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Page 3
EDITOR.]
* * * * *
ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.--A Review.
By Lucius H. Buckingham, Ph.D.
Those who have read Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism will probably agree on
one point, namely: that, whether the statements of the book be true or
false, the book, as a whole, is a great stimulant of thought. The
European world has looked upon Indian philosophy as mere dreams, idle
speculations, built only on a foundation of metaphysical subtleties.
Here comes a book which, going down to the root of the whole matter,
claims that, instead of resting on mere imaginations, this whole
structure of Buddhistic philosophy has, as its cornerstone, certain
facts which have been preserved from the wrecks of a time earlier than
that which our grandfathers ascribe to the creation of the world, and
handed down without interruption from eras of civilization of which the
earth at present does not retain even the ruins. Such a claim of
antiquity rouses an interest in our minds, were it only for its
stupendous contempt of common belief.
There is one direction in which the book so harmonizes with one's
speculations that it makes upon us a very peculiar impression. It
carries out the theory of human development, physical and metaphysical.
Darwin's idea of the origin of the human animal, in connection with the
doctrine of the survival of the fittest, might, if one had the time to
make it all out, be shown to be the sufficient basis for a belief in,
and a logical ground for anticipating, the progress of man toward moral
and spiritual perfection. A healthy man is an optimist. Pessimism is the
product of dyspepsia; and all the intermediate phases of philosophy come
from some want of normal brain-action. Following out the Darwinian
theory,--supported as it seems to be by the facts,--one must believe
that the human race as a whole is improving in bodily development; that
the results of what we call civilization are, increase of symmetry in
the growth of the human body, diminution of disease, greater perfection
in the power of the senses, in short, a gradual progress toward a
healthy body. Now, a healthy body brings with it a healthy mind. The two
cannot be separated. Whatever brings the one will bring the other;
whatever impairs the one will impair the other. A sound mind must bring,
in time, a sound moral nature; and all, together, will tend toward the
perfection of humanity in the development of his spiritual affinities.
Such has been, roughly sketched, my belief regarding the progress of
man. It has left all the men of the past ages, all of the present time,
all of many generations yet to come, in a condition, which, compared
with that which I try to foresee, must be called very immature. This has
never been a stumbling-block to me; for I hold that the Lord understands
his own work, the end from the beginning; and that, if "order is
heaven's first law," there is a place for every soul that is in it,
and a possible satisfaction of the desires of every one. Dr. Clarke
expresses the thought that, however much any being may have gone astray,
the soul reconciled at last to God, though it can never undo the past,
or be at that point it might have reached, will yet be perfectly content
with its place in the universe, and as much blessed as the archangels.
That consideration has satisfied my mind when I contemplated humanity,
seeming to stop so far short of its perfection. My regrets--if I can use
such a term--came, as I believed, out of my ignorance.
Now comes a book which claims to give us the key of the whole problem of
human destiny--a book containing some assertions regarding occult
science, belief in which must remain suspended in our minds, and some
points in cosmogony which conflict with our Christian convictions--yet a
book making statements about human history which, though in the highest
degree startling, are not contradicted by anything we know of the past,
but are rather an explanation of some of its dark passages--a book
developing a system of human growth which cannot be disproved and which
makes plain some of the riddles of destiny.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the book is its tremendous
assumption. "All that have hitherto written on this subject have been
only half-taught. They have not been admitted to the real inner
doctrine. Here is the first putting-forth, to the world, of the real
teaching, as the Buddhists present it to those who have been initiated
into occult science." Such is, in substance, the author's claim. We may
believe just as much of this as we can. I, for my part, knowing nothing
about the matter, choose, just now, and for our purpose, to assume that
the doctrines of Esoteric Buddhism are what Sinnett says they are,
because they suggest to my mind so many attractive avenues for my
imagination to wander in.
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