The First Psychiatrist
Buddha and Buddhism. By Maurice Percheron. (Longmans, 6s.) Footprints of GautMna the Buddha. By M. B. Bytes. (Rider, 16s.) The Doctrine of the Buddha. By George Grimm. (Allen and Unwin, 42s.) Mysticism, Christian and Buddhist. By D. D. Suzuki. (Allen and Unwin, 13s. 6d.) IT would be unwise,' warns Dr. Snellgrove, `for a Westerner to predicate any particular type of Buddhism as true or false, as good or bad, for it may well be that he has only partly understood it.' It would be not only unwise but coarse- minded to appear to dispose too casually of these five deeply meditated books. Each in its own way is the fruit of a lifetime's study and experi- ence. And between them they should enable us to form our own picture of a religion which was initiated 500 years before Christ and to which in its various forms many millions of the human race pay allegiance. M. Percheron poses sharpy the question, 'Is Buddhism capable of being transplanted in the West?' Certainly the contrasts between Buddhism and Christianity are glaring enough. It is undeni- able, as M. Pcrcheron points out, that the negation of the soul as a lasting entity, the rejec- tion of an accessible God and the very idea of Karmic transmigration could not but horrify a convinced Christian. Yet Rene Grusset is quoted as saying : 'The Christian can admire without reservation the many human beauties that Buddhism brings to light . . • without perhaps looking for truth there, he will not forbid him- self to draw lessons from it.'
Miss Bytes was brought up in a Christian atmosphere but gradually became interested in other religions and, during several years of physi- cal suffering, read more and more of the Buddha Dhamma. We are told that she derived from it immense solace and comfort of mind. `The Buddha,' she writes, 'like most great spiritual teachers took for granted the cosmology of the people around him.' But she maintains that the essential teaching of the Buddha, with its four noble truths and eight-fold way, can just as well be 'grafted on' to our modern cosmology, with its scientific and psychological terminology. She sees no reason, for that matter, why they should not be `grafted on to the Christian cosmology.' But she insists that `the Buddha was not in- terested in the existence or non-existence of a Supreme Being or any other abstract philosophi- cal proposition [sic]. He was only interested in the Way, the practical way, by which suffering may be ended both here and hereafter.' On her interpretation Christians and non-Christians alike could avail themselves of his healing genius.
It is, too, as a great psychological healer that the Buddha appears in this new edition of Dr. Grimm's massive work, first published in 1926. Unlike Miss Bytes, he is no friend to Christianity. `For every unbiased mind,' he thinks, It has quite obviously exhausted its mandate.' But Buddhism too has been cruelly distorted. . . In contrast the present work sets forth the original genuine teaching of the Buddha.'
And what is that teaching in essence? No system of philosophy is involved. The Buddha is indifferent regarding the origin, duration and laws of the world, since any such predictions and statements are ultimately without any practical purpose for mankind. `All this,' says Dr. Grimm `has interest for him only in so far as it is of practical value for the annihilation of suffering.'
And since the suffering ultimately derives from a psychological condition common to humanity, it seems fair to say that the Buddha is here pre- sented as the first and greatest of psychiatrists.
In Dr. Grimm's eyes it is the measure of the Buddha's supremacy that what is handed down is a gospel of salvation of which each one of us can take advantage during this present lifetime through our own strength. The occurrence is directly perceived, experienced within oneself, and the total gift to mankind Is the most tremendous event that can happen in the world.'
Dr. Suzuki sets out to compare Christian and Buddhist mysticism, leaning too heavily on Meister Eckhart as representative of the former. His most provocative chapter is entitled 'Crucifixion and Enlightenment.' To him, 'the crucified Christ is a terrible sight.' Buddhism is less corporeal than Christianity and recognises the deeper truth `that there is from the beginning no self to crucify.' The vertical position of Christ on the cross symbolises the action, combativeness, exclusiveness, of Christianity; while the horizon- tality of the dying Buddha epitomises the peace, tolerance and broadmindedness of Buddhism. Once again, the Buddhist way is presented as easier than the Christian.
The Buddhist insistence that all forms of con- scious existence are evil has often led to its being described as utterly pessimistic, yet there is 3 sense in which the Buddhist self-confidence seems to the Christian fantastically light-hearted. M313 in Buddhism is perfectible without the impel'" ment of original sin and without the need 01 divine grace. As Mr. Christmas Humphreys has written elsewhere: 'There is here no word of faith save that which a man has in a guide who tells him of a journey and a goal and a way to it; no word of a saviour who will make that journey for him.' The doctrine is far removed from Christian faith. It is in some ways more flattering to man, if he can persuade himself that it is in any way rational and that the ultimate goal Nirvana is something less hopeless than total extinction. On the last point there is no inlet' ligible agreement among Buddhists.
It is customary to say that Buddhism at its best preaches a lofty ethic. But this view cannot be unqualified. M. Percheron refers to the do- favour in which women are held. . . 'Women are so clearly the source of all sin that Buddhas are not born of them. . . Animals are treated more deferentially. This, special tenderness for animals is avowedly linked with the fact that any of us might have passed, or be about to pass, through e.g. a cat's existence. `If,' argues Dr. Suzuki quite seriously, '1 re' membered this experience as a cat, would it 001 be highly interesting for me, as a former cat, t° observe all that the mother cat, now in my house' does, playing with her kittens, sometimes bringing, a lizard and even a little snake from the yard for the little ones to play with?'
Can the nobler aspects of Buddhism be divorced from these seeming absurdities? 1 d° not see how they can. The whole bottom drops out of the Buddhist philosophy if we reject the conception of transmigration. As Dr. Grimm perceives, there is really no serious problem for the Buddhist if it were only my present per' sonality which had to be conquered. But in fart everything must be concentrated so as to prevent the new formation of a personality at the moment of death. This task provides the whole incentive and inspiration of the spiritual struggle. Perhaps, as mentioned earlier, Buddhism is no philosophy, nor a religion either. Perhaps It should be studied rather in medical or therapeutic context as a system of self-integration through the conquest of selfish or separatist desire, and in that capacity, certainly, it has brought a sweet repose to countless millions.
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