Estimation of the Bible. The Dhammapada and Hebrew (sacred)
books. Certain important dates. Jews were never
missionaries. Precepts of Buddha. Contrasts. How to overcome
undesirable thoughts. Knowledge beats prayer. Sunday
proverbs. New birth. Divines preach brotherly love in the
pulpit, and provoke hate when out of it. Buddhist precept is
"do as I do," not "do as I say." The narrow way of the
Gospel finds an origin in Buddhism. One law broken all law
broken--a Buddhist maxim. Sakya taught about a future world.
Parallel passages. Effect of Buddhist and Christian
teaching. Parallel passages about truth and almsgiving.
Ignorance a Buddhist vice and a Christian virtue.
_Suppressio veri, suggestio falsi_ in the pulpit Classes in
the religious world. Why ignorance is cherished. Ignorance
often more profitable than knowledge. Examples. Charlatans
live by the fools. Honest doctors and parsons must be poor.
Poverty an essential part of Buddhism. Hierarchs are quite
unnecessary to the enlightened man. Parallel passages again.
Unphilosophical dicta in Buddhism and Bible. Prosperity not
a proof of propriety, and misery not always a reward of
badness. Lions and lambs. Design in creation. Right and
wrong--do they exist before the Creator. False analogies.
Persecution a Christian but not a Buddhist practice. Popgun
thunders from the Vatican. Age not equivalent to wisdom.
Siddartha did not prophesy, and so made no mistake about
that which was to follow. More negatives and positives.
Another contrast No obscene stories in Buddhist as in Jewish
scriptures--no legend of Lot and his daughters, David and
Bathsheba, of Onan, Judah and Tamar, Zimri, Cozbi, and
Phinehas, and a host of others. A good deal of nonsense in
all ancient writings. The foolish stories and prophecies of
the Bible--if abstracted, little remains. The little might
be improved by extracts from Plato, Epictetus, and Buddhist
scriptures, and even from those of Confucius.
From the earliest times which I can remember, I have heard the English
Bible spoken of with the utmost reverence, as the undoubted word of God,
as a revelation of the will, ways, and even the thoughts of the Supreme
Being. Everything which it contains has been regarded as infallibly
true, and the wisdom, goodness, mercy, and justice of its doctrines
and laws have been judged to be unimpeachable. From the pulpit of many
earnest divines I have heard innumerable sermons whose burden has
been praise of, and admiration for, the morality of the Old and
New Testaments, the sublimity of the language therein used, and the
loftiness of the thoughts embodied. From those same teachers, and from
a still greater number of laymen, I have heard the assertion repeatedly
made that the Bible must be divinely inspired, because no other set of
men, except those who composed its books, could write so powerfully; and
depict so graphically, the wants, the woes, the pleasures, the passions,
the aspirations, and the doubts of the human mind. By a great majority,
if not by the whole of our imperfectly educated ministers and people,
the assertion to which we here refer is raised to the position of an
argument; and any opponent who ventures to question the truth of the
assumption, is challenged to show a book of divinity equal or superior
to the Bible.
The worthlessness of the argument might be readily shown to any one
accustomed to use his reason, by pointing out that the religious books
of the Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Medea, Persians, and
Etruscans, are lost to us. We may compare the assertion with that which
Englishmen might have made, to the effect that the British breed of
horses was superior to any other, for no one could show them a better;
yet as soon as our Crusaders became acquainted with the Arabian steed,
the value of the assumption was destroyed. Yet such a remark would be
wholly inoperative on the mind of every bigot whose judgment of evidence
is always bribed by his prejudice. Consequently, to make any serious
impression upon the mind of the Bibliolater, it is desirable, if
possible, to make copies of the holy images worshipped by other nations,
under the name of sacred books, and to place these side by side with
that grotesque production, which, for our purposes, may be compared to
Diana of the Ephesians--the thing which fell down from Jupiter.
Yet even when we do bring from distant countries, to which in our
complacency we give the name of "heathen," copies of their deified
books, and show their equality with, or superiority to that which we
are told was arranged by the disposition of angels (Acts vii. 53)--the
scriptures that Paul (2 Tim. iii. 16) affirms were entirely given by
inspiration of God [--Greek--], see also 1 Pet. i. 11, 12,--we are met
by the assertion, if the equality is allowed, that the Pagan writings
have been copied from, or are traceable to, the writers in the Old or in
the New Testament.
Whenever a thoughtless theologian asserts that such a thing _must_ be
so, he is not by any means particular as to the facts upon which he
bases his belief. This weakness of his is so conspicuous to the logical
observer, that he sometimes feels pity at having to wound a mind so
earnest as to be unable to use its reason. He almost regards himself as
a man fighting a child or a weak woman. Yet men will, in their power and
knowledge, deprive a baby of a bon-bon, which it is sucking eagerly, if
they know that it is poisonous, and will lay violent hands upon a tender
girl who, in a whirlwind of passion, is about to throw herself before a
railway train. After the event both the individuals may learn to thank
the roughness which saved them; and I feel sure that many an earnest
religionist, who now thinks that the philosophers are treating him
cruelly, by trying to deprive him of a cherished faith, will ultimately
be grateful for having been induced to cease grovelling in the dust of a
coarse antiquity.
If we endeavour to ascertain the basis of the belief that everything
which is good _must_ have come from the Bible, we find that it exists in
the assertion that the Jews were the chosen people of God, selected by
Him to receive a record of His past doings and His future desires. Hence
it is argued, that all who have not been taught by the Jews, or through
their influence, are without God in the world--poor, benighted pagans.
To support assumptions so monstrous as this, there is not a tittle of
evidence beyond the existence of certain stories in some books, said to
contain a truthful record of facts. But although the theologian heaps up
protestation upon asseveration until the mass attains an imposing size,
the whole is not of more substantial value than a huge bubble blown by
an energetic school boy. If millions could be brought to believe that
such a hollow sphere was a solid, painted with the most resplendent
colours obtained from the celestial mansions, it would not make it other
than a film of soap and water filled with air.
Yet though the unanimous consent of myriads cannot convert foam into a
solid substance, a mass of froth may be treated as if it were something
better, so long as all agree not to test its qualities; and any book
may in like manner be regarded as of divine origin, so long as everybody
determines not to test the reality of the opinion. We can easily imagine
that those who have been educated to believe in the absolute density
of a bubble, must be greatly distressed when it bursts. Indeed in every
mercantile community we see frequent illustrations of this. Designing
men weave a plausible story, and by inflated words induce a number of
thoughtless people to believe their statements, adopt their promises,
and act upon their recommendation. Whilst all seems to be prosperous,
every dupe repels with indignation the statement that the whole of his
confraternity are deceived. If faith in the stability of a banking house
could have upheld it, Overend & Gurnets would never have broken. If
then faith, the most complete and child-like trust in the truth of
anything,--say particularly in a certain book--will not make it valuable
if it be in reality worthless, then all those who wish to feel beneath
them the everlasting arms of truth, should inquire into current beliefs
rather than take everything for granted.
At the time when the wealth, power, and stability of the Bank above
referred to were implicitly believed in by the many, and especially
trusted by its shareholders, there were, outside of its pale, many
individuals who felt sure that the establishment was very shaky, and a
few who were aware that it was toppling to its fall. If then, at that
time, any customer or proprietor, feeling a doubt about its safety,
should have endeavoured to investigate the rumours which were adverse to
it; and should have acted as reason dictated, after he had weighed the
alleged facts on both sides, he might have came to a safe decision
and saved his money. What is true in this case may be applied to the
Bible--the Bank upon which so many draw large drafts, and in whose
stability they have unbounded confidence. The thoughtless may, and
doubtless will, continue to trust it implicitly--the thoughtful will
probably consult, not only the Bibliolaters, but those who put no faith
whatever in the volume, and judge for themselves.
The fear which many men have of biblical inquiry, has for a long period
struck me as being inexplicable, inasmuch as it is at variance with the
assertion of these very same people, that an examination of the book
must prove it to be infallibly true. But investigation into a supposed
truth can only end by confirming it fully, and thus making the truth
more useful; or by demonstrating that the belief entertained is
untenable. It has been the dread--nay the certainty, of the latter
result, which has deterred many great minds from investigating the
matter. Amongst these the late Professor Faraday was conspicuous, for we
learn from a letter in the Athenaeum of Jan. 7, 1870, written by one of
his own personal friends, that he--perhaps the most accomplished seeker
after physical truth in his time, declined firmly to search into the
value of the commonly received notions respecting "the scriptures," as
he felt sure that his faith in them would thereby be shaken. Yet he was
illogical enough to use them as a basis for his theological teaching.
He preached to others from texts in which he had no confidence; and
supported his doctrines by quotations from a book which, in his secret
heart, he felt was valueless as an exponent of historical truth, or
orthodox teaching.
Before we proceed to the comparison between the "Dhammapada" and the
Bible, it will be judicious to place fairly before the reader the points
which we hope to elucidate. We wish to show, by a collation of dates and
doctrines, that the two are wholly independent of each other, and as we
have elsewhere remarked, that if there has been any relationship between
Buddhist and Christian writings, the first have had more than two
centuries' precedence over the last. We wish to compare the morality
taught by Buddha, with that promulgated in the Old and New Testaments.
We desire impartially to examine into the question, whether the claim
for inspiration can be allowed in either one case or the other, or in
both together--whether, indeed, it is possible to believe the Hebrew
scriptures to be dictated by God, without giving a similar confidence
to the teachings of Sakya Muni--or, assuming that there is to be found a
code of pure morality or ethics which we may suppose to be of universal
application, we shall endeavour to ascertain whether the Hebrews and the
followers of Mary, or the disciples of the son of Maya Deva, have made
the nearest approach to its discovery and establishment. Collaterally
we shall examine whether Jesus has a greater claim than Buddha to be the
Son of God. The Dhammapada which has recently (Truebner & Co., London,
1870*) been translated by Max Muelller from the Pali, is one of the many
books which profess to give, as our Gospels and Epistles do of Christ,
the teachings or precepts of Buddha. These were for some two or three
centuries traditional only; but about the period, B.C. 300, many, if not
most of them, were committed to writing. As far as can be ascertained,
the year b.c. 246 was the period of the first Buddhist council under
Asok, and shortly after this, Mahuida, a priestly son of Asoka, went as
a missionary to Ceylon; other emissaries went to Burmah, China, Japan,
and it is believed elsewhere. The oral promulgation of the Dhammapada
would probably begin about b.c. 560--twenty years or thereabouts before
the death of Siddartha. If we turn to contemporary history in the west
of Asia, we find that at this period Jerusalem was in ruins, and the
Jews were captives in Babylonia--no copies of any Hebrew sacred book
were known to be in existence (2 Esdras xiv. 21; 2 Maccabees ii.
1-13--see also 1 Maccabees i. 21-23), and, so far as we could
learn, India was a country wholly unknown to the Shemitic race. The
acquaintanceship between Hindustan and Europe seems to have been made in
the time when the Greek monarch, Alexander, overthrew Darius of Persia.
Alexander invaded India about b.c. 327, consequently we infer that there
was no possibility of Buddha being influenced by western notions in b.c.
560.
* _Buddhaghosa's Parables_, translated from Burmese, by Capt
T. Rogers; with an introduction, containing Buddha's
Dhammapada, or "Path of Virtue," by Max Mueller. Truebner &
Co., London, 1870.
To these considerations we must add the fact that the Jews have
never been, from the earliest to the latest times, a missionary
nation,--indeed, their laws and precepts forced them to be so peculiarly
reserved, that even if they had known about India they would not have
sent their emissaries there, inasmuch as the Mosaic law obliged them to
present themselves at the Temple at Jerusalem thrice a-year, which was
wholly incompatible with distant travel. Moreover, there are many extant
histories to show that intelligent westerns went to India for knowledge
and religion, and never seemed to think of carrying their own faith
thither. The whole course of history points to religion and civilization
coming westerly from India or Central Asia.
The dates above given will clearly show that Sakya Muni could not have
derived his ideas from the teaching of Jesus, or of the Talmudists,
neither of whom were in existence when he flourished. Whatever
similarity, therefore, we find in the doctrines, &c., of the two, cannot
be accounted for by supposing that Christian missionaries carried the
New Testament to India. The reverse is far more probable, as we have
demonstrated in a preceding chapter.
Some inquirers into the history of the sons of Maya Deva and of Mary are
so convinced of the priority of the first, and of the close resemblance
of the incidents in the lives and in the teaching of the two, that
they have found themselves forced, reluctantly, to consider the
question--whether Christianity is not Buddhism altered in some respects
by Judaism. This point having been elsewhere spoken of, we will not
pursue it. But a far more important, and, for many Christians, a more
momentous inquiry, is, whether we can speak of the Son of Mary as the
offspring of Jehovah, and yet affirm that the child of Maya Deva
was nothing but a common man. So deeply have some been moved by this
consideration, that I have positively heard the opinion broached, that
the Indian sage was the very same as he who subsequently was put to
death in Jerusalem. Wild though the allegation is, there is quite as
great an amount of probability in it as in the assertion that Jesus went
and preached unto those spirits which were sometime disobedient, i.e.,
in the time of Noah (1 Pet. iii. 19, 20), and were, consequently, then in
prison, or that Buddha went to his dead mother, and converted her to
his own faith. About supernatural births we shall treat in a succeeding
part.
Without incumbering our pages with all the precepts of the Dhammapada,
we will copy a few in detail to show the reader their style, and then
we will only quote those which are most appropriate to our subject. The
opening paragraphs singularly resemble those in Bacon's _Novum Organon_,
and run thus--"All that we are, is the result of what we have thought:
it is founded on our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil
thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of him who
draws the carriage (lv.)."
2. "All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded
on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts
with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never
leaves him" (lvi. et. seq.).
3. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me--hatred in
those who harbour such thoughts will never cease."**
4. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me--hatred in
those who do not harbour such thoughts will cease."
5. "For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by
love"--this is an old rule.
* The figures refer to the separate precepts, which are
given in numerical order.
** With this and the following saying we may compare the
words of the Psalms--"Do not I hate those, O Lord, that hate
thee? and am I not grieved with those that rise up against
thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred; I count them mine
enemies" (Ps. cxxxix. 21, 22). The words of David, said to
be a man after God's own heart, are equally opposed to the
law of love, viz., "Thou hast given me the necks of my
enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me" (2 Sam.
xxii. 41; Ps. xviii. 40); I shall see my desire on them that
hate me" (Ps. cxviii. 7). In Deuteronomy we find, moreover,
that indulgence in hatred is attributed to the Almighty,
"who repayeth them that hate Him to their face to destroy
them: He (God) will not be slack to him that hateth Him, he
will repay him to his face" (chap. vii. 10). Hatred of their
enemies is, indeed, everywhere encouraged in the Jewish
Scriptures, called sacred, and the Hebrew Jehovah is
described as one with whom the power to hate and revenge
Himself is a favourite luxury.
6. "And some do not know that we must come to an end here; but others
know it, and hence their quarrels cease."
7. "He who lives looking for pleasures only, his senses uncontrolled,
immoderate in his enjoyments, idle and weak, Mara (the Tempter, the
Adversary, or Satan) will certainly overcome him, as the wind throws
down a weak tree."
8. "He who lives without looking for pleasures, his senses well
controlled, in his enjoyments moderate, faithful and strong, Mara will
certainly not overcome him, any more than the wind throws down a rocky
mountain."
11. "They who imagine truth in untruth, and see untruth in truth, never
arrive at truth, but follow vain desires."
15. "The evildoer mourns in this world, and he mourns in the next, he
mourns in both."....
16. "The virtuous man delights in this world, and he delights in the
next; he delights in both."
We may pause here, and ask ourselves whether, throughout the whole of
the Old Testament, we can find a single passage which so distinctly
points to a future state as does this Buddhistic teaching. Yet
bibliolaters assert that the effusions of Jewish writers were inspired
by God! Mortal men cannot tell what takes place after their bodies have
become dissipated into various chemical compounds; consequently, they
cannot decide, with certainty, which deserves the greater credit for
accuracy--the Dhammapada, or the Hebrew Scriptures; but all those who
believe in the teaching of Jesus are bound to acknowledge that the
Indian sage was inspired by a power superior to that which is said to
have dictated to the Israelite.
How profitably, again, might the following observations be enunciated
from our pulpits, instead of the vapid and superficial divinity, which
disgraces both the utterer and the listener:--
21. "Reflection is the path of immortality, thoughtlessness the path of
death. Those who reflect do not die; those who are thoughtless are as if
dead already."
25. "By rousing himself, by reflection, by restraint and control, the
wise man may make for himself an island, which no flood can overwhelm."
27. "Follow not after vanity, nor after the enjoyment of love and lust.
He who reflects and meditates obtains ample joy"
We dare not affirm that the writer of the first epistle of John was
familiar with the Dhammapada, but his words (chap. ii, v. 15), "Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world," &c., are as purely
Buddhistic as if he had known the doctrine of the Indian sage.
We doubt whether, in the whole Bible, a parallel passage to the
following can be found:--
36. "Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are difficult to
perceive, very artful, and they rush wherever they list: thoughts well
guarded bring happiness."
It is true that in the Psalms, and elsewhere, there is a full
recognition of the power of God to know, and even to punish man for,
bad thoughts, but there is no precept recommending man to cultivate his
mental powers for the pleasure which the task will bring. The following
observation is equally to be commended:--
40. "Knowing that this body is (fragile) like a jar, and making this
thought firm like a fortress, one should attack Mara (the tempter, or
Satan, the adversary) with the weapon of knowledge, one should watch him
when conquered, and never cease from the fight."
A few moments' consideration here, will show the reader that there is
a fundamental distinction between the theology of the East and West
in reference to the management of "the thoughts of the heart." Jew
and Christian teachers alike encourage their disciples to combat evil
thoughts by prayer and by fasting, but they never once allude to the
value of "knowledge" as a weapon. Yet, of its power, relatively to
supplication, none can have a doubt. It it probable that no man or woman
can attain to adult age without being aware of the intrusion, into their
minds, of thoughts, whose presence greatly distresses the individual,
and the worst of these is, that they take so complete a possession,
as not to be driven away by any simple wrestling with them. In this
emergency the devout Christian has recourse to prayer, which serves to
nail the intruder even more closely to his seat. The philosopher, on
the other hand, turns his mind to think actively upon some other subject
than that which has intruded upon him, and as soon as he has fixed his
attention upon the second, the first immediately withdraws. Smarting,
for example, under a sense of ridicule from some accident which has
happened to himself in a ball-room, or other assembly, a man may retire
to his pillow, yet find thereupon no rest. He sees, every minute, the
merry faces which laughed when he put the sprig of lavender, that his
lovely partner gave him for a keepsake, behind his ear, as if it were
a pen, and grinds his teeth with rage or shame. Yet, if he now betakes
himself to go through the preparations which ought to be made to enable
observers to notice accurately the transit of Venus, and then the means
by which they can approximately ascertain the mean distance of the sun
from the earth, he will find at once a pleasant refuge from his trouble,
and fall asleep whilst extracting a square root. Those young men, and
others, who, like the old saints are said to have done, often suffer
much from what may be called "presumptuous desires of the flesh," will
find the acquisition of knowledge is a powerful agent in subduing
the cravings of lust, and hard thinking curbs our passions far more
effectually than the scourge of the ascetic, or the prayers of the
hermit. Mental activity, although it does not entirely remove it,
does much to repress inordinate desire, and we consequently prefer the
teaching of the son of Maya to that of any son of Abraham.
Of the estimate of a well-regulated mind we have the following:--
42. "Whatever a hater may do to a hater, or an enemy to an enemy, a
wrongly-directed mind will do us greater mischief."
43. "Not a mother, not a father, nor any other relative, will do so much
that a well-directed mind will not do us greater service." To this we
can find no parallel in the Hebrew scriptures.
Some of the following are equal to any of those proverbs attributed to
Solomon:--
76. "If you see an intelligent man who tells you where true treasures
are to be found, who shows you what is to be avoided, and who
administers reproofs, follow that wise man: it will be better, not
worse, for those who follow him."
78. "Do not have evildoers for friends, do not have low people; have
virtuous people for friends, have for friends the best of men."
80. "Well-makers lead the water wherever they like, fletchers bend the
arrow, carpenters bend a log of wood, wise people fashion themselves."
81. "As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise people falter not
amidst blame and praise."
94. "The gods even envy him whose senses have been subdued, like horses
well broken in by the driver, who is free from pride and free from
frailty."
97. "The man who is free from credulity, but knows the uncreated, who
has cut all ties, removed all temptations renounced all desires, he is
the greatest of men." A saying which is almost identical with "He that
is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his
spirit better than he that taketh a city" (Prov. xvi. 32). Those
Christians who believe in works of supererogation, and trust to stores
of merit laid up by certain saints, who have lashed their bodies and
otherwise injured themselves, may read the following opinion with
profit:--
108. "Whatever a man sacrifices in this world as an offering or as an
oblation for a whole year in order to gain merit, the whole of it is not
worth a quarter; reverence shown to the righteous is better."
Respecting evil, we find the following:--
116. "If a man would hasten towards the good, he should keep his thought
away from evil; if a man does what is good slothfully, his mind delights
in evil."
117. "If a man commits a sin, let him not do it again, let him not
delight in sin; pain is the outcome of evil."
118. "If a man does what is good let him do it again, let him delight in
it; happiness is the outcome of good."
126. "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."
It is therefore clear that Jesus of Nazareth did not inaugurate the idea
of a new birth.
In precept 133 we have another sentiment parallel with a passage in
Proverbs: "Do not speak harshly to anybody; those who are spoken to will
answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful blows, for blows
will touch thee;" or, as our Bible has it, "A soft answer turneth away
wrath, but grievous words stir up anger" (Prov. xv. 1).
The following is a reproach to a vast number of individuals who are
called Christian preachers, and teach doctrines of brotherly love, but
act as if religious hatred of dissenters of every class were a duty:--
159. "Let each man make himself as he teaches others to be; he who is
well subdued may subdue others; one's own self is difficult to subdue."
166. "Let no one neglect his own duty for the sake of another's,
however great: let a man, after he has discerned his own duty, be always
attentive to his duty."
The following might have served as the original of the epistles of
John:--
167. "Do not follow the evil law! Do not live on in thoughtlessness! Do
not follow false doctrine! Be not a friend of the world."
168. 9. "Rouse thyself! do not be idle, follow the law of virtue--do not
follow that of sin. The virtuous lives happily in this world and in the
next."
170, 1, 2, 3, & 4. "Look upon the world as a bubble; the foolish are
immersed in it, but the wise do not cling to it. He who formerly was
reckless, and afterwards became sober, and he whose evil deeds are
covered by good deeds, brighten up this world like the moon when freed
from clouds."
174. "This world is dark--few only can be here; a few only go to heaven
like birds escaped from the net." A statement repeated by Jesus in
different words,--"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. vii. 14). There
may likewise be a comparison instituted between the following:--
176. "If a man has transgressed one law, and speaks lies and scoffs at
another world, there is no evil he will not do." "Whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (Jas.
ii. 10).
I quote this and the next saying to corroborate the assertion that
Buddha taught the existence of a future world:--
177. "The uncharitable do not go to the world of the gods; fools only do
not praise liberality; a wise man rejoices in liberality, and through
it becomes blessed in the other world."
Compare 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18,19, "Charge them that are rich in this
world.... that they be--ready to distribute, willing to communicate,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to
come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."
See again (306), "He who says what is not, goes to hell; he also who,
having done a thing, says I have not done it. After death both are
equal, they are men with evil deeds in the next world."
309. "Four things does a reckless man gain who covets his neighbour's
wife--a bad reputation, an uncomfortable bed--thirdly, punishment, and,
lastly, hell."
310. "There is bad reputation, and the evil way (to hell)."
311. "As a grass blade if badly grasped cuts the arm, badly practised
asceticism leads to hell."
178. "Better than sovereignty over the earth, better than going to
heaven, better than lordship over all worlds, is the reward of the first
step in holiness."
"What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul?" or, "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt,
xvi. 26).
It would be difficult to find any doctrine enunciated in the Bible more
simple than the following:--
183. "Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, that
is the teaching of the Awakened."
184. "The Awakened call patience the highest penance, long-suffering the
highest Nirvana, for he is not an anchorite who strikes others, he is
not an ascetic who insults others."
185. "Not to blame, not to strike, to live restrained under the law,
to be moderate in eating, to sleep and eat alone, and to dwell on the
highest thoughts, this is the teaching of the Awakened."
Equally difficult would it be to find in the Old Testament such precepts
as--
197. "Let us live happily, then, not hating those who hate us; let us
dwell free from hatred among men who hate." "Let us live free from greed
among men who are greedy."
200. "Let us live happily though we can call nothing our own."
204. "Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches;
trust is the best of relatives, Nirvana the highest happiness."
The following quotations deserve the close attention of the Christian
inquirer, for they not only contain sentiments almost identically the
same as those found in the New Testament, but they are couched in the
same language, as closely as the circumstances of the case allow. Both
enunciate the opinion that it is injudicious to cultivate or even to
permit the existence of those affections which we have in common with
the lower animals, and that to attain perfection love and hatred must be
trampled under foot. We give the Buddhist teaching priority, as it was
promulgated first:--
210. "Let no man ever look for what is pleasant or what is unpleasant.
Not to see what is pleasant is pain, and it is pain to see what is
unpleasant."
211. "Let, therefore, no man love anything; loss of the beloved is evil.
Those who love nothing and hate nothing have no fetters."
212. "From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear, he who is
free from pleasure knows neither grief nor fear."
213-6. "From affection comes grief and fear, from lust comes grief and
fear, from love comes grief and fear, from greed comes grief and fear."
"He who is free from affection, lust, love, and greed, knows neither
grief nor fear." "He that loveth either father or mother more than me is
not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter better than me is
not worthy of me, and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after
me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he
that loseth his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt. x. 37-39). "Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth
away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for
ever" (1 John ii. 15-17).
"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever
will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake shall find it; for what is a man profited if he shall gain the
whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul?" (Matt, xvi. 24). See also Mark viii. 34, x. 21, and Luke
ix. 23-25, in the last verse of which the saying is varied by the words
being used "what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose
himself, or be cast away?" We are by habit more familiar with the style
in which the Grecians wrote, than with that adopted by Sanscrit
authors. But in both sets of writers the main idea is made strikingly
apparent--viz., that to love anybody or anything on earth is prejudicial
to our spiritual welfare, and that to act piously, it is necessary for
the saint to free himself wholly from those instinctive affections which
God has implanted in almost every one of his creatures. It is
strange that any two ministers could have excogitated so monstrous a
proposition, and that both should be called "Divine."
The effect of the teaching of Buddha and of Jesus was to draw many from
their hearth whose duty, in our estimation, was clearly to remain at
home, and endeavour to cherish and support their family. I enter my
strong protest as an Englishman, as well as individual Christian,
against the idea that a man who believes himself a disciple of the son
of Mary must go abroad to teach and preach, or become an ascetic, a
hermit, or a monk, and leave his wife and children to be cared for by
his friends or the parish. I believe most strongly that our affections
are implanted in us by our Maker, just as a mother's love exists alike
in the tigress and the eagle, and that any religion which teaches us
that we must overcome these propensities, is a false one. It is strange,
to say the least of it, that both the son of Maya and of Mary should
have promulgated such a doctrine--i.e., that religion is designed to
make our pleasures less, and our miseries greater. It is perhaps too
much to assert that no other form of faith, besides those which have
sprung from Buddha and from Jesus, possesses such a tenet as that to
which we refer; but we can safely affirm that we do not know of any
in which the natural affections existing between parents and children,
husband and wife, brothers and sisters, have not been cultivated as a
portion of the duties to be fulfilled by the faithful.
It is scarcely necessary to call attention to the resemblance which the
doctrine in question bears to that which was promulgated by the Grecian
"Stoics"; and the similitude is still farther increased by such a
sentence as the following in the Dhammapada:--
221. "Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all
bondage! No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to either body
or soul, and who calls nothing his own."
Once more we see a close resemblance between Buddhism and the Bible in
223. "Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good,
let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth." "If thine
enemy be hungry give him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty give him
water to drink," (Prov. xxv. 21). But the motive for this recommendation
to the Jews is a vindictive one, for he is told that by so doing he will
heap coals of fire upon his enemy's head, whilst the Lord will take care
to reward the deed to the doer. In the epistle to the Romans this saying
of the Proverbs is endorsed, and to it is added "Be not overcome with
evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom. xii. 20, 21).
224. "Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked,
from the little thou hast--by those steps thou wilt go near the gods."
"Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about thy neck; write
them upon the table of thine heart; so shalt thou find favour and good
understanding in the sight of God and man" (Prov. iii. 3-4); "Wherefore,
putting away lying, let every man speak the truth with his neighbour"
(Eph. iv. 25). We scarcely can find, in the Old Testament, a strict
parallel with the Buddhist precept, "do not yield to anger," for the
Jewish scriptures, without exception, depict their God as giving way
habitually to wrath, anger, and revenge--e.g., in Ps. vii. 11, we find
it stated that Elohim is angry with the wicked every day. Again, in
Isaiah v. 25, we read, "for all this, God's anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still;" Job iv. 9, By God's anger they are
consumed; "To pour out upon them my fierce anger," (Zeph. iii. 8). There
are, however, a few passages which inculcate upon men the propriety of
a command over their temper. In Ps. xxxvii. 8, for example, we read,
"Cease from anger, and forsake wrath," and in Proverbs xxvii. 4, "Wrath
is cruel, and anger is outrageous," whilst "the Preacher" says, Eccles.
vii. 9, "Anger resteth in the bosom of fools," and in xi. 10, "remove
anger or sorrow from thy heart." In the Gospel we have a somewhat
divided teaching. For example, we find, from Mark iii. 5, that Jesus
himself indulged in anger, when he was vexed at what he thought the
hardness of his hearers' hearts; and from his saying, in Matt. v. 22,
"Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger
of the judgment," it is clear that the son of Mary approved of anger
which had a cause. Again, we find, in Eph. iv. 26, "Be ye angry and sin
not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath," as if anger were not a
culpable weakness, or passion, if only indulged in during the daylight.
Yet, in the thirty-first verse of the same chapter we read, "Let all
bitterness, and wrath, and anger.... be put away from you," and in Col.
iii. 8, the putting away of anger is spoken of as an evidence of being
regenerated.
Of the duty of almsgiving we find much in the Bible, but we will content
ourselves with the following passages:--"Charge them who are rich in
this world that they be ready to give, and glad to distribute, laying up
in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come,
that they may attain eternal life" (1 Tim. vi. 17-19). Quoted from the
Communion Service in the Prayer-book--"To do good, and to distribute,
forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." "Be merciful
after thy power. If thou hast much, give plenteously; if thou hast
little, do thy diligence gladly to give of that little, for so gatherest
thou thyself a good reward in the day of necessity" (Prayer-book version
of certain precepts in Tobit, chap. iv. 8, 9). If our readers will take
the trouble to consult the entire chapter in Tobit, they will readily
conceive that it was written by a Buddhist sage, instead of an ordinary
Jew.
Once more we turn to the Dhammapada, and find--
231, 234. "Beware of bodily anger, and control thy body. Leave the sins
of the body, and with thy body practise virtue; control thy tongue;
leave the sins of the tongue, and practise virtue with thy tongue; leave
the sins of the mind, and practise virtue with thy mind."
This reference to the sins of the tongue, and the necessity for its
control, recals to our mind the opinion expressed in the epistle of
James, "If any one bridleth not his tongue, this man's religion is vain"
(chap, i. 26); "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity," &c.; "the
tongue can no man tame," &c. (chap. iii. w. 5-10); and the verse, "I
said, I will take heed io my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will
keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me" (Ps. xxxix.
1).
The next maxim to which I would direct attention is one which should be
pondered deeply by all those who desire to become thoroughly civilized.
So far as I know, its like cannot be found in any part of the Bible. It
runs thus--
243. "There is a taint worse than all taints, ignorance is the greatest
taint."
If we search our own scriptures for a parallel passage, we can only
find that ignorance is inculcated, and with the express intention
of preventing the mind from departing from the old into some new
track--see, for example, Dent. xii. 30, where the Jews are enjoined not
to inquire after the gods of other nations, lest they should adopt them:
again, in Deut. iv. 19, the Hebrews are enjoined not to study or gain
any information respecting the sun, moon, and stars, lest they should
worship them. But Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, is even a more
conspicuous advocate of ignorance, when he asserts that God hath chosen
the foolish things [--Greek--] of the world to confound the wise (1
Cor. i. vv. 19-28). "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy
trust, avoiding.... oppositions of science falsely so called, which some
professing have erred concerning the faith" (1 Tim. vi. 20, 21). Many,
indeed, who call themselves civilized Christians, aver that, where
ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise, a tenet held strongly by
Mahometans, Papists, and Ritualists.
That the dictum of Paul in the text last quoted has had a a most
disastrous effect upon civilization, no one who is conversant with
history can fairly deny. Neither can it be shown that any known
religion, except Buddhism, has opposed itself to ignorance. In every
nation the rulers in general, and the priesthood in particular, have,
on the other hand, encouraged indolence of mind, lest the people should
learn wisdom and shake off their thraldom. We have seen, in our own
times, hierarchs of every denomination oppose the spread of science, not
falsely so called, with the avowed intention of endeavouring to bolster
up doctrines, dogmas, and assertions, which they feel sure true
science will destroy, although the same people declare their tenets
indestructible, and founded on truth. Nay, we may go still further, and
assert that sciolism in religious matters is fostered by the clergy of
all denominations, both by the suppression of what they believe to be
genuine, and by the promulgation of what they know to be false. In the
place of knowledge they inculcate blind faith.
As one not wholly unknown to be an earnest and honest inquirer, I
have had extensive correspondence and personal intercourse with many
preachers, and with others whose opportunities for learning "the
clerical mind" are more extensive than my own, and I may divide the
body of religious ministers, and the laity as well, into the following
classes:--1, Those who refuse to inquire, examine, and think about
religious subjects, except in a certain prescribed way; 2, Those who
will investigate into the grounds of their belief, as they would into
any doubtful assertion, or into any science; 3, Those who individually
abandon the old faith and yet continue to preach it, and profess to
adhere to it as strongly as they did at first; 4, Those who venture
timidly to insinuate doubts into the minds of others, whilst professing
to be orthodox themselves; 5, Those who are too noble to be hypocrites,
and boldly affirm that which their advance of knowledge has induced
them to adopt as a belief. Yet these very men, distinguished above
their fellows for earnestness, for science, for honesty of purpose, a
religiously ignorant priesthood persecutes; and Englishmen, who wish to
be regarded as peculiarly "enlightened," stand by almost unmoved, or, as
happens too frequently, applauding.
When we endeavour to ascertain the reason why ignorance is so greatly
cherished amongst mankind, we can readily discover it in indolence on
the part of one group of men, and cupidity on the part of others. There
are many positions in life wherein Sciolism seems to be more profitable
than knowledge. We may mention a few. A "solicitor" who has an imperfect
acquaintance with the law, may induce his clients to bring cases before
various legal courts, in which they are certain to lose their cause and
money, but this solicitor gains large fees for his trouble. A physician
who does not know how to cure certain diseases may yet treat them for
months, pass for a devoted doctor and a clever friend, and receive a
large honorarium, which is far beyond his merit, though the patient may
think it far too small. The man, on the other hand, who can cure such
complaints readily, has to be content with a very slender fee, as his
attendance is only required for a few days. The schemers, who live upon
the ignorance of dupes, bear the name of legion. We see one of the body
as a promoter of all sorts of bubble companies, and as secretary to such
societies as banks, trade unions, burial clubs, assurances, &c. Anon he
takes the form of an adulterator of provisions, of various drinkables,
of cloth, silk, linen, &c. If Sciolism were not common, such charlatans
as "spiritualists," "clairvoyants," "mesmerists," and the like, could
not thrive as they do, nor quacks of all kinds flourish famously. One
medical pretender is indeed reported to have said to a "regular" doctor,
who lived in the same street with him, but whose clients were few
compared with those of the charlatan--"the reason why you have so small,
and I have so large, a number of patients is, that the fools come to me,
the knowing ones to you."
What is true in the case of other professions is preeminently so in the
clerical In religion, such as it is professed in Christendom, Sciolism,
or imperfect knowledge, alone is lucrative. Real understanding, diffused
amongst the people, would render every hierophant a beggar, and thorough
enlightenment amongst the priesthood would force them to allow that
such should be their normal position. For example, if every layman, in
countries owning the spiritual headship of the Pope of Rome, knew that
all the stories of Heaven, Purgatory, Hell, Angels, Saints, Confessors,
Hermits, and the like, were absolutely baseless--if he knew that man has
no power in the court of the Almighty to influence His will in favour
of a congener, and that nothing whatever is known respecting the world
beyond the grave--he would not order masses, whether high or low, and a
host of other ceremonies, each of which has to be paid for. Or, if each
Protestant knew, that every tenet preached to him from the pulpit is
founded upon absolute ignorance of the Almighty's operations, that every
doctrine, every prayer, and every ritual, is based upon fantastic, half
savage, or semicivilized human ideas, he would recognize at once the
total uselessness of the parson. "They that are whole need not
the physician, but they that are sick." The doctor, knowing this,
endeavours, when he has a chance, to induce a client to believe himself
ill, and that he and no other man can cure him--or, if he should really
be disordered, these ideas will be kept up as long as possible. So it is
in "religion," it is only the culprit that wants the Saviour, but when
he has a chance, the _soi disant_ saviour tries to persuade those who
consult him, that they are sinners, yet that he can make them saints;
and having once implanted this belief, he endeavours to sustain it. To
doctors and priests such as we here describe, the ignorant credulity of
their clients is a source of wealth. So long as there are dupes
there will be sharpers, and so long as men are human, there will be,
unconsciously very likely to themselves, abundance of both fools and
knaves.
From what has been already said, our readers will have probably drawn
the conclusion that we deny the existence of a thoroughly educated
and honest hierarch, who has become wealthy by the exercise of
his profession in a perfectly conscientious manner. Exceptional
circumstances prevent us saying exactly the same of a doctor, but
into these we need not enter, as they have not their counterparts in
divinity. Such being our belief, we recognize the fact that poverty and
knowledge must, in an earnest priesthood, be ever associated. But the
clergy of every denomination are loath to agree to this, and endeavour,
by hook or by crook, to acquire the means of living well.
Hence Buddha, who was thoroughly honest himself, and did not become a
preacher for the sake of emolument or a livelihood, adopted, as part
of his plan, a systematic estrangement from every luxury of whatever
sort,--or, in other words, the adoption of a poverty as great as exists
in the lower animals. He enjoined that the saintly teacher, having food
and raiment of the most homely kind, ought therewith to be content. This
was Paul's view also--see 1 Tim. vi. 8. In this teaching the son of Mary
concurred; like the son of Maya, he "had not where to lay his head," he
had not even such a home as a fox or a bird (Matt, viii. 20), and when
he sent out his disciples to preach, his direction to them was, "Take
nothing for your journey" (Luke ix. 3, see also Matt, vi. 25-28). To sum
up our remarks upon this particular command of Buddha to avoid the
taint of ignorance, we may frame an axiom in political economy,
thus--"Ignorance in the many ensures wealth in a few," or, "A diffusion
of sound knowledge amongst the ruled, reduces the power and the
emoluments of the rulers, and compels them to work hard if they wish to
retain their position." To apply this idea still further, I would add
that a thoroughly educated people, each one of whom feels that he
must "work out his own salvation" (Phil ii. 12), does not require a
priesthood. Consequently hierarchs, whose sole business in this world
seems to be to instil terror into young minds, and to make rules for
them to break, that priests may be paid for showing how the imaginary
results may be escaped, would have no place if men were wise and
thoughtful. It is a curious, though a certain fact, that the depth of
savagery and the height of civilization alike ignore the necessity of a
hierarchy. The first does so because it never thinks of God--the second,
because its conceptions of the Almighty are such that it cannot believe
Him to be influenced by individuals who assume to be His earthly
vicegerents, or are elected to that pretentious situation by their
fellow-men. The God of the Bible can only be adored by individuals whose
minds are not emancipated wholly from the thraldom of barbarism, and
who regard Jehovah as a man, and not a good one either, or, as we have
before remarked--a devil. We may once more extract some sentences for
comparison, to show, either that no inspiration was necessary to pen the
Bible, or that the Dhammapada has equal claims with the Old Testament--
244. "Life is easy to live for a man who is without shame, a crow hero,
a mischief maker, an insulting, bold, and wretched fellow. But life is
hard to live for a modest man, who always looks for what is pure, who is
disinterested, quiet, spotless, and intelligent. O man, know this, that
the unrestrained are in a bad state; take care that greediness and vice
do not bring thee to grief for a long time."
Compare this with the Psalmist's expression--"I was envious at the
foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, for there are no bands
in their death, but their strength is firm; they are not in trouble
as other men, neither are they plagued like other men; therefore pride
compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment,
their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could
wish.... these are the ungodly who prosper in the world, they increase
in riches.... Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou
castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into
desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors" (Ps.
lxxiii. 3-19.) "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading
himself like a green tree that groweth in his own soil, yet he passed
away, and lo! he was not, yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is
peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together, the end of
the wicked shall be cut off." "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers,
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall
soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in
the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and, verily, thou
shalt be fed" (Ps. xxxvii. 35-38--1-3). The class of sentiments is the
same in both, only they seem to differ because we are very familiar with
the phraseology of the Bible, and the reverse with translations from the
Sanskrit.
At this point the philosopher may judiciously pause to inquire, whether
the sentiments expressed in the preceding biblical quotations are not
incorrect, and consequently whether they can be regarded as inspired;
and whether the Buddhistic solution of the difficulty, which points to
a future state, is not superior to the Jewish one which treats of this
world only. Experience abundantly shows that individuals practising what
is called "goodness" find it no safeguard against misery, starvation,
tortures, and death. Jesus of Nazareth, his disciples, and vast numbers
of his followers, have experienced from the dominant party in those
states wherein they dwelled contumely, reproach, and hours of lingering
torment. Louis the XIV. of France, and the New Englanders of America,
alike persecuted "Protestants" and "Quakers." In Spain "the reformers"
were successfully opposed by fire and sword, and Papal Italy once
extirpated from her midst the disciples of Luther and Calvin. Yet the
so-called wrong-doers flourished, and the unfortunate "good people" were
run down or dragooned with a sudden and swift destruction. If the dictum
of the Psalmist is right, then Admiral Coligny, who was killed in
the Bartholomew massacre, at Paris, must have been a bad man put in a
slippery place that he might fall, for his destruction came suddenly, in
an instant. But all history shows him to have been a worthy fellow,
who was punished for his virtues. The observer of nature is driven to
believe that the co-existence of powerful and bad men, with feeble, yet
good men, is a rule in creation for which no adequate explanation can
be found. He sees that in the domain of the air there are hawks and
pigeons, eagles and ostriches, cuckoos and hedge-sparrows, that on the
land there are tigers and sheep, lions and buffaloes, wolves and deer,
that in the water there are perch and minnows, pike and trout, sharks
and whales--in other words, there is throughout the world a division of
living creatures into those who live by destroying vegetables, and those
who subsist by the destruction of animals. The cow, sheep, and deer are
quite as ruthless, in their noxiousness to the ornaments of the meadow,
as are foxes in a hen-roost to the beauties of the barn-door; both alike
mar the graceful features of creation. Yet it is clear that both the
graminivora and the carnivora were made to effect this apparent
wrong. Still further, we see throughout creation, that in almost every
community of animals, the strong ones dominate over the weak, and
endeavour, far too frequently, to deprive them of such pleasures as they
and their females possess. See, for example, a cock with a bevy of hens:
he will allow no other chanticleer to strut besides him on the dunghill
of the yard; he will not permit a rival to make love to anyone of his
harem, nor to feed upon any dainty morsel, until his wives and himself
have had enough. The same may be said of stags, of bulls, of rams, of
horses, and many other creatures whose habits are known. The leader of
a herd is a despot, and when he is at length conquered by another, those
who are ruled have merely changed their masters. Young and weak cocks
will never attain to power, and must ever submit to be bullied.
We notice, at the same time, that each tyrant must in the end succumb;
with age comes infirmity and loss of strength, in the last battle
the old is beaten by the young. Just so it is with mankind; in its
comparative infancy monarchs rule, and are at length deposed by others.
The Babylonians conquered Palestine, the Medes and Persians vanquished
the Babylonians, the Greeks subjugated the Persians, the Romans overcame
the Greeks, and the Goths destroyed the Roman power; yet under every
regime the powerful could torment the weak. The result in every case
was brought about by the conqueror being strong and brutal--not by the
immorality of the victims.
When a philosopher sees such things, he very naturally endeavours to
ascertain whether any design can be discovered in the events of the
world, and to this end he may be diligent in collecting facts, or he
may at once frame some theory, and then cease to think about the matter.
"Oh," such an one may say, "all that is wrong here will be righted in
another world." Another, who ponders more deeply, may doubt whether it
is proper to divide the phenomena of nature into "right" and "wrong."
"If," he will say, "I believe with the Jew that God is in the heavens,
and does whatsoever He pleases" (Ps. cxv. 3), or that "the Lord hath
made all for Himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil" (Prov.
xvi. 4) I must allow that everything which emanates from the Creator
must be right. Speaking individually, I prefer rather to examine into
the ways of Providence--i.e., of the Almighty, without framing any
theory of right and wrong, than to dogmatize upon what He _must_ intend
by this or that. "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord (Jehovah),
or being his counsellor hath taught him?" (Is. xl. 13)--see also the
Pauline version of this sentiment, Rom. xi. 33, 34.
It is very questionable whether any human analogy will enable us,
even approximately, to fathom what are designated "the designs of
Providence." Every example that I can at the present remember given by
theologians is bad. Take, for example, the most common one which draws
a comparison between God and a father, Ps. ciii. 13, "like as a father
piti-eth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him;" Prov.
iii. 12, "Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the
son in whom he delighteth;" Heb. xii. 6, 7, "Whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." "If ye be
without chastisement, whereof all men (are) partakers, then are ye
bastards and not sons." These enunciate the idea that God, being the
universal father, treats mankind as a judicious parent treats his
offspring, and that as a child cannot at all times know why he is
punished until many years have passed over his head, so human beings
cannot tell, until they reach another world, why they were punished
in this. To assist this assertion the text is quoted "What I do thou
knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter" (John xiii. 7.) If there
be any truth in the analogy, it must follow that all who in this world
"endure grief, suffering wrongfully" (1 Pet. ii. 19), are children of
God, whom he is educating for a better world. If that, again, be
so, then--when Christians persecuted Mahometans, Romanists burned
Protestants, and Spaniards slaughtered Mexicans and Peruvians--it
follows that the vanquished, and not the conquerors, were the elect of
the Father. But this deduction directly opposes those promises said to
be made to the Jews by Jehovah, viz., that victory should be the reward
of their piety. As it is a poor system which declares that two opposite
results come from the same cause, we must refuse to believe that both
victory and defeat are proofs of a Father's love. I am quite aware that
some reader may retort that a kind parent may punish one child at the
same time that he rewards another. I grant it at once, but that only
demonstrates, if it proves anything, that all creatures must be regarded
alike as the offspring of the Creator, and that none are favoured
peculiarly on the one hand, or are outcasts on the other.
As it is undesirable to mix political up with religious events, I
refrain from drawing from history such illustrations as have frequently
been supposed to indicate the will of the Almighty. The fall from power
of Egypt, Tyre, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Carthage, Rome,
Spain, are all supposed to have been caused by some special providential
design. In like manner theologians draw certain deductions from the
discovery of the New World, and the slaughter of the majority of its
aboriginal inhabitants; from the Crusades; from the influx of the Turks
into Christendom; and of the Moors into Spain. Some, whose imaginative
powers overwhelm their reasoning faculties, see in the wars of recent
times that final shaking of the nations, which some _soi-disant_ prophet
declares must precede the millennium, and the battle of Armageddon;
vaccinators, and interpreters are as abundant and irrepressible now as
ever they were. Their fundamental assumption is that God has acted as
they would have done in His place. Now He is a sort of Irish landlord, a
portion of whose property is overrun with pauper farmers, and He clears
them away to make room for more sensible and wealthier tenants, as
the Canaanites were removed to give place to the Hebrews. Now, He is
represented as a parent, who hearing that a son has engaged in fight and
been conquered, merely remarks "serves him right!"--the kind of
comfort given to the Jews after they had been harried by the Edomite
confederacy, and subsequently by the Chaldeans. Again, the same mighty
Jehovah is represented as a Stoic, who remarks, when some mischance
happens to those who are said to be his children, "Never mind, accidents
will happen--through much tribulation you must enter into my rest, or
the kingdom of heaven."
I entirely decline to adopt the profession of prophet and interpreter,
contenting myself with increasing what knowledge I may have, rather
than endeavouring to deduce from it theories whose weakness an hour may
demonstrate; nor do I put faith in any one who adopts such a business.
For example, let us assume that two savage tribes, having gods
of different names and shapes, go to war on the bidding of their
priests--one is conquered and the other is victorious. The one
attributes his reverse to the anger of his own deity, not to the power
of the god of his enemy. The other imagines that he owes success to the
influence of his protector and his superiority over his foe's fetish.
A civilized on-looker, who believes that all the deities are devils and
powerless, attributes victory and defeat to perfectly natural causes,
e.g., superiority in weapons, tactics, numbers, or strength. It is
clear that neither the deductions of the first nor second men are right;
neither has read the mind of his fetish. So it is with the half educated
theologians of our own day, who think and talk as glibly of God and
Satan, as if they were personal acquaintances, who make no secret either
of their deeds or their motives of action.
Once more we return to the Dhammapada and find,
248. "O, man, know this, that the unrestrained are in a bad state; take
care that greediness and vice do not bring thee to grief for a long
time." We do not here seek to find any parallel passage in the
bible, but we turn to history, remote and collateral, and compare the
priesthood of Buddha with that of Jesus. Does travel tell us of any set
of teachers more self-denying than the individuals who devote themselves
as religious Buddhists? Can history, on the other hand, tell us of any
hierarchy more greedy and vicious than the Christian priesthood in the
middle ages, and down to a comparatively recent period? We will not
accuse them of vice, but even now is there in the whole world a more
grasping set of men than those who have received what they term "holy
orders" from the descendants of Jesus or of Peter? I trow not. If,
therefore, a doctrine is to be known by its fruits, in one respect at
least Buddhism is superior to that which we call Christianity, by which
term I do not mean the exceptional practice of a few, but the general
habits of the majority of the bishops, priests, &c., of Christendom.
Once more let us contrast the doctrine of Buddha with the practice of
Christians. He says--
Da. 256, 7. "A man is not a just judge if he carries a matter by
violence; no, he who distinguishes both right and wrong, who is learned,
and leads others, not by violence, but by law and equity, he who is a
guardian of the law and equity, he who is a guardian of the law, and
intelligent, he is called just." Our histories tell us of Christians
persecuting Christians; Trinitarians endeavouring to extirpate Arians;
Franciscans torturing Dominicans; of Jews slaughtered by those
whose master said, "Father, forgive them;" we see brutal Spaniards
exterminating, under the shadow of the cross, whole nations in the new
world who had never harmed them, and in the old world we find Crusaders,
under the guise of piety, murdering and robbing the dwellers in
Palestine. There is scarcely a large town in Europe which has not
witnessed the ferocious violence of Papal, yea, and Protestant,
hierarchs. Even in recent times we have seen bishops and their
congeners, in our so-called civilized nation, oppose violence, and
the popgun thunder of excommunication, to a learned prelate, and to an
humble priest. Judged by the standard of Buddha, our divines are unjust
and unrighteous. I cannot discover any standard by which they can be
regarded as "praiseworthy," except that embodied in the two sayings,
"Get what you can, and what you get hold;" "Where ignorance is bliss,
'tis folly to be wise." We may say of such persecutors, in the words of
the Dhammapada--
260. "A man is not an elder because his head is grey; his age may be
ripe, but he is called old in vain," and many would at once be able, if
they tried, to remember the names of some who, in a Christian community,
have abandoned their principles, or their learning, as soon as they
became bishops or elders of the church. I have no doubt Popes have done
so. There is a saying, that however clever a man is, you make a fool of
him by placing a mitre upon his head.
The following is, perhaps, more curious than our previous quotations, as
it tells of the pre-Christian antiquity of a common Romish custom:--
264. "Not by tonsure does an undisciplined man, who speaks falsehood,
become a Sramana; can a man be a Sra-mana who is still held captive
by desire and greediness?" The Sramana is a word equivalent to our
"priest," literally, "a man who performs hard penances" (see Dhammapada,
Note 265, p. cxxxii.).
Without copying any other texts from the Dhammapada, we may next inquire
what there is to be found in the Bible that is not to be found in the
teaching of Buddha. We notice that the element of so-called prophecy is
wholly wanting in the sayings of the Indian sage. I cannot remember that
either Sakya Muni or any of his followers assumed the power to foretell
the future. There is, it is true, a vague threat of future misery to the
wicked, which was founded upon the prevalent idea of metempsychosis; but
there is no endeavour to pourtray the occurrences that are supposed to
be impending over one or more sections of the human race. There is not
any attempt to induce individuals to join themselves to the son of Maya,
by declarations that the world, and all that it contains, is about to be
destroyed, and that all who do not become disciples of the teacher,
and shelter themselves under his mantle, will be miserably punished
throughout eternity.
There is not any Buddhist description in detail, either of Hell, or
Heaven, or Nirvana; there is no story of "worms," "fires," "devils,"
"death," and the like, in the first. The second is not depicted, by
the preacher himself, as a sort of palace, made gorgeous with gold and
precious stones, resounding in barbaric music, and discordant chants,
where animals dwell, and where horses are kept stabled, to go throughout
the world with messengers upon their backs (see Zechariah i. 8, 10;
vi. 2, 7; Rev. iv. 6, 7; vi. 2, 4, 8). There are no denunciations of
vengeance upon heretics, nor is the god of Buddha like the one described
by Hebrew writers, who "winks" during times of ignorance upon earth
(Acts xvii. 30), who requires to be reminded by prayer of the wants of
men (Exod. iii. 7), and who comes down to earth to inquire if matters
are according to the accounts which have reached his dwelling-place
(Gen. xviii. 21).
In Siddartha's teaching there is, as we have seen, an absence of the
element of prayer. According to his view, each man is regarded, to a
certain extent, as the author of his own destiny. Man, in his opinion,
must ever be influenced by the actions of other men--he may, for example
either be caressed or tormented, yet, under both circumstances, he
is instructed to retain equanimity of mind. He is not to pray for
prosperity, nor to supplicate that trials may be removed. He is to face
and overcome every trial by his resolute will, and not to waste time in
praying not to be led into temptation.
Again, in Buddha's writings, and in those of his followers, there is an
absence of those obscene tales with which the Old Testament abounds. We
seek in vain for counterparts of the story of Lot and his daughters, of
Onan, of Joseph and the wife of Potiphar, of Judah and Tamar, David and
Bathsheba, Amnon and his sister, Zimri Cozbi and Phinehas, and the
like. It is true, that in some Buddhist writings, there is a cosmogony
introduced more preposterous than that in the Bible; but there are no
parallels to the tales of Noah, of Moses, and of Israel in Egypt, the
desert, and Palestine. Indeed, when we remember that Sakya Muni was
an Oriental, accustomed to inflated language, we are struck by the
plainness of his speech.
If we now ask ourselves, as earnest practical Christians--that is, as
men, anxious and eager to attain to religious truth, and desirous of
teaching only those things which would tend towards sound edification
and to a pure morality--what parts of the Bible most offend sense of
propriety, we should answer, that they are its untenable cosmogony; its
preposterous accounts of the longevity of the men reported as being the
earliest formed; the legend of the flood; the origin of the rainbow;
the tales of Moses, Pharaoh, the plagues of Egypt, the sojourn in the
desert, the capture of Canaan, the miraculous battles, in which each man
of Israel put a thousand enemies to flight. We would wholly expunge
the fabulous account of Elijah and Elisha; the ravings after vengeance
uttered by the prophets; the apocryphal episodes described in the books
of Jonah and Daniel, every obscene story, and disgusting speech and
writing, whether uttered as a threat against Israel or his enemies.
In like manner we would wish to expunge, from the teaching of
Jesus, everything relating to the immediate destruction of the
world--everything connected with community of goods, the advantages of
beggary, and the potency of faith and prayer. We would suppress every
miracle, and say nothing of a resurrection of the dead Jesus. We
would equally abandon any attempt to describe Heaven or Hell, or any
intermediate state.
When all these were removed from the Bible, we positively should have
very little left, except a certain amount of morality which is sound,
and a large portion which is radically bad. To make such an emendated
book as perfect as possible, we might, with great advantage, correct
it from the teaching of Buddha or from the sayings of Socrates, Plato,
Epic-tetus, and even of Confucius; and when all was completed, it would
be found that all men, everywhere, have had instinctive notions, more
or less definite, of morality, but have allowed their animal passions
to overcome their better feelings. Far too many of us know the good, but
yet the bad pursue.
This investigation would most distinctly disprove the assertion, that
God has selected a very small percentage of His creatures for objects
of His care, and those who have charity towards all men would greatly
rejoice thereat. Individually we cannot bear to eat, however hungry
we may be, whilst we see others near us without food--our pleasure is
heightened when we divide our luxuries with others; just so we believe
it should be in religion--none should rejoice at the idea that he is one
of the few that are to be saved, nor should anyone repine, as Jonah did,
when he finds that the tender mercies of God are over all his works.
To simplify the matter as far as possible, I have drawn up the following
parallel between Buddhism and Christianity:--
[Illustration: 263]
[Illustration: 264]
[Illustration: 265]
[Illustration: 266]
[Illustration: 267]
In the next chapter I propose to examine, as far as authorities will
permit, the religion of the Persians--a nation intervening, to a great
degree, between the old Aryan and the Shemitic races.