<Untitled> (The Theosophists...)
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<Untitled> (We hail the appearance...)
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A Blot in Buddha's Life
One good effect of Spiritualism is the tendency it has to induce its votaries to inquire, without prejudice, into the merits and demerits of all religious systems, and of all phases of religious thought. Hence much has been s brought forward of late by various writers in Spiritualist periodicals about Buddhism, showing how large a proportion of good there is £ in that religion in its primitive form. Colonel Olcott, formerly a Spiritualist, afterwards a Theosophist, seems now to have turned Buddhist, for he has been establishing Buddhist s schools in Ceylon, and has written a Buddhist catechism which is circulating extensively in India. Mr. Edwin Arnold in his beautiful poem, The Light of Asia, has placed Buddhism before the public in the most attractive possible manner, but neither from him nor from any other admirer of the great religious teacher of Eastern nations, have we ever heard any comment upon a dark feature of Buddha’s life, assuming for the moment that he ever lived at all, and that his supposed career is not a myth. He deserted his wife, flung away the wealth of s the love of Yashodhara as if it were nothing, and stole forth by night into the world, to seek the unknowable. After many years, towards the close of his career, his wife was allowed to gaze s upon him from a distance as upon a vastly superior being. In these days and in this country a man who did the same would be ordered to the treadmill by a magistrate for deserting his wife and leaving her chargeable to the parish. If Buddha saw a better path in life before him, he might at least have urged Yashodhara to tread it with him, and not left her to grieve over his heartless desertion. Where women are so utterly downtrodden as in India, the Buddhistic idea may be acceptable, and do its evil part in keeping them in a debased position. In England women still labour under grievous leg I and social wrongs, for there is plenty of barbarism under the thin crust of civilisation around us, but we do not s see that the Buddhistic idea and example would tend to abolish the evils; rather the reverse.
Inlay
Voices from the Ancients
“Atma† is a bank, a boundary, so that the worlds may not be confounded. Day and night do not pass that bank, nor old age, death, and grief; neither good nor evil deeds. All evil-doers turn back from it, for the world of Brahman (the soul world) is free from all evil.
“Therefore he who has crossed that bank, if blind, ceases to be blind; if wounded, ceases to be wounded; if afflicted, ceases to be afflicted. Therefore when the bank has been crossed, night becomes day indeed, for the world of Brahman is lighted up once for all.
“And the world of Brahman belongs to those only who find it by abstinence—for them there is freedom in all the worlds.
“What people call sacrifice (yagna), that is really abstinence (brahmakarya). For he who knows, obtains that (world of Brahman, which others obtain by sacrifice?) by means of abstinence.
“What people call sacrifice (ishta) that is really abstinence, for by abstinence, having searched (ishtva) he obtains the Atma.
“What people call sacrifice (sattrayana), that is really abstinence, for by abstinence he obtains from the Sat (the true), the safety (trana) of the Atma.
“What people call the vow of silence (mauna), that is really abstinence, for he who by abstinence has found out the Atma, meditates (manute).
“What people call fasting (anasakayana), that is really abstinence, for that Atm& does not perish (nanasyati), which we find out by abstinence.
“What people call a hermit’s life (arany-ayana), that is really abstinence.
“Ara and Nya are two lakes (purity of the dual being) in the world of Brahman, the third heaven from hence; that world of Brahman belongs to those who find the lakes Ara and Nya in the world of Brahman by means of abstinence; for them there is freedom in all the worlds.’’
“Having abandoned the practising of violence towards all objects, not doing violence to any one of them, let one not wish for children; why wish for a friend? Let one walk alone like a rhinoceros.
“Certainly we praise the acquisition of friendship; good friends should be admitted into one’s company; not obtaining such friends, let one, subsisting on pure food, walk alone like a rhinoceros.
“Possessed of courage, persevering in the attainment of Paramattha (the supreme good) with a mind not inactive, without living in idleness, resolute in perseverance, endowed with strong, powerful thought, let one walk alone like a rhinoceros……
“The old extinct, the new not defiled, the wise—their hearts freed from clinging to future births, their seeds of existence destroyed, their desires not springing up again—are extinguished like a lamb……
“Overcome the desire which clings to various objects, by not overcoming which, gods and men, seeking the gratification of the senses, remain attached to them: do not on any account neglect this moment. Those who let slip this moment* will grieve in hell.
“One should not destroy life; should not take that which is not given; should not tell lies; should not become a drinker of intoxicating liquors; should refrain from sexual intercourse—an ignoble thing; should not eat unseasonable food at night; should not wear garlands or use perfumes; should sleep on a bed spread on the ground. Such they say, is the eight fold sacred formula declared by Buddha, who came to end our sorrows.’’
“This body of thine shall soon return to the earth—your form destroyed, your spirit fled; why then covet such an abode? It is the mind that makes its own dwelling-place; from the earliest time, the mind reflecting on evil ways, itself courts its own misery. It is the very thought that itself makes its sorrow. Not a father or mother can do so much; if only the thoughts be directed to that which is right, then happiness must necessarily follow. Concealing the six appetites, as the tortoise conceals his limbs, guarding the thoughts as a city is surrounded by the ditch, then the wise man in his struggle with Mara shall certainly conquer, and free himself from all future misery.”
Whereto are ye running so eagerly ye ine-<... continues on page 12-45 >
* Sacred Books of the East, Vol. I, p. 130.
†Atma can be defined by “breath, soul, the principle of life and sensation, the individual soul, the self, natural temperament or disposition, essence, nature, character, the person, the body, the understanding, intellect, the mind, the faculty of thought and reason, the thinking faculty, the highest principle of life, Brahma, the supreme deity or soul of the universe, care, effort, firmness, the sun, fire, wind, air, a son” (of man?). See preface to The Sacred Books of the East'' by Professor Max Muller, p. 28.) Of all these terms the translators of the Upanishads selected that very word, self, which is least expressive of Atma. Soul'' would be the most available word for Atma had the fear of offending Materialists not prevailed among modern scholars.
Editor's notes
- ↑ The Theosophists... by unknown author, Times of India, The, Friday, January 13, 1882
- ↑ Pundit Shyamaji Krishnavarma... by unknown author, Brahmo Public Opinion
- ↑ We hail the appearance... by unknown author, Amrita Bazar Patrika, The, Thursday, January 12, 1882
- ↑ A Blot in Buddha's Life by unknown author, London Spiritualist, No. 490, January 13, 1882, p. 13
- ↑ Voices from the Ancients by unknown author (signed as J. K.), London Spiritualist, No. 490, January 13, 1882, pp. 14-6
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 490, January 13, 1882, p. 13
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London Spiritualist, No. 490, January 13, 1882, pp. 14-6