Buddha and Buddhism 1

7/30/2019 Buddha and Buddhism 1

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BUDDHA AND BUDDHISMCHAPTER IINTRODUCTORY

Let us suppose that a " Day of Brahma," of the patternimaged by Hindus, has, with mighty flames and vaststreams of volcanic lava, burnt up the present race ofmankind, and that by and by, in further fulfilment ofEastern dreams, a new race has developed. Let us sup-pose also that some individuals of this new race havediscovered in a cave in Brittany two tractates miracu-lously preservedthe one a sort of ancestor-worship bya religious reformer named Comte, and the other by one" Catholicus," setting forth another scheme of ancestoror saint-worship, with pilgrimages to their shrines andtemples, cures performed at holy tanks, remissions offuture fire torture by the intercession of priests.

This discovery would, of course, make much noisein learned colleges, and in process of time the tractateswould be deciphered, and it would be seen that one ofthese religions had plainly been derived from theother. Which was the earlier? This was warmlydebated, until by and by the question, let us imagine,


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2 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISMwas settled to the satisfaction of all by a learnedwriter named Excelsior.

Excelsior showed that this man Comte (if he was areal man, and not a tendency) was a man of genius, aphilosopher, a man of science. His main postulate wasthat religion, like everything else, must be based onthe facts of experience, not the dreams of the imagin-ation. His motto apparently was: "Man we know;God we do not know. Let us confine our cultus tothe known. Let us honour the illustrious that havegone before us. Their exertions have made us whatwe are. We, too, may improve the race by our exer-tions here, and by our memory hereafter."

There was nothing really superstitious in the cultusof the man Comte, because it was admitted that thesaints of this religion were really dead. They hadpassed into the great "Temple of Nothingness."

Excelsior then, in a few vigorous paragraphs, pouredout his scorn on those who could imagine a man likeComte plagiarising the miserable superstitions of thecreed of " Catholicus." It is plain that the latter wasthe scheme of Comte turned inside out, vulgarised,debasedprobably by priests, for greed and powermany centuries after the death of Comte.

In our learned colleges a similar topsy-turvy ques-tion has arisen. There are two Buddhisms. The first,on the surface, seems to have emerged from the rudesaint deifications of the previous Brahminism. Thetemple in those days was the sepulchral mound, evenwhen calcined ashes had replaced the corpse. Theman Buddha was worshipped in such a temple. Hewas invoked in the Buddhist litany to appear at thealtar during the sacrifice. He was asked to forgive


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INTRODUCTORY 3sins. He was addressed by the titles that the Hin-doos use towards their Supreme God. In the WhiteLotas of Dharma he is made to announce that aBuddha is an incarnation of Swayambhu, and that atdeath he goes back to rule the universe from histhrone in the sky.The second Buddhism, however, proclaimed that a

dead Buddha was non-existent, and that Swayambhuhimself was non-existent ; but its cultus was the sameas the other Buddhism. Its followers had the sepul-chral ddgoba, or relic tumulus, as a temple, but devoidof relics. They asked Buddha to appear at the altarduring worship. They asked him to forgive sins.They addressed him by the titles that the Hindoosuse towards their Supreme God. Does not all thisseem on the surface to have been the outcome of aninnovating school, an atheistical school, altering dogmabut unable to alter ritual ? But the " Excelsiors " ofour learned colleges will not admit of such an explana-tion, and it must be confessed that this topsy-turvyBuddhism has a real support in topsy-turvy Buddhistliterature. The books, which some five hundred yearsafter Buddha's death (under the collective title of the" Great Vehicle ") revealed the Non-God seated on histhrone of Nothingness, have also puzzling Sutrasannouncing Eternal Life for all men in a paradise ofan eternal God. This has allowed English writers onBuddhism to contend that the second school was theDeistical schoola privilege, however, that has beennow completely taken away from them by the pub-lication by Professor Max Muller of the MahayanaSutras in his collection, the Sacred Books of theEast


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4 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISMIt is not too much to say that this publication has

rendered obsolete the greater part of our Englishdisquisitions on Buddhism. It shows1. That the innovating Buddhism of the " Great

Vehicle " proclaimed the following :There is no God and no material world. Man comes

from the Great Nothing, and after a brief dream ofnon-existing worlds returns to it. All this had alreadybeen given to the public by Brian Hodgson andRajendra Lala Mitra, and also in my Popular Life ofBuddha. I showed also from Hwen Thsang, theChinese traveller, that this innovating Buddhism wasforced upon the earlier Buddhism by King Kanakaabout A.D. 16.

2. But a new fact of crucial importance has emergedfrom this volume of the Sacred Books of the East.There was recoil as well as revolution. Bound uptogether in the same library are two philosophies andtwo religionsdistinct, antagonistic, internecine. Theeternal Buddha, Amitayas, is a protest against thenon-existent Buddha.

Brian Hodgson called the innovating atheism "Pyr-rhonism," and by the aid of this Mahdydna Sutras inthe Sacred Books of the East we can have no doubt asto what the Pyrrho-Buddha was like. From one ofthese Sutras, entitled the "Diamond Cutter," I willgive a little sketch of him.But at starting I must point out that Pyrrhonism is

scarcely the correct word for this school of Buddhism.Pyrrhonism doubted everything. Pyrrho-Buddhismhad no doubts at all. The difference can be made clearif we suppose that Pyrrho and Sakya Muni were bothasked this question : " Have you seen the disciple


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INTRODUCTORY 5Subhuti this morning, and was his head bald, and didhe wear the yellow cloak ?The answer of Pyrrho would be after this fashion" I have no sufficient evidence that I exist, nor can Iget it. Such being the case, it must, of course, bedoubtful to me whether I possess two eyes. And if Ido not exist, doubts must also be thrown over theexistence of the disciple Subhuti, his bald head, andhis yellow cloak ! "The answer of the Pyrrho-Buddha would differ from

this." It is an absolute certainty that I do not exist, and

it is an absolute certainty that my two eyes do notexist. It is another absolute certainty that the discipleSubhuti does not exist, and a non-existent disciple musthave a non-existent bald head, and a cloak equallyintangible; but stop and listen to the whole of myrevelation. Although it is an absolute certainty thatthe disciple Subhuti does not exist, it is also anabsolute certainty that he does exist. It is a certaintyequally absolute that his bald head exists, that hisyellow cloak exists. It is an absolute certainty alsothat I, Buddha, do not exist, but it is also an absolutecertainty that I do exist."Now this Buddhism, which we may call the " GladTidings of Stupid Contradiction," runs through thewhole of the Sutra called the " Diamond Cutter." Itis supposed to record a conversation between Buddhaand the disciple Subhuti, in the Jetavana grove nearSravasti. Buddha declares that in the course of hismany transmigrations a Buddha delivers immeasurablemillions of beings, and yet not one is ever delivered(p. 114). He declares that the coming Buddbas (Bodhi-


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6 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISMsatwas) must have the most distinct conception ofDharma (spiritual religion), and also no conception ofDharma at all. They must have understanding, andno understanding (p. 117). He states that the Buddhashave preached the highest perfect knowledge, and thatthey have never preached the highest knowledge at all(p. 118). It affirms, too, that the Bodhisatwas whostudy the " Diamond Cutter " will be endowed withmiraculous powers, and " frame to themselves a trueidea. And why ?because a true idea is not a trueidea ! Therefore Buddha preaches ' A true idea, a trueidea indeed'" (p. 126). It is said that the treatise isto be entitled the Prajnd Pdramitd (the Wisdom ofthe other Bank), because it is not the Wisdom of theother Bank. Therefore it is entitled Prajnd Pdramitd(p. 125).

Here is a specimen of the argument" Therefore, O Subhuti, a noble-minded Bodhisatwa,

after putting aside all ideas, should raise his mind tothe highest perfect knowledge. He should frame hismind so as not to believe in form, sound, smell, taste,or anything that can be touched. And why ? Becausewhat is believed is not believed. Therefore the Tatha-gata preaches: A gift should not be given by aBodhisatwa who believes in anything. It should notbe given by one who believes in form, sound, smell,taste, or anything that can be touched."Now all this could not be the work of an absolutelunatic. He must have had some motive for theseapparently aimless contradictions. What was thatmotive ? After exhausting all possible theories, I havecome to this conclusion. The Pyrrho-Buddhists wereconfronted with the puzzling question of the earlier


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INTRODUCTORY 7literature. They could not destroy it. It was deter-mined to neutralise it by flooding it with contradictorypassages ; and to give a colour to this, a few Sutraslike the " Diamond Cutter " and the BrahmajdlaSutra had to be composed to mystify people. SirMonier Monier-Williams and Professor Rhys Davidsprove Buddha to have been an athiest from the latterSutra. Its importance shall be dealt with further on.But I must emphasise one point. Now that the

Mahayana Sutras can be examined by all, if any newwriter still insists on depicting Pyrrho-Buddha as thereal historical Buddha, he must give us the completePyrrho-Buddha,the whole statue, not an arm or anose. I will explain my meaning. Says Dr. Crozierin the Fortnightly Review for February" He (Buddha) threw out the Supreme Soul altogetheras a piece of supererogation, finding that he could geton quite as well without it in his explanation of theworld."Now, if we take the " Diamond Cutter " or the

Brahmajdla Siitra, as representing accurately the talkby which Buddha democratised the chief religions ofAsia and Europe, Dr. Crozier could no doubt prove hispoint ; for if there is no God in existence, and no manat all, it is certain that no man can be a theist. Butthis is scarcely stating the whole case. It would bejust as easy to write down a few other passages likethe following

" He (Buddha) threw out altogether the visibleKosmos as a piece of supererogation, finding that hecould get on quite as well without it in his explanationof the Divine scheme."Or this


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8 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM" He (Buddha) threw out altogether himself and his

disciples as non-existent things, finding that he couldget on very well without them in his grand project ofgiving Dharma to the world."

In my next chapter I will sketch religion in Indiaat the date of Buddha's advent. This may help us tojudge whether a Buddha or a Pyrrho-Buddha wouldbe most likely to emerge. Evolution, not capriciousoriginality, is the law of religious development.

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