Ancient Faiths And Modern Part 11

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 a.s.sembly, 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 l.u.s.t, and hard thinking curbs our pa.s.sions 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 fas.h.i.+on themselves."

81. "As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise people falter not amidst blame and praise."

94. "The G.o.ds 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 h.e.l.l, 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 pa.s.sage 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 cla.s.s 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 inst.i.tuted 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 a.s.sertion that Buddha taught the existence of a future world:--

177. "The uncharitable do not go to the world of the G.o.ds; 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 h.e.l.l; 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, h.e.l.l."

310. "There is bad reputation, and the evil way (to h.e.l.l)."

311. "As a gra.s.s blade if badly grasped cuts the arm, badly practised asceticism leads to h.e.l.l."

178. "Better than sovereignty over the earth, better than going to heaven, better than lords.h.i.+p 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 circ.u.mstances 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.