DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0304
Buddha & the Gospel of Buddhism
any case, the theory that all Buddhas teach the same
doctrine is of considerable interest, and it corresponds to
the Brahman view of the eternity of the Vedas, which are
heard rather than invented by successive teachers. This
belief in the timeless unity of truth, which is shared by
Indians of divers persuasions, is of much significance.
Without referring in greater detail to the mythological
and magical elements which enter into even the earliest
Buddha literature, it will suffice to point out that this
literature already includes, as partly indicated above, the
germs of most of those doctrines which are elaborated to
a far greater extent in the dogmas of the ‘ Great Raft.’
The development of that religion from the basis of early
Buddhist psychology is nearly parallel to the development
of mediaeval Hinduism on the basis of the pure idealism
of the Upanishads.
//. SYSTEM OF THE MAHA YANA
Le plus saint, c’est le plus amant.—Ruysbroeck
The Mahayana or Great Vessel is so-called by its adherents,
in contradistinction to the Hlnayana or little Vessel of
primitive Buddhism, because the former offers to all
beings in all worlds salvation by faith and love as well as
by knowledge, while the latter only avails to convey over
the rough sea of Becoming to the farther shore of Nibbana
those few strong souls who require no external spiritual
aid nor the consolation of Worship. The Hlnayana,
like the ‘ unshown way ’ of those who seek the ‘ nirguna
Brahman' is exceeding hard;1 whereas the burden of the
1 In the words of Behmen (Supersenszial Life, Dialogue 2): But, alas,
how hard, it is for the Will to sink into nothing, to attract nothing, to
imagine nothing.
226
any case, the theory that all Buddhas teach the same
doctrine is of considerable interest, and it corresponds to
the Brahman view of the eternity of the Vedas, which are
heard rather than invented by successive teachers. This
belief in the timeless unity of truth, which is shared by
Indians of divers persuasions, is of much significance.
Without referring in greater detail to the mythological
and magical elements which enter into even the earliest
Buddha literature, it will suffice to point out that this
literature already includes, as partly indicated above, the
germs of most of those doctrines which are elaborated to
a far greater extent in the dogmas of the ‘ Great Raft.’
The development of that religion from the basis of early
Buddhist psychology is nearly parallel to the development
of mediaeval Hinduism on the basis of the pure idealism
of the Upanishads.
//. SYSTEM OF THE MAHA YANA
Le plus saint, c’est le plus amant.—Ruysbroeck
The Mahayana or Great Vessel is so-called by its adherents,
in contradistinction to the Hlnayana or little Vessel of
primitive Buddhism, because the former offers to all
beings in all worlds salvation by faith and love as well as
by knowledge, while the latter only avails to convey over
the rough sea of Becoming to the farther shore of Nibbana
those few strong souls who require no external spiritual
aid nor the consolation of Worship. The Hlnayana,
like the ‘ unshown way ’ of those who seek the ‘ nirguna
Brahman' is exceeding hard;1 whereas the burden of the
1 In the words of Behmen (Supersenszial Life, Dialogue 2): But, alas,
how hard, it is for the Will to sink into nothing, to attract nothing, to
imagine nothing.
226