Chapter 5 - Buddhism and Vedanta

(Part 1)

Since the time of the great revival of vedantic thought which began in the seventh century a.d. the religion of the Hindu has been re-established upon the rational and truly philosophical doctrines of Vedanta. Through the teachings of Vedanta, the spiritual aspirations for Divine communion of a permanent and immortal individual soul have once more found their way towards a satisfactory fulfilment. The Godless philosophy and the soulless psychology of Buddhism have been supplanted by that sublime philosophy which standing upon the rock of immutable Truth, declares that the whole phenomenal universe is covered by the all-pervading and omniscient Divinity, which dwells in every being, which is the Soul of our souls and in which we live, through which we exist, and without which there would be and could be nothing. That Divinity is called in Vedanta, Brahman, the essence of all existence, the infinite source of intelligence, the indestructible basis of life and consciousness, and the abode of eternal happiness, where there is neither sorrow, nor suffering, nor death. Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent soul-entity which we designate as doer, agent, thinker, and enjoyer, which is subject to birth and re-birth. According to Buddhistic psychology, there is not any being that is born, and that acts, thinks, enjoys and suffers, but birth, action, thought, enjoyment and suffering take place according to the inscrutable law of Nature. Man’s soul consists of sensations, impressions, ideas, memory-forms, thought-forms, and deed-forms which are not permanent. It reminds one of the similar conclusions, arrived at by the nihilistic Scotch philosopher, David Hume, of the eighteenth century.

Buddhism teaches the rebirth of character, thought-forms, and deed-forms according to the law of karma, but it denies reincarnation of the soul-entity or the being, who is the thinker and the actor, which has been so logically established by the Vedanta philosophy. Some Buddhist writers say that when a living being dies and a new being is produced according to the law of karma, there remains no permanent soul-entity or egoentity. They often compare the relation of one life to the next as that of the flame of a lamp to the flame of another, lighted by it. Vedanta refutes this idea of rebirth by saying that if there were no permanent soul-entity, the ever-changing impressions, ideas, etc. would never be held together in such a harmonious way. If there were no actor or sufferer, how could there be a permanent seeker after Nirvana or salvation from suffering, and where will be the identity of the man who suffers with the man who is dead, if there is no soul?

The nihilistic teachings of Buddhism can be summed up in four lines,

Misery only doth exist, none miserable.
No doer is there; naught save the deed is found.
Nirvana is, but not the man who seeks it.
The path exists, but not the traveller on it.

Vedanta, on the contrary, teaches that the soul or ego (jivatman) is the doer, actor, thinker, and sufferer, as well as seeker after peace and bliss. It is like the permanent thread which connects the thought-forms, memory forms, sensations, ideas, and feelings, and harmoniously brings them together, and keeps them in their proper places. It is the same ego that suffers, and seeks also the cessation of sorrow and misery. It is the same individual soul that appears as born, continues to exist after death, and reincarnates in another form. This is the most vital point, in which Vedanta differs from Buddhism. Furthermore, Vedanta teaches that the individual ego, being a reflection or image of the universal Spirit, is eternal, immortal, unchangeable, and divine, nay, is one with Brahman, the supreme Being of the universe. Buddhism denies the reality of the universe, and calls it the result of illusion, while Vedanta teaches that the reality of the universe is that of absolute Brahman, which is the Soul of our souls.

Comparing with Vedanta, Buddhism is pessimistic. It sees evil in everything, and teaches that sooner this evil ceases to exist, it is better for us all, while Vedanta tells us to see Divinity or the absolute and unchangeable Reality in everything and everywhere. When this realization comes through the knowledge of our Divine nature, the soul attains to Nirvana, because then it rises above all delusions, sorrow, suffering, disease, and death, transcending the law of karma and reincarnation, and remains as perfect and one with the divine Being, the Brahman, forever.

(Part 2)

The popular opinion of this country and the popular action of the people are that the prevailing religion in India is Buddhism and the spiritual teachers are the Buddhist priests, and what they teach can be nothing but Buddhism. As an illustration of this mistaken notion, allow me to draw your attention to the statement, made by the reporters of my last Sunday’s lecture and published in the daily papers that I was a Buddhist and that the Vedanta Society was devoted to the study of Buddhism, both of which statements were erroneous. Some of the Oriental scholars, after studying about the Buddhistic Christ, have arrived at this conclusion that before the time of the founder of Buddhism, India was submerged in the deep sea of ignorance and superstition, and Buddha, the saviour of India, came as the deliverer, and before his advent India had neither ethics, nor religion, nor science, nor philosophy; and whatever India has gotten today, is the gift of Buddha and his followers.

Such opinions are unfounded and erroneous as the opinions of Christian missionaries who say that India had no science, no philosophy, and no ethics or religion, before the Christian missionaries went to that country, and whatever she has gotten, she has had from the followers of Christianity. Such people often forget that the civilization of India is the most ancient civilization of the world; that the inhabitants of that ancient country were highly civilized, when the other nations of Europe and Asia were barbarous and savage. But they often forget that India had developed a perfect system of ethics long before Moses received the ten commandments on the Mount Sinai. No other country can boast of such perfect systems of thoughts or ideas as India possessed from the vedic period from 2000 b.c. down the time, and when Buddha appeared in the 6th century b.c., and when he laid down that ancient ethical creed as the foundation of the structure of his great religion which has ever since been known in the civilized world by the name of Buddhism. As in ethics, so in the various schools of philisophy, India from prehistoric ages excelled in philosophy and religion.

Those who heard my lecture on Krishna, the Hindu Christ and his teachings, have already learned that in ancient India, before the beginning of the Christian era, Krishna preached the highest ethical principle of the most scientific and philosophical religion of Vedanta, which existed long before his advent and popularised ethics amongst the masses, and afterward became one of the greatest saviours of mankind. The teachings of Krishna which have been handed down to us in the form of Bhagavad Gita, or the Song Celestial, as Sir E. Arnold calls it, show how lofty and sublime were the ethical and spiritual ideals of Vedanta, and this religion of Vedanta was at the foundation of the religion of the Hindus at that time, when Buddha appeared in the 6th century b.c.

Born and brought up as as a Hindu, Buddha imbibed the highest ethical and spiritual ideas, and received a very good education in the different branches of science and philosophy which existed at that time in India. As Krishna taught the fundamental ethics of Vedanta and preached charity, truthfulness, benevolence, forbearance, chastity, self-restraint, control of passion, renunciation, and disinterested love for humanity, nay, for all living creatures, so did Buddha preached these same ethical truths amongst his disciples and followers, and he impressed upon the minds of his disciples the beautiful and most impressive stories and parables. It is curious to note that some of these parables and stories that Buddha preached, have a close resemblance to the parables and stories which were afterward preached by Jesus the Christ. The parables of the prodi -gal son, the sower, and the marriage feast, were spoken of by Buddha five centuries before they were heard of in Palestine.

According to the ancient laws which existed before the time of Buddha, murder, theft, falsehood, and cruelty were considered as the most heinous crimes. Against these crimes, Buddha prescribed five prohibitary commandments: (a) do not kill any living creature, (b) do not take what is not given unto you, (c) do not speak falsehood, (d) do not drink intoxicating drinks, (e) do not commit cruelty, etc. He taught his disciples to obey and honour their parents, and to follow an honourable trade and profession, the duties and relations of chindren [children?] to parents, to husbands and wives, to friends and companions, to masters and servants, and to teachers and pupils, and these teachings of Buddha were in perfect harmony with the injunctions of the ethics of Vedanta which existed before his appearance.

Buddha taught that hatred is never conquered by haired,.but by love, and this is an eternal law. Let one overcome anger by love, evil by good, avarice by generosity, and lie by truth. Such was the religion of love and benevolence, taught and preached by Buddha nearly five centuries before the Christian era. ‘The religion of Buddha was like the ancient laws of the ascetic life of the Hindus, based upon self-culture and self-restraint.

At the time of his departure and death, Buddha recapitulated the entire system of his ethics under the seven heads, which were regarded as noble in the Buddhist religion.

(1) First, there are four great meditations, and those meditations are meditation on the body, of sensations, of ideas, and of reason.

(2) Second, there are four great struggles to overcome and control the sinful states that have arisen, the struggle to be good and the struggle to increase godliness.

(3) Third, there is the four-fold road to saintliness, by which saintly powers can be acquired, and they are right will, right exertion, preparation, and investigation, and these are the methods by which saintly powers can be obtained.

(4) Four, the five moral powers.

(5) Five, energy, faith, investigation, and wisdom.

(6) Six, the seven kinds of wisdom, energy, will, faith, investigation, contemplation, and sincerity.

And (7) seven, the noble eightfold path which I will describe.

After investigation we find that these seven jewels of Buddhist law are also included in the eight steps{GL_NOTE::} of Raja Yoga, practised by the students of Vedanta, and these eight steps can be shown as more scientific and more easily accomplished than the seven jewels of the Buddhist law. Furthermore, the religion of Buddha is based upon the four noble truths, and these noble truths will lead to Nirvana, the complete cessation of sorrow, suffering, disease, and death. The first noble truth is the existence of sorrow and suffering in this world. Buddha said: “Birth is painful, growth is sorrowful, decay is attended with pain, and death is sorrowful; sad it is to be joined with that which we do not like; sadder still is the separation from that which we love; and saddest in the craving for that which cannot be obtained. The cause of this sorrow was the second noble truth”. Buddha said: “The cause of sorrow and suffering is lust and desire; the surrounding world affects our sensations, and produces a craving desire which clamours for instant satisfaction. The desire for the enjoyment of the self entangles us in a net of sorrow; pleasures are the bait and the result is pain”.

The third noble truth is the cessation of sorrow and suffering, which is called Nirvana. He who has conquered self, has conquered lust and desire. The conquest of self makes one free from lust and desire. The flame of lust ceases to exist and finds no material to feed upon, and that is meant by Nirvana, the extinction of that fire of lust and desire. The fourth noble truth is the eight-fold path which leads to that Nirvana. First is the right comprehension, right resolution, right speech, right acts, (right way of earning a livelihood), right thoughts, and right state of peaceful mind. This is the dharma, this is the truth, and this is the religion, according to Buddha.

Buddha preached these four noble truths till his 80th year, when he passed away. Buddha did not preach God, nor did he discuss the nature of the Atta or Atman, the Soul entity. He did not care for God and His existence. He accepted the ancient law of karma and reincarnation which existed in India, and he preached that he who cannot attain to Nirvana in this life, would be subject to future rebirths. But these four noble truths were not introduced by Buddha for the first time, but it can be shown that they existed in India long before his advent. At least two centuries before Buddha, the founder of the Sankhya school of philosophy amongst the Hindus, Kapila appeared in India, and inculcated the same truths in the same manner, showing that there is sorrow, suffering, and misery in this world, tracing their causes to lust and desire, and describing the deliverance from them as the highest ideal of life, and ultimately pointing out the path which leads to that deliverance. Therefore it is justly said by some of the Western schools that Buddhism was nothing but the outgrowth of the thoughts which existed in India centuries before the birth of Buddha.

It has already been said that Kapila denied the existence of a personal God, who can be said to be the Creator and Governor of the universe, and he explained the creation or evolution through the process of eternal progress. Buddhism is also based upon the theory of evolution, and that theory of evolution has been the foundation of the Vedanta philosophy and the vedantic religion. Buddha was the greatest preacher and reformer of his time. But he rejected the authority of the Vedas, denounced animal sacrifices as well as the worship of God and prayers as useless and unnecessary. He also avoided all metaphysical discussions and philosophical subjects, and instructed his followers to walk in the path of righteousness, gaining control over their passions and desires, and thus becoming free from the law of karma, and reaching the ultimate goal of Nirvana, the state of cessation of sorrow, suffering, disease, and death. When Buddha was asked by his disciples: ‘What is that state of Nirvana like, whether it is a positive or negative state’, he said to them a state, where there is neither earth nor water, neither light nor air, neither the infinity of space nor the infinity of reason, neither absolute quiet nor the co-extinction of perception and non-perception, neither this world nor that, neither the sun nor the moon, neither that state, where there is coming nor going or standing, and neither birth nor non-birth, but it is without sensation, and that is the end of sorrow and suffering, and that is Nirvana.

But ordinary minds cannot grasp what Buddha ment [meant?] by Nirvana. The vast intellect and the developed understanding of a philosopher failed to comprehend or appreciate its real meaning, and the minds of his disciples, even those who were most advanced, were staggered and confused many a time in their attempts to grasp a clear conception of what Buddha meant by Nirvana. Some of them thought that it must be a state of absolute negation, whereas others believed it to be a state of total annihilation of the self and of the universe.

After the death of Buddha and his direct disciples, the difficulty of understanding the true meaning of Nirvana was felt more than ever before, and many did not know what was the meaning of that word, Nirvana. It has been said before that four different schools of philosophy arose at that time amongst the Buddhists. The first was that of absolute annihilism, and the followers of it denied the existence of everything, and they interpreted Nirvana to be the realization of the absolute emptiness or nothingness of the world, which is described as the blissful nothingness and extinction, and is considered to be the highest ideal and aim of life.

The other three schools of the Buddhist philosophy believed that by Nirvana Buddha meant absolute annihilation of the Atta or Self as well as of the universe, and is of the permanent abiding by the abstract thought in itself. These Buddhists denied the existence of soul as an entity, and they explained that the soul as an entity is an emotion or a bundle of sensations. But there was such thing as a soul. Here we must not forget that Buddha kept perfect silence about the question, whether or not the individual soul was permanent, and that silence created more confusion in the minds of his disciples and followers, and gave them ample opportunity to indulge in all kinds of guess-work, and even today it is not decided whether or not Buddha meant by Nirvana a positive or a negative state. Amongst the descendents themselves there is a question, whether Buddha meant by Nirvana a state, where one lives eternally, or which is a negation of all existence.

Storms of agnosticism and atheism prevailed in India about six centuries after Christ, and these storms swept away from the minds of the people all ideas of the supreme Being which is called the Creator and Ruler of all phenomena as well as the idea of an internal and indestructible soul entity who is the knower and worker, who is the sufferer and enjoyer, who exists after death and reincarnates to reap the result of his works in future births, and who attains to a positive state of bliss and happiness, and that ultimately produced a tremendous wave in the ocean of religious thoughts of India which eventually resulted in the revival of the more scientific and metaphysical system of Vedanta. People from that time began to feel that they had found something which they could depend upon, and that revival was caused by the most wonderful logical and rational authoritative Acharya like Sankar, who was the greatest exponent and commentator of the Vedanta philosophy. He lived in the seventh century after Christ, and he is considered in India as the embodiment of divine wisdom, or the wisdom personified, as it were. He was a man of true logic and reason, and his reasoning and arguments have been appreciated and accepted by the modern philosophers like Schopenhauer, Deussen, and others. He has been spoken highly of by the scholars like Max Müller and others. It was he who gave a death-blow to Buddhism, by pointing out errors in the Godless philosophy and the soulless psychology of Buddhism. Sankar said that Vedanta is the sublime philosophy which, standing upon the rock of eternal truth where surges all beginning and end of this phenomenal universe, is the one supreme Being who is the Divinity, in which we live, and without which there would be and could be nothing, and that supreme Being or Deity is called in Vedanta, the Brahman, the essence of all existence, the source of all intelligence, and the indestructible basis of life and consciousness.

From that time of the revival of Vedanta, Buddhism slowly disappeared from the land of its birth, and took refuge in lands of Tibet, China, Japan, Burma and in other places, where they had neither philosophy, nor religion. Through the teachings of Vedanta the spiritual aspirations of the immortal individual souls for the communion with Divinity were once more established, and they found a proper way for a satisfactory solution. It was through the help of Sankaracharya that India was once more saved from the demoralisation and spiritual degradation which were brought about by the corrupted agnosticism, atheism, and dualism of the Buddhist philosophers. Buddhism denied the existence of a soul entity, whom we may designate as the agent of thinker, the actor, the witness, and the enjoyer, which is said to be born and that dies. In fact, the psychology’ of Buddhism is based upon the idea that the soul of a man consists of sensations, ideas, impressions, thought forms, and deed forms; and there is no actor, no knower, and no being that is born, but still there are actions, thoughts, ideas, impressions of birth and death which take place. This conclusion reminds us of the conclusion arrived at by the sceptical philosopher David Hume in the eighteenth century after Christ. Buddhism teaches that there is rebirth, but there is no permanent soul entity. In fact, the Buddhists deny the theory of reincarnation of a soul entity which is born, performs works, suffers and enjoys, and dies, and so they say that when a living being dies, another being is produced according to karma or deeds of the being who is dead; and they often compare the relation of one life to the next as the relation of a flame from which another flame is lighted. The relation of a flame to another is just the same as the relation which exists between the dead man and the reborn. It has been said that Buddha denied the doctrine of reincarnation which has been so well established by Vedanta. But Vedanta refutes the Buddhistic idea of rebirth, by pointing out the falacy that if there were no permanent soul entity, there could never be any satisfactory relation between the person who is dead and the person who is born again, and there would be no identity between the person who is enchained in delusion and the person who has reached salvation after removing delusion. How can there be a flame’s identity with a living being, when we know that these sensations and ideas, thought forms and deed forms are constantly changing, who would hold them together, if there were no soul entity, and who would keep them in their proper places, if there were no permanent individual ego.

The dualistic teachings of Buddhism can be summed up as stated before: “Misery only doth exist but none miserable, no doer there is, nought save the deed is found, Nirvana is but not the man who seeks it, the path exists but not the traveller on it”. The sufferer is not the same person as the sufferer during his life-time. While Vedanta teaches that there is a permanent soul entity which we may call the ‘Over Soul’, the universal thinker and the enjoyer. And there is an identity, i.e. the person who suffers and the person who seeks peace and happiness are one and the same as the Atman, because the Atman is like the thread which permanently connects the thought forms, deed forms, and sensations and ideas, and everything. It brings them together in a harmonious way, and keeps them together in their places. It is the immortal individual soul which suffers today, and which will cease from suffering tomorrow. It is the same individual which appears as born today, which continues to exist after death, and which attains to Nirvana, according to Vedanta, by rising above he plane of suffering, disease and death, by transcending the law of karma and reincarnation, and by entering into the abode of Brahman, the eternal source of happiness. Furthermore, Vedanta teaches that each individual soul entity is the reflection of that one supreme universal Spirit; and it is immortal, indestructible and everlasting. This is one of the most vital points, where Vedanta differs from Buddhism. Buddhism denies the existence of a soul entity, while Vedanta admits the existence of the soul which is permanent. Buddha denies the reality of the universe, and calls it the result of emotion or sensation, while Vedanta teaches that the reality of the universe is the one eternal and absolute Being who is the Soul of our souls. In this sense, Buddhism is pessimistic, as it sees evil and suffering in everything, and tells us that sooner the suffering ceases, the better it is for us all; while Vedanta teaches that the whole universe is pervaded by the almighty Being, and tells us to realize this Being in everything, and not to see evil in everything, and this is another point in which Vedanta differs from Buddhism. Vedanta teaches to see God in all living creatures, and this realization leads the individual soul to the attainment of perfection or God-consciousness. This attainment of absolute bliss and happiness lasts forever, and it lifts the individual soul above the mundane existence, and makes it commune with the supreme Spirit forever.

Vedanta admits the existence of a personal God, who is known as the cosmic ego, or the all-pervading deity, or the First-born Lord of the universe. Although He is called phenomenal, still we may worship Him, may pray to Him, and may love Him. He responds to our sincere prayers, love and devotion. He is as real as the personal God of any other religion. The dualistic Vedanta teaches that each individual soul is the child of immortality, immortal bliss, and everlasting truth. The qualified non-dualistic Vedanta teaches that each individual soul has emanated from that supreme Being, as a spark emanates from a huge bonfire, and that each individual soul is a part and parcel of God who is the one stupendous whole, and that each individual soul is one with God on the highest plane, and is divine, perfect, immortal, and everlasting.

Although the ethics of Buddhism are the same as the highest ethics of Vedanta, and, consequently, are identical with the ethics of religion of Vedanta, still in Buddhism, we do not find a satisfactory explanation of that universal ethical law which is expressed by all the spiritual teachers of the world: ‘love thy neighbour as thyself. In Buddhism, we do not find a satisfactory explanation of this ethical law, such as we find in Vedanta. Buddhism denies the existence of a soul entity, while, in Vedanta, we find a most satisfactory explanation which is never given by any one in any other country. Why should we love our neighbour as ourselves is not explained in the Bible, but we get it in Vedanta. Vedanta says that we are one with our neighbour in spirit, and true spirit in you is the true self of your neighbour, and therefore, you should love him as you love your own self.

Thus we see the vast difference exists between the tenets of Buddhism and the teachings of Vedanta. So, those who believe that a student of Vedanta is a Buddhist, or the same as a student of Buddhism, are mistaken. Sometimes Buddhism has become so narrow and limited in its scope that its followers do not accept anything which is not preached by Buddha or his direct disciples. The cause of this faith is that it is built around the personality of Buddha. Although Buddha himself denied the existence of a personal God, still his followers could not deny it, but had to worship Buddha as the celestial Buddha, or the perfect Buddha, or the Buddha of infinite light and wisdom.

So we see that Buddhism, like Christianity, is built around the personality of its teacher. As Christianity is built around the personality of Jesus the Christ, so it is with Buddhism. But Vedanta is not built around the personality of anybody. It had no founder, but it existed from time immemorial, and has been handed down to us just as universal knowledge. So the student of Vedanta is neither a Buddhist, nor a Hindu, nor a Christian, and nor a Mohammedan, but yet he is one with all. He does not belong to any sect or creed, and yet he believes in all the saviours of the world, in all the ethical laws and spiritual teachings that have been given by the different teachers of different times.

Again there is one point, in which the student of Vedanta excels the followers of all the other sectarian religions. As for example, when a student of Vedanta hears of Krishna, he accepts him as the saviour of mankind, and he accepts his teachings, and life. In truth, he appears as the true follower of Krishna. So when he speaks of Buddha, he is one with the Buddhists for the time being, because he accepts Buddha as the saviour of mankind, and accepts his teachings also. When he speaks of Christ, he accepts Christ and his teachings, and he is also like a follower of Christ, because he has the same love and reverence for Christ as his true follower, without having narrowness, bigotry and fanaticism. No other religion gives such freedom to its devotees and votaries, as does Vedanta acknowledge all the saviours of the world, because it accepts their teachings, and follows their paths, and it is for this reason a student of Vedanta is called a follower of a universal religion which has its scope as wide as the heaven, and so broad in its principles as to accept all the phases of religion that exist in the world.