Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/247

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RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF MANKIND. 219 the Prophet, many of which are altogether inconsistent with Christian morality, and which suggest that many violations of morality are at least excusable. In a sixth-day paper Prof. M. S. Terry said that Confucius was not the founder of the Religion which is associated with his name ; that he claimed merely to have studied deeply into antiquity and to be a teacher of the records and worship of the past. Confucius is reported to have said : " When I was fifteen years old I longed for wisdom ; at thirty my mind was fixed in pursuit of it ; at forty I saw certain principles clearly ; at fifty I understood the rule given by heaven ; at sixty every- thing I heard I easily understood ; and at seventy the desires of my heart no longer transgressed the law." A sixth-day paper by B. Yatsubuchi of Japan set forth "Buddha Shakyamuni " as a typical perfect man, who taught a system of perfect truth. When wisdom and humanity are attained thoroughly by one he may be called Buddha. The word has three meanings — self-comprehension, to let others comprehend, and perfect comprehension. In Buddhism we have Buddha as our Saviour, the spirit incarnate of perfect self- sacrifice and divine compassion, and the embodiment of all that is pure and good. Buddha was not a creator and had no power to destroy the law of the universe, but he had the power of knowledge. He suppressed the craving and passions of his mind until he could reach no higher moral and spiritual plane. The only difference between Buddha and all other beings is in point of supreme enlightenment. Nirvana Sutra teaches us that all beings have the nature of Buddhahood. If one does not neglect to purify his mind and increase his power of relig- ion, he may take in the spiritual world and have cognizance of the past, present, and future in his mind. The complete doc- trines of Buddha he spent fifty years in elaborating, and they were preached precisely and carefully. Buddha considered it best to preach according to the spiritual needs of his hearers. We are not allowed to censure other sects, because the teaching of each guides us all to the same place at last. The Buddhist Dharmapala recalled in a sixteenth-day