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Ernst Mach

demand that hc should considcr thc Ego to bc nothing at all, and should rcso!vc it into a transitory conncxion of changing clcmcnts. It is truć that on \arious sides, thc way has long bccn prcparcd for this conccption. . . . Cp. thc standpoint of Hunie and Lichtcnbcrg. For thousands of ycars past Buddhism has bccn approaching this conccption from thc practical sidc Cp. Paul Carus, The Gospel of Buddha, Chicago, 1894. Cp. also the won-derful story unfoldcd by thc same writer in Karma, A Story of Early Buddhism, Chicago, 1894®

Theodor Bccr, a physiologist who attempted to introducc “physicalis-tic” language into psychology, and who wrotc a “non-critical” book on Mach in 1903, was tried and convictcd on a morals charge shortly after thc book was published.¹⁰ While in jail hc turncd to Buddhism. Hc subscqucntly wrotc to Mach about his beliefs (February 18, 1908):

I hnd it ncccssary to speak to you on your yoth birthday and to thank you. Somc of your suggestions havc led mc to thc study of purc Buddhist literaturę, which without my hecoming a complctc, unconditional Buddhist, has nevcrthclcss, yicldcd cnormous stimulation, pcacc of mind, and con-tinuing plcasurc. ... In thc hcaling lonclincss of prison I found a wcallh of opportunity for thc dccpcst sclf-cxatnination. I also learned to treasure thc practical-moralistic valuc of your tcaching and from it, as out of the tcaching of Buddhism, has devclopcd thc greatest consolation.

Bccr journeycd to Ccylon in 1911, prcsumably to lcarn morc about Buddhism. Hc may also havc hclpcd to spread Mach’s idcas in that region. Two morc quotations, one from Popper-Lynkeus and another from W. Fred, both testify to thc fact that Mach’s works wcrc uscd in parts of Asia to givc a measurc of scicntific authority to Buddhist doc-trines, cspccially conccrning thc noncxistcncc of thc “I” or “sclf”:

The climination of the "ego” manifcstly rcminds one of thc analogous basie conccption of Buddhism. and as Mach has told mc, it was his treat-ment of this most import3nt of all philosophical próbiems which is bcing used in India itsclf to support thc Buddhist world vicw. . . .^ll

I had bccn on top of the great pagoda in Rangoon whcrc thc manv thousands of gods stand, objeets of prayer worshipped by Buddhists of all description, simplc and cultivatcd, native and prosclytc. . . . Then, as thc sun no longcr burned with such brazen heat, I passed through thc narrow, bazaar-lincd alleys of thc city. . . . Thcrc . . . under books printed in all dialccts spoken and written from thc Nile delta and thc Ganges to Mongolia, I saw something Europcan. On thc revcrsc sidc of a smali, ycllow book stood thc namc of thc author written out in thc language of his home-land: Ernst Marh. But the book itsclf had bccn published by thc Buddhists in Ccylon, in their own language. I could not rcad it. Somc wccks Inter in

thc ma i a quartcrs of thc New Buddhist Socicty in Columbo I first di> covcrcd that a wholc scrics of writings of the Vicnnesc philosopher, Ernst Mach, had bccn translatcd, and bccausc of thc similarity in point of view to Buddhist teachings, they werc bcing disseminated as cducational materiał and as a mcans of attracting followcrs in thc various lands and islands of thc East.¹²

HI

Mach ncvcr wrotc cxtcnsivcly on Buddhism or on his attitudc toward it. His strongest statement was includcd in an autobiographical fragment written for Wilhelm Ostwald in 1913 which both he and Ostwald agreed should not be published. “After I recognized that Kant’s ‘thing-in-itsclf* was nonsense, I also had 10 acknowledge that the ‘unchanging ego’ was also a dcccption. 1 can scarcely confcss how happy I fclt, on ihus becoming frcc from cvery tormenting, foolish notion of personal immortality, and seeing mysclf introduced into the understanding of Buddhism, a good fortunę which thc Europcan is rarcly ablc to sharc." ¹³

Mach's corrcspondencc and writings during his last ycars were fillcd with references to his approaching departure into “Nirvana.” ¹⁴ One or two references might be considercd incidcntal or cvcn humorous, but his frcquent usc of thc expression and the abscnce of any known referencc to thc Christian term "heaven" force us to take the matter a littlc morę seriously. The natural conclusion would be, not that Mach bccamc a "truć bcliever” in Buddhism or in any organized rcligion, but that hc did anticipatc a futurę stale of personal “nothingness,” and tried to usc thc most accuratc word available in referring to it.

On thc other hand, Mach’s grandson, Dr. Ernst Anton Ledercr vividly remembers how rcligiously Ernst Mach tried to cnforcc Buddhist doctrinc concerning thc humane treatment of animals:

Beginning in 1899 my parents and grandparents livcd in thc same apart-ment housc in Vicnna (XVIII, Hofstaug. 3). In thc rcar of thc 4 story housc was a smali spacc, thc so-callcd garden, whcrc I spent much dme digging holes in thc soil and closing them again. At thc age of about 5, I snapped up from a convcrsation bctwccn grown-ups, that carthworms when cut cach scction will livc, going its own way.

Dctcrmined to test this statement and equipped with my wooden toy-wheclbarrow and spade, I dug an cspecially dcep hole ncar thc plank fen cc. Soon I found sevcral wiggling carthworms that I placcd in thc whcclbar-

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