CATHEDRAL LECTURES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14580, 20 July 1909, Page 5

CATHEDRAL LECTURES

KASTKK.V I'OII.MS 1)1.' THOCGHT: KARMA Uii KKTUniUTI'JX Til."! following is aii ahsiraet of Dean Fitrhett's lecture uii'ler ike above title, given in tlio Calh.-iJial on tSumkiy aii,'fiioon, (lie subject lo l:o conliiiiK-d next. .Sunday aflerii&on in a lectnra <:n ".M psvehusis, or Ueincaniaiion ": — The Dfiip f-iUtl iiny at!i-n;pt to <-s\\inal:.» ill■» ivli;uou> ;tiul jmiiu o\,\\koi Jiuliji, mast. ljrj,'iu hy ialiiu- accouni of ill.' Indian sacred l.ooks, ill" earliest of ' whi'-11, i'.'dl''! ! In' Wrl.i-, ni'-" ill dale (Oinal with Ii»o okUs! pails of the .lewish H.l-iji-turc.i'. 'l'ii.i Voifas were jjrotliicjil Ity ;i people of Colli rai Asia, uko, about. 15 centuries before our era, ivore pushing inlu j India ;il. its liOith-wcM corner, gelling possession of the I'uiijab—the region <il tho l''ivo liivers,—.displacing or subjugating tho dai'k-skinneil unoriginal peoples l] i r.*y fount! there; theme. in tlie course of c.tiluri.v, extending themselves along tinvalljyij of Iho great rivers tin l .lumua, Indus, and Canals; iillinniloly becoming tlo dominant race h> India. These invaders called themselves Aryas, whence Aryans our name for I hem. Their language, Sanscrit, is intimately related to (lis. languages oi Kinope, ami ii' aflinily of langrsg- pinvi'i all'mity of race, the AryaJis of Central Asia were our kinsmen, and the Veda* arc ilia oldest record of our scction of ilu human family. Tito religion of tho Vr.la- is Nature-uoieliip, though trie natural phenomena personified and deified may have been conceived as ncuiicslaticii't of a single Creative Forte behind the;ii ai:<l above them. A voluminous supplementary literature of later origin, now reverenced aii.tr,' wilh His Vtxlas as divinely inspired and sacred, is of a widely diH'erenl character. In the older books the distinctive marks of Hinduism are wauling. There are no idols, no malignant fcod.l, She mrs system is unknown, the institution of suttco or widow-burning, the doctrine of Iransmi- | gralioti. There is no fanatical asrel icif rathe liotn of tho Yt'das is a childlike brieiiL--1 u:i<s and joyousness. Hinduism, with ila tour-Irons pantheon, headed by the appali"S trinity Brahma, Vislmu," and &eva, hough in direct, line and unbroken suc-e-,:o:i from the Yedas, represents an itn-n?!i-o Ju nliyion the imtienous tribes liavc completed their connerors. Hinduism to-day is for the niultiu;!j a gross and gfotosqiie idolatry: lor he more intolliyc nt and thoughtful, a liiiiosnphy called Vrdanta ("ctid of the "eda '), the foundation of which is panrM'in. -Nothins exisis but JJrahiini, life invislie God; all else, all that *.ve *oe, is iliuion. Thrro may be tlicirjl.t au ull'ntily if re with some 'Wcstorn pluiies of tho;i!;:it -ljisluip Uerkcloy's "Theory of Vision," villi its denial of an objective uniu-rsß; I=o the doctrine of Kaiu.-thai although the hind intuitively condition* the external vor.'d under the cat;yoriv6 of time, space, wd eamaiity, v.-e cannot l.now thin;,s in Iwtitsclvcs. Hut the Vc;!unta (loi'.rijio of II"-don goes further: the visible miireis: s a iihaiiiaiitiagoiia. not only for n;, but or the Deity—a tronMrd (ii'oani i>i :cio:(lie conselousiuv.- ci Brahma. Cotunou to l oth forms of JJiixiuien;—to its gross dolatry and its fiMilasrie philosophy—a« ItO docirilies of karma aixl transimgrniioji. !">ut the=e may he besr uml;rstccd as nre:ented in liuddhi^m. liuniiinsT lukas. Buddhism, long; sincc cxtincl in'lndia, ho land of its birth, nevertlielow shapes thinking of iumdreds of millions in •t'i'iotrj adjacent,—in Nennu! and Thil;et, in tho nort-h; L'l'yhin. in the south; liurnia, Sium, tits Slates, China, Japan, in the cast. Buddhism lir.il ,i!s ho,'inntnjt in the fifth century, li.c.—that is, (bout live conlurios after the conjeetural :lale of tho Yetias, within wltich, interval he characteristic features of Hindui'in lnid llrc.idv pre.venicd theni-elves. Agair.ii these liuddhi.:in was in part a reaction. Uauiania, a prince of one of the Aryan tribe.; in Norlh India, after relreatin!; iroi'.t (ho world to l:e a solitary a!ul :m :i.-:cel ic. and after a nrnlc.ni ";! period of lvpnoiic inc.Mtation, bc-camc Buddha, the l",nli;;h'.e!icd One. He had penetrated liio tiy.-tel'y of the universe, understocd the .eei':!s of thingr: and their cau.s-es. and waa nr.v.- able to propound a way of hsimsii salvation. All life was suli'eritig; the two"o'd eaus? of sufoinsr was "tl'.iivi" or :l'--ire, and karuia—tho natural ceiiieptenco of ihe man's own dee-.l'i in this life md in previous live-.s. Karma (" action r ' or "doing'') is O'.ua retribution—sue.ni otiiritie trihuere,—the giviiu; to every man his own, rewarding him according to hideeds, gcod and bad. Jiuddlia's way of oivalien is to cxiirtialo il«ir«, ehielly by bodily austeritie-'.—the l!uddhi<t is a mendicant mc.nl,- and to ■ up against the karma that brings >u!!Y-,'-ing an opposite karma by a«(«irin|{ Hit merit of good deeds. Here Buddhism i, -ssit ut ils Lest—its ethical code Gautama's " Noble i'iigiufokl Path.' These strivings being maintained througi a million and a million lives, the ev; karma may be workc-d out, the g',.o; k'arme. surviving, and desire may be ex (iniiuished. When Ihe desire for life end' ike goal is won. I'en-onal existence end- " tho dewdrop slips into the shining sea.' TIIK TttUllt OK KAltltA. As an afliiination of Ihe Is.w of oausaiilj in Ihe moral life of nun, the inscpara 1 .;! connexion oi cause and eliect, karma i. obviously true. And nowhere is it aliirniM with greater' emphasis than in the Chris lion freripturcn. Men are to be judged every man according to his works; he shai receive the tilings done in his bc.ly, accord in>; to that ho li'itli dor.e, whether it hi good or bad: and v-hatsoev-er a man soweli that shall he. also reap. The judgment i presented to us pietoriallv and dramal:ca!l; as on a. set day, but judgment is r.'so coil liinious and every day. There is no thought word, act, but leaves its (race; we artiro hotter or the worse for it; at cacl moment the man sums up in himself hi whole past, and judgment is automatic Being w'lat lie is is the judgment. Dive and Lazi its in Hades aro receiving, cas of them, (ha results of his own liio, tit great gulf fed between them is the gill between ovcrv other two men—each man a lie is epitomises his own past: the pa; cannot lie cai:.e,dled nor its results vane>flod's forgiveness t'.oos not tk sequence of cause and -eftcet, but introduci a new factor. The sins of tho roiurmn prodigal are not held against him by til Divine father, and that is Ihe forgivents: Hut the efh-'cts of sins remain ill weakened r.ilure and memories of evil, I be slowly and painfully counterworked. An whalevor were the pi'.-.'v»ilina' sins befoi forgiveness will be the easily bc-.=,eriing sii after it. lit point of scientific eevcrii Christian teaching on tho subject of karrr yields nofhiny to limldliisl. lint Ihero this enormous difference — Cnristtanil brings to us a divine Helper and frayiou The constant teaching of Ruddi.bm is, c the ether hand, that no kelp can con lo Ihe man from without. The last won of Gautama, reported and treasured by h disciplw, were: " Rely only on yourselvesexternal helper there is none." Kemembe ing this difference, we understand wl pessimism should be the persistent uoto • these I'lastern religions. Ilmdu and Blut dist alike must-as they cottceivc—strive pain through a myriad lives towards th beggarly ifoai-tho hope, itself a .lespai that identity, consciousness, personal exis CIICO. will end for evet. Over against th Christianity in contrast ilte. Christ C!od, calling the weary ami heavy ladt that: in Kim they may lir.d rest and pe:v and th? life everlasting.