English
" Well, how far it was presumptuous, must depend upon how far those whom you term deities are true or eternal ; and perhaps on that point we are not agreed. Supposing then, as we hold, your deities are either creatures of the imagination, or so far as they exist, are only products of nature, and therefore destined to pass away like all other forms of the natural world, it is clear that the enlightened one, having overcome sin, and attained participation in the supreme intelligence, would have attained a superior rank. But this same rank he holds out as possible to be attained in turn by others who aspire to it through the same piety, knowledge, and excellence. It was not therefore arrogance, as you suppose, but the perfection of his knowledge which rendered the claim you allude to, on part of the Saviour, perfectly legitiiaate." Here Vidydchdrya said nothing, but Blancombe resumed, ^*Tou conduct your argument in this part with as much spirit as-, you did with clearness in the former part ; and if our venerable friend here does not reply to you, neither shall I attempt it. Only, from what you relate of Sdkya, I should augur, there must have been a great difference between his view of the sacerdotal caste, and the practice now current among you. At least I have heard, that in Ceylon the institution of caste is SACERDOTALISM. VARIATIONS. 37 now pretty rigidly observed by the professors of your faith ; and it is certain that in Thibet, and elsewhere, you have a more thoroughly organized hierarchy than now exists among the Brahmanical Hindds. Your many monasteries, your temples, your chanting, and in short your abundant ritualism, all savour of something different from the humane yet fervently devout and somewhat mystical rationalism which it seems was the character of your founder." Saug. " Well, it is not surprising that a religion thoroughly established should need somewhat different provisions from those which suited its commencement. Something even of human error may creep in. All those things however, to which you allude, have not come about among us at random, but were established by the wisdom of the saintly followers of the Saviour, when they assembled in various coimcils. There are three such councils which we especially venerate. The first already spoken of, at which the Holy Scriptures were arranged, took place in • the year of the Saviour's death; the second, in order to ex- tinguish schisms, a himdred years later ; and the third, in which it was determined to propagate the faith by missions throughout the world, after another interval of about one hundred an4 eighteen years, or not much more. In such councils then our wise men made various useful regulations ; and we are far from thinking as the Achdrya here supposed, that all authority ought to be despised ; for in fact it does not follow, because the older Brahmans were blameable for using authority in order to exclude men fix)m the truth, that therefore authority should not be obeyed, when it is used to establish and spread abroad the truth by holy men." Blan. " I understand. But now I begin to fear you will think me very wearisome, if not almost as great a persecutor as Cumdrila. Yet there is one, and I believe scarcely more than, one question yet, with which I would venture to trespass upon your ])atience. You have spoken of the purity of Sdkya's doc-, trines, and also of missions for the sake of propagating the faith. 88 SHORT-COMINGS. Praj then, how has it arisen, that you have never yet converted some of those in Ceylon, and in the parts of India nearest to it, who might appear most favourably situated for the influence of your missions to operate upon them; and again, among those who profess your faith in both those countries, how is it that practices prevail, such as probably Sdkya, as much as any man, * would have condemned? Not that I here speak of personal vices, such as in the case of reckless men elude or defy the controul of even the purest faith ; but I allude to forms of belief and modes of worship, which stand in the strongest contrast to the ])urity which you have ascribed to S^ya. Need I tell you of the crowds who worship idols ? or of the homage paid in such absorbing excess to what you consider sacred relics, as to draw away the worshipper's mind from any thought of the high and holy one, by whatever name we style him, who, as we both agree, ought to be worshipped ? Or what shall I say of the devil-worshippers of Tinnevelly, who (if I understand their doctrine aright) endeavour to propitiate the spirit of evil ; and certainly their vicious lives, in many cases, prove they have fallen sufficiently below humanity for such a horrid kind of creed to correspond well enough with their practice? Then again, rites are spoken of in India, though, I believe, in parts which no longer fall within the range of your religious influence, in which unclean passions and the sensual vices, such as even bad men generally are ashamed of, are both practised and considered a kind of piety. But what a piety can that be, which thus arrays itself against the modesty of every pure conscience, and enters into alliance as it were with whatever is evil in man, against what- ever aspiration he might raise towards the holy and the eternal? Such a kind of religion in fact is on the side of passion and of dark- ness against intelligence. Yet of those three things you fully admit the first and second to be evil, and the third to be good." Saug. " Undoubtedly we do ; but of the persons you allude to, some are descendants of the old Yakkas*, or the demon race, * The speaker uses here a Pali form, aa quoting the MakiwaoM. COMMON GROUND. 39 who never ftdly received the Saviour, and we have not been able to make an impression upon their obdurate minds ; again, as to the others, the ignorance of mankind is always apt to degenerate from a pure religion, and I do not see that such degeneracy is the fault of the luminary of the world." Blan. " Certainly not of Him whom we should call the true luminary ; nor again is it a fault in the personal character of Sdkya, whom you probably mean; but it remains to be inquired, whether the circumstances I have alluded to may not indicate some inherent weakness in his religion. But now I am so anxious to see men happier and better, by whatever name they call themselves, that I would earnestly entreat you in the name of Sdkya, if you please, to consider with me how we can enlighten the intelligence, or purify the imaginations of those miserable persons we have spoken of; and this I promise, if your way appears the more likely, I will so far join it as to con- sent at least to your giving these benighted people the purest form of your faith ; whereas, if any other way should appear better, you perhaps will not refuse to follow whatever method the most perfect intelligence may point out as the best?" Saug. " Perhaps we will so consider it. At least I quite agree that the practice of virtue is the principal thing." Blan. " It appears to my own mind there are several points we so far agree in, that it is worth while attempting to come nearer each other; especially I think we agree that whatever course the most perfect intelligence would approve, that ought to be followed. We are also agreed that bountifulness or benefi- cence is a virtue to be practised, and that of all gifts we could confer upon men, the gift of salvation, or the knowledge of the true faith, would be the greatest ; for certainly we should be most anxious about their souls. You have spoken also of knowledge, and I suppose knowledge implies possession of the highest truth of all; if this then is so valuable, we should not close our eyes against any beam of it, from whatever quarter it may fall." 40 SUMMARY. Saug. " To all that I see no objection." Blan. " Shall we however try to sum up briefly what has been said, lest any one should have dropt as it were the thread from his hand?" Saug. '' K you please." Blan. " It appears then that you distinguish the Bauddha doctrine from that of various Chdrvdcas or materialists ; that you consider intelligence and matter as two things eternally co- existent, of which the one, being visible in its properties, leads ua to infer the other, though it is not clear how far either acts upon the other. Nor again, do you object to the opinion of your friends who deny the existence of anything except internal per- ception or intelligence.