I SEEK REFUGE IN THE BUDDHA.
I SEEK REFUGE IN THE LAW.
I SEEK REFUGE IN THE CHURCH.
♦The Path♦
“_This, O Recluses, is the noble truth concerning the WAY which leads to
the destruction of suffering. Verily it is this noble Eightfold Path;
that is to say_:--
_Right Views._
_Right Aspirations._
_Right Speech._
_Right Conduct._
_Right Livelihood._
_Right Effort._
_Right Mindfulness._
_Right Rapture._
Let no man think that this path is one easy to be trodden. At its
entrance, after the Understanding which is the first step, and the
Right Aspirations which is the entrance upon the Path, the candidate for
Arahatship--sainthood--leads a life of constant, untiring watchfulness
and self-culture.”
♦Hindrances♦
One by one the Hindrances must be overcome as he treads the Eightfold
Path:--
_The belief in the Self._
_Doubt of the Teaching._
_Trust in works of merit, or in religious ceremonies._
_The desires of the body._
_The love of life._
_The desires after the earth life._
_The desires after a future life._
_Pride._
_Self-righteousness._
_Ignorance._
Each of these fetters which bind to the Self-life is loosened only
at the cost of long strenuous discipline; and a glance must show the
student that only one who has broken the bonds which bind him to the
world-life, and has become a monk, is competent to practise it.
“Come, look at this world glittering like a royal chariot: the foolish
are immersed in it, but the wise do not touch it.”
“Look upon the world as you would on a bubble, look upon it as you would
on a mirage, the King of death does not see him who thus looks upon the
world.”
♦Self-mastery the ideal♦
“Self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self: therefore curb
thyself as the merchant curbs a noble horse.”
“By oneself is evil done, by oneself one suffers: by oneself evil is
left undone, by oneself one is purified. The pure and the impure by
themselves; no one can purify another.”
“If one man conquer in battle a thousand times ten thousand men, and
if another conquers himself he is the greatest of conquerors. One’s
own self conquered is better than all other people: not even a god, ...
could change into defeat the victory of a man who has vanquished
himself, and always lives under restraint.”
“Like a well-guarded frontier fort, with defences within and without, so
let a man guard himself. Not a moment should escape, for they who allow
the right moment to pass, suffer pain when they are in hell.”
“If a man holds himself dear, let him watch himself carefully: during
one at least out of the three watches a wise man should be watchful.”
♦The last Message♦
“Therefore, O Ananda, be ye lamps unto yourselves. Hold the truth as
a lamp. Hold fast to the lamp of truth. Hold fast as a refuge to the
truth. Look not for refuge to any besides yourselves.”
♦The goal is Nirvana♦
Sainthood is attained through long struggle. The writings tell of the
thirty-seven stages which must be passed before the Eightfold Path is
trod,--stages which represent the severest Self-discipline, but which
lead out to the life of entire freedom and serenity, until in the end
emancipation from the Self-life with all its attendant evils, and the
repose of Nirvana in at-one-ment with the Universe, has been attained.
“This is the ultimate goal. Caught in the vortex of evolution there
is no rest from birth to death even in highest heaven; and until you
realize Nirvana, this changefulness must go on. On earth the purified
perfected nature enjoys Nirvana, and after the dissolution of the
physical body there is no further birth in an objective world. Neither
man nor gods see him again.”
THE WAY OF SALVATION.
CHRISTIANITY
“_If God is Love, why do we need a Mediator? I think the best answer
is, I do not know. Nor do I know why, God being Love, the intervention
of maternal suffering is the indispensable condition of existence, or
why suffering is the necessary medium for the procuring of anything that
really deserves the name of blessing. Why are knowledge, civilization,
health, purchased only by severe labour for us by others, that is by
mediation? I only know that it is so, an unalterable law, the beauty of
which I can dimly see, and always most brightly in those moments when
I am least earthly in feeling, and most disposed to reckon nobleness
immeasurably above physical, or even mental comfort. And seeing that
as the law of the Universe, I am prepared to believe and acquiesce in
it when found in the Atonement, as part of the Divine Government--a
philosophically as well as theologically demanded necessity. It is no
exception to the great system, but in perfect harmony with it._”
I
♦The Father-thought♦
The fundamental thought of the message of the Christ, as of His life,
is the thought of the Fatherhood of God, man being in His view the
child of God, brought into being for a great purpose. None have been so
conscious as He of the failure of man to maintain this high relation, or
of the disastrous effect of the failure upon the whole of human life. It
involved the breaking up of the Home, unutterable pain to the Father,
unutterable loss to man, as is recorded in St. Luke XV. The self-life,
as opposed to the child-life, had been set up; there are two centres
where one had been, two conflicting wills in a universe in which one
Will alone must reign.
In other words, Jesus realized, above the universe, and beyond Law,
One to Whom man is related by the closest ties, from Whom he is unable
truly to separate himself, and towards Whom he is accountable. Thus to
each man there falls, in addition to his personal and relative share in
the suffering involved in conflict with the inexorable working of the
inexorable Causal Law, a very solemn personal responsibility.
♦The Father is the true Centre♦
That the true centre of man’s life is the Father--“the Father from Whom
every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named”--is the fact never to
be forgotten in the study of the “Way of Salvation” as taught by Jesus.
The first move, when the Prodigal Son “comes to himself,” is back to the
Father.
And should he prefer to remain in the far country, sowing there the
seed of his evil desires and forthgoings, the law of the harvest is
immutable: every seed sown brings its assured and appropriate harvest.
“Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.”