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Page 1 of 21904 · PDF PAGE 120
SCIENCE AND BUDDHISM 113 And this is Agnosticism. 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…
1904 · PDF PAGE 119
… ilation of m eta- physics is due to the actual lack of experi- ence in the m ind of the reader of the phenomena discussed. I will go so far as to say that perhaps Mr. Spencer himself is so bitter because he him self has actual ex- perience of “Transfigured Realis m” as a directly presented phenomenon; for if he supposes that the normal healthy mind can perceive what he perceives, Berkeley’s argu- ments must se em to him mere wanton stupidity. I class the Hindu philosophy with the Idealist; the Bhuddistic with that of Mr. Herbert S pencer; the …
1904 · PDF PAGE 117
…e found to verify them in every particular—that whatever arguments are brought forward destructive of the reality of Dhy ana, apply with far more force to the norm al state, and it is evident that to deny the latter seriously is ipso facto to become unserious. Whether the normal testimony may be attacked from above, by insisting on the superior reality of Dhy ana—and à fortiori of Samadhi, which I have not experienced, and conse- quently do not treat of, being content to accept the highly probably s tatements of those who profess to know, and w…
1904 · PDF PAGE 90
…ould know thereof. Yet all were right, both he and they. But truth ran quickly about; for that was the House of Truth; and Mercury stood far from the Sun. Yet the Suggler was ever in the Sign of Sorrow, and the Fig Tree was not far. So went our Father to the Fool’s Paradise of Air. But it is not lawful that I should write to y ou, brethren, of what there came to him at that place and time; nor indeed is it true, if it were written. F or alway doth this Arcanum differ from itself on this wise, that the Not and the Amen,1 passing, are void either…
1904 · PDF PAGE 58
…d as it is unavoidable. Excluding this folly, therefore, we may conclude that if the command be obeyed—and those of Buddha have gained a far larger share of obedience that those of any other teacher—the Enlightened One was not only a potential but an actual thief. Further, all voluntary action limits in some degree, however minute, the volition of others. If I breathe, I diminish the stock of oxygen available on the planet. In those far distant ages when Earth shall be as dead as the moon is to-day, my breathing now will have robbed some being …
1904 · PDF PAGE 29
22 P E N T E C O S T TO-DAY thrice halves the lunar week Since you, indignant, heard me speak Indignant. Then I seemed to be So far from Christianity ! Now, other celebrations fit The time, another song shall flit Responsive to another tune. September’s shadow falls on June, But dull November’s darkest day Is lighted by the sun of May. Here’s now I got a better learning. It’s a long lane that has no turning ! Mad as a woman-hunted Urning, The lie-chased alethephilist :* Sorcery’s maw gulps the beginner : In Pain’s mill neophytes are grist : Dis…
1904 · PDF PAGE 38
…ot two ! Thus East and West from A to Z Agree—Alas ! so do not you ? (It matters nothing—you, I find, Are but a mode of my own mind.) As far as normal reasoning goes, I must admit my concepts close Exactly where my worthy friend, Great Mansel, says they ought to end. But here’s the whole thing in a word : Olympus in a nutshell ! I Have a superior faculty To reasoning, which makes absurd, Unthinkable and wicked too, A great deal that I know is true ! In short, the mind is capable, Besides mere ratiocination, Of twenty other things as well, The f…
1904 · PDF PAGE 36
… a play of fiends uncouth, Mocking the soul foredoomed to pain. In any case, its run must range Through countless miseries of change. So far, no farther, gentle youth ! The mind can see. So much, no more. So runs the premiss major plain ; Identical, the Noble truth First of the Buddha’s Noble Four! The premiss minor. I deplore These limitations of the mind I strain my eyes until they’re blind, And cannot pierce the awful veil * In Memoriam † All is Sorrow 270 275 280 285 290 295 300 305 Bard is pleased with himself. Poetee mani- fests a natural…
1904 · PDF PAGE 19
… friend ?— But yet with no uncertain trend Unto Nibbana in the end. I do not even dare despise Your doctrines, prayers, and ceremonies ! Far from the word “you’ll go to hell !” I dare not say “you do not well !” I must obey my mind’s own laws Accept its limits, seek its cause : My meat may be your poison ! I Hope to convert you by-and-by ? Never ! I cannot trace the chain60 That brought us here, shall part again Our lives—perhance for aye ! I bring My hand down on this table-thing,61 And that commotion widens thus And shakes the nerves of Siriu…
1904 · PDF PAGE 26
…f fearless fact and probe the scar ! You know my first-class memory ? Well, in my life two years there are Twelve years back—not so very far ! Two years whereof no memory stays. One ageless anguish filled my days So that no item, like a star Sole in the supreme night, above Stands up for hope, or joy, or love. Nay, not one ignis fatuus glides Sole in that marsh, one agony To make the rest look light. Abides The thick sepulchral changeless shape Shapeless, continuous misery Whereof no smoke-wreaths might escape To show me whither lay the end, Wh…
1904 · PDF PAGE 18
…o. Will Christ return ? What ho ? What ho ! What ? What ? “He meditates above Still with his Sire for mercy, love,—” And other trifles ! Far enough That Father’s purpose from such stuff ! You see, when I was young, they said : “Whate’er you ponder in your head, Or make the rest of Scripture mean, You can’t evade John iii. 16.” * “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 340 345 350 355 360 365 370 375 Former com- pared to Keru- bim; as it is wr…
1904 · PDF PAGE 23
…tian, but appalled Shrank when I dared suggest the hope God’s mercy could expand its scope, Extend, or bend, or spread, or straighten So far as to encompass Satan Or even poor Iscariot. Yet God created (did he not ?) Both these. Omnisciently, we know ! Benevolently ? Even so ! Created from Himself distinct (Note that !—it is not meet for you To plead me Schelling and his crew) These souls, foreknowing how were linked The chains in either’s Destiny. “You pose me the eternal Why ?” Not I ? Again, “Who asks doth err.” But this one thing I say. Per…
1904 · PDF PAGE 46
…odds, Since suffering souls to save or damn Never existed). So I fall Confessing : Well, perhance I am Myself a Christian after all ! So far at least. I must concede Christ did attain in every deed ; Yet, being an illiterate man, Not his to balance or to scan, To call God stupid or unjust ! He took the universe on trust : He reconciled the world below With that above ; rolled eloquence Steel-tired58 o’er reason’s “why?” and “whence?” Discarded all proportion just And thundered in our ears “I know,” And bellowed in our brains “ye must.” 675 680 …
1904 · PDF PAGE 123
…gle. that I make this appeal ; that I seek to enlist genuine, not pseudo-scientific men in the Research ; so that our children may be as far in advance of us in the study of the supernormal phenomena of the mind as we are in advance of our fathers in the s ciences of the physical world.1 Note carefully this practical s ense of m y intention. I care nothing for the academic meanings of the steps in the Path; what they meant to the Arahats of old is indifferent to me. “Let the dead pas t bury its dead!” What I require is an advance in the Know- l…
1904 · PDF PAGE 6
…eeing it. What he really believes is, perhaps, a mystery. That Browning, however, believes in universal salvation, though he nowhere (so far as I know) gives his reasons, save as they are sum marised in the last lines of the below-quoted passage, is evident from the last stanza of “Apparent Failure,” and from his final pronouncement of the Pope on Guido, represented in Browning’s master- piece as a Judas without the decency to hang himself. “So ( i.e., by suddenness of fate) may the truth be flashed out by one blow, And Guido see one instant an…
1904 · PDF PAGE 126
…s, the summary of our own position with regard to Buddhism. Buddhism is a logical development of the observed facts; whoso is with me so far is Sammaditthi, and has taken the first step on the Noble Eightfold Path. Let him aspire to knowledge, and the Second Step is under his feet. The rest lies with Research. Aum ! I take my refuge holy in the Light and Peace of Buddh. Aum ! I take my refuge, slowly working out His Law of Good. Aum ! I take my refuge lowly in His Pitying Brotherhood.
1904 · PDF PAGE 10
…eams to me. Even as he takes to feasts to enlarge upon, So will I do too to launch my old barge upon Analyse, get hints from Newton19 or Faraday,20 Use every weapon—love, scorn, reason, parody ! Just where he worships ? Ah me ! shall his soul, Far in some glory, take hurt from a mole Grubbing i’ th’ ground ? Shall his spirit not see, Lightning to lightning, the spirit in me ? Parody ? Shall not his spirit forgive Me, who shall love him as long as I live ? Love’s at its height in pure love ? Nay, but after When the song’s light dissolves gently …
1904 · PDF PAGE 114
…ntist will concur. W e need not d iscuss the question whether or no he would find others to add. Buddhism may not be com- plete, but, as far as it goes, it is accurate.
1904 · PDF PAGE 65
…bitch ! I was ever a hog ; Muck ? I am one with it ! Let me die like a dog ; Die, and be done with it ! * Famous Adelphi villain. II. As far as reason goes, There’s hope for mortals yet : When nothing is that knows, What is there to regret ? Our consciousness depends On matter in the brain ; When that rots out, and ends, There ends the hour of pain. III. If we can trust to this, Why, dance and drink and revel ! Great scarlet mouths to kiss, And sorrow to the devil ! If pangs ataxic creep, Or gout, or stone, annoy us, Queen Morphia, grant thy sl…
1904 · PDF PAGE 81
…ng time, conversed of the weather, the crops, the affaire Hum bert, and the law in relation to motor-cars, with ease and affability. But far was it from Indra’s pious m ind to flirt with his distinguished guest ! Rather, he thought of the hollow nature of the Safe, the change of money and of position; the sorrow of the too confiding bankers, and above all the absence of an Ego in the Brothers Crawford. “While he was thus musing, Bhavani got fairly mad at him. The Spretæ Injuria Formæ gnawed her vitals with pangs unassuageable : so, shaking him …