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The Seventh Lesson: Buddhism.1249
philosophical thought knows that the one positive position from which the
Hindu mind refuses to budge, is the idea that “Something never can come
from nothing—nor can something be resolved into nothing”; or, as it is often
expressed, “From nothing, nothing comes.” And, moreover, to suppose that
the Nirvana, or Soul Freedom, of Gautama was a state of “nothingness” or
annihilation, shows a profound ignorance of the fundamental conceptions
of the Buddhist philosophy, as well as of the general Hindu, or even the
general Oriental, thought, through all of which the thread of an Ultimate
Universal Consciousness runs unbroken. And yet you will find the majority
of Western writers on Buddhism assuring you that Nirvana, the goal of the
Buddhist, is a “state of nothingness,” or “a state of annihilation.” Nirvana
is “the annihilation of Maya”—a “blowing out of Avidya, or Ignorance”—
and a state of Universal Inner Consciousness, rather than an extinction of
consciousness. And if these Western writers fail to grasp even this important
point of the Buddhist teachings, how can you expect them to grasp the
subtle minor points of doctrine?
As we have said, Gautama refused to speculate upon The Absolute, that,
Brahman, or the Noumenal. But instead of denying its existence, he merely
treated it as an existent Unknowable, a position very similar to that of
Herbert Spencer, the great English philosopher, whom men mistakenly call
a materialist,” although he clearly and positively postulates an “Unknowable”
upon which the entire phenomenal universe or “The Knowable” depends
and is sustained. Gautama admits this Unknowable, and although he treats
it as a No-Thing, he does not claim it is Nothing—it is simply that which is
entirely “Different from and Antecedent to Things.” So subtle is Gautama’s
conception and analysis that it is no wonder that his meaning escapes the
observation of the Western examiners of his teachings. For not only does he
consider the Absolute-in-Action, or that Manifesting, as the Unknowable;
but he also perceives to exist a Para-Brahm—that is that in its aspect of
Rest and Not-Activity—Brahman divested even of Maya and the Illusory
Universe. To use Western terms Gautama’s highest and ultimate conception