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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1246
resemblance to the original teachings of Gautama. The Buddhists of Burmah
adhere more closely to the orthodox teachings, but even there Buddhism is
held more as a religious system and “church,” than as a philosophical system.
And yet the original philosophy of Gautama Buddha exerted a wonderful
influence on the philosophical thought of India—and having played its part,
it passed from the scene and now lives only in the shape of “a religion,” and
as the basis for the philosophical conceptions of others, East and West.
Buddhism dates back to about 600 b.c., the time of Gautama its founder,
and has for its birthplace India. Gautama, the Buddha, was a prince by the
name of Siddhartha, who was also known by the name of Sakyamuni, the
term meaning “the solitary one of the family of Sakya.” The term “Buddha”
means the “illumined mind,” or “enlightenment,” and is a term bestowed
upon Gautama by reason of his Spiritual Illumination. The titles of Bhavagat,
or “the Blessed one”; and the Bodhisat; are also frequently used in reference
to Gautama.
There is a great mass of legendary lore connected with the early life of
Gautama, which has been carefully combined and beautifully stated in
the poem entitled “The Light of Asia,” by Edwin Arnold, the English poet.
According to the legends Gautama, the prince Siddhartha, in his boyhood
developed a tendency toward philosophical thought and speculation, and
his father who desired him to become a famous warrior hastened him to
an early marriage, and placed him in environments calculated to keep
his mind away from the misery and pain of the world, and surrounded
with the luxury and sensuous splendour of an Oriental court. All sickness,
disease, and death was kept from the sight and knowledge of the prince,
and nothing but brightness and joy was allowed to enter into his life. But,
notwithstanding this, the young prince began to tire of the perpetual
round of pleasure which palled upon him, and led him to declare that “all
is vanity” and idle dissipation, satisfying not the mind or the soul. One day,
escaping from his bounds, he discovered that misery, pain and disease are
the common occurrences of life, and that Death the Reaper ever stands