The God-Idea of the Ancients Part 20

From some of the texts found in the Shu King, it would seem that the Chinese had in the remote past caught sight of the scientific fact that virtue is its own reward. "Heaven graciously distinguishes the virtuous.... Heaven punishes the guilty."(116)

116) Max Muller, Sacred Books of the East, book iv.

The princ.i.p.al object of Confucius seems to have been to inculcate those doctrines of his ancestors which, taking root, would in time bring about a return to those principles of former virtue, a faint knowledge of which seems still to have survived in China. The following precepts are found among his teachings:

"Knowledge, magnanimity, and energy are the virtues universally binding.

Gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness const.i.tute perfect virtue. Sincerity is the very way to Heaven. My doctrine is that of an all-pervading unity. The superior man is catholic and not partisan. The mean is partisan and not catholic. The superior man is affable but not adulatory, the mean is adulatory but not affable."

When asked for a word which should serve as a rule of practice for all our life he replied: "Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." On one occasion the question was asked him: "What do you say concerning the principle that injury shall be recompensed with kindness?" To which he replied: "Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness."(117)

117) Lun Yu, xiv., 26.

It is recorded by his disciples that there are four things from which the master was entirely free. "He had no foregone conclusions, no arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egoism." Contrary to the rule of most reformers or leaders of opinion, he always regarded himself as a learner as well as teacher. It is related of Confucius that he at one time desired a governmental position, thinking that through its occupancy he might the better disseminate the ancient doctrines of rect.i.tude and virtue. Offers of individual advantage could not swerve him from his well-grounded principles of honor. On one occasion one of the rulers of the country proposed to confer upon him a city and its revenues, but Confucius replied: "A superior man will only receive reward for services which he has rendered. I have given advice to the duke-king, but he has not obeyed it, and now he would endow me with this place! very far is he from understanding me."(118)

118) Quoted by Amberley, a.n.a.lysis of Religious Belief, vol. i., p. 197.

The fact seems evident that Confucius had not sufficient strength of character to attempt a change in the social conditions of his time. He had not that grandeur of soul which enabled him to strike the key-note of reform. Monarchical inst.i.tutions and social distinctions he did not rebuke. The brotherhood of man and the levelling processes in human society were probably never thought of by him; certainly they were never attempted.

By certain writers Confucius has been accused of insincerity in a few minor matters; still, the wisdom contained in his religious doctrines, the philosophical value of his teachings relative to the regulation of human conduct, and, above all, his purity of purpose, justly ent.i.tles his name to be enrolled among the great reformers of the world.

The lasting influence which this man exerted upon the minds of his countrymen, and the appreciation in which his name and works are still held, are shown by the fact that his descendants const.i.tute the only order of hereditary n.o.bility in China.

"He lived five hundred years before Christ; and yet to this day, through all the changes and chances of time and of dynasties, the descendants of Confucius remain the only hereditary n.o.blemen and national pensioners in the empire. Even the imperial blood becomes diluted, degraded, and absorbed into the body politic after the seventh generation; but the descendants of Confucius remain separate, through all the mutations of time and of government."(119)

119) Thomas Magee, in the Forum, vol. x., p. 204.

Laotse, the founder of the smallest of the three sects in China, namely, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, was an old man when Confucius was in his prime. The word Taou signifies reason, but the doctrines believed by the Taoists prove their system to be the most irrational of all the religions of the East. In an article on The Taouist Religion, Warren Benton says:

"The tendency in rationalism is toward the utter destruction of a belief in the existence of unseen spirits of evil. Enlightened reason dethrones devils; but Laotse created devils innumerable, and the chief concern of the Taouist sect has always been to manipulate these emissaries of evil.

Modern rationalists deny the existence of devils, and relegate them to the category of myths and to personified ideas. Not so the rationalist of the Orient. He finds his greatest pleasure in contemplating the very atmosphere he breathes as filled with spirits constantly seeking his injury; and to outwit his satanic majesty is the chief end of life."(120)

120) Pop. Science, Jan. 1890.

At a time when a personal devil was gradually a.s.suming shape, it would have been singular, indeed, if there had not arisen one who, by his peculiar temperament and natural disposition, was exactly suited to the task of elaborating this doctrine in all its grim seriousness. That such an one did arise in the person of Laotse is evident from what is known regarding his history and teachings.

The growth of religious faith had long tended in this direction.

Typhon, "the wind that blasts," "Darkness," and the "cold of winter,"

const.i.tuted the foundation of a belief in a personal Devil; and, when the time was ripe for the appearance of his satanic majesty, it required only a hypochondriac--a disordered mental organization--to formulate and project this gloomy and unwholesome doctrine.

There is little known of the life and character of Laotse except that he labored a.s.siduously through a long life-time for the establishment of certain principles or tenets which he believed to be essential to the well-being of humanity. In the twentieth chapter of his work are found to be some hints of his personality and of the gloomy cast of his character. He complains that while other men are joyous and gay, he alone is despondent. He is "calm like a child that does not yet smile."

He is "like a stupid fellow, so confused does he feel. Ordinary men are enlightened; he is obscure and troubled in mind. Like the sea, he is forgotten and driven about like one who has no certain resting place.

All other men are of use; he alone is clownish like a peasant. He alone is unlike other men, but he honors the nursing mother."

Of all the various teachers which arose during the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries B.C., none of them were able to rise to the position of moral grandeur occupied by Gotama Buddha. The efforts put forth by this great teacher seem to have been humane rather than religious. In his time, especially in India, society had become encysted beneath a crust of seemingly impenetrable conservatism, while religion, or priestcraft, riveted the chains by which the ma.s.ses of the people were enslaved.

The mission of Buddha was to burst asunder the bonds of the oppressed and to abolish all distinctions of caste. This was to be accomplished through the awakening of the divine life in each individual. The leading processes by which the lines of caste were weakened were in direct opposition to the established order of society. It was a blow at the old Brahminical social and religious code which had grown up under the reign of priest-craft.

Notwithstanding the s.e.x prejudice which had come to prevail in India, it was directly stated by Buddha that any man or woman who became his disciple, who renounced the world and by abstinence from the lower indulgences of sense proclaimed her or his adherence to the higher principles of life, "at once lost either the privilege of a high caste or the degradation of a low one." Earthly distinctions were of no consequence. Rank depended not on the outward circ.u.mstance of birth, but on the ability of the individual to resist evil, or, upon his capacity to receive the higher truths enunciated by the new sun or savior--Buddha.

In one of the canonical books he is represented as saying:

"Since the doctrine which I teach is completely pure, it makes no distinction between n.o.ble and common, between rich and poor. It is, for example, like water, which washes both n.o.blemen and common people, both rich and poor, both good and bad, and purifies all without distinction.

It may, to take another ill.u.s.tration, be compared to fire, which consumes mountains, rocks, and all great and small objects between heaven and earth. Again, my doctrine is like heaven, inasmuch as there is room within it without exception, for whomsoever it may be; for men and women, for boys and girls, for rich and poor."(121)

121) Viscount Amberley, a.n.a.lysis of Religious Belief, vol. i., p. 216.

There is little doubt that the religion of Buddha was an attempt to return to the almost forgotten principles of a past age of spiritual and moral greatness. According to this ancient wisdom, man is an immortal soul struggling for perfection. The growth of the real man is a natural unfolding of the divine principle within, such process of evolution being accomplished through the power of the will. As every individual must work out his own salvation, this will-force must ever be directed toward the complete mastery of the body, or the lower self. In other words, the development of the higher life depends upon the power of the individual to overcome or conquer evil. The effect of every thought, word, and deed is woven into the soul, and no one can evade the consequences of his own acts. All sin is the result of selfishness, so that only when one renounces self and begins to live for others does the soul-life begin. No one who has arrived at a state of soul-consciousness will lead a selfish or impure life. On the contrary, every impulse of the devout Buddhist goes out toward humanity and G.o.d, of whom he is a conscious part.

Gotama Buddha was not a "savior" in the sense of b.l.o.o.d.y sacrifice for the sins of the people. On the contrary, he was an example to mankind--a man who through moral purification and a life of self-abnegation had prepared himself for this holy office. Mythologically, or astrologically, he was the new sun born at the close of the cycle. He was the great Light which revealed the way to eternal repose--Nirvana.

The mythical Buddha was the prototype of the mythical Christ. His mother was Mai or Mary, Queen of Heaven, or the Vernal Spring. He was a new incarnation of the Sun--the Savior of the world. In process of time his many miracles were offered as proof of his divine character. Although he taught the existence of a great and universal Power, he made no attempt to explain the unknowable. The Infinite is to be contemplated only through its manifestations. Nirvana is not annihilation, as has been erroneously taught by Christian missionaries. As explained by Buddhists themselves, it comprehends a state of absolute rest from human strife and wretchedness. It is the absorption or relapsing into the great First Principle, whence all life is derived--a state so pure that the human is lost in the divine.

"Lamp of the law!

I take my refuge in thy name and Thee!

I take my refuge in thy Law of Good!

I take my refuge in thy Order! Om!

The dew is on the Lotus!--rise, Great Sun!

And lift my leaf and mix me with the wave.

Om Mani Padme Hum, the Sunrise comes!

The Dewdrop slips into the shining Sea!"(122)

122) Arnold, Light of Asia.

From the Buddhist colleges at Nolanda went forth teachers who, inspired with enthusiasm in the cause of human justice and individual liberty, endeavored to abolish the abominations which had grown up under Brahminical rule. The ma.s.ses of the people, however, were too deeply sunken in infamy, wretchedness, and ignorance to accept, or even understand, the pure doctrines of the great teacher, and, as might have been antic.i.p.ated, priest-craft soon a.s.sumed its wonted arrogance, and eventually the whole paraphernalia of antiquated dogmas were tacked upon the new system.

Through the various efforts put forth for the elevation of mankind during the six or seven hundred years which preceded the advent of Christianity, sufficient strength had been given to the moral impetus of humanity to create in many portions of the world a strong desire for a return to purer principles, and to make the appearance of a spiritual teacher like Christ possible. The effects, however, of ages of moral and intellectual degradation, in which the lowest faculties have been stimulated to the highest degree, are not wiped out in a few centuries of struggle by the few among the people who desire reform. As true reform means growth, those who have reached a higher stage of development can only point the way to others--they are powerless to effect changes for which the ma.s.ses are unprepared.

Although through a partial revival of the ideas entertained by an ancient people the attempt was made by Zoroaster, Confucius, Gotama Buddha, Pythagoras, the Stoics, and other schools of philosophy, to elevate the ma.s.ses of the people, and, although the unadulterated teachings of the man called Christ were doubtless an outgrowth of this movement, yet the human mind had not, even as late as the appearance of this last-named reformer, sufficiently recovered from its thraldom to enable the ma.s.ses to grasp those higher truths which had been entertained by an earlier civilized people.

While there are doubtless many points of similarity between the religious system elaborated by Gotama Buddha and that enunciated by Christ, there is little likeness between the teachings of the former and those set forth by the Romish Church, or by Paul. Seven hundred years B.C., the Persians had grasped the idea that virtue is its own reward, and that every soul is responsible for its own growth. The fundamental doctrine of the Christian Church to-day is that of a vicarious atonement--a belief which takes away man's responsibility for his own misdeeds.

CHAPTER XIII. CHRISTIANITY A CONTINUATION OF PAGANISM.