Life and Travel in Lower Burmah: A Retrospect

by C. T. Paske

“All good things,” says the German, “are of that number;” and this superstition seems to have derived its origin from the doctrines of the world’s creeds. We have the Trinity. The Egyptians divided their gods into three sets; thought, word, and deed formed the Peruvian triad; so, too, the flowery language of the East is exemplified by the pious Buddhist’s “Triple Basket.”

The fountain-head of every misfortune lies, according to the teachings of Buddha, in having been born into this world at all, in expressing which opinion the “Contemplative One” spoke, at all events, in direct defiance of all law where recent causes are always preferred to those more remote.

This unfortunate beginning necessitates a frequent repetition of the same process under different forms, animate or inanimate, the great aim of this life being to attain “Complete Nirvana,” of which, however, only those seem to have the least chance who from the first embrace a religious and ascetic life.

The strict code of discipline left no loophole for the indulgence of that which is earthly in thought, word, or deed: terrible self-denial in food, raiment, and dwelling was incumbent; one meal a day, and that a gift; rags covered with a yellow cloth; the shade of a friendly tree—these constitute the sole conception of earthly luxury permitted to the good Buddhist. Sleep, too, must be indulged in, not extended at full length, but in a sitting posture; and systematic contemplation on the best remedies for worldly evils was to abstract the mind from its desires and affections.

The march of time has naturally brought with it many relaxations in this terrible code, and, as with most other nations, practice has fallen very short of theory.

It is no easy matter to picture the city of Benares, now the head-quarters of Brahminical bigotry, as the stronghold of Buddhism, yet relics are not wanting to point to this as the true order of succession. Somewhat singular, too, is the process by which this most ancient of religions was driven from the continent right and left, taking a last refuge at its extremities—the Himalayas on the one hand, Ceylon on the other. Thibet, Bhootan, and Nepaul are essentially Buddhist, and, along with two-thirds of China, it is, in spite of its having been ousted from India proper, still numerically superior to any other religion.

The medium through which it so successfully marched over the greater portion of the East appears to have been zealous, indefatigable missionary enterprise; one reason for its many victories was its non-aggressive character and its fundamental doctrine inculcating respect for other creeds. The absence of this forbearance among us, and among Western missionaries generally, may in part account for our own want of success in spreading Christianity in the East.

Moreover, their own religions have long since taken too firm a hold. An old and respected friend of mine, who had laboured in this direction for about five-and-thirty years, told me plainly the strongholds of the two great religions of India were, so far as the adult population was concerned, all but impregnable; the only prospect of a measure of success lies in those orphanages, the inmates of which are as yet subject to only the indirect influence of heredity and free from contact with their co-religionists; once they are back among their own people, preaching to stones would be about as effectual. Further, we are not to the manner born; besides which, our position in the land constitutes an impediment.

Another great and peaceful revolution effected by the teachings of Buddha was the overthrow of the rigid, unnatural system of caste. Whatever benefit this order of things may have been to us in India as a bar to combination, no other scheme has ever been devised better calculated to keep men asunder and clog the wheels of progress. It hampers all enterprise, causing the machinery of government and industry to creak along after the fashion of a native bullock-cart.

No such arrangement exists in Burmah, and, if only for this reason, its inhabitants will soon forge ahead of India. Years of meditation convinced Buddha of the lasting evils of such a system, and he therefore expunged it—another instance of the difference existing between the influence on matters temporal exerted by both these great religions.