Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-07-11

ctpe, buodha wished to prove, an
sent him to win over a fierce an
cruel tribe. He told him thew wef
Wild and savage people, from WHOM
ne must expect insults and many in
juries, The rich man ans wered
"Then will hold them Istin 70
dear, good people, because the,
neither beat nor cast stones at me-
when, however, they even d.
this p 'Then I will say even til,
same, for they could indeed wount
/ me with weapons. aBut this also
will happen. "Now, then, are
> they still dear, good people, because
they do not rob me of my life.''
t'But when they kill thee p tsTher
will L thank their love that frees
me with SO little pain from this
miserable body. nnisGo, Parma said
. Buddha, Hthyself redeemed, redeem
them" And GO he did, and con
yerted the tribe I :!6I 5ss e h .7s55
| Buddha was deeply and over
whelmiDgly impressed with the
emptiness and unrealness of the
1 world. This was the burden of his
sermons, and the point d appui from
| which he worked. "A profound
sense of the misery of human life
is the basis Of his philosophy.
Nothingness is Its idea, and the
worship of that idea became the
1 Buddha religion. All men, with
| out regard to rank, birth or con-
dition, form o2e great suffering as
sociatiOn in this vale Of tears. ''AlI
being is wrong-eH is pervaded
[ with sorrow" Birth, age, sickness,
death, are but the history Of misery.
%Only one feeling BELTS the pious
wise, the feeling of unspeakable
grief" go aslo ii ..arzta -.s---a.
All that was respectable; all the
conventional religion of the time;
all that was established and received
in good society, and by 'sthe"
church of Hindostan, he travestied
and declared a mistake and a
grievous wrong. His humility and
genteness prevailed against the ex-
elusive pride and naughty stiffness
of the Brahmins. The common
people have followed his teachings
Tor more centuries than those of
any other man. .-..-.5 XII .f..
Starting from this central idea
Buddha preached the gospel of
love. He taught humility, the ne
cessity of doing good, the virtues,
kindness one to another, the broth
erhood of man. Brahminism, the
religion he reformed, was a gospel
of caste and hate, and his last
doctrine brought him in direct and
mortal combat with the reigning
spirit Of the time. Buddha was an
abolitionist, when abolitionism
meant something more than it ever
has in our day. He attacked
squarely the doctrine Of caste, the
root idea of the Brahmlm faith,
teaching that in their common
misery all men are equal. This
necessitated a direct issue with the
Brahmins themselves, the priest
caste of the country, and the
Scrlbes and Pharisees of the day;
and this stand, SO boldly taken and
successfully maintained, is the great
evidence of the wonderful strength
Of the man and his philosophy
There are some features of Budd-
hism which peculiarly fit it for
spreading, and render its study at
this. crisis of more than curious
interest. Buddha especially dis
claimed that he was god or
divine, although his followers be-
lieve that he voluntarily, for infinite
ages, in inferior stages of existence,
lived and suffered for his fellowmen.
He aimed to teach by his life, incul-
eating a high morality and the
value of good works. Control your
passions, bring rest into the
senses" was the first step toward
the rest of Nirvana. He taught
morals rather than metaphysics,
and hence, perhaps, the easy and
wonderful spread of his system.
1t is not, purely speaking a dis
tinctive religion, but rather asystem
of philosophy or ethics. 1t can be
migrated on almost any faith of
theology. Hence its resistless
march. In short time it overcame
in India the ancient creed of
Brahma, moulding anew and re-
forming it in its most essential doc
trines. Pure Brahminism is now
driven to South India. Two or
three centuries later, it had entered
Persia and possessed it. Before
the christian era it had gained
foothold in China, and the religion
Of Fo and Confucius received the
new doctrines, merging the old faith
in the better gospel of peace and
love. Ammo Domini 81 IL was the
recognized religion of the kingdom.
A few centuries later it had con-
quered Japan, Siam, the Burman
Empire, and the body of Northern
and Central Asia.
To-day it confronts US. Itcomes
plastic, flexible, and with no revolt
ing or offensive features. 1t teaches
a high code of morals, and aims to
make of mankind better citizens
and better men. Each of its pre-
vious great national successes was
the result of organized and faithful
missions. Missionary work, as we
have seen by the legend above re-
cited, is one of the first duties of
the pious Buddhist, and without
doubt, as soon as OUT vast CONT
nent and. its population and re-
sources shall be popularity known
in China and Japan, our condition
will awaken a wide spread mission
airy zeal and fervor.
We shall not probably be asked
to give up our faith in its entirety,
but merely to blend with it the
germ principles of the Buddhistic
philosophy. This demsnd is not
new, for the attempt has already
been made more than once before
on a smaller scale. Gnosticism
grew largely on Buddha, and was,
perhaps, in the main, colored by
J the traditions Of his teachings
Manicheism, in the third century
was direct and systematic attempt
, to fuse Christianity and Buddhism