“I promise solemnly before God with my whole heart to devote myself to the
study of the true doctrine and break wholly with the evil manners of the world
and show forth in my public and private life that I am truly united with
Christ.
“I promise that I in every respect will try so to educate myself that I can be
of use in the work of God on earth. I will with undivided heart devote myself
to the great work; to lead my brethren in the Buddhist Association forward to
the understanding of Christ as the only One, who gives completion to the
highest and profoundest ideas of Higher Buddhism.
“I promise that until my last hour I will work so that out of our Christian
Brotherhood there may grow forth a strong church of Christ among Buddhists. I
will not permit any evil thing to grow in my heart, which could divide the
brotherhood, but will always try to promote the progress of every member in the
knowledge of the holy obligations laid down in these vows and our
constitution.”
Such men ought, to make choice Christians.
_8. Christianity’s Constructive Values_
Buddhism in the course of its long history developed certain religious ideas
and values which we find in Christianity. It faced the fact of sin and placed
it in the heart. It diagnosed the fundamental instincts of men, sex-appetite,
will-to-achieve, and pugnacity. These must be overcome. It regards them as
delusions which must be eliminated. Christianity also deals with these
instincts. It is under no delusion as to their strength. There are certain
tendencies in Christianity which have tried to annihilate them. The central
tendency of Christianity, however, recognizing their power for good, seeks to
sublimate them and make them serve the individual and society. This attitude of
the two religions toward these instincts is fundamentally different. The
attitude of Christianity has been justified even in Buddhist lands where the
religious life of the people has followed the same line that Christianity
advocates.
Early Buddhism tried to dissolve man’s personality. Later Buddhism corrected
this and perhaps has appealed too much to the desire on the part of the
individual to enter a heaven which is merely a replica of the earth.
Christianity starts with a personal God and holds up before the believer the
goal of perfection for his own personality. It finds man without a self and
confers a real selfhood upon him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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