The Great Age of World History. Confusius, Gautamo, Zoroaster and Pythagoras looked at from a synthetic point of view

4 Ä 00° Problems and Discussions do a amies Baltic University 1 No Be KT _ i | Lo i 3 ob Hamburg, 1946 fo SES SRR il VB. Stan Kaufe Ta The Great Age ‘of World History.” ‘ n at ‘Co +» I. The out-of-schedule lecture held in the Baltic Univerity on gni must be regarded only as a-conjectyre or hypothesis for rther examination and investigation. | A j . , a E onfucius, erepig:sd5 lonkes at Fromm 19th September 1946. The connection of the origin of four doctrines . with the introduction of iron-and with the particularism, supposed in E A k ee tt hd E oe | i ° gato ak o ko e OS EL a +, % ‘Let us take as'a showsplace the whole world, in any case the _ {0.1.7 whole Old World, and as an epoch — the whole first half of world ‘04. history;<the ‘whole antiquity, in any way: the whole. ante-Christian , 4 : "> \- era, and' let us ask the question, who of the. persons known from + 2 this time were the greatest? Of course, greatest not by might, by the * “bloody victories in battles, in destructions and devastations, but great.‘ +: in peaceful ‘achievements, in deep feeling, high thinking and good - ¿1 so deeds. Then, if we start in the country of sunrise, in the Far East, * ,z"*7we shall as the first remember the great Chinese sage Confucius, |. =". “¿the founder ot the state-philosophy of the most numerous nation of -. \ , > ©. the world. Going further-on with the sun toward ‘the West and u, reaching India we shall recollect the name of the great teacher of ; ‘+. «mankind, Gautamo-Buddha, the founder of the first universal reli+ : x = gioni In Iran there will emerge the shape of the great prophet Zoro, Aster, “who called men.as well as. góds to struggle against the evil in the world. Finally, in Greece there will arise some difficulties :-who Among the great thinkers of this country. was the ‘greatest; — So. erates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicure or Zenon? ‘°° dour was not concentrated ù |. _ + Here the spiritual splenupon one person, and one can speak only ¿»about a representative of Greek spiritual force. But.after some delix . beratidn! hesitation and comparison with the first three, one will | “7 surely choose Pythagoras, the only one who can be regarded as the | | : «-Counterpart to the three mentioned before. ki. | DAN, wut «They, were great, and their greatness, which can be clearly seen ht." * N only. from the distance of milleniums, is the first feature common, „to all four.’ But are there other features which can be found in all of È. . oy them? What do we know about them? | bs “er We know, and know pricisely, the glace of their origin. At the fo - First glance there is obviously nothing in common, but there exist the possibly: great differences because their birth-places ware separated,“ -' . by the possibly great distances. Of course, the places of their origin . . > Were remote one from the other, but there is some, striking regularity + ++ - | |‘ in ;

’ - € de n al . ie this remoteness and in the distribution, each pläce being separated _ from the another exactly by 3000 km. Such preciseness may doubt- India,-in South-West Asia and in Greece, there arose a great sage — and teacher, whose influence is recognisable even from .the distance. — “of milleniums. Here, in. such regularity of ‘their’ dispersion, and distribution, there can be evidently percèived a certain lawfulness, an indication to ‘some important ‘rule in the spiritual development of at EEE atua mankind. + lasnrt=ei. + ug Then follows the time, the age of their activity. Here our infor- = mations are not so precise. How paradoxily it may sound, the most . accurate date ot birth and death we dispose of are those about Confucius: He was born in 550 or 551 and died in 478 B. C. Not so definite are the reports about Pythagoras. But there is one date of date which can be taken as a starting point, and-there were many of his activity.*) But now, after diversities in estimating the epoch . a most minute consideration of all available archaeological, histounaniis rs schola of ty“ majori great the data, ical rical and philolog . Ci ‘ ++ _ + ’ father of Darius was called by Greek historians „Hystaspes“. The traditional biograpliy of Zoroaster tells that one of his first ardent followers and protectors was the king „Vistaspa“, the name which sounds strikingly consonant. with the name „Hystaspcs“. But the „Persian inscriptions, in the first line ‘thè famous inscription on' . his life, fixed with a sufficient Certainty: about..530 By C. he left i his birth-place Samos and went to Italy, to Crotori, where his.fàmous brotherhood was founded and where he spent his most productive years. Starting from this date the 'scholars suppose that Pythagoras was born in 570 and died in 500 B. C., taken both these dates approximately.. Therefore he must he regarded.as the contemporary .0f Confucius in the strictest sense of this word.. The age of. Gautamo : is even more dubious than that of Pythagoras as there is no certain But the date 706 B. C. may by no means be appreciated as the last word of science. For instance, one of the modern scholars, Autran, | bans regards as the most probable date of the. life of Zoroaster the span ; >. between the years 660 and 585 B. C.*). More than this, already in ‘| ‘antiquity the opinion was spread that Zoroaster was the contemporary i ot the father of the Persian king Darius; this view was, for instance, . expressed by the Roman historian. Ammianus Marcellinus.*) The ‘ - traditions of Parsces, the Zoroastrians living in India, tell the same; ‘ story. Modern authors as well are inclined to accept this theory, The lessly be regarded only as a meaningless accident. But it is hardly’ - an accident that in each great centre-of the old culture, in China, in: v . í | ‘ the rock of Behistun, mentioning the father of king Darius, call him Vistaspä, that is exactly in the-same manner as was called the : :. protector of Zoroaster. This coincidence is very impressing and its meaning is emphasized by the fact that-in“the same inscription of LT «Darius there is found the first existing direct reference if not to "a .. Zoroaster, then to’ his'creed: the. inscription mentions the name of Ahura Mazda as a supreme being. These facts have induced many scholars to share the opinion of identity of Vistaspa of Zend Avesta | . do en, with Hystaspes-Vistaspa, father of Darius. ‘The most minute and convincing arguments_in favour of this view are gathered in the article of Ernst Harzfeld, who came to the conclusion: ,,The ana- >+ logy between Vistaspa, -mentioned in the ‘inscriptions, and Vistaspa ‚of Zend-Avesta is complete. The name, the title, the time, the surround_ mous, taking as the most probable dates 560 for his birth and 480, for his death, admitting for both the inaccuracy. of plus-minus 10 . ing persons, all is’ exactly repeated. "Their identity is above any - doubts, “5) It this view should be shared then, as Darius ascended the Persian throne in 521 B. C., when his father was still alive the age ‘of the activity of Zoroaster would be the middle of the 6th century B.-C., and he must be regarded as the contemporary of the _ first three sages in the strictest sense of the word. Then the threeyears. Therefore Gautamo also lived in. the same time as Confucius “and Pythagoras. It canriot be denied that such a simultaneity is very striking, especially as far as it concerns Confucius and GautamoBuddha, and must be justly regarded as one of the most important :: fold coincidence would rise up to a fourfold one, embracing four coincidences in the whole world history. of the greatest events of the spiritual history of mankind. It is truly h aga. the But the synchronism is possibly even greater.’ Althoùg of Zoroaster is entirely uncertain ‘and the opinion’ of historians to live . differ greatly, the ancient Greek authors, who believad him many milleniums before them, have now no credit. Even the opinion be r ar. that Zoroaster lived some 1000 years before our era, must ded as an obsolete one, and the majority of scholats are inclined to accept the date 700 B. C, as the most probable. Even in, such case, * now from the distance of 25 centuries, he must be regarded as a con„temporary in the wide sense of this word of the first three, belonging if not to the same generation, then to the. same epoch of history. Y remarkable that the historians up till now have not noticed this most * amazing constellation of the first-rate spiritual stars of mankind, in ‘any case that they did not draw to this fact the full attention which 5. ‚ it wholly deserves. . ey , <ld -*. The synchronism of the four great sages, ot mankind makes the laPrYuEteisAs©nt, 6 th Century B. C, truly a Great Age. But its greatness can be wholly appreciated only by consideration of the influence of their doctrines on the following generations. ‘The slighest was the influA ence ar ing from by the teaching e exterior side. of Pythagoras, in any case by estimat-. Nevertheless.he has gathered a circle of,

cern. ree e nn nn en nn nn = s e , LA attached followers in Crotona and in other cities of Italy; who formed-the sect or brotherhood, devoted to the: person of their teacher. After the dispersing of the sect and ‘expulsion froin Crotona.and.. of the essence of the human soul. Ny - © a ~ 2x - te Za sources, and here great disappointments and ‘nearly unsurmountable _ : difficulties are awaiting. Sometimes the cause of these troubles lies . ae, In the utmost scarcity of sources. This is the case with Pythagoras, - from whom no written line has remained, not to speak about the Much greater was the personal influence of Zoroaster. His . preaching created a new religion, which was’dominating .in Iran till the conquest by Mohammedans in the 7 th Century. But even after |, Persia was conquered, the most'atrocious persecutions from the part ot the new rulers were not. capable to outropt wholly the: Iranic* national creed and to trate out the reminiscences of its prophet. Small : groups of his followers exist up till our days in Persia as well.as in written work, and the scholars disagree whether he has written anything at all. The works of his disciples are lost as well, and the first written sources are references from other-authors, not belonging ta Pythagoreans, beginning with the historians; Herodotus, Diodorus, | and the philosopher Plata and Aristotle. The most minute informa- * . ..:-tions can be found only in the works of Neo-Platonian writers, -~.. Jambichus and Porphirius, or in the work of Diogenes Laertius. But ik ulstce is mesa Usy 0: India, and in these groups the memory of .preserved throughout the course of twenty five centuries.‘The same, but to a much greater extent, happened with ‘the doctrine of. Cone fucius, which, after the interruption of some centuries, became ‘a dominating state-philosophy, orteven state-religion of China, and the . veneration: ot the name of Confucius is preseryed by :the whole Chinese nation. Tlie influence of Gautamo is even’ greater: Buddhism | * a these works were written some 7'or 8, centuries after the death of ; Pythagoras, and an utmost cautiousness is necessary in relying on “ these dubious: sources. The difficulties concerning the sources of the origin of: Buddhism are of an opposite character: the scholar has to ‘struggle not ‚with the scarcity of sources, but, on the contrary,. with - - their limitless verbosity and‘ tiresome prolixity. On the whole there are some three or even four systems'of Buddhistic canonical writings: the Pali, the Sanscrit and Chinese canons, and, as the fourth, — the has conquered the hearts and the souls not of one opie nation, but of many different nations in the remotest.countries o dii - * „In order to understand these doctrines one must turn to their forget that Pythagoras was the first in Europe who taught the im- * - - ms disappearance its traces can be found in Christendom? one must not er + during two and a half milleniums.' It ‘must be admitted that there ©: existed a deep consonance between-them, and therefore the under. standing ot these doctrines means, to some extent, an understanding) it has greatly influenced the Neoshape of the Neo-Pythagoraism; till the 6 th Century.A. C., that lasted Platonism, and under its cover is thousand years after the death of its founder. Even after its final , sg was so deeply impressed by these teachings that th: echo of them sounds after the death of Pythagoras, his sect existed some I50 years and disappeared only on the close of the 4 th Century B. C. But even: then the spell of the spiritual impulse of Pythagoras and the charm of his personality did not perish finally:.in the. last. Century B. C. and in the first Century of our era the Pythagoraish resurtected in the mortality of the soul. ae - greatness and the greatness of the age they were living in. On the other - hand this influence reveals the main: features of the human soul, which’ the -whole ‘of ‘Tibetan canon of Lamaism. The shortest of them, and evidently the Asia and became the first world-wide universal religion: This peacemost historical, one, is‘the Pali canon of the Southern Buddhism, but ful expansion of Buddhism and its „true conquests of different, great and small, nations is one of the most astonishing. events.of even this is at least three times longer than the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments taken together. The Sanscrit canon is much longer, TheTibetan canon consists of 1083 works exposed in 108 volumes. Byt all of them are overshadowed by the Chinese canon, which, world history and shows how irresistible was the spiritual influencé. . of the sermons held by Gautamo. Ommitting the question about the possible influence of Buddhism on the origin of Christendom,}® 500 millions of followers of this religion in our times; together with the signs of its revival and its increasing influence even in non-Buddhist according to the informations of competent parts, is:composed of 12662 works in 6.700 volúmes! Of course, who would be able not to lose the way in the thickets of these texts with the innumerable con- _ countries — is the best evidence of the tremendous vitality of, the teaching of Gautamo.. . ‘gt ‘a> da tradictions not only between the several canons, but even in: each E Summing up this short survey of Ra ‘influencé of the great - u . sages, one ‘is compelled to admit. that of all men of antiquity only IN these four, in any case three of them, were not forgotten by mankind, and generation after generations have ‘preserved in’ esteem . and veneration the vivid memory of them. This fact shows their real 4 E . | ye? . | Sul | . | en, A [2 .. . + a de me Ra AnTseon canon, taken separately. The difficulties with the Zoroastrian texts are ot a wholly different nature. These texts are found mainly in Zend-Avesta, the Sacred Books of Zoroastrianism. Many hopes had been laid on the discovery and the publication of these books. But as the French scholar, Anquetil Duperron, has published these works?) ‘— the disappointment was universal. Instead of inspired preaching x. =

e and the ‘picture of the struggle between the Good and Evil in the world, Zend-Avesta contained innumerable meaningless starting point ot his whole social and political philoso phy. -His bio- . graphers tell that the splendour and the solemnity of the burial prayers, nt of E senscless incantations and magical-formulae. The disappointme . English orientalist, Sir William Jones, who ‘could not help exclai- . .- ‚whole ‘time to philosophical work and meditations, and thus his: doctrine attained its full ripeness. In the. veneration of the family ‘ming: ,,Either Zoroaster has not written. this book or he en r(eDre of reason; in both cases this book- is not worth:of. being printed". Of course, this criticism was going too far, and the scholars, after an assiduous research, were able. to discover. unmistakable trates of the former spiritual splendour. "But these traces were covered by a thick stratum of subsequent additions,’ misrepresentations and- forgeries, whith have accumulated in the course of centuries and have made tha. Ce ‘original texts unrecognizable. :' LRei In spite of everything, the impression, made.by thesa sages-on the minds of mankind was so deep that their shapes shine dinstinctly ~ Confucius is often called the founder -of .the: national state: ‘religion of Chima. But the word ,religion must be accepted here... with some reserve. -In any’ case, it does not mean. any form of worwholly °". ship or cult of a certain deity, the notion of „god, “being ing whol alien to Confucionism. All we find there is.the word »Heaven with quite a nebulous meaning. But even in this direction Confucius stood reveals itself through the deeds of men. That is all.“ To the question, how the supernatural spirits must be served, he answered: „We do 7 ‚not know, how to serve ‘the men, how can we know, how: to serve the spirits?“ In the same manner he declined other Eg cm questi- - ons. To the question, what is death, he answered. re uctantly:" „We don’t know, what life is, how can we know, what death-is? In a close connection with this realism of his views and his lack of interest for all sorts of metaphysics, his method of research was strictly rationalistic: the thinking, the studying, the searching. In any case no revelation from above, nothing supernatural, nothing transce- The imain problem of his studies was ever: man himself, some‘gs o x ‘ANI î ce times even the separate man, an individual. ,,All say: the empire, the kingdom, the family. The foundation of the empire is kingdom, the “ foundation of the kingdom is family, and the foundation of. thefamily is the man." But’ such individualistic’ approach is rather a rare exception. As a rule Confucius was a collectivist, and his ain,” task was to scttle the relations dt men in collectives: in the family, in the state, in mankind. In which direction did he scek the solution ot this pröblem ? Doubtlessly, in the family. The family “was the . .r += «lies the ‘source of his affection for the historical studies. Here was " the ‘source of his ‘traditionalism too, if we do not choose: the word © conservatism or even retrogradism for his idea] of paternal as despotism ‘in relations within the famil as well as in the relations within the — ", state, But itis only natural that the same affection to the family was the source of the’ progressive and even revolutionary elements in’ his views ard teachings. The positive contents in the relations of a- family ought to be extended on the great collectives, on the state, empire through the darkness of the passed ages and the mist of mutilations. - firmly on the earth and said: ,,The Heaven does not speak. Its will ceremony with which he honoured the remain s of his mother struck , " his fellow-citizens with astonishment and made him famous. After * this ‘burial he spent three years neár. the burial place ‘dedicating this readers found a rather strong expression in the words of the famous _. _ and even on the whole mankind.” When one cf ” his disciples said mournfully, he: had no brothers, Confuci us answered: „All men in the whole world must be regarded as brothers. { -Then one will not mourn that he has no brothers.“ To the question what is humanity, he answered: „Love,“ the answer which -sounds "like a Christian command. But:let us not be cheated’ by the outer consonance of the words. The overwhelming rapture of ecstatic love in the Sermon on the Mount was wholly alien to the cautious, sober" mind. of Confucius,. firmly attached to earthly things. To the question, whether one may retaliate the evil with good, he answered: »How shall we then retaliate the good?“ His idea of the conduct to_ wards the fellow-men was expressed in- his, „Golde n Rule‘: »What à you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others,“ a rather shallow rule with which Confucius foreran Kant by 25 centurie "When, in spite of everything, one would insist on seeking s. in the founder ‘ot a religion some pathos, then, in the case of Confucius, ‘ there was the athos of the sobriety, of the cautiousness, the pathos: of thé rationalistic and practical traditionalism. Neverth eless it was . a real pathos, Confucius himself has proved it by his own life, It is . known that he has conceived a programme of social and political reforms, which would bring happiness to the whole world, „If any, ruler would submit to me, as his master, for 12 months, I should accomplish something considerable; in three years I should attain the realisation of my hopes.“ Being compelled to leave his native state “Lu he travelled-during the rest of his life from*one state to another =. seeking the ruler who would be willing to’ let him carry out his programme; He found in the best case an -honourable, but cold and 'unpromising reception, sometimes an open animosi ty and even imprisonment. But he could not find the ruler he wanted , Fiecling tlie approach of his end he said: ,,No intelligent ruler arises to take mf as his

È qe = È ~ È => = . PS ” +4 . ® - a . ÉS . - zcduced to a heap of dried ‘skin and bones and he was sn to dal E master. My time has come to die,“ — these were his last words we * know. The first and the greatest rationalist was jn the same time the : first and perhaps greatest Don Quixote in the best sense of this word. / . | but it had not compelled the spirit to catch the truth. Then Gautamo >"; understood that this way was cheating and deceiving,.he “left his _ | terrible fastings and chose another way, —sthat of ‘deep meditation The word „pathos“ applied to Confucius sounds somewhat strange / ; and unusual. But this word in its pure and-highest sense is fully on , - .!. ‘ the right place if applied to the teaching of Gautamo-Buddha, which’ from the beginning to the end is imbued with the. deepest pathos of the noblest human feelings. Gautamo was born in the country of the southern spurs of Himalaya, ‘and as the mounts of Himalaya over, shadow the highest mountains in any other part of the. world, thus _ x and ofrself-contemplation. This abandonment of the traditional creeds Sis by itselfnot/less ‘important than the departure from the family and = vancestrial home, because. it meant the breach ‘with the old boliefs, + E, with Brahma and the host of other traditional gods. Buddhism, as = 0, well’as Confucionism, has no’ notiori of supernatural beings, no gods " f. ‘and no god. Gautamo understood: the human spirit puts the que'. stiohs of Jife, the.human spirit alone is able to give the ‘answers, _ The Northern: canon tells that in this new way, during a, stormy , nüght, sitting under the sacred Bodi=trce, sunk in the deepymedita- ‘ the teaching of Gautamo in its unrivaled beauty, dignity ‘and: depth overshadows all other systems of human thought. It is not super. human, it is human, perhaps too-human, but in any case it is.super- _ European. ° i Hype A bs tions, Gautamo passed all „four stages of wisdom“ and reached the. x highest afid last knowledge. Thus he ‘became „The Awakened", „The >, Enlightened“ or. „Buddha“. The Southern ıcanon gives a different + . +. and a more realistic colouring to this event, telling about meditations .. ‘ainidst’peaceful fields under the blossoming trees. In this version the For Confucius the family ‘was the starting point ‘of his doctrine, of his whole ethics and politics. In contrast to it Gautamo began. with leaving his family. The legend is well known, how a prince, shattered by the sight of illness, old age and death, decided to seek salvation from pain of. life and‘ left in darkness of a night his gor- ,. @'attainment of the truth was not attached.to a short time, but might “a e ‘have lasted mönths-or even years. = ‘à se Let, + Tradition believes Gautamo has found “the yyay"to the salvation —, from all pains of life, from old age and death. What was this solu, + tion? To ‘our astonishment, in reading the Buddhist bookswe'find not geous royal palace and his beloved family in order to enter the homelessness and poverty of a life of a beggar-monk. This legend belongs to the most beautiful creations of the whole world literature, In a simple, naive, but impressive and unforgettable form,.— one must read the original, — nearly as a.children's fairy tale, there is given **.-.,°.0ne answer, but at least two. One answer, which to-day is proclaimed ' ... «by the. traditional dogmatic” Buddhism as-being the true one, “says thie deepest meaning of the contents, which with the merciless sharpness ot a knife-cdge puts the most tragic question of our life. Really, y +7 + “that.pain and life. are identical. Therefore, the-source of-pain lies in _ your attachment to life, in the ‘dark, irrational, unconscious thirst or * “will to exist. Henge, the salvation from pain can be reached only by. .* what a meaning has our whole life, if old age and death’ with their implacable ineyitability await us? The northern traditions believe this legend to be a part of the biography of Gautamo himself. In the southern texts it is told by.Gautamo, referring tq one of hisprede- , . ts È "o _ 4 PA oa the overcoming of this thirst, the breaking down of the bounds which . i a attach us to life, the suppression ot the craving for existence. Only * cessors,.to one of 24 Buddhas, who lived before him. In any case, "where. there is no new birth, there will be” no death.\Therefore the. if not strictly biographically, then psychologically the legend tells the true motives of the searching and teaching of Gautamo. Here, in his Striving to reach the delivery from pain and death, is the second A pearance, the state of Nirvana, without any -re-birth and therefore point of difference with Confucius, who declined even to speak death. . E A A | i - ‘ 7 N + . + ! e| i Le without any death. This'system ct thought, expressed in Four Sublime Y _ life, the summit of human disappointnient and despair, It must be, ‘.”. noticed that in this respect Buddhismis super-European as well. It * ‘is sufficient -to read the texts, where the denial of life is expressed, n eto realisé its overwhelming, irresistible force. -One would stand hel- "+ despair and ultimate hopélessness, — helplessly, if in the same texts © there would be no antidote against this deadly spiritual poison: in ' “plessly before this clementary, all destroying impact: of all crushing | other texts, in closely following sermons of Gautamo, sometimes even : ‘i in the same, sermon, like a red thread there passes another, quite + + Oppasite conception of the world, Not the denial, but a full ascertainN . . E Ge \ wee n .. „, Verifies, represents the “utmost pessimism in, conception of human NI From his biography-we are informed about. two ways of seeking the truth: a wrong one and a true one. In the beginning Gautamo tried to follow the paths»of the traditional creed and of ascetism, as it was the custoni in India of those days. During six long: years Gautámo exersided the most severe ascetism with the most ardent devotion and feryour, which brought him to the verge of starvation. His body was 8 - highest bliss is the final dissolving in naught, the irretMevable disapabout The tradition tells that Gautamo ‘not only put the question, but that he found the way to solve it and finally. — ‘the solution itself. re D De . . ~ i . 7 So . 7

ment of life, the highest esteem and care for life; not only for life of * > y + human beings, but other living creatures too. The Eight + \' rings of a True Path and Ten Moral Precepts express to some degree this cons | A |, Ba . ‘trastic conception. One asks with surprise: which of these two con- * ceptions of life is. truc? In the texts themselves there. is ‘no answer for ©. this question. What is given in texts is only the warning ‚against the. wrong conception. If one of his beautiful sermons:Gautamo has com=" pared his teaching with a serpent. When a hunter'meets the serpent - and grasps its body or its tail; then the serpent goes up, stings th hunter and he will dic or suffer deadly pairis.“,,And.wHy?-Because he has wrongly grasped the serpent.“ Another hunter, when he meets the . Serpent, grasps it with a fork-shaped stick. at: its” throat.and forces.it me Aamnrlotmàeani©.»2 to the’ ground. So the serpent is not able to sting and the hunter has . , + 4 a . x ‘ ee t o. . ' os Cit x . ike Ù \ - rr . . os x . Ù oe mn ‘ highest, universal, even cosmic tasks. ° a l . La In.the foregoing schematic survey of the doctrines a watchword or motto was sought for by every of the three ‘sages. It was „family“ ‘for Confucius, „salvation from the pain“ for Gautamo, and „decd‘ . i. for Zoroaster. The.easiest task is to. find such a. watchword for - "Pythagoras: this word is undubiously „harmony“. o, ©. Pythagoras was the first in Greece, and therefore in the whole : world, who called himself „philosopher“. The task of philosophy "was for him the revealing and disclosing of the inner harmony resi- . Europe who addicted himself eagerly to mathematic studies, He has * considerably:contributed to the progress of this ‘science, for instance _ maker. The embodiment of the Good, Ahura Mazda was called „un- , and his followers ©. buckling the sword and taking away the weapon"; : animals, and everywhere will be joyous: fires, and among the men there will be no rulers, no beggars, no enemies and-no cheaters, who * =. = ‘This struggle may not be uniderstood as a primitive bloody war and * : diseases, no death, where the carth will be full of men and domestic : |. ° +" ding in.all things in thé world. He' was the first mathematician in struggle ong against the other for the rule ‘in the-world. The task. and the sense of human life is to join in this struggle -agathst Evil.’ A ‘ °° of enthusiastic activity and true heroism, striving to perform: the. Me: . astrous, cheating, ugly and wrong. Both forces aré in the everlasting . ». ~~: ‘. 2... darkness, death, illness sand pain, all what is gloomy, sinister, dis--, ©. , _ established, „where there will be.no cold and: no arid winds, no vo giving, useful, true, salva 0ry and peacemaking. The ‘other “creates. " + , fundamental dualism in the conception of world, Zoroaster,.in accor.æ ' dance with his active nature, was an optimist. In his energetic desire ı of action and strenuousity he is full of hopes and believes, a day of ‘final victory shall come, when the Evil will be annihilated and the Good. will remain as the sole ruler of the world. Then man will reach perfection, and the world its Golden Age, when the „Good - Kingdom“, „Wished for Kingdom“ or „Kingdom of Desire" will be Y ° * 1 man, precisely"Angra Maniu, or the Evil Spirit. The first principle. is the source of light, of life, of all what is beautiful, bright, lifevi “ind. No other religion has so many texts which concern the work of . — man, extolling it as the source of blessing and joy. In spite of the , inspiration, the,celestial visions, the divine revelation. And he knows: the world is created by the force of two principles: of the Good and ot the Evil. The first principle he called Ormuzd, ot more precisely, Ahura Mazda.or the White Lord, and his opporient is called Ahri-. st 1 ‘The first place in this. struggle was assigned to the creative, produc-. ~ {tive work, which provides plenty, welfare and prosperity for man- , + embodiment of human will. He does not clasp on the' family, lie daeg . not need to plunge.in deep meditations, all.he wants. is to act. The. deed that is the true centre.gound which the world moves: Zgroastetr is no thinker, no enquirer, or searcher. He is a poet änd.a prophet, He does not need any assiduous studies. To him speaks the paetical side. The way of this struggle leads througli-„good thoughts, good. words, and good decds“,; — the threefold motto, of Zoroastrianism. ‘ «¿induce to.go on thé paths-of evil“. Here shines brightly the pathos all what is evil in the world, and to destroy and annihilate their very source. If Confucius was the émbodiment of rationaliim, Gautamo the ' embodiment of human feeling, Zotoaster must be regarded as the: ... se the villages“, The struggle was understood rather from moral + 4 !\° pain. Zoroaster was more dynamic: he wanted to overcome pain and ... - -- 10 - Were obliged to take the oath „not to wage the wars and net to rob | _ Gautamo has sought in the knowledge the way of sälvätion from’*- " rt 4 | glamour of limitless expansion, compels, to have serious doubts about & it. But let this question for aavhile remain open, ._ ..... © physical destruction. No, Zoroaster was against war, he was a péace bo ‘ P no cause to fear death or pains. „And why? Because he has rightly grasped the serpent.“ Now the question arises, which. is one of the most important in the whole human history: has the traditional, dogmatic Buddhism grasped the doctrine-pf Gaytamo rightly? The gloo> my lethargy of the present Buddhigm, which has replaced its former . me n è with his famous theorem: bearing his name till to day. The great thing | Ja-r. colrelcsto about this theorem is not its contents, but the method of its solution, + + ‘thé mathematical demonstration, which laid foundation to the whole ©: > geometry ot Euclidus, and must be regarded as one of the greatest - inventions ot the human mind. He has annunciated some other the: forems, among them the summing up of the angles of a triangle. But mathematics as a whole, with its basis, the number, was for -Pythapura in no way a dead, formal thing, the subject of dry computation, ut the representation and embodiment of the living harmony-of the, ‘world, In consonance with this: view he regarded the number as the essence of all things, and this conception of the world is wholly adequate to the modern mathematically founded, “scientific. natural DS =

Ro te Mee Oe als . - im a.string depends on the harmonious telations of. ite? length; a: fact—_ SEeveNI +., mkderd .= A“a has. passed many e . 7, was acknowledged to be the final highest source of all existing things ewes : "and laws; then in the Age of Renaissance and of later Rationalism - + ‘this point of view was súperseded by the sationaltic anthropocen- .' trism; newly, in the philosophy of Schopenhauer, ‘a whole gamut of these ideglogicaf:comings~and goings could be . ‚2... disclosed by regarding the changes not in. the time, but in the space: - . in Greece — the cosmocentrism has found. its most ‘accomplished x * form-in'the teaching of Pythagoras about the harmony reigning in po. Zoroaster, completed by scientifical: searching and “experimenting of' the modern scholars-were embodied in Pythagoras in a beautiful,, po unparalleled unity. With his pathos of striving for harmony he was . i {i -v’’.and, finally, in India “the counterpart of the modern voluntaristia - : philosophy of unconsciousness, only in an incomparably deeper and | i ‘©’ > ne a ¡A ‘ A . + ni ; ° - ZA oes» a À ma een te r - , + N NI | .** + "In spite’ of the shortness and the utmost ‘schematism of tha I MAS > Sh own region, his own spiritual kingdom, where he wields majestically. en, was the dirigent creating the unity-of the most splendid spiritual Symphony of mankind?. Must their consonance be regarded at only ”" ‘as ‘a mere accidental coincidence, as a capricious play of history, or ibe united in a higher oneness, as’ for instance the colours are uniteid | ' +”. |È Ì in a rainbow, the strings — in a músical instrument, and several in-' 4 + truth; but the reasoning of. Confucius, the deep, Concentration and” ‚self - contemplation of Gautamo, the intuitive inspiration of Zoro« ," aster and the scientific, systematical searching of Pythagoras repre- . u ‘+ Y 1" g gx” er, | It seems that already from the “aprioristic point of view it would be hardly possible to believe in the simple accidéntality of such coincidence. Pythagoras, two and half milleniums before our days, was able ‘to sc and to hear the harmony even in a dead string and in a dead * ,.. geometrical figure, why then should we not be able to discover the *. lawfulness of the harmony .in the greatest and deepest achievements «+ Y of the human spirit? - Podi wid Rai ” . ‘ as a consequence of some deep inner social and historical lawfulness? + + „struments in one orchestra ?-It was already noticed.that three of them can be regarded each as the embodiment of one side of the human; * >: 2°, soul: thinking, feeling and acting.::But these: three. sides’ form one |. for: ,-‘human soul, ‘Each of them had ‘his own method of: séarching. „The consonance and harmony of the melody produced by an.. _ orchestra depends on, the leading of a dirigent. But who has secured es rthe harmony of the doctrines of the four sages of antiquity,. who ‘But are we compelled to regard them only separately ?: Could: they not- | -.: a the ancient sages müıtually complete each other and form a higher ‘ chestra producing the harmony of one symphony of the human spirit.: e”. separately they are truly overwhelming. Everyone of them’ has. his.. - - O y ‘ unity. Truly, they were only separate instruments in one.great or- Hs. and can be appreciated’and admired. Even in looking. at each of them -"- "as y perfect form with two ways of approaching the problems, which arise in such contemplation of the world. In this manner the teachings of , , foregoing portraying of the four sages, — their greatness is clearly seen. è the whole world;-in Iran at ‘the ‘same time there ruled the theocentrism .. “in its very interesting and «notable dualistic form;®) in China there -** Was represented the ‘rationalistic anthropocentrism of Confucius, : 5 possibly nobody has attained such a many-sided' accomplishment, but”: CO 3 - ‘ings and-forces.®) It is immensely interesting that in the Great Age — -- noble task. The systematical and -rationalistic ‘studies of Confúcius;: of. - "a the sharpness of the feelings of Gautamo, the dynamism-of:will even fur the whole of mankind... "2 °° Bergson and especially of Nietzsche the-somewhat shallow rationalism of the primitive. | universal harmony and to establish it in human life, —-that:was.his-.... ‘ stages in its views upon the world. In ancient Greece. the starting point was the cosmocentrism, based on the belief in the «, existence of éverlasting laws, ruling in the world; in the Middle “Ages this cosmocentrism was replaced by a theocentrism, .as God was opposed: by the-‘understanding of the imporo „ _anthropocentrism tance ot the’ unconscious side of fiuman nature, of its dark inner drivand for this aim he founded the brotherhood ‘of his-disciples, which, -. an excellent model and paragon not only for the Greeks,:of whom, , - . asserted that the European philosophy, in: the. course of its ‘history, displayed a considerable irefluence on the politics.-in Crotona and ::. other cities of ‘Italy. His task wyas"to” establish: yirtue,-which by itself". ©’ was for him h¥tmony in the human relations. To” understand the -* , no We can approach the problem from the other «side. It can be- * - . which gave-a strong support to his belief of the inner harmony, reign- -" ing in the world. He was the first in Greece whl preached the.im\:. -- : mortality and transmigration of the souls, but in this doctrine he: found the source for his belief’ in the harmony. and kinship of men=- and animals. - He sought the ways to improve.the. relations of men,. . . oe they ‘must be regarded as an unity of all powers of the human case he understood that the earth is.a globe moving round its axis and .'in space. But even in cosmology he scarched fog inner harmony, and ~ was conyinced that the celestial bodies move harmoniously, producingthe „music of the spheres“, which is nat heard only because it sounds - ... continuously. He was the first ‘physicist, in any case the first‘experi- . -“ ‚mental physicist-in the modern sense of the word: Among.öther, he + has experimentally proyed that the variety of ‘harmonious sounds of - . .. .-, ce - ‘ “sent all possible miethods of attainment of knowledge, and in, the philosophy. He: was the. first astronomer, whose ideas'about: the”. _ structure of the world were congruous with thé modern views, in any -' ‘ ‘ = * '

&sega 1 artate “ ‘ — This aprioristic and intuitive postulate is strongly supported by historical argument. We are generally saying that Buddhism is_ founded by Gautamo or Zoroastrianism by Zoroaster, But in essence such great events of history,’ as the:foundation of.-a new, universal. 3 , countries of China and in’ the Far West of the Old World. In any case already Iran. The bronze has appeared synchronically in the. most remote parts of the world. The so called ,,megalitic'* constructions, dolmens ‚and: menhirs, avere built on the. shores of the Atlantic and on the shore of the Pacific just in the same time (the beginning of the 2 nd millenium B. C,). he iron weapon and tools were introduced in ‘Europe and in China in the same epoch, in the end of the second or | religion can not be assumed to one person, how great he’ may be, but * must be regarded as a collective work of a whole generation, if not. _ of many. subsequent generations. In fact, we know that Confucius was preceded by many other philosophers, the greatest of whom, Laol'Tse, . was still alive at the beginning of the teaching activity-of Confucius; . Confucius. himself was constantly surrounded -by-.his:disciples. who *. did not leave hi even in the time of. his misfortunes, After his: - beginning of the first millenium B. C, Apparently there were existing : - some ways, which united the mankind of the Old World long before the age of railroads and telegraphs. In the lightrof these facts, the: coincidence of a stage of spiritual development would not appear as, - 4 strange and paradoxal exception, ‘but rather as a natural ‘consequence of the synchronism reigning-throughout the whole history of ‘the human culture. ge \ | death the disciples and followers carried on his work, carefully pre- :” serving every word he had-said. The same.was with‘ Gautamo, whose. - - ” \ — preaching was prepared by the. foregoing spiritual development, beginning with the Vedic Age and ending with many sects of all kinds which have induced him to leave his home. Since his first sermon at Benares the number of his disciples evér increased, and on his travels: from one place of India to another he was always. sutrounded by acrowd of his adherers, who left their homes and. families‘ in order to’ follow him and who were not only his listeners, but his trug collaborators in the foundation of a new creed. Zoroaster rejoiced the pro\. “tection of a king and of his suit, and the immediate dispersion of the ° - | If some common cause of the simultaneous origin of the great doctrines-of mankind must be ‘supposed, then this cause can be dis_ covered only in the great events which were closely foregoing them. + The next such event of sufficient: great and deep importance was the introduction of iron. How dreary materialistically it may sound, it ‘must. be supposed that nothing else as irom can be regarded as the - new doctrine in Iran is the best testimony of the-active contribution, * of a great number of persons. In Greece Pythagoras himself was not common dirigent in the great symphony of these great doctrines. The ' ” -. spreading out of iron undubiously revolutionised the ancient life. If its predecessor, the bronze,.was a rare metal and if throughout of the whole bronze age the stone tools were in use eyerywhere too, the so well known as the Pythagoreans: many authors mentioned only,the school, and not its chief, obviously because there was difficult to Say. : / what had been done by the founder and what byhis disciples, There- >“ fore each of these~great doctrines must be regarded‘ not only as.the © - result of the individual work of one great person; but rather as the work of a great generation. ‘Then the question which must be solved îs. - not about the simultàneity of four great sages, but about the simulta- ' neity of four great generations, which” were coexisting’ in’ the sixth, - | > Century before our era. Is-it possible to admitt that:such coexistence | of great generations can be explained only as an accident, without any. ©. inner connection? It igobvious that from this point of view the historian is compelled to.regard the’ four separate, local: events from a” common standpoint.as being only four sides of a gréater unity, of one great universal event. ue ce Diet ge cie mate À u, ‘ The remoteness of the separate events from each other is by no . ‘ widespread and easily obtainable iron replaced-stone as well as bronze” and became a real basis of the whole material life of mankind. The plenty of beautiful, strong, reliable and handy utensils, convenient and well adapted to any"purpost, created a truly new era in the material ‘culture, influencing every branch of. work: agriculture, stone , cutting, architecture, ship-building and warfare. The work of men, _ disposing ot the iron tools, became more productive and provided such ¿2 . plenty and prosperity, which were never-seen before. The widespread ' material security has created the conditions for the display of: tly “higher creative forces of ‘the human spirit. In this way the identity ‘ ot the material culture of the whole world in the age, which followed the introduction of iron, was the first common cause in the identy ‘ in spiritual life. È ;' È È means a deciding point. There are many, examples, archaeological as . . . . well as historical of a unity of the-events in the most distant parts of the world. The Neolitic age in the Far East has:had’not.only-the | +. same main features as the corresponding age in Europe, but it obvi- + ously belongs to the same period of time. The agriculture as well as the cattle breeding were introduced practically simultaneously in the y wn . de 14 ' te . R ‘ . ya 2 + ues Los $ | i o. Y R i ‘of politics. The bronze, as a rare metal, was not available for tools , + e ce of every day life, and could be used only for the ornanients and in the first line for weapons. But in these ancient times it was nearly as = i . è Ed + Ù The ways of the influence of iron on the spiritual life can be traecd more closely, Especially obvious is its influence in the region. “ ” , , in the second millenium B. C, the agriculture was wide spread in China and, taken practically, stood on the same level as in % è : E ni te a FE sto ni se A 4 . > ; 1

ing an „intelligent ruler form the best alive illustration of this - difficult to get-a bronze sword as it would be now to possess a silver particularism. There were some 16 important mighty. states; the or even a golden.sword. Only wealthy and°mighty people could afford it. But on the other hand, the passession of a bronze.sword was - the source of might and wealth, making:the position of its. possessor number of all states is estimated by some scholars as reaching 150. In ' such a way after the introduction of iron practically the whole Old . World, from the shores of the Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific, was divided into small territories of independent state-towns. Newer :“ before and never afterwards the particularism was as strong and as; universal as in this epoch. In this identity of political system, domi-: truly exceptional. -Therefore: the bronze. was‘a* factor “of creäting the social and -political, inegality, of-building up an aristocracy within the © states in national relations, and the state-conquerors or great empires ’. nating throughout the whole world, there lies the second cause of the .. Similarity ‘of the spiritual life. in international relations. Contrarily:to bronze, the-iron was from, , | . the very beginning of its using wide-sppead ‘and ‘was practically ob- © ì pose tainable everywhere. Everyone could have an: iron .swotd, each town, could have armed forces. Therefore its influence was directly opposite. . to that of bronze: it was a factor of egality, of: democracy. Besides, . the manufacturing of iron, the new industries ¿nd new trade with >. iron tools and weapons.created the basis of the wealth and economic: . -.. “ \ | It must be emphatically pointed out that the separatism and par“ prosperity of towns, which appeared everywhere in a great multitude. .. Each town being a centre of the iron industry and trade had no diffispiritual progress. Contrarily, it was ever immensely favourable for the development of the culture in all its forms. It is enough to mention the Greek culture which was both the most particularistic and _- the most creative one, a true period of blossom of mankind. Tho 4 inheritance of the small Phoenician towns is much greater than of * great Assyrian and Median empires taken together. The influence, ‘of the small Judaic states on the fate of mankind is up till now much more essential than of all great empires of antiquity: All great philoculty to provide its citizens with: the-best:weapon,. and this fact enabled them “to struggle: for their independence'.even against-tho-> _ |. $ mighty empires. If in. the age of bronze there appeared the first . great emtpires, the age of iron commences with the dissolution of those sophical systems and religious dogmas in India were created in the . age of particularism. In China the period of the dynasty Chou is empires and with the creation of a great number of independent gtatetowns, and can be justly called the.age-of<particularism. This parti. * . cularism was especially. striking in ‘Greece,.where each: town has memorable and unique by the flourishing of arts, by the progress of sciences.and by the great achievéments. ‘The cause of, such influence of the particularism on the spiritual development can be easily found in the competition between small states, in,the opportunity to com- . of regarded itself as.a wholly independent. state, -—; the. number _such states, though unstable, must be-estimated as exceeding hun- - | ticularism can in no way be regarded as an obstacle precluding the The, political conditions ‚of Greece were-by no” means an . dred,!) but rather 4 rule for this epoch. In.the Near East, which‘ + _exception, “in the age of bronze during the whole ‘second millenium .B. C. had, pare different systems of government of various states, and especially in the comparative inner freedom of the citizens of small states. Any problem, which. was put before the contemporarics, was attemp- —.. of the following millenium, that is closely’ after the introduction of iron, there arose many little Phoenician town-republics, two Judaic states, Izracl and Judaea, and innumerable other state-towns, with. ted to be solved by various communities in various ways and the com‘parison of the results was a stimulus to avoid the bad, to improve the good, and to imitate the best. The spiritual forces of men, which in great states, as a rule, have been lost and dissipated in the outer . growth, in outer expansion, in the small states seek their way in the: .in the first half been united by the empires of Babylonia and Egypt, their own rulers, "own! constitutions, own systems .of administration; .own culture, own creeds, own international policy.1!) In India in the time of Vedas as well as in the time of Gautamo the arca was devided into many independent states: only, between. Himalaya’ and the river -Nebrada there were -sixteen greater states, not to” count -the semi. independent small -cities and communifies:1°) But'thè most strikingexample of such particularism can be found in China: “Although in ci was ast Asia, m China, as’well as South-E B. C. - thé second milleniu / united in a great empiresruled by the strong hand of the “first two: ” dynasties, the third dynasty, Chou, dominathig‘from 1222 to 249 B. C,, ruled only. nominally. Practically ‘there was no: central power - nt were town at all, Each province, even each more or less.importa of findaim the with Confutius of The journeys wholly independent, « . a ven, | à16 er| Il | n LE, > i 6: * | u "y “gp LI ° or n % | "Te . .n | ! esi al Da 27 5 yo! E, , î ' . . e 7 , i . = - x 5 | sSieKnatm.r¥-i igh and deep. In the great empires the citizens are always overwhel>; med and suppressed by the spendour of the.power of their rulers ‘ and are not able to-compare the administration of their own country with the administration of other states, and have no-other choice, as to subdue to their rulers or to perish. Contrarily, the citizens of » small state can not be much impressed by their petty rulers, and in. case of an open conflict everyone has an easy opportunity to find the \ security in the nearest adjacent town-state with a more adequate form of government. Therefore the citizens are spiritually independent and free. It can be said that, ceteris paribus, the greatness of a state and that of its citizens stay in the inverse relation: the greater is the

state, the smaller is the citizen, the smaller the state, the greater the citizen, The identity of the conditions of the spiritual. life which _ existed in this epoch, 1s the third cause of the similarity of its achievements. | o271sEr and with all N y e nation, with the same religion, the same language and culture; a war between them ever had to be regarded as a fratricid one, as the result ' of the folly of men, of the wrong policy of rulers and of the inefficiency of the political institutions. Hence arose the problem of replacing the wrong forms of government by an ideal organisation, which | would be able to ‘establish happiness for mankind. And the third, perhaps the most important problem,, in essence prevailing ithe first two, was the creation of new ethics. Man in his march toward higher. forms of life has passed three most important stages. The first stage. the anorganic naever established the predominance of man over the earth. The second step was the creation ot ‘harmony between men and plants) which is embodied in the agriculture, with all great conséquences of its introduction. The third step was the domestication of animals, which also can * be regarded as the-establishing of harmony between men and useful ' beasts. These three steps of culture, with their threefold harmony, created wholly new conditions of life and opened the brightest perx n L1 y 2 cultural centre, which was known, has tried to solve them. From this point of view the four great doctrines, origin of which we-are tra. . Cing, must be regarded as the four answers to the same questions. Even if. the answers would have been entirely different and opposite, even then the identity of problems joined them into a unity. We saw that'each of the great sages had his-own way, how to seck for “truth. If these various methods were applied in order to solve the. same problems, this can be tegarded as one process of searching, and . ‘the differents and contraversities of answers may be instructive and conclusive for the appreciation of these methods. But were the an*.. swers really different and opposite? A closer examination reveals . more similarities and identity, than it could be expected. Even the coincidences in the second rate questions are sometimes striking.. For instance, the scholars have ‘drawn the attention to the remarkable - . analogy between two most remote philosophers, Pythagoras and Confuciús, concerning mathematics: both were convinced ture, — stones, ores and metals. As our ancestor living in the dark, remote antiquity, first took the stone into his hand and used it as a tool or weapon, creating the unity of his body with. the anorgania material, then occured an event of tremendous importance, which for himself, The last and the greatest problem,.— the creation of harconsequences. E lessly, these questions were evident and urgent in all parts of the made by the petty quarrels, conflicts and warrings of the small rulers | rapatious animal, no hunger caused by the lack o1 tood, no death and meaning ‚world. Therefore already ‘a-priori one must expect that each! great of the little states, especially when these states .were*of. the same caused by the lack of shelter ‘are menacing mankind any more. The only and last dangér, which remained, was the danger from man . spear 0. | 4 * Such were the three questions which the epoch after the intro_ duction of iron put before the generations who lived then. Doubt- . favourable the particularism might be, nobody could regard the dominating separatism as the best and final form of human organization, If the struggles of the mighty empires with their apocaliptical deyastations were ever regarded.as the punishment of gods and the ir“ resistible disaster of mankind, quite different was the impression: spectives for the future, especially after the introduction of iron. No became, the greater was the danger. ‘The iron; which splendidly serves ‘other ann weapons, has unfolded this question in its full The conditions of life, — material, political and spiritual ones, , was the creating of harmony between the man and mony between men, — was left yet unsolved. And the mightier man the men as a tool, but could as. well be used as a sword, | were identical. Identical as well were the problems which were put before these generations. The main problems were religious, political and ethical. The old tradicional religions, created unconsciously by the former génerations, living under completely different’ material conditions, were evidently obsolete. and had to be thouroughly reformed or even replaced by. the new ideological- systems. The political’ problems. were by-no means less acute., How. . - P—=TP that there exists „an inner connection between the numbers and the essence of things.13) Two other striking facts, the prohibition to use flesh and the com... munity of property, were a rule for the Buddhists as well as for the Pythagoreans. The similarities were striking in the main points of -the doctrines too. For instance, the first main problem, that of rela. tions with religion, was identically approached by Confucius and by . . Gautamo, who spiritually was the most remote to him: both have , rejected the traditional cult and have not replaced it by the cult of other gods or god. The prohibition of the Pythagoreans to take an. | oath indicates that they were tending to the same direction: in any . case the idea of gods did not play any part in the philosophical ‘system of Pythagoras, and in his views there is.no trace of belief that the harmony, ruling in the world, might be created by or be depen‘dent’ from any deity. | SE ‘But the most important: and conclusive uniformity is evident in the ethics. Here the identity is full: charity, forgiveness, generosity, kindness, humanity, brotherhood, love — are common requirements of-all doctrines in the sphere’ of cthics. Of course, it cannot be ex-

A » ~~ e - pected that in China, in India and in Greece there would have been pared with the views expressed in other doctrines and the most con-sonant with them can be regarded as being probably true. For inStance, the passive-and submissive piety of the modern. Zoroastrians, and their primitive adoration of the innumerable hasts of good spirits used the same words for' expressing the same thoughts and feelings. But there-are only differences of words, with the full identity’ of the essence, which can be regarded as an establishing of harmony ‘and. helpless curses for the even greater hosts of the evil ghosts an between men. Hence the identity of conclusions, For. instance, all four di | doctrines were outspokenly pacifistic, if this modern word-may be |. applied to the relations of antiquity. It was already mentioned referring to the teaching-of Zoroaster. The peacemaking of Buddha.. up to the principle of retaliation of the evil with the good, is pre- - stay in an open contradiction with the former high spiritual level of this ‘ ‘ached in most of his sermons and parabels. There are no doubts about the pacifism of Confucius, who said: „In delivering'a battle for con-. ~ quest of the territory, the bodies of dead goldiers cover the fields; \ 'Li.’.,1.N, |È.1.)> èirasro in delivering a battle for capture of a city; the bodies of dead soldiers fill the town. “That is what'is calle fo nourish thé earth with" ©... human flesh. Such a crime cannot be expiated even with deathi"14) The same antimilitaristic-attitude is expressed in the songs of soldiers‘in the collection of ancient poems, which is attributed to Confucius.15) Finally, the war was evidently. not compatible with the harmony in: the relations of men; which was the main aim of:Pythagoras. And one conclusion more: all four were convinced that the new relations . between men will introduce a general and gommon happiness. This is eloquently expressed in the hopes of Zoroaster.in the final victory. . of good over the evil, when a Golden Age or the.,,Kingdom of .- . Good“ will be established. Confucius, in spite ‘of his sobriety and .. cautiousness, firmly believed that the common happiness can: be. created in the course of one generation. Even Gautamo, in direct, contradiction with his believed pessimism, has had the same Visions, as, for instance, it can be found in the beautiful sermon, called „Kutadanta“,1$) where a story is told about the good king Mahavijitta, whose good-government created the happiness not-only for men, but even for animals, — the most realistic and in the same time the most eloquent picture of the perfect government, which ‘world literature” “knows till to-day. In reading these texts all doubts will be dissipated: the origin of the four doctrines were not four separate events, buf only one event, evidently, the greatest in-the whole history of man- ©. in the misrepresentations, misuriderstandings and mutilations of the . following ages. In many cases the lost can not. be recovered, the mutilated cannot be restored. But to some extent, in some cases, the _ confrontation itself can be used ‚as a method of searching, and some- . _ times it can effectively assist in-solving-the inner. controversities .in each teaching. lá any case, if within any. of the present dogmas there are two opposite and non compatible views, then they must be com- =.a. in the same epoch, which did not mention any personified gods at-all, : can'be justly regarded as a strong évidence for the admissibility of such interpretation. method, can be shown in the interpretation of Buddhism. It was al.. ready pôinted out that in the texts ofBuddhism there are two conceptions of the salvation’ from pain: one, the denial of life itself, the - "+ mt Par i i | .. The second, by far more important example ‘of the use of such - — -"pther one — the esteem and care for the life. Which of these concep©. tions'is true? The comparison with the three other systems leayes no - doubts: of course, not the denial, but the assertion of life, because is consonant with the optimism of Zoroaster, with. the uti“only this “ litarism ofConfucius and with the harmony in life, which' was so obsti-° “nately emphasized by the philosopher of Samos. At the first glance » ‘ such an application of this method might appear rather hazardous, if ~ not wholly inadmissible, But as far as it concerns the Buddhism the correctness of this method can be proved by the evidence provided by history itself. The modern canonical books, written in accordance with — the modern dogma of Buddhism, have reached. our times in the shape they got some 1000 years ago, or even later. But there exist much more ancient Buddhist texts, bags the Edicts of the king of ancient India Asoka. King Asoka was for Buddhism the game what for Chri- — stianity apostle Paul and Emperor Konstantin would be, if they both “welt united in one person. In any case the first great expansion of It is quite possible that the identity was originally by far more complete and deep, but this similarity is lost in the course of time, . doctrine. The modern scholars, tracing the most ancient sources of _ Zoroastrianism, are unanimous in regarding the crowds of the good “and evil spirits as a mere subsequent mutilation and barbarisation of © ‘thé ancient doctrine, and some suggest that even Ahura Mazda and - Angra Maniu were originally no personified gods, but only the ex* pressions of two main moral principles, struggling in human heart: . The comparative confrontation with the three other doctrines, created -, - .. Buddhism started in his time and was caused by his pene ME In, his Edicts, which were engraved on the stone pillars and on the rocks in many parts of India, and which must be regarded. as his spiritual his wrongs and tells about his autobiography, he openly confesses striving to find the true path of the „true Conquests” of ae -victories of the „Dhamma“ or Good Law, In these Edicts, which are . * % the most ancient texts of Buddhism, written only some 250 years after the death of Gautámo, in the place where he preached and where his CEL, traditions were yet living, no word can be found about the denial of N . . E tà t 1 A ' LI - | . . I. , & kan ‘+ »

: . + i life or about Nirvana. Contrarily, the Edicts are. full of care for the * life of men and animals, of enthusiasm of activity for the welfare of _ all living beings, and-are entirely consonant with the creative heroism _ of Zoroaster, with the wise practicism of Confucius and with the warm belief in the harmony of the universe. of :Pythagoras. «It must. be supposed that king Asoka, the second co-founder of Buddhism, - © - had a clearer idea about the essence of the teaching of Gautamo, than the modern Buddhist monks, who can perceive only the remote, mutilated echoes of his sermons.. And remembering the comparison of Mai Gautamo's teaching with the-serpent, one must say: modern Buddhism has wrongly grasped the ,,serpent“. Perhaps here lies the main cause why Buddhism has lost its living force of expansion, ‘which was so "amazing in its great heroic past: cant * ai | / nmEÈ: aAnRneE The last conclusion touches the. last important identity of all four doctrines: their failure to accomplish the task they had put before them. The causes of this failure are too complicated and too deep for being discussed even briefly in the frame of this lecture. It may be only pointed out that the main causes of the failure lie in the relation between these doctrines arid the state. Sometimes the cause ‘ 4 . e. ES with the anorganic world, with plants and- animals is displayed to full size and has provided mankind with limitless possibilities, which, connected with: the marvellous perfecfness of the modern methods of government, enable to reach the.real Golden Age’ within few years. But-the disharmony between men themselves destroys all these blessings ot culture and makes out of them an imminent, deadly danger not only for men, but for all living creatures of the world. "These be faced only by the creating of new efficient ethics. In dangers can importance of which is really cosmic, the first step .is the task, this to understand the attempts made in ‘antiquity to solve these problems. The best way to this understanding is the synthetical Jens and disclosing of their. inner consonance. In the contemplation of their Charmony there can be found an everlasting source of creative inspiration which our generation so greatly lacks and so badly needs. - N a © lies in the persecutions from the side of the state or the prevailing +! political parties. From such persecutions have suffered to a certain, -. : degree all doctrines: Pythagoras on the-close of his days, Confuciua some 300 years after his death, Gautamo some hundreds years later, t and Zoroaster — almost 1000 years after his death. But perhaps .. even more disastrous was the influence of the state, when it granted. ‘ its protection and support, the conditions of this benevolence being yA usually equivalent with the rejecting of the essénce. The cause and the ways and the inner inevitability of these failures, how different and. various they might be, represent the most interesting and most im- .: portant problems, which can be learned from history. The real contents of history since the Great-Age is the story of the struggle of these attempts to improve human life and to make mankind ablé“of ~~. attaining the fullest harmony and happiness, with the obstacles which mankind has obstinately put on this way. It was ‘truly said: „Thy fruits are ripe, Zarathustra, but thou art not ripe for thy fruits... = These problems, do not refer only to the past, They are the most burning and urgent questions of modern times. All great problems of antiquity remain unsolved till to-day. Mankind has not a satisfactory view of world, it was not able to create adequate forms,of collective life, and the main problem, how to establish harmony between : men, remains open to-day as it was open two and half thousand years ago. The problems are the same, but their meaning has tremendously . increased. The ‘might, the ‘force: and the wealth of mankind have, grown immensely compared. with those of antiquity. The harmony_' | -. . . a | 2 Cu Re E 23 = da E wow LEO

; =. I | 27 ore re . 5 ae ....". 12. Attian in Indica“ (Chapter. VII) quotes the report of Me- 2. The main problems referring the age of. life of Gautamo are’ discussed in the standart work E. ka Thomas, The Life of Buddha," : ... | . noto E*- —2 3. Charles Autran, Mithra; Zoroaster et la prehistöire aryenne du christianisme, 1935, pp. 148—9.- ose Rad Fa | 4. Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum Gestaruin Libri qui’ supersunt i XXIII, 6, 32. The words ofEtthis text: a... ., addidit Zoroastres,Í ı , deinde Hystaspes rex prudentissimus; Darei patär“ evidently indicate " : a certain personal connection between both... es * Bs J .E 5. Ernst Herzfeld, Archäologische Mitteilungen ays Iran, Ba, L- | 1929—30, p. 185, ©, | . . ye 6. The problem ot the influence of Buddhism on Christendom x; is largely discussed by =) scholars (Arthur Lillie, Rudolf Seydel, - Paris, 1771. 0 watt Lera 14 Analecta, 340, ‘’ 15. She-King or Book of Poems, where many. soldiers’ songs are ' given, all antimilitaristic. For instance: ©.‘ ' ‘At first, when we set out, | 7. Anquetil Duperron; Zend Aveste, Ouvrage, de Zoroastre, . . - ~ war and peace. If the rest of India had the same political structure, + © “the number of her states must be estimated in: hundreds. | Altred Bertholet, Burett Hillman Streeter, Albert: J. Edmunds, D. Goddart a. s. o.) and now there must be put not so much the question, — far and in which way this influence has been brought forward. - . gasthenes tliat in India there existed 118 separate nations. It may be admitted that many, if not all of them, were wholly independent. In any case from the first-hand sources about Alexander's conquest of , ‚India (Diodorus, Plutarch,-Quintus Curtius, Arrian) is seen that in * "India he had met’with at least*20 indepedent political bodies, though his expedition has only crossed the valley of Indes and he has not . touched-the major regions of this immense country. In arcas; he has \ penetrated, every nation and-eyen every town were politically wholly: autonomous, they had their own constitution and freely decided about 13 Yi-King or Book of Changes, especially Appendix III, ChapIX with its symbolism of numbers. ‘See „Ihe Chinese Classics”, _ ter ns explanations by James Legge. .- Chinese texts with translaitoand « ‘whether Buddhism has influenced Christendom ‘at all,*but. only how ‘* . The willows were fresh and ‘green; Now, when we sliall be returning, . +. The snow will-be falling in, clouds. pig 8. This change of views was the- subject of a lecture of Prof, * . T. Celms, held at the Baltic University, in Hamburg, * : 9. The theocentrism in its monistic shape could also ‘have been . “ ‘ found in this epoch, — in Jewish states, Judaea and Izrael, where lay * * the true sources of the whole Mediaevel European theocentrism. ' | "= A _ 10..The number of independent Greek states in antiquity, includ- .. a” ing Greek citiessin Asia Minor, Italy and their colonies, has in any | case exceeded hundred. Aristotle in his ;,Politica“ mentions more than 100 separate Greek cities-states; his collection of constitutions has. ‘ contained 158 state-constitútions. +. = . . 2 4 ° . ti : . . ° A : a ' = - Los. . | “Long and tedious will be our marching; We shall hunger; we shall. thirst. « . Our hearts are wounded with grief + And no one knows our sadness.“ 16. ,Kutadanta”, No 5 from-the collection-of the long sermons (Digha Nikaya). : . x7. The scholars assert that the modern Zoroastrianism knows 100.000 good spirits and 2 billions of evil spirits. * di. . - -. © lisation of Darius,- which in the first line was responsible for the = _. disasters awaiting Persia in the near future. this lecture, must be regarded only as a-conject or hypothesis yre for : further examinatio andn investigation. CP A London 1927. © ‘ | ‘ federal structere of his empire, was more adequate than the centra-: ‘ 19th September 1946. The connection of the origin of four doctrines * with the introduction of iron-and with the particularism, supposed in _ - In his inscription of Behistun Darius mentions that at the - . 11. ‘ beginning of his reign he was obliged, in order to establish his rule) to deliver 19 great battles and to take nine kings as prisoners. These data give some idea how strong particularism in Iran was. It must be ‘mentioned that the policy of Darius’ great predecessor Cyrus,. who to the protected the provincial self-government and obviously aimed a 1. The out-of-schedule lecture held in the Baltic Univerity on - x ~ oes à RO) . a è = 4 + $ =. da ie È “oF =

<> eme DI x mess mme en i n n sis À ~~ ‘ ? My = ‘ Se ve x rey $ m. PP + a . è . . N he 4 è \ LA Ze} . nS SO è we Ii e E La . 18. The king of ancient India Asoka ruled 273—232 B. C. His. . biographies: V. A. Smith, Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor, 1920, and * D. H. Bhandakar, Asoka, where the translations of all his Edicts can ‚be found. Besides: ,,Inscriptions of Asoka“, new'edition by Hultzsch, . Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum,'1925, original text“and=translation. .. . These inscriptions are, undubivusly, the highest point of statemanship_ __ , and witness about the unmatched greatness. of king Asoka: It is one .- of the strangest facts in-our.modern culture that only ‘the English:. speaking nations possess good and available translations of these texts. * The attempt to show their historical importance is made in my :publi- . a | cation, V. Stankeviz, Der Stern "vom Margenlande 1937, where the ~. introductory legend ot Gospel is explained as the remote echo of the embassies sent by the ‘king Asoka. , y A T's Re ey mt LU ET | 4 i ‘ 4 2 a a ESE TES