Swami Vivekananda on Lord Buddha

[Guest guest]

LORD BUDDHA (Delivered in Detroit)

Volume 4, Lectures and Discourses

 

In every religion we find one type of self-devotion particularly developed. The

type of working without a motive is most highly developed in Buddhism. Do not

mistake Buddhism and Brâhminism. In this country you are very apt to do so.

Buddhism is one of our sects. It was founded by a great man called Gautama, who

became disgusted at the eternal metaphysical discussions of his day, and the

cumbrous rituals, and more especially with the caste system.

 

Some people say that we are born to a certain state, and therefore we are

superior to others who are not thus born. He was also against the tremendous

priestcraft. He preached a religion in which there was no motive power, and was

perfectly agnostic about metaphysics or theories about God. He was often asked

if there was a God, and he answered, he did not know. When asked about right

conduct, he would reply, " Do good and be good. " There came five Brâhmins, who

asked him to settle their discussion. One said, " Sir, my book says that God is

such and such, and that this is the way to come to God. "

 

Another said, " That is wrong, for my book says such and such, and this is the

way to come to God " ; and so the others. He listened calmly to all of them, and

then asked them one by one, " Does any one of your books say that God becomes

angry, that He ever injures anyone, that He is impure? " " No, Sir, they all teach

that God is pure and good. " " Then, my friends, why do you not become pure and

good first, that you may know what God is? "

 

Of course I do not endorse all his philosophy. I want a good deal of

metaphysics, for myself. I entirely differ in many respects, but, because I

differ, is that any reason why I should not see the beauty of the man? He was

the only man who was bereft of all motive power. There were other great men who

all said they were the Incarnations of God Himself, and that those who would

believe in them would go to heaven. But what did Buddha say with his dying

breath? " None can help you; help yourself; work out your own salvation. " He said

about himself, " Buddha is the name of infinite knowledge, infinite as the sky;

I, Gautama, have reached that state; you will all reach that too if you struggle

for it. " Bereft of all motive power, he did not want to go to heaven, did not

want money; he gave up his throne and everything else and went about begging his

bread through the streets of India, preaching for the good of men and animals

with a heart as wide as the ocean.

 

He was the only man who was ever ready to give up his life for animals to stop a

sacrifice. He once said to a king, " If the sacrifice of a lamb helps you to go

to heaven, sacrificing a man will help you better; so sacrifice me. " The king

was astonished. And yet this man was without any motive power. He stands as the

perfection of the active type, and the very height to which he attained shows

that through the power of work we can also attain to the highest spirituality.

 

To many the path becomes easier if they believe in God. But the life of Buddha

shows that even a man who does not believe in God, has no

metaphysics, belongs to no sect, and does not go to any church, or temple, and

is a confessed materialist, even he can attain to the highest. We have no right

to judge him. I wish I had one infinitesimal part of Buddha's heart. Buddha may

or may not have believed in God; that does not matter to me. He reached the same

state of perfection to which others come by Bhakti — love of God — Yoga, or

Jnâna.Perfection does not come from belief or faith.

Talk does not count for anything. Parrots can do that. Perfection comes through

the disinterested performance of action.

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prashant Jalasutram