In "Perennial Questions" George Grimm presents us with a precious brief excerpt from his life-work. He takes us near to those sources that reveal the very path leading towards the solution to the fundamental religious problems. "The religious themselves divide", says Grimm, "into religions of belief and cognitive or philosophical religions. Among the latter are the religion of a Socrates, of a Plato and Plotinus, then that of the Occidental mystics who likewise have elaborated their religious attitude through own cognition. In particular the great Indian religions of the Vedas and of the Buddha count among the philosophical religions." With unusual transcendental purity and impressive clearness the deepest problems of the human heart find their astonishing and yet self-evident solution. Grimm shows that for both the Vedas and the Buddha the primary longing, the primary impulse in all beings, is the very compass pointing to the direction that solution is to be found in. In "Perennial Questions" the great ideas of Theravada and Mahayana merge into one flower. The seeming non-sense of life crystallizes into the beings’ eternal destination, which here and now can be realized by everybody.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR George Grimm
George Grimm (25th February, 1868 - 26th August, 1945) had first studied theology; then he devoted himself to jurisprudence and officiated as judge in Bavaria. His profound knowledge of the works of the German philosopher A. Schopenhauer (1788-1860) attracted his attention to the ancient Indian thought. The translations from the Pali Canon by the Indologist K.E. Neumann (1865-1915) aroused his interest in the Buddha's Teaching. For years Grimm and Neumann were closely connected through a vast correspondence. From 1908 on Grimm devoted himself to an intense study of Sanskrit and Pali. Paul Deussen (1845-1919), who paved the way for the knowledge of Indian philosophy in Germany, became his friend. To such an extent his Buddhist attitude influenced even on his official activities that he was called "Bavaria's most benevolent judge". From 1920 on he lived in concentrated seclusion, in the course of which he created his great work on behalf of the Dhamma. Together with the Indologist K. Seidenstucker (1876-1936) he founded the "Old Buddhist Community" in 1921. He was a man of complete integrity whose prominent traits of character were his great veracity and his friendliness towards all living beings. He encouraged his friends and inspired them with his own enthusiasm for the Buddha's Teaching. More and more came to the force George Grimm's strong tendency to meditative introspection, an inner attitude that illuminated his writings and his practical realization of the Dhamma.
There are no reviews yet.