CHAPTER XXIII. THE HISTORICAL BUDDHA. HAVING cleared away the mystifications of the "Carriage that drives to the Great Nowhere," we may now look for a moment at the historical Buddha. The movement of Buddha was a noble attempt to bring the Chakravarta Râj, the kingdom of the sky, down to dull earth. Two realms were sharply contrasted. On one side were the domains of Mâra-the domains of lust and war and selfishness and tinsel honours. On the other was the realm of Buddha, with its Pâramitâs, the "qualities of the Other Bank." In the place of jewelled women and dresses of gold, the "sons of Buddha" were dowered with thirst and hunger and exposure to the elements, with beggary and reproach. The great reformer admitted that his scheme was not original; that the Brahmin dreamer in his jangal had long known that the Translated "perfections" by Dr. Rhys Davids, but this deprives the word of its full force. mastery of lust brought more joy than its indulgence. But the Brahmajnâni jealously kept this knowledge to himself when he gained it, and dreamed his life away. The great originality of Buddha was that he determined to hand over the "Wisdom of the Other Bank" to the whole human family. He invented the missionary. He invented the preacher. He forged an apparatus of propagandism that has never been surpassed, that has never been equalled. "Go forth and preach Dharma!" was his command, and the "Mob of Beggars" conquered Asia. Altars, fanes, and outside worship formed no part, I think, of the original scheme of the reformer. And if he had wanted a Bible he would have fallen back on fresh interpretations of the Indian Bible already in existence. His creed was a pure theosophy. It was based on extasia, but he swept away the Brahminic tortures, the suspension by hooks, the "five fires," etc., as being a perversion of yoga. Buddha, the first preacher, gave vent to some of the grandest utterances that have ever fallen from human lips. Considering their date and their influence over the general happiness of the world, they are simply extraordinary. The awakening of the spiritual life of the individual was what he aimed at. Human suffering was the daughter of evil deeds.1 1 Dhammapada, v. 117. But these evil deeds were not due to any inherent human depravity. They were simply due to ignorance of spiritual laws.1 And their remedy was to be found in bringing home to each individual the conviction that there was a higher life and a happier life. "He who speaks and acts with the inner quickening undeveloped, grief follows him as closely as the chariot wheel the steed. "He who speaks and acts with the inner quickening unvitiated has joy for his shadow.2 "Obey the eternal law of the heavens. Who keeps this law lives happily in this world and the next.3 "For the enfranchised soul human suffering no longer exists.4 "In the darkness of this world few men see clearly. Very few soar heavenwards like a bird freed from a net." 5 No doubt the discipline of extasia was expected to give vitality to this inner quickening. When actual visions of the Buddhas of the ten regions were before the eyes of the fasting visionary, it was judged that he would have a more practical belief in their lapislazuli domains. The heart of the Eastern nations has been truer to its great teacher than their learned 1 Dhammapada, v. 243. 2 Ibid., v. I, 2. 4 Ibid., v. 90. 5 Ibid., v. 174. metaphysicians have been. The epoch of Buddha is called the "Era when the Milken Rice [immortality] came into the world." This certainty of a heavenly kingdom was not to be confined, as in the orthodox Brahminism, to a priestly caste. A king had become a beggar that he might preach to beggars. In the Chinese Dhammapada there is a pretty story of a very beautiful Magdalen who had heard of Buddha, and who started off to hear him preach. On the way, however, she saw her beautiful face in a fountain near which she stopped to drink, and she was unable to carry out her good resolution. As she was returning she was overtaken by a courtesan still more beautiful than herself, and they journeyed together. Resting for awhile at another fountain, the beautiful stranger was overcome with sleep, and placed her head on her fellow-traveller's lap. Suddenly the beautiful face became livid as a corpse, loathsome, a prey to hateful insects. The stranger was the great Buddha himself, who had put on this appearance to redeem poor Pundarî.2 "There is a loveliness that is like a beautiful jar full of filth, a beauty that belongs to eyes, nose, mouth, body. It is this womanly beauty that causes sorrow, divides families, kills children." These words, uttered by the great teacher on another 1 Upham, "Hist. Buddhism," P. 48. 2 Chinese Dhammapada, p. 35. occasion, were perhaps retailed a second time for the Buddhist Magna Civitatis Peccatrix.1 The penitent thief, too, is to be heard of in Buddhism. Buddha confronts a cruel bandit in his mountain retreat and converts him. All great movements, said St. Simon, must begin by working on the emotion of the masses. Another originality of the teaching of Buddha was the necessity of individual effort. Ceremonial, sacrifice, the exertions of others, could have no possible effect on any but themselves. Against the bloody sacrifice of the Brahmins he was specially remorseless. "How can the system which requires the infliction of misery on others be called a religious system? ... How having a body defiled with blood will the shedding of blood restore it to purity? To seek a good by doing an evil is surely no safe plan!" 8 Even a Buddha could only show the sinner the right path. “Tathagatas are only preachers. You yourself must make an effort." 4 Buddha's theology made another great advance on other creeds, a step which our century is only now attempting to overtake. He strongly emphasized the remorseless logic of cause and effect in the deterio ' Chinese Dhammapada, p. 159. 2 Ibid., p. 48. 4 Dhammapada, v. 276. |