Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1885-10-31
WHAT Is NIRVANA2


/ is not. You have, however, SO fla -,
rrantlv msquOted aud misconStrucd 4,
my language, and so far Ontstripped 80
the limits of fair debate as to make a ,o
personal drive at me, that a reply to II,
your rcjoinder seems unavoidable; and -,
withstanding the in"euuous manner n,
i'm which Won invite discnntimuance of r.
this controversy, yOn cannu: with the h
scmblance of fairness, refuse me the -
usc of YOUR columns in which to further ~
defend and clllcidaie my position.
You write like Il lawyer pleading n
bad case, and try to work upon the =
feelings of the jury by stating that my q
language implies Il want of reverence s
for the Creator and that seek to ele-
vate the Buddhist conception OF the .
future state to n level with the Chris ,
tan conception; but l submit to any
intelligent reader of the Intclligencer ,
that the language of my communication
published in your columns last week,
was calm and orderly enough to salts
fy anyone who is not over-nlce or
hypercrtical. l do not wish to render
this personal, and therefore | shall not
discuss with you whether you have
more of the love of God III your heart
than have in mine, or not. That Of
my language which you take to imply
the affirmative of the proposition just
stated, l take rather to imply
that possess the more philanthropy.
Abou Ben Adhem, when told by The
angel that his name was not i'll the list
of those who loved the Lord, prayed
to be enrolled as one who loved his
fellow men. So you, acting the part
OF the angel in the case, if you will not |
write my name with yours as one who |
loves the Lord, pray write me as one |
who loves his fellowmen.
| You say that, in another newspaper,
| spoke of Nirvana as "thc Christian
hope.'' Plainly and tlatly, | did no
such thing.
NV exact words used in the Post news
paper of this city from which you mis-
uuoteand to which furnished an almost
, verbatim copy of the report transmit
ted to YOU in which was used the word
which has unfortunately led to this use
less wrangle, were these, 1.-THE Nirvana
of the Christians hope l submit
2 that the two expressions, "Nirvana IS
: the Christians hope" and ''The Nirva-
;, ma of the Christians hope" are suscep-
J, tible, each, of . meaning that differ>
e widely from the meaning of the other.
t | have not taken the position that the
h Buddhistic conception of the future
state, is the conception to which the
v Christian aspires. l employed the
a word s'Nirvana" to turn period land ii
II carried with it the meaning Gautaina
e gave,-''the greatest blessing" !
wished the path of the young people to
IS lead up to 'the greatest blessing" oil
lc the Christians hope. Certainly no one
* who is not excessively fastidiOus, nor
sS nt cnlittinU hair
20 can object to this. But you object to my
lie adducing Gautama s'as proof of any.
nc thing" and the fact that [ have dom
i'll so, you take as pOstulate upon which
l. to base the personal thrust-that IN.
'y "revcrencc for the Christians God il
ut very light" | state, and | ask you II
H. all painness ofspeech to deny the state
AZ ment, if you can, that Christian theo
as Logan in starting ont to prove the eX
lie istence OF 4 Supreme Ruler, and frou
II, this the truth of the Christian religion
OK invariably adtluccs rs one of his leaG
III ing arguments, the fact that peOpl
nd everywhere, all over the earth, have
K religion of some sort or other. Nov
Dr. if one writer has II right to adduce
nd heather in proof, why has not another
ed Iquoted Gautama to prove what
* meant by Nirvana. By whom shou
prove it? Should 60 to a Christia
w, to determine what Buddhist believes
h. Should L 90 to Buddhist to dete
ell mine what Christian believes!
1t; took the position that every religlC
re- contemplates future state. This, "
ags say, is tallacy. 1t is not, as am II
OBJ chasing a philosophy OF despair amoi
elr the religions. But to rid this OF ,
the frivolous details, will take the thr
&C. great religious systems, Chrlstlanlt
one Buddhism and Mohammedanism Chr
i've tianity.I will sub divide INTO Greekisl
ere Catholicism and Professionalism. l
re- that all of these systems contemplate
On future state. AS | believe i'll but ol
'ees God, can believe III but one heave
tne Your language i'll the third paraSra
- of your editorial under the above Ca
be ton in last weeks Intclligencer, il
OF plies that you believe in more than
hey heaven, some of which are not go
OF enough for you,-either this, or C
'ort YOU have unguardedly called Nlrva
pre- heaven, after taking me to task
lsh- calling heaven Nirvana. AS | say,
avy believe that God, who is the Father
an all people, has arranged but one hes
Nov en-, and that It will be common to
doS pure-h hearted of all races and creeds,
OF matter how erroneous their ideas
J, IN the place may have been. This y
oral DENY, and assume ''that heaven is
the served for those human souls, on
aird which are saved by the blood OF
ell Lord Jesus Christ" BY this you
)aly understood to mean that heaven is
served only for those who are demo
his mated Christians, and that all Otht
no matter how pure their purposes =
leut. nor how hard they strive to find
the light, are excluded This is ungcl
lring Gus, to say the least. And it form
postulate from which to argue that
Xpe- religion is All intOierant, persecut
'eely system instead of the loving, phi
Dolar thropic one that the Master intendc
by should be. After denying the right
IS OF salvation to the heathen, il is but a
ana to DENY it to all Christians WI
creeds contravene yours. You
irIn- aware that we have Christians in
q the midst who deny the right of saliva
laho' to all who belong to other churt
was and hence hold different religious o.
lsuia ions. This ungenerous sentiment
the direct OutgrOwth OF the preva
open belief that honest purpose is good
s.. naught when arrayed against abso
ieet right; but l appeal to any stand
I'd to work of moral philosophy for p
| tllaL tlilHS nidN DC auS'i''oiy W.
, ana and yet relatively right, and
horl- honest purpose weighs heavily III
lenu- scale of moral justice.
W. From the tenor of your editors
take it that you consider it the purl
'.s rr;od oi OF the gospel to render the conditio
i t ~" the heather worse rather than to
~! ,'l der the condition of the Christian
=. t."u' ter. If this is your view, it is unq
y "t lionablv erroneous. All who are {
,,o- ed, be they Christian or Pagan, mus
: was saved by virtue of Christ's blood,
= ou' the generous Savior who has comm
-. ~ III ed us to love our enemies, ccrta
''' n W. has not exacted of us that whicl
"a ~, -: is not himself willing to do. lie $
,,Inn-, ,i,, - more time condemning the han
l''o'i l'''.I. Pharisees than the heathen. lie !
80 ,e ed the servant of the Roman ot1
'''''i and the daughter of the ph1uI
.. woman who most likely regarded
as a sort of wizard, or as posses
-, great personal magnetism by whic
80 could perform great teats OF hea
'"''' but he said: "Woe unto you Pi
:, tho sees"
les on You quote Rhys Davids to |
4 ont. that Nirvana means extinction