论宗教的证明
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中文
关于宗教的一大问题是：是什么使宗教如此缺乏科学性？如果宗教是一门科学，为何它不能像其他科学一样确定？一切关于上帝、天堂等等的信仰，不过是推测而已，仅仅是信念。宗教似乎没有任何确定性可言。我们关于宗教的观念时刻都在变化。心（Chitta）处于不断流变的状态之中。
人是一个灵魂——一种不变的实体，还是一个不断变化的量？除了原始佛教之外，所有的宗教都相信人是灵魂、是同一体、是一个永不死灭的单元，是不朽的。
原始佛教徒认为人是一个不断变化的量，他的意识由几乎无限系列的、不可计量的快速变化所组成，每一变化仿佛与其他变化毫无关联，各自独立存在，从而排除了因果律或因果序列的理论。
如果存在一个单元，就存在一个实体。单元始终是单纯的。单纯之物不是任何东西的复合物。它不依赖于任何其他事物。它独立存在，并且是不朽的。
原始佛教徒主张一切事物都是互不关联的；没有什么是一个单元；人是一个单元的理论不过是一种信念，无法证明。
如今最重大的问题是：人究竟是一个单元，还是一个不断变化的集合体？
证明这一点、回答这一问题的方法只有一个。停止心的旋转，人是一个单元、一个单纯体的理论便会得到证明。一切变化都在我之中，在心——心之实体之中。我不是那些变化。如果我就是那些变化，我便无法停止它们。
每个人都在试图让自己和他人相信这个世界一切都很美好，他完全快乐。但当一个人停下来审视自己生命中的动机时，他就会发现，他之所以为这个那个而挣扎，是因为他身不由己。他必须前行。他无法停下，于是就试图让自己相信他真的想要这个那个。真正成功地让自己相信日子过得不错的人，是那些体质极为健壮的人。这种人对自己的欲望立即作出反应，毫不质疑。他回应着内心那股驱使他前行的力量，不加思索地行动，仿佛他是因为想要而行动。但当他被自然打击得够多了，当他受了很多创伤和淤青之后，他开始追问这一切的意义；而随着他受到更多打击、思考得更多，他看到自己被一种超越自己控制的力量所驱策，他行动仅仅是因为他必须如此。于是他开始反抗，战斗由此开始。
如果有一条走出这一切困境的道路，那就在我们自身之内。我们始终在试图实现那个"实在"。我们本能地一直在试图这样做。正是人类灵魂中的创造遮蔽了神；这就是为什么关于神的观念有如此多的差异。只有当创造停止时，我们才能找到绝对者。绝对者在灵魂之中，而非在创造之中。因此，通过停止创造，我们便能认识绝对者。当我们想到自己时，我们想到的是身体；当我们想到神时，我们也把神想象为身体。停止心的旋转，使灵魂得以显现——这就是修行的功夫。训练从身体开始。调息训练身体，使之达到和谐状态。调息练习的目的是达到禅定和专注。如果你能在哪怕一刹那间完全静止下来，你就达到了目标。此后心可能还会继续运作，但那将不再是同一个心了。你将如实认识自己——你的真我（Atman）。只要让心静止一刹那，你真实本性的真理就会在你面前闪现，自由唾手可得：此后再无束缚。这由以下理论推导而出：如果你能认知一个瞬间，你就能认知全部时间，因为整体不过是一个瞬间的快速相续。掌握了这一个，彻底认知了一个瞬间——解脱（Moksha）便已达成。
除原始佛教之外，一切宗教都相信上帝和灵魂。现代佛教徒相信上帝和灵魂。原始佛教徒包括缅甸人、暹罗人、中国人等。
阿诺德的著作《亚洲之光》所呈现的更多是吠檀多思想，而非佛教。
English
The great question about religion is: What makes it so unscientific? If religion is a science, why is it not as certain as other sciences? All beliefs in God, heaven, etc., are mere conjectures, mere beliefs. There seems to be nothing certain about it. Our ideas concerning religion are changing all the time. The mind is in a constant state of flux.
Is man a soul, an unchanging substance, or is he a constantly changing quantity? All religions, except primitive Buddhism, believe that man is a soul, an identity, a unit that never dies but is immortal.
The primitive Buddhists believe that man is a constantly changing quantity, and that his consciousness consists in an almost infinite succession of incalculably rapid changes, each change, as it were, being unconnected with the others, standing alone, thus precluding the theory of the law of sequence or causation.
If there is a unit, there is a substance. A unit is always simple. A simple is not a compound of anything. It does not depend on anything else. It stands alone and is immortal.
Primitive Buddhists contend that everything is unconnected; nothing is a unit; and that the theory of man being a unit is a mere belief and cannot be proved.
Now the great question is : Is man a unit, or is he a constantly changing mass?
There is but one way to prove this, to answer this question. Stop the gyrations of the mind, and the theory that a man is a unit, a simple, will be demonstrated. All changes are in me, in the Chitta, the mind-substance. I am not the changes. If I were, I could not stop them.
Everyone is trying to make himself and everybody else believe that this world is all very fine, that he is perfectly happy. But when man stops to question his motives in life, he will see that the reason he is struggling after this and that is because he cannot help himself. He must move on. He cannot stop, so he tries to make himself believe that he really wants this and that. The one who actually succeeds in making himself believe that he is having a good time is the man of splendid physical health. This man responds to his desires instantly, without question. He acts in response to that power within him, urging him on without a thought, as though he acted because he wanted to. But when he has been knocked about a good deal by nature, when he has received a good many wounds and bruises, he begins to question the meaning of all this; and as he gets hurt more and thinks more, he sees that he is urged on by a power beyond his control and that he acts simply because he must. Then he begins to rebel, and the battle begins.
Now if there is a way out of all this trouble, it is within ourselves. We are always trying to realise the Reality. Instinctively we are always trying to do that. It is creation in the human soul that covers up God; that is why there is so much difference in God-ideals. Only when creation stops can we find the Absolute. The Absolute is in the soul, not in creation. So by stopping creation, we come to know the Absolute. When we think of ourselves, we think of the body; and when we think of God, we think of Him as body. To stop the gyrations of the mind, so that the soul may become manifested, is the work. Training begins with the body. Breathing trains the body, gets it into a harmonious condition. The object of the breathing exercises is to attain meditation and concentration. If you can get absolutely still for just one moment, you have reached the goal. The mind may go on working after that; but it will never be the same mind again. You will know yourself as you are—your true Self. Still the mind but for one moment, and the truth of your real nature will flash upon you, and freedom is at hand: no more bondage after that. This follows from the theory that if you can know an instant of time, you know all time, as the whole is the rapid succession of one. Master the one, know thoroughly one instant—and freedom is reached.
All religions believe in God and the soul except the primitive Buddhist. The modern Buddhists believe in God and the soul. Among the primitive Buddhists are the Burmese, Siamese, Chinese, etc.
Arnold's book, The Light of Asia, represents more of Vedantism than Buddhism.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。