[p. v]
The following brief summary of some points essential to a right understanding of Buddhism may prove of use to those who are not familiar with the Sacred Books of the Buddhists which have been made accessible to the Western world by translation.
The Three Conclusions.
(I)
That all the constituents of being are transitory.
(II)
That all the constituents of being are misery.
(III)
That all the elements of being are lacking in an Ego.[1]
The only ideal.
And this ideal is to be reached by emancipation from Desire.
Salvation.
Man must be awake, strenuous, ardent.
The meditative life of the recluse is no more effective p. vi than the ordinary life of the wordly man, unless it is exclusively devoted to the attainment of Enlightenment.
“To commit no evil, to do good,”
“To purify the heart, this is the teaching of the Perfect One,” is one of the most solemn texts in use by Buddhists.
Nirvâna
A First Cause.
Psychology.
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”
“In this little fathom-long mortal frame with its thinkings and its notions, I declare, is the world.”
The Four Unthinkables.
(I)
The origin of matter.
(II)
The abnormal powers acquired by suppression of the molecular activities of the brain.
(III)
The omniscience of the Enlightened One.
(IV)
The operation of Karma.
Existence after death.
The only continuity of identity of which we have any experience is the transition of the effects of the words, deeds and thoughts of an individual (by their embodiment in other sentient beings) to future generations.
Karma.
This process forms an essential part of the doctrine of Karma and tends to make the general idea of the perpetuation of character without identity of substance appear reasonable. The influences shed by one who has not stamped out desire for existence go, by the action of Karma, to produce in others that ‘clinging to existence’ which obstructs the way to deliverance from embodiment.[2]
In the case of the perfected saint, the Arahat, that particular function of Karma which produces this ‘clinging to existence’ ceases, because he has detached himself from all conditions good and bad.[3] Karma in him has lost its fertilizing power and has become barren. Hence the perfected saint is said to be reborn no more.
Evolution.
The Cosmos.
Hell and Heaven.
8, Drummond Place, D. M. S. Edinburgh.
“Buddha made a stupendous and astonishing effort to sever the growth of philosophic and religious thought from Aristoteleian substantialism or animism” (Manual of Buddhist Psychological Ethics). Caroline Rhys Davids. ↩︎
“According to Buddhist belief there is no propagation of species. Life in indivisible; hence the child is no relation to its parents, as the wandering individual finds its family through its own inherent Karma.” (L. A. Waddell. J. R. A. S. April 94) ↩︎
“And, ye Brethren, learn by the parable of the raft ye must put away good conditions, let alone bad.” With reference to this saying of the Buddha, Mrs. Rhys Davids remarks in the Preface to her Manual of Buddhist Psychological Ethics (P. XCIV); “The good is as a raft bearing one across the stream of danger. It is not easy for us, who have learnt from Plato to call our Absolute the good, and our ideal a Summum Bonum, to sympathize really with this moral standpoint.” ↩︎