The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris JastrowHopkins, Edward Washburn
Religion
The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow
Hopkins, Edward Washburn
India -- Religion
Not only in this scheme but also in other less formal declarations of
Buddha does one find the key-note of that which makes his method of
salvation different alike to that of Jain or Brahman. Knowledge is
wisdom to the Brahman; asceticism is wisdom to the Jain; purity and
love is the first wisdom to the Buddhist. We do not mean that the
Brahman does not reach theoretically a plane that puts him on the same
level with Buddhism. We have pointed out above a passage in the work
of the old law-giver Gautama which might almost have been
uttered by Gautama Buddha: "He that has performed all the forty
sacraments and has not the eight good qualities enters not into union
with Brahm[=a] nor into the heaven of Brahm[=a]; but he that has
performed only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good
qualities, enters into union with Brahm[=a] and into the heaven of
Brahm[=a]"; and these eight good qualities are mercy, forbearance,
freedom from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from
greed and from covetousness. Nevertheless with the Brahman this is
adventitious, with the Buddhist it is essential.
These Four Great Truths are given to the world first at Benares,
whither Buddha went in order to preach to the five ascetics that had
deserted him. His conversation with them shows us another side of
Buddhistic ethics. The five monks, when they saw Buddha approaching,
jeered, and said: "Here is the one that failed in his austerities."
Buddha tells them to acknowledge him as their master, and that he is
the Enlightened One. "How," they ask, "if you could not succeed in
becoming a Buddha by asceticism, can we suppose that you become one by
indulgence?" Buddha tells them that neither voluptuousness nor
asceticism is the road that leads to Nirv[=a]na; that he, Buddha, has
found the middle path between the two extremes, the note is struck
that is neither too high nor too low. The five monks are converted
when they hear the Four Great Truths and the Eightfold Path, and there
are now six holy ones on earth, Buddha and his five disciples.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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