AN ESSAY IN ONTOLOGY
241
my former attitude, I feel constrained to
deny. The consciousness of the Absolute-
wala! is really extended infinitely rather
than diminished infinitely, as he will himself
assure you. True, Hegel says: ‘‘ Pure being
is pure nothing!” and it is true that the
infinite heat and cold, joy and sorrow, light
and darkness, and all the other pairs of
opposites,” cancel one another out: yet I
feel rather afraid of this Absolute! Maybe
its joy and sorrow are represented in phases,
just as 0° and finity are phases of an iden-
tical expression, and I have an even chance
only of being on the right side of the fence!
The Buddhist leaves no chances of this
kind; in all his categories he is infinitely un-
extended; though the categories themselves
exist; he is in fact 04+8+C+D+4+.+% and
capable of no conceivable change, unless we
imagine Nirvana to be. incomprehensibly
divided by Nirvana, which would (supposing
the two Nirvanas to possess identical cate-
gories) result in the production of the original
0°. Buta further change would be necessary
even then before serious mischief could
result. In short, I think we may dismiss
from our minds any alarm in respect of this
contingency.
On mature consideration, therefore, I con-
fidently and deliberately take my refuge in
the Triple Gem.
Namo Tasso Bhagavato Arahato Samma-
sambuddhasa !3
Let there be hereafter no discussion of the
classical problems of philosophy and_re-
ligion! In the light of this exposition the
1 Wala, one whose business is connected with
anything. #.g. Jangli-wala, one who lives in,
or has business with, a jungle, z.e. a wild man,
or a Forest Conservator.
2 The Hindus see this as well as any one,
and call Atman Sat-chit-ananda, these being
above the pairs of opposites, rather on the
Hegelian lines of the reconciliation (rather than
the identity) of opposites in a master-idea.
We have dismissed infinity as the figment of a
morbid mathematic: but in any case the same
disproof applies to it as to God.—A. C.
3 Hail unto Thee, the Blessed One, the
Perfect One, the Enlightened One !
VOL. If.
antitheses of noumenon and phenomenon,
unity and multiplicity, and their kind, are
all reconciled, and the only question that re-
mains is that of finding the most satisfactory
means of attaining Nirvana—extinction of
all that exists, knows, or feels; extinction
final and complete, utter and absolute ex-
tinction. For by these words only can we
indicate Nirvaria: a state which transcends
thought cannot be described in thought’s
language. But from the point of view of
thought extinction is complete: we have no
data for discussing that which is unthinkable,
and must decline to do so. This is the
answer to those who accuse the Buddha of
hurling his Arahats (and himself) from
Samma Samadhi to annihilation.
Pray observe in the first place that my
solution of the Great Problem permits the
co-existence of an indefinite number of
means: they need not even be compatible;
Karma, rebirth, Providence, prayer, sacri-
fice, baptism, there is room for all. On
the old and, I hope, now finally discre-
dited hypothesis of an infinite being, the
supporters of these various ideas, while ex-
plicitly affirming them, implicitly denied.
Similarly, note that the Qabalistic idea
of a supreme God (and innumerable hier-
archies) 1s quite compatible with this theory,
provided that the supreme God is not in-
finite.
Now as to our weapons. The more ad-
vanced Yogis of the East, like the Noncon-
formists at home, have practically abandoned
ceremonial as idle. I have yet to learn,
however, by what dissenters have replaced
it! I take this to be an error, except in the
case of the very advanced Yogi. For there
exists a true magical ceremonial, vital and
direct, whose purpose has, however, at any
rate of recent times, been hopelessly mis-
understood.
Nobody any longer supposes that any
means but that of meditation is of avail to
grasp the immediate causes of our being;
if some person retort that he prefers to rely
on a Glorified Redeemer, I simply answer
Q