Towards the Truth

46
derstanding of that delusion is the annihilation there. That too is
a creative act, for it creates the cessation of the cause of all disharmony;
and that is bliss supreme.
If I may take upon myself a part of the Chairman’s duty which
is to sum up the debate, I would condense my reverend opponent’s
attitude towards the religion of Christianity in the words of Saint
Anselm: “Credo ut intelligam”; I believe so that I may understand.
Similarly, I might condense, my own attitude towards the philosophy
of Buddhism by saying: I understand, so that I need not believe.
And thus we stand here where we were in the beginning, faith
and emotion opposed to reason. Like other religions based on faith,
Christianity is a passion. And though it may be true that this is
an age in which reason claims for leadership, it must also be admitted
that there never will be a time in which passion will find no
place. It may even happen that passion will dominate reason. But
as long as thought is free to think and men will be allowed to discuss
their differences dispassionately, as long as there will be men and
women who do not betray the truth by compromise, so long also
will there be room for Christianity and Buddhism to suit the different
temperaments of East and West. The hot and temperamental
East preferred the cold reasoning of Buddhism, while the cold and
calculating West preferred the passionate heat of faith and love.
But, I think that there is more in it than the difference between
ice-cream and a hot-water-bottle. For both are higher aspects of
life, though the aspects differ. Both show to man that there is more
in life than money and the power it can buy. Along different roads
they try to lead man up along the path of virtue. And in this we
can not only tolerate one another, but we have learned to appreciate
and even to love. For even if I cannot understand the other road
of which Christ spoke when pointing to himself saying: “I am the
Way, the Truth and the Life” (John: XIV, 6)—even though I prefer
the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold path, his Middle Path, avoiding the
extremes of love of sense and hate of life—still I know that man