Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-09-24
STATE OF BUDDHISM.
WHY THE ORIENTAL RELIGION CAN
NEVER MAKE HEACWAY,

/
dhist Idea is DiametricaIIy opposed to
the Tendency of Civilization.
Every few weeks the newspapers give
voice to some one of certain class of mys-
tics who announce, or perhaps we should
say threaten. q revival of Buddhism
which iS-te revolutionize the world The
f'tfldhists are already said to be numerous
m all the great cities of he Western world.
and their ranks are daily swclled by new
converts We are assured that there are
5000 in Paris, as many more in London
unnhmhcred thousands in Boston New
! York And Philadelphia, with Chicago and
| st. Louis yet to he heard from The fig
nres seem TO he slightly exaggerated
Granting for the sake OF argument that
there are in Europe and America u million
! persons who incline toward this form of
religion. which inculcates great deal that
Is admirable and true in morals we shall
yet he very far from that sweeping CONVEX
sion to the dOgmas Of the Indian messiah
which his admirers predict. 1t is strange
| to note in this connection that while .
small faction of Christianity desires TO
/ convert the world to Buddhism, there has
been "A growing sentiment in Japan, Il
| Buddhist country that Christianity is
greatly preferable, and that the Japanese
would do well to discard their ancient
| non progressive faiJh and adopt it's rights
| and practices
Buddhism is the faith of perhaps 5oO,00O
| 100 persons, inhabiting Burmah, SIAM
Camhodia, Cochin China, Ceylon, Ansm,
| ronquin, Thibet, the Chinese empire and
Japan There are none in lgindostan the
country where Gautama the father of the
faith. was born some 300 years before
| Christ, his followers ali having persisted in
n persecution that took place about the
commencement of the Christian era.
THE BUDDHIST IDEA.
The life of I3uddha is the keynote of the
belief Of his followers The son Of pow
erfuf rajah, married to a beautiful woman
and surrounded by every luxury, he left
his home on account of the impression
made on him by the evidences of human
misery that he saw about him, and lived
thenceforward the life of an ascetic, his
only effort being to eXtinguish in his
breast every human desire and passion. To
his mind the chief end of existence was the
attainment of 'nirvana," a state of perfect
repose, which could not generally he nc
compliShed till after death He recognized
no God as II separate being, his theory Of
the universe being pantheistic, not n soul
separate from the body, though every hu
man being had before his present life
passed through series of eXStencCs
which after his death would be continued
to all eternity This theory of the trans
migration of souls Tor of eXistences) has
been for some years past in favor among
spiritiSts
The morality of Buddhism in it's ascetic
form Is naturally above suspicion But
what chance in this swiftly moving age
when everything IL on fire, has a religion
which involves convontual inactivity, and
has for itS chief end, its ideal OF happiness
the nirvana, II state Of perfect repose which
is equivalent to mental death or physical
nnnihilationS Could anything he more
foreign to the American habit of thought
and actiOnf
Buddhism is inferior to Christianity not
only in that it is unprogrrssive but in that
il is highly personal and selfish The gov
crning motive of the Buddhist is to purify
and save himself The leading idea of
Christianity is doing good to others The
difference is vital, since every living gen
Grafton has ~ its benefCent task to create
Il new world for that which is TO follow
Save yOurselfl'' Is the cry Of Buddhism.
Save Othersl' is the cry of Christianity,
and when we say Christianity we mean not
those merely who regard themselves as its
orthodox representatives, but all who in
so called Christian countries acknowledge
what faith has done for the world, and ac
cept its principles in general, without put
ting implicit faith in all its dogInas.
A TIINKER'S OPINION
A Paris reporter n short time ago
thought it would be sensible thing to in.
terview Renan. one of the accepted oracea
of human Thought, or the threatened in
vasion of Buddhism The great philoso
pher and moralist took the matter serious
~ and practically He acknowledged the
admirable moral theories that the system
had given to the world, but regarded its cX
ceSSive gentlenesS and resignation it's
horror Of blood, its ascetcsm, it's illuminn-
tions as tending to dcmoralize and destroy
the race. The nations vowed to the faith
we're dead politically and morally Some
OF them were swept away by the Tartar in
vaSions.
Those which remain, in which Buddhism
may almost be said to be state religion,
ind that does not include China and
ing in Buddhism which corresponds with
the temperament of any western nation of
this epoch. which is all for action, and has
no sympathy with the perfect reposc of
the nrvana As to the transmigrntion or
the passage of beings retaining something
OF the human form from star to star, the
philosophers ideas were not of that wan.
dcrng character and he had no time to
discuss such vagabond theory
II hardly needed the opinions even of
thinker so profound and so practical as
Renan to convince any sensible man chat
If the world is ever to return to Buddhism
it is not Just ut this epoch There is moth
ing in tho spirit of the age to encourage
its followers to persist in the attempt ut
conversion. The world is just now too
busily occupied to accept any form Of faith
that is purely reflective. In Europe the
condition of armed truce offers no vantage
ground to abstract thought. There is not
only the rivalry Mt home to fill the minds
Of government and people, but colonial
policy that takes mp all their spare time
aud rounds out their sphere Of action.
AS for ourselves. there is so much to do,
80 much to develop and complete that we
seem Just at the commencement of our M
tional career. The period for the whole
world is one Of hope, not of despair Ev
erywhere nations and people are looking
forward, not backward. No doubt the
world will pass at some future day,
through period Of peSsimism, when It
will seek, as it does not seem inclined to at
present. the consultations of religion. Then
the niryana may have some consultations
to offer TO the discontinued and disappoint-
ed who will be in the majority. It has no
chance now-San Francisco Examiner
Ie Was Used to It.