B uddha - Ensinamentos Sagrados da Vedantahe said, ‘Buddha is my Ishta’. Furthermore, Swamiji saw in Buddha the perfect embodiment of India’s ancient wisdom and virtues, and

(Publication Department)5 Dehi Entally Road

Kolkata 700 014

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

AND HIS MESSAGEB uddha

Published bySWAMI MUMUKSHANANDA

PRESIDENT, ADVAITA ASHRAMA

MAYAVATI, CHAMPAWAT, HIMALAYAS

through its Publication Department, KolkataEmail: [email protected]

Website: www.advaitaonline.com

© All rights reservedFirst edition, May 1992

Second edition, July 20033M3C

ISBN 81-7505-245-7

Printed in India atTrio Process

Kolkata 700 014

3

PUBLISHER’S NOTE TO THE FIRSTEDITION

The publication of this book has been longoverdue. It has at last seen the light of day owingmainly to the initiative of Swami Gahananandaji, Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Math and RamakrishnaMission. We are grateful to him for his sustainedinterest which has enabled us to bring out this volumein a short time.

The present book is a compilation of the recordedlectures and statements of Swami Vivekananda onBuddha and Buddhism. Swamiji’s interest in Buddhaand his message began quite early in his youth. It isrecorded in his biography that some time before hemet his Master, Sri Ramakrishna, he had a vision ofBuddha which left a lasting impression upon him.During the last illness of his Master, he left for BodhGaya with two of his fellow disciples and spent a fewdays meditating under the Bodhi-tree. After thepassing away of Sri Ramakrishna, when the disciplesformed the first monastery at Baranagore, Buddhismwas a favourite topic of study and meditation for theyoung monks. Swami Vivekananda in particular wasfull of the spirit of Buddha.

4 PUBLISHER’S NOTE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Swamiji’s attitude towards Buddha was not ofthe nature of intellectual understanding, like that ofa modern scholar. He rather felt a deep emotional andspiritual kinship with Buddha. In fact, none amongthe founders of world religions attracted andinfluenced Swamiji more than Buddha. The life ofBuddha, especially his renunciation, boundlesscompassion, fearless quest for Truth and utterindependence provided tremendous inspiration forSwamiji. It is clear that Swamiji saw his own self-imagein Buddha. That was perhaps what he meant whenhe said, ‘Buddha is my Ishta’. Furthermore, Swamijisaw in Buddha the perfect embodiment of India’sancient wisdom and virtues, and so he repeatedlypresented Buddha to western audiences as theshining example of India’s spiritual ideal.

Next to the personality of Buddha whatfascinated Swami Vivekananda most was the wayBuddhism spread over the major part of the civilizedworld. With his vast knowledge of history and keeninsight, Swamiji could identify the historical forcesthat brought about this phenomenon. And he neverlost an opportunity to point out how different wasthe way some of the other religions spread in theworld.

Out of the many lectures on Buddha andBuddhism that Swami Vivekananda delivered in the

PUBLISHER’S NOTE TO THE FIRST EDITION 5

West, only two have come down to us more or less intheir entirety. Fragments or reports of another six orseven lectures are given in The Complete Works ofSwami Vivekananda. These lectures, with certainportions omitted for the sake of clarity and harmony,constitute the First Part of the present book. Theomitted portions have been indicated by dots in thebody of the book.

Apart from the lectures he delivered specificallyon Buddha or Buddhism, Swamiji also referred tothese topics in very many of his other lectures andwritings. These scattered observations have beenbrought together in the Second Part of the presentbook.

From the lectures and statements in this bookthe reader can gain a fairly comprehensive idea ofthe unique personality of Buddha, his enlighteningmessage and the historical development of Buddhism.But more than that, what this book provides is afascinating picture of the illumined mind of a greatmodern prophet. No one can read this book withoutbeing struck by the power, range, depth and beautyof Swami Vivekananda’s thoughts.

Buddha Purnima PUBLISHER16 May 1992Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, Himalayas

6

PUBLISHER’S NOTE TO THESECOND EDITION

The present book Buddha and His Message, as itwas pointed out in the Publisher’s Note to the firstedition, is a selective, handy compilation of SwamiVivekananda’s appreciative views on Buddha and HisMessage. Those who like to make an in-depth studyof Swami Vivekananda’s more comprehensive viewson Buddha, His message and Buddhism are advisedto consult The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda(Vol. I to Vol. IX) published by Advaita Ashrama.

Kolkata PUBLISHERFebruary 28, 2003

CONTENTS

Part I

From Lectures Delivered by Swami Vivekananda onBuddha and Buddhism

Buddha’s Message to the World 13Buddhistic India 31Buddhism, the Fulfilment of Hinduism 46Buddhism, the Religion of the Light of Asia 49Buddha, the Greatest Karma Yogin 51The Religion of Buddha 54True Buddhism 56Buddhism and Vedanta 59

Part II

Extracts from Other Lectures of SwamiVivekananda

On Buddha 65On Buddhism 76

7

Blank

efvevoefme Ùe%eefJeOesjnn ßegeflepeelebmeoÙeùoÙe oefMe&leheMegIeeleced ~

kesâMeJe Oe=leyegæMejerjpeÙe peieoerMe njs ~~

You with your heart full of compassion con-demned that part of the Vedas which deals with thesacrifices ordaining the slaughter of animals. O youKeùava, who assumed the body of the Buddha, victoryto you, Hari, the Lord of the world.

—Gætagovinda, I, 9

mecyegæe yeesefOemeòJee§e [lJeòe:] heejefceleeiegCee: ~mecYeJeefvle meoe veeLe yeesefOeefÛeòe veceesÓmleg les ~~

From you, O Lord, there ever rise into existenceBuddhas and Bodhisattvas, who possess as their goodqualities the great perfections, O Thought ofEnlightenment, Hail to thee!

—Prajðopáya-viniùcaya-siddhi, III, 11

Part I

From Lectures Delivered bySwami Vivekananda

on Buddha and Buddhism

13

BUDDHA’S MESSAGETO THE WORLD*

Buddhism is historically the most importantreligion—historically, not philosophically—because itwas the most tremendous religious movement thatthe world ever saw, the most gigantic spiritual waveever to burst upon human society. There is nocivilization on which its effect has not been felt insome way or other.

The followers of Buddha were most enthusiasticand very missionary in spirit. They were the firstamong the adherents of various religions not toremain content with the limited sphere of theirMother Church. They spread far and wide. Theytravelled east and west, north and south. Theyreached into darkest Tibet; they went into Persia, AsiaMinor; they went into Russia, Poland, and many othercountries of the Western world. They went intoChina, Korea, Japan; they went into Burma, Siam, theEast Indies, and beyond. When Alexander the Great,through his military conquests, brought the Medi-terranean world in contact with India, the wisdom

* Delivered in San Francisco, on March 18, 1900.

14 BUDDHA AND HIS MESSAGE

of India at once found a channel through which tospread over vast portions of Asia and Europe.Buddhist priests went out teaching among thedifferent nations; and as they taught, superstition andpriestcraft began to vanish like mist before the sun.

To understand this movement properly youshould know what conditions prevailed in India atthe time Buddha came, just as to understandChristianity you have to grasp the state of Jewishsociety at the time of Christ. It is necessary that youhave an idea of Indian society six hundred yearsbefore the birth of Christ, by which time Indiancivilization had already completed its growth.

When you study the civilization of India, youfind that it has died and revived several times; this isits peculiarity. Most races rise once and then declinefor ever. There are two kinds of people; those whogrow continually and those whose growth comes toan end. The peaceful nations, India and China, falldown, yet rise again; but the others, once they godown, do not come up—they die. Blessed are thepeacemakers, for they shall enjoy the earth.

At the time Buddha was born, India was in needof a great spiritual leader, a prophet. There was alreadya most powerful body of priests. You will understandthe situation better if you remember the history ofthe Jews—how they had two types of religious

BUDDHA’S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD 15

leaders, priests and prophets, the priests keeping thepeople in ignorance and grinding superstitions intotheir minds. The methods of worship the priestsprescribed were only a means by which they coulddominate the people. All through the Old Testament,you find the prophets challenging the superstitionsof the priests. The outcome of this fight was thetriumph of the prophets and the defeat of the priests.

Priests believe that there is a God, but that thisGod can be approached and known only throughthem. People can enter the Holy of Holies only withthe permission of the priests. You must pay them,worship them, place everything in their hands.Throughout the history of the world, this priestlytendency has cropped up again and again—thistremendous thirst for power, this tiger-like thirst,seems a part of human nature. The priests dominateyou, lay down a thousand rules for you. They describesimple truths in roundabout ways. They tell youstories to support their own superior position. If youwant to thrive in this life or go to heaven after death,you have to pass through their hands. You have toperform all kinds of ceremonies and rituals. All thishas made life so complicated and has so confusedthe brain that if I give you plain words, you will gohome unsatisfied. You have become thoroughlybefuddled. The less you understand, the better you


feel! The prophets have been giving warnings againstthe priests and their superstitions and machinations;but the vast mass of people have not yet learnt toheed these warnings—education is yet to come tothem.

Men must have education. They speak ofdemocracy, of the equality of all men, these days. Buthow will a man know he is equal with all? He musthave a strong brain, a clear mind free of nonsensicalideas; he must pierce through the mass of super-stitions encrusting his mind to the pure truth that isin his inmost Self. Then he will know that allperfections, all powers are already within himself, thatthese have not to be given him by others. When herealizes this, he becomes free that moment, heachieves equality. He also realizes that every one elseis equally as perfect as he, and he does not have toexercise any power, physical, mental or moral, overhis brother men. He abandons the idea that there wasever any man who was lower than himself. Then hecan talk of equality; not until then.

…The priests in India, the Brahmins, possessedgreat intellectual and psychic powers. It was they whobegan the spiritual development of India, and theyaccomplished wonderful things. But the time camewhen the free spirit of development that had at firstactuated the Brahmins disappeared. They began to


arrogate powers and privileges to themselves. If aBrahmin killed a man, he would not be punished.The Brahmin, by his very birth, is the lord of theuniverse! Even the most wicked Brahmin must beworshipped!

But while the priests were flourishing, thereexisted also the poet-prophets called Sannyasins. AllHindus, whatever their castes may be, must, for thesake of attaining spirituality, give up their work andprepare for death. No more is the world to be of anyinterest to them. They must go out and becomeSannyasins. The Sannyasins have nothing to do withthe two thousand ceremonies that the priests haveinvented: Pronounce certain words—ten syllables,twenty syllables, and so on—all these things arenonsense.

So these poet-prophets of ancient India repudia-ted the ways of the priest and declared the pure truth.They tried to break the power of the priests, and theysucceeded a little. But in two generations theirdisciples went back to the superstitious, roundaboutways of the priests— became priests themselves: ‘Youcan get truth only through us!’ Truth becamecrystallized again, and again prophets came to breakthe encrustations and free the truth, and so it wenton. Yes, there must be all the time the man, theprophet, or else humanity will die.2


You wonder why there have to be all theseroundabout methods of the priests. Why can you notcome directly to the truth? Are you ashamed of God’struth that you have to hide it behind all kinds ofintricate ceremonies and formulas? Are you ashamedof God that you cannot confess His truth before theworld? Do you call that being religious and spiritual?The priests are the only people fit for the truth! Themasses are not fit for it! It must be diluted! Water itdown a little!

Take the Sermon on the Mount and the Gita—they are simplicity itself. Even the streetwalker canunderstand them. How grand! In them you find thetruth clearly and simply revealed. But no, the priestswould not accept that truth can be found so directly.They speak of two thousand heavens and twothousand hells. If people follow their prescriptions,they will go to heaven! If they do not obey the rules,they will go to hell!

But the people shall learn the truth. Some areafraid that if the full truth is given to all, it will hurtthem. They should not be given the unqualifiedtruth—so they say. But the world is not much betteroff by compromising truth. What worse can it be thanit is already? Bring truth out! If it is real, it will dogood. When people protest and propose othermethods, they only make apologies for witchcraft.


India was full of it in Buddha’s day. There werethe masses of people, and they were debarred fromall knowledge. If just a word of the Vedas entered theears of a man, terrible punishment was visited uponhim. The priests had made a secret of the Vedas—theVedas that contained the spiritual truths discoveredby the ancient Hindus!

At last one man could bear it no more. He hadthe brain, the power, and the heart—a heart as infiniteas the broad sky. He felt how the masses were beingled by the priests and how the priests were gloryingin their power, and he wanted to do something aboutit. He did not want any power over any one, and hewanted to break the mental and spiritual bonds ofmen. His heart was large. The heart, many around usmay have, and we also want to help others. But wedo not have the brain; we do not know the ways andmeans by which help can be given. But this man hadthe brain to discover the means of breaking thebondages of souls. He learnt why men suffer, and hefound the way out of suffering. He was a man ofaccomplishment, he worked everything out; hetaught one and all without distinction and made themrealize the peace of enlightenment. This was the manBuddha.

You know from Arnold’s poem, The Light of Asia,how Buddha was born a prince and how the misery


of the world struck him deeply; how, althoughbrought up and living in the lap of luxury, he couldnot find comfort in his personal happiness andsecurity; how he renounced the world, leaving hisprincess and new-born son behind; how he wanderedsearching for truth from teacher to teacher; and howhe at last attained to enlightenment. You know abouthis long mission, his disciples, his organizations. Youall know these things.

Buddha was the triumph in the struggle that hadbeen going on between the priests and the prophetsin India. One thing can be said for these Indianpriests—they were not and never are intolerant ofreligion; they never have persecuted religion. Anyman was allowed to preach against them. Theirs issuch a religion; they never molested any one for hisreligious views. But they suffered from the peculiarweaknesses of all priests: they also sought power, theyalso promulgated rules and regulations and madereligion unnecessarily complicated, and therebyundermined the strength of those who followed theirreligion.

Buddha cut through all these excrescences. Hepreached the most tremendous truths. He taught thevery gist of the philosophy of the Vedas to one andall without distinction, he taught it to the world atlarge, because one of his great messages was the


equality of man. Men are all equal. No concessionthere to anybody! Buddha was the great preacher ofequality. Every man and woman has the same rightto attain spirituality—that was his teaching. Thedifference between the priests and the other casteshe abolished. Even the lowest were entitled to thehighest attainments; he opened the door of Nirvanato one and all. His teaching was bold even for India.No amount of preaching can ever shock the Indiansoul, but it was hard for India to swallow Buddha’sdoctrine. How much harder it must be for you!

His doctrine was this: Why is there misery inour life? Because we are selfish. We desire things forourselves—that is why there is misery. What is theway out? The giving up of the self. The self does notexist; the phenomenal world, all this that we perceive,is all that exists. There is nothing called soulunderlying the cycle of life and death. There is thestream of thought, one thought following another insuccession, each thought coming into existence andbecoming non-existent at the same moment, that isall; there is no thinker of the thought, no soul. Thebody is changing all the time; so is mind, conscious-ness. The self therefore is a delusion. All selfishnesscomes of holding on to the self, to this illusory self. Ifwe know the truth that there is no self, then we willbe happy and make others happy.


This was what Buddha taught. And he did notmerely talk; he was ready to give up his own life forthe world. He said, ‘If sacrificing an animal is good,sacrificing a man is better’, and he offered himself asa sacrifice. He said, ‘This animal sacrifice is anothersuperstition. God and soul are the two big super-stitions. God is only a superstition invented by thepriests. If there is a God, as these Brahmins preach,why is there so much misery in the world? He is justlike me, a slave to the law of causation. If he is notbound by the law of causation, then why does hecreate? Such a God is not at all satisfactory. There isthe ruler in heaven that rules the universe accordingto his sweet will and leaves us all here to die inmisery—he never has the goodness to look at us for amoment. Our whole life is continuous suffering; butthis is not sufficient punishment—after death wemust go to places where we have other punishments.Yet we continually perform all kinds of rites andceremonies to please this creator of the world!’

Buddha said, ‘These ceremonials are all wrong.There is but one ideal in the world. Destroy alldelusions; what is true will remain. As soon as theclouds are gone, the sun will shine’. How to kill theself? Become perfectly unselfish, ready to give upyour life even for an ant. Work not for any super-stition, not to please any God, not to get any reward,


but because you are seeking your own release bykilling your self. Worship and prayer and all that,these are all nonsense. You all say, ‘I thank God’—but where does He live? You do not know, and yetyou are all going crazy about God.

Hindus can give up everything except their God.To deny God is to cut off the very ground from underthe feet of devotion. Devotion and God the Hindusmust cling to. They can never relinquish these. Andhere, in the teaching of Buddha, are no God and nosoul; simply work. What for? Not for the self, for theself is a delusion. We shall be ourselves when thisdelusion has vanished. Very few are there in the worldthat can rise to that height and work for work’s sake.

Yet the religion of Buddha spread fast. It wasbecause of the marvellous love which, for the firsttime in the history of humanity, overflowed a largeheart and devoted itself to the service not only of allmen but of all living things—a love which did notcare for anything except to find a way of release fromsuffering for all beings.

Man was loving God and had forgotten all abouthis brother man. The man who in the name of Godcan give up his very life, can also turn around andkill his brother man in the name of God. That wasthe state of the world. They would sacrifice the sonfor the glory of God, would rob nations for the glory


of God, would kill thousands of beings for the gloryof God, would drench the earth with blood for theglory of God. This was the first time they turned tothe other God—man. It is man that is to be loved. Itwas the first wave of intense love for all men—thefirst wave of true unadulterated wisdom—that,starting from India, gradually inundated country aftercountry, north, south, east, west.

This teacher wanted to make truth shine astruth. No softening, no compromise, no panderingto the priests, the powerful, the kings. No bowingbefore superstitious traditions, however hoary; norespect for forms and books just because they camedown from the distant past. He rejected all scriptures,all forms of religious practice. Even the very language,Sanskrit, in which religion had been traditionallytaught in India, he rejected, so that his followerswould not have any chance to imbibe the superstitionswhich were associated with it.

There is another way of looking at the truth wehave been discussing: the Hindu way. We claim thatBuddha’s great doctrine of selflessness can be betterunderstood if it is looked at in our way. In theUpanishads there is already the great doctrine of theAtman and the Brahman. The Atman, Self, is the sameas Brahman, the Lord. This Self is all that is; It is theonly reality. Maya, delusion, makes us see It as


different. There is one Self, not many. That one Selfshines in various forms. Man is man’s brotherbecause all men are one. A man is not only my brother,say the Vedas, he is myself. Hurting any part of theuniverse, I only hurt myself. I am the universe. It is adelusion that I think I am Mr. So-and-so—that is thedelusion.

The more you approach your real Self, the morethis delusion vanishes. The more all differences anddivisions disappear, the more you realize all as theone Divinity. God exists; but He is not the man sittingupon a cloud. He is pure Spirit. Where does He reside?Nearer to you than your very self. He is the Soul.How can you perceive God as separate and differentfrom yourself? When you think of Him as some oneseparate from yourself, you do not know Him. He isyou yourself. That was the doctrine of the prophetsof India.

It is selfishness that you think that you see Mr.So-and-so and that all the world is different from you.You believe you are different from me. You do nottake any thought of me. You go home and have yourdinner and sleep. If I die, you still eat, drink, and aremerry. But you cannot really be happy when the restof the world is suffering. We are all one. It is thedelusion of separateness that is the root of misery.Nothing exists but the Self; there is nothing else.


Buddha’s idea is that there is no God, only manhimself. He repudiated the mentality which underliesthe prevalent ideas of God. He found it made menweak and superstitious. If you pray to God to giveyou everything, who is it, then, that goes out andworks? God comes to those who work hard. Godhelps them that help themselves. An opposite idea ofGod weakens our nerves, softens our muscles, makesus dependent. Everything independent is happy;everything dependent is miserable. Man has infinitepower within himself, and he can realize it—he canrealize himself as the one infinite Self. It can be done;but you do not believe it. You pray to God and keepyour powder dry all the time.

Buddha taught the opposite. Do not let menweep. Let them have none of this praying and all that.God is not keeping shop. With every breath you arepraying in God. I am talking; that is a prayer. You arelistening; that is a prayer. Is there ever any movementof yours, mental or physical, in which you do notparticipate in the infinite Divine Energy? It is all aconstant prayer. If you call only a set of words prayer,you make prayer superficial. Such prayers are notmuch good; they can scarcely bear any fruit.

Is prayer a magic formula, by repeating which,even if you do not work hard, you gain miraculousresults? No. All have to work hard; all have to reach


the depths of that infinite Energy. Behind the poor,behind the rich, there is the same infinite Energy. Itis not that one man works hard, and another byrepeating a few words achieves results. This universeis a constant prayer. If you take prayer in this sense, Iam with you. Words are not necessary. Better is silentprayer.

The vast majority of people do not understandthe meaning of this doctrine. In India any compromiseregarding the Self means that we have given powerinto the hands of the priests and have forgotten thegreat teachings of the prophets. Buddha knew this;so he brushed aside all the priestly doctrines andpractices and made man stand on his own feet. Itwas necessary for him to go against the accustomedways of the people; he had to bring about revolu-tionary changes. As a result this sacrificial religionpassed away from India for ever, and was neverrevived….

The life of Buddha has an especial appeal. Allmy life I have been very fond of Buddha. …I havemore veneration for that character than for anyother—that boldness, that fearlessness, and thattremendous love! He was born for the good of men.Others may seek God, others may seek truth forthemselves; he did not even care to know truth forhimself. He sought truth because people were in


misery. How to help them, that was his only concern.Throughout his life he never had a thought forhimself. How can we ignorant, selfish, narrow-minded human beings ever understand the greatnessof this man?

And consider his marvellous brain! No emo-tionalism. That giant brain never was superstitious.Believe not because an old manuscript has beenproduced, because it has been handed down to youfrom your forefathers, because your friends want youto—but think for yourself; search truth for yourself;realize it yourself. Then if you find it beneficial to oneand many, give it to people. Soft-brained men, weak-minded, chicken-hearted cannot find the truth. Onehas to be free, and as broad as the sky. One has tohave a mind that is crystal clear; only then can truthshine in it. We are so full of superstitions! Even inyour country where you think you are highlyeducated, how full of narrownesses and superstitionsyou are! Just think, with all your claims to civilizationin this country, on one occasion I was refused a chairto sit on, because I was a Hindu.

Six hundred years before the birth of Christ, atthe time when Buddha lived, the people of India musthave had wonderful education. Extremely free-minded they must have been. Great masses followedhim. Kings gave up their thrones; queens gave up


their thrones. People were able to appreciate andembrace his teaching, so revolutionary, so differentfrom what they had been taught by the prieststhrough the ages! But their minds have beenunusually free and broad.

And consider his death. If he was great in life,he was also great in death. He ate food offered to himby a member of a race similar to your AmericanIndians. Hindus do not touch them, because they eateverything indiscriminately. He told his disciples, ‘Donot eat this food, but I cannot refuse it. Go to theman and tell him he has done me one of the greatestservices of my life—he has released me from the body.’An old man came and sat near him—he had walkedmiles and miles to see the Master—and Buddhataught him. When he found a disciple weeping, hereproved him, saying, ‘What is this? Is this the resultof all my teaching? Let there be no false bondage, nodependence on me, no false glorification of thispassing personality. The Buddha is not a person; heis a realization. Work out your own salvation.’

Even when dying, he would not claim anydistinction for himself. I worship him for that. Whatyou call Buddhas and Christs are only the names ofcertain states of realization. Of all the teachers of theworld, he was the one who taught us most to be self-reliant, who freed us not only from the bondages of


our false selves but from dependence on the invisiblebeing or beings called God or gods. He invited everyone to enter into that state of freedom which he calledNirvana. All must attain to it one day; and thatattainment is the complete fulfilment of man.

—The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,1991, Vol. VIII, pp. 92-105 [Hereafter referred to asThe Complete Works].

31

* Delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, onFebruary 2, 1900.

BUDDHISTIC INDIA*

Almost all of you, perhaps, have read EdwinArnold’s poem on the life of Buddha, and some ofyou, perhaps, have gone into the subject with morescholarly interest, as in English, French and German,there is quite a lot of Buddhistic literature. Buddhismitself is the most interesting of subjects, for it is thefirst historical outburst of a world religion. There havebeen great religions before Buddhism arose, in Indiaand elsewhere, but, more or less, they are confinedwithin their own races. The ancient Hindus or ancientJews or ancient Persians, every one of them had agreat religion, but these religions were more or lessracial. With Buddhism first begins that peculiarphenomenon of religion boldly starting out toconquer the world. Apart from its doctrines and thetruths it taught and the message it had to give, westand face to face with one of the tremendouscataclysms of the world. Within a few centuries of itsbirth, the barefooted, shaven-headed missionaries of


Buddha had spread over all the then known civilizedworld, and they penetrated even further—fromLapland on the one side to the Philippine Islands onthe other. They had spread widely within a fewcenturies of Buddha’s birth; and in India itself, thereligion of Buddha had at one time nearly swallowedup two-thirds of the population.

The whole of India was never Buddhistic. It stoodoutside. Buddhism had the same fate as Christianityhad with the Jews; the majority of the Jews stood aloof.So the old Indian religion lived on. But the com-parison stops here. Christianity, though it could notget within its fold all the Jewish race, itself took thecountry. Where the old religion existed—the religionof the Jews—that was conquered by Christianity in avery short time and the old religion was dispersed,and so the religion of the Jews lives a sporadic life indifferent parts of the world. But in India this giganticchild was absorbed, in the long run, by the motherthat gave it birth, and today the very name of Buddhais almost unknown all over India. You know moreabout Buddhism than ninety-nine percent of theIndians. At best, they of India only know the name—‘Oh, he was a great prophet, a great Incarnation ofGod’—and there it ends. The island of Ceylonremains to Buddha, and in some parts of theHimalayan country, there are some Buddhists yet.

BUDDHISTIC INDIA 33

Beyond that there are none. But [Buddhism] hasspread over all the rest of Asia.

Still, it has the largest number of followers ofany religion, and it has indirectly modified theteachings of all the other religions. A good deal ofBuddhism entered into Asia Minor. It was a constantfight at one time whether the Buddhists would prevailor the later sects of Christians. The [Gnostics] andthe other sects of early Christians were more or lessBuddhistic in their tendencies, and all these got fusedup in that wonderful city of Alexandria, and out ofthe fusion under Roman law came Christianity.Buddhism in its political and social aspect is even moreinteresting than its [doctrines] and dogmas; and asthe first outburst of the tremendous world-conqueringpower of religion, it is very interesting also.

And that man was born—the great man Buddha.Most of you know about him, his life. And in spite ofall the miracles and stories that generally get fastenedupon any great man, in the first place, he is one ofthe most historical prophets of the world. Two arevery historical: one, the most ancient, Buddha, andthe other, Mohammed, because both friends and foesare agreed about them. So we are perfectly sure thatthere were such persons. As for the other persons,we have only to take for granted what the disciplessay—nothing more.… We do not know so clearly3


about many of the prophets; but as to this man,because both friends and foes write of him, we aresure that there was such a historical personage. Andif we analyse through all the fables and reports ofmiracles and stories that generally are heaped upona great man in this world, we will find an inside core;and all through the account of that man, he neverdid a thing for himself—never! How do you knowthat? Because, you see, when fables are fastened upona man, the fables must be tinged with that man’sgeneral character. Not one fable tried to impute anyvice or any immorality to the man. Even his enemieshave favourable accounts.

When Buddha was born, he was so pure thatwhosoever looked at his face from a distanceimmediately gave up the ceremonial religion andbecame a monk and became saved. So the gods helda meeting. They said, ‘We are undone.’ Because mostof the gods live upon the ceremonials. These sacrificesgo to the gods and these sacrifices were all gone. Thegods were dying of hunger and [the reason for] itwas that their power was gone. So the gods said: ‘Wemust, anyhow, put this man down. He is too purefor our life.’ And then the gods came and said: ‘Sir,we come to ask you something. We want to make agreat sacrifice and we mean to make a huge fire, andwe have been seeking all over the world for a pure

BUDDHISTIC INDIA 35

spot to light the fire on and could not find it andnow we have found it. If you will lie down, on yourbreast we will make the huge fire.’ ‘Granted,’ he says,‘go on.’ And the gods built the fire high upon thebreast of Buddha, and they thought he was dead, andhe was not. And then they went about and said, ‘Weare undone.’ And all the gods began to strike him.No good. They could not kill him. From underneath,the voice comes: ‘Why [are you] making all these vainattempts?’ ‘Whoever looks upon you becomespurified and is saved, and nobody is going to worshipus.’ ‘Then, your attempt is vain, because purity cannever be killed.’ This fable was written by his enemies,and yet throughout the fable the only blame thatattaches to Buddha is that he was so great a teacherof purity.

About his doctrines, some of you know a little.It is his doctrines that appeal to many modernthinkers whom you call agnostics. He was a greatpreacher of the brotherhood of mankind: ‘Aryan ornon-Aryan, caste or no caste, and sects or no sects,every one has the same right to God and to religionand to freedom. Come in all of you.’ But as to otherthings, he was very agnostic. ‘Be practical.’ Therecame to him one day five young men, Brahmin born,quarrelling upon a question. They came to him toask him the way to truth. And one said: ‘My people


teach this, and this is the way to truth.’ The othersaid: ‘I have been taught this, and this is the onlyway to truth.’ ‘Which is the right way, sir?’ ‘Well,you say your people taught this is truth and is theway to God?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘But did you see God?’ ‘No, sir.’‘Your father?’ ‘No, sir.’ ‘Your grandfather?’ ‘No, sir.’‘None of them saw God?’ ‘No.’ ‘Well, and yourteachers—neither [any] of them saw God?’ ‘No.’ Andhe asked the same to the others. They all declaredthat none had seen God. ‘Well,’ said Buddha, ‘in acertain village came a young man weeping andhowling and crying: “Oh, I love her so! Oh my, I loveher so!” And then the villagers came; and the onlything he said was he loved her so. “Who is she thatyou love?” “I do not know.” “Where does she live?”“I do not know”—but he loved her so. “How doesshe look?” “That I do not know; but oh, I love herso.”’ Then asked Buddha: ‘Young man, what wouldyou call this young man?’ ‘Why, sir, he was a fool!’And they all declared: ‘Why, sir, that young man wascertainly a fool, to be crying and all that about awoman, to say he loved her so much and he neversaw her or knew that she existed or anything?’ ‘Areyou not the same? You say that this God your fatheror your grandfather never saw, and now you arequarrelling upon a thing which neither you nor yourancestors ever knew, and you are trying to cut each

BUDDHISTIC INDIA 37

other’s throats about it.’ Then the young men asked:‘What are we to do?’ ‘Now, tell me: did your fatherever teach that God is ever angry?’ ‘No, sir.’ ‘Did yourfather ever teach that God is evil?’ ‘No, sir; he isalways pure.’ ‘Well, now, if you are pure and goodand all that, do you not think that you will have morechance to come near to that God than by discussingall this and trying to cut each other ’s throats?Therefore, say I: be pure and be good; be pure andlove everyone.’ And that was [all].

You see that non-killing of animals and charitytowards animals was an already existing doctrinewhen he was born; but it was new with him—thebreaking down of caste, that tremendous movement.And the other thing that was new: he took forty ofhis disciples and sent them all over the world, saying,‘Go ye; mix with all races and nations and preach theexcellent gospel for the good of all, for the benefit ofall.’ And, of course, he was not molested by theHindus. He died at a ripe old age. All his life he was amost stern man: he never yielded to weakness. I donot believe many of his doctrines; of course, I do not.I believe that the Vedantism of the old Hindus is muchmore thoughtful, is a grander philosophy of life. Ilike his method of work, but what I like [most] inthat man is that, among all the prophets of mankind,here was a man who never had any cobwebs in his


brain, and [who was] sane and strong. Whenkingdoms were at his feet, he was still the same man,maintaining ‘I am a man amongst men.’

Why, the Hindus, they are dying to worshipsomebody. You will find, if you live long enough, Iwill be worshipped by our people. If you go there toteach them something, before you die you will beworshipped. Always trying to worship somebody.And living in that race, the world-honoured Buddha,he died always declaring that he was but man. Noneof his adulators could draw from him one remarkthat he was anything different from any other man.

Those last dying words of his always thrilledthrough my heart. He was old, he was suffering, hewas near his death, and then came the despisedoutcaste—he lives on carrion, dead animals; theHindus would not allow them to come into cities—one of these invited him to a dinner and he camewith his disciples, and the poor Chanda, he wantedto treat this great teacher according to what hethought would be best; so he had a lot of pig’s fleshand a lot of rice for him, and Buddha looked at that.The disciples were all [hesitating], and the Master said:‘Well, do not eat, you will be hurt.’ But he quietly satdown and ate. The teacher of equality must eat the[outcaste] Chanda’s dinner, even the pig’s flesh. Hesat down and ate it.

BUDDHISTIC INDIA 39

He was already dying. He found death comingon, and he asked, ‘Spread for me something underthis tree, for I think the end is near.’ And he was thereunder the tree, and he laid himself down; he couldnot sit up any more. And the first thing he did, hesaid: ‘Go to that Chanda and tell him that he has beenone of my greatest benefactors; for his meal, I amgoing to Nirvana.’ And then several men came to beinstructed, and a disciple said, ‘Do not go near now,the Master is passing away’. And as soon as he heardit, the Lord said, ‘Let them come in’. And somebodyelse came and the disciples would not [let thementer]. Again they came, and then the dying Lordsaid: ‘And O, thou Ananda, I am passing away. Weepnot for me. Think not for me. I am gone. Work outdiligently your own salvation. Each one of you is justwhat I am. I am nothing but one of you. What I amtoday is what I made myself. Do you struggle andmake yourselves what I am.…’

These are the memorable words of Buddha:‘Believe not because an old book is produced as anauthority. Believe not because your father said [youshould] believe the same. Believe not because otherpeople like you believe it. Test everything, tryeverything, and then believe it, and if you find it forthe good of many, give it to all.’ And with these words,the Master passed away.


See the sanity of the man. No gods, no angels,no demons—nobody. Nothing of the kind. Stern,sane, every brain-cell perfect and complete, even atthe moment of death. No delusion. I do not agreewith many of his doctrines. You may not. But in myopinion—oh, if I had only one drop of that strength!The sanest philosopher the world ever saw. Its bestand its sanest teacher. And never that man bent beforeeven the power of the tyrannical Brahmins. Neverthat man bent. Direct and everywhere the same:weeping with the miserable, helping the miserable,singing with the singing, strong with the strong, andeverywhere the same sane and able man.

…You know he denied that there was any soulin man—that is, in the Hindu sense of the word. Now,we Hindus all believe that there is somethingpermanent in man, which is unchangeable and whichis living through all eternity. And that in man we callAtman, which is without beginning and without end.And [we believe] that there is something permanentin nature [and that we call Brahman, which is alsowithout beginning and without end]. He denied bothof these. He said there is no proof of anythingpermanent. It is all a mere mass of change; a mass ofthought in a continuous change is what you call amind…The torch is leading the procession. The circleis a delusion. [Or take the example of a river.] It is a

BUDDHISTIC INDIA 41

continuous river passing on; every moment a freshmass of water passing on. So is this life; so is all body,so is all mind.

…We Hindus never understood it [his doctrine].But I can understand the motive behind that. Oh,the gigantic motive! The Master says that selfishnessis the great curse of the world; that we are selfish andthat therein is the curse. There should be no motivefor selfishness. You are [like a river] passing [on]—acontinuous phenomenon. Have no God; have no soul;stand on your feet and do good for good’s sake—neither for fear of punishment nor for [the sake of]going anywhere. Stand sane and motiveless. Themotive is: I want to do good, it is good to do good….And I warm to think of this tremendous giant. Wecannot approach that strength. The world never saw[anything] compared to that strength. And I havenot yet seen any other strength like that. We are allborn cowards. If we can save ourselves [we care aboutnothing else]. Inside is the tremendous fear, thetremendous motive, all the time. Our own selfishnessmakes us the most arrant cowards; our own selfish-ness is the great cause of fear and cowardice. Andthere he stood: ‘Do good because it is good; ask nomore questions; that is enough. A man made to dogood by a fable, a story, a superstition—he will bedoing evil as soon as the opportunity comes. That


man alone is good who does good for good’s sake,and that is the character of the man.’

‘And what remains of man?’ was asked of theMaster. ‘Everything—everything. But what is in theman? Not the body not the soul, but character. Andthat is left for all ages. All that have passed and died,they have left for us their characters, eternal posses-sions for the rest of humanity; and these charactersare working—working all through.’ What of Buddha?What of Jesus of Nazareth? The world is full of theircharacters. Tremendous doctrine!…

And then, what he did. His method of work:organization. The idea that you have today of churchis his character. He left the church. He organizedthese monks and made them into a body. Even thevoting by ballot is there five hundred and sixty yearsbefore Christ. Minute organization. The church wasleft and became a tremendous power, and did greatmissionary work in India and outside India. Thencame, three hundred years after, two hundred yearsbefore Christ, the great emperor Asoka, as he has beencalled by your Western historians, the divinest ofmonarchs, and that man became entirely convertedto the ideas of Buddha, and he was the greatestemperor of the world at that time. His grandfatherwas a contemporary of Alexander, and since Alex-ander ’s time, India had become more intimately

BUDDHISTIC INDIA 43

connected with Greece… Every day in Central Asiasome inscription or other is being found. India hadforgotten all about Buddha and Asoka and everyone.But there were pillars, obelisks, columns, with ancientletters which nobody could read. Some of the oldMogul emperors declared they would give millionsfor anybody to read those; but nobody could. Withinthe last thirty years those have been read; they are allwritten in Pali.

[The first inscription describes] the terror andthe misery of war; and [how] he became convertedto religion. Then said he: ‘Henceforth let none of mydescendants think of acquiring glory by conqueringother races. If they want glory, let them help otherraces; let them send teachers of sciences and teachersof religion. A glory won by the sword is no glory atall.’ And next you find how he is sending missionarieseven to Alexandria.…You wonder that you find allover that part of the country sects rising immediately,called Theraputae, Essenes, and all those—extremevegetarians, and so on. Now this great Emperor Asokabuilt hospitals for men and for animals. The inscrip-tions show they are ordering hospitals, building hos-pitals for men and for animals. That is to say, whenan animal gets old, if I am poor and cannot keep itany longer, I do not shoot it down for mercy. Thesehospitals were maintained by public charity….


Thus Buddhism was and did become a greatpolitical power in India. Gradually it also fell topieces—after all, this tremendous missionaryenterprise. But to their credit it must be said, theynever took up the sword to preach religion. Exceptingthe Buddhistic religion, there is not one religion inthe world which could make one step withoutbloodshed—not one which could get a hundredthousand converts just by brain power alone….

There have been three things in Buddhism: theBuddha himself, his law, his church. At first it was sosimple. When the Master died, before his death, theysaid: ‘What shall we do with you?’ ‘Nothing.’ ‘Whatmonuments shall we make over you?’ He said: ‘Justmake a little heap if you want, or just do not doanything.’ By and by, there arose huge temples andall the paraphernalia. The use of images was unknownbefore then. I say they were the first to use images.There are images of Buddha and all the saints, sittingabout and praying.

All this paraphernalia went on multiplying withthis organization. Then these monasteries became rich.The real cause of the downfall is here. Monasticism isall very good for a few; but when you preach it insuch a fashion that every man or woman who has amind immediately gives up social life, when you findover the whole of India monasteries, some containing

BUDDHISTIC INDIA 45

a hundred thousand monks, sometimes twentythousand monks in one building—huge, giganticbuildings, these monasteries, scattered all over Indiaand, of course, centres of learning, and all that—whowere left to procreate progeny, to continue the race?Only the weaklings. All the strong and vigorous mindswent out. And then came national decay by the sheerloss of vigour.…

—The Complete Works, 1991, Vol. III, pp. 511-34.

46

* Address at the World Parliament of Religions on September26, 1893.

BUDDHISM,THE FULFILMENT OF HINDUISM*

…The religion of the Hindus is divided into twoparts: the ceremonial and the spiritual. The spiritualportion is specially studied by the monks.

In that there is no caste. A man from the highestcaste and a man from the lowest may become a monkin India, and the two castes become equal. In religionthere is no caste; caste is simply a social institution.Shakya Muni himself was a monk, and it was his glorythat he had the large-heartedness to bring out thetruths from the hidden Vedas and throw them broad-cast all over the world. He was the first being in theworld who brought missionarizing into practice—nay, he was the first to conceive the idea of pro-selytizing.

The great glory of the Master lay in his wonderfulsympathy for everybody, especially for the ignorantand the poor. Some of his disciples were Brahmins.When Buddha was teaching, Sanskrit was no morethe spoken language in India. It was then only in the

BUDDHISM, THE FULFILMENT OF HINDUISM 47

books of the learned. Some of Buddha’s Brahmindisciples wanted to translate his teachings intoSanskrit, but he distinctly told them, ‘I am for thepoor, for the people; let me speak in the tongue ofthe people.’ And so to this day the great bulk of histeachings are in the vernacular of that day in India.

Whatever may be the position of philosophy,whatever may be the position of metaphysics, so longas there is such a thing as death in the world, so longas there is such a thing as weakness in the humanheart, so long as there is a cry going out of the heartof man in his very weakness, there shall be faith inGod.

On the philosophic side the disciples of the GreatMaster dashed themselves against the eternal rocksof the Vedas and could not crush them, and on theother side they took away from the nation that eternalGod to which every one, man or woman, clings sofondly. And the result was that Buddhism had to diea natural death in India.…

But at the same time, Brahminism lost some-thing—that reforming zeal, that wonderful sympathyand charity for everybody, that wonderful leavenwhich Buddhism had brought to the masses andwhich had rendered Indian society so great that aGreek historian who wrote about India of that timewas led to say that no Hindu was known to tell an


untruth and no Hindu woman was known to beunchaste.

Hinduism cannot live without Buddhism, norBuddhism without Hinduism. Then realize what theseparation has shown to us, that the Buddhists cannotstand without the brain and philosophy of theBrahmins, nor the Brahmin without the heart of theBuddhist. This separation between the Buddhists andthe Brahmins is the cause of the downfall of India.That is why India is populated by three hundredmillions of beggars, and that is why India has beenthe slave of conquerors for the last thousand years.Let us then join the wonderful intellect of the Brah-mins with the heart, the noble soul, the wonderfulhumanizing power of the Great Master.

—The Complete Works, 1991, Vol. I, pp. 21-23.

49

* Delivered in Detroit on March 19, 1894. Reported in DetroitTribune.

BUDDHISM, THE RELIGION OFTHE LIGHT OF ASIA*

Vivekananda reviewed at length the early reli-gions of India. He told of the great slaughter of animalson the altar of sacrifice; of Buddha’s birth and life; ofhis puzzling questions to himself over the causes ofcreation and the reasons for existence; of the earneststruggle of Buddha to find the solution of creationand life; of the final result.

Buddha, he said, stood head and shouldersabove all other men. He was one, he said, [of] whomhis friends or enemies could never say that he drew abreath or ate a crumb of bread but for the good of all.

‘He never preached transmigration of the soul,’said Vivekananda, ‘except he believed one soul wasto its successor like the wave of the ocean that grewand died away, leaving naught to the succeedingwave but its force. He never preached that there wasa God, nor did he deny there was a God.

‘“Why should we be good?” his disciples askedof him.

4


‘“Because” he said, “you inherited good. Let youin your turn leave some heritage of good to yoursuccessors. Let us all help the onward march ofaccumulated goodness, for goodness’ sake.”

‘He was the first prophet. He never abused anyone or arrogated anything to himself. He believed inour working out our own salvation in religion.

‘“I can’t tell you,” he said, on his deathbed, “norany one. Depend not on any one. Work out your ownreligion [salvation].”

‘He protested against the inequality of man andman, or of man and beast. All life was equal, hepreached. He was the first man to uphold the doctrineof prohibition in liquors. “Be good and do good”, hesaid. “If there is a God, you have Him by being good.If there is no God, being good is good. He is to beblamed for all he suffers. He is to be praised for all hisgood.”

‘He was the first who brought the missionariesinto existence. He came as a saviour to the down-trodden millions of India. They could not understandhis philosophy, but they saw the man and histeachings, and they followed him.’

In conclusion Vivekananda said that Buddhismwas the foundation of the Christian religion; that theCatholic Church came from Buddhism.

—The Complete Works , 1992, Vol. VII, pp. 429-30.

51

* Delivered in Detroit.

BUDDHA,THE GREATEST KARMA YOGIN*

In every religion we find one type of self-devotion particularly developed. The type of workingwithout a motive is most highly developed inBuddhism. Do not mistake Buddhism and Brahmin-ism. In this country you are very apt to do so. Buddh-ism is one of our sects. It was founded by a great mancalled Gautama, who became disgusted at the eternalmetaphysical discussions of his day, and thecumbrous rituals, and more especially with the castesystem. Some people say that we are born to a certainstate, and therefore we are superior to others whoare not thus born. He was also against the tremendouspriestcraft. He preached a religion in which there wasno motive power, and was perfectly agnostic aboutmetaphysics or theories about God. He was oftenasked if there was a God, and he answered, he didnot know. When asked about right conduct, he wouldreply, ‘Do good and be good.’ There came fiveBrahmins, who asked him to settle their discussion.


One said, ‘Sir, my book says that God is such, andthat this is the way to come to God.’ Another said,‘That is wrong, for my book says such and such, andthis is the way to come to God’; and so the others. Helistened calmly to all of them, and then asked themone by one, ‘Does any one of your books say thatGod becomes angry, that He ever injures anyone, thatHe is impure?’ ‘No, Sir, they all teach that God is pureand good.’ ‘Then, my friends, why do you not becomepure and good first, that you may know what Godis?’

…I want a good deal of metaphysics, for myself.I entirely differ in many respects, but, because I differ,is that any reason why I should not see the beauty ofthe man? He was the only man who was bereft of allmotive power. There were other great men who allsaid they were the Incarnations of God Himself, andthat those who would believe in them would go toheaven. But what did Buddha say with his dyingbreath? ‘None can help you; help yourself; work outyour own salvation.’ He said about himself, ‘Buddhais the name of infinite knowledge, infinite as the sky;I, Gautama, have reached that state; you will all reachthat too if you struggle for it.’ Bereft of all motivepower, he did not want to go to heaven, did not wantmoney; he gave up his throne and everything elseand went about begging his bread through the streets

BUDDHA, THE GREATEST KARMA YOGIN 53

of India, preaching for the good of men and animalswith a heart as wide as the ocean.

He was the only man who was ever ready togive up his life for animals to stop a sacrifice. He oncesaid to a king, ‘If the sacrifice of a lamb helps you togo heaven, sacrificing a man will help you better; sosacrifice me.’ The king was astonished. And yet thisman was without any motive power. He stands asthe perfection of the active type, and the very heightto which he attained shows that through the powerof work we can also attain to the highest spirituality.

To many the path becomes easier if they believein God. But the life of Buddha shows that even a manwho does not believe in God, has no metaphysics,belongs to no sect, and does not go to any church, ortemple, and is a confessed materialist, even he canattain to the highest. We have no right to judge him.I wish I had one infinitesimal part of Buddha’s heart.Buddha may or may not have believed in God; thatdoes not matter to me. He reached the same state ofperfection to which others come by Bhakti—love ofGod—Yoga or Jnana. Perfection does not come frombelief or faith. Talk does not count for anything.Parrots can do that. Perfection comes through thedisinterested performance of action.

—The Complete Works, 1989, Vol. IV, pp. 135-37.

54

* Reported in Baltimore American, October 22, 1894.

THE RELIGION OF BUDDHA*

The Lyceum Theatre was crowded to the doorslast night at the second meeting of the seriesconducted by the Vrooman Brothers on ‘DynamicReligion’. Swami Vivekananda, of India, made theprincipal address. He spoke on the Buddhist religion,and told of the evils which existed among the peopleof India, at the time of the birth of Buddha. The socialinequalities in India, he said, were at that period athousand times greater than anywhere else in theworld. ‘Six hundred years before Christ,’ he conti-nued, ‘the priesthood of India exercised great in-fluence over the minds of the people, and betweenthe upper and nether millstone of intellectuality andlearning the people were ground. Buddhism, whichis the religion of more than two-third of the humanfamily, was not founded as an entirely new religion,but rather as a reformation which carried off the cor-ruption of the times. Buddha seems to have been theonly prophet who did everything for others andabsolutely nothing for himself. He gave up his homeand all the enjoyments of life to spend his days in

THE RELIGION OF BUDDHA 55

search of the medicine for the terrible disease ofhuman misery. In an age when men and priests werediscussing the essence of the deity, he discoveredwhat people had overlooked, that misery existed. Thecause of evil is our desire to be superior to others andour selfishness. The moment that the world becomesunselfish all evil will vanish. So long as society triesto cure evil by laws and institutions, evil will not becured. The world has tried this method ineffectuallyfor thousands of years. Force against force never cures,and the only cure for evil is unselfishness. We needto teach people to obey the laws rather than to makemore laws. Buddhism was the first missionary religionof the world but it was one of the teachings ofBuddhism not to antagonize any other religion. Sectsweaken their power for good by making war on eachother.

—The Complete Works, 1991, Vol. II, pp. 496-97.

56

* Report in Brooklyn Standard Union, February 4, 1895.

TRUE BUDDHISM*

Swami Vivekananda, being presented by Dr.Janes, the president of the Ethical Association, underwhose auspices these lectures are given, said in part:‘The Hindoo occupies a unique position towardsBuddhism. Like Christ, who antagonized the Jews,Buddha antagonized the prevailing religion of India;but while Christ was rejected by his countrymen,Buddha was accepted as God Incarnate. He denoun-ced the priestcraft at the very doors of their temples,yet today he is worshipped by them.

…Buddha never fought true castes, for they arenothing but the congregation of those of a particularnatural tendency, and they are always valuable. ButBuddha fought the degenerated castes with theirhereditary privileges, and spoke to the Brahmins:‘True Brahmins are not greedy, nor criminal nor an-gry—are you such? If not, do not mimic the genuine,real men. Caste is a state, not an iron-bound class,and every one who knows and loves God is a trueBrahmin.’ And with regard to the sacrifices, he said:‘Where do the Vedas say that sacrifices make us pure?

TRUE BUDDHISM 57

They may please, perhaps, the angels, but they makeus no better. Hence, let off these mummeries—loveGod and strive to be perfect.’

…‘Every one of Buddha’s teachings is foundedin the Vedantas. He was one of those monks whowanted to bring out the truths, hidden in those booksand in the forest monasteries. I do not believe thatthe world is ready for them even now; it still wantsthose lower religions, which teach of a personal God.Because of this, the original Buddhism could not holdthe popular mind until it took up the modifications,which were reflected back from Thibet and theTartars. Original Buddhism was not at all nihilistic. Itwas but an attempt to combat caste and priestcraft; itwas the first in the world to stand as champion of thedumb animals, the first to break down the caste,standing between man and man.’

Swami Vivekananda concluded his lecture withthe presentation of a few pictures from the life ofBuddha, the ‘great one, who never thought a thoughtand never performed a deed except for the good ofothers; who had the greatest intellect and heart, takingin all mankind and all the animals, all embracing,ready to give up his life for the highest angels as wellas for the lowest worm.’ He first showed how Bu-ddha, for the purpose of saving a herd of sheep,intended for a king’s sacrifice, had thrown himself


upon the altar, and thus accomplished his purpose.He next pictured how the great prophet had partedfrom his wife and baby at the cry of sufferingmankind, and how, lastly, after his teachings had beenuniversally accepted in India, he accepted theinvitation of a despised Pariah, who dined him onswine’s flesh, from the effects of which he died.

—The Complete Works, 1991, Vol. II, pp. 507-10.

59

BUDDHISM AND VEDANTA

The Vedanta philosophy is the foundation ofBuddhism and everything else in India; but what wecall the Advaita philosophy of the modern school hasa great many conclusions of the Buddhists. Of course,the Hindus will not admit that—that is the orthodoxHindus, because to them the Buddhists are heretics.But there is a conscious attempt to stretch out thewhole doctrine to include the heretics also.

The Vedanta has no quarrel with Buddhism. Theidea of the Vedanta is to harmonize all….

Buddhism does not want to have anythingexcept phenomena. In phenomena alone is desire.It is desire that is creating all this. Modern Vedantistsdo not hold this at all. We say there is somethingwhich has become the will. Will is a manufacturedsomething, a compound, not a ‘simple’. Therecannot be any will without an external object. Wesee that the very position that will created thisuniverse is impossible. How could it? Have you everknown will without external stimulus? Desirecannot arise without stimulus, or in modernphilosophic language, of nerve stimulus. Will is asort of reaction of the brain, what the Sankhya


philosophers call Buddhi. This reaction must bepreceded by action, and action presupposes an ex-ternal universe. When there is no external universe,naturally there will be no will; and yet, according toyour theory, it is will that created the universe. Whocreates the will? Will is coexistent with the universe.Will is one phenomenon caused by the same impulsewhich created the universe. But philosophy mustnot stop there. Will is entirely personal; thereforewe cannot go with Schopenhauer at all. Will is acompound—a mixture of the internal and theexternal. Suppose a man were born without anysenses, he would have no will at all. Will requiressomething from outside, and the brain will get someenergy from inside; therefore will is a compound,as much a compound as the wall or anything else.We do not agree with the will-theory of theseGerman philosophers at all. Will itself is pheno-menal and cannot be the Absolute. It is one of themany projections. There is something which is notwill, but is manifesting itself as will. That I canunderstand.

But that will is manifesting itself as everythingelse, I do not understand, seeing that we cannot haveany conception of will, as separate from the universe.When that something which is freedom becomes will,it is caused by time, space, and causation. Take Kant’s

BUDDHISM AND VEDANTA 61

analysis. Will is within time, space, and causation.Then how can it be the Absolute? One cannot willwithout willing in time.

If we can stop all thought, then we know thatwe are beyond thought. We come to this by negation.When every phenomenon has been negatived,whatever remains, that is It. That cannot be expressed,cannot be manifested, because the manifestation willbe, again, will.

—The Complete Works, 1989, Vol. V, pp. 279-81.

Blank

Part II

Extracts from Other Lectures ofSwami Vivekananda

on Buddha

Ùemme efpeleb veeJepeerÙeefle, efpelecemme vees Ùeeefle keâesefÛe ueeskesâ~ leb yegæcevevleieesÛejb Deheob kesâve heosve vesmmeLe ~~

Whose conquest cannot be overthrown,Whose conquest nobody equals in the world,Whose realm is infinite,Whose place you cannot locate—By what steps can you show the way of that Buddha?

—Dhammapada, v. 179.

65

EXTRACTS FROM OTHERLECTURES OF

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

ON BUDDHA

The gigantic will which Buddha and Jesus threwover the world, whence did it come? Whence camethis accumulation of power? It must have been therethrough ages and ages, continually growing biggerand bigger, until it burst on society in a Buddha or aJesus, even rolling down to the present day.

—The Complete Works, 1991, Vol. I, p. 30.

Have you not seen even a most bigoted Chris-tian, when he reads Edwin Arnold’s Light of Asia, standin reverence of Buddha, who preached no God,preached nothing but self-sacrifice?

—Ibid., p. 86.

Let me tell you in conclusion a few words aboutone man who actually carried this teaching of Karma-Yoga into practice. That man is Buddha. He is theone man who ever carried this into perfect practice.All the prophets of the world, except Buddha, had5


external motives to move them to unselfish action.The prophets of the world, with this single exception,may be divided into two sets, one set holding thatthey are incarnations of God come down on earth,and the other holding that they are only messengersfrom God; and both draw their impetus for work fromoutside, expect reward from outside, however highlyspiritual may be the language they use. But Buddhais the only prophet who said, ‘I do not care to knowyour various theories about God. What is the use ofdiscussing all the subtle doctrines about the soul? Dogood and be good. And this will take you to freedomand to whatever truth there is.’ He was, in the con-duct of his life, absolutely without personal motives;and what man worked more than he? Show me inhistory one character who has soared so high aboveall. The whole human race has produced but one suchcharacter, such high philosophy, such wide sym-pathy. This great philosopher, preaching the highestphilosophy, yet had the deepest sympathy for thelowest of animals, and never put forth any claims forhimself. He is the ideal Karma-Yogi, acting entirelywithout motive, and the history of humanity showshim to have been the greatest man ever born; beyondcompare the greatest combination of heart and brainthat ever existed, the greatest soul-power that has everbeen manifested. He is the first great reformer the

EXTRACTS FROM OTHER LECTURES 67

world has seen. He was the first who dared to say,‘Believe not because some old manuscripts are pro-duced, believe not because it is your national belief,because you have been made to believe it from yourchildhood; but reason it all out, and after you haveanalysed it, then, if you find that it will do good toone and all, believe it, live up to it, and help others tolive up to it.’ He works best who works without anymotive, neither for money nor for fame, nor for any-thing else; and when a man can do that, he will be aBuddha, and out of him will come the power to workin such a manner as will transform the world. Thisman represents the very highest ideal of Karma-Yoga.

—Ibid., pp. 116-18.

Buddha taught five hundred years before Christ,and his words were full of blessings: never a cursecame from his lips, nor from his life;…

—Ibid., p. 328.

It was the great Buddha, who never cared forthe dualist gods, and who has been called an atheistand materialist, who yet was ready to give up his bodyfor a poor goat. That Man set in motion the highestmoral ideas any nation can have. Whenever there isa moral code it is a ray of light from that Man.

—Ibid., 1991, Vol. II, p. 143.


It reminds me of a celebrated song in the LalitaVistara, the biography of Buddha. Buddha was born,says the book, as the saviour of mankind, but he forgothimself in the luxuries of his palace. Some angels cameand sang a song to rouse him. And the burden of thewhole song is that we are floating down the river oflife which is continually changing with no stop andno rest. So are our lives, going on and on withoutknowing any rest.…

—Ibid., p. 92.

I am the servant of the servants of the servantsof Buddha. Who was there ever like him? —theLord—who never performed one action for himself—with a heart that embraced the whole world! So fullof pity that he—prince and monk—would give hislife to save a little goat! So loving that he sacrificedhimself to the hunger of a tigress! —to the hospitalityof a pariah and blessed him! And he came into myroom when I was a boy, and I fell at his feet! For Iknew it was the Lord Himself!

—Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 278.

The Lord Buddha is my Ishta—my God. Hepreached no theory about Godhead—he was himselfGod, I fully believe it.

—Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 227.


I would like to see moral men like GautamaBuddha, who did not believe in a Personal God or apersonal soul, never asked about them, but was aperfect agnostic, and yet was ready to lay down hislife for anyone, and worked all his life for the good ofall, and thought only of the good of all. Well has itbeen said by his biographer, in describing his birth,that he was born for the good of the many, as ablessing to the many. He did not go to the forest tomeditate for his own salvation; he felt that the worldwas burning, and that he must find a way out. ‘Whyis there so much misery in the world?’—was the onequestion that dominated his whole life. Do you thinkwe are so moral as the Buddha?

—Ibid., Vol. II, p. 352.

Listen to Buddha’s message—a tremendousmessage. It has a place in our heart. Says Buddha,‘Root out selfishness, and everything that makes youselfish. Have neither wife, child, nor family. Be not ofthe world; become perfectly unselfish.’

—Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 131.

The Lord once more came to you as Buddha andtaught you how to feel, how to sympathize with thepoor, the miserable, the sinner, but you heard Himnot. Your priests invented the horrible story that the


Lord was here for deluding demons with falsedoctrines!…

—Ibid., 1989, Vol. V, p. 14.

Buddha came to whip us into practice. Be good,destroy the passions. Then you will know for yourselfwhether Dvaita or Advaita philosophy is true—whether there is one or there are more than one.

—Ibid., 1991, Vol. VI, p. 116.

…The phase of Buddhism which declares‘Everything for others’, and which you find spreadthroughout Tibet, has greatly struck modern Europe.…What Buddha did was to break wide open the gatesof that very religion which was confined in the Upa-nishads to a particular caste. What special greatnessdoes his theory of Nirvana confer on him? His great-ness lies in his unrivalled sympathy. The high ordersof Samadhi etc., that lend gravity to his religion, arealmost all there in the Vedas; what are absent thereare his intellect and heart, which have never sincebeen paralleled throughout the history of the world.

—Ibid., p. 225.

…There is nothing to know about in this worldtherefore, if there be anything beyond this relativeexistence—what the Lord Buddha has designated as


Prajnapara—the transcendental—if such there be, Iwant that alone. Whether happiness attends it or grief,I do not care. What a lofty idea! How grand!…

—Ibid., p. 227.

…Only one kind of work I understand, and thatis doing good to others; all else is doing evil. I thereforeprostrate myself before the Lord Buddha.…

—Ibid., p. 310.

In the Buddha Incarnation the Lord says thatthe root of the Adhibhautika misery or, misery arisingfrom other terrestrial beings, is the formation ofclasses (Jati); in other words, every form of class-distinction, whether based on birth, or acquirements,or wealth is at the bottom of this misery.

—Ibid., p. 327.

My belief, however, is that it was since the timeof Buddha that the monastic vow was preached morethoroughly all over India, and renunciation, the givingup of sense-enjoyment, was recognized as the highestaim of religious life.… Never was a great man of suchrenunciation born in this world as Buddha.

—Ibid., p. 507.


…The monastic institution was there, but thegenerality of people did not recognize it as the goalof life; there was no such staunch spirit for it, therewas no such firmness in spiritual discrimination. Soeven when Buddha betook himself to so many Yogisand Sadhus, nowhere did he acquire the peace hewanted. And then to realize the Highest he fell backon his own exertions, and seated on a spot with thefamous words, Fnemeves Meg<Ùeleg ces Mejerjced—‘Let my body witheraway on this seat’ etc. rose from it only after becomingthe Buddha, the Illumined One.… Really speaking,the institution of Sannyasa originated with Buddha;it was he who breathed life into the dead bones ofthis institution.

—Ibid., pp. 507-08.

…If we accept history only as authority, we haveto admit that in the midst of the profound darknessof the ancient times, Buddha only shines forth as afigure radiant with the light of knowledge.

—Ibid., p. 509.

…Buddha was more brave and sincere than anyteacher. He said: ‘Believe no book; the Vedas are allhumbug. If they agree with me, so much the betterfor the books. I am the greatest book; sacrifice andprayer are useless.’ Buddha was the first human being


to give to the world a complete system of morality.He was good for good’s sake, he loved for love’s sake.

—Ibid., 1992, Vol. VII, pp. 40-41.

Buddha never bowed down to anything—nei-ther Veda, nor caste, nor priest, nor custom. He fear-lessly reasoned so far as reason could take him. Sucha fearless search for truth and such love for everyliving thing the world has never seen. Buddha wasthe Washington of the religious world; he conquereda throne only to give it to the world, as Washingtondid to the American people. He sought nothing forhimself.

—Ibid., p. 59.

But look at Buddha’s heart! —Ever ready to givehis own life to save the life of even a kid—what tospeak of yengpeveefnleeÙe yengpevemegKeeÙe—‘For the welfare of themany, for the happiness of the many’! See, what alarge heartedness—what a compassion!

—Ibid., p. 118.

Buddha preached renunciation. India heard, andyet in six centuries she reached her greatest height.

—Ibid., 1989, Vol. V, p. 228.


…But consider how much good to the worldand its beings…how many monasteries and schoolsand colleges, how many public hospitals andveterinary refuges were established, how developedarchitecture became… [in the name of Buddha!] Whatwas there in this country before Buddha’s advent?Only a number of religious principles recorded onbundles of palm leaves—and those too known onlyto a few. It was Lord Buddha who brought themdown to the practical field and showed how to applythem in the everyday life of the people. In a sense, hewas the living embodiment of true Vedanta.

—Ibid., 1992, Vol. VII, pp. 118-19.

…Buddha brought the Vedanta to light, gave itto the people and saved India.

—Ibid., 1991, Vol. II, p. 139.

When Buddha, who is with us a saint, was askedby one of his followers: ‘Does God exist?’ He replied:‘God, when have I spoken to you about God? This Itell you, be good and do good.’

—Ibid., p. 287.

…But Buddha would have been worshipped asGod in his own lifetime, all over Asia, for a moment’scompromise. And his reply was only: ‘Buddhahood


is an achievement, not a person!’ Verily was He theonly man in the world who was ever quite sane, theonly sane man ever born!

—Ibid., Vol. VIII, pp. 271-72.

76

ON BUDDHISM

Now this Buddhism went as the first missionaryreligion to the world, penetrated the whole of thecivilized world as it existed at that time, and neverwas a drop of blood shed for that religion. We readhow in China the Buddhist missionaries were per-secuted, and thousands were massacred by two orthree successive emperors, but after that, fortunefavoured the Buddhists, and one of the emperorsoffered to take vengeance on the persecutors, but themissionaries refused.

—Ibid., Vol. I, p. 349.

…No march of armies has been used to preachthis religion. In Buddhism, one of the most missionaryreligions of the world, we find inscriptions remainingof the great Emperor Asoka—recording how mission-aries were sent to Alexandria, to Antioch, to Persia, toChina, and to various other countries of the thencivilized world. —Ibid., pp. 390-91.

Buddhism.… broke the chains of the masses. Allcastes and creeds alike became equal in a minute.

—Ibid., p. 455.

ON BUDDHISM 77

The great point of contrast between Buddhismand Hinduism lies in the fact that Buddhism said,‘Realize all this as illusion’, while Hinduism said,‘Realize that within the illusion is the Real.’

—Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 273.

Buddhism proves nothing about the AbsoluteEntity. In a stream the water is changing; we have noright to call the stream one. Buddhists deny the one,and say, it is many. We say it is one and deny the many.What they call Karma is what we call the soul. Accor-ding to Buddhism, man is a series of waves. Everywave dies, but somehow the first wave causes thesecond. That the second wave is identical with thefirst is illusion. To get rid of illusion good Karma isnecessary. Buddhists do not postulate anythingbeyond the world.… Buddhism accepts that there ismisery, and sufficient it is that we can get rid of thisDuhkha [misery]; whether we get Sukha [happiness]or not, we do not know.

—Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 119.

But the aim of Buddhism was reform of the Vedicreligion by standing against ceremonials requiringofferings of animals, against hereditary caste andexclusive priesthood, and against belief in permanentsouls. It never attempted to destroy that religion, or


overturn the social order. It introduced a vigorousmethod by organizing a class of Sannyasins into astrong monastic brotherhood, and the Brahmavadinisinto a body of nuns—by introducing images of saintsin the place of altar-fires.

—Ibid., p. 161.

The Buddhist reformation and its chief field ofactivity were also in the same eastern region; and whenthe Maurya kings, forced possibly by the bar sinisteron their escutcheon, patronized and led the newmovement, the new priest power joined hands withthe political power of the empire of Pataliputra. Thepopularity of Buddhism and its fresh vigour madethe Maurya kings the greatest emperors that Indiaever had. The power of the Maurya sovereigns madeBuddhism that worldwide religion that we see eventoday.

—Ibid., p. 162.

In the religious communities, among Sannyasinsin the Buddhist monasteries, we have ample evidenceto show that self-government was fully developed.

—Ibid., 1989, Vol. IV, p. 442.

With the deluge which swept the land at theadvent of Buddhism, the priestly power fell into decay

ON BUDDHISM 79

and the royal power was in the ascendant. Buddhistpriests are renouncers of the world, living in monas-teries as homeless ascetics, unconcerned with secularaffairs.… The state of being a Buddha is superior tothe heavenly positions of many a Brahma or anIndra,… And to this Buddhahood, every man has theprivilege to attain; it is open to all even in this life.

—Ibid., p. 443.

Buddhism, one of the most philosophical reli-gions in the world, spread all through the populace,the common people of India. What a wonderful cul-ture there must have been among the Aryans twenty-five hundred years ago, to be able to grasp ideas!

—Ibid., 1992, Vol. VII, p. 39.

In course of time, under the regime of EmperorAsoka, his son Mahinda and his daughter Sangha-mitta, who had taken the vow of Sannyasa, came tothe Island of Ceylon as religious missionaries.… Soonthe Ceylonese grew very staunch Buddhists, and builta great city in the centre of the island and called itAnuradhapuram. The sight of the remains of this citystrikes one dumb even today—huge stupas, anddilapidated stone building extending for miles andmiles are standing to this day; …Shaven headedmonks and nuns, with the begging bowl in hand and


clothed in yellow robes, spread all over Ceylon. Inplaces colossal temples were reared containing hugefigures of Buddha in meditation, of Buddha prea-ching the Law, and of Buddha in a reclining posture—entering into Nirvana.

—Ibid., p. 336.

Documents

B uddha - Ensinamentos Sagrados da Vedantahe said, ‘Buddha is my Ishta’. Furthermore, Swamiji saw in Buddha the perfect embodiment of India’s ancient wisdom and virtues, and