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The latter, Prof. H. Sumangala, is the High Priest of the Adams' Peak diocese, | The latter, Prof. H. Sumangala, is the High Priest of the Adams' Peak diocese, | ||
and the President of this Oriental College that I visited. The priests in this | and the President of this Oriental College that I visited. The priests in this | ||
College are celibates. They eat but one meal a day, and that before 12 {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on |4-171}} | College are celibates. They eat but one meal a day, and that before 12 o'clock at noon. They take no life, not even that of a worm | ||
or insect. When going out upon religious duties they walk. | |||
They are not allowed to take any money for their services. | |||
They live by begging, or upon the alms given them. | |||
Entering the college grounds through a broad gateway, a group | |||
of young priests, some thirty or forty in number, flocked around | |||
me, attired in their gracefully fitting yellow robes, exposing | |||
their right shoulders. They own nothing but their robes and their | |||
rice-bowls. They were bare-footed, and their heads shaven, for the | |||
triple purpose of comfort, neatness, and uniformity. | |||
Introduced to the high priest, he pleasantly invited me into an | |||
outer portico of the temple, overshadowed by palms and tropical | |||
foliage. The seat was a sort of sofa, decidedly Oriental in | |||
conception and primitive in construction. After a good square look | |||
at each other, we were at once in the full flush of conversation. | |||
This priest spoke a little English; but finding it difficult to | |||
clearly convey in another language the philosophy and metaphysical | |||
subtleties threading the whole system of Eastern Buddhism, we | |||
conversed and argued our various points through the two interpreters | |||
accompanying me. | |||
My first inquiry, after a general conversation about America, | |||
Ceylon, and England was: "Do you consider Guatama Buddha and his | |||
teachings, as embodied in your sacred scripture, infallible?" | |||
"We do not. Infallibility pertains only to Infinity. Sakya Gautama | |||
was a man, a brother of humanity, who, by walking in the divine | |||
path, became a Buddha. All may become Buddhas and enter Nirvana." | |||
"What do you and the Buddhists of different countries understand by | |||
the word ''Nirvana''?" | |||
"It is an open question. Priests and teachers among us differ upon | |||
the point, something as do Christians about the meaning, the | |||
duration, and the location of heaven. Some consider Nirvana to mean | |||
the complete cessation of existence. This is my opinion. Others | |||
consider it to mean a cessation from further incarnations, and a | |||
perfect yet conscious peace in the bosom of the Infinite." | |||
"But men not only love existence, but they hunger for and desire a | |||
future conscious existence." | |||
"Yes; and just so long as they desire existence—just so long as they | |||
''lust'' after it for the gratification of what they denominate | |||
happiness, just so long will they have it by re-incarnations, or | |||
re-births back from other worlds into bodies human or animal, the | |||
''grade'' corresponding to the deeds and moral conduct of the person's | |||
life upon earth." | |||
"Well, it seems to me that upon the principle of the conservation of | |||
forces, once ''in'' existence ''always'' in existence. I certainly can | |||
have no conception of annihilation—no conception of the extinction of | |||
existence!" | |||
"But neither your conception nor non-conception proves anything. The | |||
desire for an endless conscious existence is based in ''selfishness'', | |||
and selfishness is the root of all evil. . . . In approaching this | |||
building you first perceived, or had a perception of it." "Yes." | |||
"Sitting now within, and examining its proportions, you have a | |||
conception of it." "Yes." "In leaving you will ''not'' take away the | |||
building; only the conception of it." "Yes." "But will you ''always'' | |||
carry with you the conception?" | |||
"Doubtless; unless—''unless'' I forget it." "Ay; but forgetfulness | |||
implies a loss of memory—extinction! Most certainly you have no memory | |||
now of your infantile notions. Youth even is to us all only a | |||
half-remembered dream. And if memory, if perception, if conception, | |||
and other attributes ascribed to the soul, may perish, ''i. e.'', | |||
become extinct, may they not ''all''? And are not change and extinction | |||
of existence taking place around us every moment? Where is the hair | |||
that covered the baby head at birth? fallen, perished, extinct—''gone'' | |||
into the whirl of matter! Where are the glimmering thoughts of infancy? | |||
the dreamy memories of childhood? the dimmed perceptions of the past? | |||
That which is organized must become disorganized—that which is formed | |||
must enter the void again. Earthly existence is a shadow—an evil—a | |||
selfish, troubled {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on |4-171}} | |||
{{Footnotes start}} | {{Footnotes start}} | ||
<nowiki>*</nowiki> J. Alwis, "Origin, History, Doctrines, &c., of Buddhism," p. 20. | <nowiki>*</nowiki> J. Alwis, "Origin, History, Doctrines, &c., of Buddhism," p. 20. | ||
{{Footnotes end}} | {{Footnotes end}} | ||