Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c7.s1.t2.2

c7.s1.t2.2

The doctrines of the Brahmans regarding the Âtman do not form a system: their mind has, it is true, the courage and strength for a great venture; but how could it, in the excitement of this creation, preserve at the same time the cool equanimity, necessary for arranging and harmonizing its creation? While the mind is ever seeking new paths, ever making new comparisons, which shall explain the enigma of the Âtman; while, no matter whether man's inquiry be as to the remote past of the world's beginning, or as to the future of the human soul in a world to come, the first and last word is invariably the Âtman, who can be astonished if often, in the accumulated masses of these notions, the most irreconcilable differences remained in juxtaposition, probably without their inherent contradictions having been even noticed?