ESCHAT0L06Y
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ESCHATOLOGT
of light and share in the feasts of the gods; the wicked
are banished to a place of "nethermost darkness.
Already, however, in the later Vedas, where these be-
liefs find developed expression, retribution begins to
be ruled more by ceremonial observances than by
strictly moral tests. On the other hand, there is no
trace as yet of the dreary doctrine of transmigration,
but critics profess to discover the germs of later pan-
theism.
In Brahminism (q. v.) retribution gains in promi- nence and severity, but becomes hopelessly involved in transmigration, and is made more and more de- pendent either on sacrificial observances or on theo- sophical knowledge. Though after death there are numerous heavens and hells for the reward and pun- ishment of every degree of merit and demerit, these are not final states, but only so many preludes to fur- ther rebirths in higher or lower forms. Pantheistic absorption in Brahma, the world-soul and only reality, with the consequent extinction of individual person- ality — this is the only final solution of the problem of existence, the only salvation to which man may ulti- mately look forward. But it is a salvation which only a few may hope to reach after the present life, the few who have acquired a perfect knowledge of Brahma. The bulk of men who cannot rise to this high philo- sophic wisdom may succeed, by means of sacrificial observances, in gpining a temporary heaven, but they are destined to further births and deaths.
Buddhist eschatology still further develops and modifies the philosophical side of the Brahministic doctrine of salvation, and culminates in what is, strictly speaking, the negation of eschatology and of all theology — a religion without a God, and a lofty moral code without hope of reward or fear of punish- ment hereafter. Existence itself, or at least individ- ual existence, is the primary evil; and the craving for existence, with the many forms of desire it begets, is the source of all the misery in which life is inextricably involved. Salvation, or the state of Nirvana, is to be attained by the utter extinction of every kind of de- sire ; and this is possible by knowledge — not the knowl- edge of God or the soul, as in Brahminism, but the purely philosophical knowledge of the real truth of things. For all who do not reach this state of philo- sophic enlightenment or who fail to live up to its re- quirements — that is to say for the vast bulk of man- kind — there is nothing in prospect save a dreary cycle of deaths and rebirths with intercalated heavens and hells; and in Buddhism this doctrine takes on a still more dread and inexorable character than in pre- Buddhistic Brahminism. (See Buddhism.)
(d) Persian. — In the ancient Persian religion (Zoro- astrianism, Mazdaism, Parseeism) we meet with what is perhaps, in its better elements, the highest type of ethnic eschatology. But as we know it in the Parsee literature, it contains elements that were probably bor- rowed from other religions; and as .some of this litera- ture is certainly post-Christian, the possibility of Jew- ish and even Christian ideas having influenced the later eschatological developments is not to be lost sight of. The radical defect of the Persian religion was its dualistic conception of deity. The physical and moral world is the theatre of a perpetual conflict be- tween Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd), the good, and Angra- Mainyu (.\hriman), the evil, principle, co-creators of the universe and of man. Yet the evil principle is not eternal ex parte post; he will finally be vanquished and exterminated. A pure monotheistic Providence promises at times to replace dualism, but never quite succeeds — the latest effort in this direction being the belief in Zvran Akarana, or Boundless Time, as the supreme deity above both Ahriman and Ormuzd. Morality has its sanction not merely in future retribu- tion, but in the present assurance that every good and Cious deed is a victory for the cau.se of Ahura Mazda; ut the call to the individual to be active in this cause,
though vigorous and definite enough, is never quite
free from ritual and ceremonial conditions, and as
time goes on becomes more and more complicated by
these observances, especially by the laws of purity.
Certain elements are holy (fire, earth, water), certain
others unholy or impure (dead bodies, the breath, and
all that leaves the body, etc.) ; and to defile oneself or
the holy elements by contact with the impure is one of
the deadliest sins. Consequently corpses could not
be buried or cremated, and were accordingly exposed
on platforms erected for the purpose, so that birds
of prey might devour them, ^\^len the soul leaves
the body it has to cross the bridge of Chinvat (or
Kinvad), the bridge of the Gatherer, or Accountant.
For three days good and evil spirits contend for the
possession of the soul, after which the reckoning is
taken, and the just man is rejoiced by the apparition,
in the fonn of a fair maiden, of his good deeds, words,
and thoughts, and passes over safely to a paradise of
bliss; while the wicked man is confronted by a hideous
apparition of his evil deeds, antl is dragged down to
hell. If the judgment is neutral the soul is reserved
in an intermediate state (so at least in the Pahlavi
books) till the decision at the last day. The devel-
oped conception of the last days, as it appears in the
later literature, has certain remarkable affinities with
Jewish Messianic and millennial expectations. A
time during which Aliriman will gain the ascendancy
is to be followed by two millennial periods, in each of
which a great prophet will appear to herald the com-
ing of Soshyant (or Sosioch), the Conqueror and
Judge, who will raise the dead to life. The resurrec-
tion will occupy fifty-seven years and will be followed
by the general judgment, the separation of the good
from the wicked, and the passing of both through a
purgatorial fire, gentle for the just, terrible for sinners,
but leading to the restoration of all. Next will follow
the final combat between the good and the evil spirits,
in which the latter will perish, all except Ahriman and
the serpent Azhi, whose destruction is reserved to
Ahura Mazda and Scraosha, the priest-god. And last
of all hell itself will be purged, and the earth renewed
by purifying fire.
(e) Greek. — Greek eschatology as reflected in the Homeric poems remains at a low level. It is only very vaguely retributive and is altogether cheerless in its outlook. Life on earth, for all its shortcomings, is the highest good for men, and death the worst of evils. Vet death is not extinction. The i^vxv survives — not the purely spiritual soul of later Greek and Christian thought, but an attenuated, semi-material ghost, or shade, or image, of the earthly man; and the life of this shade in the underworld is a dull, impoverished, almost functionless existence. Nor is there any dis- tinction of fates either by way of happiness or of misery in Hades. The judicial ofBce of Minos is illu- sory, and has nothing to do with earthly conduct ; and there is only one allusion to the Furies suggestive of their activity among the dead (Iliad, XIX, 258-60). Tartarus, the lower hell, is reserved for a few special rebels against the gods, and the Elysian Fields for a few special favourites chosen by divine caprice.
In later Greek thought touching the future life there are notable advances beyond the Homeric stage, but it is doubtful whether the average popular faith ever reached a much higher level. Among early phil- osophers Anaxagoras contributes to the notion of a purely spiritual soul ; but a more directly religious contribution is made by the Eleusinian and Orphic Mysteries, to the influence of which in brightening and moralizing the hope of a future life we have the concurrent witness of philosophers, poets, and histo- rians. In the Eleusinian Mysteries there seems to have been no definite doctrinal teaching — merely the promi.se or a.ssurance for the initiated of the fullness of life hereafter. With the Orphic, on the other hand, the divine origin and pre-existence of the soul, foT
