Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-06-12
PENCHANT FOR PAIN.
Man Makes Himself as Well as
Others Suffer.
lis INEVITABLE PR0PENSlTlES.
The Only Mammal that Refuses to spare
Its Species-Enjoy Seeing Their Eel
low Creatures Suffer.

Man is the only beast of prey that
refuse to spare it's own species-the
only mammal, at least, since the pike
and several varieties of sharks are said
to devour their own youngsters when
ever they catch them; but among the
unenviable propensities that distin-
guish the featherless biped from all its
fellow creatures the penchant for sui
eide and self-torture is, on the whole,
more peculiar than the habit of fratri-
eide.
In their courtship combats, many
kinds of animals at least cripple their
own relatives, but the next approach
to deliberate elf-torment among in
nct-guided brutes has been observed
ON the coast of Kamschatka, where
the males of the fur seal drive their
nursing females ashore and, for weeks
together. starve like temperance editors
to guard the approaches to the sea and
keep their babies from falling prey
to sharks.
But that sort of self. denial has. after
all, practical purpose, like the de-
votion of paterfamilias, who tolls
and saves to provide for his children.
while the Buddhist saints, in their
gratuitous elf-affliction, had not even
the excuse of our neighbors, the Mexi-
can Aztecs, who sacrificed human VIC
Tins and sometimes their own lives,
in the hope of securing the favor of
blood-hungry god.
Considering the agnostic, If not pos
itively atheistic. tendency of the Bud
dha gospel. the voluntary martyrdom of
it's converts would seem altogether in
applicable if it were not for the pecul-
lar pessimism Of the would-be savior.
who considered life a misfortune and
the remuneration Of It's Elusive pleas
ures the only possible salvation from
the risk of rebirth. Nirvana, or the
blessing of eternal peace in the arms
of death, was supposed to be reserved
for those who had learned to hate life
with the most unqualified hatref, and
salvation seekers consequently We'd in
promoting that desirable state of mind
by affecting themselves in every i'm
aginable way. Direct and indirect
torments of thousand different kinds
were welcomed as SO many stepping
stones to the goal of final deliverance.
always provided that the life-weary
pilgrim took care not to forfeit his re-
ward by lessening the number of those
steps. For direct suicide was gener-
ally discouraged by the orthodox teacher
of Buddhism. The zealot who ended
his life in his eagerness to escape its
evils might depart with some linger-
ing love of earth in the hiding places
of his soul. and run the risk of reap
pearance-in the form Of an impulsive
puppy. for all he could tell-and have
to tread the wheel of hope and disap-
pointment for ages before he got an
other good chance to bid the cursed
treadmill long and lasting farewell.
Hence those Buddhist training
schools of renuciation, alias converts
where thousands Of converts stripped
existence of all it's joys by fasting,
long vigils. the mumbling of endless
prayers, constant acts of -abasement
and positive notifications, till de-
livering death found them impaitently
ready to depart Some Of these con-
vents still plumber their inmates by
tens of thousands, and in the golden
age of Buddhist fanaticism could be
found in every town and large village
from Bactria. on the Persian border.
to Burmah. and Siam, and often also
in the Wilderness. in deserts and On
the plateaux of icy mountain ranges
that added climatic influences to other
facilities for falling in love with death.
But. besides, more or less heretical
zealots preferred to act on the principle
that the duration of saints martyr
dom could be remitted in consideration
of it's intensity. They encamped in
gullies and caves-not habitable rock
vaults, a la Crusoe's villa, but dripping
cayerns and grottoes covered foot
thick with bat guano, and left their
dens only to beg. or squat for an hour
bare-headed in the glare of the noon
day sun. Others took up their abodes
in rock clefts that could only be
reached by desperate trails to the ridge
of a vertical mountain. and were
chosen on purpose to expose their ten
ants to the full sweep OF the north
wind. Hollow trees. too. furnished
lodgings for some of those hermits.
but others remembered their masters
warning against the peril of conceiv-
ing fondness for any earthly object
even tree or rock-and made it a
rule never to sleep twice in the same
place. On their wanderings they
sometimes yielded to the importantly
of sympathizers who invited them to
the shelter of their cabins, but they
expiated the luxury of good nights
rest the next day by continuing their
pilgrimage on all fours, or rolling, log
fashion. with their arms and legs in
tertwined.
Fakirs of that sort can still be seen
in the far East, but their penances are
mere trif1es compared with the tor
ments endured by their fanatical fore
fc@I H. l..