Note 27 — NOTES, AUTHORITIES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Footnote 27:

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Davids's Buddhism, p. 206. Other illustrations of the growth of the dogmas of this school of Buddhism we select from Brian Hodgson's writings.

1. The line of division between God and man, and between gods and man, was removed by Buddhism.

"Genuine Buddhism never seems to contemplate any measures of acceptance with the deity; but, overleaping the barrier between finite and infinite mind, urges its followers to aspire by their own efforts to that divine perfectibility of which it teaches that man is capable, and by attaining which man becomes God—and thus is explained both the quiescence of the imaginary celestial, and the plenary omnipotence of the real Manushi Buddhas—thus, too, we must account for the fact that genuine Buddhism has no priesthood; the saint despises the priest; the saint scorns the aid of mediators, whether on earth or in heaven; 'conquer (exclaims the adept or Buddha to the novice or BodhiSattwa)—conquer the importunities of the body, urge your mind to the meditation of abstraction, and you shall, in time, discover the great secret (Sunyata) of nature: know this, and you become, on the instant, whatever priests have feigned of Godhead—you become identified with Prajna, the sum of all the power and all the wisdom which sustain and govern the world, and which, as they are manifested out of matter, must belong solely to matter; not indeed in the gross and palpable state of pravritti, but in the archetypal and pure state of nirvritti. Put off, therefore, the vile, pravrittika necessities of the body, and the no less vile affections of the mind (Tapas); urge your thought into pure abstraction (Dhyana), and then, as assuredly you can, so assuredly you shall, attain to the wisdom of a Buddha (Bodhijnana), and become associated with the eternal unity and rest of nirvritti.'"—The Phoenix, Vol. I., p. 194.

2. A specimen of "esoteric" and "exoteric" Buddhism;—the Buddha Tatkagata.

"And as the wisdom of man is, in its origin, but an effluence of the Supreme wisdom (Prajná) of nature, so is it perfected by a refluence to its source, but without loss of individuality; whence Prajna is feigned in the exoteric system to be both the mother and the wife of all the Buddhas, 'janani sarva Buddkánám,' and 'Jina-sundary;' for the efflux is typified by a birth, and the reflux by a marriage.

"The Buddha is the adept in the wisdom of Buddhism (Bodhijnána) whose first duty, so long as he remains on earth, is to communicate his wisdom to those who are willing to receive it. These willing learners are the 'Bodhisattwas,' so called from their hearts being inclined to the wisdom of Buddhism, and 'Sanghas,' from their companionship with one another, and with their Buddha or teacher, in the Viháras or coenobitical establishments."

"And such is the esoteric interpretation of the third (and inferior) member of the Prajniki Triad. The Bodhisattwa or Sangha continues to be such until he has surmounted the very last grade of that vast and laborious ascent by which he is instructed that he can 'scale the heavens,' and pluck immortal wisdom from its resplendent source: which achievement performed, he becomes a Buddha, that is, an Omniscient Being, and a Tathágata—a title implying the accomplishment of that gradual increase in wisdom by which man becomes immortal or ceases to be subject to transmigration."—The Phoenix, Vol. I., pp. 194, 195.

3. Is God all, or is all God?

"What that grand secret, that ultimate truth, that single reality, is, whether all is God, or God is all, seems to be the sole proposition of the oriental philosophic religionists, who have all alike sought to discover it by taking the high priori road. That God is all, appears to be the prevalent dogmatic determination of the Brahmanists; that all is God, the preferential but sceptical solution of the Buddhists; and, in a large view, I believe it would be difficult to indicate any further essential difference between their theoretic systems, both, as I conceive, the unquestionable growth of the Indian soil, and both founded upon transcendental speculation, conducted in the very same style and manner."—The Phoenix, Vol. II., p. 45.

4. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

"In a philosophical light, the precedence of Buddha or of Dharma indicates the theistic or atheistic school. With the former, Buddha is intellectual essence, the efficient cause of all, and underived. Dharma is material essence, the plastic cause, and underived, a co-equal biunity with Buddha; or else the plastic cause, as before, but dependent and derived from Buddha. Sangha is derived from, and compounded of, Buddha, and Dharma, is their collective energy in the state of action; the immediate operative cause of creation, its type or its agent. With the latter or atheistic schools, Dharma is Diva natura, matter as the sole entity, invested with intrinsic activity and intelligence, the efficient and material cause of all.

"Buddha is derivative from Dharma, is the active and intelligent force of nature, first put off from it and then operating upon it. Sangha is the result of that operation; is embryotic creation, the type and sum of all specific forms, which are spontaneously evolved from the union of Buddha with Dharma."—The Phoenix, Vol. II., p. 12.

5. The mantra or sacred sentence best known in the Buddhadom and abroad.

"Amitábha is the fourth Dhyani or celestial Budda: Padma-pani his Æon and executive minister. Padma-pani is the praesens Divus and creator of the existing system of worlds. Hence his identification with the third member of the Triad. He is figured as a graceful youth, erect, and bearing in either hand a lotos and a jewel. The last circumstance explains the meaning of the celebrated Shadakshári Mantra, or six-lettered invocation of him, viz., Om! Manipadme hom! of which so many corrupt versions and more corrupt interpretations have appeared from Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian, and other sources. The mantra in question is one of three, addressed to the several members of the Triad. 1. Om sarva vidye hom. 2. Om Prajnáye hom. 3. Om mani-padme hom. 1. The mystic triform Deity is in the all-wise (Buddha). 2. The mystic triform Deity is in Prajna (Dharma). 3. The mystic triform Deity is in him of the jewel and lotos (Sangha). But the praesens Divus, whether he be Augustus or Padma-pani, is everything with the many. Hence the notoriety of this mantra, whilst the others are hardly ever heard of, and have thus remained unknown to our travellers."—The Phoenix, Vol. II., p. 64.