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 PHILOSOPHY 435 by him whom He himself grasps. In the be- ginning was the Self alone, concealed in his own qualities. In the first book of the laws of Manu we have a Hindoo cosmogony. The Self-existing Power created the waters with a thought. A productive seed placed in them becomes an egg from which heaven and earth are developed, while from the Supreme Soul mind is produced. The last book of the laws of Manu presents the doctrines of transmigra- tion and final beatitude. With these common features, Indian philosophy develops into the three systems, the Sankhya, Nyaya, and Ve- danta. All agree in proposing the same specu- lative problem : How did the universe come to be? and in aiming at the same practical end, the deliverance of the soul from the evil of the world, or from an existence conditioned by time and sense. All make the visible and sensible a delusion and a snare, accounting the ideal the only reality. A perfect knowledge of the real is the means of deliverance from the unreal and from restless transmigration. The Sankhya philosophy accepts two eternal and uncreated substances, soul and nature ; the Nyaya three, atoms, souls, and God ; while the Vedanta, or Mimansa, that orthodox and probably oldest system, teaches that Brahm is all, the one being in the universe, and that all else is maia or illusion. The wise man is he who by knowl- edge escapes the snare of the unreal, and tri- umphs over his own desires. By pure contem- plation he attains to freedom and repose, be- coming united at last with Brahma, in whom he is only conscious of himself as the eternal and universal Brahma, while life and death, with all their changes, are but phantasies. To this result worship may be tributary, but it is subordinate to knowledge. Action, inasmuch as it implies desire, is vain. The substance of the soul is from Brahma, and it is neither born nor does it die ; yet not all souls return to him. Those only who attain to the knowledge of him will be absorbed in him ; others are doomed to ceaseless transmigration. In absorption, or the total loss of personal identity, is the highest bliss. This is reached by entire abstraction, not only from the senses, but from the think- ing intellect. Consciousness of some sort, however, would seem to remain, since the de- livered soul can say, I am Brahma ; I am Life. The Sankhya philosophy, recognizing soul and nature, denies that a perfect being could cre- ate the universe. This would imply desire on his part, and consequently imperfection. The names of the gods are retained, but they are finite, though superior beings. Nature has a plastic creative force, but is not intelligent. Souls are intelligent, but do not create. Both are eternal, and from their union proceeds the visible universe. The Nyaya doctrine recog- nizes a supreme soul, Brahma, all-mighty and all-Avise. It holds all souls to be eternal and distinct from body. It introduces atoms, a third eternal and indestructible element, as the basis of matter. Buddhism was a rationalistic revolt from Brahmanism with its superstitious rites and burdensome ceremonies. Its founder Sakyamuni (probably about the middle of the 6th century B. 0.), rejected the authority of the Vedas, sacrifices, and all Brahmanic rites. It retained and popularized the principles of the Sankhya philosophy, by which it was large- ly shaped. It held that all existence, as sub- ject to change and decay, is evil ; but this evil, springing from desire, is not inevitable, since desire may be extinguished. Thus, if men choose, they may arrive at or attain to Nirva- na, or the perfect rest. What this is, whether the extinction of existence or of all passions and desires, has been disputed, and plausible arguments have been urged on both sides. But whatever the end, the moral precepts of reli- gion direct to its attainment. The loftiest conception of Buddhism is the deified man who has entered Nirvana. He becomes the object of adoration, to whom prayer is ad- dressed. The metaphysical doctrines of the system are dharma or the law of consequences, which attends being like its shadow until the final and changeless is reached, and the Nir- vana, which to the Buddhist means the abso- lute eternal world, beyond space and time, identified with an end of transmigration, as well as of the restlessness of desire. Of Chi- nese philosophy we know nothing anterior to the time of Confucius. The oldest Chinese writings recognized one Supreme Being, com- manding good, forbidding evil, and extending his providence over men. In the course of ages this ideal had become obscured and lost, or associated with superstitions which Con- fucius declined to recognize. Although silent as to the existence and attributes of God, as well as the immortality of the soul, he says : " Worship as if the Deity were present." ^ His philosophy was mainly ethical. It was given, or at least preserved, in detached aphorisms, inculcating virtuous actions and pure morals. The first marked period in the development of his philosophy closes with the death of Men- cius about 300 B. C. Its second extends from A. D. 1034 to 1200 ; it arose in connection with the teachings of Choo-tsze, through which it assumed a more definite form. It held that there is one supreme and ultimate principle of all existence, which is absolutely immaterial, and the basis of the moral order of the uni- verse. From this, eternally operating, comes all animate and inanimate nature. Creation is a perpetual process, and matter and spirit are opposite results of the same force, now pulsating actively and now passively. The high- est and most perfect result is man, originally good, while evil results from conflict with the outer world. If he follows the dictates of his nature, his actions are right and his life is har- monious. He may finally conquer all obstacles to his perfection, since by solitary persistent thought one may penetrate at last to the es- sence of things. Another system of philoso- phy, more speculative than that of Confucius,