The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-02-18

burning with a desire to find out rea
happiness, and teach it to his suffering
kind-rises by night in the inner apart
ment of his magnificent palace, ami(
his sleeping wives, and, laying aside hi
rich robe and putting on the rags of 1
devotee, passes silently forth from among
his beautiful companions and the splen
dors and Injuries of his kingdom to wan
der over the world, teaching mankind
how to escape the anguish inseparablt
from mortal existence.
1t would be impossible, of course
even to sketch here even the metaphysi-
cal and doctrinal side of that faith with
which the Indian Prince then conquered
o-thirds of the continent of Asia, and
| for n time even expelled Brahminism
from India. Herein, also, as well as in
the early personal history of this noble
reformer, there is much to strip away
which superstition has heaped upon the
reasonable teaching of Sakya-muni. At
the root of his religious philosophy is
found the belief that the apparent reali-
ties of this life are shadows, not sub
stantial things" and that by accepting
them and clinging to their illusions the
soul is imprisoned in form and matter,
with their consequent evils. "The
Lord Buddha held that this suffering
and entangled soul must pass through
endless lives, with their attendant cares
and woes, unless, perceiving that help
must come from yatna, or belief in ener-
getic holiness, it steadfastly directed its
acts and thoughts toward emancipation
from mortal birth and death. And this
brings us where we touch firmer ground
namely, the beautiful morality of
Buddhism. Full of the boundless COM
passion which inspired its founder, it is,
in its purity, the gentlest and most char
liable creed in the world, a religion of
love and pity. Aiming to extinguish
suffering, it enioins that none, not the
slightest, shall ever be caused to sentient
being; the first and last duty of good
Buddhist is ahinsa, or abstinence from
pain giving" But if all acts and things
are unreal and phenomenal, why, it may
be asked, should Buddha have enjoyed
a code of morality? The reply is sim
pie. "The Lord Buddha" held that
this apparent world was controlled to
better or to worse in all things by an in
fallible law, called kan or karmma,
which surely produced good results
from good thoughts and deeds, and bad
results from those that were evil. In
Buddhism it is not deity who judges,
and rewards, or Furnishes. The god of
Sakya dwells unknowable in the infinite
It is an eternal law of the universe,
which, omniscient and omnipresent,
makes the slightest virtue sure of fruit,
the slightest vice certain of penalty; so
that by right living, men may alleviate
their captivity and pass sooner to bliss;
by wrong living they must lengthen
their suffering, and delay their escape.
The gift of the cup of cold water"
leading to divine happiness is pure
Buddhism-every priest in Ceylon would
gladly teach it as a new story of Gauta-
ma. The talent hidden in the napkin is
Buddhistic in spirit, too-all opportuni-
ties lost of doing kindness are losses for
the soul. GA single act of justice" says
the Lord, "may take the spirit upward
through seven births, and the needless
slaughter of an ant may turn it down
ward for as many" According to this
subtle creed, as he who removes from
the pavement what may make a
passer-by slip has laid up kan
it will bring good to him if he
utter one word of unkind SANDER, he in
ours the demeritorious karmma-he will
have to pay for it. Then comes the
question, "If man believe in future
existences governed by kan, how shall
he make merit to save himself from
future misery2" The answer to this is:
"By following the teachings of Buddha
the teaching which praises kindness,
and compassion, and pleasure in the
general happiness of all beings, and free
dom from wrong or dislike to individuals,
and which forbids hatred and jealousy,
envy and revenge the religion which
teaches than, or .benefcence, and sin,
or rules of morality" Than is benevo-
lence in action. Sin is abstinence from
malevolent deeds and wrong desires or
pursuits. The good Buddhist observes,
under the latter five great command
ments-not to destroy life; not to de-
fraud or oppress not to deceive by
word, deed, or look ; and to avoid all in
toxication, excess and sensual indul-
gence. BY observing these rules, the
spirit of man may make existence great
gain, depart into fresh and higher form
of life with accumulated meritorious
kan, and pass "by the four ways and the
four fruits toward that blessed Mir
vana, where it will be as Buddha is, be-
yond change and sorrow, outside the
reach and power of Mara-happy beyond
all descriptions of JOY, because of "the
peace which passeth all understanding.
What may well arrest attention in
connection with the glimpse which the
British Prince has just had Of Buddhism
is the marvelously tender and refined
genius of an Asiatic creed, which, of all
others extant, ought surely to lend itself
most readily to the influences of civiliza-
ton aud science. The greatest wonder
which his Royal Highness has encoun-
tered upon oriental travels, when all is
said and done, is this profound, COM
passionate and spiritual Christianity of
the East" which, sadly corrupted from
Prince Sakya's noble teaching, has yet
humanized Asia, elevated it from bar
barism, and made it ripe for the changes
to come. Buddhism has been accused
of selfishness and egotistic isolation, but
this is not its logical or practical inhu-
ence; witness the decree of King Asoka,
who taught India to embrace for mnny
centuries the faith of Gautama. The
n.~,,o. ..,,o,;,ot;o,, from, tba hand nf fhot