{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_76869/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_76869","id":"gutenberg_76869","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76869","summary":null,"tags":["Buddhism","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"_STUDIES IN THE FAITHS._ I\n\n\n\n\n                               BUDDHISM\n\n                                  BY\n                            ANNIE H. SMALL\n\n                               AUTHOR OF\n          \u2018YESHUDAS,\u2019 \u2018SUWARTA,\u2019 \u2018STUDIES IN BUDDHISM,\u2019 ETC.\n\n                     [Illustration: Printer Logo]\n\n                                 1905\n                                LONDON\n                           J. M. DENT & CO.\n                     NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.\n\n\n          [Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE SCARED TOOTH, KANDY.]\n\n\n\n\n                                  TO\n                           G. S. AND W. M. M.\n                   THIS LITTLE SERIES OF STUDIES IS\n                       AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE\n\n\nIt is in the belief that it may be not unprofitable for us of the\nChristian Faith, that we should sit for a little space at the feet of\nthe great Indian Sage and Teacher, to study some of the truths which he\nesteemed most highly, and to compare them with those already familiar\nto us but too little dwelt upon by us, and in the light of them once\nagain to make real to our thinking those truths which are peculiarly\nours in Christ Jesus our Lord, that this little book has been written.\nBut no reader will mistake so slight a sketch for an attempt to tell\nthe whole.\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                       PAGE\n\n       INDIA AND GAUTAMA                                 11\n\n       ISRAEL AND JESUS                                  27\n\n       THE UNIVERSAL LAW. BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY      39\n\n       THE UNIVERSAL LAW IN HUMAN LIFE: BUDDHISM\n         AND CHRISTIANITY                                45\n\n       THE WAY OF EMANCIPATION: BUDDHISM                 61\n\n       THE FORMULA OF CONFESSION                         69\n\n       THE WAY OF SALVATION: CHRISTIANITY                75\n\n       THE TWO IDEALS                                    91\n\n       THE BUDDHA AND THE CHRIST                        103\n\n\n\n\n                           INDIA AND GAUTAMA\n\n                          \u201c_But lo! Siddharta turned_\n        _Eyes gleaming with divine tears to the sky,\n        Eyes lit with heavenly pity to the earth;\n        From sky to earth he looked, from earth to sky,\n        As if his spirit sought in lonely flight\n        Some far-off vision, linking this and that,\n        Lost--past--but searchable, but seen, but known.\n        Then cried he, while his lifted countenance\n        Glowed with the burning passion of a love\n        Unspeakable, the ardour of a hope\n        Boundless, insatiate: \u2018Oh! suffering world;\n        Oh! known and unknown of my common flesh,\n        Caught in this common net of death and woe,\n        And life which binds to both! I see, I feel\n        The vastness of the agony of earth,\n        The vainness of its joys, the mockery\n        Of all its best, the anguish of its worst;\n        Since pleasures end in pain, and youth in age,\n        And love in loss, and life in hateful death,\n        And death in unknown lives, which will but yoke\n        Men to their wheel again to whirl the round\n        Of false delights and woes that are not false.\n        Since pleasures end in pain, and youth in age,\n        And love in loss, and life in hateful death,\n        And death in unknown lives, which will but yoke\n        Men to their wheel again to whirl the round\n        Of false delights and woes that are not false._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n                              _I would not let one cry_\n        _Whom I could save.\u2019_\u201d\n\n                                    SIR EDWIN ARNOLD.\n\n\n\u2666The Story of India\u2666\nBeyond other lands the great land of India has borne the burden of\nthe havoc which has been wrought in this world of ours, and through\nit in the fair universe of God; and she has realized deeply that man\nhas had some awful share in the tragedy. Her religious teaching is the\nexpression of her sense of this fact, and of her yearning after the\nre-uniting of each several severed part with the original Oneness.\nTo this end the appalling panorama presented to the view in such a\ncity as Benares--the washings, the offerings and acts of worship, the\npilgrim processions from temple to temple. To this end the fastings\nand austerities, the renunciations, the so-to-speak experiments in\nways of salvation. And to this end the long thoughts and dreams of the\ncenturies, and the missions of men like Gautama. The history of the\nPassion of India is, rightly understood, the most noble which the world\nhas known, with one exception only. The huge blunders into which she\nhas fallen take nothing from the grandeur of the story, they add much\nto its pathos. She has dreamed that man must seek God, and has never\nhad the vision of God seeking man. She has failed to evolve the idea of\na personal God, a living, speaking, loving God; and the pantheism into\nwhich she has drifted seems to us at best a poor thing, and at worst\na bad thing. Life has failed of any moral significance. But the great\nheart of India is fundamentally right. Her mistakes are not, as has been\nso often affirmed, of the essence of her nature; they are only the best\nsolution which her unaided mind and heart could discover, of the problem\nof the sorrow of the world. The greatest of her Masters was Gautama the\nBuddha, who proved, in one aspect of his teaching, too great for her\nacceptance, in another, too narrow; and he was rejected, not, however,\nbefore he made an ineffaceable mark upon her thought, and not before she\nhad sent his influence far over the world.\n\n\u2666Gautama\u2666\nGautama, known as the Buddha, was born at Kapila Wastu, on the river\nRohini, about a hundred miles from Benares, some 550 years before\nChrist. He came of a noble family. Wonderful tales, most of them legends\nof a comparatively recent date, are told of his birth, childhood, and\nyouth; little is really known. He was chivalrous and noble in character,\nand revealed very early a peculiarly sensitive temperament; the sight\nof suffering overwhelmed him; and his father, whose only child he was,\nbrought him up in strictest seclusion, sheltering him, so far as might\nbe, from contact with the darker aspects of life.\n\n\u2666His Story\u2666\n\u2666The Seeker\u2666\nHe was married early and happily, and ten years later a son was born to\nhim. It was about this time that the knowledge of the world\u2019s sorrow\nreached him. The story is told of his driving out beyond the palace\ngates, and meeting examples of suffering, old age, and death. He\ninsisted upon an explanation, and the charioteer explained to his master\nhow that these were the common lot of humanity. Gautama returned to the\npalace; but from that day was unable to settle into the old life. Unrest\ngrew upon him, and at length he determined to leave his home, don the\ngarb of the Seeker, and learn from those who had studied the problems of\nevil in human life, the lesson of their meaning and their remedy.\n\n\u2666The Way of Religion\u2666\nHe went, as was natural, in the first place, to the religious teachers,\nthe Brahmans, in order to learn from them how by religious service and\nritual, evil had been mastered. It is significant that the time spent in\nthis study was short, and that very little is told of it. The cruelty of\nthe sacrifices repelled him, and he could discover no relation whatever\nbetween the elaborate symbolism of the worship, and the deeper needs of\nhis awakened nature.\n\n\u2666The Way of the ascetic Student\u2666\nHe left the sacred city, and retired with five companions of like\nmind with himself, that in the quiet of a forest retreat they might\nmeditate together. The only way known to them was the way of severest\nself-discipline. Great thinkers of India had taught that the universe\nis one great Soul from which all other souls had broken away. These,\nseparate from their true home, wander in misery, finding bodies as\nthey may, according to their nature, and having no rest until they\nreturn to the original Soul. This is the doctrine of transmigration or\nre-incarnation. The soul is incarnated again and again, suffering in\neach new body the true recompense of the previous life. This process\nis repeated until the soul is purified from all evil, when it returns\nto the Mother Soul. The fewer the deeds, good or evil, the fewer the\nre-incarnations; and for those who would cut short the painful history,\nthe life of the ascetic is the only true life. By austerity the power of\nthe body may be vanquished, the selfish life (cause of all deeds, good\nor evil) may be subdued, and the soul may be set free.\n\nTo this life Gautama gave himself for six years, adding ever severer and\nseverer tests; until he was regarded as the greatest of living saints.\nBut for himself was no satisfaction; the answer to his problem was not\nyet found. At length he owned sorrowfully that the way of asceticism\nwas not the way of release. He had not yet discovered the cause of\nlife\u2019s suffering, and although the body seemed vanquished, Self lived,\nand temptation and sorrow were still possible. With superb courage he\nconfessed to his companions that for him the experiment was a failure,\nand withdrew.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u2666Solitary Study\u2666\n\u2666Enlightenment\u2666\nHe retreated deeper into the forest, and spent the following year in\nprofound meditation. Seated under the tree ever after known as the Bo\ntree (tree of wisdom) the light dawned upon him. He saw that earthly\ndesire, the yielding to selfish aims, was the true cause of human\nmisery. If men were free from these, suffering must cease. Not then in\nreligious ceremonial, which is not even symbolic of the truth; nor in\nself-torture or bodily discipline; but in the strenuous and constant\ndenial of the Self-life until the dominion of self is broken, and also,\nin the tenderest pity for the great world of suffering men and women, is\nsalvation to be found.\n\n    _Towards self, discipline,\n    Towards others, love_,--\n\nthis is the path of emancipation.\n\n\u2666Temptation\u2666\nIt was while Gautama, now the Buddha, or Enlightened One, rested from\nthe mental strain through which he had passed, and meditated upon his\nnew-found Gospel, that the tempter came to him with subtle temptation.\nAll earthly desires came before him, and he mastered them one by one,\nuntil at length he lay under the tree exhausted, but triumphant.\n\n\u2666Service\u2666\nPeace had been obtained for himself, and now the thought of the\nsuffering world possessed him. It was not in the nature of Gautama to\ndesire publicity; but he could not rest with this new-found gospel of\nrelease from misery through the conquest of Desire. He went in search\nof his old Brahman teachers; but they were dead. He then found the five\ncompanions of his ascetic life, who received him at first with doubt;\nbut when he made plain to them in a wonderful sermon, the experience\nthrough which he had passed, they gladly received the new gospel. The\nrest of his busy life was spent in telling his gospel, and in sending\nout his disciples on preaching tours. Before many months had passed,\nhe was able to send out sixty disciples; and in the course of a very\nfew years his followers numbered many thousands. From the high and the\nlow, and especially from the troubled, they gathered around him, and\nmany entered upon the Way. For forty years he carried on his gentle and\nloving ministry; travelling from place to place, eating the food which\nthe rich and the poor vied with each other in providing for his own and\nhis followers\u2019 need, and then teaching those who gathered around him.\nWhen the Rainy Season came round, he retired with his disciples to some\nquiet retreat, and talked with them of the great things of the \u201cKingdom\nof righteousness.\u201d\n\n\u2666Death\u2666\nHis long life was spent thus in the open air, a simple and sweet and\nunselfish life; and when he died, at Kusi-Nagar, his body was burned\nand the ashes were divided, and carried for reverent burial to those\nparts of the land where there were the largest number of his followers.\nGautama died in the year 480 B.C.\n\n\n\n\n                     THE FOURFOLD SACRED TRUTH.[1]\n\n\n\u2666The sum of the teaching\u2666\n\u201cNow this, O recluses, is the noble truth concerning suffering. Birth is\npainful, and so is old age; disease is painful, and so is death. Union\nwith the unpleasant is painful, painful is separation from the pleasant;\nand any craving that is unsatisfied, that, too, is painful....\u201d\n\n\u201cNow this, O recluses, is the noble truth concerning the origin of\nsuffering. Verily it originates in that craving thirst which causes\nthe renewal of becomings, is accompanied by sensual delight, and seeks\nsatisfaction now here, now there--that is to say, the craving for the\ngratification of the passions, or the craving for a future life, or the\ncraving for success in this present life.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow this, O recluses, is the noble truth concerning the destruction of\nsuffering. Verily it is the destruction in which no craving remains\nover, of this very thirst; the laying aside of, the getting rid of, the\nbeing free from, the harbouring no longer of, this thirst.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow this, O recluses, is the noble truth concerning the way which leads\nto the destruction of suffering. Verily it is this Eight-fold noble\npath; that is to say: Right Views, Right Aspirations, Right Speech,\nRight Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right\nRapture.\u201d\n\n  [1] From the Sermon preached at Benares to the five companions\n  of his hermit life upon his return after attainment of Buddha-hood.\n  From Prof. Rhys David\u2019s translation, by permission.\n\n\n\n\n                           ISRAEL AND JESUS\n\n\n\u201c_A great epoch was exhausted, and passing away to give place to\nanother, the first utterances of which had already been heard in the\nnorth, and which awaited but the_ INITIATOR _to be revealed_.\u201d\n\n\u201c_He came. The soul the most full of love, the most sacredly virtuous,\nthe most deeply inspired by God and the future, that men have yet\nseen on earth; Jesus. He bent over the corpse of the dead world, and\nwhispered a word of faith. Over the clay that had lost all of man but\nthe movement and the form, He uttered words until then unknown_, LOVE,\nSACRIFICE, A HEAVENLY ORIGIN. _And the dead arose. A new life circulated\nthrough the clay, which philosophy had tried in vain to re-animate.\nFrom that corpse arose the Christian world, the world of liberty and\nequality. From that clay arose the true Man, the image of God, the\nprecursor of Humanity._\u201d--MAZZINI.\n\n\n\u2666The Story of Israel\u2666\n\u201cSuff\u2019rance is the badge of all our tribe\u201d is the sum of the history of\nthe isolated, unsuccessful,[2] little Semitic nation of Israel.\n\n  [2] Unsuccessful, that is to say, as a nation.\n\nBut she has been made great--against her will indeed--by the fact that\nshe sheltered a unique succession of patriotic men who were impelled\nby the miserable little ideals and ambitions of their nation, to raise\ntheir voices in expostulation, or solemn warning, or hot indignation,\neach according to his time and his manner.\n\n\u2666The Seers\u2666\nThere is nothing in the national character or circumstances to warrant\nit, but in the message spoken by these men, each in his turn, there was\nthat power and significance, that forward look, which we describe as\n\u201cvision.\u201d In contradistinction to the Aryan SEEKERS, these were SEERS.\n\n\u2666God\u2666\nThey had found God; this was their secret. They believed that God had\nspoken, and must yet speak to man more clearly still: in the hope of\nhearing that voice of God they lived, and that men might be prepared to\nrecognize that Voice when it should speak, they toiled and suffered.\n\nThe case of the human race was, in their thinking, bad. It was not\nthat man had suffered, but that he had sinned, this was the tragedy.\nFor if the relation of man to the Unseen were a personal relation,\nthen suffering became at once the effect of a moral cause. \u201cAh, sinful\nnation.... They have forsaken the Lord.\u201d Therefore was \u201cthe whole head\nsick, and the whole heart faint.\u201d\n\n\u2666The Hope\u2666\nThe word of the Seer was nevertheless a word of hope. Hope was indeed\ntheir note. The God of their vision was a God Who must, by His very\nnature, right all wrong, end all evil, and speak the word which must\nreveal the way back to Himself as the only true rest of man.\n\nThe Hope grew stronger in all religious souls as its fulfilment seemed\nto be delayed, and every earnest young mother dreamed that the child she\nbore might be the Bearer of that final message from Jehovah.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u2666The Silence\u2666\nFour hundred years of silence might well have ended the Hope, but\nit lived on: a sordid, national Hope in the people at large, a high\nworld-wide Hope in the hearts of the silent waiting few, who studied the\nwritings of those old Seers, and looked out upon the great world in its\ndarkness; and believed that not only should the Light come, but that\nit should be the true glory of Israel to enlighten through It all the\nnations.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\u2666Jesus\u2666\n\u201cCan any good thing come out of Nazareth?\u201d Many such questions must\nhave been asked, even by those of the purest spiritual insight during\nthe brief working life of Jesus. There was no human ideal of dignity or\ngreatness which He did not ruthlessly deny.\n\n\u2666Consecration\u2666\nHe gave Himself in solemn sacrament to His service, but used as the\nsymbol of consecration a ceremony which usually typified repentance from\nsin on the part of man, remission on the side of God.\n\n\u2666Method of Service\u2666\nHis human gifts and powers were unmeasurable, and He brought them to His\nlife-work in all their perfection; but during a season of sore strain\nin solitary meditation, He set aside deliberately each well-tried human\nmethod which would have brought those powers and gifts into service; and\nchose to work out His purpose in a way startlingly new to human history,\nto the last inexplicable even to those who most deeply trusted Him.\n\nIt was a small matter that He rejected all such aids to the personal\nlife as would have won for Him the allegiance of the People, and that\nHe would have none of the glory and dignity which hedges the king idea,\nand which upholds in that office even men of weakest calibre. But it is\ntruly strange to find that His was not, in any way known to history,\na _religious_ life; there was no apartness about it, no mystery, no\nsanctity.\n\nHe chose the simple, familiar open air life of the people. Until the\npressure of work became too heavy, He maintained His family, He made\nfriendships, He was the most brotherly of men. He entered keenly into\nevery department of the life of the remote little country-side as it\npresented itself to Him; He was simply a Man among men.\n\nHis brothers were staggered by the waste of energy and power, and we\ncannot wonder at their remonstrance: \u201cIf Thou do these things, show\nThyself openly.\u201d For His method certainly involved the greatest amount\nof labour for the least visible return. He travelled on foot up and\ndown the country roads, resting in the quietest spots, healing and\naiding the poorest and sometimes the least deserving of the country\nfolk. He taught also, wasting the loveliest of His exquisite word\npictures upon groups of unappreciative fishermen and villagers.\n\n\u2666The Cross\u2666\nAnd in the end, as if to crown fittingly a career so utterly at variance\nwith all previous conceptions of greatness, He set His face steadfastly\nto go to the capital, where were for Him nothing save cruel torture and\nshameful death--the punishment inflicted by men upon those who dare to\nsubvert, and in so doing to condemn their own methods.\n\nHe died a young man, in defence of His chosen life; and to all\nappearance the strange little movement died with Him that day; for He\nhad few followers, only one or two of whom were men of any promise.\n\n\u2666Character\u2666\n\u2666Motive\u2666\n\u2666Selflessness\u2666\n\u2666Calm\u2666\n\u201cMy Father worketh, and I work.\u201d \u201cMy meat is to do the will of Him that\nsent Me, and to finish HIS work.\u201d Such words as these, so often upon His\nlips, reveal to us the secret of the life of Jesus. The Father-thought\nfilled His heart to the exclusion of all memory or thought of His own\ngreat Name and Power. Jesus had, so to speak, no Self; His centre was\nGod; with Whose will and purpose He found Himself in perfect accord.\nHe was the first human being who was unconscious of the need of\nat-one-ment; He was, from the beginning, at one with His own nature,\nbecause at one with the Centre of the universe. There was no conflict\nin His life. \u201cChrist\u2019s life outwardly,\u201d writes Professor Drummond, \u201cwas\none of the most troubled lives ever lived. Tempest and tumult, tumult\nand tempest, the waves breaking over it all the time till the worn body\nwas laid in the grave. But the inner life was a sea of glass. The\ngreat calm was always there. At any moment you might have gone to Him,\nand found rest.... There was nothing the world could do to Him that\ncould ruffle the surface of His spirit. Such living as mere living is\naltogether unique. It is only when we see what it was in Him that we\nknow what the word rest means. It is the mind at leisure from itself; it\nis the perfect poise of the will; the absolute adjustment of the inward\nman to the stress of all outward things; the preparedness against every\nemergency; the stability of assured convictions; the eternal calm of an\ninvulnerable faith; the repose of a heart set deep in God.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSt. John, writing long years after Jesus\u2019 bodily presence had been\nwithdrawn, uses two words of Him, which better than any other serve to\ntell His character. He was \u201c_full of grace and truth_.\u201d Human qualities\nboth, though rare; never indeed found in fulness and in balanced\nperfection even in the noblest human character; nevertheless, humanity\nis brought very near to the Unseen when we read that these qualities\nrepresent to the most seeing of all the Seers, \u201cthe glory of the only\nbegotten of the Father.\u201d\n\n\u2666Grace\u2666\n\u201cGrace,\u201d essence of all gentle, sympathetic, forth-going, self-effacing,\nwomanly virtues.\n\n\u2666Truth\u2666\n\u201cTruth,\u201d essence of all strong, courageous, strenuous, manly virtues.\n\nIt has been as difficult to grasp the union of truth and grace in Jesus,\nas it has been to receive the divine and the human. The Medi\u00e6val Church,\nfeeling after the \u201cgrace,\u201d and failing to recognize it in Him, elevated\nthe virgin mother to symbolize the character. The great artists--with\ntruer insight--struggled to express the union on canvas, but the task\nwas beyond even their art; the \u201cChrists\u201d have been, without exception,\nfar short of the ideal. Grace may be womanly, it is never effeminate.\n\nThat \u201cperfect poise,\u201d whether of the divine and the human, or of the\ngrace and the truth, alone explains, and alone represents to the\nChristian, the only Son of the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord.\n\n\n\n\n                           THE UNIVERSAL LAW\n\n\n          \u201c_The works of God are fair for nought,\n            Unless our eyes in seeing,\n          See hidden in the thing, the thought\n            That animates its being._\u201d\n\n          \u201c_The outward form is not the whole,\n            But every part is moulded\n          To image forth an inward soul,\n            That dimly is unfolded._\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *      *\n\n          \u201c_Thus nature dwells within our reach;\n            But though we stand so near her,\n          We still interpret half her speech\n            With ears too dull to hear her._\u201d\n\n          \u201c_Whoever at the coarsest sound\n            Still listens for the finest,\n          Shall hear the noisy world go round\n            To music the divinest._\u201d\n\n          \u201c_Whoever yearns to see aright,\n            Because his heart is tender,\n          Shall catch a glimpse of heavenly light\n            In every earthly splendour._\u201d\n\n\n                   THE LAW ACCORDING TO THE BUDDHA.\n\n\u201cThe whole knowable universe forms one undivided whole.\u201d\n\n\u2666The Causal Law\u2666\nIt is composed of \u201ca vast aggregate of original elements which are\nperpetually working out their fresh re-distribution in accordance with\ntheir own inherent energies.\u201d These elements never become more nor less;\nbut under the Law which governs them, they are in constant motion; they\nform, distribute, change, re-form; each fresh combination being the\neffect of Causes, or groups of Causes which precede it.\n\nThe all-governing Law which keeps the universe in motion is the Law of\nEvolution, the Law of Cause and Effect.\n\nThis Law is absolute in its working, it provides for no exceptions.\nHarvest-time follows seed-time; effects follow causes: and as the\nharvest provides the seed for all future seed-times and harvests, so,\nin every sphere, effects in their turn become causes of all future\ncauses and effects. There is no possible deviation from this universal,\nfundamental law.\n\nThere is, nevertheless, infinite variety in the universe. For, Causes\ncontinually combine to produce ever new Effects; and the universe in\nits endless progression, is an ever-varying, harmonious, reposeful\nUnity. There can be no conflict under the governance of the one glorious\nunalterable Law.\n\n\n                   THE LAW ACCORDING TO THE CHRIST.\n\n\u2666The Causal Law\u2666\nChrist has many things to say which reveal His constant consciousness of\nthe Harvest Law, as it may be called. To Him also it was the deepest,\nthe fundamental thought; and He illustrates His teaching continually by\nreference to it. The Causes already in the field--the ground as well\nas the seed--determine the harvest of the sower. As surely as tares are\nsown amongst the good seed, so surely shall there be a mingled harvest\nof tares and good grain. The kind of harvest will be according to the\nkind of seed. The tree is known by its fruit. \u201cMen do not gather grapes\nof thorns, nor figs of thistles.\u201d\n\nThere is no evasion of the Causal Law; and in the fair universe there\nis no desire to evade it. For the Causal Law is the Law of Life. \u201cThe\nearth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the\nfull corn in the ear\u201d--the farmer knoweth not how--but \u201cwhen the fruit\nis ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is\ncome.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u2666The First Cause\u2666\n\u2666Buddha\u2666\nHow the universe came into existence, who enacted the Law, the Buddha\ndid not inquire, and forbade men to inquire. It was enough for them that\nthey found themselves a part of the endless chain of causation; duty\nlay for them in the practical task of finding their place in the chain,\nand of adjusting themselves within it.\n\n\u2666Christ\u2666\nThe Christ, on the other hand, assumed a Builder of the universe, and\na Purpose in the Law; and He summed the graciousness and the harmony of\nnature in the only human phrase which conveyed His own conception of its\nwonderfulness. \u201cMy Father worketh.\u201d \u201cNot a sparrow falleth to the ground\nwithout your Father.\u201d \u201cConsider the lilies of the field, they toil not,\nneither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all\nhis glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe\nthe grass of the field...?\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                             THE UNIVERSAL\n                           LAW IN HUMAN LIFE\n\n\n\u201c_It has been remarked by one of the most distinguished physical\nphilosophers of our day that no atmospheric vibration ever becomes\nextinct; that the pulses of speech, when they have done their work,\nand become to our ears inaudible, pass in waves away, but wander\nstill, hither and thither through the regions of the air, eternally.\nHe conceives that as the atmosphere comprises still within itself the\ndistinct traces of any sound impressed on any portion of it, as there\nthe record indestructively exists, we have only to suffer a change of\nposition, or receive the endowment of an acuter sense, to hear again\nevery idle word that we have spoken, and every sigh that we have caused.\nThe truth is, that already, and within the limits of our mental nature\nthere is a power which will effect all this. It is fully within the\nscope of our natural faculties of association and memory. It may be\ndoubted whether any idea once in the mind is ever lost and past recall:\nit may drop indeed into the gulf of forgotten things, and the waves of\nsuccessive thoughts roll over it; but there are in our nature possible\nand even inevitable convulsions, which may displace the waters, heave up\nthe deep, and disentomb whatever may be fair or hideous there.... It is\nremarkable how slight a suggestion is occasionally sufficient to bring\nback vast trains of emotion. There are cases in which some particular\nfunction of the memory acquires most exquisite sensibility, and\nusually, as if God would warn us what must happen when our moral nature\nis divorced from the physical, it is the memory of conscience that\nmaintains this preternatural watch.... And if thus the past be truly\nindestructible, if thus its fragments may be regathered, if its details\nof evil thought and act may be thus brought together and fused into one\nbig agony,--why, it may be left to fools to make a mock at sin._\u201d\n\n\u201c_Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that\nshall he also reap. For he that soweth unto his own flesh, shall of the\nflesh reap corruption._\u201d\n\n\u201c_The lust when it hath conceived, beareth sin; and the sin, when it\nis full-grown, bringeth forth death. Be not deceived, my beloved\nbrethren._\u201d\n\n\n                   THE LAW ACCORDING TO THE BUDDHA.\n\n                                   I\n\n\u2666The Sacred Truth of Suffering\u2666\nBut conflict has appeared, and associates itself with the creatures\nwhich seem to have an existence apart from the mother universe. There\nought to be no Self, no life apart, all such Selves or lives are\nabnormal. Conflict, suffering, is the inevitable result.\n\n\u2666The Self-Life\u2666\nHow the universe became thus maimed, and creatures born to the misery of\nseparation came into being, the Buddha did not inquire, even as he did\nnot inquire into the problem of a First Cause which set the chain of\ncausation in the universe in motion. He took the situation as he found\nit, and applied himself to it. If separation from the universe, that is,\na separate existence or being, be the evil, clearly the only possible\nremedy must be to end the separation.\n\nThe Buddha broke away from previous Indian teaching on one point;\nto the Brahman, Soul in the universe and soul in man are the central\nfact; Soul, either in the Brahman sense, or in the sense in which we\nunderstand it, Buddhist teaching denies. The being of man is composed\nof certain elements in addition to the body or material part. These\nare:--Sensations, Ideas, Tendencies, and Powers; and it is these which\nmake up the consciousness of existence--the Self. As soon as a Self is\nborn, that is, a being apart from the only true Centre, it becomes its\nown centre. It has no knowledge, but it sees that which is outside of\nitself, and supposes that there must be joy in drawing towards itself,\nin possession.\n\n\u2666Desire\u2666\nIt therefore begins to feel outward from itself, to _desire_; and then\nto attempt to grasp that which it desires. Whatever be the result of\nthat grasping, whether success or failure to attain the desire, sorrow,\nsuffering, and loss are the inevitable end.\n\n\u201c_This, O recluses, is the noble Truth concerning suffering. Birth is\npainful, and so is old age; disease is painful, and so is death; union\nwith the unpleasant is painful, painful is separation from the pleasant;\nand any craving that is unsatisfied, that too is painful._\u201d\n\nThe Effect of that Cause--a Self apart from its true Centre--is, as it\nought to be,--misery.\n\n\n                                  II\n\n\u2666The Sacred Truth of the Cause of Suffering\u2666\n\u201c_Now this, O recluses, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering.\nVerily it originates in that craving thirst which causes the renewal of\nbecomings, is accompanied by sensual delight, and seeks satisfaction,\nnow here, now there; that is to say, the craving for the gratification\nof the passions, or the craving for a future life, or the craving for\nsuccess in this present life._\u201d\n\n\u2666The Self-life the Cause: Misery the Effect\u2666\nThe self-life, then, is the cause of suffering.\n\nThe Self attains its desire only to lose it again, or in the very\nattainment to find disappointment, and so suffering.\n\nThe Self fails of its desire, and again it suffers.\n\nIn either case, so surely as a Self desires, and grasps at that which it\ndesires, so surely will that Self have misery. For although each Self\nimagines itself to be free, to be responsible to none save Self, there\nis, even in separate existence, no such thing as freedom. The Causal\nLaw, which acts so graciously in the universe of perfect mercifulness\nand truth, has the Self-life in its grip, and avenges the universe for\nthe wrong done to it.\n\nEvery desire, every forth-going for Self, every action, good or bad, is\na seed sown and will have its appropriate harvest; by so much increasing\nthe sum of the Self-life; and at the dissolution of the body it will\nlive on, taking to itself another body, and becoming the seed of\nharvests to come.\n\nIt will be noted that this is not a doctrine of heredity, effects are\nnot transmitted with the physical being by parents. The true parent\nis the selfish Self, which transmits through its actions--_Karma_,\nas the Buddhist calls them--certain good or bad qualities, ideas,\ncharacteristics, which take to themselves new and appropriate form at\nthe dissolution of the being which produced them.\n\nThus, a being and a character, the effect of certain previous causes,\nsows, in desire and action, seeds which another must reap to-morrow.\nAs I now sow, another at my dissolution and the re-incarnation of my\n_Karma_ (the sum of my Self-graspings), will reap. \u201cThe Buddha himself\ncannot contradict this law, which is the Buddha of Buddha.\u201d \u201cNeither man\nnor God can prevent the results.\u201d\n\n\n                   THE LAW ACCORDING TO THE CHRIST.\n\n                                   I\n\n\u2666CHRIST The Self-life the Cause of Suffering\u2666\nThat Suffering, or conflict, is the Effect of which separation from God\nand the self-centred life is the Cause, is an element of the teaching of\nthe Christ apt to be forgotten by students of His life.\n\n\u2666Reasons for forgetfulness of this teaching\u2666\nThere are two chief reasons for this:--_First_, His pitifulness towards\nall sufferers, and indignant repudiation of the idea current in His time\nthat individual suffering was necessarily the effect of individual sin.\n_Second_, His peculiar doctrine of Suffering, which belongs to a later\nstage of this study.\n\nBut if His life meant anything at all, it meant that in His view the\nSelf-centred life, the life of Desire, is the true and original Cause of\nhuman misery. The sheep which had become separated from the shepherd,\nthe coin lost from its place upon the wedding chain, the son who chose\na life of which his own pleasure was the motive power; each of these\nrepresents vividly His thought, that separation and isolation are\nabnormal, a pain to God, ruin and misery to man.\n\n\n                                  II\n\n\u2666The Harvest of the Self-life\u2666\nThe harvest of the self-centred life is the subject of some of His most\nsolemn words. \u201cOne thing thou lackest yet,\u201d He said to one of warm\nenthusiasm and blameless life. \u201cFree yourself from the self life. Come\nout into the open.\u201d But the great renunciation seemed too costly. \u201cHow\nhardly shall such enter the Kingdom,\u201d was the sorrowful after-word.\n\nAgain,--and note the first personal pronoun in this story:--\n\n\u201cThe ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he\nreasoned within himself, saying, \u2018What shall I do, because I have not\nwhere to bestow my fruits?\u2019 And he said, \u2018This will I do: I will pull\ndown my barns and build greater; and there will I bestow all my corn and\nmy goods. And I will say to my soul (life), Soul, thou hast much goods\nlaid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cBut God said unto him, \u2018Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul\nrequired of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall\nthey be?\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c_So is he that layeth up treasure for_ HIMSELF _and is not rich toward\nGod_.\u201d\n\n\n                              THE REMEDY.\n\n\u2666The Sacred Truth of the Cessation of Suffering\u2666\nThe third sacred truth points the direction in which man must look\nfor the only possible remedy. He has broken away from his only true\nHome, and finds himself a sufferer under the rigour of the very law\nwhich should be his life and joy. The self-life, with its desires and\nforthgoings, is the seed of separation. The self-life must therefore be\nsubdued.\n\nSelf must cease to sow the seed of evil deeds, however pleasant; for\nevery such seed sown is adding to the harvest of evil.\n\nNot only so, but Self must cease to sow the seed of any deeds good\nor evil, of which self-desire is the motive. Self must be rigorously\ndisciplined and denied.\n\nDeeds of mercy and love, having no selfish end, are indeed good; these\nhasten the at-one-ment of the broken universe; for the universe, in its\nunity, is pure truth and pure mercifulness.\n\n\u201c_Now this, O recluses, is the noble truth concerning the destruction of\nsuffering. Verily, it is the destruction, in which no craving remains\nover, of this very thirst; the laying aside of, the becoming free from,\nthe harbouring no longer of, this thirst._\u201d\n\n\n\u2666CHRIST\u2666\nRead in the light of the third sacred truth, the words of Christ:--\n\n\u201cIf thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it\nfrom thee.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from\nthee.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf any man cometh unto Me, and hateth not his own father, and mother,\nand wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life\nalso, he cannot be my disciple.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot\nbe My disciple.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast ... and come,\nfollow Me.\u201d\n\n\u201cFoxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of\nMan hath not where to lay His head.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u201c_It is only with renunciation that life, properly speaking, can be said\nto begin._\u201d\n\n\u201c_All turning to self is so far turning from God; and so much as we have\nof self-love, so much we have of the hellish earthly weight that must\nbe taken off.... Self is not only the seat and habitation, but the very\nlife of sin; the works of the devil are all wrought in self, it is his\npeculiar workshop, and therefore Christ is not come as a Saviour from\nsin, as a Destroyer of the works of the devil in any of us, but as far\nas self is overcome and beaten down in us._\u201d--LAW.\n\n\u201c_God will have us surrender without terms, and until then we are fast\nprisoners, and not children in His universe._\u201d--MARTINEAU.\n\n\u201c_Christ\u2019s love is firm, and can be severe. It never pares down\nHis requirements to make discipleship easy; rather it attracts by\nheightening them, and insisting most strenuously upon the most difficult\nsurrender._\u201d--MCLAREN.\n\n\u201c_For all followers of Christ, whoever and wherever they may be,\nthe one essential and inestimable law is that of self-surrender. This\nwas the very essence and substance of Christ\u2019s teaching, again and\nagain declared in language of almost awful sternness. This is Christ\u2019s\nclaim, just because He is our God and owns us; possible, because He\nis our kinsman, and understands us; blessed, because it enables Him\nto give us tenfold more, even now; merciful, for it is the way of our\nsalvation._\u201d--THOROLD.\n\n\n\n\n                       THE WAY OF EMANCIPATION.\n                               BUDDHISM\n\n                     I. THE WAY OF THE COMMON LIFE.\n                       II. THE WAY OF THE SAINT.\n\n\n\u201c_The instant of harmony is the instant when the Buddha in us and the\npure truth become one. This is enlightenment. Literally we become Buddha\nby the correspondence of our wisdom with the universal truth. The aim is\nto reach this plane._\u201d\n\n                    I. THE WAY OF THE COMMON LIFE.\n\nThe three sacred truths discover the situation of humanity in relation\nto the universe, and the ideal remedy for its misery. _End the self-life\nand thus end the misery._\n\nBut the full teaching of the denial of Self cannot be received by all.\nThe Self-life and the world-life are pleasant, and many will accept the\nmisery which may come, rather than forego present joy.\n\nFor such, a simple, natural, human life, hedged and moralized by the\nlaw, is provided.\n\n\u2666The ten Sins\u2666\nThe ten sins must be conquered. They are:--\n\n   THREE SINS OF THE BODY.\n    The taking of life.\n    Theft.\n    Unlawful sexual intercourse.\n\n   FOUR SINS OF THE TONGUE.\n    Lying.\n    Slander.\n    Swearing.\n    Vain conversation.\n\n   THREE SINS OF THE MIND.\n    Covetousness.\n    Malice.\n    Unbelief.\n\n\u2666The Moral Law\u2666\nFor aid in the conquest of the sins, there is a short inclusive moral\nlaw:--\n\n\u201cThou shalt not kill, nor cause to be killed, any living thing.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou shalt abstain from anything in any place, that has not been given\nthee.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou shalt avoid an unchaste life as a burning heap of coals.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou shalt not bear false witness against another.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou shalt not drink the Soma juice.\u201d\n\n(This command is not only a command of total abstinence from\nintoxicants, but a law of separation from the whole sacrificial system\nof Brahmanism.)\n\n\u2666The Ideal\u2666\nThe ideal is of a life lived in the world, adding to _Karma_ as little\nas may be; solemnized by the thought of the future re-buildings of\nthe being; a life of kindness, honesty, purity and temperance; a life\nof self-discipline, which shall aim at lessening the evil around as\nfar as may be, and shall add none to the future. In particular, the\nhuman brotherhood, reverence for age, and for every living thing, and\npeacefulness of spirit, are the virtues to be practised.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u2666Some Precepts\u2666\n\u201cDo not ask about descent, but ask about conduct.\u201d\n\n\u201cWatching his speech, well restrained in mind, let a man never commit\nany wrong with his body. Let a man but keep these three roads of action\nclear, and he will achieve the way that is taught by the wise.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a\nreal driver, other people are but holding the reins.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe who by causing pain to others wishes to obtain pleasure for himself,\nhe, entangled in the bonds of hatred, will never be free from hatred.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf a man find no prudent companion who walks with him, is wise,\nand lives soberly, let him walk alone, like a king who has left his\nconquered country behind, like an elephant in the forest.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good, let\nhim overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u2666No Nirvana\u2666\nBut in the common life, how well soever it may be lived, there is no\nNirvana.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChrist has in His teaching no counterpart to this path for the weak;\neven as there is small encouragement in the Buddha\u2019s message for those\nwho choose to walk in it.\n\n\u201cNarrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and\nfew be they that find it.\u201d\n\n\n                    II. THE WAY OF THE SAINT.\n\n\u201c_Noisy go the small waters, silent goes the vast ocean._\u201d\n\n\u2666Character of the Path\u2666\nFor him who will receive it there is another way revealed in the fourth\nsacred truth. It tells of the Eightfold Sacred Path which may lead\nwithin his own lifetime to the extinction of the Self-life.\n\nIt is called by the Buddha \u201cthe middle path,\u201d for it is neither the path\nof the common life on the one hand, nor of asceticism (the Brahman path)\non the other.\n\nIt is a path of understanding, and of release from all illusions about\nthe harvest of Desire.\n\nIt is not a path of ease. Self-desire must be rigorously denied. The\nfetters which bind to the self-life must be broken.\n\nThe Path leads past sorrow and pain, past the illusions concerning the\nworld and its pleasures, past future separate conscious existences,\nsafely to the desired end, the repose of Nirvana.\n\n\n\n\n                       THE FORMULA OF CONFESSION\n\n                      I SEEK REFUGE IN THE BUDDHA.\n                      I SEEK REFUGE IN THE LAW.\n                      I SEEK REFUGE IN THE CHURCH.\n\n\n\u2666The Path\u2666\n\u201c_This, O Recluses, is the noble truth concerning the WAY which leads to\nthe destruction of suffering. Verily it is this noble Eightfold Path;\nthat is to say_:--\n\n    _Right Views._\n    _Right Aspirations._\n    _Right Speech._\n    _Right Conduct._\n    _Right Livelihood._\n    _Right Effort._\n    _Right Mindfulness._\n    _Right Rapture._\n\nLet no man think that this path is one easy to be trodden. At its\nentrance, after the Understanding which is the first step, and the\nRight Aspirations which is the entrance upon the Path, the candidate for\nArahatship--sainthood--leads a life of constant, untiring watchfulness\nand self-culture.\u201d\n\n\u2666Hindrances\u2666\nOne by one the Hindrances must be overcome as he treads the Eightfold\nPath:--\n\n    _The belief in the Self._\n    _Doubt of the Teaching._\n    _Trust in works of merit, or in religious ceremonies._\n    _The desires of the body._\n    _The love of life._\n    _The desires after the earth life._\n    _The desires after a future life._\n    _Pride._\n    _Self-righteousness._\n    _Ignorance._\n\nEach of these fetters which bind to the Self-life is loosened only\nat the cost of long strenuous discipline; and a glance must show the\nstudent that only one who has broken the bonds which bind him to the\nworld-life, and has become a monk, is competent to practise it.\n\n\u201cCome, look at this world glittering like a royal chariot: the foolish\nare immersed in it, but the wise do not touch it.\u201d\n\n\u201cLook upon the world as you would on a bubble, look upon it as you would\non a mirage, the King of death does not see him who thus looks upon the\nworld.\u201d\n\n\u2666Self-mastery the ideal\u2666\n\u201cSelf is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self: therefore curb\nthyself as the merchant curbs a noble horse.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy oneself is evil done, by oneself one suffers: by oneself evil is\nleft undone, by oneself one is purified. The pure and the impure by\nthemselves; no one can purify another.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf one man conquer in battle a thousand times ten thousand men, and\nif another conquers himself he is the greatest of conquerors. One\u2019s\nown self conquered is better than all other people: not even a god, ...\ncould change into defeat the victory of a man who has vanquished\nhimself, and always lives under restraint.\u201d\n\n\u201cLike a well-guarded frontier fort, with defences within and without, so\nlet a man guard himself. Not a moment should escape, for they who allow\nthe right moment to pass, suffer pain when they are in hell.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf a man holds himself dear, let him watch himself carefully: during\none at least out of the three watches a wise man should be watchful.\u201d\n\n\u2666The last Message\u2666\n\u201cTherefore, O Ananda, be ye lamps unto yourselves. Hold the truth as\na lamp. Hold fast to the lamp of truth. Hold fast as a refuge to the\ntruth. Look not for refuge to any besides yourselves.\u201d\n\n\u2666The goal is Nirvana\u2666\nSainthood is attained through long struggle. The writings tell of the\nthirty-seven stages which must be passed before the Eightfold Path is\ntrod,--stages which represent the severest Self-discipline, but which\nlead out to the life of entire freedom and serenity, until in the end\nemancipation from the Self-life with all its attendant evils, and the\nrepose of Nirvana in at-one-ment with the Universe, has been attained.\n\n\u201cThis is the ultimate goal. Caught in the vortex of evolution there\nis no rest from birth to death even in highest heaven; and until you\nrealize Nirvana, this changefulness must go on. On earth the purified\nperfected nature enjoys Nirvana, and after the dissolution of the\nphysical body there is no further birth in an objective world. Neither\nman nor gods see him again.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                         THE WAY OF SALVATION.\n                             CHRISTIANITY\n\n\u201c_If God is Love, why do we need a Mediator? I think the best answer\nis, I do not know. Nor do I know why, God being Love, the intervention\nof maternal suffering is the indispensable condition of existence, or\nwhy suffering is the necessary medium for the procuring of anything that\nreally deserves the name of blessing. Why are knowledge, civilization,\nhealth, purchased only by severe labour for us by others, that is by\nmediation? I only know that it is so, an unalterable law, the beauty of\nwhich I can dimly see, and always most brightly in those moments when\nI am least earthly in feeling, and most disposed to reckon nobleness\nimmeasurably above physical, or even mental comfort. And seeing that\nas the law of the Universe, I am prepared to believe and acquiesce in\nit when found in the Atonement, as part of the Divine Government--a\nphilosophically as well as theologically demanded necessity. It is no\nexception to the great system, but in perfect harmony with it._\u201d\n\n\n                                   I\n\n\u2666The Father-thought\u2666\nThe fundamental thought of the message of the Christ, as of His life,\nis the thought of the Fatherhood of God, man being in His view the\nchild of God, brought into being for a great purpose. None have been so\nconscious as He of the failure of man to maintain this high relation, or\nof the disastrous effect of the failure upon the whole of human life. It\ninvolved the breaking up of the Home, unutterable pain to the Father,\nunutterable loss to man, as is recorded in St. Luke XV. The self-life,\nas opposed to the child-life, had been set up; there are two centres\nwhere one had been, two conflicting wills in a universe in which one\nWill alone must reign.\n\nIn other words, Jesus realized, above the universe, and beyond Law,\nOne to Whom man is related by the closest ties, from Whom he is unable\ntruly to separate himself, and towards Whom he is accountable. Thus to\neach man there falls, in addition to his personal and relative share in\nthe suffering involved in conflict with the inexorable working of the\ninexorable Causal Law, a very solemn personal responsibility.\n\n\u2666The Father is the true Centre\u2666\nThat the true centre of man\u2019s life is the Father--\u201cthe Father from Whom\nevery fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named\u201d--is the fact never to\nbe forgotten in the study of the \u201cWay of Salvation\u201d as taught by Jesus.\nThe first move, when the Prodigal Son \u201ccomes to himself,\u201d is back to the\nFather.\n\nAnd should he prefer to remain in the far country, sowing there the\nseed of his evil desires and forthgoings, the law of the harvest is\nimmutable: every seed sown brings its assured and appropriate harvest.\n\n\u201cWhatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the\nflesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.\u201d\n\n\n                                  II\n\n\u2666The Law of Cause and Effect\u2666\nAt the World\u2019s Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago some years ago,\na Buddhist delegate made the statement that no doctrine which ignores or\ndenies the Law of Cause and Effect would find acceptance with men of his\nFaith. It is probable that he had not realized that the Christian Faith\nis founded upon the Law also.\n\n\u2666The supreme illustration\u2666\nThe supreme illustration of the working of the Causal or Harvest Law,\nthat which most exquisitely reveals its gracious beneficence, is that\nof the life, death, and rising of Jesus Christ. His own words in this\nconnection are unmistakable, and should be carefully studied by any who\nare tempted to think that the death upon the Cross was either a mere\nmartyrdom, or an arbitrary enactment of God designed to supersede His\nown Law. The Christ came not to be destroyed, nor to destroy, but to\nfulfil.\n\nWhy choose so ineffective a manner of life? Why court disaster by these\nrepeated visits to the capital, unless prepared to yield something to\nthe leaders of the religious and political parties there? Further, why\ngo away, leaving the little company of devoted followers leaderless and\ncomfortless?\n\nBecause He was carrying out the Father\u2019s Purpose? Surely; but it was\nthe Father\u2019s Purpose because it was in the very nature of the case. The\nCausal Law demanded the Cross as the Effect of many Causes. The Causal\nLaw demanded the Cross as a Cause from which should appear in their\norder such gracious world-embracing Effects as the wise and gentle\nBuddha must have rejoiced to know.\n\n\u2666Evil Causes\u2666\nJesus refers to the evil Causes which led to the Cross very little,\nbecause in the \u201ccombination of Causes,\u201d to use the Buddhist phrase,\nthese must fall in with those which in the natural working of the Law\nmust serve the purpose of the Law. The evil Causes were present, and\npenitent humanity will never cease to mourn them.\n\n\u2666The essential Cause\u2666\n\u2666The Harvest\u2666\nTo make His meaning quite clear Jesus returned for illustration to the\nLaw as it works in nature. \u201cExcept the corn of wheat fall into the\nground and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it bringeth\nforth much fruit.\u201d The little seed, hidden in the ground and apparently\ndead, reappears, not in its own individual life, but in a rich harvest.\nPresent apparent failure; future great result. Now to all appearance,\ndefeat, death, a Cross; some day, when realities are known, victory,\nlife, glory.\n\nHow can these things be? If the little grain of wheat could speak, would\nit not say, \u201cI die that the harvest may be\u201d? and these are the very\nwords of the Lord Jesus.\n\nHis harvest is, as we must remember, the same harvest which has been so\npassionately desired by all lovers of men--desired by the Buddha above\nthem all--the harvest of the at-one-ment of humanity with the Universe,\nor, as He would state it, the harvest of the at-one-ment of men with the\nFather.\n\nIn other words, this shameful death is the seed of the Kingdom of the\nFather, sown in this world of ours, the harvest of which is silently,\ngradually, surely growing, as all harvests do grow. Men and women are\nbeing at-oned with the Father simply by falling into line with the\nuniversal harvest law. This fact may be stated and illustrated in many\nways, but it must never be forgotten that this is our Lord\u2019s own way of\nstating it. \u201c_I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men._\u201d\n\n\n                                  III\n\n\u2666Suffering and Love\u2666\nIs the Causal Law a cruel Law, since death to life appears to be its\ntrue meaning?\n\nJesus, speaking with the authority of a perfect understanding of the\nFather-heart, speaks of the Law as in its essence pure Love. The\nFather, Himself Love, introduced the Law, and the Law lies very deep in\nLove since He Himself obeyed it. _God so loved, that He gave._\n\nThere is no attempt to minimize the suffering which lies inside the Law\nin the case of a world which has defied it. Jesus, the Saviour, knew\nstrong crying and tears during those dark days of the sowing of the\nseed. But already He saw of the travail of His soul and was satisfied.\nThe Father\u2019s Name--that is the newly-revealed Name, Father--is\nglorified. The defeat of the arch-enemy is assured. The life-giving\npower of the Cross is realized, for all the world and for all time, as\nin a vision of glory. These were the thoughts which upheld the Saviour\nof the world, as He, resolutely refusing all relief, faced the days\nwhich lay before Him. Thus, the grain of wheat, falling into the ground\nand dying, has already borne a great Harvest. (See St. John xii. 24-36.)\n\n\u201c_The great lesson of love is to die unto oneself. Christ\u2019s love is\nalways shown through death, just because the death of self is both\nthe greatest expression of, and the only way to love. The two things\ngo together inseparably; in fact, they are opposite faces of the same\nthing. And that dying is eternal life._\u201d\n\n\u201c_The pages blotted with tears are not always the darkest to look back\nupon. One page in the world\u2019s history, stained with the bitterest tears\never shed upon earth, and steeped in guiltless blood, is not the darkest\nto read. It is in the light of that sorrow, and that sin, thou must\nlearn to understand all the rest. All these hard and bitter questions\nare answered there to the holy heart: nowhere else, and to none else._\u201d\n\n\n                                  IV\n\n\u2666The Law is Universal, austere, but immeasurably glorious\u2666\nJesus maintained that the Law of the Harvest--the Law of Death unto\nLife--is universal. It holds as truly of every man and woman who would\nbe in line with the Purpose of God as it did of the Christ. Devotion to\nSelf kills the true Self; for the true centre of Man is not Self, but\nthe Father. Hence the often-repeated demand of Jesus that His servants\nshould follow Him in His life and death. Such surrender of the Self as\nHis must, in their measure, be theirs. It is the only true human living,\nthe living day by day in harmony with the fundamental Law.\n\nThe demand seems, until it is in some measure experienced, far too high,\ntoo austere, for the common human life. Many shrink back from it in\nfear. But those who know something of the forth-going life which takes\nthe place of the old self-centred life know that it is immeasurably\nfuller, richer, nobler than the old; for they make the great discovery\nthat the true glory of the child is that he should be in sympathy with\nthe Father, in the joy of the harvest of a loving heart.\n\n\n                                   V\n\n\u2666No distinction between layman and saint\u2666\n\u2666The Law of Desire as taught by Christ\u2666\nIt is a unique fact, though quite in the nature of the case, that in\nthe thought of Jesus no distinction is drawn between layman and saint.\nAll are called to be saints. The Law applies to every man. And it is\nno less startling to note that the Law of the death of self unto the\nfinding of the greater self may be fulfilled in the ordinary daily human\nlife. As we have already noted, there was no apartness in His own life;\naccordingly, there are no religious orders in His Kingdom; \u201cthey are in\nthe world,\u201d \u201cI pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world\u201d;\nthese are His own words. The reason is to be found in the Christian\ndefinition of the Law of Desire. Buddhism and Christianity are at one\nin the demand that the desires of the Self-life must die. But Christ\nsubstitutes for it a Desire so gracious, so fruitful, that it easily\nchokes all other desire, and makes even of the fascinating world a safe\nabode. This Desire is the Father. He is possessed by a passion for the\nFather, for His presence, His love, the fulfilment of His Purpose. The\nLaw of the surrender of Desire becomes the most gracious free impulse of\nhuman nature. To die to self is the lesson of love. Uttermost allegiance\nto the King is an all-absorbing, consuming Desire. It is the old thirst\nfor God, for the living God which distinguished the old seers of Israel,\nwho foresaw that the thirst must be satisfied some day.\n\n\n                                  VI\n\n\u2666Each surrendered life another Seed Sown\u2666\nEach surrendered life is another seed sown, and adds its share to the\ngreat Harvest of the Kingdom: \u201ca Harvest of love, joy, peace, patience,\nkindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-restraint.\u201d It is a literal\nharvest; not as some, who forget the ethical in Christianity, would\nhave us believe, some magical transformation. The obedience to the\nfundamental Law is the whole of Christian law; but then it is the\ninclusive law, the law which the Father Himself obeys, the law of Love.\n\n\n                                  VII\n\n\u2666The End\u2666\nAnd the End? It is not the dreamless repose of Nirvana.\n\n\u2666With Him\u2666\nLet it be told in two commentaries upon two words of Jesus, from sources\nfar removed from each other.\n\n\n               \u201cDemain--Quelle promptitude!\n                Dans le Paradis--Quel S\u00e9jour!\n                Avec Moi--Quelle Compagnie!\u201d\n                                     BOSSUET.\n\n\u2666New Service\u2666\n\u201cRight, lad; the best reward for having wrought well already is to have\nmore to do; and he that has been faithful over a few things must find\nhis account in being made ruler over many things. That is the true and\nheroical rest, which only is worthy of gentlemen and sons of God. As\nfor those who, either in this world or in the world to come, look for\nidleness, and hope that God shall feed them with pleasant things, as it\nwere, with a spoon, Amyas, I count them cowards and base, even though\nthey call themselves saints and elect.\u201d--KINGSLEY.\n\n\n\n\n                            THE TWO IDEALS\n\n\n(The two following poems present respectively the Buddhist and\nChristian Ideals of Life.)\n\n                          THE BUDDHIST IDEAL.\n                            DHANIYA SUTTA.\n\n  1 _Hot steams my food. My cows are milked.\n      --So said the herdsman Dhaniya--\n      Along the banks of the Mah\u012b\n      With equals and with friends I dwell.\n      Right well is my trim cottage thatched,\n      And on my hearth the fire burns bright.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  2 _Cool is my mind. No fallow land lies there.\n      --So said the Exalted One--\n      For one night only, as I wander on,\n      I dwell upon the banks of the Mah\u012b.\n      My lodging\u2019s open to the sky. The fires\n      Are out (for in my heart the flames\n      Of Lust, Ill-will, and Dulness burn no more).\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  3 _There are no gadflies here. My kine\n      --So said the herdsman Dhaniya--\n      Are roaming through the meadows rich with grass;\n      Well can they bear the fickle rain-god\u2019s blows.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  4 _My basket raft was woven well together.\n      --So said the Exalted One--\n      Crossed over now, I\u2019ve reached the farther bank\n      And overcome the floods (the Lust of Sense,\n      The Lust of Life, Delusion, Ignorance).\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  5 _Obedient is my wife, no wanton she,\n      --So said the herdsman Dhaniya--\n      Long has she dwelt with me, my well-beloved,\n      I hear no evil thing in her against me.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  6 _Obedient is my heart, wholly set free,\n      --So said the Exalted One--\n      Long has it been watched over, well subdued,\n      No evil thing is found within my breast.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  7 _On my own earnings do I live at ease.\n      --So said the herdsman Dhaniya--\n      My boys are all about me, strong in health,\n      I hear no evil thing in them against me.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  8 _No man can call me servant, and I wander\n      --So said the Exalted One--\n      At will, o\u2019er all the earth on what I find.\n      I feel no need of wages, or of gain.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  9 _I\u2019ve barren cows, and sucking calves\n      --So said the herdsman Dhaniya--\n      And cows in calf, and heifers sleek,\n      And a strong bull, lord o\u2019er the cows.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  10 _No barren cows have I, nor sucking calves,\n      --So said the Exalted One--\n      No cows in calf, nor heifers sleek,\n      Nor a strong bull, lord o\u2019er the cows.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  11 _The stakes are driven in, nothing can shake them.\n      --So said the herdsman Dhaniya--\n      The ropes of munja grass are new and strong,\n      No calves could break them loose, and stray.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  12 _I\u2019ve broken all the bonds loose, like a bull,\n      Or like the lordly elephant, calm in his strength,\n      Contemning the weak strands of jungle rope.\n      I ne\u2019er again shall enter the dark womb.\n   So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, to-night!_\n\n  13 _Then lo! a thunder-cloud filling the hollows,\n      And the high ground, that moment poured forth rain,\n      And Dhaniya, the herdsman, as he heard\n   The god\u2019s rain rushing, yielded him, and said:_\n\n  14 _O, great the gain that has accrued to us,\n      In that we met the Exalted One to-day!\n      In thee of the seeing eye we put our trust.\n      Be thou, O mighty Sage, a teacher to us.\n      My wife and I will be obedient;\n      Under the Happy One we both will lead\n      A holy life, and pass beyond old age and death,\n      And put an end, for aye, to every pain!_\n\n  15 _The man with sons takes pride in sons,\n      --So said Mara, the Evil One--\n      The man with kine takes joy in kine.\n      Lusts, evil, and Karma bring delights to men;\n      He, who has none of these, has no delights._\n\n  16 _He, who has sons, has sorrow in his sons,\n      --So said the Exalted One--\n      He who has kine, has trouble with his kine,\n      Lusts, evil, and Karma, are the source of care;\n      He, who has none of these, is not care-worn.\n          Dhaniya Sutta is ended._\n\n      (By kind permission of Professor RHYS DAVIDS, LL.D., Ph.D., whose\n      translation it is. From _Buddhism: Its History and Literature_.)\n\n\n                          THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL.\n\n                  _There was silence. None did dare\n                  To use again the spoken air\n                  Of that far-charming voice, until\n                  A Christian resting on the hill,\n                  With a thoughtful smile subdued\n                  (Seeming learnt in solitude)\n                  Which a weeper might have viewed\n                  Without new tears, did softly say,\n                  And looked up unto heaven alway,\n                  While he praised the Earth--_\n\n                                          _O Earth,\n                  I count the praises thou art worth,\n                  By thy waves that move aloud,\n                  By thy hills against the cloud,\n                  By thy valleys warm and green,\n                  By the copse\u2019s elms between;\n                  By their birds which, like a sprite\n                  Scattered, through a strong delight,\n                  Into fragments musical,\n                  Stir and sing in every bush\n                  By thy silver founts that fall,\n                  As if to entice the stars at night\n                  To thine heart; by grass and rush,\n                  And little weeds the children pull,\n                  Mistook for flowers!_\n\n                                  _--Oh, beautiful\n                  Art thou, Earth, albeit worse\n                  Than in heaven is call\u00e8d good!\n                  Good to us, that we may know\n                  Meekly from thy good to go;\n                  While the holy, crying Blood,\n                  Puts its music kind and low,\n                  \u2019Twixt such ears as are not dull,\n                  And thine ancient curse!_\n\n                  _Prais\u00e8d be the mosses soft\n                  In thy forest pathways oft,\n                  And the thorns, which make us think\n                  Of the thornless river-brink,\n                    Where the ransomed tread!\n                  Prais\u00e8d be thy sunny gleams,\n                  And the storm, that worketh dreams\n                    Of calm unfinish\u00e8d.\n                  Prais\u00e8d be thine active days,\n                  And thy night-time\u2019s solemn need,\n                  When in God\u2019s dear hook we read\n                    \u2018No night shall be therein\u2019!\n                  Prais\u00e8d be thy dwellings warm,\n                  By household faggot\u2019s cheerful blaze,\n                  Where, to hear of pardoned sin,\n                  Pauseth oft the merry din,\n                  Save the babe\u2019s upon the arm,\n                  Who croweth to the crackling wood.\n                  Yea,--and better understood,\n                  Prais\u00e8d be thy dwellings cold,\n                  Hid beneath the churchyard mould,\n                  Where the bodies of the saints,\n                  Separate from earthly taints,\n                  Lie asleep, in blessing bound,\n                  Waiting for the trumpet sound\n                  To free them into blessing;--none\n                  Weeping more beneath the sun,\n                  Though dangerous words of human love\n                  Be graven very near, above._\n\n                  _Earth, we Christians praise thee thus,\n                  Even for the change that comes,\n                  With a grief, from thee to us!\n                  For thy cradles and thy tombs;\n                  For the pleasant corn and wine,\n                  And summer heat; and also for\n                  The frost upon the sycamore,\n                  And hail upon the vine!_\n                               E. BARRETT-BROWNING.\n\n\n\n\n                       THE BUDDHA AND THE CHRIST\n\n\n                        SOME SIGNIFICANT TITLES\n\n          Gautama.                   Jesus.\n\n          Sage of the Sakya.         The Word.\n          Teacher.                   The Truth.\n          The All-knowing.\n          The Lion of the Sakya.     The Captain of Salvation.\n          The Conqueror.\n          Lord of the World.         Lord of lords.\n          The Blessed.               Blessed and only Potentate.\n          The Excellent.             God, Blessed for evermore.\n          The Enlightened.           The Light.\n                                     The Dayspring.\n                                     The Daystar.\n                                     The Morning Star.\n                                     Saviour.\n                                     Great, Good, Chief Shepherd.\n                                     Lamb of God.\n                                     The Way, the Truth, and the Life.\n                                     Son of Man.\n                                     Son of God.\n                                     Emmanuel.\n\n\n\u2666Gautama and Jesus\u2666\nThere is quite sufficient resemblance between Gautama and Jesus in\ncharacter and teachings, and in the circumstances of their lives so far\nas they are known to us, to give much interest to a comparative study;\nand of such studies there are very many.\n\n\u2666The Buddha and the Christ\u2666\nBut they do not come before the world as Gautama and Jesus, they are the\nBuddha and the Christ. As Dr. Oldenberg has said: \u201cWhat makes a Buddha\na Buddha is, as his name indicates, his knowledge. He does not possess\nhis knowledge, like a Christ, by virtue of a metaphysical superiority of\nhis nature, surpassing everything earthly; but he has gained it, or more\nstrictly speaking, has won it, by a struggle. The Buddha is at the same\ntime the Jina, _i. e._ the conqueror. The history of the struggle for\nthe Buddhahood must therefore precede the history of the Buddha.\u201d\n\n\u2666No true parallel\u2666\n\u2666Christ is all\u2666\nThis essential distinction ends all parallel. The Buddha claimed\nthrough travail and sorrow to have discovered his gospel of the Path\nto emancipation from the Self-life. The Christ came from the Father,\naccording to the vision of the Seers, to bring a gospel of recovered\nsonship; and, through travail, sorrow, death, and rising (for it was\nimpossible that the grave should hold Him), to reveal the Way back\ninto the true life. To the Christian \u201c_Christ is absolutely true, the\nPoint whence we start, and where we must end. From Christ and to Christ\nincludes the whole circle of our knowledge and the whole circle of our\nuncertainty. All truth and all ways to truth must end in Him Who is The\nTruth and The Way. Being in Him, what is unknown cannot baffle us, for\nHe knows it in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge._\u201d\n\n\u201c_Christ is all, and in all._\u201d\n\n\n                                THE END\n\n\n\n\n      A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ACCESSIBLE BOOKS UPON THE SUBJECT.\n\n    _Buddhism: Its History and Literature._ By PROFESSOR RHYS\n        DAVIDS. (G. and F. Putnam\u2019s Sons, London. 6_s._)\n\n    _Buddhist India._ By PROFESSOR RHYS DAVIDS. Story of the\n        Nations Series. (T. Fisher Unwin.)\n\n    _Buddha: His Life, His Doctrine, His Order._ By DR. HERMANN\n        OLDENBERG. Translated by W. HOEY, M.A., LL.D.\n        (Williams and Norgate. 18_s._)\n\n    _Studies in Eastern Religions. Buddhism._ By PROFESSOR GEDEN.\n        (Kelly. 3_s._ 6_d._)\n\n    _Manual of Buddhism._ By SPENCE HARDY. (Williams and Norgate.\n        21_s._)\n\n    _Buddhism in Translations._ By HENRY CLARKE WARREN. (Published\n        by Harvard University, U.S.A.)\n\n    _The Gospel of Buddha._ By DR. PAUL CARUS. (Open Court\n        Publishing Co., Chicago.)\n\n        The two latter are perhaps the most accessible of the\n        many translations of Buddhistic literature.\n\n    _The Sacred Books of the East._ Edited by DR. MAX MULLER.\n        Vols. X, XI, XIII, XX, XLIX, and others are translations\n        of Buddhist Scriptures.\n\n\n\n\n                     RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,\n                     BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND\n                           BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBERS\u2019 NOTES\n\n\nIn both the pure text and HTML versions, the sidenotes have been moved\nto the top of the original paragraph and surrounded with \u2666 \u2666.\n\nThe use of quotation marks has been standardized.\n\nOn Page 97, \u201caark\u201d has been replaced with \u201cdark\u201d: _I ne\u2019er again shall\nenter the dark womb._\n\nOther possible misspellings and variations in spelling (e.g.,\nEight-fold/Eightfold, Buddhahood/Buddha-hood, etc.) have been preserved\nas originally printed, since they do not impact the clarity of the text.\n\nIn this text version, italic print has been marked with underscores\n(_italic_). Small-caps have been replaced with capital letters.","title":"Buddhism","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11965}