that shall bear him” women, and blessed is the
(Ibid.). fruit of thy womb” (_Luke_
i.); “Blessed is the womb
that bare thee” (xi. 27).
8th. “And God shall manifest 8th. “God manifested forth
His glory, and make His His glory” (_John_, 1st Ep.).
power resound, and shall
reconcile Himself with His “God was in Christ,
creatures” (Ibid.). reconciling the world unto
himself” (_2 Corinth._ v.).
9th. “It is in the bosom of 9th. “Being an unparalleled
a woman that the ray of the instance, without any
Divine splendor will receive pollution or defilement, and
human form, and she shall a virgin shall bring forth a
bring forth, being a virgin, son, and a maid shall bring
for no impure contact shall forth the Lord” (_Gospel of
have defiled her” Mary_, iii.).
(_Vedangas_).
Let there be exaggeration or not in attributing to the _Atharva-Veda_
and the other books such a great antiquity, the fact remains that
_these prophecies and their realization preceded Christianity_, and
Christna preceded Christ. That is all we need care to inquire.
One is completely overwhelmed with astonishment upon reading Dr.
Lundy’s _Monumental Christianity_. It would be difficult to say
whether an admiration for the author’s erudition, or amazement at
his serene and unparalleled sophistry is stronger. He has gathered
a world of facts which prove that the religions, far more ancient
than Christianity, of Christna, Buddha, and Osiris had anticipated
even its minutest symbols. His materials come from no forged
papyri, no interpolated Gospels, but from sculptures on the walls
of ancient temples, from monuments, inscriptions, and other archaic
relics, only mutilated by the hammers of iconoclasts, the cannon
of fanatics, and the effects of time. He shows us Christna and
Apollo as good shepherds; Christna holding the cruciform _chank_
and the _chakra_, and Christna “crucified in space,” as he calls it
(_Monumental Christianity_, fig. 72). Of this figure--borrowed by Dr.
Lundy from Moor’s _Hindu Pantheon_--it may be truly said that it is
calculated to petrify a Christian with astonishment, for it is the
crucified Christ of Romish art to the last degree of resemblance.
Not a feature is lacking; and, the author says of it himself: “This
representation I believe to be anterior to Christianity.... It looks
like a Christian crucifix in many respects.... The drawing, the
attitude, the nail-marks in hands and feet, indicate a Christian
origin, while the Parthian coronet of seven points, the absence of
the wood, and of the usual inscription, and the rays of glory above,
would seem to point to some other than a Christian origin. Can it be
the victim-man, or the priest and victim both in one, of the Hindu
Mythology, who offered himself a sacrifice before the worlds were?
Can it be Plato’s Second God who impressed himself on the universe in
the form of the cross? Or is it his divine man who would be scourged,
tormented, fettered; have his eyes burnt out; and lastly ... _would
be crucified_?” (_Republic_, c. ii., p. 52, _Spens. Trans._). It is
all that and much more; _Archaic Religious Philosophy_ was universal.
As it is, Dr. Lundy contradicts Moor, and maintains that this figure
is that of _Wittoba_, one of the avatars of Vishnu, hence Christna,
and _anterior to Christianity_, which is a fact not very easily to be
put down. And yet although he finds it prophetic of Christianity, he
thinks it has no relation whatever to Christ! His only reason is that
“in a Christian crucifix the glory always comes from the sacred head;
here it is from above and beyond.... The Pundit’s Wittoba then, given
to Moor, would seem to be the crucified _Krishna_, the shepherd-god
of Mathura ... a _Saviour--the Lord of the Covenant, as well as Lord
of Heaven and earth--pure and impure, light and dark, good and bad,
peaceful and war like, amiable and wrathful, mild and turbulent,
forgiving and vindictive, God and a strange mixture of man_, but not
the Christ of the Gospels.”
Now all these qualities must pertain to Jesus as well as to Christna.
The very fact that Jesus was a man upon the mother’s side--even
though he were a _God_, implies as much. His behavior toward the
fig-tree, and his self-contradictions, in _Matthew_, where at one
time he promises peace on earth, and at another the sword, etc., are
proofs in this direction. Undoubtedly this cut was never intended to
represent Jesus of Nazareth. It was Wittoba, as Moor was told, and as
moreover the Hindu _Sacred Scriptures_ state, Brahma, the sacrificer
who is “at once both sacrificer and victim;” it is “Brahma, victim
in His Son Christna, who came to die on earth for our salvation, who
Himself accomplishes the solemn sacrifice (of the Sarvameda).” And
yet, it is the man Jesus as well as the man Christna, for both were
united to their _Chrestos_.
Thus we have either to admit periodical “incarnations,” or let
Christianity go as the greatest imposture and plagiarism of the ages!
As to the Jewish _Scriptures_, only such men as the Jesuit de
Carrière, a convenient representative of the majority of the Catholic
clergy, can still command their followers to accept only the
chronology established by the Holy Ghost. It is on the authority of
the latter that we learn that Jacob went, with a family of seventy
persons, all told, to settle in Egypt in A.M. 2298, and that in
A.M. 2513--just 215 years afterward--these seventy persons had so
increased that they left Egypt 600,000 fighting men strong, “without
counting women and children,” which, according to the science of
statistics, should represent a total population of between two
and three millions!! Natural history affords no parallel to such
fecundity, except in red herrings. After this let the Christian
missionaries laugh, if they can, at Hindu chronology and computations.
“Happy are those persons, but not to be envied,” exclaims Bunsen,
“who have no misgivings about making Moses march out with more than
two millions of people at the end of a popular conspiracy and rising,
in the sunny days of the eighteenth dynasty; who make the Israelites
conquer Kanaan under Joshua, during and previous to the most
formidable campaigns of conquering Pharaohs in that same country. The
Egyptian and Assyrian annals, combined with the historical criticism
of the _Bible_, prove that the exodus could only have taken place
under Menephthah, so that Joshua could not have crossed the Jordan
before Easter 1280, the last campaign of Ramses III. in Palestine
being in 1281.”[1092]
But we must resume the thread of our narrative with Buddha.
Neither he nor Jesus ever wrote one word of their doctrines. We
have to take the teachings of the masters on the testimony of the
disciples, and therefore it is but fair that we should be allowed
to judge both doctrines on their intrinsic value. Where the logical
preponderance lies, may be seen in the results of frequent encounters
between Christian missionaries and Buddhist theologians (_pungui_).
The latter usually, if not invariably, have the better of their
opponents. On the other hand, the “Lama of Jehovah” rarely fails
to lose his temper, to the great delight of the Lama of Buddha,
and practically demonstrates his religion of patience, mercy, and
charity, by abusing his disputant in the most uncanonical language.
This we have witnessed repeatedly.
Despite the notable similarity of the direct teachings of Gautama
and Jesus, we yet find their respective followers starting from
two diametrically opposite points. The Buddhist divine, following
literally the ethical doctrine of his master, remains thus true to
the legacy of Gautama; while the Christian minister, distorting
the precepts recorded by the four _Gospels_ beyond recognition,
teaches, not that which Jesus taught, but the absurd, too often
pernicious, interpretations of fallible men--Popes, Luthers, and
Calvins included. The following are two instances selected from
both religions, and brought into contrast. Let the reader judge for
himself:
“Do not believe in anything because it is rumored and spoken of by
many,” says Buddha; “do not think that is a proof of its truth.
“Do not believe merely because the written statement of some old sage
is produced; do not be sure that the writing has ever been revised by
the said sage, or can be relied on. Do not believe in what you have
fancied, thinking that, _because an idea is extraordinary, it must
have been implanted by a Deva, or some wonderful being_.
“Do not believe in guesses, that is, assuming something at hap-hazard
as a starting-point, and then drawing conclusions from it--reckoning
your two and your three and your four _before you have fixed your
number one_.
“_Do not believe merely on the authority of your teachers and
masters_, or believe and practice merely _because they believe and
practice_.
“I [Buddha] tell you all, you must of yourselves know that this is
evil, this is punishable, this is censured by wise men; belief in
this will bring no advantage to any one, but will cause sorrow; and
when you know this, then eschew it.”[1093]
It is impossible to avoid contrasting with these benevolent and
human sentiments, the fulminations of the Œcumenical Council and the
Pope, against the employment of reason, and the pursuit of science
when it clashes with revelation. The atrocious Papal benediction
of Moslem arms and cursing of the Russian and Bulgarian Christians
have roused the indignation of some of the most devoted Catholic
communities. The Catholic Czechs of Prague on the day of the recent
semi-centennial jubilee of Pius IX., and again on the 6th of July,
the day sacred to the memory of John Huss, the burned martyr, to mark
their horror of the Ultramontane policy in this respect, gathered by
thousands upon the neighboring Mount Zhishko, and with great ceremony
and denunciations, burned the Pope’s portrait, his Syllabus, and
last allocution against the Russian Czar, saying that they were good
Catholics, but better Slavs. Evidently, the memory of John Huss is
more sacred to them than the Vatican Popes.
“The worship of words is more pernicious than the worship of images,”
remarks Robert Dale Owen. “Grammatolatry is the worst species of
idolatry. We have arrived at an era in which literalism is destroying
faith.... The letter killeth.”[1094]
There is not a dogma in the Church to which these words can be better
applied than to the doctrine of _transubstantiation_.[1095] “Whoso
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life,” Christ
is made to say. “This is a hard saying,” repeated his dismayed
listeners. The answer _was that of an initiate_. “Doth this offend
you? It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words (_remata_, or arcane utterances) that I speak unto you,
they are Spirit and they are Life.”
During the Mysteries wine represented Bacchus, and bread
Ceres.[1096] The hierophant-initiator presented symbolically before
the final _revelation_ wine and bread to the candidate who had to eat
and drink of both in token that the spirit was to quicken matter,
_i.e._, the divine wisdom was to enter into his body through what was
to be revealed to him. Jesus, in his Oriental phraseology, constantly
assimilated himself to the true vine (_John_ xv. 1). Furthermore,
the hierophant, the discloser of the Petroma, was called “Father.”
When Jesus says, “Drink ... this is my blood,” what else was meant,
it was simply a metaphorical assimilation of himself to the vine,
which bears the grape, whose juice is its blood--wine. It was a hint
that as he had himself been initiated by the “Father,” so he desired
to initiate others. His “Father” was the husbandman, himself the
vine, his disciples the branches. His followers being ignorant of
the terminology of the Mysteries, wondered; they even took it as an
offense, which is not surprising, considering the Mosaic injunction
against blood.
There is quite enough in the four gospels to show what was the
secret and most fervent hope of Jesus; the hope in which he began to
teach, and in which he died. In his immense and unselfish love for
humanity, he considers it unjust to deprive the many of the results
of the knowledge acquired by the few. This result he accordingly
preaches--the unity of a spiritual God, whose temple is within
each of us, and in whom we live as He lives in us--in spirit. This
knowledge was in the hands of the Jewish adepts of the school of
Hillel and the kabalists. But the “scribes,” or lawyers, having
gradually merged into the dogmatism of the dead letter, had long
since separated themselves from the Tanaïm, the true spiritual
teachers; and the practical kabalists were more or less persecuted
by the Synagogue. Hence, we find Jesus exclaiming: “Woe unto you
lawyers! _For ye have taken away the key of knowledge_ [the Gnosis]:
ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering ye
prevented” (_Luke_ xi. 52). The meaning here is clear. They did take
the key away, and could not even profit by it themselves, for the
_Masorah_ (tradition) had become a closed book to themselves as well
as to others.
Neither Renan nor Strauss, nor the more modern Viscount Amberley
seem to have had the remotest suspicion of the real meaning of many
of the parables of Jesus, or even of the character of the great
Galilean philosopher. Renan, as we have seen, presented him to us
as a Gallicized Rabbi, “_le plus charmant de tous_,” still but a
Rabbi; and one, moreover, who does not even come out of the school
of Hillel, or any school either, albeit he terms him repeatedly
“the charming doctor.”[1097] He shows him as a sentimental young
enthusiast, sprung out of the plebeian classes of Galilee, who
imagines the ideal kings of his parables the empurpled and jewelled
beings of whom one reads in nursery tales.[1098]
Lord Amberley’s Jesus, on the other hand, is an “iconoclastic
idealist,” far inferior in subtilty and logic to his critics. Renan
looks over at Jesus with the one-sidedness of a Semitomaniac;
Viscount Amberley looks down upon him from the social plane of an
English lord. _Apropos_ of this marriage-feast parable, which he
considers as embodying “a curious theory of social intercourse,”
the Viscount says: “Nobody can object to charitable individuals
asking poor people or invalids _without rank_ at their houses....
But we cannot admit that this kind action ought to be rendered
obligatory ... it is eminently desirable that we should do exactly
what Christ would forbid us doing--namely, invite our neighbors
and be invited by them as circumstances may require. The fear that
we may receive a recompense for the dinner-parties we may give, is
surely chimerical.... Jesus, in fact, overlooks entirely the more
intellectual side of society.”[1099] All of which unquestionably
shows that the “Son of God” was no master of social etiquette, nor
fit for “society;” but it is also a fair example of the prevalent
misconception of even his most suggestive parables.
The theory of Anquetil du Perron that the _Bagaved-gita_ is an
independent work, as it is absent from several manuscripts of the
_Mahâ-Bhârata_, may be as much a plea for a still greater antiquity
as the reverse. The work is purely metaphysical and ethical, and in
a certain sense it is _anti-Vedic_; so far, at least, that it is in
opposition with many of the later Brahmanical interpretations of the
_Vedas_. How comes it, then, that instead of destroying the work,
or, at least, of sentencing it as uncanonical--an expedient to which
the Christian Church would never have failed to resort--the Brahmans
show it the greatest reverence? Perfectly _unitarian_ in its aim, it
clashes with the popular idol-worship. Still, the only precaution
taken by the Brahmans to keep its tenets from becoming too well
known, is to preserve it more secretly than any other religious book
from every caste except the sacerdotal; and, to impose upon that
even, in many cases, certain restrictions. The grandest mysteries of
the Brahmanical religion are embraced within this magnificent poem;
and even the Buddhists recognize it, explaining certain dogmatic
difficulties in their own way. “Be unselfish, subdue your senses and
passions, which obscure reason and lead to deceit,” says Christna to
his disciple Arjuna, thus enunciating a purely Buddhistic principle.
“Low men follow examples, great men give them.... The soul ought to
free itself from the bonds of action, and act absolutely according to
its divine origin. _There is but one God_, and all other devotas are
inferior, and mere forms (powers) of Brahma or of myself. _Worship by
deeds predominates over that of contemplation._”[1100]
This doctrine coincides perfectly with that of Jesus himself.[1101]
Faith alone, unaccompanied by “works,” is reduced to naught in the
_Bagaved-gita_. As to the _Atharva-Veda_, it was and is preserved in
such secrecy by the Brahmans, that it is a matter of doubt whether
the Orientalists have a _complete_ copy of it. One who has read what
Abbé Dubois says may well doubt the fact. “Of the last species--the
Atharva--there are very few,” he says, writing of the _Vedas_, “and
many people suppose they no longer exist. But the truth is, they do
exist, though they conceal themselves with more caution than the
others, from the fear of being suspected to be initiated in the magic
mysteries and other dreaded mysteries which the work is believed to
teach.”[1102]
There were even those among the highest _epoptæ_ of the greater
_Mysteries_ who knew nothing of their last and dreaded rite--the
voluntary transfer of life from hierophant to candidate. In
_Ghost-Land_[1103] this mystical operation of the adept’s transfer
of his spiritual entity, after the death of his body, into the
youth he loves with all the ardent love of a spiritual parent, is
superbly described. As in the case of the reïncarnation of the lamas
of Thibet, an adept of the highest order may live indefinitely. His
mortal casket wears out notwithstanding certain alchemical secrets
for prolonging the youthful vigor far beyond the usual limits, yet
the body can rarely be kept alive beyond ten or twelve score of
years. The old garment is then worn out, and the spiritual Ego forced
to leave it, selects for its habitation a new body, fresh and full of
healthy vital principle. In case the reader should feel inclined to
ridicule this assertion of the possible prolongation of human life,
we may as well refer him to the statistics of several countries. The
author of an able article in the _Westminster Review_, for October,
1850, is responsible for the statement that in England, they have
the authentic instances of one Thomas Jenkins dying at the age of
169, and “Old Parr” at 152; and that in Russia some of the peasants
are “known to have reached 242 years.”[1104] There are also cases
of centenarianism reported among the Peruvian Indians. We are aware
that many able writers have recently discredited these claims to an
extreme longevity, but we nevertheless affirm our belief in their
truth.
True or false there are “superstitions” among the Eastern people such
as have never been dreamed even by an Edgar Poe or a Hoffmann. And
these beliefs run in the very blood of the nations with which they
originated. Carefully stripped of exaggeration they will be found
to embody an universal belief in those restless, wandering, astral
souls, which are called ghouls and vampires. An Armenian Bishop of
the fifth century, named Yeznik, gives a number of such narratives in
a manuscript work (Book i., §§ 20, 30), preserved some thirty years
ago in the library of the Monastery of Etchmeadzine.[1105] Among
others, there is a tradition dating from the days of heathendom,
that whenever a hero whose life is needed yet on earth falls on
the battle-field, the Aralez, the popular gods of ancient Armenia,
empowered to bring back to life those slaughtered in battle, lick
the bleeding wounds of the victim, and breathe on them until they
have imparted a new and vigorous life. After that the warrior rises,
washes off all traces of his wounds, and resumes his place in the
fray. But his immortal spirit has fled; and for the remainder of his
days he lives--a deserted temple.
Once that an adept was initiated into the last and most solemn
mystery of the life-transfer, the awful _seventh_ rite of the great
sacerdotal operation, which is the highest theurgy, he belonged no
more to this world. His soul was free thereafter, and the _seven_
mortal sins lying in wait to devour his heart, as the soul, liberated
by death, would be crossing the _seven_ halls and _seven_ staircases,
could hurt him no more alive or dead; he has passed the “twice seven
trials,” the _twelve_ labors of the final hour.[1106]
The High Hierophant alone knew how to perform this solemn operation
by infusing his own vital life and astral soul into the adept, chosen
by him for his successor, who thus became endowed with a double
life.[1107]
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man _be born again_,
he cannot see the kingdom of God” (_John_ iii. 3). Jesus tells
Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which
is born of the spirit is spirit.”
This allusion, so unintelligible in itself, is explained in the
_Satapa-Brâhmana_. It teaches that a man striving after spiritual
perfection must have _three_ births: 1st. Physical from his mortal
parents; 2d. _Spiritual_, through religious sacrifice (initiation);
3d. His final birth into the world of spirit--at death. Though
it may seem strange that we should have to go to the old land of
the Punjâb and the banks of the sacred Ganges, for an interpreter
of words spoken in Jerusalem and expounded on the banks of the
Jordan, the fact is evident. This second birth, or regeneration
of spirit, after the natural birth of that which is born of the
flesh, might have astonished a Jewish ruler. Nevertheless, it had
been taught 3,000 years before the appearance of the great Galilean
prophet, not only in old India but to all the _epoptæ_ of the Pagan
initiation, who were instructed in the great mysteries of LIFE and
DEATH. This secret of secrets, that _soul_ is not knit to flesh,
was practically demonstrated in the instance of the Yogis, the
followers of Kapila. Having emancipated their souls from the fetters
of _Prakriti_, or _Mahat_ (the physical perception of the senses and
mind--in one sense, creation), they so developed their soul-power
and _will-force_, as to have actually enabled themselves, while on
earth, to communicate with the supernal worlds, and perform what is
bunglingly termed “miracles.”[1108] Men whose astral spirits have
attained on earth the _nehreyasa_, or the _mukti_, are half-gods;
disembodied spirits, they reach Moksha or _Nirvana_, and this is
their _second_ spiritual birth.
Buddha teaches the doctrine of a new birth as plainly as Jesus
does. Desiring to break with the ancient Mysteries, to which it was
impossible to admit the ignorant masses, the Hindu reformer, though
generally silent upon more than one secret dogma, clearly states his
thought in several passages. Thus, he says: “_Some people are born
again_; evil-doers go to Hell; righteous people go to Heaven; those
who are free from all worldly desires enter Nirvana” (_Precepts of
the Dhammapada_, v., 126). Elsewhere Buddha states that “it is better
to believe in a future life, in which happiness or misery can be
felt; for if the heart believes therein, it will abandon sin and act
virtuously; and even if there is no resurrection, such a life will
bring a good name and the regard of men. _But those who believe in
extinction at death will not fail to commit any sin_ that they may
choose, because of their disbelief in a future.”[1109]
The _Epistle to the Hebrews_ treats of the sacrifice of blood. “Where
a testament is,” says the writer, “there must be of necessity _the
death_ of the testator.... Without the shedding _of blood_ is no
remission.” Then again: “Christ glorified not himself to _be made
High Priest_; but He that said unto him: Thou art my son; TO-DAY HAVE
I BEGOTTEN THEE” (_Heb._ v. 5). This is a very clear inference, that,
1, Jesus was considered only in the light of a high priest, like
Melchisedek--another _avatar_, or incarnation of Christ, according to
the Fathers; and, 2, that the writer thought that Jesus had become a
“Son of God” only at the moment of his initiation by water; hence,
that he was not born a god, neither was he begotten physically by
Him. Every initiate of the “last hour” became, by the very fact of
his initiation, a son of God. When Maxime, the Ephesian, initiated
the Emperor Julian into the Mithraïc Mysteries, he pronounced as the
usual formula of the rite, the following: “By this blood, I wash thee
from thy sins. The Word of the Highest has entered unto thee, and His
Spirit henceforth will rest upon the NEWLY-BORN, _the now_-begotten
of the Highest God.... Thou art the son of Mithra.” “Thou art the
‘_Son of God_,’” repeated the disciples after Christ’s baptism.
When Paul shook off the viper into the fire without further injury
to himself, the people of Melita said “that he was _a god_” (_Acts_
xxviii.). “He is the son of God, the Beautiful!” was the term used by
the disciples of Simon Magus, for they thought they recognized the
“great power of God” in him.
A man can have no god that is not bounded by his own human
conceptions. The wider the sweep of his spiritual vision, the
mightier will be his deity. But where can we find a better
demonstration of Him than in man himself; in the spiritual and divine
powers lying dormant in every human being? “The very capacity to
imagine the possibility of thaumaturgical powers, is itself evidence
that they exist,” says the author of _Prophecy_. “The critic, as well
as the skeptic, is generally inferior to the person or subject that
he is reviewing, and, therefore, is hardly a competent witness. _If
there are counterfeits, somewhere there must have been a genuine_
original.”[1110]
Blood begets phantoms, and its emanations furnish certain spirits
with the materials required to fashion their temporary appearances.
“Blood,” says Levi, “is the first incarnation of the universal
fluid; it is the materialized _vital light_. Its birth is the most
marvellous of all nature’s marvels; it lives only by perpetually
transforming itself, for it is the universal Proteus. The blood
issues from principles where there was none of it before, and it
becomes flesh, bones, hair, nails ... tears, and perspiration. It
can be allied neither to corruption nor death; when life is gone, it
begins decomposing; if you know how to reänimate it, to infuse into
it life by a new magnetization of its globules, life will return to
it again. The universal substance, with its double motion, is the
great arcanum of being; blood is the great arcanum of life.”
“Blood,” says the Hindu Ramatsariar, “contains all the mysterious
secrets of existence, no living being can exist without. It is
profaning the great work of the Creator to eat blood.”
In his turn Moses, following the universal and traditional law,
forbids eating blood.
Paracelsus writes that with the fumes of blood one is enabled to call
forth any spirit we desire to see; for with its emanations it will
build itself an appearance, a _visible_ body--only this is sorcery.
The hierophants of Baal made deep incisions all over their bodies and
produced apparitions, objective and tangible, with their own blood.
The followers of a certain sect in Persia, many of whom may be found
around the Russian settlements in Temerchan-Shoura, and Derbent,
have their religious mysteries in which they form a large ring, and
whirl round in a frantic dance. Their temples are ruined, and they
worship in large temporary buildings, securely enclosed, and with
the earthen floor deeply strewn with sand. They are all dressed in
long white robes, and their heads are bare and closely shaved. Armed
with knives, they soon reach a point of furious exaltation, and wound
themselves and others until their garments and the sand on the floor
are soaked with blood. Before the end of the “Mystery” _every man
has a companion_, who whirls round with him. Sometimes the spectral
dancers have _hair on their heads_, which makes them quite distinct
from their unconscious creators. As we have solemnly promised never
to divulge the principal details of this terrible ceremony (which we
were allowed to witness but once), we must leave the subject.[1111]
In the days of antiquity the sorceresses of Thessaly added sometimes
to the blood of a black lamb that of an infant, and by this means
evoked the shadows. The priests were taught the art of calling up the
spirits of the dead, as well as those of the elements, but their mode
was certainly not that of Thessalian sorceresses.
Among the Yakuts of Siberia there is a tribe dwelling on the very
confines of the Transbaïkal regions near the river Vitema (eastern
Siberia) which practices sorcery as known in the days of the
Thessalian witches. Their religious beliefs are curious as a mixture
of philosophy and superstition. They have a chief or supreme god
Aij-Taïon, who did not create, they say, but only _presides_ over
the creation of all the worlds. He lives on the _ninth_ heaven,
and it is but from the _seventh_ that the other minor gods--his
servants--can manifest themselves to their creatures. This ninth
heaven, according to the revelation of the minor deities (spirits,
we suppose), has three suns and three moons, and the ground of this
abode is formed of four lakes (the four cardinal points) of “soft
air” (ether), instead of water. While they offer no sacrifices to
the Supreme Deity, for he needs none, they do try to propitiate both
the good and bad deities, which they respectively term the “white”
and the “black” gods. They do it, because neither of the two classes
are good or bad through personal merit or demerit. As they are all
subject to the Supreme Aij-Taïon, and each has to carry on the duty
assigned to him from eternity, they are not responsible for either
the good or evil they produce in this world. The reason given by the
Yakuts for such sacrifices is very curious. Sacrifices, they say,
help each class of gods to perform their mission the better, and so
please the Supreme; and every mortal that helps either of them in
performing his duty must, therefore, please the Supreme as well,
for he will have helped justice to take place. As the “black” gods
are appointed to bring diseases, evils, and all kinds of calamities
to mankind, each of which is a punishment for some transgression,
the Yakuts offer to them “bloody” sacrifices of animals; while to
the “white” they make pure offerings, consisting generally of an
animal consecrated to some special god and taken care of with great
ceremony, as having become sacred. According to their ideas the souls
of the dead become “shadows,” and are doomed to wander on earth, till
a certain change takes place either for the better or worse, which
the Yakuts do not pretend to explain. The _light_ shadows, _i.e._,
those of good people, become the guardians and protectors of those
they loved on earth; the “dark” shadows (the wicked) always seek, on
the contrary, to hurt those they knew, by inciting them to crimes,
wicked acts, and otherwise injuring mortals. Besides these, like the
ancient Chaldees, they reckon seven divine _Sheitans_ (dæmons) or
minor gods. It is during the sacrifices of blood, which take place
at night, that the Yakuts call forth the wicked or _dark_ shadows,
to inquire of them what they can do to arrest their mischief; hence,
_blood is necessary_, for without its fumes the ghosts could not make
themselves clearly visible, and would become, according to their
ideas, but the more dangerous, for they would suck it from living
persons by their perspiration.[1112] As to the good, _light_ shadows,
they need not be called out; besides that, such an act disturbs
them; they can make their presence felt, when needed, without any
preparation and ceremonies.
The blood-evocation is also practiced, although with a different
purpose, in several parts of Bulgaria and Moldavia, especially in
districts in the vicinity of Mussulmans. The fearful oppressions and
slavery to which these unfortunate Christians have been subjected
for centuries has rendered them a thousand-fold more impressible,
and at the same time more superstitious, than those who live in
civilized countries. On every seventh of May the inhabitants of every
Moldavo-Valachian and Bulgarian city or village, have what they term
the “feast of the dead.” After sunset, immense crowds of women and
men, each with a lighted wax taper in hand, resort to the burial
places, and pray on the tombs of their departed friends. This ancient
and solemn ceremony, called _Trizna_, is everywhere a reminiscence
of primitive Christian rites, but far more solemn yet, while in
Mussulman slavery. Every tomb is furnished with a kind of cupboard,
about half a yard high, built of four stones, and with hinged
double-doors. These closets contain what is termed the household
of the defunct: namely, a few wax tapers, some oil and an earthen
lamp, which is lighted on that day, and burns for twenty-four hours.
Wealthy people have silver lamps richly chiselled, and bejewelled
images, which are secure from thieves, for in the burial ground the
closets are even left open. Such is the dread of the population
(Mussulman and Christian) of the revenge of the dead that a thief
bold enough to commit any murder, would never dare touch the property
of a dead person. The Bulgarians have a belief that every Saturday,
and especially the eve of Easter Sunday, and until Trinity day
(about seven weeks) the souls of the dead descend on earth, some to
beg forgiveness from those living whom they had wronged; others to
protect and commune with their loved ones. Faithfully following the
traditional rites of their forefathers, the natives on each Saturday
of these seven weeks keep either lamps or tapers lighted. In addition
to that, on the _seventh_ of May they drench the tombs with grape
wine, and burn incense around them from sunset to sunrise. With
the inhabitants of towns, the ceremony is limited to these simple
observances. With some of the rustics though, the rite assumes the
proportions of a theurgic evocation. On the eve of Ascension Day,
Bulgarian women light a quantity of tapers and lamps; the pots are
placed upon tripods, and incense perfumes the atmosphere for miles
around; while thick white clouds of smoke envelope each tomb, as
though a veil had separated it from the others. During the evening,
and until a little before midnight, in memory of the deceased,
acquaintances and a certain number of mendicants are fed and treated
with wine and _raki_ (grape-whiskey), and money is distributed among
the poor according to the means of the surviving relatives. When the
feast is ended, the guests approaching the tomb and addressing the
defunct by name, thank him or her for the bounties received. When all
but the nearest relatives are gone, a woman, usually the most aged,
remains alone with the dead, and--some say--resorts to the ceremony
of invocation.
After fervent prayers, repeated face downward on the grave-mound,
more or less drops of blood are drawn from near the left bosom,
and allowed to trickle upon the tomb. This gives strength to the
invisible spirit which hovers around, to assume for a few instants
a visible form, and whisper his instructions to the Christian
theurgist--if he has any to offer, or simply to “bless the mourner”
and then disappear again till the following year. So firmly rooted
is this belief that we have heard, in a case of family difficulty, a
Moldavian woman appeal to her sister to put off every decision till
Ascension-night, when their dead father _would be able to tell them
of his will and pleasure in person_; to which the sister consented as
simply as though their parent were in the next room.
That there are fearful secrets in nature may well be believed
when, as we have seen in the case of the Russian _Znachar_, the
sorcerer _cannot_ die until he has passed the word to another, and
the hierophants of White Magic rarely do. It seems as if the dread
power of the “Word” could only be entrusted to one man of a certain
district or body of people at a time. When the Brahmâtma was about
to lay aside the burden of physical existence, he imparted his
secret to his successor, either orally, or by a writing placed in a
securely-fastened casket which went into the latter’s hands alone.
Moses “lays his hands” upon his neophyte, Joshua, in the solitudes of
Nebo and passes away forever. Aaron initiates Eleazar on Mount Hor,
and dies. Siddhârtha-Buddha promises his mendicants before his death
to live in him who shall deserve it, embraces his favorite disciple,
whispers in his ear, and dies; and as John’s head lies upon the bosom
of Jesus, he is told that he shall “tarry” until he shall come. Like
signal-fires of the olden times, which, lighted and extinguished by
turns upon one hill-top after another, conveyed intelligence along
a whole stretch of country, so we see a long line of “wise” men
from the beginning of history down to our own times communicating
the word of wisdom to their direct successors. Passing from seer
to seer, the “Word” flashes out like lightning, and while carrying
off the initiator from human sight forever, brings the new initiate
into view. Meanwhile, whole nations murder each other in the name of
another “Word,” an empty substitute accepted literally by each, and
misinterpreted by all!
We have met few sects which truly practice sorcery. One such is
the Yezidis, considered by some a branch of the Koords, though we
believe erroneously. These inhabit chiefly the mountainous and
desolate regions of Asiatic Turkey, about Mosul, Armenia, and are
found even in Syria,[1113] and Mesopotamia. They are called and known
everywhere as devil-worshippers; and most certainly it is not either
through ignorance or mental obscuration that they have set up the
worship and a regular intercommunication with the lowest and the
most malicious of both elementals and elementaries. They recognize
the present wickedness of the chief of the “black powers;” but at
the same time they dread his power, and so try to conciliate to
themselves his favors. He is in an open quarrel with Allah, they
say, but a reconciliation can take place between the two at any day;
and those who have shown marks of their disrespect to the “black
one” now, may suffer for it at some future time, and thus have both
God and Devil against them. This is simply a cunning policy that
seeks to propitiate his Satanic majesty, who is no other than the
great _Tcherno-bog_ (the black god) of the Variagi-Russ, the ancient
idolatrous Russians before the days of Vladimir.
Like Wierus, the famous demonographer of the sixteenth century (who
in his _Pseudomonarchia Dæmonum_ describes and enumerates a regular
infernal court, which has its dignitaries, princes, dukes, nobles,
and officers), the Yezidis have a whole pantheon of devils, and use
the Jakshas, aërial spirits, to convey their prayers and respects
to Satan their master, and the Afrites of the Desert. During their
prayer-meetings, they join hands, and form immense rings, with
their Sheik, or an officiating priest in the middle who claps his
hands, and intones every verse in honor of Sheitan (Satan). Then
they whirl and leap in the air. When the frenzy is at its climax,
they often wound and cut themselves with their daggers, occasionally
rendering the same service to their next neighbors. But their wounds
do not heal and cicatrize as easily as in the case of lamas and holy
men; for but too often they fall victims to these self-inflicted
wounds. While dancing and flourishing high their daggers without
unclasping hands--for this would be considered a sacrilege, and the
spell instantly broken, they coax and praise Sheitan, and entreat
him to manifest himself in his works by “miracles.” As their rites
are chiefly accomplished during night, they do not fail to obtain
manifestations of various character, the least of which are enormous
globes of fire which take the shapes of the most uncouth animals.
Lady Hester Stanhope, whose name was for many years a power among
the masonic fraternities of the East, is said to have witnessed,
personally, several of these Yezidean ceremonies. We were told by
an _Ockhal_, of the sect of Druses, that after having been present
at one of the Yezidis’ “Devil’s masses,” as they are called, this
extraordinary lady, so noted for personal courage and daring
bravery, fainted, and notwithstanding her usual Emir’s male attire,
was recalled to life and health with the greatest difficulty.
Personally, we regret to say, all our efforts to witness one of these
performances failed.
A recent article in a Catholic journal on Nagualism and Voodooism
charges Hayti with being the centre of secret societies, with
terrible forms of initiation and bloody rites, where _human infants
are sacrificed and devoured by the adepts_(!!) Piron, a French
traveller, is quoted at length, describing a most fearful scene
witnessed by him in Cuba, in the house of a lady whom he never
would have suspected of any connection with so monstrous a sect. “A
naked white girl acted as a voodoo priestess, wrought up to frenzy
by dances and incantations that followed the sacrifice of a white
and a black hen. A serpent, trained to its part, and acted on by the
music, coiled round the limbs of the girl, its motions studied by the
votaries dancing around or standing to watch its contortions. The
spectator fled at last in horror when the poor girl fell writhing in
an epileptic fit.”
While deploring such a state of things in Christian countries, the
Catholic article in question explains this tenacity for ancestral
religious rites as evidence of the _natural depravity of the human
heart_, and makes a loud call for greater zeal on the part of
Catholics. Besides repeating the absurd fiction about devouring
children, the writer seems wholly insensible to the fact that a
devotion to one’s faith that centuries of the most cruel and bloody
persecution cannot quench, makes heroes and martyrs of a people,
whereas their conversion to any other faith would turn them simply
into renegades. A compulsory religion can never breed anything but
deceit. The answer received by the missionary Margil from some
Indians supports the above truism. The question being: “How is it
that you are so heathenish after having been Christians so long?”
The answer was: “What would you do, father, if enemies of your
faith entered your land? Would you not take all your books and
vestments and signs of religion and retire to the most secret caves
and mountains? This is just what our priests, and prophets, and
soothsayers, and nagualists have done to this time and are still
doing.”
Such an answer from a Roman Catholic, questioned by a missionary of
either Greek or Protestant Church, would earn for him the crown of a
saint in the Popish martyrology. Better a “heathen” religion that can
extort from a Francis Xavier such a tribute as he pays the Japanese,
in saying that “in virtue and probity they surpassed all the nations
he had ever seen;” than a Christianity whose advance over the face
of the earth sweeps aboriginal nations out of existence as with a
hurricane of fire.[1114] Disease, drunkenness, and demoralization are
the immediate results of apostasy from the faith of their fathers,
and conversion into a religion of mere forms.
What Christianity is doing for British India, we need go to
no inimical sources to inquire. Captain O’Grady, the British
ex-official, says: “The British government is doing a shameful
thing in turning the natives of India from a sober race to a nation
of drunkards. And for pure _greed_. Drinking is forbidden by the
religion alike of Hindus and Mussulmans. But ... drinking is daily
becoming more and more prevalent.... What the accursed opium traffic,
forced on China by British greed, has been to that unhappy country,
the government sale of liquor is likely to become to India. For it is
a government monopoly, based on almost precisely the same model as
the government monopoly of tobacco in Spain.... The outside domestics
in European families usually get to be terrible drunkards.... The
indoor servants usually detest drinking, and are a good deal more
respectable in this particular than their masters and mistresses
... everybody drinks ... bishops, chaplains, freshly-imported
boarding-school girls, and all.”
Yes, these are the “blessings” that the modern Christian religion
brings with its _Bibles_ and _Catechisms_ to the “poor heathen.” Rum
and bastardy to Hindustan; opium to China; rum and foul disorders
to Tahiti; and, worst of all, the example of hypocrisy in religion,
and a practical skepticism and atheism, which, since it seems to
be good enough for _civilized_ people, may well in time be thought
good enough for those whom theology has too often been holding
under a very heavy yoke. On the other hand, everything that is
noble, spiritual, elevating, in the old religion is denied, and even
deliberately falsified.
Take Paul, read the little of original that is left of him in the
writings attributed to this brave, honest, sincere man, and see
whether any one can find a word therein to show that Paul meant by
the word Christ anything more than the abstract ideal of the personal
divinity indwelling in man. For Paul, Christ is not a person, but an
embodied idea. “If any man is in Christ he is a new creation,” _he
is reborn_, as after initiation, for the Lord is spirit--the spirit
of man. Paul was the only one of the apostles who had understood
the secret ideas underlying the teachings of Jesus, although he had
never met him. But Paul had been initiated himself; and, bent upon
inaugurating a new and broad reform, one embracing the whole of
humanity, he sincerely set his own doctrines far above the wisdom
of the ages, above the ancient Mysteries and final revelation to
the epoptæ. As Professor A. Wilder well proves in a series of able
articles, it _was not Jesus, but Paul who was the real founder
of Christianity_. “The disciples were called Christians first in
Antioch,” say the _Acts of the Apostles_. “Such men as Irenæus,
Epiphanius, and Eusebius have transmitted to posterity a reputation
for untruth and dishonest practices; and the heart sickens at the
story of the crimes of that period,” writes this author, in a recent
article.[1115] “It will be remembered,” he adds, “that when the
Moslems overran Syria and Asia Minor for the first time, they were
welcomed by the Christians of those regions as deliverers from the
intolerable oppression of the ruling authorities of the Church.”
Mahomet never was, neither is he now, considered a god; yet under the
stimulus of his name millions of Moslems have served their God with
an ardor that can never be paralleled by Christian sectarianism. That
they have sadly degenerated since the days of their prophet, does
not alter the case in hand, but only proves the more the prevalence
of matter over spirit all over the world. Besides, they have never
degenerated more from primitive faith than Christians themselves.
Why, then, should not Jesus of Nazareth, a thousandfold higher,
nobler, and morally grander than Mahomet, be as well revered by
Christians and followed in practice, instead of being blindly adored
in fruitless faith as a god, and at the same time worshipped much
after the fashion of certain Buddhists, who turn their wheel of
prayers. That this faith has become sterile, and is no more worthy
the name of Christianity than the fetishism of Calmucks that of the
philosophy preached by Buddha, is doubted by none. “We would not be
supposed to entertain the opinion,” says Dr. Wilder, “that modern
Christianity is in any degree identical with the religion preached
by Paul. It lacks his breadth of view, his earnestness, his keen
spiritual perception. Bearing the impress of the nations by which it
is professed, it exhibits as many forms as there are races. It is
one thing in Italy and Spain, but widely differs in France, Germany,
Holland, Sweden, Great Britain, Russia, Armenia, Kurdistan, and
Abyssinia. As compared with the preceding worships, the change seems
to be more in name than in genius. Men had gone to bed Pagans and
awoke Christians. As for the _Sermon on the Mount_, its conspicuous
doctrines are more or less repudiated by every Christian community
of any considerable dimensions. Barbarism, oppression, cruel
punishments, are as common now as in the days of Paganism.
“The Christianity of Peter exists no more; that of Paul supplanted
it, and was in its turn amalgamated with the other world religions.
When mankind are enlightened, or the barbarous races and families
are supplanted by those of nobler nature and instincts, the ideal
excellencies may become realities.
“The ‘Christ of Paul’ has constituted an enigma which evoked the most
strenuous endeavor to solve. He was something else than the Jesus of
the _Gospels_. Paul disregarded utterly their ‘endless genealogies.’
The author of the fourth _Gospel_, himself an Alexandrian Gnostic,
describes Jesus as what would now be termed a ‘materialized’ divine
spirit. He was the Logos, or First Emanation--the Metathron....
The ‘mother of Jesus,’ like the Princess Maya, Danaé, or perhaps
Periktioné, had given birth, not to a love-child, but to a divine
offspring. No Jew of whatever sect, no apostle, no early believer,
ever promulgated such an idea. Paul treats of Christ as a personage
rather than as a person. The sacred lessons of the secret assemblies
often personified the divine good and the divine truth in a human
form, assailed by the passions and appetites of mankind, but superior
to them; and this doctrine, emerging from the crypt, was apprehended
by churchlings and gross-minded men as that of immaculate conception
and divine incarnation.”
In the old book, published in 1693 and written by the Sieur de la
Loubère, French Ambassador to the King of Siam, are related many
interesting facts of the Siamese religion. The remarks of the
satirical Frenchman are so pointed that we will quote his words about
the Siamese Saviour--Sommona-Cadom.
“How marvellous soever they pretend the birth of their Saviour has
been, they cease not to give _him a father and a mother_.[1116] His
mother, whose name is found in some of their _Balie_ (Pali?) books,
was called, as they say, _Maha_ MARIA, which seems to signify the
great Mary, for Maha signifies great. However it be, this ceases not
to give attention to the missionaries, and has perhaps given occasion
to the Siamese to believe that Jesus being the son of _Mary_, was
brother to Sommona-Cadom, and that, having been crucified, he was
that _wicked_ brother whom they give to Sommona-Cadom, under the
name of Thevetat, and whom they report to be punished in Hell, with
a punishment which participates something of a cross.... The Siamese
expect another Sommona-Cadom, I mean, another miraculous man like
him, whom they already named _Pronarote_, and whom they say was
foretold by Sommona. He made all sorts of miracles.... He had two
disciples, both standing on each hand of his idol; one on the right
hand, and the other on the left ... the first is named Pra-Magla,
and the second _Pra Scaribout_.... The father of Sommona-Cadom was,
according to this same _Balie_ Book, a King of Teve Lanca, that is
to say, a King of Ceylon. But _the Balie Books being without date
and without the author’s name, have no more authority than all the
traditions, whose origin is unknown_.”[1117]
This last argument is as ill-considered as it is naïvely expressed.
We do not know of any book in the whole world less authenticated as
to date, authors’ names, or tradition, than our Christian _Bible_.
Under these circumstances the Siamese have as much reason to believe
in their miraculous Sommona-Cadom as the Christians in their
miraculously-born Saviour. Moreover, they have no better right to
force their religion upon the Siamese, or any other people, against
their will, and in their own country, where they go unasked, than the
so-called heathen “to compel France or England to accept Buddhism at
the point of the sword.” A Buddhist missionary, even in free-thinking
America, would daily risk being mobbed, but this does not at all
prevent missionaries from abusing the religion of the Brahmans,
Lamas, and Bonzes, publicly to their teeth; and the latter are not
always at liberty to answer them. This is termed diffusing the
beneficent light of Christianity and civilization upon the darkness
of heathenism!
And yet we find that these pretensions--which might appear ludicrous
were they not so fatal to millions of our fellow-men, who only ask to
be left alone--were fully appreciated as early as in the seventeenth
century. We find the same witty Monsieur de la Loubère, under a
pretext of pious sympathy, giving some truly curious instructions to
the ecclesiastical authorities at home,[1118] which embody the very
soul of Jesuitism.
“From what I have said concerning the opinions of the Orientals,” he
remarks, “it is easy to comprehend how difficult an enterprise it is
to bring them over to the Christian religion; and of what consequence
it is that the missionaries, which preach the Gospel in the East,
do perfectly understand the manners and belief of these people.
For as the apostles and first Christians, when God supported their
preaching by so many wonders, did not on a sudden discover to the
heathens all the mysteries which we adore, but a long time concealed
from them, and the Catechumens themselves, the knowledge of those
which might scandalize them; it seems very rational to me that the
missionaries, who have not the gift of miracles, ought not presently
to discover to the Orientals all the mysteries nor all the practices
of Christianity.
“’Twould be convenient, for example, if I am not mistaken, not
to preach unto them, _without great caution_, the worshipping of
saints; and as to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, I think it would
be necessary to manage it with them, if I may so say, and _not
to speak to them of the mystery of the Incarnation_, till after
having convinced them of the existence of a God Creator. For what
probability is there, to begin with, of persuading the Siamese to
remove Sommona-Cadom, Pra Mogla, and Pra Scaribout from the altars,
to set up Jesus Christ, St. Peter, and St. Paul, in their stead?
’Twould, perhaps, be more proper not to preach unto them Jesus
Christ crucified, till they have first comprehended that one may be
_unfortunate_ and _innocent_; and that by the rule received, even
amongst them, which is, that the innocent might load himself with
the crimes of the guilty, it was necessary _that a god should become
man_, to the end that this man-God should, by a laborious life, and
a shameful but voluntary death, satisfy for all the sins of men; but
before all things it would be necessary to give them the true idea of
a God Creator, and justly provoked against men. The Eucharist, after
this, will not scandalize the Siamese, as it formerly scandalized
the Pagans of Europe; forasmuch as the Siamese do not believe
Sommona-Cadom could give his wife and children to the Talapoins to
eat.
“On the contrary, as the Chinese are respectful toward their parents
even to a scruple, I doubt not that if the Gospel should be presently
put into their hands, they would be scandalized at that place, where,
when some told Jesus Christ that his mother and his brethren asked
after him, he answered in such a manner, that he seems so little to
regard them, that he affected not to know them. They would _not be
less offended_ at those other mysterious words, which our divine
Saviour spoke to the young man, who desired time to go and bury his
parents: “Let the dead,” said he, “bury the dead.” Every one knows
the trouble which the Japanese expressed to St. Francis Xavier _upon
the eternity of damnation_, not being able to believe that their
dead parents should fall into so horrible a misfortune for _want of
having embraced Christianity, which they had never heard of_.... It
seems necessary, therefore, to prevent and mollify this thought,
by the means which that great apostle of the Indies used, in first
establishing the idea of an omnipotent, all-wise, and most just God,
the author of all good, to whom only everything is due, and by whose
will we owe unto kings, bishops, magistrates and to our parents the
respects which we owe them.
“These examples are sufficient to show with what precautions it is
necessary to prepare the minds of the Orientals to think like us,
and _not to be offended with most_ of the articles of the Christian
faith.”[1119]
And what, we ask, is left to preach? With no Saviour, no atonement,
no crucifixion for human sin, no Gospel, no eternal damnation to tell
them of, and no miracles to display, what remained for the Jesuits to
spread among the Siamese but the dust of the Pagan sanctuaries with
which to blind their eyes? The sarcasm is biting indeed. The morality
to which these poor heathen are made to adhere by their ancestral
faith is so pure, that Christianity has to be stripped of every
distinguishing mark before its priests can venture to offer it for
their examination. A religion that cannot be trusted to the scrutiny
of an unsophisticated people who are patterns of filial piety, of
honest dealing, of deep reverence for God and an instinctive horror
of profaning His majesty, must indeed be founded upon error. That it
is so, our century is discovering little by little.
In the general spoliation of Buddhism to make up the new Christian
religion, it was not to be expected that so peerless a character as
Gautama-Buddha would be left unappropriated. It was but natural that
after taking his legendary history to fill out the blanks left in the
fictitious story of Jesus, after using what they could of Christna’s,
they should take the man Sakya-muni and put him in their calendar
under an _alias_. This they actually did, and the Hindu Saviour in
due time appeared on the list of saints as Josaphat, to keep company
with those martyrs of religion, SS. Aura and Placida, Longinus and
Amphibolus.
In Palermo there is even a church dedicated to _Divo Josaphat_. Among
the vain attempts of subsequent ecclesiastical writers to fix the
genealogy of this mysterious saint, the most original was the making
him Joshua, the son of Nun. But these trifling difficulties being
at last surmounted, we find the history of Gautama copied _word for
word_ from Buddhist sacred books, into the _Golden Legend_. Names of
individuals are changed, the place of action, India, remains the
same--in the Christian as in the Buddhist Legends. It can be also
found in the _Speculum Historiale_ of Vincent of Beauvais, which was
written in the thirteenth century. The first discovery is due to
the historian de Couto, although Professor Müller credits the first
recognition of the identity of the two stories to M. Laboulaye, in
1859. Colonel Yule tells us that[1120] these stories of Barlaam and
Josaphat, are recognized by Baronius, and are to be found at p. 348,
of _The Roman Martyrology_, set forth by command of Pope Gregory
XIII., and revised by the authority of Pope Urban VIII., translated
out of Latin into English by G. K. of the Society of Jesus.[1121]
To repeat even a small portion of this ecclesiastical nonsense would
be tedious and useless. Let him who doubts and who would learn the
story read it as given by Colonel Yule. Some[1122] of the Christian
and ecclesiastical speculations seem to have embarrassed even Dominie
Valentyn. “There be some, who hold this Budhum for a fugitive Syrian
Jew,” he writes; “others who hold him for a disciple of the Apostle
Thomas; but how in that case he could have been born 622 years before
Christ I leave them to explain. Diego de Couto stands by the belief
that he was certainly _Joshua_, which is still more absurd!”
“The religious romance called _The History of Barlaam and Josaphat_
was, for several centuries, one of the most popular works in
Christendom,” says Col. Yule. “It was translated into all the chief
European languages, including Scandinavian and Sclavonic tongues....
This story first appears among the works of St. John of Damascus,
a theologian of the early part of the eighth century.”[1123] Here
then lies the secret of its origin, for this St. John, before he
became a divine, held a high office at the court of the Khalif Abu
Jáfar Almansur, where he probably learned the story, and afterwards
adapted it to the new orthodox necessities of the Buddha turned into
a Christian saint.
Having repeated the plagiarized story, Diego de Couto, who seems to
yield up with reluctance his curious notion that Gautama was Joshua,
says: “To this name (Budâo) the Gentiles throughout all India have
dedicated great and superb pagodas. With reference to this story,
we have been diligent in inquiring if the ancient Gentiles of those
parts had in their writings any knowledge of St. Josaphat who was
converted by Balaam, and who in his legend is represented as the son
of a great king of India, and who had just the same up-bringing, with
all the same particulars that we have recounted of the life of the
Budâo. And as I was travelling in the Isle of Salsette, and went to
see that rare and admirable pagoda, which we call the Canará Pagoda
(Kànhari Caves) made in a mountain, with many halls cut out of one
solid rock, and inquiring of an old man about the work, what he
thought as to who had made it, he told us that without doubt the work
was made by order of the father of St. Josaphat to bring him up in
seclusion, as the story tells. And as it informs us that he was the
son of a great king in India, it may well be, as we have just said,
that _he_ was the Budâo, of whom they relate such marvels.”[1124]
The Christian legend is taken, moreover, in most of its details,
from the Ceylonese tradition. It is on this island that originated
the story of young Gautama rejecting his father’s throne, and the
king’s erecting a superb palace for him, in which he kept him half
prisoner, surrounded by all the temptations of life and wealth. Marco
Polo told it as he had it from the Ceylonese, and his version is now
found to be a faithful repetition of what is given in the various
Buddhist books. As Marco naïvely expresses it, Buddha led a life of
such hardship and sanctity, and kept such great abstinence, “_just as
if he had been a Christian_. Indeed,” he adds, “had he but been so,
he would have been a great saint of our Lord Jesus Christ, so good
and pure was the life he led.” To which pious apothegm his editor
very pertinently remarks that “Marco is not the only eminent person
who has expressed this view of Sakya-muni’s life in such words.” And
in his turn Prof. Max Müller says: “And whatever we may think of
the sanctity of saints, let those who doubt the right of Buddha to
a place among them, read the story of his life as it is told in the
Buddhistical canon. If he lived the life which is there described,
few saints have a better claim to the title than Buddha; and no one
either in the Greek or the Roman Church need be ashamed of having
paid to his memory the honor that was intended for St. Josaphat, the
prince, the hermit, and the saint.”
The Roman Catholic Church has never had so good a chance to
Christianize all China, Thibet, and Tartary, as in the thirteenth
century, during the reign of Kublai-Khan. It seems strange that they
did not embrace the opportunity when Kublai was hesitating at one
time between the four religions of the world, and, perhaps through
the eloquence of Marco Polo, favored Christianity more than either
Mahometanism, Judaism, or Buddhism. Marco Polo and Ramusio, one of
his interpreters, tell us why. It seems that, unfortunately for Rome,
the embassy of Marco’s father and uncle failed, because Clement IV.
happened to die just at that very time. There was no Pope for several
months to receive the friendly overtures of Kublai-Khan; and thus
the one hundred Christian missionaries invited by him could not be
sent to Thibet and Tartary. To those who believe that there is an
intelligent Deity above who takes a certain concern in the welfare of
our miserable little world, this _contretemps_ must in itself seem a
pretty good proof that Buddhism should have the best of Christianity.
Perhaps--who knows--Pope Clement fell sick so as to save the
Buddhists from sinking into the idolatry of Roman Catholicism?
From pure Buddhism, the religion of these districts has degenerated
into lamaism; but the latter, with all its blemishes--purely
formalistic and impairing but little the doctrine itself--is yet
far above Catholicism. The poor Abbé Huc very soon found it out
for himself. As he moved on with his caravan, he writes--“every
one repeated to us that, as we advanced toward the west, we should
find the doctrines growing more luminous and sublime. Lha-Ssa was
the great focus of light, the rays from which became weakened as
they were diffused.” One day he gave to a Thibetan lama “a brief
summary of Christian doctrine, which appeared by no means unfamiliar
to him [we do not wonder at that], and he even maintained that it
[Catholicism] did not differ much from the faith of the grand lamas
of Thibet.... These words of the Thibetan lama astonished us not a
little,” writes the missionary; “the unity of God, the mystery of the
Incarnation, the dogma of the real presence, appeared to us in his
belief.... The new light thrown on the religion of Buddha induced us
really to believe that we should find among the lamas of Thibet a
more purified system.”[1125] It is these words of praise to lamaism,
with which Huc’s book abounds, that caused his work to be placed on
the Index at Rome, and himself to be unfrocked.
When questioned why, since he held the Christian faith to be the best
of the religions protected by him, he did not attach himself to it,
the answer given by Kublai-Khan is as suggestive as it is curious:
“How would you have me to become a Christian? There are four prophets
worshipped and revered by all the world. The Christians say their
God is Jesus Christ; the Saracens, Mahomet; the Jews, Moses; the
idolaters, Sogomon Borkan (Sakva-muni Burkham, or Buddha), who was
the first god among the idols; and I worship and pay respect to all
four, and pray that he among them who is greatest in heaven in very
truth may aid me.”
We may ridicule the Khan’s prudence; we cannot blame him for
trustingly leaving the decision of the puzzling dilemma to
Providence itself. One of his most unsurmountable objections to
embrace Christianity he thus specifies to Marco: “You see that the
Christians of these parts are so ignorant that they achieve nothing
and can achieve nothing, whilst you see the idolaters can do anything
they please, insomuch that when I sit at table, the cups from the
middle of the hall come to me full of wine or other liquor, without
being touched by anybody, and I drink from them. They control storms,
causing them to pass in whatever direction they please, and do many
other marvels; whilst, as you know, their idols speak, and give them
predictions on whatever subjects they choose. But if I were to turn
to the faith of Christ and become a Christian, then my barons and
others who are not converted, would say: ‘What has moved you to be
baptized?... What powers or miracles have you witnessed on the part
of Christ? You know the idolaters here say that their wonders are
performed by the sanctity and power of their idols.’ Well, I should
not know what answer to make, so they would only be confirmed in
their errors, and the idolaters, who are adepts in such surprising
arts, would easily compass my death. But now you shall go to your
Pope, and pray him on my part to send hither an hundred men skilled
in your law; and if they are capable of rebuking the practices of
idolaters to their faces, and of proving to them _that they too know
how to do such things, but will not_, because they are done by the
help of the Devil and other evil spirits; and if they so control the
idolaters that these shall have no power to perform such things in
their presence, _and when we shall witness this_, we will denounce
the idolaters and their religion, and then I will receive baptism,
and then all my barons and chiefs shall be baptized also, and thus,
in the end, there will be more Christians here than exist in your
part of the world.”[1126]
The proposition was fair. Why did not the Christians avail themselves
of it? Moses is said to have faced such an ordeal before Pharaoh, and
come off triumphant.
To our mind, the logic of this uneducated Mongol was unanswerable,
his intuition faultless. He saw good results in all religions, and
felt that, whether a man be Buddhist, Christian, Mahometan, or Jew,
his spiritual powers might equally be developed, his faith equally
lead him to the highest truth. All he asked before making choice of a
creed for his people, was the evidence upon which to base faith.
To judge alone by its jugglers, India must certainly be better
acquainted with alchemy, chemistry, and physics than any European
academy. The psychological wonders produced by some fakirs of
Southern Hindustan, and by the shaberons and hobilhans of Thibet and
Mongolia, alike prove our case. The science of psychology has there
reached an acme of perfection never attained elsewhere in the annals
of the marvellous. That such powers are not alone due to study, but
are natural to every human being, is now proved in Europe and America
by the phenomena of mesmerism and what is termed “spiritualism.” If
the majority of foreign travellers, and residents in British India,
are disposed to regard the whole as clever jugglery, not so with a
few Europeans who have had the rare luck to be admitted _behind the
veil_ in the pagodas. Surely these will not deride the rites, nor
undervalue the phenomena produced in the secret lodges of India. The
_mahadthêvassthanam_ of the pagodas (usually termed _goparam_, from
the sacred pyramidal gateway by which the buildings are entered) has
been known to Europeans before now, though to a mere handful in all.
We do not know whether the prolific Jacolliot[1127] was ever admitted
into one of these lodges. It is extremely doubtful, we should say,
if we may judge from his many fantastic tales of the immoralities of
the mystical rites among the Brahmans, the fakirs of the pagodas,
and even the Buddhists (!!) at all of which he makes himself figure
as a Joseph. Anyhow, it is evident that the Brahmans taught him no
secrets, for speaking of the fakirs and their wonders, he remarks,
“under the direction of initiated Brahmans they practice in the
seclusion of the pagodas, the _occult sciences_.... And let no one
be surprised at this word, which seems to open the door of the
supernatural; while there are in the sciences which the Brahmans call
occult, phenomena so extraordinary as to baffle all investigation,
there is not one which cannot be explained, and which is not subject
to natural law.”
Unquestionably, any initiated Brahman could, if he would, explain
every phenomenon. But _he will not_. Meanwhile, we have yet to see an
explanation by the best of our physicists of even the most trivial
occult phenomenon produced by a fakir-pupil of a pagoda.
Jacolliot says that it will be quite impracticable to give an account
of the marvellous facts witnessed by himself. But adds, with entire
truthfulness, “let it suffice to say, that in regard to magnetism
and spiritism, Europe has yet to stammer over the first letters
of the alphabet, and that the Brahmans have reached, in these two
departments of learning, results in the way of phenomena that are
truly stupefying. When one sees these strange manifestations, whose
power one cannot deny, without grasping the laws that the Brahmans
_keep so carefully concealed_, the mind is overwhelmed with wonder,
and one feels that he must run away and break the charm that holds
him.”
“The only explanation that we have been able to obtain on the subject
from a learned Brahman, with whom we were on terms of the closest
intimacy, was this: ‘You have studied physical nature, and you have
obtained, through the laws of nature, marvellous results--steam,
electricity, etc.; _for twenty thousand years or more, we have
studied_ the _intellectual_ forces, we have discovered their laws,
and _we obtain, by making them act alone or in concert with matter,
phenomena still more astonishing than your own_.’”
Jacolliot must indeed have been stupefied by wonders, for he says:
“We have seen things such as one does not describe for fear of making
his readers doubt his intelligence ... but still we have seen them.
And truly one comprehends how, in presence of such facts, the ancient
world believed ... in possessions of the Devil and in exorcism.”[1128]
But yet this uncompromising enemy of priestcraft, monastic orders,
and the clergy of every religion and every land--including
Brahmans, lamas, and fakirs--is so struck with the contrast between
the fact-supported cults of India, and the empty pretences of
Catholicism, that after describing the terrible self-tortures of the
fakirs, in a burst of honest indignation, he thus gives vent to his
feelings: “Nevertheless, these fakirs, these mendicant Brahmans, have
still something grand about them: when they flagellate themselves,
when during the self-inflicted martyrdom the flesh is torn out by
bits, the blood pours upon the ground. But you (Catholic mendicants),
what do you do to-day? You, Gray Friars, Capuchins, Franciscans,
who play at fakirs, with your knotted cords, your flints, your hair
shirts, and your rose-water flagellations, your bare feet and your
comical mortifications--fanatics without faith, martyrs without
tortures? Has not one the right to ask you, if it is to obey the
law of God that you shut yourselves in behind thick walls, and thus
escape the law of labor which weighs so heavily upon all other
men?... Away, you are only beggars!”
Let them pass on--we have devoted too much space to them and their
conglomerate theology, already. We have weighed both in the balance
of history, of logic, of truth, and found them wanting. Their
system breeds atheism, nihilism, despair, and crime; its priests and
preachers are unable to prove by works their reception of divine
power. If both Church and priest could but pass out of the sight of
the world as easily as their names do now from the eye of our reader,
it would be a happy day for humanity. New York and London might then
soon become as moral as a heathen city unoccupied by Christians;
Paris be cleaner than the ancient Sodom. When Catholic and Protestant
would be as fully satisfied as a Buddhist or Brahman that their every
crime would be punished, and every good deed rewarded, they might
spend upon their own _heathen_ what now goes to give missionaries
long picnics, and to make the name of Christian hated and despised by
every nation outside the boundaries of Christendom.
* * * * *
As occasion required, we have reinforced our argument with
descriptions of a few of the innumerable phenomena witnessed by us
in different parts of the world. The remaining space at our disposal
will be devoted to like subjects. Having laid a foundation by
elucidating the philosophy of occult phenomena, it seems opportune
to illustrate the theme with facts that have occurred under our own
eye, and that may be verified by any traveller. Primitive peoples
have disappeared, but primitive wisdom survives, and is attainable by
those who “will,” “dare,” and can “keep silent.”