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598 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
knowledge and evil of ignorance so much insisted upon as they are in Buddhism.”
VIII
“No other religion lays so much stress upon keeping one’s eyes open.
“No other religion has formulated such deep laid plans for mental culture.”
Prof. W. T. Stace says in his Buddhist ethics :
“the Buddhist moral ideal, the Arhat, had to be both morally and intellectually great.
“He had to be a philosopher, as well as a man of good conduct.
“Knowledge was always stressed by Buddhism as essential to Salvation, and ignorance as one of the two main causes of failure to attain it (craving or attachment being the other).
“On the contrary, knowledge has never been any part of the Christian ideal man.”
“Owing to the unphilosophical character of its founder in the Christian Scheme of thought the moral side of man has been divorced from the intellectual side.
“Far more of the world’s misery is caused by stupidity and blind faith than by wickedness.
“The Buddha did not allow this.”
Enough unto this to show how great and how unique is the Buddha and his Dhamma.
Who would not say let such a one be our Master ?
§ 2 . A Vow to Spread His Dhamma
- “There are beings without limit,
Let us take the vow to convey them all across.
- There are depravities in us without number,
Let us take the vow to extinguish them all.
- There are truths without end,
Let us take the vow to comprehend them all.
- There is the Way of Buddha without comparison,
Let us take the vow to accomplish it perfectly.”
Encyclopedia of Religion & Ethics, Vol. X, p. 168.