Part 8 (2/2)

176. Q. _How long did the Buddha remain near the Bo-tree?_

A. Forty-nine days.

177. Q. _What do we call the first discourse preached by the Buddha--that which he addressed to his five former companions?_

A. The _Dhammacakka-ppavattana sutta_--the Sutra of the Definition of the Rule of Doctrine.[5]

178. Q. _What subjects were treated by him in this discourse?_

A. The ”Four n.o.ble Truths,” and the ”n.o.ble Eightfold Path”. He condemned the extreme physical mortification of the ascetics, on the one hand, and the enjoyment of sensual pleasures on the other; pointing out and recommending the n.o.ble Eightfold Path as the Middle Path.

179. Q. _Did the Buddha hold with idol-wors.h.i.+p?_

A. He did not; he opposed it. The wors.h.i.+p of G.o.ds, demons, trees, etc., was condemned by the Buddha. External wors.h.i.+p is a fetter that one has to break if he is to advance higher.

180. Q. _But, do not Buddhists make reverence before the statue of the Buddha, his relics, and the monuments enshrining them?_

A. Yes, but not with the sentiment of the idolater.

181. Q. _What is the difference?_

A. Our Pagan brother not only takes his images as visible representations of his unseen G.o.d or G.o.ds, but the refined idolater, in wors.h.i.+pping, considers that the idol contains in its substance a portion of the all-pervading divinity.

182. Q. _What does the Buddhist think?_

A. The Buddhist reverences the Buddha's statue and the other things you have mentioned, only as mementoes of the greatest, wisest, most benevolent and compa.s.sionate man in this world-period (Kalpa). All races and people preserve, treasure up, and value the relics and mementoes of men and women who have been considered in any way great.

The Buddha, to us, seems more to be revered and beloved than any one else, by every human being who knows sorrow.

183. Q. _Has the Buddha himself given us something definite upon this subject?_

A. Certainly. In the _Maha Pari-Nirvana Sutta_ he says that emanc.i.p.ation is attainable only by leading the Holy life, according to the n.o.ble Eight-fold Path, not by eternal wors.h.i.+p (_amisa puja_), nor by adoration of himself, or of another, or of any image.

184. Q. _What was the Buddha's estimate of ceremonialism?_

A. From the beginning, he condemned the observance of ceremonies and other external practices, which only tend to increase our spiritual blindness and our clinging to mere lifeless forms.

185. Q. _What as to controversies?_

A. In numerous discourses he denounced this habit as most pernicious.

He prescribed penances for Bhikkhus who waste time and weaken their higher intuitions in wrangling over theories and metaphysical subtleties.

186. Q. _Are charms, incantations, the observance of lucky hours and devil-dancing a part of Buddhism?_

A. They are positively repugnant to its fundamental principles. They are the surviving relics of fetis.h.i.+sm and pantheistic and other foreign religions. In the _Brahmajata Sutta_ the Buddha has categorically described these and other superst.i.tions as Pagan, mean and spurious.[6]

187. Q. _What striking contrasts are there between Buddhism and what may be properly called ”religions”?_

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