The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-07-12

But, say the admirers of Buddhism, at
| least you will admit that the Buddha told
men to get rid Of sin, and to aim at sinctity
of Efey Nothing of the kind. The Buddha
had no idea of sin as an offence against God,
no idea of true holiness. What he said was,
Get rid Of the deInerit of evil actions and
store up merit by good actions. This storing
up Of merit-like capital at a banks one
Of those inveterate propensities Of human
nature which Christianity alone has deliv-
cred men from.
Oitly he other day l met an intelligent
Sikh from he PunjaD, and asked him about
his religion He replied, Il believe in One
God, ard ! repeat my prayers, called Jap-jee,
every morning and evening. These prayers
occupy six pages OF print but I can get
through them in little more than ten min
utes." He seemed to pride himself on this
rapid recitation as WORK of increased mer-
it. ! said. what else does your religion re-
quire OF your" He replied, 4 have made
one pilgrimage to a sacred well near Amrit-
sar; eightv-five steps lead down to it. l de-
scended and bathed in the sacred pool. ] hen
/ assembled one step and repeated my Jap-jee
in about ten minutes. Then / descended
again To the pool and bathed again. and
assembled to the second step and repeated
my prayers second time Then descended
third time, and ascelded to the third step. and
repeatld ~ IeT-iee third time: and 50 on
for the whole eighty five Steps. 1t took me
exactly fourteen hours from p m. one
evening to a. m next mOrningS l asked.
What good did you expect to get by going
through this taskf He r plied. / hope ]
have laid up great store of merit, which
VIII last me for long timen This let ma
tell you, Is genuine Hindu idea II is Of the
very essence Of Branminism and Hindu
ism. 1t Is equally a Mohammedan idea. 1t
is even more a Buddhist idea. Buddhism
recognizes the terrible consequences Of evil
1ffl0ng bIf VrgpffE4= no A.
storing up Of merit by good actions as a
counterpoise. The Buddha never claimed To
be delverer rom sin. He never pretended
TO set any one free from the bondage of sin
full acts and sinful habits He never pro
fessed to provide any remedy for leprosy of
sin, any medicine for dying sinner. On the
contrary by his doctrine of Karma he
bound man hand ami foot to the conse-
quence of his own acts with chains of ada
mant He said In effect, to every one Of his
disciples You are in slavery to a
tyrant of your own setting up. Your own
deeds, words, and thoughts in the present
and former states Of being are your own
avengers through countless series of exis-
fences. If you have been murderer q
thief, liar, impure, a drunkard, you must
pay the penaly in your next birth; either in
one OF the hellS or as an unclean animal or
as an evil spirit or as demon. You can /
not escape, and am powerless TO set you
free" Not in the heavens tsays the Diam |
ma padal ''not in the midst Of the "a, not il |
thou hidest thysef in tn clefts of the noun
tains wilt thou find place where thou canst
escape the force of thine own evil &C ions"
Contrast the first words of Christ. 1.-THE
Spirit Of the Lord is upon Me- because he
hath sent Ne to proclaim liberty to the cap
t1ves and the opening Of the prison to them
that are bound Yes, in Christ alone there
is deliverance from the bondage of former
from the prisOn-house of Tor
ner sins; total eancelling OF the past. a
complete blotting cut OF the handwriting
that IS against Ms; the opening of a clear
, urse for every man to St art afre b: the
'ree gift OF pardon and OF life to every Grim
mai, TO every sin er-even the most heinous.
M Monier Williams