|
Then they seized upon an image of the Enemy of Man--made of some
sort of
brittle paste--which had been placed at the foot of one of the
masts.
This they broke in pieces and scattered, and the oldest men among
the
spectators, rising from their places, picked up the fragments
which
they handed to the skeletons--an action supposed to signify that
they
would soon be ready to join the bony crew in the cemetery.
* * * * *
The chief lama, approaching me,
tendered an invitation to accompany him
to the principal terrace and partake
of the festal "tchang"; which I
accepted with pleasure, for my head was dizzy
from the long spectacle.
We crossed the court and climbed a
staircase--obstructed with
prayer-wheels, as usual--passed two rooms where
there were many images
of gods, and came out upon the terrace, where I seated
myself upon a
bench opposite the venerable lama, whose eyes sparkled with
spirit.
Three lamas brought pitchers of tchang, which they poured into
small
copper cups, that were offered first to the chief lama, then to me
and
my servants.
"Did you enjoy our little festival?" the lama asked
me.
"I found it very enjoyable and am still impressed by the spectacle
I
have witnessed. But, to tell the truth, I never suspected for a
moment
that Buddhism, in these religious ceremonies, could display such
a
visible, not to say noisy, exterior form."
"There is no religion,
the ceremonies of which are not surrounded with
more theatrical forms," the
lama answered. "This is a ritualistic phase
which does not by any means
violate the fundamental principles of
Buddhism. It is a practical means for
maintaining in the ignorant mass
obedience to and love for the one Creator,
just as a child is beguiled
by toys to do the will of its parents. The
ignorant mass is the child of
The Father."
"But what is the meaning,"
I said to him, "of all those masks, costumes,
bells, dances, and, generally,
of this entire performance, which seems
to be executed after a prescribed
programme?"
"We have many similar festivals in the year," answered the
lama, "and we
arrange particular ones to represent 'mysteries,' susceptible
of
pantomimic presentation, in which each actor is allowed
considerable
latitude of action, in the movements and jests he likes,
conforming,
nevertheless, to the circumstances and to the leading idea.
Our
mysteries are simply pantomimes calculated to show the
veneration
offered to the gods, which veneration sustains and cheers the soul
of
man, who is prone to anxious contemplation of inevitable death and
the
life to come. The actors receive the dresses from the cloister and
they
play according to general indications, which leave them much liberty
of
individual action. The general effect produced is, no doubt,
very
beautiful, but it is a matter for the spectators themselves to
divine
the signification of one or another action. You, too, have
recourse
sometimes to similar devices, which, however, do not in the
least
violate the principle of monotheism."
"Pardon me," I remarked,
"but this multitude of idols with which your
gonpas abound, is a flagrant
violation of that principle."
"As I have told you," replied the lama to
my interruption, "man will
always be in childhood. He sees and feels the
grandeur of nature and
understands everything presented to his senses, but he
neither sees nor
divines the Great Soul which created and animates all
things. Man has
always sought for tangible things. It was not possible for
him to
believe long in that which escaped his material senses. He has
racked
his brain for any means for contemplating the Creator; has endeavored
to
enter into direct relations with him who has done him so much good,
and
also, as he erroneously believes, so much evil. For this reason he
began
to adore every phase of nature from which he received benefits. We see
a
striking example of this in the ancient Egyptians, who adored
animals,
trees, stones, the winds and the rain. Other peoples, who were
more
sunk in ignorance, seeing that the results of the wind were not
always
beneficent, and that the rain did not inevitably bring good
harvests,
and that the animals were not willingly subservient to man, began
to
seek for direct intermediaries between themselves and the
great
mysterious and unfathomable power of the Creator. Therefore they
made
for themselves idols, which they regarded as indifferent to
things
concerning them, but to whose interposition in their behalf, they
might
always recur. From remotest antiquity to our own days, man was
ever
inclined only to tangible realities.
"While seeking a route to
lead their feet to the Creator, the Assyrians
turned their eyes toward the
stars, which they contemplated without the
power of attaining them. The
Guebers have conserved the same belief to
our days. In their nullity and
spiritual blindness, men are incapable of
conceiving the invisible spiritual
bond which unites them to the great
Divinity, and this explains why they have
always sought for palpable
things, which were in the domain of the senses,
and by doing which they
minimized the divine principle. Nevertheless, they
have dared to
attribute to their visible and man-made images a divine and
eternal
existence. We can see the same fact in Brahminism, where man, given
to
his inclination for exterior forms, has created, little by little,
and
not all at once, an army of gods and demigods. The Israelites may
be
said to have demonstrated, in the most flagrant way, the love of man
for
everything which is concrete. In spite of a series of striking
miracles
accomplished by the great Creator, who is the same for all the
peoples,
the Jewish people could not help making a god of metal in the
very
minute when their prophet Mossa spoke to them of the Creator!
Buddhism
has passed through the same modifications. Our great
reformer,
Sakya-Muni, inspired by the Supreme Judge, understood truly the one
and
indivisible Brahma, and forbade his disciples attempting to
manufacture
images in imaginary semblance of him. He had openly broken from
the
polytheistic Brahmins, and appreciated the purity, oneness
and
immortality of Brahma. The success he achieved by his teachings
in
making disciples among the people, brought upon him persecution by
the
Brahmins, who, in the creation of new gods, had found a source
of
personal revenue, and who, contrary to the law of God, treated
the
people in a despotic manner. Our first sacred teachers, to whom we
give
the name of buddhas--which means, learned men or saints--because
the
great Creator has incarnated in them, settled in different countries
of
the globe. As their teachings attacked especially the tyranny of
the
Brahmins and the misuse they made of the idea of God--of which
they
indeed made a veritable business--almost all the Buddhistic
converts,
they who followed the doctrines of those great teachers, were among
the
common people of China and India. Among those teachers,
particular
reverence is felt for the Buddha, Sakya-Muni, known in China also
under
the name of Fo, who lived three thousand years ago, and whose
teachings
brought all China back into the path of the true God; and the
Buddha,
Gautama, who lived two thousand five hundred years ago, and
converted
almost half the Hindus to the knowledge of the impersonal,
indivisible
and only God, besides whom there is none.
"Buddhism is
divided into many sects which, by the way, differ only in
certain religious
ceremonies, the basis of the doctrine being everywhere
the same. The Thibetan
Buddhists, who are called 'lamaists,' separated
themselves from the Fo-ists
fifteen hundred years ago. Until that time
we had formed part of the
worshippers of the Buddha, Fo-Sakya-Muni, who
was the first to collect all
the laws compiled by the various buddhas
preceding him, when the great schism
took place in the bosom of
Brahmanism. Later on, a Khoutoukhte-Mongol
translated into Chinese the
books of the great Buddha, for which the Emperor
of China rewarded him
by bestowing upon him the title of 'Go-Chi--'Preceptor
of the King!'
After his death, this title was given to the Dalai-Lama of
Thibet. Since
that epoch, all the titularies of this position have borne the
title of
Go-Chi. Our religion is called the Lamaic one--from the word
'lama,'
superior. It admits of two classes of monks, the red and the yellow.
The
former may marry, and they recognize the authority of the Bantsine,
who
resides in Techow Loumba, and is chief of the civil administration
in
Thibet. We, the yellow lamas, have taken the vow of celibacy, and
our
direct chief is the Dalai-Lama. This is the difference which
separates
the two religious orders, the respective rituals of which
are
identical."
"Do all perform mysteries similar to that which I have
just witnessed?"
"Yes; with a few exceptions. Formerly these festivals
were celebrated
with very solemn pomp, but since the conquest of Ladak our
convents have
been, more than once, pillaged and our wealth taken away. Now
we content
ourselves with simple garments and bronze utensils, while in
Thibet you
see but golden robes and gold utensils."
"In a visit which
I recently made to a gonpa, one of the lamas told me
of a prophet, or, as you
call him, a buddha, by the name of Issa. Could
you not tell me anything about
him?" I asked my interlocutor, seizing
this favorable moment to start the
subject which interested me so
greatly.
"The name Issa is very much
respected among the Buddhists," he replied,
"but he is only known by the
chief lamas, who have read the scrolls
relating to his life. There have
existed an infinite number of buddhas
like Issa, and the 84,000 scrolls
existing are filled brim full of
details concerning each one of them. But
very few persons have read the
one-hundredth part of those memoirs. In
conformity with established
custom, every disciple or lama who visits Lhassa
makes a gift of one or
several copies, from the scrolls there, to the convent
to which he
belongs. Our gonpa, among others, possesses already a great
number,
which I read in my leisure hours. Among them are the memoirs of the
life
and acts of the Buddha Issa, who preached the same doctrine in India
and
among the sons of Israel, and who was put to death by the Pagans,
whose
descendants, later on, adopted the beliefs he spread,--and those
beliefs
are yours.
"The great Buddha, the soul of the Universe, is the
incarnation of
Brahma. He, almost always, remains immobile, containing in
himself all
things, being in himself the origin of all and his breath
vivifying the
world. He has left man to the control of his own forces, but,
at certain
epochs, lays aside his inaction and puts on a human form that he
may, as
their teacher and guide, rescue his creatures from
impending
destruction. In the course of his terrestrial existence in
the
similitude of man, Buddha creates a new world in the hearts of
erring
men; then he leaves the earth, to become once more an invisible
being
and resume his condition of perfect bliss. Three thousand years
ago,
Buddha incarnated in the celebrated Prince Sakya-Muni, reaffirming
and
propagating the doctrines taught by him in his twenty
preceding
incarnations. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Great Soul of the
World
incarnated anew in Gautama, laying the foundation of a new world
in
Burmah, Siam and different islands. Soon afterward, Buddhism began
to
penetrate China, through the persevering efforts of the sages,
who
devoted themselves to the propagation of the sacred doctrine, and
under
Ming-Ti, of the Honi dynasty, nearly 2,050 years ago, the teachings
of
Sakya-Muni were adopted by the people of that country.
Simultaneously
with the appearance of Buddhism in China, the same doctrines
began to
spread among the Israelites. It is about 2,000 years ago that
the
perfect Being, awaking once more for a short time from his
inaction,
incarnated in the newborn child of a poor family. It was his will
that
this little child should enlighten the unhappy upon the life of
the
world to come and bring erring men back into the path of truth;
showing
to them, by his own example, the way they could best return to
the
primitive morality and purity of our race. When this sacred
child
attained a certain age, he was brought to India, where, until
he
attained to manhood, he studied the laws of the great Buddha, who
dwells
eternally in heaven."
"In what language are written the
principal scrolls bearing upon the
life of Issa?" I asked, rising from my
seat, for I saw that my
interesting interlocutor evidenced fatigue, and had
just given a twirl
to his prayer-wheel, as if to hint the closing of the
conversation.
"The original scrolls brought from India to Nepaul, and
from Nepaul to
Thibet, relating to the life of Issa, are written in the Pali
language
and are actually in Lhassa; but a copy in our language--I mean
the
Thibetan--is in this convent."
"How is Issa looked upon in Thibet?
Has he the repute of a saint?"
"The people are not even aware that he
ever existed. Only the principal
lamas, who know of him through having
studied the scrolls in which his
life is related, are familiar with his name;
but, as his doctrine does
not constitute a canonical part of Buddhism, and
the worshippers of Issa
do not recognize the authority of the Dalai-Lama, the
prophet Issa--with
many others like him--is not recognized in Thibet as one
of the
principal saints."
"Would you commit a sin in reciting your
copy of the life of Issa to a
stranger?" I asked him.
"That which
belongs to God," he answered me, "belongs also to man. Our
duty requires us
to cheerfully devote ourselves to the propagation of
His doctrine. Only, I do
not, at present, know where that manuscript is.
If you ever visit our gonpa
again, I shall take pleasure in showing it
to you."
At this moment two
monks entered, and uttered to the chief lama a few
words unintelligible to
me.
"I am called to the sacrifices. Will you kindly excuse me?" said he
to
me, and with a salute, turned to the door and disappeared.
I could
do no better than withdraw and lie down in the chamber which was
assigned to
me and where I spent the night.
* * * *
*
In the evening of the next day I was again in Leh--thinking of how
to
get back to the convent. Two days later I sent, by a messenger, to
the
chief lama, as presents, a watch, an alarm clock, and a thermometer.
At
the same time I sent the message that before leaving Ladak I
would
probably return to the convent, in the hope that he would permit me
to
see the manuscript which had been the subject of our conversation.
It
was now my purpose to gain Kachmyr and return from there, some
time
later, to Himis. But fate made a different decision for me.
In
passing a mountain, on a height of which is perched the gonpa of
Piatak, my
horse made a false step, throwing me to the ground so
violently that my right
leg was broken below the knee.
It was impossible to continue my journey,
I was not inclined to return
to Leh; and seeking the hospitality of the gonpa
of Piatak was not, from
the appearance of the cloister, an enticing prospect.
My best recourse
would be to return to Himis, then only about half a day's
journey
distant, and I ordered my servants to transport me there. They
bandaged
my broken leg--an operation which caused me great pain--and lifted
me
into the saddle. One carrier walked by my side, supporting the weight
of
the injured member, while another led my horse. At a late hour of
the
evening we reached the door of the convent of Himis.
When informed
of my accident, the kind monks came out to receive me and,
with a wealth of
extraordinary precautions of tenderness, I was carried
inside, and, in one of
their best rooms, installed upon an improvised
bed, consisting of a mountain
of soft fabrics, with the
naturally-to-be-expected prayer-cylinder beside me.
All this was done
for me under the personal supervision of their chief lama,
who, with
affectionate sympathy, pressed the hand I gave him in expression of
my
thanks for his kindness.
In the morning, I myself bound around the
injured limb little oblong
pieces of wood, held by cords, to serve as
splints. Then I remained
perfectly quiescent and nature was not slow in her
reparative work.
Within two days my condition was so far improved that I
could, had it
been necessary, have left the gonpa and directed myself slowly
toward
India in search of a surgeon to complete my cure.
While a boy
kept in motion the prayer-barrel near my bed, the venerable
lama who ruled
the convent entertained me with many interesting stories.
Frequently he took
from their box the alarm clock and the watch, that I
might illustrate to him
the process of winding them and explain to him
their uses. At length,
yielding to my ardent insistence, he brought me
two big books, the large
leaves of which were of paper yellow with age,
and from them read to me the
biography of Issa, which I carefully
transcribed in my travelling notebook
according to the translation made
by the interpreter. This curious document
is compiled under the form of
isolated verses, which, as placed, very often
had no apparent connection
with, or relation to each other.
On the
third day, my condition was so far improved as to permit the
prosecution of
my journey. Having bound up my leg as well as possible, I
returned, across
Kachmyr, to India; a slow journey, of twenty days,
filled with intolerable
pain. Thanks, however, to a litter, which a
French gentleman, M. Peicheau,
had kindly sent to me (my gratitude for
which I take this occasion to
express), and to an ukase of the Grand
Vizier of the Maharajah of Kachmyr,
ordering the local authorities to
provide me with carriers, I reached
Srinagar, and left almost
immediately, being anxious to gain India before the
first snows fell.
In Mure I encountered another Frenchman, Count Andre de
Saint Phall, who
was making a journey of recreation across Hindostan. During
the whole
course, which we made together, to Bombay, the young count
demonstrated
a touching solicitude for me, and sympathy for the excruciating
pain I
suffered from my broken leg and the fever induced by its torture.
I
cherish for him sincere gratitude, and shall never forget the
friendly
care which I received upon my arrival in Bombay from the Marquis
de
Mores, the Vicomte de Breteul, M. Monod, of the Comptoir d'Escompte,
M.
Moet, acting consul, and all the members of the very sympathetic
French
colony there.
During a long time I revolved in my mind the
purpose of publishing the
memoirs of the life of Jesus Christ found by me in
Himis, of which I
have spoken, but other interests absorbed my attention and
delayed it.
Only now, after having passed long nights of wakefulness in
the
coordination of my notes and grouping the verses conformably to
the
march of the recital, imparting to the work, as a whole, a character
of
unity, I resolve to let this curious chronicle see the
light.
_The Life of Saint Issa_
"Best of the Sons
of Men."
I.
1. The earth trembled and the heavens wept,
because of the great crime
committed in the land of Israel.
2. For
there was tortured and murdered the great and just Issa, in whom
was manifest
the soul of the Universe;
3. Which had incarnated in a simple mortal, to
benefit men and destroy
the evil spirit in them;
4. To lead back to
peace, love and happiness, man, degraded by his sins,
and recall him to the
one and indivisible Creator whose mercy is
infinite.
5. The merchants
coming from Israel have given the following account of
what has
occurred:
II.
1. The people of Israel--who inhabit a fertile
country producing two
harvests a year and affording pasture for large herds
of cattle--by
their sins brought down upon themselves the anger of the
Lord;
2. Who inflicted upon them terrible chastisements, taking from
them
their land, their cattle and their wealth. They were carried away
into
slavery by the rich and mighty Pharaohs who then ruled the land
of
Egypt.
3. The Israelites were, by the Pharaohs, treated worse than
beasts,
condemned to hard labor and put in irons; their bodies were covered
with
wounds and sores; they were not permitted to live under a roof, and
were
starved to death;
4. That they might be maintained in a state of
continual terror and
deprived of all human resemblance;
5. And in this
great calamity, the Israelites, remembering their
Celestial Protector,
implored his forgiveness and mercy.
6. At that period reigned in Egypt an
illustrious Pharaoh, who was
renowned for his many victories, immense riches,
and the gigantic
palaces he had erected by the labor of his slaves.
7.
This Pharaoh had two sons, the younger of whom, named Mossa, had
acquired
much knowledge from the sages of Israel.
8. And Mossa was beloved by all
in Egypt for his kindness of heart and
the pity he showed to all
sufferers.
9. When Mossa saw that the Israelites, in spite of their
many
sufferings, had not forsaken their God, and refused to worship the
gods
of Egypt, created by the hands of man.
10. He also put his faith
in their invisible God, who did not suffer
them to betray Him, despite their
ever growing weakness.
11. And the teachers among Israel animated Mossa
in his zeal, and prayed
of him that he would intercede with his father,
Pharaoh, in favor of
their co-religionists.
12. Prince Mossa went
before his father, begging him to lighten the
burden of the unhappy people;
Pharaoh, however, became incensed with
rage, and ordered that they should be
tormented more than before.
13. And it came to pass that Egypt was
visited by a great calamity. The
plague decimated young and old, the healthy
and the sick; and Pharaoh
beheld in this the resentment of his own gods
against him.
14. But Prince Mossa said to his father that it was the God
of his
slaves who thus interposed on behalf of his wretched people, and
avenged
them upon the Egyptians.
15. Thereupon, Pharaoh commanded
Mossa, his son, to gather all the
Israelite slaves, and lead them away, and
found, at a great distance
from the capital, another city where he should
rule over them.
16. Then Mossa made known to the Hebrew slaves that he
had obtained
their freedom in the name of his and their God, the God of
Israel; and
with them he left the city and departed from the land of
Egypt.
17. He led them back to the land which, because of their many
sins, had
been taken from them. There he gave them laws and admonished them
to
pray always to God, the indivisible Creator, whose kindness is
infinite.
18. After Prince Mossa's death, the Israelites observed
rigorously his
laws; and God rewarded them for the ills to which they had
been
subjected in Egypt.
19. Their kingdom became one of the most
powerful on earth; their kings
made themselves renowned for their treasures,
and peace reigned in
Israel.
III.
1. The glory of Israel's
wealth spread over the whole earth, and the
surrounding nations became
envious.
2. But the Most High himself led the victorious arms of the
Hebrews, and
the Pagans did not dare to attack them.
3. Unfortunately,
man is prone to err, and the fidelity of the
Israelites to their God was not
of long duration.
4. Little by little they forgot the favors he had
bestowed upon them;
rarely invoked his name, and sought rather protection by
the magicians
and sorcerers.
5. The kings and the chiefs among the
people substituted their own laws
for those given by Mossa; the temple of God
and the observances of their
ancient faith were neglected; the people
addicted themselves to sensual
gratifications and lost their original
purity.
6. Many centuries had elapsed since their exodus from Egypt, when
God
bethought himself of again inflicting chastisement upon them.
7.
Strangers invaded Israel, devastated the land, destroyed the
villages, and
carried their inhabitants away into captivity.
8. At last came the Pagans
from over the sea, from the land of Romeles.
These made themselves masters of
the Hebrews, and placed over them their
army chiefs, who governed in the name
of Cæsar.
9. They defiled the temples, forced the inhabitants to cease
the worship
of the indivisible God, and compelled them to sacrifice to the
heathen
gods.
10. They made common soldiers of those who had been men
of rank; the
women became their prey, and the common people, reduced to
slavery, were
carried away by thousands over the sea.
11. The children
were slain, and soon, in the whole land, there was
naught heard but weeping
and lamentation.
12. In this extreme distress, the Israelites once more
remembered their
great God, implored his mercy and prayed for his
forgiveness. Our
Father, in his inexhaustible clemency, heard their
prayer.
IV.
1. At that time the moment had come for the
compassionate Judge to
reincarnate in a human form;
2. And the eternal
Spirit, resting in a state of complete inaction and
supreme bliss, awakened
and separated from the eternal Being, for an
undetermined period,
3.
So that, in human form, He might teach man to identify himself with
the
Divinity and attain to eternal felicity;
4. And to show, by His example,
how man can attain moral purity and free
his soul from the domination of the
physical senses, so that it may
achieve the perfection necessary for it to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
which is immutable and where bliss eternal
reigns.
5. Soon after, a marvellous child was born in the land of Israel.
God
himself spoke, through the mouth of this child, of the miseries of
the
body and the grandeur of the soul.
6. The parents of the infant
were poor people, who belonged to a family
noted for great piety; who forgot
the greatness of their ancestors in
celebrating the name of the Creator and
giving thanks to Him for the
trials which He had sent upon them.
7. To
reward them for adhering to the path of truth, God blessed the
firstborn of
this family; chose him for His elect, and sent him to
sustain the fallen and
comfort the afflicted.
8. The divine child, to whom the name Issa was
given, commenced in his
tender years to talk of the only and indivisible God,
exhorting the
strayed souls to repent and purify themselves from the sins of
which
they had become guilty.
9. People came from all parts to hear
him, and marvelled at the
discourses which came from his infantile mouth; and
all Israel agreed
that the Spirit of the Eternal dwelt in this
child.
10. When Issa was thirteen years old, the age at which an
Israelite is
expected to marry,
11. The modest house of his
industrious parents became a meeting place
of the rich and illustrious, who
were anxious to have as a son-in-law
the young Issa, who was already
celebrated for the edifying discourses
he made in the name of the
All-Powerful.
12. Then Issa secretly absented himself from his father's
house; left
Jerusalem, and, in a train of merchants, journeyed toward the
Sindh,
13. With the object of perfecting himself in the knowledge of the
word
of God and the study of the laws of the great
Buddhas.
V.
1. In his fourteenth year, young Issa, the Blessed
One, came this side
of the Sindh and settled among the Aryas, in the country
beloved by God.
2. Fame spread the name of the marvellous youth along the
northern
Sindh, and when he came through the country of the five streams
and
Radjipoutan, the devotees of the god Djaine asked him to stay
among
them.
3. But he left the deluded worshippers of Djaine and went
to
Djagguernat, in the country of Orsis, where repose the mortal
remains
of Vyassa-Krishna, and where the white priests of Brahma welcomed
him
joyfully.
4. They taught him to read and to understand the Vedas,
to cure physical
ills by means of prayers, to teach and to expound the sacred
Scriptures,
to drive out evil desires from man and make him again in the
likeness of
God.
5. He spent six years in Djagguernat, in Radjagriha,
in Benares, and in
other holy cities. The common people loved Issa, for he
lived in peace
with the Vaisyas and the Sudras, to whom he taught the Holy
Scriptures.
6. But the Brahmins and the Kshatnyas told him that they were
forbidden
by the great Para-Brahma to come near to those who were created
from his
belly and his feet;[1]
7. That the Vaisyas might only hear
the recital of the Vedas, and this
only on the festal days, and
8.
That the Sudras were not only forbidden to attend the reading of the
Vedas,
but even to look on them; for they were condemned to perpetual
servitude, as
slaves of the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and even the
Vaisyas.
9. "Death
alone can enfranchise them from their servitude," has said
Para-Brahma.
"Leave them, therefore, and come to adore with us the gods,
whom you will
make angry if you disobey them."
10. But Issa, disregarding their words,
remained with the Sudras,
preaching against the Brahmins and the
Kshatriyas.
11. He declaimed strongly against man's arrogating to himself
the
authority to deprive his fellow-beings of their human and
spiritual
rights. "Verily," he said, "God has made no difference between
his
children, who are all alike dear to Him."
12. Issa denied the
divine inspiration of the Vedas and the Puranas,
for, as he taught his
followers,--"One law has been given to man to
guide him in his
actions:
13. "Fear the Lord, thy God; bend thy knees only before Him and
bring to
Him only the offerings which come from thy earnings."
14.
Issa denied the Trimurti and the incarnation of Para-Brahma in
Vishnu, Siva,
and other gods; "for," said he:
15. "The eternal Judge, the eternal
Spirit, constitutes the only and
indivisible soul of the universe, and it is
this soul alone which
creates, contains and vivifies all.
16. "He
alone has willed and created. He alone has existed from
eternity, and His
existence will be without end; there is no one like
unto Him either in the
heavens or on the earth.
17. "The great Creator has divided His power
with no other being; far
less with inanimate objects, as you have been taught
to believe, for He
alone is omnipotent and all-sufficient.
18. "He
willed, and the world was. By one divine thought, He reunited
the waters and
separated them from the dry land of the globe. He is the
cause of the
mysterious life of man, into whom He has breathed part of
His divine
Being.
19. "And He has put under subjection to man, the lands, the
waters, the
beasts and everything which He created, and which He himself
preserves
in immutable order, allotting to each its proper
duration.
20. "The anger of God will soon break forth upon man; for he
has
forgotten his Creator; he has filled His temples with abominations;
and
he adores a multitude of creatures which God has subordinated to
him;
21. "And to gain favor with images of stone and metal, he
sacrifices
human beings in whom dwells part of the Spirit of the Most
High;
22. "And he humiliates those who work in the sweat of their brows,
to
gain favor in the eyes of the idler who sitteth at a sumptuous
table.
23. "Those who deprive their brothers of divine happiness
will
themselves be deprived of it; and the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas
shall
become the Sudras of the Sudras, with whom the Eternal will
stay
forever.
24. "In the day of judgment the Sudras and the Vaisyas
will be forgiven
for that they knew not the light, while God will let loose
his wrath
upon those who arrogated his authority."
25. The Vaisyas and
the Sudras were filled with great admiration, and
asked Issa how they should
pray, in order not to lose their hold upon
eternal life.
26. "Pray not
to idols, for they cannot hear you; hearken not to the
Vedas where the truth
is altered; be humble and humiliate not your
fellow man.
27. "Help the
poor, support the weak, do evil to none; covet not that
which ye have not and
which belongs to others."
VI.
1. The white priests and the
warriors,[2] who had learned of Issa's
discourse to the Sudras, resolved upon
his death, and sent their
servants to find the young teacher and slay
him.
2. But Issa, warned by the Sudras of his danger, left by
night
Djagguernat, gained the mountain, and settled in the country of
the
Gautamides, where the great Buddha Sakya-Muni came to the world, among
a
people who worshipped the only and sublime Brahma.
3. When the just
Issa had acquired the Pali language, he applied himself
to the study of the
sacred scrolls of the Sutras.
4. After six years of study, Issa, whom the
Buddha had elected to spread
his holy word, could perfectly expound the
sacred scrolls.
5. He then left Nepaul and the Himalaya mountains,
descended into the
valley of Radjipoutan and directed his steps toward the
West,
everywhere preaching to the people the supreme perfection attainable
by
man;
6. And the good he must do to his fellow men, which is the
sure means of
speedy union with the eternal Spirit. "He who has recovered
his
primitive purity," said Issa, "shall die with his
transgressions
forgiven and have the right to contemplate the majesty of
God."
7. When the divine Issa traversed the territories of the Pagans,
he
taught that the adoration of visible gods was contrary to natural
law.
8. "For to man," said he, "it has not been given to see the image
of
God, and it behooves him not to make for himself a multitude
of
divinities in the imagined likeness of the Eternal.
9. "Moreover,
it is against human conscience to have less regard for the
greatness of
divine purity, than for animals or works of stone or metal
made by the hands
of man.
10. "The eternal Lawgiver is One; there are no other Gods than
He; He
has parted the world with none, nor had He any counsellor.
11.
"Even as a father shows kindness toward his children, so will God
judge men
after death, in conformity with His merciful laws. He will
never humiliate
his child by casting his soul for chastisement into the
body of a
beast.
12. "The heavenly laws," said the Creator, through the mouth of
Issa,
"are opposed to the immolation of human sacrifices to a statue or
an
animal; for I, the God, have sacrificed to man all the animals and
all
that the world contains.
13. "Everything has been sacrificed to
man, who is directly and
intimately united to me, his Father; therefore,
shall the man be
severely judged and punished, by my law, who causes the
sacrifice of my
children.
14. "Man is naught before the eternal Judge;
as the animal is before
man.
15. "Therefore, I say unto you, leave
your idols and perform not
ceremonies which separate you from your Father and
bind you to the
priests, from whom heaven has turned away.
16. "For it
is they who have led you away from the true God, and by
superstitions and
cruelty perverted the spirit and made you blind to the
knowledge of the
truth."
VII.
1. The words of Issa spread among the Pagans,
through whose country he
passed, and the inhabitants abandoned their
idols.
2. Seeing which, the priests demanded of him who thus glorified
the name
of the true God, that he should, in the presence of the people,
prove
the charges he made against them, and demonstrate the vanity of
their
idols.
3. And Issa answered them: "If your idols, or the animals
you worship,
really possess the supernatural powers you claim, let them
strike me
with a thunderbolt before you!"
4. "Why dost not thou
perform a miracle," replied the priests, "and let
thy God confound ours, if
He is greater than they?"
5. But Issa said: "The miracles of our God have
been wrought from the
first day when the universe was created; and are
performed every day and
every moment; whoso sees them not is deprived of one
of the most
beautiful gifts of life.
6. "And it is not on inanimate
objects of stone, metal or wood that He
will let His anger fall, but on the
men who worship them, and who,
therefore, for their salvation, must destroy
the idols they have made.
7. "Even as a stone and a grain of sand, which
are naught before man,
await patiently their use by Him.
8. "In like
manner, man, who is naught before God, must await in
resignation His pleasure
for a manifestation of His favor.
9. "But woe to you! ye adversaries of
men, if it is not the favor you
await, but rather the wrath of the Most High;
woe to you, if you demand
that He attest His power by a miracle!
10.
"For it is not the idols which He will destroy in His wrath, but
those by
whom they were created; their hearts will be the prey of an
eternal fire and
their flesh shall be given to the beasts of prey.
11. "God will drive
away the contaminated animals from His flocks; but
will take to Himself those
who strayed because they knew not the
heavenly part within them."
12.
When the Pagans saw that the power of their priests was naught, they
put
faith in the words of Issa. Fearing the anger of the true God, they
broke
their idols to pieces and caused their priests to flee from
among
them.
13. Issa furthermore taught the Pagans that they should
not endeavor to
see the eternal Spirit with their eyes; but to perceive Him
with their
hearts, and make themselves worthy of His favors by the purity of
their
souls.
14. "Not only," he said to them, "must ye refrain from
offering human
sacrifices, but ye may not lay on the altar any creature to
which life
has been given, for all things created are for man.
15.
"Withhold not from your neighbor his just due, for this would be
like
stealing from him what he had earned in the sweat of his brow.
16.
"Deceive none, that ye may not yourselves be deceived; seek to
justify
yourselves before the last judgment, for then it will be too
late.
17.
"Be not given to debauchery, for it is a violation of the law
of
God.
18. "That you may attain to supreme bliss ye must not only
purify
yourselves, but must also guide others into the path that will
enable
them to regain their primitive innocence."
VIII.
1.
The countries round about were filled with the renown of Issa's
preachings,
and when he came unto Persia, the priests grew afraid and
forbade the people
hearing him;
2. Nevertheless, the villages received him with joy, and the
people
hearkened intently to his words, which, being seen by the
priests,
caused them to order that he should be arrested and brought before
their
High Priest, who asked him:
3. "Of what new God dost thou speak?
Knowest thou not, unfortunate man
that thou art! that Saint Zoroaster is the
only Just One, to whom alone
was vouchsafed the honor of receiving
revelations from the Most High;
4. "By whose command the angels compiled
His Word in laws for the
governance of His people, which were given to
Zoroaster in Paradise?
5. "Who, then, art thou, who darest to utter
blasphemies against our God
and sow doubt in the hearts of
believers?"
6. And Issa said to them: "I preach no new God, but our
celestial
Father, who has existed before the beginning and will exist until
after
the end.
7. "Of Him I have spoken to the people, who--even as
innocent
children--are incapable of comprehending God by their own
intelligence,
or fathoming the sublimity of the divine Spirit;
8.
"But, as the newborn child in the night recognizes the mother's
breast, so
your people, held in the darkness of error by your pernicious
doctrines and
religious ceremonies, have recognized instinctively their
Father, in the
Father whose prophet I am.
9. "The eternal Being says to your people, by
my mouth, 'Ye shall not
adore the sun, for it is but a part of the universe
which I have created
for man;
10. "It rises to warm you during your
work; it sets to accord to you the
rest that I have ordained.
11. "To
me only ye owe all that ye possess, all that surrounds you and
that is above
and below you.'"
12. "But," said the priests, "how could the people live
according to
your rules if they had no teachers?"
13. Whereupon Issa
answered: "So long as they had no priests, they were
governed by the natural
law and conserved the simplicity of their souls;
14. "Their souls were in
God and to commune with the Father they had not
to have recourse to the
intermediation of idols, or animals, or fire, as
taught by you.
15.
"Ye pretend that man must adore the sun, and the Genii of Good and
Evil. But
I say unto you that your doctrine is pernicious. The sun does
not act
spontaneously, but by the will of the invisible Creator, who has given to it
being." |
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