Believe not because some old manuscripts are produced, believe not
because it is your national belief, believe not because you have been made
to believe from your childhood, but reason truth out, and after you have
analyzed it, then if you find it will do good to one and all, believe it, live
up to it and help others live up to it.

"Buddha"

Although it has been vilified by fanatic members of Western monolithic
religions, the ancient religion of Buddhism has been widely respected
by spiritualists and non-religionists for centuries. The admiration of
Buddhism by open-minded Westerners is not a recent phenomenon,
despite its current status in power circles such as the Hollywood elite.
Many seekers of truth have discarded their traditional spiritual practices
in favor of what they consider a superior system, i.e., Buddhism, which
does indeed offer concepts that are more cosmic and less repressive
than the Western religions.

"Buddha" is a Compilation of Characters

There are several types of Buddhism, which is a reflection of the fact
that there have been several "Buddhas" and that Buddhism has been
migrating from place to place for millennia. The story of the founding
of Buddhism is that it was developed by a single, godly man - godman
- named first Siddhartha and then Gautama Buddha, who had
miraculous exploits, including the requisite "virgin birth" but also
mountaintop communion with "angels" and "gods." The stories of THE
Buddha, in fact, are extremely diverse. This diversity is understandable
since the basic Buddha character is, in fact, a solar myth to which were
added volumes of "sayings" and "doings" of a variety of people,
usually men. "Buddha" is merely a title that signifies awakening,
illumination or anointing, and there have been dozens of Buddhas,
some female, over the millennia that constitute Buddhism. Indeed,
Buddhism existed long prior to the time period assigned to its "great
founder," i.e., 500 BCE, as there are legends of "Buddhas" going back
many more thousands of years, including the 24 Teerthankaras of
Jainism. (See Buddha as Fiction.) The word "Buddha" is related to the
Egyptian term for the sky-god father-figure, "Ptah" and "Puttha," as
well as to "Pytha," as in Pythagoras ("Buddha" + "guru"). It is also,
therefore, related to the word "father." The Egyptian god Thot or
Hermes is considered an early type of Buddha.

The Variants of Buddhism

While Zen Buddhism, or the Buddhism developed in Japan, is relatively
simple and devoid of dogma, Tibetan Buddhism is more complex, with
umpteen rituals and a hierarchy that startled Christian missionaries with
its astonishing "similarity" to Catholicism. This similarity, in fact, is
much more than a bizarre coincidence, as the two religions derive from
the same source, Buddhism being first by thousands of years. Tibetan
Buddhism has a flavor distinct from other forms of Buddhism,
especially Zen, because it is a combination of Buddhism and the
animistic "Bon," the previous religion of the Tibetan area, which was
once much larger than it is today.

Although Zen has been preferred by Western intellectuals, many
Western people are especially fond of Tibetan Buddhism with its color
and pageantry, finding it superior to Catholicism. In the most
important ways, this perception is correct, because the major tenet of
Buddhism - Zen, Tibetan or otherwise - is that there is no "god" as
such, separate and aloof from creation, but there is a sense or state of
divinity that can be acquired by all. In other words, to enlightened
Buddhas everything is divine. Many practitioners of Buddhism have
undergone liberating experiences far more profound than those
acquired within other spiritual or religious systems. While this promise
of liberating spiritual experience sounds great in theory, there are
problems with the actual history of Buddhism, as, like its Western
counterparts, such history reveals prejudices, racism and sexism. Like
the Western religions, Buddhism is primarily patriarchal, although
certain sects of Buddhism have been goddess-oriented and have
exhorted that the path to the One was through the Other, i.e., the
Woman.

Buddhism's Bloody Past

Nevertheless, despite the best images put forth in the media and the
work done by the Dalai Lama, all is not and has not been well in the
world of Buddhism. The impression today of Buddhism is that it is by
far the most sane of the world's various religious traditions, and this
reputation is, at least over the past few centuries, well deserved.
Because of its lack of rules and dogma, Zen is certainly superior to the
monolithic religions that have through mind-control marshaled great
hordes of people to rampage against their neighbors. But Buddhism
did not spread peacefully, as is widely perceived. Like all other mass
movements, Buddhism has a bloody and violent history. And Tibetan
Buddhism is not exempt from this history, despite the fact that for the
past 40 or more years Tibet has clearly been a victim of Chinese
oppression. It should be noted that this author has been in the past
highly sympathetic to the Tibetan cause. Yet, it is my nature to be
brutally honest, and the fact is that various Tibetan Buddhists have
been up to shenanigans that will shock and dismay. I should also state
here that, like the members of other religions, not ALL Tibetan
Buddhists have been causing trouble behind the scenes. It is not the
common people who are the problem within any ideology but those
who are in power, the ones who control the masses. Yet not all
humans are sheep, and those common folks with souls must certainly
blame themselves for being co-conspirators when they pick up those
weapons and fight in the name of their particular god or religion.

The question is, for all its intoxicating magic and mystery, are Tibet and
Tibetan Buddhism really a completely innocent place and ideology
immune to any criticism? Like everywhere and everyone else on this
planet, Tibet and its inhabitants - at least those who have some power -
have not come down to modern times unscathed by controversy,
intrigue and nefarious activities. This statement certainly does not
imply that the current Tibetan situation is warranted or that the Tibetans
should not regain their autonomy. However, in reality there is no place
on Earth than can be viewed through rose-colored glasses, and the
hidden history of Buddhism needs to be examined so that humankind
can continue its evolution towards maturity and the "end goal" of
Buddhism itself: godliness. We simply cannot become "gods" or
evolved beings by remaining childish, naive and unrealistic in our
perceptions.

Many people have the impression that, unlike the Western "convert or
die" religions, Buddhism has spread peacefully and reasonably, rather
than by violence. While that may be the case today, it is not historical
fact. Adherents of Buddhism have been involved in the same type of
violent migration as those of Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and
Islam, as many Buddhists have also perceived themselves as "chosen
people" with the "right religion." One example of this violent
imposition can in fact be found in the entry of Buddhism into Tibet.
Like other people of other nations and faiths, the inhabitants of Tibet
prior to Buddhism were loathe to give up their traditions and religion of
Bon, and they did engage in physical resistance of the invaders, who
committed violence against them. Finally, the "Bonpos" were
overcome and nearly became extinct at the hands of Buddhists, who
were not able completely to destroy Bon but had to incorporate many
of its aspects into "pure" Buddhism. This "marriage" produced Tibetan
Buddhism. As Peter Moon relates in The Black Sun: Montauk's
Nazi-Tibetan Connection:

"The Bon religion, in its pure and original form, was based
upon the concept of the goddess as recognized in the
symbolism of the Black Sun. In this respect, the Black Sun
signifies the void of creation from which all things originate.
By the time Buddhists took over the annals of history, they
wrote that Tibet was a she-demon who had to be subjugated.
This was merely a criticism of the Bon religion and their way
of looking at the world through the feminine principle. The
Buddhists said, 'She (referring to Tibet as the goddess) had to
crucified with nails before she could be tamed.' After that, the
Buddhists decreed that Tibet could be inhabited and civilized.
This configuration of the crucified goddess was actually
symbolized geographically by square concentric zones or
regions boxed around a common center. Four temples were
erected at the four corners of the configuration while three
successive squares stood for nails driven into her limbs. To
keep her under control, (a total of) twelve nails of immobility
were driven into her and were represented by the twelve
temples (pagodas). This legend was repeated and embellished
until it became a staple of Buddhist literature.

"The above facts and attitudes give us ample reason to want to
bash Tibetan Buddhism. This is not the point, but we should
realize that Tibetan Buddhism is based upon a patriarchal
system that had its own agenda. One can still find many truths
in the subject, but many times these are watered down from
the original doctrine.

"Buddhism, as we know it today, is a distortion of a long and
ancient tradition that existed long before the advent of
Siddhartha Gautama. At one time, kings were also known as
Buddhas and were identified by the very same word. . . .

"Thus, we see that the nature of Tibet has been completely
misconstrued by popular history and thought. It has always
been a cordoned off section of the world. Under Chinese
control in modern times, it is particularly so. [But] Tibet has
many connections to the outside world . . ."

Mysterious Tibet

Tibet is indeed a land of magic and mystery. The nation, which once
extended well beyond the boundaries it held when the Chinese invaded
it, has been steeped in the occult for millennia. While Tibetans are
widely known for doing rituals to bring about healing and peace, some
have been known to engage in what could be called "black magic" as
well. Stories abound of hair-raising creatures ("tulpas") being created
through incantation, and, shocking as it will be to many readers, it
would seem some Tibetans had their hand in creating what many
consider to be one of the most evil incarnations ever to set foot upon
this planet: Adolf Hitler.

Many people are aware that Hitler took a number of aspects of his own
occult practices from Tibet and India. This appropriation would
include the swastika, which is widely used in both those countries, but
which is also found around the globe, serving as a solar symbol, used
even by the early Christians. Few people are, however, aware that the
higher-ups within the Third Reich and Tibet worked together in more
in-depth ways than just exchanging a few ideas or symbols here and
there. The highly occult-oriented Nazis were infamous for their quests
to obtain magical symbols and objects from basically all religions, as is
lampooned in "Raiders of the Last Ark," for example. They were
convinced that by obtaining these magical objects, they could indeed
control the world. And they might have succeeded but for public
outcry, because, believe it or not, they were being helped by members
of the governments of many nations, including those that purported to
be their enemies, i.e., Jews, such as the Rothschilds and Warburgs, who
through I.G. Farben helped finance the Nazis. As concerns the
Nazi-Tibet connection, it was apparently more than just a few visits by
Nazis to that mysterious land, because at the end of WWII, a number of
Tibetans in Nazi uniforms were purportedly found dead in Germany.

As stated, Tibet is not the only country that actually contributed to the
empowerment of the Third Reich. The U.S. also had a hand in it. As
did Japan, and it is rumored that Japanese Buddhists were also doing
esoteric magic that aided in empowering Hitler. The stories go that
there is a secret society within Buddhism that has been in existence
since the times of Asoka, the Buddhist reformer-king of India during
the 2nd century BCE. This secret society is claimed to hold tremendous
power, with each member in possession of a magical "key" that when
combined with the others can create or destroy on a cosmic scale.
When a keyholder dies, he is replaced by another person, and it is
believed that the keyholders are continually reincarnated, such that
eventually there will be many of them living at once, thus increasing
their power. It is claimed that this group did their thing behind the
scenes, adding occultic energy to Hitler, if not actually creating him in
the first place, along with the assistance of Christianity, as Hitler was a
professedly devout Catholic working closely with the Catholic Church,
and Zionism, as wealthy Zionists used Hitler as a puppet to herd Jews
into Palestine. This bizarre and seemingly defamatory assertion about
the Asoka group is given validity by the little known fact that long prior
to the rise of Nazism, the swastika was considered a sacred symbol in
the "Asoka inscriptions" and the "Buddhist Zodiacs."

Dalai Lama Under Fire

Also, of late the Dalai Lama has come under fire as being no less
despotic than the Pope. Indeed, he is apparently much the same as the
Pope: outwardly lovable but secretly tyrannical. The following is an
article entitled "The Dark Side of the Dalai Lama" by Iain S. Bruce,
from The Scotsman Newspaper, 10th March 1999:

"Is Tibet's spiritual leader fooling the West?

"To much of the Western world he is the very embodiment of
kindness and peace, a gentle robed figure of great wisdom and
limitless virtue.

"Feted by politicians, pop stars and Hollywood stars, the
seemingly undisputed spiritual and political leader of the
movement to free Tibet has always seemed like a pretty safe
bet in a diplomatic arena populated by rogues and charlatans.

"The cracks in the Dalai Lama's impeccable image however,
are beginning to show and accusations are being levelled with
increasing frequency which link the 1989 Nobel laureate to
religious repression despotism and murder.

"'The Dalai Lama has two faces. In the West he
enthusiastically creates an atmosphere of liberalism and open
dialogue; in the East he treats people as a monarch does his
subjects,' says Lama Kundeling, the abbot of the Atisha
monastery in Bangalore and respected member of the exiled
Tibetan community. 'There is no freedom for us - he has total
monopoly over all spiritual and secular matters and spreads
confusion and distress among the Tibetan people.'

"China invaded Tibet in 1951 and declared the region a
semi-autonomous state of the People Republic, with the
15-year-old Dalai Lama at its head. In reality the set-up existed
to rubber stamp Beijing's commands. Forty years ago today,
responding to rumours that the Chinese were about to kidnap
the Dalai Lama, 300,000 Tibetans formed a human barrier
around his palace and clashed with the Chinese army. As
Chinese heavy artlllery moved into range, the Dalai Lama
escaped on foot to India, and began orchestrating a global,
campaign to gain his country's independence, though he
modified this demand to self-government in 1988. The
Chinese subsequently pursued a regime of brutal oppression;
while native Tibetans patiently wait for their leader to return
and free them.

"Some 120,000 Tibetans fled to form exile communities
across the globe, mostly in India, where Dharamsala - site of
the Lama's government in exile - is situated. The region has,
since become the focal point of a modern pilgrimage
undertaken by Westerners seduced by the image of a
harmonious, contented society united under a single benign
leader. Actors such as Richard Gere, Tim Robbins and Susan
Sarandon have paid their devotions, while directors Oliver
Stone and Martin Scorsese made idolatry movies, and bands
such as Kula Shaker, the Beastie Boys and Radiohead queued
to appear in concerts raising funds for a free Tibet. If these
freedom-loving hipsters who wear their causes like a fashion
accessory had heard some of the whispers escaping the
heavenly state as it approaches its 40th anniversary, however,
they might already have considered moving on to next year's
fad.

"After the Dalai Lama issued a 1996 ban on the Worship of
Dorje Shugden, a protector deity with many devotees among
Buddhism's Gelugpa sect, Lama Kundeling's home in the
Tibetan settlement of Mancoate, southern India, was attacked
by masked monks who broke all the windows.

"The abbot attracted such attention by becoming the first
Tibetan monk to arrange a formal protest against the Dalai
Lama. In April 1996, he sought permission for a protest march
involving Tibetan Buddhists, local Hindus and Catholics. He
received visits from the local women's organisation, youth
groups and the Dalai Lama's niece trying to dissuade him
before a crowd of 75 Tibetans finally gathered at his house and
handed him a letter stating that he should refrain from
criticising the Dalai Lama. If not, it promised, he would 'face
dire consequences.' He fled to Bangalore after an arrest
warrant was issued, and alleges that since then, posters have
been displayed in his former monastery declaring that if he
returns he will be killed.

"Others are keen to debunk the Dalai Lama's pacifist image.
Austrian Buddhist monk Helmut Gassner, who served as the
Dalai Lama's interpreter for 17 years, claims he has evidence of
threats against the life of rival lamas, torture, mutilation and
murder. PK Dey, a human-rights lawyer in Delhi, also claims
to have over 300 sworn affidavits of abuse while Dr Ursula
Bernis, an American academic who lived among the Tibetan
population in India to research her book, Exiled From Exile,
reports witnessing widescale intimidation and violence.

"Although the Dalai Lama has repeatedly asserted his
commitment to democracy, of the Assembly of Tibetan
People's Deputies' 46 assembly members, only 30 are elected,
the rest are appointed by the Lama, and his family frequently
enjoy high positions. The official response to such criticisms
of the Lama is that they are simply not true, that the Lama is
indeed a man of universal tolerance.

"Lama Kundeling, however, argues that it is ignorance and
myth that has kept the image untarnished. The real tragedy of
Tibet, he believes, is that it is caught between a rock and a hard
place. On one hand the brutally oppressive Chinese regime,
on the other an ancient tradition of feudal and spiritual
dominance that brooks no questioning, no opposition. 'That is
the terrible irony. For all his squabbling, it is the ordinary
people who suffer. In Tibet itself they still believe that he is a
superman who will one day free them, while in India he sits
and does nothing real to help. What is to become of them, the
poor and the ignorant?'"

Furthermore, the Dalai Lama was bailed out of Tibet by CIA money,
which would imply that he is now bound to that organization in some
manner. For more information on this subject, please consult: "The
Swan that Wasn't A Swan," Jonathan Haddon, Strange Magazine #1,
1987; The CIA and the Cult of Intelligenceby Victor Marchetti; The
Secret War in Tibet by Michel Piessel; Presidents' Secret Wars by John
Prados; The Secret Team by Fletcher Prouty. Of these books and
article, Kenn Thomas of Steamshovel Press states, "They all say the
same thing about the CIA involvement in getting the Dalai Lama out of
Tibet."

Apparently his holiness's detractors claim that he is being hypocritical
in his mission on planet Earth, saying one thing and doing another. To
be fair, one must examine what is his "mission," which he has
consistently spelled out. The following message from the Dalai Lama
was relayed in February 2000:

The Dalai Lama has asked that the following practice be shared with as
many people as possible. A group recently spent days visiting with the
Dalai Lama focusing upon what they believe the five most important
questions to be considered moving into the new millennium.

The five questions were:

1.How do we address the widening gap between rich and poor?
2.How do we protect the earth?
3.How do we educate our children?
4.How do we help Tibet and other oppressed countries and peoples of
the world?
5.How do we bring spirituality (deep caring for one another) through
all disciplines of life?

The Dalai Lama said all five questions fall under the last one. If we have
true compassion in our hearts, our children will be educated wisely, we
will care for the earth, those who "have not" will be cared for. The
group asked the Dalai Lama, "Do you think loving on the planet is
increasing or staying the same?" His response: "My experience leads me
to believe that love IS increasing." He shared a simple practice that will
increase loving and compassion in the world. He asked everyone in the
group to share it with as many people as they can.

The Practice:

1.Spend 5 minutes at the beginning of each day remembering we all
want the same things (to be happy and be loved) and we are all
connected to one another.
2.Spend 5 minutes -- breathing in - cherishing yourself; and, breathing
out - cherishing others. If you think about people you have difficulty
cherishing, extend your cherishing to them anyway.
3.During the day extend that attitude to everyone you meet. Practice
cherishing the "simplest" person (clerks, attendants,etc.), as well as
the "important" people in your life; cherish the people you love and
the people you dislike.
4.Continue this practice no matter what happens or what anyone does
to you.

These thoughts are very simple, inspiring and helpful. The practice of
cherishing can be taken very deeply if done wordlessly, allowing yourself
to feel the love and appreciation that already exists in your heart.

Wishing you a very happy and loving New Year. Here's to an planetary
epidemic of compassion in 2000.

While the Dalai Lama himself may be a charismatic caring leader, the
Tibetan religious system is not devoid of exploitation. When Tibet was
autonomous, the firstborn male of every household was required to
enter the priesthood, a repressive law that served as one of the
justifications by the Chinese for invading Tibet and "freeing" its people
from despotic priests. The Chinese, although themselves awful
violaters of human rights, correctly recognized the falsity of a system
whereby lazy monks live off the serfs. Of course, the life of the
average poor and/or dullwitted monk is not so easy, as it is generally
one of deprivation in many areas. Again, the hierarchy benefits.

The truth of these various matters may never be fully known, but what
is true is that although Buddhism purports to be the most effective way
for humans to free themselves from delusion, Buddhism itself is not
free of delusion. While this fact is not an egregious sin when one
considers just how delusional this earthly plane can be, it does reveal
that Buddhism is not what it is cracked up to be. All in all, however,
Buddhism is like democracy: It's the worst form of government, except
all the others.

To truly "get" Buddhism, one needs to become a "Buddha," and a
Buddha is a free agent not belonging to any particular group, cult or
religion, not separate from "God," and not ascribing to ritual and rote,
except that which moves her/him in her/his autonomy. A Buddha is, by
its very definition, a liberated being, a person who thinks and does for
her/himself yet who is connected to the whole, and thus selfless and
concerned with the greater good.

Buddha as Fiction

As concerns the supposed historicity of Buddha, the following are excerpts
from the excellent book, Pagan Christs, by JM Robertson. Robertson was a true
scholar, and he provided invaluable and sound research.

This text is copyrighted by Dorset Press.

[quote]

The Buddha Myth

According to tradition, the founder of Buddhism was a Hindu named
Siddhattha, son of the rajah of the Sakyan clan which dwelt in the foothills of
the Himalayas. He is sometimes referred to as a Sakyamuni (muni meaning
Sage), sometimes as Tathagata (literally "One who has come, or gone, This
Far"), more usually as Gotama Buddha. The term Buddha is a title, not a
personal name. Gotama is referred to as the Buddha after his Enlightenment,
which is reputed to have occurred in 528 B.C. in Bihar. Thereafter he
abandoned family life and promulgated his doctrine of deliverance from
suffering and attainment of ultimate peace, Nirvana.

His teaching is called the Dhamma (Sanskrit Dharma), and is summed up in the
Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. . . .

There were many sects and sages in India 2500 years ago, but their teachings
were transmitted orally. The Buddhist Dhamma was not written down for
centuries after it had been first enunciated. The various Sanskrit and Pali texts
which purport to contain the original teachings are therefore the product of
evolution, and it is impossible to say which of the divergent interpretations, if
any, represents the pristine form. What is quite certain is that the underlying
philosophy had a great deal in common with ideas prevalent at the time. It bears
some resemblance to the contemporary Jainist movement.

The breakaway from Hindu ritualism was not a unique innovation; neither was
there anything new in the founding of an order of monks. Various sects were
already organized as mendicant monks, and it was an established custom for
them to meet periodically and proclaim their teaching in public. The early
Buddhists followed this familiar pattern. They made modifications, of course,
and one feature was the rejection of the severe austerities which were practiced
by some of the sects.

The Series of Buddha

Not only have we no six-century record of the rules of the Buddhist Sangha, as
the order was called, but it did not claim to be a new teaching. The tradition
holds that it had been promulgated many times before - that Gotama was only
one of a long series of Buddhas who arise at intervals and who all teach the
same doctrine. The names of twenty-four of such Buddhas who appeared
before Gotama have been recorded. The number and names may well be late
inventions, but there can be no question about the belief in their existence. It
was held that after the death of each Buddha, his religion flourishes for a time
and then decays. After it is forgotten, a new Buddha emerges and preaches the
lost Dhamma, or Truth. In the fourth century A.D., a sect of Buddhists rejected
Gotama and venerated instead the three previous Buddhas. They especially
reverenced one of them, Kasyapa, and were actually joined in by the orthodox
in worship as his tomb.

It seems quite probable in the light of these facts that any number of teachings
attributed to "the Buddha" may have been in existence either before or at the
time when Gotama was believed to have lived. They might all have been
attributed to a sage with the title of "the Blessed One." They might include
teachings that were ascribed later to Gotama.

The name Gotama is a common one; it is also full of mythological associations.
There was admittedly another Gotama known to the early Buddhists, who
founded an order. So what proof is there that the sayings and doings of
different Gotamas may not have been ascribed to one person? . . .

The Documentary Evidence

. . . Looking then, for a foothold among the shifting sands of Buddhist tradition
we note the following clashing records:

(1) The Buddha is represented in ostensibly early and late tradition as speaking
of the Gods with full belief in their existence.

(2) He is represented on the one hand as discouraging sacrifices, and on the
other as prescribing for a whole tribe a strict adherence to ancient rites.

(3) King Asoka, who figured as a good Buddhist in the early vigor of the
movement, about 250 B.C., habitually called himself “the delight of the Gods”
as did his contemporary, the pious Buddhist king of Ceylon.”

(4) The Buddha is represented as throwing his Order open to all classes and at
the same time making the name “Brahmin” a term of honor for his Arahats and
saints. Brahmins were among the most distinguished disciples.

(5) On the principle that Buddha delivered the whole cannon, much teaching
that certainly did not come from him is ascribed to him.

(6) Much of the philosophy set forth as his teaching is identical with the
Sankhya system, germs of which are admittedly pre-Buddhistic.

What doctrines, it must now be asked, were special to Buddhism? Not Karma,
that was common property which Buddhism shared. Not in asserting that a right
mind was superior to sacrifice, that was a primary doctrine of the Jains, and
pre-Buddhistic, both within and without the pale of Brahmanism. Not in seeking
a way to salvation independently of the Vedas, that had been done by many
teachers in various sects. Not in the doctrine that defilement comes not from
unclean meats but from evil deeds and words and thoughts; Buddhist writers
themselves say that is derived from previous Buddhas. Not in the search for
peace through self-control and renunciation; that was the quest of a myriad
recluses and all previous Buddhas. Not in the view that there is a higher wisdom
than that attained by austerities; that, too, is pre-Buddhistic. Not in the doctrine
that non-Brahmans could join an Order and attain religious blessedness; other
orders were open to men of low social status and even to slaves. Indeed, the
rigid separation of caste was not yet established in the early days of Buddhism.
Brahmin claims were exorbitantly high, but many Brahmins waived them and
they did not apply to ascetics. Early Buddhists, like the early Christians, did not
admit runaway slaves to the Order.

The admission of women was not an innovation as it was practiced by the Jains,
and even the tradition makes the Buddha accept it reluctantly in the twenty-fifth
year of his preaching. There seems, in short, to be nothing on the face of the
doctrine to account for the expansion of the Buddhist movement. . . .

Buddha as a Secondary God

We can now make a critical assessment of Buddhist origins. The Teaching
Buddha, considered as the wondrous sage who established a great Order in his
lifetime, shrinks to vanishing point. The suspicion that Sakyamuni is an unreal
being is finally justified. The Order probably originated among ascetic Brahmins
who may have been led to rationalism as a result of renouncing the Vedas. . . .

Objections Answered

It is reasonable to wonder why so many scholars, while admitting the tissue of
fable and unplausible history surrounding the origins of Buddhism, nevertheless
still believe that Sakyamuni actually existed. They usually justify their attitude
by the argument that every sect must have had a founder. This assumption can
be allowed if it is merely taken to mean that someone must have begun the
formation of any given group. It is clearly not true in the sense that every sect
originates in the new teaching of a remarkable personage.

As we have seen, there was in all probability a group of heretical Brahmanists
for whom a Buddha signified “the enlightened one.” Even so, there were many
Buddhas before the quasi-historical Buddha had acquired a personality, like the
slain Jesus of the Pauline Epistles. . . .

A sufficient nucleus for the Buddha lay in the general Brahmanic concept of
“Buddhas.” There is even a tradition that at the time when Sakyamuni came,
many men ran about saying “I am the Buddha.” . . .

On these grounds it is submitted that the figure of the Buddha, in its most
plausibly rationalized form, is as unhistorical as that of the gospel Jesus. Each
figure shows how the religious mind manufactured a myth in a period in which
the making of primary Gods had given way to the making of Secondary-gods.
The mythopoeic process satisfied the craving for a Teacher-god who should
originate religious and moral ideas as the earlier gods had been held to originate
agriculture, art, medicine, law and civilization.

Buddhism, like Christianity, is a “failure” from the point of view of its
traditional origins. In the case of Burma it admittedly did more to mold the life
of the whole people towards its highest ethic than Christianity ever did; but in
India, where it arose, it collapsed utterly. It was overthrown by Brahmanism
which set up in its place a revived polytheism.

On our naturalistic view of the rise of the Teaching-gods, it is sheer human
aspiration that has shaped all the Christs and their doctrines. One reason why
the original teachings fail is that men persisted in crediting purely human
aspiration to supernatural beings. Men who are taught to bow ethically to a
divine Teacher are not taught ethically to think. Any aspiration so evoked is
factitious, verbal, emotional, not reached by authentic thought and experience.
When the wisdom or unwisdom of the nameless thinkers in all ages is
recognized for what it is - as human and not divine - the nations may become
capable of working out for themselves better gospels than the best of those
which turned to naught in their hands while they held them as revelations from
the skies.