English
They believe, as I do, in the eternity of matter, or of something out of which the world goes on renewing and fashioning itself, and they also believe in intelligence, which, as long as we admit the eternity of the world, we may also conceive to be eternal. So that there is, you see, as it were, a soul and a body ; only that by soul, perhaps, we mean something different from what you would. Now the persons, about whose opinions you inquire, entertain the same fear as I do, of ascribing to that Highest Intelligence any of the accidents which encumber the minds of ordinary men. They go, however, somewhat farther; and not only sepa- rate it from passion, or terror, or anxiety, but even from volition; (lest, I suppose, wishing should seem to imply wanting, or to dis- turb seeing;) and therewith, in a way, disengage it from all which you, perhaps, would call personality. It remains mere and pure intelligence, just as matter is mere ignorance. Now that which is thus pure, abstract, and spiritual, cannot be conceived by the impure and selfish, or even by those who are blinded in the conception of their having life in themselves, endeavouring to hold fast a perishing individuality, instead of knowing them- selves parts in the great whole which has one life throughout ; but, on the other hand, the perfectly sanctified, who have van- quished sins, and obtained power by prayer, may become par- ADI BUDDHA AND SAKTA. 25 takers at length even of that most spiritual intelligence. Thej^ then, as we say, obtain Buddhahood, or become themselves Buddhas; and, since nothing can be more perfect than the intelligence and the tranquillity of which they are alike par- takers, there seems to many of us no necessity, even if it be possible, to suppose anything higher." Blan. " Your friends, then, appear to have no difficulty in conceiving of many persons as united, in a way, in one Supreme Intelligence?" Saug. " Neither should I, so far, provided that our idea of this Supreme is not encumbered by any attributes of passion and volition, taken from what we observe in mankind." Blan. **Then, I suppose, it is either to some of these Buddhas, or to the Intelligence of which they all partake, that the friends of whom you have been speaking direct either their prayers or their aspirations?" Saug. " Exactly so ; but chiefly to the last of all, the Saviour, Sdkya, who, by the establishment of our faith, as we now hold it, regenerated the world, and delivered mankind from the miseries of sin." Blan. " Then, again, they see nothing wrong in praying to one who was formerly a man?" Saug. "Certainly not, any more than would the most venerable teachers among the Hindus ; for they many of them believe that their deities have been incarnate, though not with such good reason as we believe Sdkya to have become divine and omniscient." Blan. " But did I not understand that you prayed yourself to the supreme Buddha, which seemed to me at the time to mean Adi Buddha f Saug. "Neither do I say that you understood wrongly; though, indeed, it appears of little importance ; for though the highest Being, who never was subject to the necessity of birth, may seem the fittest hearer of prayer, yet Sdkya, as the vener- able Tathdgata, who has entirely gone beyond any such necessity. 26 BBYELATION OR DISCOVERT. and who partakes now a certain divine omniscience, is no less worthy of hononr ; and as it would be impious in me to disparage either his faith or his holy relics, so neither do I revise to invoke him with prayer. In fact, he may stand to me as the representative of pure Intelligence, which in itself, how- ever, may be the thing properly worshipped; but the Saviour having escaped from the accidents of human personality may be identified with that truest Being." Blan. " Here then is another question which I much wish to ask. Is this religion of yours to be considered on the whole as a revelation, or as a discovery?" Sauq. " Perhaps you will explain to me the nature of the distinction." Blan. " By a revelation we mean generally a self-uncover- ing, as it were, on the part of the Deity, as if by drawing aside a veil of mystery He disclosed to us things which otherwise we should not have known. Whereas a discovery in religion would be rather an advance of the human mind, either by the discipline of its own fBunilties or by a larger survey of regions hitherto unexplored, to some higher truth. Now I rather suppose that the first of these processes can only be expected by those who ascribe to the Deity, whether rightly or wrongly, agencies of a more personal and more active kind than you are inclined to place among the divine attributes ; so that the distinction, again, in this instance, will come to nearly the same as in the case of aspiration and of prayer. It is only, indeed, with some belief in a revelation that we in Europe generally associate the term religion; though we do not deny that much natural piety may exist without such a belief; but then we should call any opinion respecting the Deity in this case a philosophy rather than a religion. What I wish to inquire of you then is, whether Sdkya professed to have a revelation, or whether he discovered by his own sagacity or merit the doctrines which he taught." Saug. ''Why it follows, as you have correctly inferred, from our conception of the Supreme Intelligence, that we do not sakta's characteristics. 27 assert a revelation in the sense you have defined ; but it must not therefore be fancied that the religion of Sdkya is either less true, or comes to ns with less authority.'* Blan. '* Perhaps not, if he had attained, as you appear to say, a sort of divine omniscience. Only we should require some extraordinary guarantee to assure us of such an attainment/' Saug. " We wish no stronger guarantee than the pure life of S&ya in all its circumstances. First we have his self-denial, though he was a king's son, in leaving wife and palace and pomp, in order to become a teacher of mankind. Then come his tremendous austerities and his patient prayers, by which he both obtained power over nature, and forced even the Brahmans, whose scholar he had been, though he was only a Cshatriya, to do him reverence. Then again we read of the many wonderful miracles which he wrought, and of the thousands to whom he gave sanctification by teaching them the true faith. Such a personal career is alone sufficient guarantee of a teacher's sacred character. If we turn to the doctrine which Sdkya taught, we find it eminently pure, and conducive to the happiness of man- kind. He protested against the insolence of allowing men no escape from their hereditary castes, and declared the way of salvation open to the Mlechcha and the Chdndiila, no less than to the Brahman. The virtues, which he declared to be the six highest perfections, wero bountifukiess, righteousness, knowledge, activity, patience, and mercy; virtues, which, if you consider them severally, you will find to contain every essential of human excellence. Nor ought the wonderful success of Sikya's preach- ing and the extension of his doctrine to be overlooked. Even in his lifetime he converted vast multitudes of disciples; and now the most populous nations, comprehending, as I have heard, a larger portion of the human race than follow any other religion, are believers in his name. Not that such a success would be an argument, if it had been attained by mere violence of conquest, OS when Saltan Mahmud, or other Mahometans, spread their fidth with the sword; but it is well known, both how Sdkya 28 RELIGIOUS CREDENTIALS. used no other weapons than simple preaching and miracles, and how the kings who first embraced his religion, such as the famous Asoca, practided the mildest maxims of toleration* No other reasons, then, can be given for the rapid progress of Buddhism, than the force of sacred truth, the divine character of S^ja himself, and the tendency of his religion to promote the happiness of mankind/' Blan. " Those, then, it appears, are the sort of things which you consider just evidences of the truth of a religion." Saug. " Decidedly ; and we happily have abundance of them." Blan. " Many of them, I own, are clear indications of good- ness; but it would be a considerable step farther to say that whatever proves a man good, proves him also to be a trustworthy teacher of all that falls within the compass of religion.