individual's life lasts4 ,the text so often quoted in this connection should1 for purposes of ,buddhistic exposition1 read3 ,what a man sows1 that will the race 7not he7 reap4 ,herein is that saying true1 one soweth and another reapeth 7,john iv4 #cg74 ,man weaves and is clothed with derision2 ,sows1 but shall not reap4 ,his life is a watch and a vision1 ,between a sleep and a sleep4 ,what has been called physical or local ,karma is applied to the effects of locality and climate upon the development of races and individuals4 ,a writer in the ,journal of the ,maha-,bodhi ,society 7,november1 #ahih7;,,ag says3 ,the theory of ,karma1 as ,gautama formulated it1 is all-embracing and comprehensive4 ,it ranges over the whole field of life and morality4 ,it ascribes causes for things2 explains the working of the complicated machinery of the cosmos2 abolishes the unwholesome idea of universal chaos and absence of motive power2 substitutes in its place a definite and well-arranged system admirably suited to the needs of mankind2 and finally establishes firmly the supreme importance of individual morality and responsibility4 ,what more can one desire8 ',all very well1' the sceptic replies4 ',it may perform all you say it does1 but ,i must be able to grasp it thoroughly and work it out in my own mind4 ,i will take nothing for granted4 ,i must be able to follow1 to understand it1 and harmonize it with facts of which ,i have certain knowledge4 ,none of your vague insinuations for me4' ,i reply3 ,how can you with your limited and finite empirical knowledge fully understand that which is limitless and infinite8 ,the doctrine of ,karma embraces all the greatest problems of life and the cosmos2 and how can you1 a mere atom in the universe1 expect to grasp the whole8 ,it is sufficient that you should have a working theory which fulfils your requirements1 and is at the same time sanctioned by your reasoning power4 ,more you cannot expect to have4 ,the doctrine of ,karma1 in short1 marches step by step with our reason4 ,at no point does it break away from the laws of common sense4 ,the difficulty lies in the fact that1 while our reasoning at a certain point comes to a halt through lack of further material1 the doctrine of ,karma perseveres onwards into the spheres of higher knowledge whither our limited brain capacity cannot follow4 ,,ag ,the ,doctrine of ,karma1 by ,henry ,melancthon ,strong4 99 99 99 99 99 ,there are two methods by which the doctrine of ,karma may be explained--viz41 by individualization and by generalization2 the former is the more orthodox and popular1 the latter more sound and philosophical4 ,but1 although we find in the recorded sayings of ,gautama support of the former and little or none of the latter1 ,i think we may infer that his attitude was due to the exigencies of the conditions under which he lived and the ignorance of the masses who surrounded him4 ,for the same reason ,christ was forced to clothe his teachings in simple and primitive guise in order that they might be readily grasped by the popular mind4 ,as an outcome of this necessity1 we have the parables of the ,new ,testament and much of the veiled language therein contained4 ,to these are due in large measure the controversies and differences of opinion which now exist as to the proper interpretation of the words of ,christ4 ,the significance of many of ,buddha's utterances has been similarly degraded4 ,countless 'birth stories' have sprung up to satisfy the popular craving for something concrete and simple in which to believe4 ,their themes have no real authority in ,buddhistic teaching1 but they serve the same purpose as do the ,christian parables and myths4 ,the student of ,buddhism who stumbles upon them by chance may be led into false notions with regard to the religion1 and accept as authoritative that which has no real authority4 ,herein lies their harm4 ,that they are not strictly in accordance with ,gautama's teachings there can be no doubt4 ,the theory of soul-transmigration upon which these tales are chiefly founded is an excrescence on ,buddhism1 and should be regarded in the light of a heresy4 ,as ,professor ,rhys ,davids observes3 ',buddhism does not teach the transmigration of souls4 ,its doctrine would be better summarized as the transmigration of character4' ,professor ,oldenberg puts with much clearness the teaching of the action of transmigration and ,karma when he says3 ',buddhism teaches3 ,my action is my possession1 my action is my inheritance1 my action is the womb which bears me1 my action is the race to which ,i am akin4 ,what appears to man to be his body is in truth the action of his past state1 which1 assuming a form realized through his endeavours1 has become endowed with a tangible existence4' ,the same idea is expressed in a slightly different form by ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 who says3 ',we ourselves continue in the accumulated results of our actions4' ,in these concise and seemingly simple statements we have the fundamental dogma of ,buddhism and the foundation of ,gautama's system as it has been handed down to us4 ,when we come to analyze them carefully1 the difficulties which at first lie hidden become apparent4 ,we see that a man during his lifetime scatters the effects of his actions 7i4e41 his ,karma7 in all directions4 ,upon his death a new sentient being1 'realized through his endeavour1' comes into existence to inherit and carry on his ,karma4 ,these two beings are not connected in any way the one with the other4 ,there has been no transmigration of soul or of the ego1 for ,buddhism denies the existence of either as a permanent entity1 but describes them as temporary aggregations only4 ,how1 then1 does moral retribution act8 or how can we reconcile the non-existence of self as a permanent entity with the recognition of the existence of a more or less integral and permanent ,karma which preserves its separateness1 not only through life1 but after death and into life again4 ,how1 too1 is it possible that his ,karma1 although scattered in all directions during his term of life1 at the moment of death is intact and whole for transmission to another body8 ,moreover1 it is obvious that1 if the death of one human being is the cause of the birth of another1 the human race would not progress numerically4 ,the very fact of the numerical increase of mankind defeats this theory and renders it untenable by all those who desire to believe only what their reason sanctions1 and to eschew whatever demands the acceptance of authority or the exercise of faith4 ,in short1 as ,professor ,rhys ,davids has put it1 the weakness of the ,buddhistic conception is that 'the result of what a man is1 or does1 is held not to be dissipated 444 but to be concentrated together in the formation of one new sentient being4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,by digressing somewhat from strict ,buddhistic teaching1 and leaving behind the letter 7not the spirit7 of the law1 we can1 ,i think1 arrive at a more satisfactory explanation by a method ,i have called 'generalization1' in contradistinction to the method just dealt with--viz41 ,individualization4 ,according to the orthodox conception1 an individual takes up the ,karma of another while it is intact and has not suffered from distribution and dispersion4 ,but there is a broader and less primitive1 albeit more heterodox1 manner in which we may regard the doctrine1 and one which1 ,i think1 we may infer was in the mind of ,gotama himself when he enunciated the narrower conception in order to simplify it sufficiently to be capable of being grasped by the ignorant4 ,instead of a man's ,karma being individualized--i4e41 handed on in an integral state from individual to individual--we should regard it rather as having been generalized and disintegrated during life1 leaving no residuum at death4 ,thus1 what is inherited at birth is not the ,karma of any one person1 but rather the ,karma of the race as a whole4 ',the souls of men continue to exist as they are impressed upon other generations by heredity and education1',,ah but the soul of the individual does not continue to exist4 ,it is the soul of the race1 not of the individual1 which is perpetuated4 ,,ah ,dr4 ,paul ,carus in ,buddhism and its ,christian ,critics4 ,the ,karmas of all are1 as it were1 cast into the mixing-pot and thoroughly sifted1 and then1 and not till then1 embodied in different forms4 ,seeming inequality of division must be accounted for by the action of local ,karma4,,ai ,there is obviously an advantage associated with this theory not applicable to the theory of individualization4 ,whereas the latter tends to promote the fallacious idea of personality and self-hood1 the former has a wider significance1 and tends rather to promote the belief in universal brotherhood by merging personalities into one great whole4 ,it is1 in fact1 more truly ,buddhistic1 and1 by inspiring a more cosmopolitan sentiment of fellowship1 is calculated to overcome1 in a great degree1 that fallacy most difficult of all fallacies to overcome--the idea of the ego as a permanent entity4 ,the difficulty1 also1 which is universally felt of accounting for the birth of a new sentient being at every death is by this means obviated4444 ,,ai ,local ,karma4--,the term is used to express the character stamped upon any place by the action of former dwellers therein4 ,those who follow afterwards are supposed to inherit the ,karma of the locality4 ,thus we see the nations at the present day expiating the sins of their forefathers1 or enjoying the fruits of their good deeds4 ,it is a well-known fact1 also1 that crimes tend to repeat themselves in the same districts1 and even houses4 ,most assuredly we require an explanation of our present condition1 and we must accord all honour to ,buddhism for having afforded us one both rational and satisfactory4 ,when men come to see and to realize that by every deed committed1 and by every word uttered1 they are carving out1 for evil or good1 the future of the race1 and that the suffering they now endure they owe entirely to the past sins of humanity1 their sense of responsibility will be increased1 their hold upon morality strengthened1 the bond of unity1 'the brotherhood of man1' confirmed4 ,abolish the fallacy of cosmic chaos2 substitute in its stead the idea of a definite system and purpose2 show that man is the only framer of his destiny1 the only author of his existence1 the only cause of his own suffering--and the foundation of morality will be made sure1 the redemption of the race brought within measurable distance4 ,this is the end for which the doctrine of ,karma was formulated1 and to this end it has been labouring1 a silent but progressive force1 for many centuries4 ,the ,rev4 ,t4 ,sterling ,berry1 ,d4,d41 in his ,comparative ,study of ,christianity and ,buddhism1 treats the latter as a whole in a spirit of commendable catholicity2 but when he comes to points of contrast he fails signally to preserve equanimity of judgment1 and distorts the import of ,gotama's precepts in the most amazing fashion in his endeavour to bring them into opposition to the teaching of ,jesus4 ,his view of ,karma1 however1 is1 ,i think1 a valuable contribution to the literature on the subject1 and worthy of reproduction4 ,he writes3 ,strange and well nigh unintelligible as this theory seems1 it is nevertheless possible1 ,i believe1 to get at the real thought that moulded ,gotama's conception--actions of every kind as possessing the nature of seed sown2 men were found1 to some extent1 to reap the consequences of their actions during their lifetime2 but this takes place only in a limited and incomplete sense during the existence to which the actions belong4 ,at the close of a life many acts remain like seed sown1 but not yet grown up4 ,hence the theory that when a man dies he leaves the sum-total of the acts of his life as a kind of complex seed1 made up of good and bad elements1 which1 by his death1 springs up into a fresh existence1 the same and yet not the same2 in somewhat of the sense in which it might be said that ordinary seed which springs up as identical and yet not identical with that which is sown4 ,viewed in this light1 the theory loses its apparent absurdity4 ,it becomes1 in fact1 a mode of expressing partly what we understand by the law of heredity1 which involves a transference of character and a reproduction of the consequences of action2 and partly the law of retribution1 that ',whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap4' ,the continuance of an individual's ,karma1 conceived as the effects of a man's character upon individuals whom he influences1 is a perfectly thinkable process1 and a generally accepted fact4 ,but1 when we are called upon to consider how it comes about that1 on the death of a sentient being1 a new sentient being is at once produced1 to take up the effects of the deceased one's ,karma1 then we seem to be launched into a mystery that can only be explained by another mystery4 ,if such a doctrine is to be interpreted literally1 it would seem to necessitate a numerical equality of births and deaths2 a new-born babe would have to be ready at each death to receive the ,karma-effects of the deceased4 ,it might1 however1 be made faintly thinkable by including available births in other solar systems1 and by allowing for a certain number of ,karmas coming to an end by the attainment of ,nirvana4 ,this planet is held by ,buddhists to be in sympathetic relationship with the other worlds1 and there are countless millions of beings who change places4 ,a number of men die somewhere on this earth1 and they may not be re-born here at all2 a number of beings die in some other planet1 and may be re-born here at the same time4 ,this particular phase of the doctrine of ,karma has been so distinctly enunciated in ,buddhist writings that it becomes a question for the interpreter of ,buddhism to decide whether it should be retained as a literal statement1 and so dismissed as an unthinkable1 or whether it should be given the chance of being classified as rational by expansive treatment4 ,buddhism is so systematically and eminently rationalistic throughout its teaching that one feels impelled to a supreme effort to sustain its reputation in this one respect4 ,in any case it would seem just to assume that it had a rationalistic basis in the mind of ,gotama1 however difficult it may be for us to discover the foundation of ,rationalism on which it rests4 ,an apparently irrational theory should not be rejected as irrational as long as it is within the bounds of possibility that the apparent irrationality is due to the limitations of our reason1 or the absence of data1 that have not come under our experience and knowledge of ,cosmic laws4 ,everything may be contrary to what we think it to be2 and everything may be opinion only4 ,as some beautiful poems cannot be thought out in connection with one's immediate environment without a loss of poetic value1 but require mental transposition to a distant and different scene for their beauty to be fully and poetically realized1 so1 unless we remove our imagination from its every-day associations to an entirely different scenery of thought1 we cannot expect to intelligently appreciate the complete significance of ,buddhistic conceptions4 ,as ,professor ,oldenberg puts it1 we must1 when approaching the study of ,buddhism1 divest ourselves wholly of all customary modes of thinking4 ,buddhism lays stress everywhere upon the connectiveness of everything with everything2 and everything is1 at all times1 something other than itself4 ,consciousness 7,vinnna71 for instance1 is described as that which enters into the womb1 and from which arise name and corporeal form2 yet consciousness and name and corporeal form have no individual existence4 ,body1 perceptions1 and sensations vanish1 but not conscience2 but consciousness only exists as long as it is connected with name and corporeal form4 ,consciousness1 however1 is not essentially different from perceptions and sensations2 it is also a ,samskra1 and1 like all other ,samskras1 it is changeable1 and without substance4,,aj ,,aj ,in the place of a sphere of being1 with its supply of ready-made consciousness for the transmissive process in the brain1 as hypothecated by ,professor ,william ,james in his lecture on ,human ,immortality1 ,i would substitute a formative faculty immanent in the universe1 and assume the metamorphosis into consciousness1 as we know it1 to be a function of the brain4 ,this theory would be quite reconcileable with the physiological view that consciousness is the final phase of the activity of the sensory nerves in the cortex of that organ4 ,fechner's conception of a psycho-physical threshold would also adapt itself to this theory as well as to the other2 the threshold being understood as representing the functional capacity of the brain to extend or limit the scope of consciousness4 ,the ultimate extension of consciousness would result in a return to the elemental informative4 ,in the case of limited extension1 consciousness would be carried on as a consciousness-germ1 or ,skandha1 into a new being1 on the death of a being4 ,consciousness has been described as the director of the organs1 and1 in this sense1 vaguely assumes the place of an ego4 ,consciousness1 as a highly-developed and insubstantial product of the brain1 possesses the faculty of acting in the manner of choice2 it is derived from conformations1 and conformations from ignorance4 ,there is a continuance of soul-forms after the death of an individual--that is1 of the impressions caused by the character of an individual4 ,this is the preservation of form by means of ,karma 7deeds74 ,obviously these soul-forms cannot continue unless there is an individual to receive the impression4 ,therefore1 when it is said that1 immediately upon the death of a sentient being1 another sentient being is produced to receive the effects of the deceased's ,karma1 the statement may have been only intended to imply that for the continuance of soul-forms there must always be sentient beings to receive their impressions4 ,it does not seem necessary to suppose that on ,a's death ,b takes up the whole of ,a's ,karma4 ,the effects of ,a's ,karma have been impressed1 more or less1 on all those who have come in his lifetime1 and will come after his death1 within range of his influence4 ,in the latter case the influence is continued in the effects of his writings1 speech1 or other actions4 ,an individual during his lifetime will be impressed with the effects of the ,karma of many individuals1 and has to take the consequences1 whether good or bad1 with power of adding to or modifying the received effects4 ,the same character of deeds reappears wherever his deeds have impressed themselves on other minds4 ,the subject of ,karma becomes hopelessly complicated if such a statement as the following is taken literally3 ,buddhism is convinced that1 if a man reaps sorrow1 disappointment1 pain1 he himself1 and no other1 must at some time have sown folly1 error1 sin2 if not in this life1 then in some former birth4 ,the language here employed is liable1 unless the reader is on his guard1 to take him back to the heresy of ,metempsychosis1 which ,buddhism arose to destroy4 ,it perhaps needs reiteration that the ,he ,himself in a former birth is not even the deeds of a different set of ,skandhas--of a body of different constituent parts4 ,the ,he ,himself is only the effects of deeds done by a constantly becoming and constantly vanishing set of ,skandhas1 the particles of the human tornado which assume temporary form4 ,the effects received become the ,he ,himself2 herein is the retributive phase of the doctrine of ,karma4 ,the effects of ,karma on their passage through preceding births on to future births are the only existent and continuing ,i4 ,a1 who has received good influences from ,b1 bad from ,c1 and indifferent from ,d1 has lived before1 in a ,buddhistic sense1 in ,b1 ,c1 and ,d4 ,buddhistic birth stories should1 ,i think1 be read in this light4 ,when ,a performs an action similar to one performed centuries ago by ,b1 it is to be understood that the effects of that particular action in ,b have reached ,a through many intervening lives in either a modified or unmodified form4 ,other actions of ,a which had not been performed by ,b must be traced back in their effects to ,c1 ,d1 ,e1 etc4 ,a has only lived as ,b by virtue of the effects of particular and similar acts reaching him through the law of cause and effect4 ,within the sphere of causality we can all exclaim with ,jesus3 ',before ,abraham was ,i am4' ,there is yet another direction in which we may look for a solution of the problem4 ,life or being is frequently compared in ,buddhistic expositions to a flame which is the same1 and yet not the same1 from the time it is lighted to the time of its extinction4 ,each moment of being passes away as1 simultaneously or concurrently1 a moment of being commences2 and in this sense1 on the death of a being1 another being is simultaneously produced1 until being comes to an end with death1 as the flame expires at the moment of extinction4 ,this view agrees with that part of ,buddhistic philosophy which asserts that nothing survives being except the effects of being2 being1 in this connection1 being taken as the entire life-history of an organism1 whether animal or vegetable1 and as the existence of a flame from its inception to its extinction4 ,the working of the law of ,karma has been found so intricate that many ,buddhists have relegated it to the category of ,unthinkables4 ,they regard it as such that it can only be understood by those who have attained to the intellectus mysticus4 ,the one thing considered requisite for the comprehension of its complexities is to solve the problem of the ,four ,noble ,truths by following the ,noble ,eight-fold ,path4 ,a study of ,buddha's psychology1 they contend1 is absolutely necessary to the disciple who wishes to know the processes of the ever-changing consciousness4 ,the mind in itself is pure1 but by coming into contact with impurities such as anger1 harbouring of anger1 selfishness1 etc41 it is soiled4 ,the practical psychology of ,buddhism is based on ethics1 and the student has to cut off all the impurities from the mind to enable him to properly comprehend the ,nirvanic condition4 ,so long as one thinks of self1 so long is he re-born4 ,unless self is absolutely surrendered1 unless ,thou hast lost thyself to save thyself1 as ,galahad1,,ak ,karma continues2 and that means ignorance2 and ignorance can have no vision of the ,holy ,grail1 fails to reach ,nirvana1 unites not with ,god6 ,,ak ,galahad1 when he heard of ,merlin's doom1 ,cried3 ',if ,i lose myself1 ,i save myself6' --,the ,holy ,grail 7,tennyson74 ,there is no cessation in the continuous flow of thought between one life and another until ,nirvana is reached4 ,the being born in another life is absolutely not the same that died here1 nor absolutely another2 but is the result of the one4 ,my substance was hid when ,i was made in secret1 and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,heaven ,,and ,,nirvana4 ,soles occidere et redire possunt4 ,nobis1 quum semel occidit brevis lux1 ,nox est perpetua una dormienda4 --,,catullus4 ,innumerable figures of speech have been brought into requisition to convey to the imagination the import of the terms ,heaven and ,nirvana4 ,none of these1 taken either separately or collectively1 can be held to include all that is indicated by the above expressions4 ,to speak of reaching ,heaven1 or ,nirvana1 is somewhat misleading2 no measurement of space is applicable to them2 no phenomenal expression in itself will pass muster4 ,a later and more material aspect of heaven1 known as the ,western ,paradise1 and only referred to1 ,i think1 in the ,mahyana1 has been provided1 it would seem1 for the satisfaction of those who require a temporary halting-place for thought before moving on to more abstract conceptions4 ,this heaven is illustrated with all those inimitable colours and touches which oriental inventiveness uses with such alluring effect4 ,it is navely located ten millions of miles to the west4 ,there1 in a light that never was on land or sea1 where lotus flowers of every imaginable hue vie with each other to cluster at his holy feet1 sits enthroned the ,buddha of ,infinite ,light1 the ,compassionate1 the ,perfect ,one4 ,the sweet radiance of his pitying smile pervades the heavens for thousands of leagues4 ,the beautiful expressions of his countenance cannot be numbered1 for they are as countless as the sands of ,gunga's sacred stream2 nor can his compassion be measured--it is illimitable as a shoreless ocean4 ,the magical grace of his form is compared to the moon on high when she marches full-orbed through the unclouded expanse of the ,empyrean4 ,if ever so gentle a zephyr blows amid the trees1 the atmosphere vibrates with all delicate and enticing melodies4 ,the voices of the ,devas are heard chanting his praises4 ,an aerial choir1 the birds of ,paradise1 answer back with antiphons of rapturous song as they soar above in the gilded air which fills the pavilions of the ,blest4 ,such1 and much more1 is the ,pure ,land1 the land of ,amita1 the ,buddha of ,infinite ,light4 ,the introduction into the picture of pavements of gold1 crystal streams1 precious stones1 jewels1 and many of the paraphernalia which the pageantry of this nether world demands for its embellishment brings to remembrance the splendours enshrined in that final revelation of things to be1 which was delivered to man in the person of ,st4 ,john the ,divine4 ,nirvana has been called ,the ,imperishable1 ,the ,infinite1 ,the ,eternal1 ,the ,everlasting1 ,the ,transcendent1 ,the ,serene1 ,the ,formless1 ,the ,goal1 ,the ,other ,shore1 ,rest1 ,the ,true1 or ,the ,truth4 ,it has been compared to an island which no flood can overwhelm1 to a ,city of ,peace1 ,the ,jewelled ,realm of ,happiness1 ,an ,escape from the ,evil ,one4,,al ,for the ,christian ,heaven1 in like manner1 a great variety of metaphors abounds4 ,,al ,taken from ,buddhism and its ,christian ,critics1 by ,paul ,carus4 ,but the mere gazing at1 and admiration of1 these pretty pictures will not conduce to a comprehension of them--will not help us to discover what formulated in the mind of the artist the design of the picture he painted4 ,for this needful purpose it may not prove unprofitable to have recourse1 in the first instance1 to the metaphysics of the grand old ,oriental mystic1 ,st4 ,paul4 ,by his assistance we may find that these conceptions1 ,heaven and ,nirvana1 on which so much wealth of imagery has been lavished1 and about which controversy has well-nigh exhausted itself1 will resolve themselves into something less indefinite1 and more thinkable1 of one nature and of one significance4 ,in his ,epistle to the ,corinthians he tells us ,god hath chosen the things that are not to bring to nought the things that are4 ,now1 the things that are not must assuredly be taken to mean that which is1 figuratively speaking1 beyond the threshold--something1 in this respect1 more than the subliminal,,am reveals2 in fact1 the ultra-liminal1 and1 consequently1 the immutable4 ,they are the quality ,truth1 residing in1 but inseparable1 as long as senses last1 from1 the things that are--namely1 in materiality as we perceive it2 materiality being here understood as potential feeling1 from which develop ideas1 or the soul of man4 ,,am ,subliminal ,i use here in a strictly etymological sense--sub limen1 up to the lintel4 ,ultimately perfected ideas1 or soul1 become this quality1 ,truth2 they become that which is within and outside all things--in short1 what ,jesus calls the kingdom of ,god within1 as well as the ,heaven around us4 ,the expression bring to nought has its equivalents in the terms annihilation and extinction1 so often used in connection with ,nirvana1 for the desperate purpose of depreciating the ,buddhist conception of ,heaven4 ,the things that are are material objects as we perceive them1 which are mutable1 and never the same one moment together--never really are1 but are for ever undergoing a process of becoming 7,god calleth those things which be not as though they were1 ,rom4 iv4 #ag74 ,material objects are mutable1 and ,heaven and ,nirvana are immutability4 ,plotinus says3 ,the return to ,god1 or ,the ,one 7or ,truth71 is the consummation of all things1 and the goal indicated by ,christian teaching4 ,this oneness1 however1 does not imply extinction4 ,he who has entered upon ,nirvana is not annihilated2 on the contrary1 he has attained the deathless4 ,the identical idea is prevalent both in ,new ,testament teaching and in ,buddhistic doctrine1 that the realization of that state of blessedness which is called ,heaven in the one case1 and ,nirvana in the other1 could be brought about during the lifetime of the saint4 ,but ,i tell you of a truth1 there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of ,god 7,luke ix4 #bg74 ,the kingdom of heaven is within you is also a sufficiently explicit statement on the part of the ,christian ,scripture to substantiate the possibility of such an experience4 ,in an article published in the ,monist of ,january1 #ahih1 and bearing on this subject1 there occurs the following passage1 accompanied with extracts from the works of several ,christian mystics3-- ,the ,buddhist idea1 that salvation consists mainly in dropping our own self1 in becoming nothing1 in self-annihilation for the sake of becoming ,buddha--viz41 divinely incarnate--can be found in many ,christian writers4 ,the highest religious aspirations are not the result of an anxiety for the salvation of one's own soul1 but a yearning for a union with ,god4 ,scotus ,erigena writes3 ,in ,god all things will be put to rest and remain ,one1 ,indivisible1 and ,immutable4444 ,god does not perceive what is ,himself4 ,according to ,st4 ,augustine3 ,if the soul is to comprehend ,god1 it must forget itself1 for if the soul sees and comprehends itself it neither sees nor comprehends ,god4 ,if the soul loses itself through ,god and forsakes all things1 it finds itself again through ,god4444 ,whenever the soul comes to uniting itself with ,god it becomes annihilated4444 ,all perfection and all bliss consists in this1 that man enters into the ground that is groundless4444 ,how shall ,i love ,god8 ,thou shalt love ,him as ,he is--a not ,god1 a not spirit1 a not person1 a not image2 but rather as ,he is--a true1 pure1 clear ,one1 separated from all two-hood2 and in this ,one we shall eternally disappear from nothing into nothing4,,an444 ,,an ,i4 ,o ,bhikshus1 the uncreated1 the invisible1 the unmade1 the elementary1 the unproduced1 exists 7as well as7 the created1 the visible1 the made1 the conceivable1 the compound1 the produced2 and there is an uninterrupted connection between the two4 ,,ii4 ,o ,bhikshus1 if the uncreated1 the invisible1 the unmade1 the elementary1 the unproduced was nonentity1 ,i could not say that the result of their connection from cause to effect with the created1 the visible1 the made1 the compound1 the conceivable1 was final emancipation4 ,,iii4 ,o ,bhikshus1 it is because of the real existence of the uncreated1 the invisible1 the elementary1 the unproduced1 that ,i say that the result of their connection from cause to effect with the created1 the visible1 the made1 the compound1 the conceivable1 is final emancipation4--7,verses from the ,buddhist ,canon1 translated from the ,thibetan of the ,bkah-hgyur1 by ,w4 ,woodville ,rockhill47 ,erckhart says3 ,how shall that man be who shall behold ,god8 ,he shall be dead4 ,our ,lord says3 ',no man shall see me and live4' ,according to ,buddhistic teaching1 ,he who has conquered ignorance and got rid of desire enjoys the supreme reward already in this life4 ,his outer man may still be detained in the world of suffering1 but he knows that it is not he himself whom the coming of the ,sankharas,,ao affects4 ,,ao ,sankhara is both the preparation and the prepared4444 ,to the ,buddhist mind the made has existence only and solely in the process of being made2 whatever is is not so much a something which is as the process rather of a being1 self-generating1 and self-again-consuming 7,oldenberg74 ,enlightenment and ,nirvana are synonymous4 ,buddha is said to have entered upon ,nirvana when he died4 ,yet at the same time we are told that ,buddha had attained ,nirvana already during his life4,,ap ,,ap ,paul ,carus4 ,if thou knowest the destruction of the ,sankharas1 thou knowest the ,uncreated 7,dhammapada72 or1 as ,professor ,oldenberg's translator renders it1 ,let others pursue the uncreated by their erroneous paths which will never carry them beyond the realm of the created4 ,as for thee1 let the attainment of the ,uncreated consist in this1 that thou reachest the cessation of the created4 ,gotama1 in a conversation between himself and an unbeliever1 said3 ,illustrious disciple1 ,nirvana may be compared to the nothingness defined as the absence of something different to itself4 ,we may justly define ,nirvana as that sort of non-existence which consists in the absence of something essentially different4,,aq ,,aq ,pari ,nirvana ,suttha1 chap4 xxxix41 i42 as given in ,oldenberg's ,buddhism4 ,there are to be found several passages in the ,new ,testament which seem to confirm the interpretation given to ,st4 ,paul's saying about the things that are not4 ,heaven is spoken of as an inheritance that fadeth not away--that is1 the things that are fade away1 but the things that are not do not fade away4 ,the things that are not seen 7that are not7 are eternal1 and the things that are seen 7that seemingly are7 are temporal4 ,this it hath not entered the heart of man to fully understand4 ,we only see through a glass darkly2 through the web of illusion4 ,but if we hope for that which we see not1 then do we with patience wait for it4 ,jesus answering his interrogators1 exclaims3 ,what house will ye build me1 or what is the place of my rest8 ,this was a rebuff to those who endeavoured to localize the illocatable4 ,the ,most ,high dwelleth not in temples made with hands4 ,my kingdom is not of this world4 ,jesus spoke to the people in parable because it was not given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven4 ,gotama said3 ,whatsoever has not been revealed by me let that remain unrevealed1 and what has been revealed let it be revealed4 ,with reference to the saying of ,jesus1 ,multa habeo vobis dicere1 sed nunc non potestis portare illa1 ,st4 ,augustine remarks3 ,manifestum est non esse culpandum1 aliquando verum tacere4 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus1 in a chapter headed ,hinyna1 ,mahyna1 ,mahstu 7p4 #bcj1 ,buddhism and its ,christian ,critics71 deals in a most masterly and effective manner with the value of the symbolic in contradistinction to the essential phases of ,buddhism and ,christianity4 ,in judging the ,mahyna system 7of ,buddhism7 and its fantastical offshoots1 he says3 ,we must consider the mental state of those nations for whom it was adapted1 and it may be that a purer religion would have failed utterly where cruder allegories of what appears to us as childish superstitions exercised a beneficent influence4 ,the ,mahyna has changed the savage hordes of ,central ,asia1 from whom proceeded the most barbarous hordes1 dreaded by all their neighbours1 into a most kind-hearted people1 with a sacred passion for universal benevolence and charity4 ,with reference to the ,christian ,church1 he remarks3 ,what does it matter that1 during the development of the ,church1 the letter of symbolically-expressed truth has crystallized into fixed dogmas8444 ,he who believes in a myth that contains1 in the garb of a parable1 a religious truth1 and accordingly regulates his moral conduct1 is better off than he who is void of any faith4 ,the truth hidden in the myth teaches him and serves him as a guide2 it comforts him in affliction1 strengthens him in temptation1 and shows him in an allegorical reflection the bliss that rests upon righteousness4 ,the words rest1 peace1 and sleep are in the ,new ,testament more often associated with the conditions of a future life than such expressions as joy or happiness4 ,the word joy is only to be found once in direct connection with the word heaven in the ,new ,testament--i4e41 when there was joy in heaven over the repentance of a sinner4 ,the omission may have been intentional1 so that the world might understand that the joy of heaven would be something absolutely different from what we conceive of joy2 that there will be a kind of joy1 in which joy1 as it is known here1 is absent4 ,there remaineth1 therefore1 a rest for the people of ,god4 ,he that hath entered into his rest1 he also has ceased from his own works as ,god did from his4 ,let us labour therefore to enter that rest4 ,ye shall find rest unto your souls4 ,such texts seem to draw heaven and ,nirvana very close together4 ,it is undoubtedly implied in some portions of the ,christian ,scriptures that the souls of the departed are asleep1 and will not be disturbed till the coming of the ,lord and the final judgment4 ,does not the testimony of the ,bible lead us to this conclusion2 from the cry of the tired spirit of ,samuel1 awakened from its sleep by the ,witch of ,endor1 ',why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up8' to the saying of the spirit in the ,revelation1 ',yea1 they rest from their labours4' ,in the case of ,lazarus we have the words of ,jesus to this effect3 ',our friend ,lazarus sleepeth2 but ,i go that ,i may awake him out of sleep' 7from ,light74 ,many are in love with the satisfying beauty of this sleep which has lasted since death began to be1 and desire that it might never be disturbed4 ,this is that yearning for the rest of ,nirvana1 for the peace that passeth understanding4 ,the true mission of religious symbolism1 of music1 of poetry1 and the plastic arts is1 not to excite the physical emotions of man1 not to crystallize appearances1 but to translate his soul to this condition of delicious swooning1 to turn his gaze inwards to what ,brahmanic philosophy calls the fontal essence of things4 ,from a poetical point of view1 it is perhaps melancholy to reflect that the seers of ,india are being rudely awakened from their reveries1 to be at last1 as seems probable1 completely absorbed into the relatively sordid environment of ,occidental progress--in fact1 to dream no more4 ,the ,west has murdered dreams4 ,apart from the physical influences of climate and country1 the strange yearning of the ,indian for an ultimate heaven of unconsciousness may be accounted for by tracing it to a vague remembrance in the human organism of the happy condition from which it primarily emerged1 before even animal existence had entered upon the fairly peaceful life-history of an amba4 ,the process of transition from the condition of are to that of are not1 from the phenomenal to the noumenal1 has been conceived by ,buddhists and ,christians alike to be gradual4 ,as a parallel to the house of many mansions1 so often taken to mean by ,christians a progressive ascent through a number of heavens to a heaven of heavens1 ,i give below1 in abbreviated form1 the spheres of formlessness as described by ,mr4 ,lafcadio ,hearn1 in his book entitled ,gleanings from ,buddha ,fields4 ,these1 he says1 are four4 ,in the first state all sense of individuality is lost1 and there survives only the idea of infinite space or emptiness4 ,in the second state this idea of space vanishes1 and its place is filled by the idea of infinite reason4 ,but this idea of reason is anthropomorphic1 it is an illusion1 and it fades out in the third state1 which is called the 'state-of-nothing-to-take-hold-of4' ,here is only the idea of infinite nothingness4 ,but even this condition has been reached by the aid of the action of the personal mind4 ,this action ceases2 then the fourth state is reached1 the state of 'neither-namelessness-nor-notnamelessnes s4' ,something of personal mentality continues to float vaguely here--the very uttermost expiring vibration of ,karma--the last vanishing haze of being4 ,it melts1 and the immeasurable revelation comes4 ,professor ,oldenberg says3 ,it is not enough to say that the final goal to which the ,buddhist strives to pass as an escape from the sorrow of the world is ,nirvana4 ,it is also necessary to any delineation of ,buddhism to note1 as a fact assured beyond all doubt1 that internal cheerfulness1 infinitely surpassing all mere resignation with which the ,buddhist pursues his end4444 ,does the path1 then1 lead into a new existence8 ,does it lead into the nothing8 ,the ,buddhist creed rests in delicate equipoise between the two4 ,the longing of the heart that craves the eternal has not nothing1 and yet the thought has not a something1 which it might firmly grasp4 ,further off the idea of the endless1 the eternal could not withdraw itself from belief than it has done here1 where1 like a gentle flutter on the point of merging in the nothing1 it threatens to evade the gaze4 ,nirvana1 according to ,mr4 ,james ,freeman ,clarke1 means to the ,buddhist the absolute eternal world beyond time and space2 that which is nothing to us now1 but will be everything hereafter4 ,students of ,buddhism are often confronted with the question why sorrow and pain should have held such prominent places in the mind of ,gotama4 ,explanations have been afforded that this was due1 in a large measure1 to a pathetic nature1 born of climate and environment4 ,the mind of the inhabitants of ,hindustan is still an unfathomable mystery2 the great heart of ,india beats slowly1 and those waves of sprightly emotion which are distinctive peculiarities of the natives of ,europe are but barely discernible ripples on the still surface of the ,indian character4 ,to the poetic people of the ,ganges the immense plains of ,india1 their broad and voiceless rivers1 the magic beauty of an oasis1 the distant silence of the ,himalayas1 the brooding calm of the atmosphere1 all appear to labour in unison to the same end--to fashion the restless heart of mortals after their own emotionless image1 to expand it into that fulness of peace which is theirs1 and to guide the children of men into the haven where they would be4 ,this mode of thought1 or no thought2 this complete abandonment of self1 culminating in the ascetic1 to the desire of union with the ,infinite1 can be differentiated from the meditative pose of the ,christian by the absence in it of anything approaching to emotion or affection4 ,these are weaknesses to be set aside4 ,there can be no calm where sensations enter--not even a breath of divine love must stir the ocean of their pictured rest4 ,gotama fully recognized that true joy was only to be found when the notion of self-hood was in abeyance1 as it most certainly is found invariably in those cases in which we lose1 as it were1 the sense of objective being in an absorbing subject1 or in the presence of a fascinating personality4 ,there is an indescribable pleasure realizable in engrossing occupations of mind and body which distract attention from ourselves as selves4 ,hence the apotheosis of love as the ultimate possible bliss1 whether it be manifested in the adoration of the human or in the ecstasy of the saint4 ,charles ,beaudelaire declares the whole aim of life is to dispel ennui--the ennui of sitting still by walking1 of lying down by change to an erect posture1 and so on4 ,virtue1 vice1 love1 etc41 are all efforts to attain a state of oblivion of our individuality1 to s'enivrer with distractions of some sort or another4 ,sorrow is the realization of ourselves as separate entities4 ,the ,buddhists declare that1 when we rid ourselves of the idea of this separateness1 then1 and then only1 will true joy be found4 ,the same truth is expressed in the ,new ,testament3 ,he that loseth his life shall gain it4 ,the drooping head upon the cross1 the livid corpse of the ,saviour--such pictures are strikingly emblematic of the sacrifice of self-hood1 which is ever the cause of pain4 ,self-hood crucified--that is the ,great ,deliverance1 that is ,heaven1 that is ,nirvana6 ,we must do more than take up the cross and follow2 we must hang upon it1 be nailed to it1 if we would be saved4 ,it has been urged that the foundations of ,buddhism rest upon the assumption that life is not worth living2 everything leads to pain and sorrow2 the joys of life are ignored4 ,hence1 if it were proved that the enjoyments of life out-weighed the sorrows1 would it not be clearly shown that ,buddhism is de trop8 ,for it is clear that life1 in that case1 would be worth living4 ,this view of life is not only supported by a general consensus of opinion1 but seems to be additionally strengthened by the universal desire to live4 ,that this desire would not exist if the pessimistic idea of ,buddhism regarding existence were well founded is evident4 ,in opposition to this view1 my conception of ,buddhism1 as represented in its literature1 is that its foundations rest upon the assumption that there is a life more worth living1 in which all sorrow is eradicated2 that only ignorance leads to pain and sorrow2 that knowledge leads to their extinction4 ,i am not aware that the joys of life are wholly ignored by ,buddhists4 ,if it is granted that happiness predominates over unhappiness1 and that life must consequently be worth living1 this need not exclude the desire for a life more worth living1 in which there is no unhappiness4 ,if ,buddhism is the wretched1 pessimistic system it is declared by some to be1 why should it not be allowed to hypothecate a heaven1 when even the joyous1 optimistic ,christian1 who finds life so worth living1 speaks of being delivered from the misery of this sinful world1 and hopes for a life worth living8 ,quite three-quarters of the population of this planet1 as represented by its religious beliefs1 which is supposed to find life worth living1 looks through the spectacles of faith towards a life more worth living1 after the dissolution of the body4 ,in short1 there are two distinct lives recognized by ,buddhists--the living life and the non-living life2 and it goes without saying that the latter is by far the more desirable of the two4 ,not the life of men's veins1 ,not of flesh that conceives2 ,but the grace that remains1 ,the fair beauty that cleaves ,to the life of the rains in the grasses1 the life of the dews on the leaves4 ,dr4 ,paul ,carus says3 ,the good tidings of ,buddha's religion are not so much the recognition of the existence of pain and care as the conquest of evil and the escape from suffering4 ,the following verses from the ,dhammapada have no pessimistic ring3-- ',let us live happily1 then1 not hating those who hate us6 ',among men who hate us1 let us dwell free from hatred6 ',let us live happily1 then1 free from ailments among the ailing6 ',among men who are ailing1 let us dwell free from ailments6 ',let us live happily1 then1 free from greed among the greedy6 ',among men who are greedy1 let us dwell free from greed6' ,there are many passages to be found in the ,new ,testament1 in our ,christian ,liturgy1 and especially in the ,hymnology of the ,churches1 which emphasize suffering as the normal and inevitable condition of humanity1 almost leading one to suppose that it is the predominant factor in human life4 ,in the ,burial ,service we thank ,god that our brother has been delivered from the miseries of a sinful world1 and ,job is brought into requisition to show that man that is born of woman is full of sorrows4 ,in a beautiful hymn we have the following verse3-- ,if ,i find ,him1 if ,i follow1 ,what ,his guerdon here8 ,many a sorrow1 many a labour1 ,many a tear4 ,for an assembly of young men and maidens in the first rapturous dawn of maturing youth to sing-- ,o ,paradise1 ,o ,paradise1 ',tis weary waiting here1 though delightfully pessimistic1 does not seem quite up to the standard of absolute truth4 ,these sorrows1 these labours1 these tears1 this weary waiting1 represent the experiences in store for the initiate1 and the conditions under which the ,christian must progress who would reach the goal of his dearest aspirations4 ,death is self-surrender2 all loss is a kind of death2 the only-begotten ,son is the summing up of what is dearest1 most one's own--i4e41 ,god can only be at one with his work1 can only make it to be truly his work by eternally dying--sacrificing what is dearest to him4 ,god does not1 therefore1 cease to be2 he does not annihilate himself2 he lives eternally in the very process of sacrificing his dearest work4 ,hence ,god is said to be love2 for love is the consciousness of survival in the act of self-surrender4444 ,such would be the atonement of the world-god eternally living in his own death1 eternally losing1 and eternally returning to1 himself 7,nettleship74 ,it cannot be denied that suffering was the burden of ,gotama's song1 the refrain of his passionless1 yet beautiful1 utterances4 ,jesus has been described as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief4 ,jesus wept4 ,the whole creation weeps4 ,what think ye1 my disciples 7the ,perfect ,one said71 whether is more1 the water which is in the four great oceans1 or the tears which have flown from you1 and have been shed by you1 while ye strayed and wandered in this long pilgrimage1 and sorrowed and wept because that was your portion which ye abhorred1 and that which ye loved was not your portion8 ,and while ye experienced this through long ages more tears have flown from you1 and have been shed by you1 while ye strayed and wandered on this long pilgrimage1 and sorrowed and wept because that was your portion which ye abhorred1 and that which ye loved was not your portion1 than all the water which is in the four great oceans 7,oldenberg's ,buddhism74 ,st4 ,paul conjures up a vision of the immense figure of creation1 prostrate1 groaning beneath the silent heavens4 ,the true ,buddhist certainly sees in this world a state of continuous sorrow2 but this sorrow only awakes in him a feeling of compassion for those who are yet in the world4 ,for himself he feels no sorrow or compassion4444 ,he seeks ,nirvana with the same joyous sense of victory in prospect with which the ,christian looks forward to his goal1 everlasting life 7,oldenberg74 ,the doctrine of an irrevocable doom for the unbeliever and obdurate sinner is not easy to follow1 because it would seem to imply a failure of the redemptive work of the ,saviour unless all for whom he died ultimately partake of salvation4 ,if many are called and but few are chosen2 if the gate is narrow1 and only a microscopic minority enter thereby1 the supreme sacrifice of the only-begotten ,son of ,god is liable to lose significance in the eyes of an exigeant public4 ,jesus treated popular religious terms such as ,hell and ,heaven as symbols4 ,he employed the familiar images of ,heaven and ,hell to impress on men's consciousness the supreme bliss of righteousness and the awful misery of sin4 ,when our ,lord came1 he found the doctrines of last things presented in forms already fixed1 and the terms ,gehenna1 ,paradise1 etc41 in familiar1 even proverbial1 use 7,eschatology1 ,encyclopdia ,britannica74 ,every being1 according to ,buddhistic teaching1 attains ,nirvana in the end2 so may it not be in the times of the restitution of all things1 which ,god hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began8 ,if symbolism were only taken for what it represents1 every ,buddhist could join with the ,christian in many of the exquisite invocations of the ,psalms4 ,there is no rest to be found in the impermanent4 ,to find the peace which passeth understanding1 we must ultimately have recourse to the unconditioned1 the permanent1 ,nirvana1 ,god4 ,the prayer of the ,christian as well as the aspiration of the pure ,buddhist is to be1 whether living or dead1 one with the ,uncreate4 ,professor ,oldenberg says that the devotion of abstraction is to ,buddhism what prayer is to other religions4 ,there is here a distinction without a difference4 ,abstraction is nothing more nor less than true1 perfect1 sublimated prayer4 ,real1 unadulterated prayer is only possible when the mind is totally relieved of distractions4 ,jesus went apart to pray2 so the ,buddhist monk seeks the silence of the forest or the seclusion of the cave to commune with the unconditioned1 with ,our ,father which art in ,heaven1 with the ,uncreate of the ,athanasian ,creed4 ,he who abstracts himself from the plurality of the phenomenal world anticipates the cessation of the impermanent4 ,come1 then6 ,into solitude will ,i go1 into the forest which ,buddha praises2 therein it is good for the solitary monk to dwell who seeks perfection4 ,in the sta forest rich in blossoms1 in the cool mountain cave1 will ,i wash my body and walk alone4 ,the counting of inhalations and exhalations of the breath1 and other practices of a like nature1 are used as so many short cuts to this state of abstraction or prayer4 ,for this purpose they are as valuable as ceremonial magic professes to be for the ready acquisition of power over unknown laws and qualities of nature4,,ar ,,ar ,our prayer is to ,him to preserve us in future1 to assist us in our troubles1 to give us our daily food1 not to be too severe upon us1 not to punish us as we deserve2 but to be merciful and kind4 ,but the ,buddhist has far other thoughts than these4 ,he believes that the world is ruled by everlasting1 unchangeable laws of righteousness4 ,the ,great ,god lives far behind ,his laws1 and they are for ever and ever4 ,you cannot change the laws of righteousness by praising them1 or by crying against them1 any more than you can change the revolution of the earth4 ,sin begets sorrow1 sorrow is the only purifier from sin2 these are eternal sequences2 they cannot be altered2 it would not be good that they should be altered4 ,the ,buddhist believes that the sequences are founded on righteousness1 are the path to righteousness2 and he does not believe he could alter them for the better1 even if he had the power by prayer to do so4444 ,this has been called a pessimism4 ,surely it is the greatest optimism the world has known--this certainty that the world is ruled by righteousness2 that the world has been1 that the world will always be1 ruled by perfect righteousness4444 ,the ,god who lies far beyond our ken has delegated his authority to no one4 ,he works through everlasting laws4 ,his will is manifested by unchangeable sequences4 ,there is nothing hidden about ,his law that requires exposition by his agents1 nor any ceremonies necessary for acceptance into his faith4 ,buddhism is a free religion4 ,no one holds the keys of salvation but himself4 ,buddhism never dreams that anyone can save or damn you except yourself1 and so a ,buddhist monk is so far away from our ideas of a priest as can be4 ,nothing could be more abhorrent to ,buddhism than any claim of authority of power from above1 of holiness acquired1 except by the earnest effort of a man's own soul 7,the ,soul of a ,people1 by ,h4 ,fielding74 ,christianity and ,buddhism cannot be differentiated in this matter of abstraction4 ,gibbon writes3 ,the fakirs of ,india and the monks of the ,oriental ,church were alike persuaded that1 in total abstraction of the faculties of the mind and body1 the purer spirit may ascend to the enjoyment and vision of the ,deity4 ,the opinion and practice of the monasteries of ,mount ,athos will be best represented in the words of an ,abbot who flourished in the eleventh century4 ,when thou art alone in thy cell1 says the ascetic teacher1 shut thy door1 and seat thyself in a corner2 raise thy mind above all things vain and transitory2 recline thy beard and chin on thy breast2 turn thy eyes and thy thoughts towards the middle of thy belly1 the region of the navel1 and search the place of the heart1 the seat of the soul4 ,at first all will be dark and comfortless2 but1 if you persevere day and night1 you will feel an ineffable joy2 and no sooner has the soul discovered the place of the heart than it is involved in a mystic and ethereal light4 ,here1 in these practices attributed to ,christian saints1 we have an exact parallel to those in use by ,hindu ascetics even of the present day4 ,it must be clearly understood1 however1 that the ,buddhist attaches no merit to such practices1 unless they conduce to the banishment of ignorance4 ,asceticism1 as a thing in itself1 is useless4 ,heaven and ,nirvana are unpainted pictures1 undescribed actualizations2 they are realities1 not materialities4 ,there is a never-ending1 unsatisfied1 restless craving1 conscious or unconscious1 throughout the ,kosmos to enter upon reality4 ,the suns and their satellites whirl about aimlessly in search of it4 ,the whole universe is in sore trouble because1 through ignorance1 it is not4 ,the vulture's eye hath not seen it2 the lion's whelps have not trodden it1 nor the fierce lion passed by it4 ,the depth saith1 ,it is not in me2 and the sea saith1 ,it is not with me4 ,and yet it is there6 ,the use of such exaggerated terms as immense1 infinite1 illimitable1 etc41 is to be accounted for by referring the habit to unconscious efforts by the conditioned to express the unconditioned4 ,the sea1 mountains1 the heavens1 owe their fascination to a suggestion of the unconditioned possessed by them4 ,in moments of attempted aspiration we are prone to look upwards into space--a symbol of the boundless4 ,on the other hand1 when the mind is engaged in working out details and calculations1 there is the habit of looking downwards4 ,not only men1 but beasts of the field1 look upwards for help in their dying moments2 upwards into space1 where the conditioned seemingly vanishes into the unconditioned4 ,i have often witnessed the pleading expression of dying antelopes and other wild animals1 their eyes being almost invariably directed to the sky above in their last moments of life4 ,i was on one occasion more than usually struck with this beautiful expression--appealing1 as it were1 to the skies for mercy--in the case of a wounded bear when in its death throes amid the snowy solitudes of the ,himalayas4 ,let us draw the curtains apart1 and behold for a moment the scene of the enacted tragedy4 ,out of the violet mists spread by the viewless hands of a yet unrisen sun1 black crags uplifted their glacier breasts to receive the first ravishing kiss of dawn2 and the forests1 obedient to the silence imposed by the kingly peaks1 stood austere and unstirred by the affectionate airs of heaven4 ,the staining blood1 the furry mass1 the clutching claws of the wild monster in his struggle with life and death1 presented to the imagination some weird sacrifice consummated upon an altar1 built of immaculate snow4 ,it was then that this remarkable pleading expression of the eyes arrested the attention of my ,himalayan huntsman1 who1 turning round to me1 exclaimed3 ,he is seeing ,god4 ,the ,psalmist says3 ,i will lift up mine eyes to the hills1 from whence cometh my help4 ,human beings1 as well as all animal nature1 seem to make their final appeal for help or pity to something above or beyond this conditioned world4 ,the enhancement of the beauties of landscape and architecture by the effects of mist and twilight is due to the obliteration of detail by these atmospheric conditions4 ,detail is fatiguing to the eye and brain4 ,these organs unconsciously demand the repose which the absence of detail confers4 ,hence the charm of impressionism in ,art4 ,in the countenances of the blind1 who possess one sensation the less to distract and weary them1 there is not infrequently to be noticed a peculiar scintillation of peace which seems to speak to one of the time when all sensations will cease to be1 and to herald the approach of that eternal beatitude which is so highly uplifted above the joys of this transitory world4 ,there is also a strong ,nirvanic suggestion in the appearance of some of the eminent ecclesiastics of the ,roman ,catholic faith1 in those instances where the flesh shows traces of the consuming fire of asceticism4 ,benevolence1 compassion1 love1 genius1 joy--all these are presented1 but with a minimum of the earthy adhering to them4 ,in this aspect they create an impression very different to that communicated to us by the comfortable placidity of those who have only experienced happiness of a less exalted description4,,as ,,as ,the extraordinary veneration in which the ,cowley ,fathers and ,roman ,catholic priests are held in ,india has often been attributed1 and rightly so1 ,i think1 to the unassuming asceticism which characterizes these lowly followers of the ,great ,master4 ,celibacy1 self-denial1 poverty1 meekness--these never fail to win the admiration and respect of the people of ,hindustan who cherish their ideals more fondly than is apparently the case in many other countries4 ,in stillness1 another attribute of the unconditioned1 there abides an enchantment that cannot be surpassed by other conditions4 ,yet even the rapture engendered by the sight of a furious and incontinent sea can be explained by the fact that the pleasure derived therefrom is solely due and in proportion to the magnitude of the display1 and magnitude suggests the illimitable4 ,the ambition to scale the highest summits1 in whatever position or capacity1 the idea of resurrection1 the fascination of the word eternal1 the hope of everlasting rest--all these tend in the same direction1 all point to the ,empyrean1 where detail seems to fade into a vacuum1 into ,nirvana1 into ,heaven1 into ,god4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,some ,,concluding ,,remarks4 ,it is only when we come to take a bird's-eye view of these two great religions1 which have exercised so enormous and so abiding an influence over the human race1 and when clearness of vision is unobscured by numberless petty details and dogmas1 that we can perceive the factors common to both which have given them their present stability and strength4 ,no religion1 no system of morals1 no philosophy1 can be secure unless they rest upon the groundwork of universal truth and necessity2 and it is certain that1 if ,christianity and ,buddhism did not possess these supports1 they would not now be what they actually are--the ruling forces to millions of human beings4 ,it has been said with much truth that the daily life of an ordinary man is a continual round of intoxication4 ,some form or other of inebriating excitement seems absolutely necessary to him1 if he is to escape from the ,slough of ,despond of ennui and all its evil consequences4 ,the remark is equally true of the human race as a whole4 ,it cannot survive1 apparently1 without constant stimuli to urge and goad it forward4 ,were such stimuli wanting from time to time1 man would probably degenerate1 and cease to show that love of progress and activity which is so essential to his existence as man4 ,consequently1 we note1 looking back through the vista of history which lies open to our view1 the periodical appearance of some great religious reformer1 whose task it is to infuse new zeal and strength into the flagging energies of his fellow-creatures4 ,gotama1 ,jesus1 ,savonarola1 ,general ,booth1 are all greater or lesser instances in point2 have all worked upon the same basic conception1 however different the condition of their times may have required the superficial doctrines of their various creeds to be4 ,some--,jesus and ,gotama1 and possibly ,mahomed--worked with the full cognizance of the task before them2 others1 who have not been gifted with so large a measure of divine insight1 have wrought and lived for the same purpose1 blindly1 and unconscious of the complete significance of their action4 ,but1 it may be asked1 if ,jesus and ,gotama were gnomic1 how comes it that the ,buddhism and ,christianity of to-day are so radically different in their outward manifestations8 ,to answer this question we have merely to take a broad glance at history4 ,at the time of the advent of ,gotama the people of ,india were in possession of a civilization remarkable in many respects1 but most remarkable1 perhaps1 in the freedom and latitude of thought prevalent4 ,it is difficult for many who have been brought up within the contracted influences of those who regard all alien religions and non-,christian countries as so many black spots on the pages of history and on the maps of the world1 and who have been surrounded in their youth by the innumerable restrictions placed upon all speculative propensities1 to realize that1 at the time when they were mere cave-dwellers and unclothed sojourners with the beasts of the field1 a great and lofty civilization was existent in what they would possibly consider a barbarous corner of the globe1 and that a people there held dominion whose chief intellectual pastime was to range over the vast domains of speculative thought and all the interminable mysteries of life4 ,the ,indian has been a philosopher by birth and breeding from time immemorial2 and only among a race of philosophers could such a religion as ,buddhism1 with its sudden iconoclasm1 have been preached with so little opposition1 and have taken root so rapidly1 when we come to consider the strong hold the ,brahmanical ceremonial had upon the people at that time4 ,with the inception of ,christianity1 however1 the case was very different4 ,at the birth of ,jesus the inhabitants of ,palestine1 with the exception of the ,essenes1 were sunk low in the mire of bigotry1 prejudice1 and priestly domination4 ,the mind of the people was less philosophically prepared to grasp a broad and exalted creed such as essential ,christianity2 it required dogmas more definite1 doctrines more easily comprehended2 and ,jesus had perforce to mould his utterances to the temperament and mental capacity of the people among whom he preached4 ,to the east of the ,holy ,land was ,india1 with its refined and more perfect civilization2 to the west1 ,central ,europe1 with its savage and ignorant tribes1 worshippers of trees1 and in servitude to many superstitious practices and customs4 ,christianity1 with its immense potential resources1 its innate power for good1 required some outlet for its activities2 and1 as was only natural1 it spread in the direction where a pure and sublime religion was most needed1 and experienced little difficulty in eventually conquering the savage intellect of ,central ,europe4 ,becoming appropriated by men who1 living in the far ,north1 depended for their very life upon a ceaseless struggle with adverse circumstances1 it gradually lost the softening and refining influences which are so characteristic of the ,oriental temperament1 and became the vehicle for the passions and ambitions of a race more brutal and more unsympathetic than that among which it took its rise4 ,and to what an extent has this religion of ,christ1 the evangel of peace and goodwill1 been since prostituted6 ,the mistaken--though1 no doubt1 well-intended--dogmas formulated by the ,holy ,catholic ,church proved to be1 in their short-sightedness and complete lack of insight into human nature1 a prolific source of degeneration1 bigotry1 persecution1 ignorance1 immorality1 and extreme ecclesiastical tyranny in the ,dark ,ages4 ,the rigid and narrow doctrines inculcated by the ,puritans have been almost as fruitful a cause of moral perversion and reckless narrow-mindedness4 ,to-day it must be acknowledged that we have outgrown the gross and debasing ,christianity of those medival times2 but many of us are still fast chained in the shackles of prejudice and intolerance1 with all their concomitant delusions and hypocrisies4 ,bruno1 in his day1 said3 ,christianity has been tried for eighteen centuries2 the religion of ,christ remains to be tried4 ,this remark1 however1 overstates the case considerably1 for it must be confessed that there have been many instances of individual lives which have approached as closely to the ideal as far as it has been practicable within human limits4 ,true ,christianity many of us have yet to learn2 it is but the husk which exists with the many as yet4 ,nevertheless1 we flatter ourselves sometimes as the elect of the earth1 and despatch emissaries of civilization to the darkest corners of heathendom to carry with them only a very imperfect presentment of our great religion in practice and doctrine4 ,it is but lately that stern necessity caused the deserts of the ,soudan to be strewn with the corpses of many thousands of dervishes1 and the pietist section of the ,british press rejoiced at the great victory of ,christianity over ,islam1 and the fulfilment of a long-cherished revenge for the most truly ,christian of ,english soldiers6 ,to such an extent can inconsistency flourish among the most morally advanced of the earth's inhabitants4 ,and if ,europeans have been zealous in waging war to the death against the heathen in the name of their common religion1 they have been no less ready to turn the gospel of peace into an apologia for such an internecine slaughter as few other causes have given rise to1 until1 at the present day1 it is hardly possible to write seriously--in order that they may be taken seriously--the words1 ,how these ,christians love one another6 ,when we turn to ,india1 to ,ceylon1 and more especially to ,burmah1 we are brought face to face with a very different state of things4 ,it is true that in some parts--,thibet1 for instance--,buddhism has been debased to an even worse state than ,christianity in ,europe2 but1 after all1 that is merely asserting that human nature is human nature4 ,the broader aspect of ,buddhism in ,asia must1 to any unprejudiced observer1 appear in striking contrast to the prostitution to which other religions in other corners of the earth have been subjected4 ,it seems to be one of the unalterable laws which govern human conduct that the teaching of any great religious reformer should1 in the centuries which follow his disappearance from the arena in which he had striven1 be brought low and narrowed down1 partly by the short-sightedness of its adherents1 but mostly owing to the unhealthy influences of ecclesiastical domination such as was typical of medival ,europe and ,brahmanical ,india4 ,that ,buddhism should in great degree have escaped such a fate must be attributed1 not only to the intrinsic value of the system itself1 but also to the character of the people among whom it has survived4 ,there have been many calumniators1 from interested motives1 of ,buddhism2 but no false representations1 however frequently reiterated1 can serve to mask the purity and nobility of this remarkable religion4 ,it has never1 like ,christianity1 been made the pretext of warfare and the conquest of alien races2 no blood has ever been shed in its propagation2 no despairing cries of martyred wives and orphan children rise up from the centuries that are past to stamp its forehead with the brand of ,cain4 ,by reason alone has it spread and become endeared to the many millions who now owe it allegiance2 reason and truth are the only swords which have been unsheathed in the cause of its promulgation4,,at ,it has1 in fact1 conquered by its sweet reasonableness alone1 unaided by artificial and compulsory means4 ,,at ,no ravished country has ever borne witness to the prowess of the followers of the ,buddha2 no murdered men have poured out their blood on their hearthstones1 killed in his name2 no ruined women have cursed his name to high heaven4 ,he and his faith are clean of the stain of blood4 ,he was the preacher of the ,great ,peace1 of love1 of charity1 of compassion2 and so clear is his teaching that it can never be misunderstood 7,the ,soul of a ,people1 by ,h4 ,fielding1 p4 #hh74 ,the gradually diminishing popularity of the religious war sentiment which actuates people to perpetrate such iniquities as ,crusades and ,jehads will1 it is presumed1 afford relief in the future1 at least to some sections of the ,christian world1 by removing an opportunity out of the way for the reproach of those who take their stand by the non-resistance principle as enunciated by the founder of the ,christian faith4 ,the carrying out of the non-resistance principle in its totality seems to increase in impracticability in proportion to the advancing complexity of social and national life4 ,a very near approach to the achievement of the object embodied in the principle can only be imagined possible under the most primitive conditions of existence1 notably in such cases where the country inhabited provides the necessities of life without involving any violent struggle for their acquisition4 ,christian nations1 by the force of circumstances and the nature of their environment1 are unfortunately impelled1 it would seem1 to disregard and set aside the very distinct teaching of ,jesus on this point2 and some of us1 facing both ways1 endeavour to escape from the dilemma1 and pour balm upon our consciences1 by assuming that war is amply justified by ,scripture and expressly sanctioned by the ,almighty4 ,in this connection it would perhaps be the most straightforward course for us to frankly admit with ,tolstoi that war is as fundamentally un-,christian as it is un-,buddhistic1 and to be prepared to face the consequences of its unlawfulness in the sight of ,god rather than to dislocate the teaching of ,jesus with a view to the selfish satisfaction of our consciences1 and for the ultimate purpose of settling down into a comfortable frame of mind when brought into contact with this unpleasant subject4 ,in spite of the many detractors ,buddhism has had1 it has been appreciated in cultivated centres of ,europe and ,america to an extent which is the surest token of its intrinsic worth4 ,in ,asia it is difficult to realize how profound and enduring has been its influence for good4 ,perhaps1 on account of the presence of dogmas1 such as the negation of soul as a permanent individual entity and of immortality as it is known among us1 which are to the average ,european intellect absurd and most repugnant1 it has been more readily assimilated as a belief by races which1 unlike ourselves1 are philosophic by nature and by birth4 ,but by far the most important part of ,buddhism in its practical significance is the doctrine of ,karma1 which has proved so great a stumbling-block to many1 and a medium of contempt for those professing other faiths4 ,it would hardly be exaggeration to describe this as one of the grandest ethical theories ever devised by the brain of man1 ranging as it does over the whole sphere of human activity and existence1 and policing1 as it were1 the actions of human creatures4 ,lest it should appear to any of my readers that ,i have laid undue stress upon the value and beauty of ,buddhism in the foregoing pages1 ,i would take this opportunity of disclaiming any intention on my part to draw invidious distinctions between the manifestations of the two faiths of which ,i have treated1 and which1 in my opinion1 are fundamentally one and the same4 ,in this connection my sole aim has been to give prominence to the many excellent properties possessed by ,buddhism1 with a view to clearing the way for an impartial appreciation of this religion by those who have never yet bestowed their attention or extended their sympathies to the subject with unbiased minds4 ,the dissolution1 not the destruction1 of symbolism which ,i have endeavoured to accomplish in dealing with the metaphysic of ,christianity and ,buddhism--of that symbolism which is so apt1 when taken as a thing in itself1 to contract our sympathies and darken our vision in respect of religions--will have achieved an object if it succeeds in carrying with it the conviction1 at present,,au so indisturbably possessed by the writer1 that essential ,christianity and true ,buddhism cannot be differentiated2 that the ultimate source of their power and loveliness is one2 that they rest upon the same imperishable foundations1 which are lost to sight in billowy clouds of mystery1 in a splendour beyond imagining4 ,,au ,in knowledge that man only is to be condemned who is not in a state of transition 444 nor is there anything more adverse to accuracy than fixity of opinion 7,faraday74 ,the priest in ,zola's ,rome looked forward to the day when symbols and rites1 so necessary in the infancy of the world1 would disappear altogether--to the time when enlarged1 purified1 and instructed humanity would be able to support the brightness of naked truth without their assistance4 ,it may be1 however1 that any premature abandonment of symbols1 rites1 and ceremonies might1 under present conditions1 prove disastrous1 as such a course would go far to arrest artistic tendencies and stifle within us those cravings for the beautiful which are such undeniably potent and useful factors in conducting us onward to a realization of the invisible4 ,all that appears requisite in this direction at the present moment is that the symbolic element in symbolism should be clearly recognized1 and symbolism appraised at its true value4 ,concurrently with the development of a deeper insight into the realities which subsist in symbols1 there should arise in these ,northern latitudes a class of people who would demonstrate by their character and actions that1 under existing social conditions1 and in all the turmoil of modern civilization1 a nearer approach to the ideal life than has yet been made by a community is within the range of practicalities4 ,this is the most clamant need of the day4 ,in our ,western world we are confronted with innumerable obstacles in the way of leading the ideal1 or ,christ-like1 life4 ,the ideal life-germ is in all of us1 but too often hidden away under the veneer of respectability1 and much obscured by conventionalities4 ,this germ1 if not very apparent in our public capacity1 is distinctly discernible in the family life as typical of these islands4 ,we see it in the eyes of the wife1 in the restraint of the son1 and we listen to it in the voices of our daughters4 ,it struggles hard to develop itself in the face of stupendous difficulties4 ,its growth among our spiritual leaders is frequently handicapped by the isolating effects of aggrandizement4 ,a cardinal1 for instance--good and gracious as he invariably is--must always be more or less inaccessible and appalling4 ,our charities1 too1 are vitiated by ostentation4 ,prospectuses demand that a royalty should take the lead1 and the titled figure as patrons1 if the appeal made is designed to be irresistible4 ,so that1 to whichever side we turn1 we find ourselves hampered in our aspirations towards the ideal by the exigencies of society1 by our customs and absurdities4 ,turning to the far ,east1 we are face to face with other conditions1 which undoubtedly lend themselves more readily to the impress of the ideal4 ,burmah is a country where strikingly successful endeavours continue to be made to hold constantly before the eyes of the people exemplars of the ideal life1 and the results are astonishing--approximating a perfection which it is hardly possible to over-rate4 ,notwithstanding the enormous capacity and appreciation its inhabitants possess for the frivolities of existence1 they are wont to support out of their slender resources a numerous staff of monks1 who are to be found in all parts of the land1 and in every place where their fellow-creatures congregate in small or large numbers4 ,however far laymen may deviate from the ,path1 the ideal life as exemplified by the monks must not be tampered with4 ,it is the expressed will of the laity that this example should be unremittingly preserved in all its integrity and purity1 whatever may be the sum of their own failings4 ,it is this intense admiration and fervour on the part of the lay community for the ideal life1 as known to them through the teaching of the ,enlightened ,one1 that has secured this incalculable blessing to the people1 and made ,burmah a model for all nations in this respect4 ,there is a sadness unspeakable in the thought that perhaps1 ere long1 this ancient and ennobling bond between the people and their religious teachers1 between the material and the ideal1 will be swept away in the wake of commerce and utilitarianism1 and all their attendant debasements4 ,mr4 ,fielding1 in his book1 ,the ,soul of a ,people1 brings all his unique experiences and intimate knowledge of the ,burmese and the monkhood to impress upon us this marvellous object-lesson in the effect of a religion whose abiding principles are an ever-present1 living force1 and of which it may be truly said it is the same yesterday1 to-day1 and for ever4 ,everywhere1 intermingled with this light-hearted people1 delighting in colour1 dress1 and decoration of all kinds1 there is ever to be seen the serene and passionless personality of the monk2 no reviler of alien creeds2 no possessor of priestly power2 poorer than the poorest1 yet rich in the inheritance of the ,dharma2 no figure-head of some illustrious superstition1 mitred1 and heralded through the streets2 nought--save a lowly follower of the ,perfect ,one1 whose law it is that guides to the ,great ,peace1 which1 like a star1 ,beacons from the abode where the ,eternal are4 ,,at ,,the ,,malagawa ,,temple1 ,,ceylon4 ,i4 ,hail6 ,gentle ,master1 ,grave and ,sweet6 ,here at ,thy shrine we bend the knee2 ,with island flowers we deck ,thy feet1 ,and golden corn we bring to ,thee4 ,star of our ,night1 ,orb of our ,day1 ,thou art our ,refuge1 ,thou our ,stay6 ,,ii4 ,thy pitying eyes we see downcast1 ,yet are they fain to tell us this-- ,sometime1 somewhere1 life's ocean,,av past1 ,we all shall taste immortal bliss6 ,star of our ,night1 ,orb of our ,day1 ,thou art our ,refuge1 ,thou our ,stay6 ,,av ,samsra--,the ocean of ,birth and ,death4 ,,iii4 ,no adoration1 praise1 or prayer ,hast ,thou enjoined whilst here we live2 ,but our great love can scarce forbear ,to pay ,thee all our hearts can give4 ,star of our ,night1 ,orb of our ,day1,,aw ,thou art our ,refuge1 ,thou our ,stay6 ,,aw ,atha sabbamahorattim ,buddho tapati tejasti4 --,samyutta-,nikya1 edited by ,m4 ,lon ,feer1 p4 #bhd4 ,,appendix4 ,,metrical ,,adaptations ,,of ,,buddhist ,,legend ,,and ,,scripture4 ,,the ,,last ,,words ,,of ,,gotama ,,buddha ,,to ,,his ,,favourite ,,disciple ,,ananda4 ,weep not1 ,ananda1 sorrow not6 ,have ,i not said ere this to thee ,that from all things which man most loves1 ,from these1 ,ananda1 man must flee8 ,how can it be1 ,ananda1 then1 ,that ,birth and ,growth should not decay1 ,that all things made1 begotten here1 ,should not1 ,ananda1 pass away8 ,that cannot be4 ,but thou for long ,in thought and words and holy deed ,the ,perfect ,one hast glorified4 ,strive on1 and thou shalt soon be freed4 ,it may be so1 that thou shalt say ,the ,word has lost its ,master here1 ,we have no ,master more4 ,not thus1 ,ananda1 be thou fraught with fear4 ,the ,law and ,ordinance ,i taught1 ,these are your ,master when ,i'm gone3 ,each man his own salvation is1 ,thus only is ,deliverance won4 ,,sams,,ra ,,and ,,nirvana4,,ax ,,ax ,from ,the ,gospel of ,buddha1 according to ,old ,records1 told by ,paul ,carus4 ,i4 ,look on this life and meditate6 ,herein are birth and growth's decay4 ,atoms combine and separate2 ,nought lasts3 all things must pass away4 ,,ii4 ,as flowers are the glories of this world1 ,full blossoms scent the morning shade2 ,the painted petals soon are furled1 ,and in the heat of noon-day fade4 ,,iii4 ,lo6 everywhere the panting breath ,of ,pleasure and ,pursuit of fame1 ,of panic flight from pain and death ,and fierce ,desire's consuming flame4 ,,iv4 ,the world is nought but endless change1 ,a restless1 driven1 surging sea4 ,is it through lives we thus must range1 ,ever becoming1 never be8 ,v4 ,is there no permanency1 then8 ,no realm of rest where troubles cease1 ,where birth is not1 nor death of men1 ,no ,city of ,eternal ,peace8 ,,vi4 ,must anxious hearts for ever beat8 ,what power from all this ill redeems8 ,will not our hot1 earth-weary feet ,at last be dipped in cooling streams8 ,,vii4 ,buddha1 our ,lord1 with pitying eyes ,came and beheld this world of woe4 ,he found the path whereby we rise ,above all evil here below4 ,,viii4 ,ye who for life unending crave ,know that there lurks immortal bliss ,in transient form4 ,there is no grave1 ,no death for those who know of this4 ,,ix4 ,ye who for riches vainly yearn ,take of the treasure ,he will give4 ,ye who the mighty ,truth discern ,the birthless1 deathless life will live4 ,x4 ,truth is the immortal part of mind2 ,possessing truth is rich to be4 ,in truth the changeless you will find1 ,the image of ,eternity6 ,,rejoice4,,ay ,,ay ,from ,the ,gospel of ,buddha1 according to ,old ,records1 told by ,paul ,carus4 ,i4 ,let the whole earth with joy resound1 ,buddha1 our ,lord1 the ,blessed ,one1 ,the hidden cause of ,ill hath found1 ,and for the world salvation won4 ,,ii4 ,he who the ravelled knot unwinds1 ,buddha1 our ,lord1 has rent the veil6 ,illusion now no longer blinds1 ,nor fear of death our hearts assail4 ,,iii4 ,ye who of tribulation tire1 ,ye who must struggle and endure1 ,rejoice2 ye1 too1 who truth desire1 ,for now is your deliverance sure4 ,,iv4 ,here is a balm for every woe1 ,here for the hungry princely fare2 ,for those athirst the fountains flow1 ,and ,hope triumphant kills ,despair4 ,v4 ,on mountain heights1 in valleys low1 ,o1 darkened soul1 where'er thou art1 ,this light ineffable will glow ,with blessings for the pure in heart4 ,,vi4 ,bind up your wounds1 ye bruisd feet6 ,o broken1 beating hearts1 be still6 ,drink1 thirsty lips1 the waters sweet2 ,ye that are hungered1 eat your fill6 ,,vii4 ,o children of the night1 arise6 ,the star of morning is on high4 ,o bleeding breasts1 ,o suppliant eyes1 ,be of good cheer1 your bliss is nigh4 ,,viii4 ,buddha1 our ,lord1 the truth revealed1 ,which gives us strength in life and death2 ,the sorrowing and the sick are healed1 ,and every evil languisheth4 ,,the ,,goal4,,az ,,az ,from ,the ,gospel of ,buddha1 according to ,old ,records1 told by ,paul ,carus4 ,i4 ,why thus so long by ,karma tied8 ,o ,bhikshus1 listen6 ,you and ,i ,the four great truths have set aside1 ,not understanding--that is why6 ,,ii4 ,through rock and plant and breathing things ,migrate,,ba the wandering souls of each1 ,till they1 beyond imaginings1 ,the perfect light of ,buddha reach4 ,,ba ,although the expression migrate does not accurately represent the process of transition in a ,buddhistic sense1 it is retained here for want of a better4 ,,iii4 ,karma inexorable reigns6 ,e'en though you fly from star to star1 ,the ,past on you imprest remains1 ,and what you were is what you are6 ,,iv4 ,to new births onwards you must press ,before the hill of light you see ,where shines the beacon ,righteousness ,from transmigration's bondage free4 ,v4 ,the higher birth ,i've reached1 ,o friends2 ,i've found the truth1 rebirth's surcease2 ,i've taught the noble path that wends ,to kingdoms of eternal peace4 ,,vi4 ,i've showed to you ,ambrosia's lake1 ,which all your sins will wash away2 ,the sight of truth your thirst will slake1 ,and ,lust's destroying strife allay4 ,,vii4 ,he who has crossed through ,passion's fire1 ,and climbed ,nirvana's radiant shore1 ,his bliss the envious gods desire1 ,his heart defiled by sin no more4 ,,viii4 ,as lotus leaves upon the lake ,the pearly drops do not retain1 ,so they the noble path who take1 ,though in the world1 the world disdain4 ,,ix4 ,a mother will her life bestow ,to safely guard an only son1 ,but they unmeasured mercy show1 ,and give their lives for anyone4 ,x4 ,steadfast in mind let man remain1 ,whether he stand or walk or rest2 ,living or dying1 sick or sane1 ,of all1 this state of heart is best4 ,,xi4 ,if truth's bedimmed by lust of sense1 ,reborn1 man must again o'erpass ,the desert tracks of ,ignorance1 ,illusion's mirage1 ,sin's morass4 ,,xii4 ,but1 when ,truth holds entire sway1 ,with it migration's cause departs2 ,all selfish cravings melt away1 ,and ,truth its saving cure imparts4 ,,xiii4 ,o ,bhikshus1 true deliverance this-- ,the only heaven to which we soar4 ,this is salvation's endless bliss6 ,here1 within sight1 ,nirvana's shore6 ,,buddha ,,and ,,the ,,herdsman4 7,rhymed version of stanzas translated by ,professor ,rhys ,davids47 ,i4 ,hot steams my food3 all milked the cows-- ,the ,herdsman ,dhaniya said-- ,hard by there stands where ,mhi flows ,new thatched my lowly shed3 ,my friends are near1 my hearth burns bright1 ,then let the rain pour down to-night6 ,,ii4 ,cool is my mind3 no fallow,,bb there-- ,the ,holy ,buddha said-- ,one night for ,mhi's banks ,i spare1 ,and all unthatched my shed4 ,lo6 now extinguished is the fire2 ,the lamps of ,lust have lost their light4 ,dulness,,bc and ,evil both expire-- ,so let the rain pour down to-night6 ,,bb ,referring to the five fallow lands of the mind4 ,,bc ,dulness is used here in the sense of inactivity of mind4 ,,iii4 ,there are no gad flies here1 my kine-- ,the ,herdsman ,dhaniya said-- ,are roaming where the meadows shine1 ,the rich grass is their bed4 ,in vain the fickle rain god's might6 ,so let the rain pour down to-night6 ,,iv4 ,my basket raft was woven well-- ,the ,holy ,buddha said-- ,i've reached the shore1 ,i've spoiled the spell1 ,from me four floods have fled2 ,these four--,delusion1 ,ignorance1 ,the lust of life1 the lust of sense-- ,no longer powerful to blight4 ,so let the rain pour down to-night6 ,v4 ,obedient is my wife3 no wanton she-- ,the ,herdsman ,dhaniya said-- ,no evil word she spake of me ,while she and ,i were wed4 ,long dwelt with me my soul's delight4 ,so let the rain pour down to-night6 ,,vi4 ,obedient is my heart3 set wholly free-- ,the ,holy ,buddha said-- ,restrained1 subdued2 o'erwatched by me ,through passion's tempest led4 ,no evil dims my heart's pure light4 ,then let the rain pour down to-night6 ,,vii4 ,earning my bread1 ,i live at ease-- ,the ,herdsman ,dhaniya said-- ,my sons around by strength's increase ,to ripening manhood bred4 ,no ill do they my joy to blight4 ,so let the rain pour down to-night6 ,,viii4 ,no man can call me slave2 ,i roam-- ,the ,holy ,buddha said-- ,at will ,i roam1 each spot a home1 ,and when ,i want am fed4 ,no need for wage or gain to fight4 ,so let the rain pour down to-night6 ,,ix4 ,i've barren cows and calves yet young-- ,the ,herdsman ,dhaniya said-- ,and cows in calf and steers among1 ,a bull lifts up his head-- ,lord of the cows1 a kingly sight4 ,then let the rain pour down to-night4 ,x4 ,no cows have ,i nor calves yet young-- ,the ,holy ,buddha said-- ,for cows in calf and steers among ,no bull lifts up his head2 ,no lord of cows1 no king of might6 ,so let the rain pour down to-night6 ,,xi4 ,then lo6 a cloud o'er hill and plain ,that moment thundering poured forth rain4 ,when herdsman ,dhaniya heard with dread ,the ,god's rain rush1 he yielding said3 ,,xii4 ,o1 great the gain accrued thereby6 ,since ,holy ,buddha came to-day1 ,we trust in thine all-seeing eye4 ,be thou1 ,o mighty ,sage1 our stay4 ,my wife and ,i obedient ever ,to follow thee will make endeavour4 ,,xiii4 ,under the ,happy ,one we'll lead ,a holy life1 and1 as he saith1 ,we'll put an end to pain and need1 ,and pass beyond old age and death6 ,,buddha ,,and ,,the ,,king4,,bd ,,bd ,this is a rhymed version of the ,pabbajj ,sutta1 which is contained in the ,sutta ,nipta4 ,vide ,professor ,rhys ,davids's ,american ,lectures on ,buddhism1 p4 #ii4 ,i4 ,their peace ,i praise who seek not here a home4 ,it is the peace the ,blessed ,one hath found1 ,he who resolved in solitude to roam1 ,the sky his roof1 his holy bed the ground4 ,,ii4 ,fulfilled with hindrance is the household life1 ,it is the haunt of passion and of wrath4 ,free is the homeless state from every strife4 ,he1 meditating thus1 went boldly forth4 ,,iii4 ,and1 going forth1 wrong deeds he set aside1 ,wrong thoughts and words he scattered to the wind1 ,and in a life pure1 calm1 and sanctified1 ,he found that peace whoever seeks shall find4 ,,iv4 ,to ,bimbasra's royal town he went1 ,where lived the ruler of ,magdha-land4 ,stately he moved1 dispassionate1 intent1 ,from door to door1 an alms-bowl in his hand4 ,v4 ,king ,bimbasra saw him as he crossed ,beyond the terraced slopes of his domain4 ,so sweet he looked in meditation lost4 ,the king spake thus to his attendant train3 ,,vi4 ,be full of care for this most noble man2 ,in outward aspect great1 all pure within4 ,his eyes stray not beyond a fathom's span1 ,so guarded moves he in this world of sin4 ,,vii4 ,see how serenely he performs his task2 ,of ,royal birth must be this anchorite4 ,let the king's messengers run forth and ask1 ,where wilt thou rest1 ,o mendicant1 to-night8 ,,viii4 ,the messengers1 despatched at royal behest1 ,the king's instructions hasten to obey2 ,then1 bowing low1 the ,bhikshu thus addressed3 ,whither1 ,o ,bhikshu1 dost thou wend thy way8 ,,ix4 ,from house to house he wandered guardedly1 ,and at each door with eyes downcast he stood4 ,mindful1 restrained1 dispassionate was he1 ,filling his alms-bowl with the proffered food4 ,x4 ,his task performed1 in meditation deep ,he left the haunts of men1 and silently ,set forth to gain ,pandra's caverned steep2 ,then1 turning1 said3 ,my dwelling there shall be4 ,,xi4 ,seeing him stop1 the messengers stayed still2 ,one only to the king this message gave3 ,o king1 he sits upon ,pandra's hill1 ,like to a lion in a mountain cave4 ,,xii4 ,the prince forthwith upon his chariot rode1 ,and hastened towards ,pandra's lofty crest2 ,then1 stepping out1 along the path he strode ,to where the mendicant had stopped to rest2 ,,xiii4 ,and1 bending low1 thus spake he to the youth3 ,young art thou yet1 too delicate to face ,the life of those who battle for the truth1 ,thou seeming scion of an ancient race6 ,,xiv4 ,o glory of the vanguard of a band ,of heroes onwards pressing to the fray1 ,what is thy lineage1 where thy royal land8 ,o let me in these robes thy form array4 ,,xv4 ,hard by ,himalaya's slopes there dwells1 ,o king1 ,a ,skya race1 ,koslas known by name1 ,descendants of the sun2 from these ,i spring2 ,from these gone forth1 ,i seek not earthly fame4 ,,xvi4 ,seeing the danger of a carnal life1 ,i have set forth to battle to the end1 ,and in this struggle and protracted strife ,raptures ineffable my path attend6 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's ,notes ,obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected4 ,variations in spelling1 punctuation and accents are as in the original4 ,the repetition of the ,title on the first page has been removed4 ,italics are represented thus1 italic4