A MERE STATEMENT ABOUT BUDDHISM
"I looked into a Hindu temple this morning while I was walking about," said
Louis Belgrave, after the jugglers had been discussed a while. "I saw some
very ugly-looking idols; and I should like to ask if they really represent
individuals, or are creatures of the imagination."
"Both," replied Sir Modava with a smile; "there are, as you have been told
before, a great many different sects, and a system of mythology. About all
the gods and goddesses known to the Greeks and Romans have an existence in
the Indian mythology more or less similar to them. Indra, the counterpart
of Apollo in some of his functions, drives the chariot of fire that lights
the day.
"Rhemba was born of the sea, and is the Indian Venus; Cama is Cupid;
Parvati, whose image you saw at Elephanta, is Ceres; and so on to the end
of the chapter. These divinities are represented in the temples, but they
are without form or comeliness."
"They are not much like the beautiful statues of the Greeks," added Louis.
"The most prominent Indian sects are the Saïvas, or worshippers of Siva;
the Vaïshnavas, who bow down to Vishnu under his several incarnations, like
Krishna, whom you could not greatly respect; and the Jaïns, allied to the
Buddhists, found mostly in the northern sections of India. They occupy
important positions, and possess wealth and influence. There are
subdivisions into sects among them, and it would be quite impossible to
follow them through the mazes of belief to which they adhere. There is a
great deal of philosophy among many of the sects."
"But what are the Buddhists?" inquired Dr. Hawkes.
"Buddhism is quite as much a philosophy as a religion. It is not as
prevalent in India proper as formerly; though it is still dominant in
Ceylon, Napaul, Burma, and in the more northern countries of Asia. Its
history is somewhat indefinite. Gautama, of whom a great many pretty
stories are told, is sometimes regarded as the founder; though some who
have studied the history of the sect, or order, do not believe that the
Buddha was a real person, but an allegorical figure.
"Those who give a personal origin to the system, now said to be the
religion of one-third of the human race, begin with Prince Siddhartha, a
young man disposed to be an ascetic, and inclined to retire from the world.
In order to wean him from his meditative tendency, his father, in order to
cure him, and prevent him from forsaking his caste, married him to a
beautiful princess, and introduced him to the splendid dissipation of a
luxurious court. A dozen years of this life convinced him that 'all was
vanity and vexation of spirit,' and he became a sort of hermit, a religious
beggar, and spent his time in dwelling upon the miseries of human life.
"He used up years in this manner, and after much reasoning, came to the
conclusion that ignorance was misery. He gave himself up to study, and at
last came to believe that he had reached the perfection of wisdom. The tree
under which he sat when he reached this result was then called
_Bodhidruma_, or the tree of intelligence; and the Buddhists believe
the spot where it grew to be the centre of the earth. A tree that passes
for this one was discovered by a Chinese, still standing twelve hundred
years after the death of the Buddha; and the bo-tree of Ceylon is regarded
as its legitimate descendant. You have been told something about it.
"In Benares, having ascertained the cause of human misery, and learned the
remedy for it, the Buddha began to preach his peculiar salvation. In the
phrase of his religion he 'turned the wheel of the law.' One of his titles
is _Chakravartin_, which means 'the turner of a wheel.' The doctrines
of the Buddha are written out on a wheel, which is set in motion with a
crank, though it is sometimes operated by horse-power; and such machines
are sometimes seen in front of religious houses in Thibet, and the monks
have portable ones."
"I thought the religion of Thibet was the worship of the Grand Lama,"
suggested Louis.
"That is a form of Buddhism. The most important of the converts of the
Buddha was the Rajah of Magadha, or Behar, on the Ganges, which gave him a
good start, and it has since made almost incredible progress. It would take
too long to state the doctrines in detail of this sect, and you get an idea
of what it must be from what I said of its founder. Its leading doctrine is
the transmigration of souls, also called by that tough word,
metempsychosis, though other Hindu systems adopt this belief. It seems to
include the recognition of the immortality of the soul, which at the death
of the body passes into another form of existence,--a man, a woman, a lower
animal, or even a tree or other plant. The Buddha claims to have been born
five hundred and fifty times,--a hermit, a slave, a king, a monkey, an
elephant, a fish, a frog, a tree, etc. When he reached his highest
condition of perfection, he could recall all these different states of
being; and he has written them out.
"Some of the negroes of Africa have this belief, and when a child is born
they decide upon the ancestor whose soul has returned to the flesh in this
world. There are one hundred and thirty-six Buddhist hells, regularly
graded in the degree of suffering experienced and the length of time it
endures, the shortest term being ten million years. A good life secures an
elevated and happy life on earth, or as a blessed spirit in one of the many
heavens, where existence is continued for a bagatelle of ten billion years.
When the _karma_ is exhausted"--
"What in the world is that?" asked Mrs. Blossom, who was struggling to
understand the subject.
"It is the allotted term of existence, including the manner of living,
whether in bliss or misery. The person must be born again, and then become
a god, or the vilest creature that crawls the earth, according as he has
behaved himself. The Buddhists do not appear to have any idea of a personal
God; and they are practically atheists, though there are many good things
in their system. They recognize no omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful
Supreme Being, who presides over the universe and all that is in it. They
are pessimists, and believe that life, on the whole, is misery, a curse
rather than a blessing. I have given you only a faint outline of what
Buddhism is. It has points in which it resembles Christianity. Buddha is
dead and gone; but his followers put up petitions to him, though there is
no one to hear and answer their prayers. But I must stop for the want of
time rather than because there is nothing more to be said; and I have done
no more than touch the subject."
"But it is not very different from Brahminism," suggested Professor Giroud.
"You are quite right, Professor," replied Sir Modava. "Brahma means the
universal spirit; but it is not a personal divinity to be worshipped. I
believe there is not an idol or sculpture in all India that represents
Brahma. Something that passes for this mystic spirit is represented with
four heads."
"But is there not a new church or philosophy of recent date--I mean Brahmo
Somaj?" inquired Dr. Hawkes.
"Rammohun Roy, or Rajah Ram Mohan Rai, was a Hindu ruler in the Presidency
of Bengal, born in 1772. His ancestors were Brahmins of high birth. He
studied Sanskrit, Arabian, and Persian, and was a profound scholar and
philosopher. When he began to have some doubt about the faith of his
fathers, he went to Thibet to study Buddhism, where he was so outspoken
that he offended the priests and others, and his religious belief brought
upon him the enmity of his own family. In 1803 he lived in Benares, and
held a public office at one time. He published works in the languages with
which he was familiar, directed against idolatry, which he labored to
uproot.
"He succeeded to abundant wealth at the death of his brother in 1811. His
influence assisted in the abolition of the suttee, and in bringing about
other reforms. He published 'The Precepts of Jesus,' accepting his
morality, but denying his divinity and the truth of the miracles. More than
fifty years ago he started an association which became the Brahmo Somaj,
which is a living and working society still. He went to England in 1831,
and was received with great respect and friendliness. I have great
reverence for the man, though I do not accept all his religious views."
"Lord Tremlyn informed this company in regard to the divisions of caste, so
that I think we have a tolerable idea of the matter," said Captain
Ringgold, reading from a paper in his hand. "But all these sects and castes
are divided again into tribes and trade societies. Then there is a
considerable portion of the people who, though they are fully recognized as
Hindus, are outside of the pale of this multiform organization."
"I should say that all this would make endless complications in business
and society. Each of these societies, or whatever you may call them, is
independent, and has its own regulations. None of its members can marry
into another caste, or even eat with those of a lower rank. A man born into
one of these associations having a particular business cannot take up
another calling without being pinched by the social law in all that he
holds dear in life. His wife deserts him, his children refuse to
acknowledge him as their father, and his property is absorbed by his
society or caste. All this for no crime, no immorality; and he may be a
noble and true man. If he chooses to be a tinker, instead of a trader, all
the gods of Hindu antiquity light upon his head, and worry him to the
funeral pyre by the shore."
"That is quite true, Captain, and I join with you in condemning this
grossly heathen institution," added Sir Modava. "But time and Christianity
will yet do their work, and my country will be saved. But I submit, my dear
Captain, that there is another side to the question."
"Quite true, and I was about to state it. The man who remains faithful to
the requirements of the society is protected and supported. Wherever he
goes, at whatever distance from his country he may be, he finds a roof and
a hearthstone which he may make his own for the time. If gone for years, he
will find the house and the field of his fathers undisturbed, of which he
may take possession. This institution may remove care and anxiety from the
mind of the man, and make him, as we find here, calm and contented, but
without the ambition of the business-man. I have taken most of this from a
book I found in Bombay."
"The most influential caste here are mostly Jains and Buniahs; and though
they belong to different tribes, they are united in business matters. They
wear their own costumes; but they have done more than any others for the
prosperity of the place," said Lord Tremlyn. "They are the speculators in
cottons and other goods, and many of them have immense wealth. The Buniahs
are always intelligent, and somewhat aristocratic. You may know one of them
by his tall turban, like a shako, though sometimes it is rolled like a
conch-shell. Around his dress he wears a red band, which he twists about
his limbs, and has a long calico tunic closely fitted to his chest. His
chosen calling is that of a commercial broker.
"These rich Hindus, while adhering to everything required by their
religion, adopt English fashions, and revel in British luxuries. You will
see them late in the afternoon on the public roads, in elegant carriages,
drawn by the finest horses, and attended by servants in rich liveries.
Their houses are magnificent, furnished like the Parsee's we visited the
other evening. The social intercourse between them and their European
neighbors is very limited.
"The Mohammedans here are an important class of people, and some of them
are very wealthy, and are honest and upright merchants. They are very
strict in the observance of their religion, and not one of them would eat
pork or drink wine or liquors. If it were the beginning of their year,
which is different from ours, you might witness a celebration of the day.
It is called the Mohurrum, and takes place on the shore of the Back Bay.
They construct a great number of temples of gilt paper, and after marching
with them in procession through the city, they cast them into the sea. I do
not quite understand what it means; but the first month is usually a time
of mourning and fasting in commemoration of the sufferings of the two
nephews of the Prophet. The ceremony at the water is very ancient."
"The wives of Mussulmans here have more liberty than in most Eastern
countries. They go about the streets with their faces uncovered, and are
clothed for the most part like the Hindu women. As they appear in the
street they are not so neat as the other native females, who spend much
time in bathing, and are always clean and tidy. I have nothing more to say
at present."
"I have an announcement to make," said Captain Ringgold. "To-morrow
forenoon we shall return to the Guardian-Mother, and sail for Surat."
The party spent the rest of the day in excursions about Bombay in three
parties, each under the direction of one of the hosts.