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Page 1 of 21904 · PDF PAGE 83
APPENDIX I 76 XII. “At the hour of the great Initiation,” continued the Buddha, in the midst of the Five Hundred Thousand Arahats, “the wicked Jehjaour had joined himself with Mara to prevent the discovery of the truth. And in Mara’s fall he fell. At that m oment all the currents of his continued and concen- trated Hate recoiled upon him and he fell into the Abyss of Being. And in the Halls of Birth he was cast out into the Lowest H ell— he becam e a clergy man of the Church of England, further than he had ever been before from Truth and Light …
1904 · PDF PAGE 12
…ad. But, to that terror vague and dread, External worship; all my life— War to the knife ! War to the knife ! No ! on the other hand the Buddha Says: “I’m surprised at you ! How could a Person accept my law and still Use hatred, the sole means of ill, In Truth’s defence ? In praise of light ?” Well ! Well ! I guess Brer Buddha’s right ! I am no brutal Cain37 to smash an Abel: I hear that blasphemy’s unfashionable: So in the quietest way we’ll chat about it; No need to show teeth, claws of cat about it! With gentle words—fiat exordium; Exeat dol…
1904 · PDF PAGE 59
…a kind of caveat to the would-be sceptic, though the phrase is bad, implying a “calling. ” B ut we can guess what Huxley means. No doubt Buddha’s scepticism does not openly go quite so far as mine—it must be remembered that “scepticism” is merely the indication of a possible attitude, not a belief, as so many good fool folk thing; but Buddha not only denies “Cogito, ergo sum”; but “Cogito, ergo non sum.” See Sabbasava Sutta, par. 10.* At any rate, Sakkyaditthi, the delusion of personality, is in the very forefront of his doctrines; and it is th…
1904 · PDF PAGE 57
THE SWORD OF SONG 50 97. While their Buddha I attack.30—Many Buddhists think I fill the bill with the following remarks on— PANSIL. Unwilling as I am to sap the foundations of the Buddhist religion by the introduction of Porphyry’s terrible catapult, Allegory, I am yet compelled by the more fearful ballista of Aristotle, D ilemma. This is the two-handed engine spoken of by the prophet Milton!* This is the horn of the prophet Zeruiah, and with this am I, though no Syrian, utterly pushed, till I find myself back against the dead wall of Dogma. On…
1904 · PDF PAGE 58
… against theft. Theft is the appropriation to one’s own use of that to which another has a right. Let us see therefore whether or no the Buddha was a thief. The answ er is of course in the affirmative. For to issue a command is to attempt to deprive another of his most precious possession—the right to do as he will; that is, unless, with the predestinarians, we hold that action is determined absolutely, in which case, of course, a command is as absurd as it is unavoidable. Excluding this folly, therefore, we may conclude that if the command be …
1904 · PDF PAGE 36
…off Maya from the list ; Believes in one—exactly so, Dhyana-consciousness, you know ! May it not be that one step further “’This lotused Buddha roaring murther !” ?39 Nibbana is the state above you Christians and them Hindus—Lord love you !— Where Nothing is perceived as such. This clever thought doth please me much. But if das Essen ist das Nichts— Ha ! Hegel’s window ! Ancient Lichts ! And two is one and one is two— “Bother this nonsense ! Go on, do !” My wandering thoughts you well recall ! I focus logic’s perfect prism : Lo ! the informing …
1904 · PDF PAGE 37
THE SWORD OF SONG 30 That masks the primal cause of being. With all respect to Buddha, fleeing The dreadful problem with the word “Who answers, as who asks, hath erred,” I must decidedly insist On asking why these things exist. My mind refuses to admit All-Power can be all-Wickedness. —Nay ! but it may ! What shadows flit Across the awful veil of mist ? What thoughts invade, insult, impress ? There comes a lightning of my wit And sees—nor good nor ill address Itself to task, creation’s ill, But a mere law without a will,40 Nothing resolved in s…
1904 · PDF PAGE 109
…not scan, nor rhyme: but Sir Edwin is the last person to be deterred by a little thing like that. Dr. Paul Carus, too, in the “Gospel of Buddha,” is pleased to represent Nirvana as a parallel for the Heaven of the Christian. It is sufficient if I reiterate the unanim ous opinion of com petent scholars, that there is no fragment of evidence in any canonical book sufficient to establish such interpretations in the teeth of Buddhist tradition and practice ; a nd t hat a ny p erson who persists in tuning Buddhism to his own Jew’s harp in this w ay …
1904 · PDF PAGE 108
…world of pain, where he must remain until the ancient causes, those which have already germ inated, are utterly worked out (for even the Buddha himself could not swing back the Wheel of the Law) his certain anticipation of the approach of Nirvana is so intense as to bathe him constantly in the unfathom able ocean of apprehension of immediate bliss. AUM MANI PADME HOUM.
1904 · PDF PAGE 120
…gnosticism. We have a scien- tific religion. How far would Newton have got if he had stuck to Ty cho Brahe as the One Guide? How far the Buddha had he reverenced the Vedas with blind faith? Or how far can we proceed even from partial truth, unless a perfectly open mind be kept regarding it, aware that some new pheno- menon may possibly overthrow our most fun- damental hypotheses ! Give me a reasonable proof of some (intelligent) existence which is not liable to sorrow, and I will throw the First Noble Truth to the dogs without a pang. And, know…
1904 · PDF PAGE 124
…word-juggle ; but by direct apperception as clear as the sun at noon. Therefore; no work more, but—to the work ! XII. THE THREE REFUGES. Buddham Saranangachami. Dhammam Saranangachami. Sangham Saranangachami. I take my refuge in the Buddha. I take my refuge in the Dhamma. I take my refuge in the Sangha. This formula of adhesion to Buddhism is daily repeated by countless millions of humanity; what does it mean? It is no vain profession of reliance on others; no c owardly shirking of burdens—burdens which cannot be shirked. It is a plain estimate…
1904 · PDF PAGE 77
70 1902 THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS “LISTEN to the Jataka!” said the Buddha. And all they gave ear. “Long ago, when King Brahmadatta reigned in Benares,1 it came to pass that there lived under his admirable government a weaver named Suraj Ju 2 and his wife Chandi. 3 And in the fulness of her time did she give birth to a man child, and they called him Perdu’ R Abu. 4 Now the child grew, and the tears of the mother fell, and the wrath of the father waxed: for by no means would the boy strive in his trade of weaving. The loom went merrily, but to th…
1904 · PDF PAGE 35
… find it wearies ! It matters little whether we With Fichte and the Brahmins preach That Ego-Atman sole must be ; With Schelling and the Buddha own No-Ego-Skandhas are alone ; With Hegel and the—Christian ? teach That which compels, includes, absorbs Both mighty unrevolving orbs In one informing masterless Master-idea of consciousness— All differences as these indeed Are chess play, conjuring. “Proceed !” Nay ! I’ll go back. The exposition Above, has points. But simple fission Has reproduced a different bliss, At last a heterogenesis ! The meta…
1904 · PDF PAGE 22
…l mill, Grinding catastrophe, is speeding Outside—some whence, some whither ? And67 I think we easier understand Where Schelling (to the Buddha leading) Calls real not-self. In any case There is not, there can never be A soul, or sword or armour needing, Incapable in time or space Or to inflict or suffer. We I think are gradually weeding The soil of dualism. Pheugh ! Drop to the common Christian’s view ! This is my point ; the world lies bleeding :— (Result of sin ?)—I do not care ; I will admit you anywhere ! I take your premises themselves An…
1904 · PDF PAGE 101
…on of the Hebrew tribal Fetich. 1 An expression they carefully avoid using. — A.C. 2 I retain this sly joke from the first edition. When Buddha was asked how things c ame to be, he took refuge in silence, which his disciples very conveniently interpreted as meaning that the question tended not to edification. I take it that the Buddha (ignorant, doubt- less, of algebra) had sufficiently studied philosophy and possessed enough worldly wisdom to be well aware that any system he might promulgate would be instantly attacked and annihilated by the a…
1904 · PDF PAGE 119
…i- tations and ideas, there is no necessary way to any orthodox ontology whatever. As to the way of salvation, we are not to rely on the Buddha; the vicious lie of vicarious atonement finds no place here. The Buddha himself does not escape the law of c ausation ; if this be metaphysics, so far Buddhism is metaphysical, but no further. While deny - ing obvious lies, it does not set up dogmas; all its statements are susceptible of proof— a child can assent to all the more important.
1904 · PDF PAGE 21
…at last. But mind ! The text says nothing of the kind ! Read the next verses !† Then—one third Of all humanity are steady In a belief in Buddha’s word, Possess eternal life already, And shun delights, laborious days Of labour living (Milton’s phrase) In strenuous purpose to—? to cease ! “A fig for God’s eternal peace ! True peace is to annihilate The chain of causes men call Fate, So that no Sattva66 may renew Once death has run life’s shuttle through.” (Their dages put it somewhat thus) What’s fun to them is death to us ! That’s clear at least…
1904 · PDF PAGE 11
…rtures English folk. I cannot write29 a poem yet To please the people in Tibet; But when I can, Christ shall not lack Peace, while their Buddha I attack.30 Yet by-and-by I hope to weave A song of Anti-Christmas Eve And First- and Second- Beast-er Day. There’s one*31 who loves me dearly (vrai !) Who yet believes me sprung from Tophet, Either the Beast or the False Prophet; And by all sorts of monkey tricks Adds up my name to Six Six Six. Retire, good Gallup !32 In such strife her Superior skill makes you a cipher ! 1 Crowley’s mother. 70 75 80 8…
1904 · PDF PAGE 71
…273. “ I am not what I see.”38—In Memoriam. But see H. Spencer, “Principles of Psychology,” General Analysis, ch. vi. 281. “Tis lotused Buddha.”39— “Hark ! that sad groan ! Proceed no further ! ’Tis laurelled Martial roaring murther.” —BURNS, Epigram. But Buddha cannot really roar, since he has passed away by that kind of passing away which leaves nothing whatever behind. 322. A mere law without a will.40—I must not be supposed to take any absurd view of the meaning of the word “law.” This passage denies any knowledge of ultimate causes, not a…
1904 · PDF PAGE 121
SCIENCE AND BUDDHISM 114 pendent thought, of keen ecstasy of love of knowledge, of practical training, that the Buddhasanana Samagama 1 appeals; it is time that Buddhism reformed itself from within; though its truths be held untarnished (and even this is not every where the cas e), its methods, its organisation, are sadly in need of repair; research must be done, men must be perfected, error must be fought. And if in the West a great Buddhist society is built up of m en of intellect, of the men in whose hands the future lie s, there is then an …