The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-08-11
WHAT BUDDHISM rs.
a SYSTEM SPRUNG FROM BRAHiMAN-
ISM WITHOUT MYSTERY.

nation of the Religion.
Ii people wish to be deceived, there arc
always those who are ready to deceive them
This, think, is the most charitable inter
probation which we can put on tho begin
nings of that extraordinary movement
which is known by the name OF esoteric
Buddhism-nay, which, on account of the
similarities which exist between Buddhism
and Christianity, claims in some places the
name of Christian Buddhism. At present
only wish to show that if there is any re-
ligion entirely free from csoteric doctrines
it is Buddhism. There never was any such
thing rs mystery in Buddhism. Altogether,
1t seems to me that mystery is much more
of Il modern than of an ancient invention
There are no real mysteries even Ill Brah-
manism, for we can hardly apply that name
to doctrines which We're not communicated
TO every body, but only to people who had
passed through n certain preparatory dis
cipline. The whole life of n Brahman in
ancient India was under certain control.
1t was divided into four stages, the school,
the household, the forest and the solitude
Up to the age of 81 young man was
supposed to be student in the house of
Euru. After that he had to marry and
found household and perform all the re-
ligious acts which were prescribed by the
Vedas. Then, when he had seen his chill
drcn's children he was expected to retire
from his house and live alone or with his
wife in the forest, released from social and
religious dutics-nay, allowed to enjoy the
greatest freedom of philosophic speculation.
The highest object OF this contemplative
life in the forest was the finding of ones
own soul, the saving of ones soul alive. the
discovery of the Altman. the self. and not
the mere Ego. Even in those early days
the existence Of soul had been denied
Some held that body and soul were the
same; others, that the soul was the breath;
others, again, that 1t was the Ego or the
mind with NIL its experiences, with it's per
captions and conceptions and all the rest.
The herInits in the forest, after they had
subdued all the passions OF the body and
wrenchcd themselves free from all it's fet-
tors, had now to learn that tho soul was
something that according to it's very ma
ture could never be seen or heard, or per
celved like the objective world which was
visible and pcrishable, because il perceived
it would at once become something object
i've, something totally different from the
percciving subject. 1t would no longer be
the soul. The unseen and unpcrceived
something which was formerly called the
soul was now called the SELF Altman
Nothing could be predicatcd of it except
that it was, that it perceived and thought,
and that it must be blessed. When they
had once discovered that the Altman, the
self within us, shared its only possible
predicates with the Brahman, the invisible
self behind nature and behind the so called
gods of nature, the next step was easy
cnough-namely, the discovery of the orig
1nal identity of the self and of Br;ihman,
the eternal oneness of man and God the
substantial identity of human and divine
nature. To restore that identity by re-
moving the darkness of ignorance by which
lnS al .l.l
should say, one with God and he with us,
or rather TO lose oursclf ard find oursclf
again iii God-that was hcnccforth the
highest goal Of the remaining years of tho
old mans life in the forest.
But the time came when those who had
passed through al the trials and misrries
of life, and who after Il stormy voyage had
found a refuge in the harbor Of true phil
osophy, whose anchors were no longer drag
giug but resting firmly on the rock of truth
the time came when these men them
selves, conscious of the bliss they cnjoycd,
said To themselves "Wat is the use Of
this dreary waiting. of all the toll of youth
of all the struggle of life, of all the trou-
bic OF sacrifices, of all the iclrors OF re-
hgion, when there * this true knovlcdyc
which changes us in the twink ling of an
eye, discloses 20 us our real nature orr real
home our real God2' This thou&ht-I do
not mean the belief in II union hctwccn
the human and the divine, but this convic-
tion That the preparatory stages Of student
nc ana married LIE were useless and That
1t was better at once to face the truth-has
Always seemed to me the true starting
point of Buddhism as historical religion
buddhism has come to mean so many
things that / always feel n kind of SILVER
when people speak of Buddhism as teach
ing this or That. Buddhism had no doubt
historical origin in the fifth century b.
u, ana there were many causes which led
TO its rapid growth Mt that time But from
social point of view, the first and critical
step consisted in Buddhas opening the
doors of a forest life to all who wished to
enter, whatever their age, whatever their
caste. That life in the forest however is
not meant TO be what it used to be in for
mer times, Il real retirement from the vii
lage and q retreat into the solitude of the
forest, but simply n retirement from the
cares of the world Il life with the brother
hood, and a performance of the duties i'm
posed on The brotherhood by the founder of
the Buddhist order. This leaving of the
world before man had performed the
duties of n student and of father of Il fam
lily was the great oifcnsc OF Buddhism in
the eyes of the Brahmans. for it was that
which deprived the Brahnans of their cx
elusive social position as teachers, as
priests, as guides and counsclors.
Much as Buddhism in its latter develop.
ment differs from Brahmanism, Buddha's
teaching would be quite uncomfortable
without the previous growth of Brahman
ISM 1t is generally imagined. for instance
that Nirvana, about which so much has
been written, was n term coined 10y Bud
dha- But Nirvana occurs in the Bhagavad-
gita, and in some OF the Upanishads. 1t