{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_30216/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_30216","id":"gutenberg_30216","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30216","summary":null,"tags":["Buddhism -- Catechisms","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Produced by U Hla Maung.  HTML and Unicode versions by Al Haines.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Note: for ease of reading, this portion of the text file does not\nindicate the source book's macron-ized characters.  For completeness\nand more information, refer to the fully macron-ized version that\nfollows this portion--search for \"[Note:\".]\n\n\n\n\n_Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa_\n\n\n\n\nTHE\n\nBUDDHIST CATECHISM\n\n\nBY\n\nHENRY S. OLCOTT\n\n\nPRESIDENT-FOUNDER OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY\n\n\n\n_Approved and recommended for use in Buddhist schools by H. Sumangala,\nPradhana Nayaka Sthavira, High Priest of Sripada and the Western\nProvince and Principal of the Vidyodaya Parivena_\n\n\n\nFORTY-FOURTH EDITION. (Corrected)\n\n\n\nTheosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras\n\n\nLONDON AND BENARES: THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY\n\n\n1915\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION\n\nIn token of respect and affection I dedicate to my counsellor and\nfriend of many years, Hikkaduwe Sumangala, Pradhana Nayaka\nSthavira and High Priest of Adam's Peak (Sripada) and the Western\nProvince, THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM, in its revised form.\n\nH. S. OLCOTT\n\n_Adyar_, 1903.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA\n\nTHE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE\n\nTHE SANGHA\n\nTHE RISE AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM\n\nBUDDHISM AND SCIENCE\n\nAPPENDIX--The Fourteen Propositions accepted by the Northern and\n  Southern Buddhists as a Platform of Unity\n\n\n\n\nCERTIFICATE TO THE FIRST EDITION\n\nVIDYODAYA COLLEGE,\n\n_Colombo_, 7_th July_, 1881.\n\nI hereby certify that I have carefully examined the Sinhalese version\nof the Catechism prepared by Colonel H. S. Olcott, and that the same is\nin agreement with the Canon of the Southern Buddhist Church.  I\nrecommend the work to teachers in Buddhist schools, mid to all others\nwho may wish to impart information to beginners about the essential\nfeatures of our religion.\n\nH. SUMANGALA,\n\n_High Priest of Sripada and Galle, and Principal of the Vidyodaya\nParivena._\n\n\n\n\nVIDYODAYA COLLEGE,\n\n_April_ 7, 1897.\n\nI have gone over the thirty-third (English) edition of the Catechism,\nwith the help of interpreters, and confirm my recommendation for its\nuse in Buddhist schools.\n\nH. SUMANGALA.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE THIRTY-THIRD EDITION\n\nIn the working out of my original plan, I have added more questions and\nanswers in the text of each new English edition of the Catechism,\nleaving it to its translators to render them into whichever of the\nother vernaculars they may be working in.  The unpretending aim in view\nis to give so succinct and yet comprehensive a digest of Buddhistic\nhistory, ethics and philosophy as to enable beginners to understand and\nappreciate the noble ideal taught by the Buddha, and thus make it\neasier for them to follow out the Dharma in its details.  In the\npresent edition a great many new questions and answers have been\nintroduced, while the matter has been grouped within five categories,\n_viz._: (1) The Life of the Buddha; (2) the Doctrine; (3) the Sangha,\nor monastic order; (4) a brief history of Buddhism, its Councils and\npropaganda; (5) some reconciliation of Buddhism with science.  This, it\nis believed, will largely increase the value of the little book, and\nmake it even more suitable for use in Buddhist schools, of which, in\nCeylon, over one hundred have already been opened by the Sinhalese\npeople under the general supervision of the Theosophical Society.  In\npreparing this edition I have received valuable help from some of my\noldest and best qualified Sinhalese colleagues.  The original edition\nwas gone over with me word by word, by that eminent scholar and\nbhikkhu, H. Sumangala, Pradhana Nayaka, and the Assistant\nPrincipal of his Pali College at Colombo, Hyeyantuduve Anunayaka\nTerunnanse; and the High Priest has also kindly scrutinised the present\nrevision and given me invaluable points to embody.  It has the merit,\ntherefore, of being a fair presentation of the Buddhism of the\n\"Southern Church,\" chiefly derived from first-hand sources.  The\nCatechism has been published in twenty languages, mainly by Buddhists,\nfor Buddhists.\n\nH. S. O.\n\nADYAR, 17_th May_, 1897.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE THIRTY-SIXTH EDITION\n\nThe popularity of this little work seems undiminished, edition after\nedition being called for.  While the present one was in the press a\nsecond German edition, re-translated by the learned Dr. Erich Bischoff,\nwas published at Leipzig, by the Griebens Co., and a third translation\ninto French, by my old friend and colleague, Commandant D. A. Courmes,\nwas being got ready at Paris.  A fresh version in Sinhalese is also\npreparing at Colombo.  It is very gratifying to a declared Buddhist\nlike myself to read what so ripe a scholar as Mr. G. R. S. Mead, author\nof _Fragments of of a Faith Forgotten_, _Pistis Sophia_, and many other\nworks on Christian origins, thinks of the value of the compilation.  He\nwrites in the _Theosophical Review_: \"It has been translated into no\nless than twenty different languages, and may be said without the\nfaintest risk of contradiction, to have been the busiest instrument of\nBuddhist propaganda for many a day in the annals of that long somnolent\ndharma.  The least that learned Buddhists of Ceylon can do to repay the\ndebt of gratitude they owe to Colonel Olcott and other members of the\nTheosophical Society who have worked for them, is to bestir themselves\nto throw some light on their own origins and doctrines.\"\n\nI am afraid we shall have to wait long for this help to come from the\nBuddhist bhikkhus, almost the only learned men of Ceylon; at least I\nhave not been able during an intimate intercourse of twenty-two years,\nto arouse their zeal.  It has always seemed to me incongruous that an\nAmerican, making no claims at all to scholarship, should be looked to\nby the Sinhalese to help them teach the dharma to their children; and\nas I believe I have said in an earlier edition, I only consented to\nwrite THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM after I had found that no bhikkhu would\nundertake it.  Whatever its demerits, I can at least say that the work\ncontains the essence of some 15,000 pages of Buddhist teaching that I\nhave read in connexion with my work.\n\nH. S. O.\n\nADYAR, 7_th February_, 1903.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE FORTIETH EDITION\n\nThe popularity of this little work is proved by the constant demand for\nnew editions, in English and other languages.  In looking over the\nmatter for the present edition, I have found very little to change or\nto add, for the work seems to present a very fair idea of the contents\nof Southern Buddhism; and, as my object is never to write an extended\nessay on the subject, I resist the temptation to wander off into\namplifications of details which, however interesting to the student of\ncomparative religion, are useless in a rational scheme of elementary\ninstruction.\n\nThe new Sinhalese version (38th edition) which is being prepared by my\nrespected friend, D. B. Jayatilaka, Principal of Ananda (Buddhist)\nCollege, Colombo, is partly printed, but cannot be completed until he\nis relieved of some of the pressure upon his time.  The Tamil version\n(41st edition) has been undertaken by the leaders of the Pa\u00f1chama\ncommunity of Madras, and will shortly issue from the press.  The\nSpanish version (39th edition) is in the hands of my friend, Se\u00f1or\nXifr\u00e9, and the French one (37th edition) in those of Commandant Courmes.\n\nSo the work goes on, and by this unpretending agency the teachings of\nthe Buddha Dharma are being carried throughout the world.\n\nH. S. O.\n\nADYAR, 7_th January_, 1905.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE FORTY-SECOND EDITION\n\nThe writer of this Catechism has passed away from earth, but, before he\nleft the body, he had arranged with the High Priest Sumangala to make\nsome small corrections in the text.  These are incorporated in the\npresent edition by the High Priest's wish, expressed to me in Colombo,\nin November 1907.\n\nI have not altered the numbering of the questions, as it might cause\nconfusion in a class to change the numbers, if some pupils had the\nolder editions and some the new.\n\n  ADYAR,                  )\n  17_th February_, 1908.  )             ANNIE BESANT\n\n\n\n\nTHE BUDDHIST CATECHISM\n\n\nPART I\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA\n\n1. Question.  _Of what religion[1] are you?_\n\nAnswer.  The Buddhist.\n\n2.  Q.  _What is Buddhism?_\n\nA.  It is a body of teachings given out by the great personage known as\nthe Buddha.\n\n3.  Q.  _Is \"Buddhism\" the best name for this teaching?_\n\nA.  No; that is only a western term: the best name for it is Bauddha\nDharma.\n\n4.  Q.  _Would you call a person a Buddhist who had merely been born of\nBuddha parents?_\n\nA.  Certainly not.  A Buddhist is one who not only professes belief in\nthe Buddha as the noblest of Teachers, in the Doctrine preached by Him,\nand in the Brotherhood of Arhats, but practises His precepts in daily\nlife.\n\n5.  Q.  _What is a male lay Buddhist called?_\n\nA.  An Upasaka.\n\n6.  Q.  _What a female?_\n\nA.  An Upasika.\n\n7.  Q.  _When was this doctrine first preached?_\n\nA.  There is some disagreement as to the actual date, but according to\nthe Sinhalese Scriptures it was in the year 2513 of the (present)\nKali-Yuga.\n\n8.  Q.  _Give the important dates in the last birth of the Founder?_\n\nA.  He was born under the constellation Visa on a Tuesday in May, in\nthe year 2478 (K.Y.); he retired to the jungle in the year 2506; became\nBuddha in 2513; and, passing out of the round of rebirths, entered\nParanirvana in the year 2558, aged eighty years.  Each of these\nevents happened on a day of full moon, so all are conjointly celebrated\nin the great festival of the full-moon of the month Wesak\n(_Vaisakha_), corresponding to the month of May.\n\n9.  Q.  _Was the Buddha God?_\n\nA.  No.  Buddha Dharma teaches no \"divine\" incarnation.\n\n10.  Q.  _Was he a man?_\n\nA.  Yes; but the wisest, noblest and most holy being, who had developed\nhimself in the course of countless births far beyond all other beings,\nthe previous BUDDHAS alone excepted.\n\n11.  Q.  _Were there other Buddhas before him?_\n\nA.  Yes; as will be explained later on.\n\n12.  Q.  _Was Buddha his name?_\n\nA.  No.  It is the name of a condition or state of mind, of the mind\nafter it has reached the culmination of development.\n\n13.  Q.  _What is its meaning?_\n\nA.  Enlightened; or, he who has the all-perfect wisdom.  The Pali\nphrase is _Sabbannu_, the One of Boundless Knowledge.  In Samskrt it is\n_Sarvaj\u00f1a_.\n\n14.  Q.  _What was the Buddha's real name then?_\n\nA.  SIDDHARTHA was his royal name, and GAUTAMA, or GOTAMA, his\nfamily name.  He was Prince of Kapilavastu and belonged to the\nillustrious family of the Okkaka, of the Solar race.\n\n15.  Q.  _Who were his father and mother?_\n\nA.  King Suddhodana and Queen Maya, called Maha Maya.\n\n16.  Q.  _What people did this King reign over?_\n\nA.  The Sakyas; an Aryan tribe of Kshattriyas.\n\n17.  Q.  _Where was Kapilavastu?_\n\nA.  In India, one hundred miles north-east of the City of Benares, and\nabout forty miles from the Himalaya mountains.  It is situated in the\nNepal Terai.  The city is now in ruins.\n\n18.  Q.  _On what river?_\n\nA.  The Rohini, now called the Kohana.\n\n19.  Q.  _Tell me again when Prince Siddhartha was born?_\n\nA.  Six hundred and twenty-three years before the Christian era.\n\n20.  Q.  _Is the exact spot known?_\n\nA.  It is now identified beyond question.  An archaeologist in the\nservice of the Government of India has discovered in the jungle of the\nNepal Terai a stone pillar erected by the mighty Buddhist sovereign,\nAsoka, to mark the very spot.  The place was known in those times as\nthe Lumbini Garden.\n\n21.  Q.  _Had the Prince luxuries and splendours like other Princes?_\n\nA.  He had; his father, the King, built him three magnificent\npalaces--for the three Indian seasons--the cold, the hot, and the\nrainy--of nine, five, and three stories respectively, and handsomely\ndecorated.\n\n22.  Q.  _How were they situated?_\n\nA.  Around each palace were gardens of the most beautiful and fragrant\nflowers, with fountains of spouting water, the trees full of singing\nbirds, and peacocks strutting over the ground.\n\n23.  Q.  _Was he living alone?_\n\nA.  No; in his sixteenth year he was married to the Princess\nYasodhara, daughter of the King Suprabuddha.  Many beautiful\nmaidens, skilled in dancing and music, were also in continual\nattendance to amuse him.\n\n24.  Q.  _How did he get his wife?_\n\nA.  In the ancient Kshattriya or warrior fashion, by overcoming all\ncompetitors in games and exercises of skill and prowess, and then\nselecting Yasodhara out of all the young princesses, whose fathers\nhad brought them to the tournament or _mela_.\n\n25.  Q.  _How, amid all this luxury, could a Prince become all-wise?_\n\nA.  He had such natural wisdom that when but a child he seemed to\nunderstand all arts and sciences almost without study.  He had the best\nteachers, but they could teach him nothing that he did not seem to\ncomprehend immediately.\n\n26.  Q.  _Did he become Buddha in his splendid palaces?_\n\nA.  No.  He left all and went alone into the jungle.\n\n27.  Q.  _Why did he do this?_\n\nA.  To discover the cause of our sufferings and the way to escape from\nthem.\n\n28.  Q.  _Was it not selfishness that made him do this?_\n\nA.  No; it was boundless love for all beings that made him devote\nhimself to their good.\n\n29.  Q.  _But how did he acquire this boundless love?_\n\nA.  Throughout numberless births and aeons of years he had been\ncultivating this love, with the unfaltering determination to become a\nBuddha.\n\n30.  Q.  _What did he this time relinquish?_\n\nA.  His beautiful palaces, his riches, luxuries and pleasures, his soft\nbeds, fine dresses, rich food, and his kingdom; he even left his\nbeloved wife and only son, Rahula.\n\n31.  Q.  _Did any other man ever sacrifice so much for our sake?_\n\nA.  Not one in this present world-period: this is why Buddhists so love\nhim, and why good Buddhists try to be like him.\n\n32.  Q.  _But have not many men given up all earthly blessings, and\neven life itself, for the sake of their fellow-men?_\n\nA.  Certainly.  But we believe that this surpassing unselfishness and\nlove for humanity showed themselves in his renouncing the bliss of\nNirvana countless ages ago, when he was born as the Brahmana\nSumedha, in the time of Dipankara Buddha: he had then reached the\nstage where he might have entered Nirvana, had he not loved mankind\nmore than himself.  This renunciation implied his voluntarily enduring\nthe miseries of earthly lives until he became Buddha, for the sake of\nteaching all beings the way to emancipation and to give rest to the\nworld.\n\n33.  Q.  _How old was he when he went to the jungle?_\n\nA.  He was in his twenty-ninth year.\n\n34.  Q.  _What finally determined him to leave all that men usually\nlove so much and go to the jungle?_\n\nA.  A _Deva_[2] appeared to him when driving out in his chariot, under\nfour impressive forms, on four different occasions.\n\n35.  Q.  _What were these different forms?_\n\nA.  Those of a very old man broken down by age, of a sick man, of a\ndecaying corpse, and of a dignified hermit.\n\n36.  Q.  _Did he alone see these?_\n\nA.  No, his attendant, Channa, also saw them.\n\n37.  Q.  _Why should these sights, so familiar to everybody, have\ncaused him to go to the jungle?_\n\nA.  We often see such sights: he had not seen them, so they made a deep\nimpression on his mind.\n\n38.  Q.  _Why had he not also seen them?_\n\nA.  The Brahmana astrologers had foretold at his birth that he would\none day resign his kingdom and, become a BUDDHA.  The King, his father,\nnot wishing to lose an heir to his kingdom, had carefully prevented his\nseeing any sights that might suggest to him human misery and death.  No\none was allowed even to speak of such things to the Prince.  He was\nalmost like a prisoner in his lovely palaces and flower gardens.  They\nwere surrounded by high walls, and inside everything was made as\nbeautiful as possible, so that he might not wish to go and see the\nsorrow and distress that are in the world.\n\n39.  Q.  _Was he so kind-hearted that the King feared he might really\nwish to leave everything for the world's sake?_\n\nA.  Yes; he seems to have felt for all beings so strong a pity and love\nas that.\n\n40.  Q.  _And how did he expect to learn the cause of sorrow in the\njungle?_\n\nA.  By removing far away from all that could prevent his thinking\ndeeply of the causes of sorrow and the nature of man.\n\n41.  Q.  _How did he escape from the palace?_\n\nA.  One night, when all were asleep, he arose, took a last look at his\nsleeping wife and infant son; called Channa, mounted his favourite\nwhite horse Kanthaka, and rode to the palace gate.  The _Devas_ had\nthrown a deep sleep upon the King's guard who watched the gate, so that\nthey could not hear the noise of the horse's hoofs.\n\n42.  Q.  _But the gate was locked, was it not?_\n\nA.  Yes; but the _Devas_ caused it to open without the slightest noise,\nand he rode away into the darkness.\n\n43.  Q.  _Whither did he go?_\n\nA.  To the river Anoma, a long way from Kapilavastu.\n\n44.  Q.  _What did he then do?_\n\nA.  He sprang from his horse, cut off his beautiful hair with his\nsword, put on the yellow dress of an ascetic, and giving his ornaments\nand horse to Channa, ordered him to take them back to his father, the\nKing.\n\n45.  Q.  _What then?_\n\nA.  He went afoot towards Rajagrha, the capital city of King\nBimbisara, of Magadha.\n\n46.  Q.  _Who visited him there?_\n\nA.  The King with his whole Court.[3]\n\n46a.  Q.  _Thence whither did he go?_\n\nA.  To Uruvela, near the present Mahabodhi Temple at Buddha\nGaya.\n\n47.  Q.  _Why did he go there?_\n\nA.  In the forests were hermits--very wise men, whose pupil he\nafterwards became, in the hope of finding the knowledge of which he was\nin search.\n\n48.  Q.  _Of what religion were they?_\n\nA.  The Hindu religion: they were Brahmanas.[4]\n\n49.  Q.  _What did they teach?_\n\nA.  That by severe penances and torture of the body a man may acquire\nperfect wisdom.\n\n50.  Q.  _Did the Prince find this to be so?_\n\nA.  No; he learned their systems and practised all their penances, but\nhe could not thus discover the cause of human sorrow and the way to\nabsolute emancipation.\n\n51.  Q.  _What did he then do?_\n\nA.  He went away into the forest near Uruvela, and spent six years in\ndeep meditation, undergoing the severest discipline in mortifying his\nbody.\n\n52.  Q.  _Was he alone?_\n\nA.  No; five Brahman companions attended him.\n\n53.  Q.  _What were their names?_\n\nA.  Konda\u00f1\u00f1a, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama, and Assaji.\n\n54.  Q.  _What plan of discipline did he adopt to open his mind to know\nthe whole truth?_\n\nA.  He sat and meditated, concentrating his mind upon the higher\nproblems of life, and shutting out from his sight and hearing all that\nwas likely to interrupt his inward reflections.\n\n55.  Q.  _Did he fast?_\n\nA.  Yes, through the whole period.  He took less and less food and\nwater until, it is said, he ate scarcely more than one grain of rice or\nof sesamum seed each day.\n\n56.  Q.  _Did this give him the wisdom he longed for?_\n\nA.  No.  He grew thinner and thinner in body and fainter in strength\nuntil, one day, as he was slowly walking about and meditating, his\nvital force suddenly left him and he fell to the ground unconscious.\n\n57.  Q.  _What did his companions think of that?_\n\nA.  They fancied he was dead; but after a time he revived.\n\n58.  Q.  _What then?_\n\nA.  The thought came to him that knowledge could never be reached by\nmere fasting or bodily suffering, but must be gained by the opening of\nthe mind.  He had just barely escaped death from self-starvation, yet\nhad not obtained the Perfect Wisdom.  So he decided to eat, that he\nmight live at least long enough to become wise.\n\n59.  Q.  _Who gave him food?_\n\nA.  He received food from Sujata, a nobleman's daughter, who saw him\nsitting at the foot of a nyagrodha (banyan) tree.  He arose, took his\nalms-bowl, bathed in the river Nera\u00f1jara, ate the food, and went\ninto the jungle.\n\n60.  Q.  _What did he do there?_\n\nA.  Having formed his determination after these reflections, he went at\nevening to the Bodhi, or Asvattha tree, where the present\nMahabodhi Temple stands.\n\n61.  Q.  _What did he do there?_\n\nA.  He determined not to leave the spot until he attained perfect\nwisdom.\n\n62.  Q.  _At which side of the tree did he seat himself?_\n\nA.  The side facing the east.[5]\n\n63.  Q.  _What did he obtain that night?_\n\nA.  The knowledge of his previous births, of the causes of rebirths,\nand of the way to extinguish desires.  Just before the break of the\nnext day his mind was entirely opened, like the full-blown lotus\nflower; the light of supreme knowledge, or the Four Truths, poured in\nupon him.  He had become BUDDHA--the Enlightened, the all-knowing--the\nSarvaj\u00f1a.\n\n64.  Q.  _Had he at last discovered the cause of human misery?_\n\nA.  At last he had.  As the light of the morning sun chases away the\ndarkness of night, and reveals to sight the trees, fields, rocks, seas,\nrivers, animals, men and all things, so the full light of knowledge\nrose in his mind, and he saw at one glance the causes of human\nsuffering and the way to escape from them.\n\n65.  Q.  _Had he great struggles before gaining this perfect wisdom?_\n\nA.  Yes, mighty and terrible struggles.  He had to conquer in his body\nall those natural defects and human appetites and desires that prevent\nour seeing the truth.  He had to overcome all the bad influences of the\nsinful world around him.  Like a soldier fighting desperately in battle\nagainst many enemies, he struggled: like a hero who conquers, he gained\nhis object, and the secret of human misery was discovered.\n\n66.  Q.  _What use did he make of the knowledge thus gained?_\n\nA.  At first he was reluctant to teach it to the people at large.\n\n67.  Q.  _Why?_\n\nA.  Because of its profound importance and sublimity.  He feared that\nbut few people would understand it.\n\n68.  Q.  _What made him alter this view?_[6]\n\nA.  He saw that it was his duty to teach what he had learnt as clearly\nand simply as possible, and trust to the truth impressing itself upon\nthe popular mind in proportion to each one's individual Karma.  It was\nthe only way of salvation, and every being had an equal right to have\nit pointed out to him.  So he determined to begin with his five late\ncompanions, who had abandoned him when he broke his fast.\n\n69.  Q.  _Where did he find them?_\n\nA.  In the deer-park at Isipatana, near Benares.\n\n70.  Q.  _Can the spot be now identified?_\n\nA.  Yes, a partly ruined stupa, or dagoba, is still standing on that\nvery spot.\n\n71.  Q.  _Did those five companions readily listen to him?_\n\nA.  At first, no; but so great was the spiritual beauty of his\nappearance, so sweet and convincing his teaching, that they soon turned\nand gave him the closest attention.\n\n72.  Q.  _What effect did this discourse have upon them?_\n\nA.  The aged Konda\u00f1\u00f1a, one who \"understood\" (_Anna_), was the first to\nlose his prejudices, accept the Buddha's teaching, become his disciple,\nand enter the Path leading to Arhatship.  The other four soon followed\nhis example.\n\n73.  Q.  _Who were his next converts?_\n\nA.  A rich young layman, named Yasa, and his father, a wealthy\nmerchant.  By the end of three months the disciples numbered sixty\npersons.\n\n74.  Q.  _Who were the first women lay disciples?_\n\nA.  The mother and wife of Yasa.\n\n75.  Q.  _What did the Buddha do at that time?_[7]\n\nA.  He called the disciples together, gave them full instructions, and\nsent them out in all directions to preach his doctrine.\n\n76.  Q.  _What was the essence of it?_\n\nA.  That the way of emancipation lies in leading the holy life and\nfollowing the rules laid down, which will be explained later on.\n\n77.  Q.  _Tell me what name he gave to this course of life?_\n\nA.  The Noble Eightfold Path.\n\n78.  Q.  _How is it called in the Pali language?_\n\nA.  _Ariyo atthangiko maggo_.\n\n79.  Q.  _Whither did the Buddha then go?_\n\nA.  To Uruvela.\n\n80.  Q.  _What happened there?_\n\nA.  He converted a man named Kashyapa, renowned for his learning and\nteacher of the Jatilas, a great sect of fire-worshippers, all of whom\nbecame also his followers.\n\n81.  Q.  _Who was his next great convert?_\n\nA.  King Bimbisara, of Magadha.\n\n82.  Q.  _Which two of the Buddha's most learned and beloved disciples\nwere converted at about this time?_\n\nA.  Sariputra and Moggallana, formerly chief disciples of\nSa\u00f1jaya, the ascetic.\n\n83.  Q.  _For what did they become renowned?_\n\nA.  Sariputra for his profound learning (_Praj\u00f1a_), Moggallana\nfor his exceptional spiritual powers (_Iddhi_).\n\n84.  Q.  _Are these wonder-working powers miraculous?_\n\nA.  No, but natural to all men and capable of being developed by a\ncertain course of training.\n\n85.  Q.  _Did the Buddha hear again from his family after leaving them?_\n\nA.  Oh yes, seven years later, while he was living at Rajagrha, his\nfather.  King Suddhodana, sent a message to request him to come and let\nhim see him again before he died.\n\n86.  Q.  _Did he go?_\n\nA.  Yes.  His father went with all his relatives and ministers to meet\nhim and received him with great joy.\n\n87.  Q.  _Did he consent to resume his old rank?_\n\nA.  No.  In all sweetness he explained to his father that the Prince\nSiddhartha had passed out of existence, as such, and was now changed\ninto the condition of a Buddha, to whom all beings were equally akin\nand equally dear.  Instead of ruling over one tribe or nation, like an\nearthly king, he, through his Dharma, would win the hearts of all men\nto be his followers.\n\n88.  Q.  _Did he see Yasodhara and his son Rahula?_\n\nA.  Yes.  His wife, who had mourned for him with deepest love, wept\nbitterly.  She also sent Rahula to ask him to give him his\ninheritance, as the son of a prince.\n\n89.  Q.  _What happened?_\n\nA.  To one and all he preached the Dharma as the cure for all sorrows.\nHis father, son, wife, Ananda (his half-brother), Devadatta (his\ncousin and brother-in-law), were all converted and became his\ndisciples.  Two other famous ones were Anuruddha, afterwards a great\nmetaphysician, and Upali, a barber, afterwards the greatest\nauthority on Vinaya.  Both of these gained great renown.\n\n90.  Q.  _Who was the first Bhikkuni?_\n\nA.  Prajapati, the aunt and foster-mother of Prince\nSiddhartha.  With her, Yasodhara and many other ladies were\nadmitted into the Order as _Bhikkhunis_ or female devotees.\n\n91.  Q.  _What effect did the taking up of the religious life by his\nsons, Siddhartha and Ananda, his nephew, Devadatta, his son's\nwife, Yasudhara, and his grandson, Rahula, have upon the old King\nSuddhodana?_\n\nA.  It grieved him much and he complained to the Buddha, who then made\nit a rule of the Order that no person should thenceforth be ordained\nwithout the consent of his parents if alive.\n\n92.  Q.  _Tell me about the fate of Devadatta?_\n\nA.  He was a man of great intelligence and rapidly advanced in the\nknowledge of the Dharma, but being also extremely ambitious, he came to\nenvy and hate the Buddha, and at last plotted to kill him.  He also\ninfluenced Ajatashatru, son of King Bimbisara, to murder his\nnoble father, and to become his--Devadatta's--disciple.\n\n93.  Q.  _Did he do any injury to the Buddha?_\n\nA.  Not the least, but the evil he plotted against him recoiled upon\nhimself, and he met with an awful death.\n\n94.  Q.  _For how many years was the Buddha engaged in teaching?_\n\nA.  Forty-five years, during which time he preached a great many\ndiscourses.  His custom and that of his disciples was to travel and\npreach during the eight dry months, but during the season of Way--the\nrains--he and they would stop in the pansulas and viharas which\nhad been built for them by various kings and other wealthy converts.\n\n95.  Q.  _Which were the most famous of these buildings?_\n\nA.  Jetavanarama; Veluvanarama; Pubbarama;\nNigrodharama and Isipatanarama.\n\n96.  Q.  _What kind of people were converted by him and his disciples?_\n\nA.  People of all ranks, nations and castes; rajas and coolies, rich\nand poor, mighty and humble, the illiterate and the most learned.  His\ndoctrine was suited to all.\n\n97.  Q.  _Give some account of the decease of the Buddha?_\n\nA.  In the forty-fifth season after his attaining Buddhahood, on the\nfull-moon day of May, knowing that his end was near, he came at evening\nto Kusinagara, a place about one hundred and twenty miles from\nBenares.  In the sala grove of the Mallas, the Uparvartana of\nKusinagara, between two sala trees, he had his bedding spread\nwith the head towards the north according to the ancient custom.  He\nlay upon it, and with his mind perfectly clear, gave his final\ninstructions to his disciples and bade them farewell.\n\n98.  Q.  _Did he also make new converts in those last tours?_\n\nA.  Yes, a very important one, a great Brahmana pandit named\nSubhadra.  He had also preached to the Mallya princes and their\nfollowers.\n\n99.  Q.  _At day-break what happened?_\n\nA.  He passed into the interior condition of _Samadhi_ and thence\ninto Nirvana.\n\n100.  Q.  _What were his last words to his disciples?_\n\nA.  \"Bhikkhus,\" he said, \"I now impress it upon you, the parts and\npowers of man must be dissolved.  Work out your salvation with\ndiligence.\"\n\n101.  Q.  _What convincing proof have we that the Buddha, formerly\nPrince Siddhartha, was a historical personage?_\n\nA.  His existence is apparently as clearly proved as that of any other\ncharacter of ancient history.\n\n102.  Q.  _Name some of the proofs?_\n\nA.  (1) The testimony of those who personally knew him.\n\n(2) The discovery of places and the remains of buildings mentioned in\nthe narrative of his time.\n\n(3) The rock-inscriptions, pillars and dagobas made in memory of him by\nsovereigns who were near enough to his time to be able to verify the\nstory of his life.\n\n(4) The unbroken existence of the Sangha which he founded, and their\npossession of the facts of his life transmitted from generation to\ngeneration from the beginning.\n\n(5) The fact that in the very year of his death and at various times\nsubsequently, conventions and councils of the Sangha were held, for the\nverification of the actual teachings of the Founder, and the handing\ndown of those verified teachings from teacher to pupil, to the present\nday.\n\n(6) After his cremation his relics were divided among eight kings and a\nstupa was erected over each portion.  The portion given to King\nAjatashatru, and by him covered with a stupa at Rajagrha, was\ntaken, less than two centuries later, by the Emperor Asoka and\ndistributed throughout his Empire.  He, of course, had ample means of\nknowing whether the relics were those of the Buddha or not, since they\nhad been in charge of the royal house of Patna from the beginning.\n\n(7) Many of the Buddha's disciples, being Arhats and thus having\ncontrol over their vital powers, must have lived to great ages, and\nthere was nothing to have prevented two or three of them, in succession\nto each other, to have covered the whole period between the death of\nthe Buddha and the reign of Asoka, and thus to have enabled the latter\nto get from his contemporary every desired attestation of the fact of\nthe Buddha's life.[8]\n\n(8) The \"Mahavansa,\" the best authenticated ancient history known to\nus, records the events of Sinhalese history to the reign of King\nVijaya, 543 B.C.--almost the time of the Buddha--and gives most\nparticulars of his life, as well as those of the Emperor Asoka and all\nother sovereigns related to Buddhistic history.\n\n103.  Q.  _By what names of respect is the Buddha called?_\n\nA.  Sakyamuni (the Sakya Sage); Sakya-Simha (the Sakyan\nLion); Sugata (the Happy One); Satthta (the Teacher); Jina (the\nConqueror), Bhagavat (the Blessed One); Lokanatha (the Lord of the\nWorld); Sarvaj\u00f1a (the Omniscient One); Dharmaraja (the King of\nTruth); Tathagata (the Great Being), etc.\n\n\n\n[1] The word \"religion\" is most inappropriate to apply to Buddhism\nwhich is not a religion, but a moral philosophy, as I have shown later\non.  But, by common usage the word has been applied to all groups of\npeople who profess a special moral doctrine, and is so employed by\nstatisticians.  The Sinhalese Buddhists have never yet had any\nconception of what Europeans imply in the etymological construction of\nthe Latin root of this term.  In their creed there is no such thing as\na \"binding\" in the Christian sense--a submission to or merging of self\nin a Divine Being.  _Agama_ is their vernacular word to express\ntheir relation to Buddhism and the BUDDHA.  It is pure Samskrt, and\nmeans \"approach, or coming\"; and as \"_Buddha_\" is enlightenment, the\ncompound word by which they indicate Buddhism--_Buddhagama_--would\nbe properly rendered as \"an approach or coming to enlightenment,\" or\npossibly as a following of the Doctrine of SAKYAMUNI.  The\nmissionaries, finding _Agama_ ready to their hand, adopted it as the\nequivalent for \"religion\"; and Christianity is written by them\n_Christianagama_, whereas it should be _Christianibandhana_, for\n_bandhana_ is the etymological equivalent for \"religion\".  The name\n_Vibhajja vada_--one who analyses--is another name given to a\nBuddhist, and Advayavadi is a third.  With this explanation, I\ncontinue to employ under protest the familiar word when speaking of\nBuddhistic philosophy, for the convenience of the ordinary reader.\n\n[2] See the definition of _deva_ given later.\n\n[3] For an admirable account of this interview consult Dr. Paul Carus'\n_Gospel of Buddha_, page 20, _et seq._\n\n[4] The term Hindu, once a contemptuous term, used by the\nMusalmans to designate the people of Sindh, whom they conquered, is\nnow used in an ecclesiastical sense.\n\n[5] No reason is given in the canonical books for the choice of this\nside of the tree, though an explanation is to be found in the popular\nlegends upon which the books of Bishop Bigandet and other European\ncommentators are based.  There are always certain influences coming\nupon us from the different quarters of the sky.  Sometimes the\ninfluence from one quarter will be best, sometimes that from another\nquarter.  But the Buddha thought that the perfected man is superior to\nall extraneous influences.\n\n[6] The ancient story is that the God Brahma himself implored him\nnot to withhold the glorious truth.\n\n[7] Brahmanism not being offered to non-Hindus, Buddhism is\nconsequently, the oldest missionary religion in the world.  The early\nmissionaries endured every hardship, cruelty, and persecution, with\nunfaltering courage.\n\n[8] At the Second Council there were two pupils of Ananda,\nconsequently centenarians, while in Asoka's Council there were pupils\nof those pupils.\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nTHE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE\n\n106.  Q.  _What is the meaning of the word Buddha?_\n\nA.  The enlightened, or he who has the perfect wisdom.\n\n107.  Q.  _You have said that there were other Buddhas before this one?_\n\nA.  Yes; our belief is that, under the operation of eternal causation,\na Buddha takes birth at intervals, when mankind have become plunged\ninto misery through ignorance, and need the wisdom which it is the\nfunction of a Buddha to teach.  (See also Q. 11.)\n\n108.  Q.  _How is a Buddha developed?_\n\nA.  A person, hearing and seeing one of the Buddhas on earth, becomes\nseized with the determination so to live that at some future time, when\nhe shall become fitted for it, he also will be a Buddha for the guiding\nof mankind out of the cycle of rebirth.\n\n109.  Q.  _How does he proceed?_\n\nA.  Throughout that birth and every succeeding one, he strives to\nsubdue his passions, to gain wisdom by experience, and to develop his\nhigher faculties.  He thus grows by degrees wiser, nobler in character,\nand stronger in virtue, until, finally, after numberless re-births he\nreaches the state when he can become Perfected, Enlightened, All-wise,\nthe ideal Teacher of the human race.\n\n110.  Q.  _While this gradual development is going on throughout all\nthese births, by what name do we call him?_\n\nA.  Bodhisat, or Bodhisattva.  Thus the Prince Siddhartha Gautama\nwas a Bodhisattva up to the moment when, under the blessed Bodhi\ntree at Gaya, he became Buddha.\n\n111.  Q.  _Have we any account of his various rebirths as a\nBodhisattva?_\n\nA.  In the Jatakatthakatha, a book containing stories of the\nBodhisattva's reincarnations, there are several hundred tales of\nthat kind.\n\n112.  Q.  _What lesson do these stories teach?_\n\nA.  That a man can carry, throughout a long series of reincarnations,\none great, good purpose which enables him to conquer bad tendencies and\ndevelop virtuous ones.\n\n113.  Q.  _Can we fix the number of reincarnations through which a\nBodhisattva must pass before he can become a Buddha?_\n\nA.  Of course not: that depends upon his natural character, the state\nof development to which he has arrived when he forms the resolution to\nbecome a Buddha, and other things.\n\n114.  Q.  _Have we a way of classifying Bodhisattvas?  If so,\nexplain it._\n\nA.  Bodhisattvas--the future Buddhas--are divided into three classes.\n\n115.  Q.  _Proceed.  How are these three kinds of Bodhisats named?_\n\nA.  Pannadhika, or Udghatitaj\u00f1a--\"he who attains least quickly\";\nSaddhadhika, or Vipachitaj\u00f1a--\"he who attains less quickly\"; and\nViryadhika, or Gneyya--\"he who attains quickly\".  The Pannadhika\nBodhisats take the course of Intelligence; the Saddhadhika take\nthe course of Faith; the Viryaahika take the course of energetic\nAction.  The first is guided by Intelligence and does not hasten; the\nsecond is full of Faith, and does not care to take the guidance of\nWisdom; and the third never delays to do what is good.  Regardless of\nthe consequences to himself, he does it when he sees that it is best\nthat it should be done.\n\n116.  Q.  _When our Bodhisattva became Buddha, what did he see was\nthe cause of human misery?  Tell me in one word._\n\nA.  Ignorance (Avidya).\n\n117.  Q.  _Can you tell me the remedy?_\n\nA.  To dispel Ignorance and become wise (Praj\u00f1a).\n\n118.  Q.  _Why does ignorance cause suffering?_\n\nA.  Because it makes us prize what is not worth prizing, grieve when we\nshould not grieve, consider real what is not real but only illusionary,\nand pass our lives in the pursuit of worthless objects, neglecting what\nis in reality most valuable.\n\n119.  Q.  _And what is that which is most valuable?_\n\nA.  To know the whole secret of man's existence and destiny, so that we\nmay estimate at no more than their actual value this life and its\nrelations; and so that we may live in a way to ensure the greatest\nhappiness and the least suffering for our fellow-men and ourselves.\n\n120.  Q.  _What is the light that can dispel this ignorance of ours and\nremove all sorrows?_\n\nA.  The knowledge of the \"Four Noble Truths,\" as the Buddha called them.\n\n121.  Q.  _Name these Four Noble Truths?_\n\nA.  1.  The miseries of evolutionary existence resulting in births and\ndeaths, life after life.\n\n2.  The cause productive of misery, which is the selfish desire, ever\nrenewed, of satisfying one's self, without being able ever to secure\nthat end.\n\n3.  The destruction of that desire, or the estranging of one's self\nfrom it.\n\n4.  The means of obtaining this destruction of desire.\n\n122.  Q.  _Tell me some things that cause sorrow?_\n\nA.  Birth, decay, illness, death, separation from objects we love,\nassociation with those who are repugnant, craving for what cannot be\nobtained.\n\n123.  Q.  _Do these differ with each individual?_\n\nA.  Yes: but all men suffer from them in degree.\n\n124.  Q.  _How can we escape the sufferings which result from\nunsatisfied desires and ignorant cravings?_\n\nA.  By complete conquest over, and destruction of, this eager thirst\nfor life and its pleasures, which causes sorrow.\n\n125.  Q.  _How may we gain such a conquest?_\n\nA.  By following the Noble Eight-fold Path which the Buddha discovered\nand pointed out.\n\n126.  Q.  _What do you mean by that word: what is this Noble Eight-fold\nPath?_  (For the Pali name see Q. 79.)\n\nA.  The eight parts of this path are called _angas_.  They are: 1.\nRight Belief (as to the law of Causation, or Karma); 2. Right Thought;\n3. Right Speech; 4. Right Action; 5. Right Means of Livelihood; 6.\nRight Exertion; 7. Right Remembrance and Self-discipline; 8. Right\nConcentration of Thought.  The man who keeps these _angas_ in mind and\nfollows them will be free from sorrow and ultimately reach salvation.\n\n127.  Q.  _Can you give a better word for salvation?_\n\nA.  Yes, emancipation.\n\n128.  Q.  _Emancipation, then, from what?_\n\nA.  Emancipation from the miseries of earthly existence and of\nrebirths, all of which are due to ignorance and impure lusts and\ncravings.\n\n129.  Q.  _And when this salvation or emancipation is attained, what do\nwe reach?_\n\nA.  NIRVANA.\n\n130.  Q.  _What is Nirvana?_\n\nA.  A condition of total cessation of changes, of perfect rest, of the\nabsence of desire and illusion and sorrow, of the total obliteration of\neverything that goes to make up the physical man.  Before reaching\nNirvana man is constantly being reborn; when he reaches Nirvana\nhe is born no more.\n\n131.  Q.  _Where can be found a learned discussion of the word\nNirvana and a list of the other names by which the old Pali\nwriters attempt to define it?_\n\nA.  In the famous Dictionary of the Pali Language, by the late\nMr. B. O. Childers, is a complete list.[1]\n\n132.  Q.  _But some people imagine that Nirvana is some sort of\nheavenly place, a Paradise.  Does Buddhism teach that?_\n\nA.  No.  When Kutadanta asked the Buddha \"Where is Nirvana,\" he\nreplied that it was \"wherever the precepts are obeyed\".\n\n133.  Q.  _What causes us to be reborn?_\n\nA.  The unsatisfied selfish desire (Skt., _trshna_; Pali,\ntanha) for things that belong to the state of personal existence in\nthe material world.  This unquenched thirst for physical existence\n(_bhava_) is a force, and has a creative power in itself so strong\nthat it draws the being back into mundane life.\n\n134.  Q.  _Are our rebirths in any way affected by the nature of our\nunsatisfied desires?_\n\nA.  Yes, and by our individual merits or demerits.\n\n135.  Q.  _Does our merit or demerit control the state, condition or\nform in which we shall be re-born?_\n\nA.  It does.  The broad rule is that if we have an excess of merit we\nshall be well and happily born the next time; if an excess of demerit,\nour next birth will be wretched and full of suffering.\n\n136.  Q.  _One chief pillar of Buddhistic doctrine is, then, the idea\nthat every effect is the result of an actual cause, is it not?_\n\n A.  It is; of a cause either immediate or remote.\n\n137.  Q.  _What do we call this causation?_\n\nA.  Applied to individuals, it is Karma, that is, action.  It means\nthat our own actions or deeds bring upon us whatever of joy or misery\nwe experience.\n\n138.  Q.  _Can a bad man escape from the outworkings of his Karma?_\n\nA.  The _Dhammapada_ says: \"There exists no spot on the earth, or in\nthe sky, or in the sea, neither is there any in the mountain-clefts,\nwhere an (evil) deed does not bring trouble (to the doer).\"\n\n139.  Q.  _Can a good man escape?_\n\nA.  As the result of deeds of peculiar merit, a man may attain certain\nadvantages of place, body, environment and teaching in his next stage\nof progress, which ward off the effects of bad Karma and help his\nhigher evolution.\n\n140.  _What are they called?_\n\nA.  _Gati Sampatti_, _Upadhi Sampatti_, _Kala Sampatti_ and\n_Payoga Sampatti_.\n\n141.  Q.  _Is that consistent or inconsistent with common sense and the\nteachings of modern science?_\n\nA.  Perfectly consistent: there can be no doubt of it.\n\n142.  Q.  _May all men become Buddhas?_\n\nA.  It is not in the nature of every man to become a Buddha; for a\nBuddha is developed only at long intervals of time, and seemingly, when\nthe state of humanity absolutely requires such a teacher to show it the\nforgotten Path to Nirvana.  But every being may equally reach\nNirvana, by conquering Ignorance and gaining Wisdom.\n\n143.  Q.  _Does Buddhism teach that man is reborn only upon our earth?_\n\nA.  As a general rule that would be the case, until he had evolved\nbeyond its level; but the inhabited worlds are numberless.  The world\nupon which a person is to have his next birth, as well as the nature of\nthe rebirth itself, is decided by the preponderance of the individual's\nmerit or demerit.  In other words, it will be controlled by his\nattractions, as science would describe it; or by his Karma, as we,\nBuddhists, would say.\n\n144.  Q.  _Are there worlds more perfectly developed, and others less\nso than our Earth?_\n\nA.  Buddhism teaches that there are whole _Sakwalas_, or systems of\nworlds, of various kinds, higher and lower, and also that the\ninhabitants of each world correspond in development with itself.\n\n145.  Q.  _Has not the Buddha summed up his whole doctrine in one\ngatha, or verse?_\n\nA.  Yes.\n\n146.  Q.  _Repeat it?_\n\nA.  _Sabba papassa akaranm,\n    Kusalassa upasampada\n    Sachitta pariyo dapanam--\n    Etam Buddhanusasanam._\n\n    \"To cease from all evil actions,\n    To generate all that is good,\n    To cleanse one's mind:\n    This is the constant advice of the Buddhas.\"\n\n147.  Q.  _Have the first three of these lines any very striking\ncharacteristics?_\n\nA.  Yes: the first line embodies the whole spirit of the _Vinaya\nPitaka_, the second that of the _Sutta_, the third that of the\n_Abhidhamma_.  They comprise only eight Pali words, yet, as the\ndew-drop reflects the stars, they sparkle with the spirit of all the\nBuddha Dharma.\n\n148.  Q.  _Do these precepts show that Buddhism is an active or a\npassive religion?_\n\nA.  To \"cease from sin\" may be called passive, but to \"get virtue\" and\n\"to cleanse one's own heart,\" or mind, are altogether _active_\nqualities.  Buddha taught that we should not merely not be evil, but\nthat we should be _positively_ good.\n\n149.  Q.  _Who or what are the \"Three Guides\"[2] that a Buddhist Is\nsupposed to follow?_\n\nA.  They are disclosed in the formula called the Tisarana: \"I follow\nBuddha as my Guide: I follow the Law as my Guide: I follow the Order as\nmy Guide.\"  These three _are_, in fact, the Buddha Dharma.\n\n150.  Q.  _What does he mean when repeating this formula?_\n\nA.  He means that he regards the Buddha as his all-wise Teacher, Friend\nand Exemplar; the Law, or Doctrine, as containing the essential and\nimmutable principles of Justice and Truth and the path that leads to\nthe realisation of perfect peace of mind on earth; and the Order as the\nteachers and exemplars of that excellent Law taught by Buddha.\n\n151.  Q.  _But are not some of the members of this \"Order\" men\nintellectually and morally inferior?_\n\nA.  Yes; but we are taught by the Buddha that only those who diligently\nattend to the Precepts, discipline their minds, and strive to attain or\nhave attained one of the eight stages of holiness and perfection,\nconstitute his \"Order\".  It is expressly stated that the Order referred\nto in the \"Tisarana\" refers to the \"Attha Ariya Puggala\"--the Noble\nOnes who have attained one of the eight stages of perfection.  The mere\nwearing of yellow robes, or even ordination, does not of itself make a\nman pure or wise or entitle him to reverence.\n\n152.  Q.  _Then it is not such unworthy bhikkhus as they, whom the true\nBuddhist would lake as his guides?_\n\nA.  Certainly not.\n\n153.  Q.  _What are the five observances, or universal precepts, called\nthe Pa\u00f1cha Sila, which are imposed on the laity in general?_\n\nA.  They are included in the following formula,, which Buddhists repeat\npublicly at the viharas (temples):\n\nI observe the precept to refrain from destroying the life of beings.\n\nI observe the precept to refrain from stealing.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from unlawful sexual intercourse.[3]\n\nI observe the precept to refrain from falsehood.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from using intoxicants.\n\n154.  Q.  What strikes the intelligent person on reading these Silas?\n\nA.  That one who observes them strictly must escape from every cause\nproductive of human misery.  If we study history we shall find that it\nhas all sprung from one or another of these causes.\n\n155.  Q.  In which Silas is the far-seeing wisdom of the Buddha most\nplainly shown?\n\nA.  In the first, third and fifth; for the taking of life, sensuality,\nand the use of intoxicants, cause at least ninety-five per cent of the\nsufferings among men.\n\n156.  Q.  _What benefits does a man derive from the observance of these\nPrecepts?_\n\nA.  He is said to acquire more or less merit according to the manner\nand time of observing the precepts, and the number observed; that is,\nif he observes only one precept, violating the other four, he acquires\nthe merit of the observance of that precept only; and the longer he\nkeeps that precept the greater will be the merit.  He who keeps all the\nprecepts inviolate will cause himself to have a higher and happier\nexistence hereafter.\n\n157.  Q.  _What are the other observances which it is considered\nmeritorious for the laity as such to undertake voluntarily to keep?_\n\nA.  The _Atthanga Sila_, or the Eightfold Precept, which embraces\nthe five above enumerated (omitting the word \"unlawful\" in the third),\nwith three additional; _viz._:\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from eating at an unseasonable time.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from dancing, singing, music and\nunbecoming shows, and from the use of garlands, scents, perfumes,\ncosmetics, ointments, and ornaments.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from using high and broad beds.\n\nThe seats and couches here referred to are those used by the\nworldly-minded for the sake of pleasure and sensual enjoyment.  The\ncelibate should avoid these.\n\n158.  Q.  _How would a Buddhist describe true merit?_\n\nA.  There is no great merit in any merely outward act; all depends upon\nthe inward motive that provokes the deed.\n\n159.  Q.  _Give an example?_\n\nA.  A rich man may expend lakhs of rupees in building dagobas or\nviharas, in erecting statues of Buddha, in festivals and\nprocessions, in feeding priests, in giving alms to the poor, or in\nplanting trees, digging tanks, or constructing rest-houses by the\nroadside for travellers, and yet have comparatively little merit if it\nbe done for display, or to hear himself praised by men, or for any\nother selfish motives.  But he who does the least of these things with\na kind motive, such as love for his fellow-men, gains great merit.  A\ngood deed done with a bad motive benefits others, but not the doer.\nOne who approves of a good deed when done by another shares in the\nmerit, _if his sympathy is real, not pretended_.  The same rule applies\nto evil deeds.\n\n160.  Q.  _But which is said to be the greatest of all meritorious\nactions?_\n\nA.  The _Dhammapada_ declares that the merit of disseminating the\nDharma, the Law of Righteousness, is greater than that of any other\ngood work.\n\n161.  Q.  _What books contain all the most excellent wisdom of the\nBuddha's teachings?_\n\nA.  The three collections of books called _Tripitakas_ or \"_Three\nBaskets_\".\n\n162.  Q.  _What are the names of the three Pitakas, or groups of books?_\n\nA.  The _Vinaya Pitaka_, the _Sutta Pitaka_ and the _Abhidhamma Pitaka_.\n\n163.  Q.  _What do they respectively contain?_\n\nA.  The first contains all that pertains to morality and the rules of\ndiscipline for the government of the Sangha, or Order; the second\ncontains instructive discourses on ethics applicable to all; the third\nexplains the psychological teachings of the Buddha, including the\ntwenty-four transcendental laws explanatory of the workings of Nature.\n\n164.  Q.  _Do Buddhists relieve these books to be inspired, or\nrevealed, by a Divine Being?_\n\nA.  No; but they revere them as containing all the parts of that most\nExcellent Law, by the knowing of which man may break through the\ntrammels of _Samsara_.\n\n165.  Q.  _In the whole text of the three Pitakas how many words are\nthere?_\n\nA.  Dr. Rhys-Davids estimates them at 1,752,800.\n\n166.  Q.  _When were the Pitakas first reduced to writing?_\n\nA.  In 88-76 B.C., under the Sinhalese King, Wattagamini, or three\nhundred and thirty years after the Paranirvana of the Buddha.\n\n167.  Q.  _Have we reason to believe that all the discourses of the\nBuddha are known to us?_\n\nA.  Probably not, and it would be strange if they were.  Within the\nforty-five years of his public life he must have preached many hundreds\nof discourses.  Of these, in times of war and persecution, many must\nhave been lost, many scattered to distant countries, and many\nmutilated.  History says that enemies of the Buddha Dharma burnt piles\nof our books as high as a coco-nut tree.\n\n168.  Q.  _Do Buddhists consider the Buddha as one who by his own\nvirtue can save us from the consequence of our individual sins?_\n\nA.  Not at all.  Man must emancipate himself.  Until he does that he\nwill continue being born over and over and over again--the victim of\nignorance, the slave of unquenched passions.\n\n169.  Q.  _What, then, was the Buddha to us, and all other beings?_\n\nA.  An all-seeing, all-wise Counsellor; one who discovered the safe\npath and pointed it out; one who showed the cause of, and the only cure\nfor, human suffering.  In pointing to the road, in showing us how to\nescape dangers, he became our Guide.  He is to us like one leading a\nblind man across a narrow bridge over a swift and deep stream and so\nsaving his life.\n\n170.  Q.  _If we were to try to represent the whole spirit of the\nBuddha's doctrine by one word, which word should we choose?_\n\nA.  Justice.\n\n171.  Q.  _Why?_\n\nA.  Because it teaches that every man gets, under the operations of\nunerring KARMA, exactly that reward or punishment which he has\ndeserved, no more and no less.  No good deed or bad deed, however\ntrifling, and however secretly committed, escapes the evenly-balanced\nscales of Karma.\n\n172.  Q.  _What is Karma?_[4]\n\nA.  A causation operating on the moral, as well as on the physical and\nother planes.  Buddhists say there is no miracle in human affairs: what\na man sows that he must and will reap.\n\n173.  Q.  _What other good words have been used to express the essence\nof Buddhism?_\n\nA.  Self-culture and universal love.\n\n174.  Q.  _What doctrine ennobles Buddhism, and gives it its exalted\nplace among the world's religions?_\n\nA.  That of _Mitta_ or _Maitreya_--compassionate kindness.  The\nimportance of this doctrine is moreover emphasised in the giving of the\nname \"Maitri\" (the Compassionate One), to the coming Buddha.\n\n175.  Q.  _Were all these points of Doctrine that you have explained\nmeditated upon by the Buddha near the Bo-tree?_\n\nA.  Yes, these and many more that may be read in the Buddhist\nScriptures.  The entire system of Buddhism came to his mind during the\nGreat Enlightenment.\n\n176.  Q.  _How long did the Buddha remain near the Bo-tree?_\n\nA.  Forty-nine days.\n\n177.  Q.  _What do we call the first discourse preached by the\nBuddha--that which he addressed to his five former companions?_\n\nA.  The _Dhammacakka-ppavattana sutta_--the Sutra of the Definition\nof the Rule of Doctrine.[5]\n\n178.  Q.  _What subjects were treated by him in this discourse?_\n\nA.  The \"Four Noble Truths,\" and the \"Noble Eightfold Path\".  He\ncondemned the extreme physical mortification of the ascetics, on the\none hand, and the enjoyment of sensual pleasures on the other; pointing\nout and recommending the Noble Eightfold Path as the Middle Path.\n\n179.  Q.  _Did the Buddha hold with idol-worship?_\n\nA.  He did not; he opposed it.  The worship of gods, demons, trees,\netc., was condemned by the Buddha.  External worship is a fetter that\none has to break if he is to advance higher.\n\n180.  Q.  _But, do not Buddhists make reverence before the statue of\nthe Buddha, his relics, and the monuments enshrining them?_\n\nA.  Yes, but not with the sentiment of the idolater.\n\n181.  Q.  _What is the difference?_\n\nA.  Our Pagan brother not only takes his images as visible\nrepresentations of his unseen God or gods, but the refined idolater, in\nworshipping, considers that the idol contains in its substance a\nportion of the all-pervading divinity.\n\n182.  Q.  _What does the Buddhist think?_\n\nA.  The Buddhist reverences the Buddha's statue and the other things\nyou have mentioned, only as mementoes of the greatest, wisest, most\nbenevolent and compassionate man in this world-period (Kalpa).  All\nraces and people preserve, treasure up, and value the relics and\nmementoes of men and women who have been considered in any way great.\nThe Buddha, to us, seems more to be revered and beloved than any one\nelse, by every human being who knows sorrow.\n\n183.  Q.  _Has the Buddha himself given us something definite upon this\nsubject?_\n\nA.  Certainly.  In the _Maha Pari-Nirvana Sutta_ he says that\nemancipation is attainable only by leading the Holy life, according to\nthe Noble Eight-fold Path, not by eternal worship (_amisa\npuja_), nor by adoration of himself, or of another, or of any\nimage.\n\n184.  Q.  _What was the Buddha's estimate of ceremonialism?_\n\nA.  From the beginning, he condemned the observance of ceremonies and\nother external practices, which only tend to increase our spiritual\nblindness and our clinging to mere lifeless forms.\n\n185.  Q.  _What as to controversies?_\n\nA.  In numerous discourses he denounced this habit as most pernicious.\nHe prescribed penances for Bhikkhus who waste time and weaken their\nhigher intuitions in wrangling over theories and metaphysical\nsubtleties.\n\n186.  Q.  _Are charms, incantations, the observance of lucky hours and\ndevil-dancing a part of Buddhism?_\n\nA.  They are positively repugnant to its fundamental principles.  They\nare the surviving relics of fetishism and pantheistic and other foreign\nreligions.  In the _Brahmajata Sutta_ the Buddha has\ncategorically described these and other superstitions as Pagan, mean\nand spurious.[6]\n\n187.  Q.  _What striking contrasts are there between Buddhism and what\nmay be properly called \"religions\"?_\n\nA.  Among others, these: It teaches the highest goodness without a\ncreating God; a continuity of life without adhering to the\nsuperstitious and selfish doctrine of an eternal, metaphysical\nsoul-substance that goes out of the body; a happiness without an\nobjective heaven; a method of salvation without a vicarious Saviour;\nredemption by oneself as the Redeemer, and without rites, prayers,\npenances, priests or intercessory saints; and a _summum bonum_, _i.e._,\nNirvana, attainable in this life and in this world by leading a\npure, unselfish life of wisdom and of compassion to all beings.\n\n188.  Q.  _Specify the two main divisions of \"meditation,\" i.e., of the\nprocess by which one extinguishes passion and attains knowledge?_\n\nA.  _Samatha_ and _Vidarsama_: (1) the attenuation of passion by\nleading the holy life and by continued effort to subdue the senses; (2)\nthe attainment of supernormal wisdom by reflection: each of which\nembraces twenty aspects, but I need not here specify them.\n\n189.  Q.  _What are the four paths or stages of advancement that one\nmay attain to?_\n\nA.  (1) Sottapatti--the beginning or entering into which follows\nafter one's clear perception of the \"Four Noble Truths\"; (2)\nSakardagami--the path of one who has so subjugated lust, hatred\nand delusion that he need only return once to this world; (3)\n_Anagami_--the path of those who have so far conquered self that\nthey need not return to this world; (4) _Arhat_--the path of the holy\nand worthy Arhat, who is not only free from the necessity of\nreincarnation, but has capacitated himself to enjoy perfect wisdom,\nboundless pity for the ignorant and suffering, and measureless love for\nall beings.\n\n190.  Q.  _Does popular Buddhism contain nothing but what is true, and\nin accord with science?_\n\nA.  Like every other religion that has existed many centuries, it\ncertainly now contains untruth mingled with truth; ever gold is found\nmixed with dross.  The poetical imagination, the zeal, or the lingering\nsuperstition of Buddhist devotees have, in various ages, and in various\nlands, caused the noble principles of the Buddha's moral doctrines to\nbe coupled more or less with what might be removed to advantage.\n\n191.  Q.  _When such perversions are discovered, what should be the\ntrue Buddhist's earnest desire?_\n\nA.  The true Buddhist should be ever ready and anxious to see the false\npurged away from the true, and to assist, if he can.  Three great\nCouncils of the Sangha were held for the express purpose of purging the\nbody of Teachings from all corrupt interpolations.\n\n192.  Q.  _When?_\n\nA.  The first, at Sattapanni cave, just after the death of the Buddha;\nthe second at Valukarama, in Vaisali; the third at Asokarama Vihara,\nat Pataliputra, 235 years after Buddha's decease.\n\n193.  Q.  _In what discourse does the Buddha himself warn us to expect\nthis perversion of the true Doctrine?_\n\nA.  In the _Sanyutta Nikaya_.\n\n194.  Q.  _Are there any dogmas in Buddhism which we are required to\naccept on faith?_\n\nA.  No: we are earnestly enjoined to accept nothing whatever on faith;\nwhether it be written in books, handed down from our ancestors, or\ntaught by the sages.\n\n195.  Q.  _Did he himself really teach that noble rule?_\n\nA.  Yes.  The Buddha has said that we must not believe in a thing said\nmerely because it is said; nor in traditions because they have been\nhanded down from antiquity; nor rumours, as such; nor writings by\nsages, merely because sages wrote them; nor fancies that we may suspect\nto have been inspired in us by a Deva (that is, in presumed spiritual\ninspiration); nor from inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption\nwe may have made; nor because of what seems an analogical necessity;\nnor on the mere authority of our own teachers or masters.\n\n196.  Q.  _When, then, must we believe?_\n\nA.  We are to believe when the writing doctrine or saying is\ncorroborated by our own reason and consciousness.  \"For this,\" says he\nin concluding, \"I taught you not to believe merely because you have\nheard, but when you believed of your own consciousness, then to act\naccordingly and abundantly.\"  (See the _Kalama Sutta_ of the\n_Anguttara Nikaya_, and the _Maha Pari Nirvana Sutta_.)\n\n197.  Q.  _What does the Buddha call himself?_\n\nA.  He says that he and the other Buddhas are only \"preachers\" of truth\nwho point out the way: we ourselves must make the effort.\n\n198.  Q.  _Where is this said?_\n\nA.  In the _Dhammapada_, Chapter xx.\n\n199.  Q.  _Does Buddhism countenance hypocrisy?_\n\nA.  The Dhammapada says: \"Like a beautiful flower full of colour\nwithout scent the fine words of him who does not act accordingly are\nfruitless.\"\n\n200.  Q.  _Does Buddhism teach us to return evil for evil?_\n\nA.  In the _Dhammapada_ the Buddha said: \"If a man foolishly does me\nwrong, I will return to him the protection of my ungrudging love; the\nmore evil comes from him, the more good shall go from me.\"  This is the\npath followed by the Arhat.[7]  To return evil for evil is positively\nforbidden in Buddhism.\n\n201.  Q.  _Does it encourage cruelty?_\n\nA.  No, indeed.  In the Five Precepts and in many of his discourses,\nthe Buddha teaches us to be merciful to all beings, to try and make\nthem happy, to love them all, to abstain from taking life, or\nconsenting to it, or encouraging its being done.\n\n202.  Q.  _In which discourse is this stated?_\n\nA.  The _Dhammika Sutta_ says: \"Let him (the householder) not destroy,\nor cause to be destroyed, any life at all, or _sanction the act of\nthose who do so_.  Let him refrain from even hurting any creature.\"[8]\n\n203.  Q.  _Does it approve of drunkenness?_\n\nA.  In his _Dhammika Sutta_ we are warned against drinking liquors,\ncausing others to drink, or sanctioning the acts of those who drink.[9]\n\n204.  Q.  _To what are we told that drunkenness leads?_\n\nA.  To demerit, crime, insanity, and ignorance--which is the chief\ncause of rebirth.\n\n205.  Q.  _What does Buddhism teach about marriage?_\n\nA.  Absolute chastity being a condition of full spiritual development,\nis most highly commended; but a marriage to one wife and fidelity to\nher is recognised as a kind of chastity.  Polygamy was censured by the\nBuddha as involving ignorance and promoting lust.\n\n206.  Q.  _In what discourse?_\n\nA.  The _Anguttara Nikaya_, Chapter iv, 55.\n\n207.  Q.  _What does it teach as to the duty of parents to children?_\n\nA.  They should restrain them from vice, train them in virtue; have\nthem taught arts and sciences; provide them with suitable wives and\nhusbands, and give them their inheritance.\n\n208.  Q.  What is the duty of children?\n\nA.  To support their parents when old or needy; perform family duties\nincumbent on them; guard their property; make themselves worthy to be\ntheir heirs, and when they are gone, honour their memory.\n\n209.  Q.  _What of pupils to the teacher?_\n\nA.  To show him respect; minister to him; obey him; supply his wants;\nattend to his instruction.\n\n210.  Q.  _What of husband to wife?_\n\nA.  To cherish her; treat her with respect and kindness; be faithful to\nher; cause her to be honoured by others; provide her with suitable\nornaments and clothes.\n\n211.  Q.  _What of the wife to her husband?_\n\nA.  To show affection to him; order her household aright; be hospitable\nto guests; be chaste; be thrifty; show skill and diligence in all\nthings.\n\n212.  Q.  Where are these precepts taught?\n\nA.  In the Sigalovada Sutta.\n\n213.  Q.  Do riches help a man to future happiness?\n\nA.  The Dhammapada says: \"One is the road that leads to wealth, another\nthe road that leads to Nirvana.\"\n\n214.  Q.  Does that mean that no rich man can attain Nirvana?\n\nA.  That depends on which he loves most.  If he uses his wealth for the\nbenefit of mankind--for the suffering, the oppressed, the\nignorant--then his wealth aids him to acquire merit.\n\n215.  Q.  But if the contrary?\n\nA.  But if he loves and greedily hoards money for the sake of its\npossession, then it weakens his moral sense, prompts him to crime,\nbrings curses upon him in this life, and their effects are felt in the\nnext birth.\n\n216.  Q.  _What says the \"Dhammapada\" about ignorance?_\n\nA.  That it is a taint worse than all taints that a man can put upon\nhimself.\n\n217.  Q.  _What does it say about uncharitableness towards others?_\n\nA.  That the fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself\ndifficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff,\nbut his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the\ngambler.\n\n218.  Q.  _What advice does the Buddha give us as to man's duty to the\npoor?_\n\nA.  He says that a man's net income should be divided into four parts,\nof which one should be devoted to philanthropic objects.\n\n219.  Q.  _What five occupations are said to be low and base?_\n\nA.  Selling liquor, selling animals for slaughter, selling poison,\nselling murderous weapons, and dealing in slaves.\n\n220.  Q.  _Who are said to be incapable of progress in spirituality?_\n\nA.  The killers of father, mother, and holy Arhats; Bhikkhus who sow\ndiscord in the Sangha; those who attempt to injure the person of a\nBuddha; those who hold extremely nihilistic views as to the future\nexistence; and those who are extremely sensual.\n\n121.  Q.  _Does Buddhism specify places or conditions of torment into\nwhich a bad man's Karma draws him on leaving this life?_\n\nA.  Yes.  They are: Sanjiva; Kalasutra; Sanghata; Raurava;\nMaha-Raurava Tapa; Pratapa; Avichi.\n\n222.  Q.  _Is the torment eternal?_\n\nA.  Certainly not.  Its duration depends on a man's Karma.\n\n223.  Q.  _Does Buddhism declare that non-believers in Buddha will of\nnecessity be damned for their unbelief?_\n\nA.  No; by good deeds they may enjoy a limited term of happiness before\nbeing drawn into rebirth by their unexhausted _tanha_.  To escape\nrebirth, one must tread the Noble Eight-fold Path.\n\n224.  Q.  _What is the spiritual status of woman among Buddhists?_\n\nA.  According to our religion they are on a footing of perfect equality\nwith men.  \"Woman,\" says the Buddha, in the _Chullavedalla Sutta_, \"may\nattain the highest path of holiness that is open to man--Arhatship.\"\n\n225.  Q.  _What does a modern critic say about the effect of Buddhism\non woman?_\n\nA.  That \"it has done more for the happiness and enfranchisement of\nwoman than any other creed\" (Sir Lepel Griffin).\n\n226.  Q.  _What did the Buddha teach about caste?_\n\nA.  That one does not become of any caste, whether Pariah, the lowest,\nor Brahmana the highest, by birth, but by deeds.  \"By deeds,\" said\nHe, \"one becomes an outcast, by deeds one becomes a Brahmana\" (See\n_Vassala Sutta_).\n\n227.  Q.  _Tell me a story to illustrate this?_\n\nA.  Ananda, passing by a well, was thirsty and asked Prakrti, a girl of\nthe Matanga, or Pariah, caste, to give him water.  She said she was\nof such low caste that he would become contaminated by taking water\nfrom her hand.  But Ananda replied: \"I ask not for caste but for\nwater\"; and the Matanga girl's heart was glad and she gave him to\ndrink.  The Buddha blessed her for it.\n\n228.  Q.  _What did the Buddha say in \"Vasala Sutta\" about a man of the\nPariah Sopaka caste?_\n\nA.  That by his merits he reached the highest fame; that many Khattiyas\n(Kshattriyas) and Brahmanas went to serve him; and that after death\nhe was born in the Brahma-world: while there are many Brahmanas\nwho for their evil deeds are born in hell.\n\n229.  Q.  Does Buddhism teach the immortality of the soul?\n\nA.  It considers \"soul\" to be a word used by the ignorant to express a\nfalse idea.  If everything is subject to change, then man is included,\nand every material part of him must change.  That which is subject to\nchange is not permanent: so there can be no immortal survival of a\nchangeful thing.[10]\n\n230.  Q.  _What is so objectionable in this word \"soul\"?_\n\nA.  The idea associated with it that man can be an entity separated\nfrom all other entities, and from the existence of the whole of the\nUniverse.  This idea of separateness is unreasonable, not provable by\nlogic, nor supported by science.\n\n231.  Q.  _Then there is no separate \"I,\" nor can we say \"my\" this or\nthat?_\n\nA.  Exactly so.\n\n232.  Q.  _If the idea of a separate human \"soul\" is to be rejected,\nwhat is it in man which gives him the impression of having a permanent\npersonality?_\n\nA.  _Tanha_, or the unsatisfied desire for existence.  The being\nhaving done that for which he must be rewarded or punished in future,\nand having _Tanha_, will have a rebirth through the influence of\nKarma.\n\n233.  Q.  _What is it that is born?_\n\nA.  A new aggregation of Skandhas, or personality[11] caused by the last\ngenerative thought of the dying person.\n\n234.  Q.  _How many Skandhas are there?_\n\nA.  Five.\n\n235.  Q.  _Name the five Skandhas?_\n\nA.  Rupa, Vedana, Sa\u00f1\u00f1a, Samkhara,_ and _Vi\u00f1\u00f1ana_.\n\n236.  Q.  _Briefly explain what they are?_\n\nA.  __Rupa_, material qualities; _Vedana_, sensation; _Sa\u00f1\u00f1a_,\nabstract ideas; _Samkhara_, tendencies of mind; _Vi\u00f1\u00f1ana_,\nmental powers, or consciousness.  Of these we are formed; by them we\nare conscious of existence; and through them communicate with the world\nabout us.\n\n237.  Q.  _To what cause must we attribute the differences in the\ncombination of the five Skandhas which make every individual differ\nfrom every other individual?_\n\nA.  To the ripened Karma of the individual in his preceding births.\n\n238.  Q.  _What is the force of energy that is at work, under the\nguidance of Karma, to produce the new being?_\n\nA.  Tanha--the will to _live_.[12]\n\n239.  Q.  _Upon what is the doctrine of rebirths founded?_\n\nA.  Upon the perception that perfect justice, equilibrium and\nadjustment are inherent in the universal system of Nature.  Buddhists\ndo not believe that one life--even though it were extended to one\nhundred or five hundred years--is long enough for the reward or\npunishment of a man's deeds.  The great circle of rebirths will be more\nor less quickly run through according to the preponderating purity or\nimpurity of the several lives of the individual.\n\n240.  Q.  _Is this new aggregation of Skandhas--this new\npersonality--the same being as that in the previous birth, whose\nTanha has brought it into existence?_\n\nA.  In one sense it is a new being; in another it is not.  In\nPali it is--\"_nacha so nacha a\u00f1\u00f1o_\" which means not the same nor\nyet another.  During this life the _Skandhas_ are constantly\nchanging;[13] and while the man A. B., of forty, is identical, as\nregards personality, with the youth A. B., of eighteen, yet, by the\ncontinual waste and reparation of his body, and change of mind and\ncharacter, he is a different being.  Nevertheless, the man in his old\nage justly reaps the reward of suffering consequent upon his thoughts\nand actions at every previous stage of his life.  So the new being of a\nrebirth, being the same individuality as before, but with a changed\nform, or new aggregation of _Skandhas_, justly reaps the consequences\nof his actions and thoughts in the previous existence.\n\n241.  Q.  _But the aged man remembers the incidents of his youth,\ndespite his being physically and mentally changed.  Why, then, is not\nthe recollection of past lives brought over by us from our last birth,\ninto the present birth?_\n\nA.  Because memory is included within the _Skandhas_; and the\n_Skandhas_ having changed with the new reincarnation, a new memory, the\nrecord of of that particular existence, develops.  Yet the record or\nreflection of all the past earth-lives must survive; for, when Prince\nSiddhartha became Buddha, the full sequence of his previous births\nwas seen by him.  If their several incidents had left no trace behind,\nthis could not have been so, as there would have been nothing for him\nto see.  And any one who attains to the fourth state of _Dhyana_\n(psychical insight) can thus retrospectively trace the line of his\nlives.\n\n242.  Q.  _What is the ultimate point towards which tend all these\nseries of changes in form?_\n\nA.  Nirvana.\n\n243.  Q.  _Does Buddhism teach that we should do good with the view of\nreaching Nirvana?_\n\nA.  No; that would be as absolute selfishness as though the reward\nhoped for had been money, a throne, or any other sensual enjoyment.\nNirvana cannot be so reached, and the unwise speculator is\nforedoomed to disappointment.\n\n244.  Q.  _Please make it a little clearer?_\n\nA.  Nirvana is the synonym of unselfishness, the entire surrender of\nselfhood to truth.  The ignorant man aspires to nirvanic happiness\nwithout the least idea of its nature.  Absence of selfishness is\nNirvana.  Doing good with the view to getting results, or leading\nthe holy life with the object of gaining heavenly happiness, is not the\nNoble Life that the Buddha enjoined.  Without hope of reward the Noble\nLife should be lived, and that is the highest life.  The nirvanic\nstate can be attained while one is living on this earth.\n\n245.  Q.  _Name the ten great obstacles to advancement, called\nSanyojanas, the Fetters?_\n\nA.  Delusion of self (_Sakkaya-ditthi_); Doubt (_Vicikiccha_);\nDependence on superstitious rites (_Silabbata-paramasa_);\nSensuality, bodily passions (_Kama_); Hatred, ill-feeling\n(_Patigha_); Love of life on earth (_Ruparaga_); Desire for life\nin a heaven (_Aruparaga_); Pride (_Mana_); Self-righteousness\n(Uddhacca); Ignorance (_Avijja_).\n\n246.  Q.  _To become an Arhat, how many of these fetters must be\nbroken?_\n\nA.  All.\n\n247.  Q.  _What are the five Nirwaranas or Hindrances?_\n\nA.  Greed, Malice, Sloth, Pride, and Doubt.\n\n248.  Q.  _Why do we see this minute division of feelings, impulses,\nworkings of the mind, obstacles and aids to advancement so much used in\nthe Buddha's teachings?  It is very confusing to a beginner._\n\nA.  It is to help us to obtain knowledge of ourselves, by training our\nminds to think out every subject in detail.  By following out this\nsystem of self-examination, we come finally to acquire knowledge and\nsee truth as it is.  This is the course taken by every wise teacher to\nhelp his pupil's mind to develop.\n\n249.  Q.  _How many of the Buddha's disciples were specially renowned\nfor their superior qualities?_\n\nA.  There are eighty so distinguished.  They are called the Asiti\nMaha Savakas.\n\n250.  Q.  _What did the Buddha's wisdom embrace?_\n\nA.  He knew the nature of the Knowable and the Unknowable, the Possible\nand the Impossible, the cause of Merit and Demerit; he could read the\nthoughts of all beings; he knew the laws of Nature, the illusions of\nthe senses and the means to suppress desires; he could distinguish the\nbirth and rebirth of individuals, and other things.\n\n251.  Q.  _What do we call the basic principle on which the whole of\nthe Buddha's teaching is constructed?_\n\nA.  It is called Paticca Samuppada.[14]\n\n252.  Q.  _Is it easily grasped?_\n\nA.  It is most difficult; in fact, the full meaning and extent of it is\nbeyond the capacity of such as are not perfectly developed.\n\n253.  Q.  _What said the great commentator Buddha Ghosha about it?_\n\nA.  That even he was as helpless in this vast ocean of thought as one\nwho is drifting on the ocean of waters.\n\n254.  Q.  _Then why should the Buddha say, in the Parinibbana Sutta,\nthat he \"has no such thing as the closed fist of a teacher, who keeps\nsomething back\"?  If his whole teaching was open to every one's\ncomprehension why should so great and learned a man as Buddha Ghosha\ndeclare it so hard to understand?_\n\nA.  The Buddha evidently meant that he taught everything freely; but\nequally certain is it that the real basis of the Dharma can only be\nunderstood by him who has perfected his powers of comprehension.  It\nis, therefore, incomprehensible to common, unenlightened persons.\n\n255.  Q.  _How does the teaching of the Buddha support this view?_\n\nA.  The Buddha looked into the heart of each person, and preached to\nsuit the individual temperament and spiritual development of the hearer.\n\n\n\n[1] Mr. Childers takes a highly pessimistic view of the Nirvanic\nstate, regarding it as annihilation.  Later students disagree with him.\n\n[2] _Saranam_.  Wijesinha Mudaliar writes me: \"This word has been\nhitherto very inappropriately and erroneously rendered _Refuge_, by\nEuropean Pali scholars, and thoughtlessly so accepted by native\nPali scholars.  Neither Pali etymology nor Buddhistic\nphilosophy justifies the translation.  _Refuge_, in the sense of a\n_fleeing back or a place of shelter_, is quite foreign to true\nBuddhism, which insists on every man working out his own emancipation.\nThe root _Sr_ in Samskrt (_sara_ in Pali) means to move, to go;\nso that _Suranim_ would denote a moving, or he or that which goes\nbefore or with another--a Guide or Helper.  I construe the passage\nthus: _Gachchami_, I go, _Buddham_, to Buddha _Saranam_, as my\nGuide.  The translation of the _Tisarana_ as the \"Three Refuges,\" has\ngiven rise to much misapprehension, and has been made by anti-Buddhists\na fertile pretext for taunting Buddhists with the absurdity of taking\nrefuge in non-entities and believing in unrealities.  The term refuge\nis more applicable to Nirvana, of which _Saranam_ is a synonym.  The\nHigh Priest Sumangala also calls my attention to the fact that the\nPali root _Sara_ has the secondary meaning of killing, or that\nwhich destroys.  _Buddham saranam gachchhami_ might thus be rendered\n\"I go to Buddha, the Law, and the Order, as the destroyers of my\nfears--the first by his preaching, the second by its axiomatic truth,\nthe third by their various examples and precepts.\"\n\n[3] This qualified form refers, of course, to laymen who only profess\nto keep five precepts; a Bhikkhu must observe strict celibacy.  So,\nalso, must the laic who binds himself to observe eight of the whole ten\nPrecepts for specified periods; during these periods he must be\ncelibate.  The five Precepts were laid down by Buddha for all people.\nThough one may not be a Buddhist, yet the five and eight Precepts may\nprofitably bo observed by all.  It is the taking of the \"Three Refuges\"\nthat constitutes one a Buddhist.\n\n[4] Karma is defined as the sum total of a man's actions.  The law of\nCause and Effect is called the _Patice a Samuppada Dhamma_.  In the\n_Anguttara Nikaya_ the Buddha teaches that my action is my possession,\nmy action is my inheritance, my action is the womb which bears me, my\naction is my relative, my action is my refuge.\n\n[5] After the appearance of the first edition, I received from one of\nthe ablest Pali scholars of Ceylon, the late L. Corneille\nWijesinha, Esq., Mudaliar of Matale, what seems a better rendering of\n_Dhammacakka-ppavattana_ than the one previously given; he makes it\n\"The Establishment of the Reign of Law\".  Professor Rhys-Davids\nprefers, \"The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness\".  Mr.\nWijesinha writes me: \"You may use 'Kingdom of Righteousness,' too, but\nit savours more of dogmatic theology than of philosophic ethics.\n_Dhammacakkappavattana suttum_ is the discourse entitled 'The\nEstablishment of the Reign of Law'.\"  Having shown this to the High\nPriest, I am happy to be able to say that he assents to Mr. Wijesinha's\nrendering.\n\n[6] The mixing of these arts and practices with Buddhism is a sign of\ndeterioration.  Their facts and phenomena are real and capable of\nscientific explanation.  They are embraced in the term \"magic,\" but\nwhen resorted to, for selfish purposes, attract bad influences about\none, and impede spiritual advancement.  When employed for harmless and\nbeneficent purposes, such as healing the sick, saving life, etc., the\nBuddha permitted their use.\n\n[7] A Buddhist ascetic who, by a prescribed course of practice, has\nattained to a superior state of spiritual and intellectual development.\nArhats may be divided into the two general groups of the\n_Samathayanika_ and _Sukkha Vipassaka_.  The former have destroyed\ntheir passions, and fully developed their intellectual capacity or\nmystical insight; the latter have equally conquered passion, but not\nacquired the superior mental powers.  The former can work phenomena,\nthe latter cannot.  The Arhat of the former class, when fully\ndeveloped, is no longer a prey to the delusions of the senses, nor the\nslave of passion or mortal frailty.  _He penetrates to the root of\nwhatsoever subject his mind is applied to_ without following the slow\nprocesses of reasoning.  His self-conquest is complete; and in place of\nthe emotion and desire which vex and enthral the ordinary man, he is\nlifted up into a condition which is best expressed in the term\n\"Nirvanic\".  There is in Ceylon a popular misconception that the\nattainment of Arhatship is now impossible; that the Buddha had himself\nprophesied that the power would die out in one millennium after his\ndeath.  This rumour--and the similar one that is everywhere heard in\nIndia, _viz._, that this being the dark cycle of the _Kali Yuga_, the\npractice of Yoga Vidya, or sublime spiritual science, is\nimpossible--I ascribe to the ingenuity of those who should be as pure\nand (to use a non-Buddhistic but very convenient term) psychically wise\nas were their predecessors, but are not, and who therefore seek an\nexcuse!  The Buddha taught quite the contrary idea.  In the _Niga\nNikaya_ he said: \"Hear, Subbhadra!  The world will never be without\nArhats if the ascetics (Bhikkhus) in my congregations _well and truly\nkeep my precepts_.\"  (_Imeccha Subhaddabhikkhu samma vihareiyum asunno\nloko Arahantehiassa._)\n\n[8] Kolb, in his _History of Culture_, says: \"It is Buddhism we have to\nthank for the sparing of prisoners of war, who heretofore had been\nslain; also for the discontinuance of the carrying away into captivity\nof the inhabitants of conquered lands.\"\n\n[9] The fifth Sila has reference to the mere taking of intoxicants\nand stupefying drugs, which leads ultimately to drunkenness.\n\n[10] The \"soul\" here criticised is the equivalent of the Greek\n_psuche_.  The word \"material\" covers other states of matter than that\nof the physical body.\n\n[11] Upon reflection, I have substituted \"personality\" for\n\"individuality\" as written in the first edition.  The successive\nappearances upon one or many earths, or \"descents into generation,\" of\nthe _tanhaically_-coherent parts (_Skandhas_) of a certain being are a\nsuccession of personalities.  In each birth the _personality_ differs\nfrom that of the previous, or next succeeding birth.  Karma the _deus\nex machina_, masks (or shall we say reflects?) itself, now in the\npersonality of a sage, again as an artisan, and so on throughout the\nstring of births.  But though personalities ever shift, the one line of\nlife along which they are strung like beads, runs unbroken, it is ever\n_that particular line_, never any other.  It is therefore\nindividual--an individual vital undulation--which is careering through\nthe objective side of Nature, under the impulse of Karma and the\ncreative direction of Tanha and persists through many cyclic\nchanges.  Professor Rhys-Davids calls that which passes from\npersonality to personality along the individual chain, \"character\" or\n\"doing\".  Since \"character\" is not a mere metaphysical abstraction, but\nthe sum of one's mental qualities and moral propensities, would it not\nhelp to dispel what Professor Rhys-Davids calls \"the desperate\nexpedient of a mystery\" (_Buddhism_, p. 101), if we regarded the\nlife-undulation as individuality and each of its series of natal\nmanifestations as a separate personality?  We _must_ have two words to\ndistinguish between the concepts, and I find none so clear and\nexpressive as the two I have chosen.  The perfected individual,\nBuddhistically speaking, is a Buddha, I should say; for a Buddha is but\nthe rare flower of humanity, without the least supernatural admixture.\nAnd, as countless generations--\"four_ asankhyyas_ and a hundred\nthousand cycles\" (Fausboll and Rhys-David's _Buddhist Birth Stories_,\nNo. 13)--are required to develop a man into a Buddha, and _the iron\nwill to become one runs throughout all the successive births_, what\nshall we call that which thus wills and perseveres?  Character, or\nindividuality?  An individuality, but partly manifested in any one\nbirth, built up of fragments from all the births.\n\nThe denial of \"Soul\" by Buddha (see _Sanyutta Nikaya_, the _Sutta\nPitaka_) points to the prevalent delusive belief in an independent\npersonality; an entity, which after one birth would go to a fixed place\nor state where, as a perfect entity, it could eternally enjoy or\nsuffer.  And what he shows is that the \"I am I\" consciousness is, as\nregards permanency, logically impossible, since its elementary\nconstituents constantly change and the \"I\" of one birth differs from\nthe \"I\" of every other birth.  But everything that I have found in\nBuddhism accords with the theory of a gradual evolution of the\nperfected man--_viz._, a Buddha--through numberless natal experiences.\nAnd in the consciousness of that individual who, at the end of a given\nchain of births, attains Buddhahood, or who succeeds in attaining the\nfourth stage of Dhyana, or mystic self-development, in any of his\nbirths anterior to the final one, the scenes of all these serial births\nare perceptible.  In the _Jatakat-thavannana_--so well translated by\nProfessor Rhys-Davids--an expression continually recurs which, I think,\nrather supports such an idea, _viz._: \"Then the Blessed One _made\nmanifest an occurrence hidden by change of birth_,\" or \"that which had\nbeen hidden by,\" etc.  Early Buddhism then clearly held to a permanency\nof records in the Akasha, and the potential capacity of man to\nread the same when he has evolved to the stage of true individual\nenlightenment.  At death, and in convulsions and trance, the _javana\nchitta_ is transferred to the object last created by the desires.\nThe will to live brings all thoughts into objectivity.\n\n[12] The student may profitably consult Schopenhauer in this\nconnection.  Arthur Schopenhauer, a modern German philosopher of the\nmost eminent ability, taught that \"the Principle or Radical, of Nature,\nand of all her objects, the human body included, is, intrinsically what\nwe ourselves are the most conscious of in our own body, _viz._, Will.\nIntellect is a secondary capacity of the primary will, a function of\nthe brain in which this will reflects itself as Nature and object and\nbody, as in a mirror...  Intellect is secondary, but may lead, in\nsaints, to a complete renunciation of will, as far as it urges \"life\"\nand is then extinguished in Nirvana (L. A. Sanders in _The\nTheosophist_ for May 1882, p. 213).\n\n[13] Physiologically speaking, man's body is completely changed every\nseven years.\n\n[14] This fundamental or basic principle may be designated in\nPali, _Nidana_--chain of causation or, literally, \"Origination\nof dependence\".  Twelve _Nidanas_ are specified, _viz._:\n_Avijja_--ignorance of the truth of natural religion;\n_Samkhara_--causal action, karma; _Vi\u00f1\u00f1ana_--consciousness of\npersonality, the \"I am I\"; _Nama rupa_--name and form;\n_Salayatana_--six senses; _Phassa_--contact, _Vedana_--feeling,\n_Tanha_--desire for enjoyment; _Upadana_--clinging,\n_Bhava_--individualising existence; _Jati_--birth, caste; _Jara,\nnarana, sokaparidesa, dukkha, domanassa, upayasa_--decay, death,\ngrief, lamentation, despair.\n\n\n\n\nPART III\n\nTHE SANGHA\n\n\n256.  Q.  _How do Buddhist Bhikkhus differ from the priests of other\nreligions?_\n\nA.  In other religions the priests claim to be intercessors between men\nand God, to help to obtain pardon of sins; the Buddhist Bhikkhus do not\nacknowledge or expect anything from a divine power.\n\n257.  Q.  _But why then was it worth while to create this Order, or\nBrotherhood, or Society, apart from the whole body of the people, if\nthey were not to do what other religious orders do?_\n\nA.  The object in view was to cause the most virtuous, intelligent,\nunselfish and spiritually-minded persons to withdraw from the social\nsurroundings where their sensual and other selfish desires were\nnaturally strengthened, devote their lives to the acquisition of the\nhighest wisdom, and fit themselves to teach and guide others out of the\npleasant path leading towards misery, into the harder path that leads\nto true happiness and final liberation.\n\n258.  Q.  _Besides the Eight, what two additional observances are\nobligatory upon the Bhikkhus?_\n\nA.  I observe the precept to abstain from dancing, singing and\nunbecoming shows.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from receiving gold or silver.\n\nThe whole _Dasa_, or _Bhikkhu Sila_ or Ten Precepts, are binding on\n_all_ Bhikkhus and _Samaneras_, or novices, but optional with lay\ndevotees.\n\nThe _Atthanga Sila_ are for those who aspire to higher stages beyond\nthe heavenly regions,[1] aspirants after Nirvana.\n\n259.  Q.  _Are there separate Rules and Precepts for the guidance and\ndiscipline of the Order?_\n\nA.  Yes: there are 250, but all come under the following four heads:\n\nPrincipal Disciplinary Rules {_Patimokkha Samvara Sila_).\n\nObservances for the repression of the senses (_Indriya Samvara\nSila_).\n\nRegulations for justly procuring and using food, diet, robes, etc.,\n(_Paccaya Sannissita Sila_).\n\nDirections for leading an unblemished life (_Ajivapari Suddha Sila_).\n\n260.  Q.  _Enumerate some crimes and offences that Bhikkhus are\nparticularly prohibited from committing?_\n\nA.  Real Bhikkhus abstain from:\n\nDestroying the life of beings;\n\nStealing;\n\nFalse exhibition of \"occult\" powers to deceive anybody;\n\nSexual intercourse;\n\nFalsehood;\n\nThe use of intoxicating liquors, and eating at unseasonable times;\n\nDancing, singing, and unbecoming shows;\n\nUsing garlands, scents, perfumes, etc.;\n\nUsing high and broad beds, couches, or seats; receiving presents of\ngold, silver, raw grain and meat, women, and maidens, slaves, cattle,\nelephants, etc.;\n\nDefaming;\n\nUsing harsh and reproachful language;\n\nIdle talk;\n\nReading and hearing fabulous stories and tales;\n\nCarrying messages to and from laymen;\n\nBuying and selling;\n\nCheating, bribing, deception, and fraud;\n\nImprisoning, plundering, and threatening others;\n\nThe practice of certain specified magical arts and sciences, such as\nfortune-telling, astrological predictions, palmistry, and other\nsciences, that go under the name of magic.  Any of these would retard\nthe progress of one who aimed at the attainment of Nirvana.\n\n261.  Q.  _What are the duties of Bhikkhus to the laity?_\n\nA.  Generally, to set them an example of the highest morality; to teach\nand instruct them; to preach and expound the Law; to recite the\n_Paritta_ (comforting texts) to the sick, and publicly in times of\npublic calamity, when requested to do so; and unceasingly to exhort the\npeople to virtuous actions.  They should dissuade them from vice; be\ncompassionate and tender-hearted, and seek to promote the welfare of\nall beings.\n\n262.  Q.  _What are the rules for admission into the Order?_\n\nA.  The candidate is not often taken before his tenth year; he must\nhave the consent of his parents; be free from leprosy, boils,\nconsumption and fits; be a free man; have no debts; and must not be a\ncriminal or deformed or in the royal service.\n\n263.  Q.  _As a novice what is he called?_\n\nA.  _Samanera_, a pupil.[2]\n\n264.  Q.  _At what age can a Samanera be ordained as _Sramana_--monk?_\n\nA.  Not before his twentieth year.\n\n265.  Q.  When ready for ordination what happens?\n\nA.  At a meeting of Bhikkhus he is presented by a Bhikkhu as his\nproposer, who reports that he is qualified, and the candidate says: \"I\nask the Sangha, Reverend Sirs, for the _Upasampada_ (ordination)\nceremony, etc.\"\n\nHis introducer then recommends that he be admitted.  He is then\naccepted.\n\n266.  Q.  _What then?_\n\nA.  He puts on the robes and repeats the Three Refuges {_Tisarana_) and\nTen Precepts (_Dasa Sila_.)\n\n267.  Q.  _What are the two essentials to be observed?_\n\nA.  Poverty and Chastity.  A Bhikkhu before ordination must possess\neight things, _viz._, his robes, a girdle for his loins, a\nbegging-bowl, water-strainer, razor, needle, fan, sandals.  Within\nlimitations strictly specified in the Vinaya, he may hold certain\nother properties.\n\n268.  Q.  _What about the public confession of faults?_\n\nA.  Once every fortnight, a _Patimokka_ (Disburdenment) ceremony is\nperformed, when every Bhikkhu confesses to the assembly such faults as\nhe has committed and takes such penances as may be prescribed.\n\n269.  Q.  _What daily routine must he follow?_\n\nA.  He rises before daylight, washes, sweeps the vihara, sweeps\naround the Bo-tree that grows near every vihara, brings the\ndrinking-water for the day and filters it; retires for meditation,\noffers flowers before the dagoba, or relic-mound, or before the\nBo-tree; then takes his begging-bowl and goes from house to house\ncollecting food--which he must not ask for, but receive in his bowl as\ngiven voluntarily by the householders.  He returns, bathes his feet and\neats, after which he resumes meditation.\n\n270.  Q.  _Must we believe that there is no merit in the offering of\nflowers (mala puja) as an act of worship?_\n\nA.  That act itself is without merit as a mere formality; but if one\noffers a flower as the sweetest, purest expression of heartfelt\nreverence for a holy being, then, indeed, is the offering an act of\nennobling worship.\n\n271.  Q.  _What next does the Bhikkhu do?_\n\nA.  He pursues his studies.  At sunset he again sweeps the sacred\nplaces, lights a lamp, listens to the instructions of his superior, and\nconfesses to him any fault he may have committed.\n\n272.  Q.  _Upon what are his four earnest meditations\n(Sati-patthana) made?_\n\nA.  1.  On the body, Kayanapassana.\n    2.  On the feeling, Vedananupassana.\n    3.  On the mind, Chittannpassana.\n    4.  On the doctrine, Dhammanupassana.\n\n273.  Q.  _What is the aim of the four Great Efforts\n(Sammappadhana)?_\n\nA.  To suppress one's animal desires and grow in goodness.\n\n274.  Q.  _For the perception by the Bhikkhu of the highest truth, is\nreason said to be the best, or intuition?_\n\nA.  Intuition--a mental state in which any desired truth is\ninstantaneously grasped.\n\n275.  Q.  _And when can that development be reached?_\n\nA.  When one, by the practice of J\u00f1ana, comes to its fourth stage of\nunfolding.\n\n276.  Q.  _Are we to believe that in the final stage of J\u00f1ana, and\nin the condition called Samadhi, the mind is a blank and thought is\narrested?_\n\nA.  Quite the contrary.  It is then that one's consciousness is most\nintensely active, and one's power to gain knowledge correspondingly\nvast.\n\n277.  Q.  _Try to give me a simile?_\n\nA.  In the ordinary waking state one's view of knowledge is as limited\nas the sight of a man who walks on a road between high hills; in the\nhigher consciousness of J\u00f1ana and _Samadhi_ it is like the sight\nof the eagle poised in the upper sky and overlooking a whole country.\n\n278.  Q.  _What do our books say about the Buddha's use of this\nfaculty?_\n\nA.  They tell us that it was his custom, every morning, to glance over\nthe world and, by his divine (clairvoyant) sight, see where there were\npersons ready to receive the truth.  He would then contrive, if\npossible, that it should reach them.  When persons visited him he would\nlook into their minds, read their secret motives, and then preach to\nthem according to their needs.\n\n\n\n[1] The Upasaka and Upasika observe these on the Buddhist\n_Uposatha_ (Sabbath) days (in Skr. _Upavasata_).  They are the 8th,\n14th and 15th days of each half lunar month.\n\n[2] The relationship to his Guru, or teacher, is almost like that of\ngodson to godfather among Christians, only more real, for the teacher\nbecomes father, mother, family and all to him.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV\n\nTHE RISE AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM\n\n\n279.  Q.  _As regards the number its followers, how does Buddhism at\nthis date compare with the other chief religions?_\n\nA.  The followers of the Buddha Dharma outnumber those of every other\nreligion.\n\n280.  Q.  _What is the estimated number?_\n\nA.  About five hundred millions (5,000 lakhs or 500 crores): this is\nfive-thirteenths, or not quite half, of the estimated population of the\nglobe.\n\n281.  Q.  _Have many great battles been fought and many countries\nconquered; has much human blood been spilt to spread the Buddha Dharma?_\n\nA.  History does not record one of those cruelties and crimes as having\nbeen committed to propagate our religion.  So far as we know, it has\nnot caused the spilling of a drop of blood.  (See footnote\n_ante_--Professor Kolb's testimony.)\n\n282.  Q.  _What, then, is the secret of its wonderful spread?_\n\n\nA.  It can be nothing else than its intrinsic excellence: its\nself-evident basis of truth, its sublime moral teaching, and its\nsufficiency for all human needs.\n\n283.  Q.  _How has it been propagated?_\n\nA.  The Buddha, during the forty-five years of his life as a Teacher,\ntravelled widely in India and preached the Dharma.  He sent his wisest\nand best disciples to do the same throughout India.\n\n284.  Q.  _When did He send for his pioneer missionaries?_\n\nA.  On the full-moon day of the month _Wap_ (October).\n\n285.  Q.  _What did he tell them?_\n\nA.  He called them together and said: \"Go forth, Bhikkhus, go and\npreach the law to the world.  Work for the good of others as well as\nfor your own....  Bear ye the glad tidings to every man.  Let no two of\nyou take the same way.\"\n\n286.  Q.  _How long before the Christian era did this happen?_\n\nA.  About six centuries.\n\n287.  Q.  _What help did Kings give?_\n\nA.  Besides the lower classes, great Kings, Rajas and\nMaharajas were converted and gave their influence to spread\nthe religion.\n\n288.  Q.  _What about pilgrims?_\n\nA.  Learned pilgrims came in different centuries to India and carried\nback with them books and teachings to their native lands.  So,\ngradually, whole nations forsook their own faiths and became Buddhists.\n\n289.  Q.  _To whom, more than to any other person, is the world\nindebted for the permanent establishment of Buddha's religion?_\n\nA.  To the Emperor Ashoka, surnamed the Great, sometimes Piyadasi,\nsometimes Dharmashoka.  He was the son of Bindusara, King of\nMagadha, arid grandson of Chandragupta, who drove the Greeks out of\nIndia.\n\n290.  Q.  _When did he reign?_\n\nA.  In the third century B.C., about two centuries after the Buddha's\ntime.  Historians disagree as to his exact date, but not very greatly.\n\n291.  Q.  _What made him great?_\n\nA.  He was the most powerful monarch in Indian history, as warrior and\nas statesman; but his noblest characteristics were his love of truth\nand justice, tolerance of religious differences, equity of government,\nkindness to the sick, to the poor, and to animals.  His name is revered\nfrom Siberia to Ceylon.\n\n292.  Q.  _Was he born a Buddhist?_\n\nA.  No, he was converted in the tenth year after his anointment as\nKing, by Nigrodha Samanera, an Arhat.\n\n293.  Q.  _What did he do for Buddhism?_\n\nA.  He drove out bad Bhikkhus, encouraged good ones, built monasteries\nand dagobas everywhere, established gardens, opened hospitals for\nmen and animals, convened a council at Patna to revise and re-establish\nthe Dharma, promoted female religious education, and sent embassies to\nfive Greek kings, his allies, and to all the sovereigns of India, to\npreach the doctrines of the Buddha.  It was he who built the monuments\nat Kapilavastu, Buddha Gaya, Isipatana and Kusinara, our four\nchief places of pilgrimage, besides thousands more.\n\n294.  Q.  _What absolute proofs exist as to his noble character?_\n\nA.  Within recent years there have been discovered, in all parts of\nIndia, fourteen Edicts of his, inscribed on living rocks, and eight on\npillars erected by his orders.  They fully prove him to have been one\nof the wisest and most high-minded sovereigns who ever lived.\n\n29.5.  Q.  _What character do these inscriptions give to Buddhism?_\n\nA.  They show it to be a religion of noble tolerance, of universal\nbrotherhood, of righteousness and justice.  It has no taint of\nselfishness, sectarianism or intolerance.  They have done more than\nanything else to win for it the respect in which it is now held by the\ngreat pandits of western countries.\n\n296.  Q.  _What most precious gift did Dharmashoka make to Buddhism?_\n\nA.  He gave his beloved son, Mahinda, and daughter, Sanghamitta, to the\nOrder, and sent them to Ceylon to introduce the religion.\n\n297.  Q.  _Is this fact recorded in the history of Ceylon?_\n\nA.  Yes, it is all recorded in the Mahavansa, by the keepers of the\nroyal records, who were then living and saw the missionaries.\n\n298.  Q.  _Is there some proof of Sanghamitta's mission still visible?_\n\nA.  Yes; she brought with her to Ceylon a branch of the very Bodhi tree\nunder which the Buddha sat when he became Enlightened, and it is still\ngrowing.\n\n299.  Q.  _Where?_\n\nA.  At Annradhapura.  The history of it has been officially\npreserved to the present time.  Planted in 306 B.C., it is the oldest\nhistorical tree in the world.\n\n300.  Q.  _Who was the reigning sovereign at that time?_\n\nA.  Devanampiyatissa.  His consort, Queen Anula, had invited\nSanghamitta to come and establish the Bhikkhuni branch of the Order.\n\n301.  Q.  _Who came with Sanghamitta?_\n\nA.  Many other Bhikkhunis.  She, in due time, admitted the Queen and\nmany of her ladies, together with five hundred virgins, into the Order.\n\n302.  Q.  _Can we trace the effects of the foreign work of the Emperor\nAshoka's missionaries?_\n\nA.  His son and daughter introduced Buddhism into Ceylon: his monks\ngave it to the whole of Northern India, to fourteen Indian nations\noutside its boundaries, and to five Greek kings, his allies, with whom\nhe made treaties to admit his religious preachers.\n\n303.  Q.  _Can you name them?_\n\nA.  ANTIOCHUS of Syria, PTOLEMY of Egypt, ANTIGONUS of Macedon, MARGAS\nof Cyrene, and ALEXANDER of Epiros.\n\n 304.  Q.  _Where do we learn this?_\n\nA.  From the Edicts themselves of Ashoka the Great, inscribed by him on\nrocks and stone pillars, which are still standing and can be seen by\neverybody who chooses to visit the places.\n\n305.  Q.  _Through what western religious brotherhoods did the Buddha\nDharma mingle itself with western thought?_\n\nA.  Through the sects of the Therapeuts of Egypt and the Essenes of\nPalestine.\n\n306.  Q.  _When were Buddhist books first introduced into China?_\n\nA.  As early as the second or third century B.C.  Five of\nDharmashoka's monks are said--in the Samanta Pasadika and the\nSarattha Dipani--two Pali books--to have been sent to\nthe five divisions of China.\n\n307.  Q.  _Whence and when did it reach Korea?_\n\nA.  From China, in the year A. D. 372.\n\n308.  Q.  _Whence and when did it reach Japan?_\n\nA.  From Korea, in A. D. 552.\n\n309.  Q.  _Whence and when did it reach Cochin China, Formosa, Java,\nMongolia, Yorkand, Balk, Bokhara, Afghanistan and other Central Asian\ncountries?_\n\nA.  Apparently in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.\n\n310.  Q.  _From Ceylon, whither and when did it spread?_\n\nA.  To Burma, in A.D. 450, and thence gradually into Arakan, Kamboya\nand Pegu.  In the seventh century (A.D. 638) it spread to Siam, where\nit is now, as it has been always since then, the State religion.\n\n311.  Q.  _From Kashmir, where else did it spread besides to China?_\n\nA.  To Nepal and Tibet.\n\n312.  Q.  Why is it that Buddhism, which was once the prevailing\nreligion throughout India, is now almost extinct there?\n\nA.  Buddhism was at first pure and noble, the very teaching of the\nTathagata; its Sangha were virtuous and observed the Precepts; it won\nall hearts and spread joy through many nations, as the morning light\nsends life through the flowers.  But after some centuries, bad Bhikkhus\ngot ordination (_Upasampada_) the Sangha became rich, lazy, and\nsensual, the Dharma was corrupted, and the Indian nation abandoned it.\n\n313.  Q.  _Did anything happen about the ninth or tenth century A.D. to\nhasten its downfall?_\n\nA.  Yes.\n\n314.  Q.  _Anything besides the decay of spirituality, the corruption\nof the Sangha, and the reaction of the populace from a higher ideal of\nman to unintelligent idolatry?_\n\nA.  Yes.  It is said that the Mussalmans invaded, overran and\nconquered large areas of India; everywhere doing their utmost to stamp\nout our religion.\n\n315.  Q.  _What cruel acts are they charged with doing?_\n\nA.  They burnt, pulled down or otherwise destroyed our viharas,\nslaughtered our Bhikkhus, and consumed with fire our religious books.\n\n316.  Q.  _Was our literature completely destroyed in India?_\n\nA.  No.  Many Bhikkhus fled across the borders into Tibet and other\nsafe places of refuge, carrying their books with them.\n\n317.  Q.  _Have any traces of these books been recently discovered?_\n\nA.  Yes.  Rai Bhadur Sarat Chandra Das, C.I.E., a noted Bengali\npandit, saw hundreds of them in the vihara libraries of Tibet,\nbrought copies of some of the most important back with him, and is now\nemployed by the Government of India in editing and publishing them.\n\n318.  Q.  _In which country have we reason to believe the sacred books\nof primitive Buddhism have been best preserved and least corrupted?_\n\nA.  Ceylon.  The _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ says that in this island\nBuddhism has, for specified reasons, \"retained almost its pristine\npurity to modern times\".\n\n319.  Q.  _Has any revision of the text of the Pitakas been made in\nmodern times?_\n\nA.  Yes.  A careful revision of the Vinaya Pitaka was made in Ceylon\nin the year A.D. 1875, by a convention of the most learned Bhikkhus,\nunder the presidency of H. Sumangala, Pradhana Sthavira.\n\n320.  Q.  _Has there been any friendly intercourse in the interest of\nBuddhism between the peoples of the Southern and those of the Northern\nBuddhist countries?_\n\nA.  In the year A.D. 1891, a successful attempt was made to get the\nPradhana Nayakas of the two great divisions to agree to accept\nfourteen propositions as embodying fundamental Buddhistic beliefs\nrecognised and taught by both divisions.  These propositions, drafted\nby Colonel Olcott, were carefully translated into Burmese, Sinhalese\nand Japanese, discussed one by one, unanimously adopted and signed by\nthe chief monks, and published in January 1892.\n\n321.  Q.  _With what good result?_\n\nA.  As the result of the good understanding now existing, a number of\nJapanese bhikkhus and samaneras have been sent to Ceylon and India to\nstudy Pali and Samskrt.\n\n322.  Q.  _Are there signs that the Buddha Dharma is growing in favour\nin non-Buddhistic countries?_[1]\n\nA.  There are.  Translations of our more valuable books are appearing,\nmany articles in reviews, magazines and newspapers are being published,\nand excellent original treatises by distinguished writers are coming\nfrom the press.  Moreover, Buddhist and non-Buddhist lecturers are\npublicly discoursing on Buddhism to large audiences in western\ncountries.  The Shin Shu sect of Japanese Buddhists have actually\nopened missions at Honolulu, San Francisco, Sacramento and other\nAmerican places.\n\n323.  Q.  _What two leading ideas of ours are chiefly taking hold upon\nthe western mind?_\n\nA.  Those of Karma and Reincarnation.  The rapidity of their acceptance\nis very surprising.\n\n324.  Q.  _What is believed to be the explanation of this?_\n\nA.  Their appeals to the natural instinct of justice, and their evident\nreasonableness.\n\n\n\n[1] See Appendix.\n\n\n\n\nPART V\n\nBUDDHISM AND SCIENCE\n\n325.  Q.  _Has Buddhism any right to be considered a scientific\nreligion, or may it be classified as a \"revealed\" one?_\n\nA.  Most emphatically it is not a revealed religion.  The Buddha did\nnot so preach, nor is it so understood.  On the contrary, he gave it\nout as the statement of eternal truths, which his predecessors had\ntaught like himself.\n\n326.  Q.  _Repeat again the name of the Sutta, in which the Buddha\ntells us not to believe in an alleged revelation without testing it by\none's reason and experience?_\n\nA.  The Kalama Sutta, of the Anguthara Nikaya.\n\n327.  Q.  _Do Buddhists accept the theory that everything has been\nformed out of nothing by a Creator?_\n\nA.  The Buddha taught that two things are causeless, _viz._,\nAkasha, and Nirvana.  Everything has come ont of Akasha,\nin obedience to a law of motion inherent in it, and, after a certain\nexistence, passes away.  Nothing ever came out of nothing.  We do not\nbelieve in miracles; hence we deny creation, and cannot conceive of a\ncreation of something out of nothing.  Nothing organic is eternal.\nEverything is in a state of constant flux, and undergoing change and\nreformation, keeping up the continuity according to the law of\nevolution.\n\n328.  Q.  _Is Buddhism opposed to education, and to the study of\nscience?_\n\nA.  Quite the contrary: in the _Sigalowada Sutta_ in a discourse\npreached by the Buddha, He specified as one of the duties of a teacher\nthat he should give his pupils \"instruction in science and lore\".  The\nBuddha's higher teachings are for the enlightened, the wise, and the\nthoughtful.\n\n329.  Q.  _Can you show any further endorsement of Buddhism by science?_\n\nA.  The Buddha's doctrine teaches that there were many progenitors of\nthe human race; also that there is a principle of differentiation among\nmen; certain individuals have a greater capacity for the rapid\nattainment of Wisdom and arrival at Nirvana than others.\n\n330.  Q.  _Any other?_\n\nA.  Buddhism supports the teaching of the indestructibility of force.\n\n331.  Q.  _Should Buddhism be called a chart of science or a code of\nmorals?_\n\nA.  Properly speaking, a pure moral philosophy, a system of ethics and\ntranscendental metaphysics.  It is so eminently practical that the\nBuddha kept silent when Malunka asked about the origin of things.\n\n332.  Q.  _Why did he do that?_\n\nA.  Because he thought that our chief aim should be to see things as\nthey exist around us and try to make them better, not to waste time in\nintellectual speculations.\n\n333.  Q.  _What do Buddhists say is the reason for the occasional birth\nof very good and wise children of bad parents, and that of very bad\nones of good parents?_\n\nA.  It is because of the respective Karmas of children and parents;\neach may have deserved that such unusual relationships should be formed\nin the present birth.\n\n334.  Q.  _Is anything said about the body of the Buddha giving out a\nbright light?_\n\nA.  Yes, there was a divine radiance sent forth from within by the\npower of his holiness.\n\n335.  Q.  _What is it called in Pali?_\n\nA.  Buddharansi, the Buddha rays.\n\n336.  Q.  _How many colours could be seen in it?_\n\nA.  Six, linked in pairs.\n\n337.  Q.  _Their names?_\n\nA.  Nila, Pita, Lohita, Avadata, Mangasta, Prabhasvra.\n\n338.  Q.  _Did other persons emit such shining light?_\n\nA.  Yes, all Arhats did and, in fact, the light shines stronger and\nbrighter in proportion to the spiritual development of the person.\n\n339.  Q.  _Where do we see these colours represented?_\n\nA.  In all viharas where there are painted images of the Buddha.\nThey are also seen in the stripes of the Buddhist Flag, first made in\nCeylon but now widely adopted throughout Buddhist countries.\n\n340.  Q.  _In which discourse does the Buddha himself speak of this\nshining about him?_\n\nA.  In the _Maha-Parinibbana Sutta_, Ananda his favourite\ndisciple, noticing the great splendour which  came  from  his  Master's\nbody, the Buddha said that on two occasions this extraordinary shining\noccurs, (_a_) just after a Tathagata gains the supreme insight,\nand (_b_) on the night when he passes finally away.\n\n341.  Q.  _Where do we read of this great brightness being emitted from\nthe body of another Buddha?_\n\nA.  In the story of Sumedha and Dipankara Buddha, found in the\n_Nidanakatha_ of the _Jataka_ book, or story of the\nreincarnations of the Bodhisattva Siddhartha Gautama.\n\n342.  Q.  _How is it described?_\n\nA.  As a halo of a fathom's depth.\n\n343.  Q.  _What do the Hindus call it?_\n\nA.  _Tejas_; its extended radiance they call Prakasha.\n\n344.  Q.  _What do Europeans call it now?_\n\nA.  The human aura.\n\n345.  Q.  _What great scientist has proved the existence of this aura\nby carefully conducted experiments?_\n\nA.  The Baron Von Reichenbach.  His experiments are fully described in\nhis _Researches_, published in 1844-5.  Dr. Baraduc, of Paris, has,\nquite recently, photographed this light.\n\n346.  Q.  _Is this bright aura a miracle or a natural phenomenon?_\n\nA.  Natural.  It has been proved that not only all human beings but\nanimals, trees, plants and even stones have it.\n\n347.  Q.  _What peculiarity has it in the case of a Buddha or an Arhat?_\n\nA.  It is immensely brighter and more extended than in cases of other\nbeings and objects.  It is the evidence of their superior development\nin the power of _Iddhi_.  The light has been seen coming from\ndagobas in Ceylon where relics of the Buddha are said to be\nenshrined.\n\n348.  Q.  _Do people of other religions besides Buddhism and\nHinduism also believe in this light?_\n\nA.  Yes, in all pictures of Christian artists this light is represented\nas shining about the bodies of their holy personages.  The same belief\nis found to have existed in other religions.\n\n349.  Q.  _What historical incident supports the modern theory of\nhypnotic suggestion?_\n\nA.  That of Chullapanthaka, as told in the Pali Commentary on the\n_Dhammapada_, etc.\n\n350.  Q.  _Give me the facts._\n\nA.  He was a bhikkhu who became an Arhat.  On that very day the Buddha\nsent a messenger to call him.  When the man reached the Vihara, he\nsaw three hundred bhikkhus in one group, each exactly like the others\nin every respect.  On his asking which was Chullapanthaka, every one of\nthe three hundred figures replied: \"I am Chullapanthaka.\"\n\n351.  Q.  _What did the messenger do?_\n\nA.  In his confusion he returned and reported to the Buddha.\n\n352.  Q.  _What did the Buddha then tell him?_\n\nA.  To return to the vihara and, if the same thing happened, to\ncatch by the arm the _first_ figure who said he was Chullapanthaka and\nlead him to him.  The Buddha knew that the new Arhat would make this\ndisplay of his acquired power to impress illusionary pictures of\nhimself upon the messenger.\n\n353.  Q.  _What is this power of illusion called in Pali?_\n\nA.  _Manomaya Iddhi_.\n\n354.  Q.  _Were the illusionary copies of the Arhat's person material?\nWere they composed of substance and could they have been felt and\nhandled by the messenger?_\n\nA.  No; they were pictures impressed by his thought and trained\nwill-power upon the messenger's mind.\n\n355.  Q.  _To what would you compare them?_\n\nA.  To a man's reflection in a mirror, being exactly like him yet\nwithout solidity.\n\n356.  Q.  _To make such an illusion on the messenger's mind, what was\nnecessary?_\n\nA.  That Chullapanthaka should clearly conceive in his own mind his\nexact appearance, and then impress that, with as many duplicates or\nrepetitions as he chose, upon the sensitive brain of the messenger.\n\n357.  Q.  _What is this process now called?_\n\nA.  Hypnotic suggestion.\n\n358.  Q.  _Could any third party have also seen these illusionary\nfigures?_\n\nA.  That would depend on the will of the Arhat or hypnotiser.\n\n359.  Q.  _What do you mean?_\n\nA.  Supposing that fifty or five hundred persons were there, instead of\none, the Arhat could will that the illusion should be seen by all\nalike; or, if he chose, he could will that the messenger should be the\nonly one to see them.\n\n360.  Q.  _Is this branch of science well known in our day?_\n\nA.  Very well known; it is familiar to all students of mesmerism and\nhypnotism.\n\n361.  Q.  _In what does our modern scientific belief support the theory\nof Karma, as taught in Buddhism?_\n\nA.  Modern scientists teach that every generation of men is heir to the\nconsequences of the virtues and the vices of the preceding generation,\nnot in the mass, as such, but in every individual case.  Every one of\nus, according to Buddhism, gets a birth which represents the causes\ngenerated by him in an antecedent birth.  This is the idea of Karma.\n\n362.  Q.  _What say the Vasettha Sutta about the causation in\nNature?_\n\nA.  It says: \"The world exists by cause; all things exist by cause, all\nbeings are bound by cause.\"\n\n363.  Q.  _Does Buddhism teach the unchangeableness of the visible\nuniverse; our earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the mineral,\nvegetable, animal and human kingdoms?_\n\nA.  No.  It teaches that all are constantly changing, and all must\ndisappear in course of time.\n\n364.  Q.  _Never to reappear?_\n\nA.  Not so: the principle of evolution, guided by Karma, individual and\ncollective, will evolve another universe with its contents, as our\nuniverse was evolved out of the Akasha.\n\n365.  Q.  _Does Buddhism admit that man has in his nature any latent\npowers for the production of phenomena commonly called \"miracles\"?_\n\nA.  Yes; but they are natural, not supernatural.  They may be developed\nby a certain system which is laid down in our sacred books, the\nVisuddhi Marga for instance.\n\n366.  Q.  _What is this branch of science called?_\n\nA.  The Pali name is Iddhi-vidhanana.\n\n367.  Q.  _How many kinds are there?_\n\nA.  Two:  _Bahira_, _i.e._, one in which the phenomena-working power\nmay be temporarily obtained by ascetic practices and also by resort to\ndrugs, the recitation of _mantras_ (charms), or other extraneous aids;\nand _Sasaniks_, that in which the power in question is acquired by\ninterior self-development, and covers all and more than the phenomena\nof _Laukika Iddhi_.\n\n368.  Q.  _What class of men enjoy these powers?_\n\nA.  They gradually develop in one which pursues a certain course of\nascetic practice called _Dhyana_.\n\n369.  Q.  Can this Iddhi power be lost?[1]\n\nA.  The _Bahira_ can be lost, but the _Sasanika_ never, when once\nacquired.  _Lokottara_ knowledge once obtained is never lost, and it is\nby this knowledge _only_ that the absolute condition of Nirvana is\nknown by the Arhat.  And this knowledge can be got by following the\nnoble life of the Eightfold Path.\n\n370.  Q.  _Had Buddha the Lokottara Iddhi?_\n\nA.  Yes, in perfection.\n\n371.  Q.  _And his disciples also had it?_\n\nA.  Yes, some but not all equally; the capacity for acquiring these\noccult powers varies with the individual.\n\n372.  Q.  _Give examples?_\n\nA.  Of all the disciples of the Buddha, Mogallana was possessed of\nthe most extraordinary powers for making phenomena, while Ananda\ncould develop none during the twenty-five years in which he was the\npersonal and intimate disciple of the Buddha himself.  Later he did, as\nthe Buddha had foretold he would.\n\n373.  Q.  _Does a man acquire these powers suddenly or gradually?_\n\nA.  Normally, they gradually develop themselves as the disciple\nprogressively gains control over his lower nature in a series of\nbirths.[2]\n\n374.  Q.  _Does Buddhism pretend that the miracle of raising those who\nare dead is possible?_\n\nA.  No.  The Buddha teaches the contrary, in that beautiful story of\nKisa Gotami and the mustard-seed.  But when a person only seems to\nbe dead but is not actually so, resuscitation is possible.\n\n375.  Q.  _Give me an idea of these successive stages of the Lokottara\ndevelopment in Iddhi?_\n\nA.  There are six degrees attainable by Arhats; what is higher than\nthem is to be reached only by a Buddha.\n\n376.  Q.  _Describe the six stages or degrees?_\n\nA.  We may divide them into two groups, of three each.  The first to\ninclude (1) Progressive retrospection, _viz._, a gradually acquired\npower to look backward in time towards the origin of things; (2)\nProgressive foresight, or power of prophecy; (3) Gradual extinction of\ndesires and attachments to material things.\n\n377.  Q.  _What would the second group include?_\n\nA.  The same faculties, but inimitably developed.  Thus, the full Arhat\npossesses perfect retrospection, perfect foresight, and has absolutely\nextinguished the last trace of desire and selfish attractions.\n\n378.  Q.  _What are the four means for obtaining Iddhi?_\n\nA.  The will, its exertion, mental development, and discrimination\nbetween right and wrong.\n\n379.  Q.  _Our Scriptures relate hundreds of instances of phenomena\nproduced by Arhats: what did you say was the name of this faculty or\npower?_\n\nA.  _Iddhi vidha_.  One possessing this can, by manipulating the\nforces of Nature, produce any wonderful phenomenon, _i.e._, make any\nscientific experiment he chooses.\n\n380.  Q.  _Did the Buddha encourage displays of phenomena?_\n\nA.  No; he expressly discouraged them as tending to create confusion in\nthe minds of those who were not acquainted with the principles\ninvolved.  They also tempt their possessors to show them merely to\ngratify idle curiosity and their own vanity.  Moreover, similar\nphenomena can be shown by magicians and sorcerers learned in the\n_Laukika_, or the baser form of _Iddhi_ science.  All false\npretensions to supernatural attainment by monks are among the\nunpardonable sins (_Tevijja Sutta_).\n\n381.  Q.  _You spoke of a \"deva\" having appeared to the Prince\nSiddhartha under a variety of forms; what do Buddhists believe\nrespecting races of elemental invisible beings having relations with\nmankind?_\n\nA.  They believe that there are such beings who inhabit worlds or\nspheres of their own.  The Buddhist doctrine is that, by interior\nself-development and conquest over his baser nature, the Arhat becomes\nsuperior to even the most formidable of the devas, and may subject and\ncontrol the lower orders.\n\n382.  Q.  _How many kinds of devas are there?_\n\nA.  Three: _Kamavachara_ (those who are still under the\ndomination of the passions); _Rupavachara_ (a higher class,\nwhich still retain an individual form): _Arapavachara_ (the\nhighest in degree of purification, who are devoid of material forms).\n\n383.  Q.  _Should we fear any of them?_\n\nA.  He who is pure and compassionate in heart and of a courageous mind\nneed fear nothing: no man, god, _brahmarakkhas_, demon or deva, can\ninjure him, but some have power to torment the impure, as well as those\nwho invite their approach.\n\n\n\n[1] Sumangala Sthavira explains to me that those transcendent powers\nare permanently possessed only by one who has subdued all the passions\n(_Klesa_), in other words, an Arhat.  The powers may be developed by a\nbad man and used for doing evil things, but their activity is but\nbrief, the rebellious passions again dominate the sorcerer, and he\nbecomes at last their victim.\n\n[2] When the powers suddenly show themselves, the inference is that the\nindividual had developed himself in the next anterior birth.  We do not\nbelieve in eccentric breaks in natural law.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nThe following text of the fourteen items of belief which have been\naccepted as fundamental principles in both the Southern and Northern\nsections of Buddhism, by authoritative committees to whom they were\nsubmitted by me personally, have so much historical importance that\nthey are added to the present edition of THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM as an\nAppendix.  It has very recently been reported to me by H. E. Prince\nOuchtomsky, the learned Russian Orientalist, that having had the\ndocument translated to them, the Chief Lamas of the great Mongolian\nBuddhist monasteries declared to him that they accept every one of the\npropositions as drafted, with the one exception that the date of the\nBuddha is by them believed to have been some thousands of years earlier\nthan the one given by me.  This surprising fact had not hitherto come\nto my knowledge.  Can it be that the Mongolian Sangha confuse the real\nepoch of Sakya Muni with that of his alleged next predecessor?  Be\nthis as it may, it is a most encouraging fact that the whole Buddhistic\nworld may now be said to have united to the extent at least of these\nFourteen Propositions.\n\nH. S. O.\n\n\n\nFUNDAMENTAL BUDDHISTIC BELIEFS\n\nI  Buddhists are taught to show the same tolerance, forbearance, and\nbrotherly love to all men, without distinction; and an unswerving\nkindness towards the members of the animal kingdom.\n\nII  The universe was evolved, not created; and its functions according\nto law, not according to the caprice of any God.\n\nIII  The truths upon which Buddhism is founded are natural.  They have,\nwe believe, been taught in successive kalpas, or world-periods, by\ncertain illuminated beings called BUDDHAS, the name BUDDHA meaning\n\"Enlightened\".\n\nIV  The fourth Teacher in the present kalpa was Sakya Muni, or\nGautama Buddha, who was born in a Royal family in India about 2,500\nyears ago.  He is an historical personage and his name was\nSiddhartha Gautama.\n\nV  Sakya Muni taught that ignorance produces desire, unsatisfied\ndesire is the cause of rebirth, and rebirth, the cause of sorrow.  To\nget rid of sorrow, therefore, it is necessary to escape rebirth; to\nescape rebirth, it is necessary to extinguish desire; and to extinguish\ndesire, it is necessary to destroy ignorance.\n\nVI  Ignorance fosters the belief that rebirth is a necessary thing.\nWhen ignorance is destroyed the worthlessness of every such rebirth,\nconsidered as an end in itself, is perceived, as well as the paramount\nneed of adopting a course of life by which the necessity for such\nrepeated rebirths can be abolished.  Ignorance also begets the illusive\nand illogical idea that there is only one existence for man, and the\nother illusion that this one life is followed by states of unchangeable\npleasure or torment.\n\nVII  The dispersion of all this ignorance can be attained by the\npersevering practice of an all-embracing altruism in conduct,\ndevelopment of intelligence, wisdom in thought, and destruction of\ndesire for the lower personal pleasures.\n\nVIII  The desire to live being the cause of rebirth, when that is\nextinguished rebirths cease and the perfected individual attains by\nmeditation that highest state of peace called _Nirvana_.\n\nIX  Sakya Muni taught that ignorance can be dispelled and sorrow\nremoved by the knowledge of the four Noble Truths, _viz._:\n\n1. The miseries of existence;\n\n2. The cause productive of misery, which is the desire ever renewed of\nsatisfying oneself without being able ever to secure that end;\n\n3. The destruction of that desire, or the estranging of oneself from it;\n\n4. The means of obtaining this destruction of desire.  The means which\nhe pointed out is called the Noble Eightfold Path, _viz._: Right\nBelief; Right Thought; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Means of\nLivelihood; Right Exertion; Right Remembrance; Right Meditation.\n\nX  Right Meditation leads to spiritual enlightenment, or the\ndevelopment of that Buddha-like faculty which is latent in every man.\n\nXI  The essence of Buddhism, as summed up by the Tathagatha\n(Buddha) himself, as:\n\n  To cease from all sin,\n  To get virtue,\n  To purify the heart.\n\nXII  The universe is subject to a natural causation known as \"Karma\".\nThe merits and demerits of a being in past existences determine his\ncondition in the present one.  Each man, therefore, has prepared the\ncauses of the effects which he now experiences.\n\nXIII  The obstacles to the attainment of good karma may be removed by\nthe observance of the following precepts, which are embraced in the\nmoral code of Buddhism, _viz._: (1) Kill not; (2) Steal not; (3)\nIndulge in no forbidden sexual pleasure; (4) Lie not; (5) Take no\nintoxication or stupefying drug or liquor.  Five other precepts which\nneed not be here enumerated should be observed by those who would\nattain, more quickly than the average layman, the release from misery\nand rebirth.\n\nXIV  Buddhism discourages superstitious credulity.  Gautama Buddha\ntaught it to be the duty of a parent to have his child educated in\nscience and literature.  He also taught that no one should believe what\nis spoken by any sage, written in any book, or affirmed by tradition,\nunless it accord with reason.\n\nDrafted as a common platform upon which all Buddhists can agree.\n\nH. S. OLCOTT, P.T.S.\n\n\n\nRespectfully submitted for the approval of the High Priests of the\nnations which we severally represent, in the Buddhist Conference held\nat Adyar, Madras, on the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of January,\n1891 (A.B. 2434).\n\n  Japan  . . . . . ( Kozen Gunaratana\n                   ( Chiezo Tokuzawa\n  Burmah . . . . .   U. Hmoay Tha Aung\n  Ceylon . . . . .   Dhammapala Hevavitarana.\n  The Maghs of\n  Chittagong . . .   Krshna Chandra Chowdry, by\n                     his appointed Proxy, Maung\n                     Tha Dwe.\n\n\nBURMAH\n\nApproved on behalf of the Buddhists of Burmah, this 3rd day of\nFebruary, 1891 (A. B. 2434):\n\nTha-tha-na-baing Saydawgyi; Aung Myi Shwebon Sayadaw; Me-ga-waddy\nSayadaw; Hmat-Khaya Sayadaw; Hti-lin Sayadaw; Myadaung Sayadaw;\nHla-Htwe Sayadaw; and sixteen others.\n\n\nCEYLON\n\nApproved on behalf of the Buddhists of Ceylon this 25th day of\nFebruary, 1891 (A.B. 2434); Mahannwara upawsatha pusparama\nviharadhipati Hippola Dhamma Rakkhita Sobhitabhidhana\nMaha Nayaka Sthavirayan wahanse wamha.\n\n(Hippola Dhamma Rakkhita Sabhitabhidhana, High Priest of the\nMalwatta Vihare at Kandy).\n\n                                          (Sd.) HIPPOLA.\n\n\nMahanuwara Asgiri viharadhipati Yatawatte\nChandajottyabhidhana Maha Nayaka Sthavirayan wahanse\nwamha--(Yatawatte Chandajottyabhidhana, High Priest of Asgiri\nTihare at Kandy).\n\n                                          (Sd.) YATAWATTE\n\n\nHikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Sripadasthane saha Kolamba palate\npradhana Nayaka Sthavirayo (Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, High\nPriest of Adam's Peak and the District of Colombo).\n\n                                          (Sd.) H. SUMANGALA\n\n\nMaligawe Prachina Pustakalayadhyakshaka Suriyagoda\nSonuttara Sthavirayo (Suriyagoda Sonuttara, Librarian of the Oriental\nLibrary at the Temple of the Tooth Relic at Kandy).\n\n                                          (Sd.) S. SONUTTARA\n\n\nSugata Sasanadhaja Vinaya chariya\nDhammalankarabhidhana Nayaka Sthavira.\n\n                                          (Sd.) W. DHAMMALANKARA\n\n\nPawara neruttika chariya Maha Vibhavi Subhuti of Waskaduwa.\n\n                                          (Sd.) W. SUBHUTI\n\n\nJAPAN\n\nAccepted as included within the body of Northern Buddhism.\n\n  Shaku Genyu        (Shingon    Shu)\n  Fukuda Nichiyo     (Nichiren    \" )\n  Sanada Seyko       (Zen         \" )\n  Ito Quan Shyu      ( \"          \" )\n  Takehana Hakuyo    (Jodo        \" )\n  Kono Rioshin       (Ji-Shu      \" )\n  Kiro Ki-ko         (Jodo Seizan \" )\n  Harutani Shinsho   (Tendai      \" )\n  Manabe Shun-myo    (Shingon     \" )\n\n\nCHITTAGONG\n\nAccepted for the Buddhists of Chittagong.\n\n  Nagawa Parvata Vihaaradhipati\n  Guna Megu Wini-Lankara,\n  Harbing, Chittagong, Bengal.\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nThe Buddhist Catechism has been compiled from personal studies in\nCeylon, and in part from the following works:\n\n\n  _Vinaya Texts_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Davids and Oldenberg.\n  _Buddhist Literature in China_ . . . . . . Beal.\n  _Catena of Buddhist Scriptures_  . . . . . Do.\n  _Buddhaghosa's Parables_ . . . . . . . . . Rogers.\n  _Buddhist Birth Stories_ . . . . . . . . . Fausboll and Davids.\n  _Legend of Gautama_  . . . . . . . . . . . Bigandet.\n  _Chinese Buddhism_ . . . . . . . . . . . . Edkins.\n  _Kalpa Sutra and Nava Patva_ . . . . . . . Stevenson.\n  _Buddha and Early Buddhism_  . . . . . . . Lillie.\n  _Sutta Nipata_  . . . . . . . . . . . . Sir Coomara Swami.\n  _Nagananda_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Broyd.\n  _Kusa Jataka_  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steele.\n  _Buddhism_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhys-Davids.\n  _Dhammapada_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fausboll and Max M\u00fcller.\n  _Romantic History of Buddha_ . . . . . . . Beal.\n  _Udanavarga_  . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rockhill.\n  _Twelve Japanese Buddhist Sects_ . . . . . B. Nanjio.\n  _The Gospel of Buddha_ . . . . . . . . . . Paul Carus.\n  _The Dharma_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Do.\n  _Ancient India_  . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. C. Dutt.\n  _The \"Sacred Books of the East\" Series_  . Max M\u00fcller's Edition.\n  _Encyclopaedia Britannica_\n\n\n\n\n\n    Printed by\n   Annie Besant\n  Vasanta Press\n  Adyar Madras\n\n\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n\n\n[Note: the version of this book that follows contains many macron-ized\ncharacters, vowels with a horizontal bar above them.  The macron\nindicates that the vowel is pronounced long, e.g. a-macron is\npronounced as in \"way\".  Since these characters are Unicode, they\ncannot be displayed in a Latin1/ISO-8859 file.  They have been\nindicated as in the line below.  In the UTF8 version of this file, the\nactual characters have been used.  The HTML file uses entities to\ndisplay the characters.]\n\n\n\n\n\n_Nam[=o] Tass[=a] Bhagavat[=o] Arahat[=o] Samm[=a] Sambuddhassa_\n\n\n\n\nTHE\n\nBUDDHIST CATECHISM\n\n\nBY\n\nHENRY S. OLCOTT\n\n\nPRESIDENT-FOUNDER OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY\n\n\n\n_Approved and recommended for use in Buddhist schools by H. Sumangala,\nPradhana Nayaka Sthavira, High Priest of Sripada and the Western\nProvince and Principal of the Vidyodaya Parivena_\n\n\n\nFORTY-FOURTH EDITION. (Corrected)\n\n\n\nTheosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras\n\n\nLONDON AND BENARES: THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY\n\n\n1915\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION\n\nIn token of respect and affection I dedicate to my counsellor and\nfriend of many years, Hikkaduwe Sumangala, Pradh[=a]na N[=a]yaka\nSthav[=i]ra and High Priest of Adam's Peak (Sripada) and the Western\nProvince, THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM, in its revised form.\n\nH. S. OLCOTT\n\n_Adyar_, 1903.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA\n\nTHE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE\n\nTHE SANGHA\n\nTHE RISE AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM\n\nBUDDHISM AND SCIENCE\n\nAPPENDIX--The Fourteen Propositions accepted by the Northern and\n  Southern Buddhists as a Platform of Unity\n\n\n\n\nCERTIFICATE TO THE FIRST EDITION\n\nVIDYODAYA COLLEGE,\n\n_Colombo_, 7_th July_, 1881.\n\nI hereby certify that I have carefully examined the Sinhalese version\nof the Catechism prepared by Colonel H. S. Olcott, and that the same is\nin agreement with the Canon of the Southern Buddhist Church.  I\nrecommend the work to teachers in Buddhist schools, mid to all others\nwho may wish to impart information to beginners about the essential\nfeatures of our religion.\n\nH. SUMANGALA,\n\n_High Priest of Sripada and Galle, and Principal of the Vidyodaya\nParivena._\n\n\n\n\nVIDYODAYA COLLEGE,\n\n_April_ 7, 1897.\n\nI have gone over the thirty-third (English) edition of the Catechism,\nwith the help of interpreters, and confirm my recommendation for its\nuse in Buddhist schools.\n\nH. SUMANGALA.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE THIRTY-THIRD EDITION\n\nIn the working out of my original plan, I have added more questions and\nanswers in the text of each new English edition of the Catechism,\nleaving it to its translators to render them into whichever of the\nother vernaculars they may be working in.  The unpretending aim in view\nis to give so succinct and yet comprehensive a digest of Buddhistic\nhistory, ethics and philosophy as to enable beginners to understand and\nappreciate the noble ideal taught by the Buddha, and thus make it\neasier for them to follow out the Dharma in its details.  In the\npresent edition a great many new questions and answers have been\nintroduced, while the matter has been grouped within five categories,\n_viz._: (1) The Life of the Buddha; (2) the Doctrine; (3) the Sangha,\nor monastic order; (4) a brief history of Buddhism, its Councils and\npropaganda; (5) some reconciliation of Buddhism with science.  This, it\nis believed, will largely increase the value of the little book, and\nmake it even more suitable for use in Buddhist schools, of which, in\nCeylon, over one hundred have already been opened by the Sinhalese\npeople under the general supervision of the Theosophical Society.  In\npreparing this edition I have received valuable help from some of my\noldest and best qualified Sinhalese colleagues.  The original edition\nwas gone over with me word by word, by that eminent scholar and\nbhikkhu, H. Sumangala, Pradh[=a]na N[=a]yaka, and the Assistant\nPrincipal of his P[=a]l[=i] College at Colombo, Hyeyantuduve Anunayaka\nTerunnanse; and the High Priest has also kindly scrutinised the present\nrevision and given me invaluable points to embody.  It has the merit,\ntherefore, of being a fair presentation of the Buddhism of the\n\"Southern Church,\" chiefly derived from first-hand sources.  The\nCatechism has been published in twenty languages, mainly by Buddhists,\nfor Buddhists.\n\nH. S. O.\n\nADYAR, 17_th May_, 1897.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE THIRTY-SIXTH EDITION\n\nThe popularity of this little work seems undiminished, edition after\nedition being called for.  While the present one was in the press a\nsecond German edition, re-translated by the learned Dr. Erich Bischoff,\nwas published at Leipzig, by the Griebens Co., and a third translation\ninto French, by my old friend and colleague, Commandant D. A. Courmes,\nwas being got ready at Paris.  A fresh version in Sinhalese is also\npreparing at Colombo.  It is very gratifying to a declared Buddhist\nlike myself to read what so ripe a scholar as Mr. G. R. S. Mead, author\nof _Fragments of of a Faith Forgotten_, _Pistis Sophia_, and many other\nworks on Christian origins, thinks of the value of the compilation.  He\nwrites in the _Theosophical Review_: \"It has been translated into no\nless than twenty different languages, and may be said without the\nfaintest risk of contradiction, to have been the busiest instrument of\nBuddhist propaganda for many a day in the annals of that long somnolent\ndharma.  The least that learned Buddhists of Ceylon can do to repay the\ndebt of gratitude they owe to Colonel Olcott and other members of the\nTheosophical Society who have worked for them, is to bestir themselves\nto throw some light on their own origins and doctrines.\"\n\nI am afraid we shall have to wait long for this help to come from the\nBuddhist bhikkhus, almost the only learned men of Ceylon; at least I\nhave not been able during an intimate intercourse of twenty-two years,\nto arouse their zeal.  It has always seemed to me incongruous that an\nAmerican, making no claims at all to scholarship, should be looked to\nby the Sinhalese to help them teach the dharma to their children; and\nas I believe I have said in an earlier edition, I only consented to\nwrite THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM after I had found that no bhikkhu would\nundertake it.  Whatever its demerits, I can at least say that the work\ncontains the essence of some 15,000 pages of Buddhist teaching that I\nhave read in connexion with my work.\n\nH. S. O.\n\nADYAR, 7_th February_, 1903.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE FORTIETH EDITION\n\nThe popularity of this little work is proved by the constant demand for\nnew editions, in English and other languages.  In looking over the\nmatter for the present edition, I have found very little to change or\nto add, for the work seems to present a very fair idea of the contents\nof Southern Buddhism; and, as my object is never to write an extended\nessay on the subject, I resist the temptation to wander off into\namplifications of details which, however interesting to the student of\ncomparative religion, are useless in a rational scheme of elementary\ninstruction.\n\nThe new Sinhalese version (38th edition) which is being prepared by my\nrespected friend, D. B. Jayatilaka, Principal of [=A]nanda (Buddhist)\nCollege, Colombo, is partly printed, but cannot be completed until he\nis relieved of some of the pressure upon his time.  The Tamil version\n(41st edition) has been undertaken by the leaders of the Pa\u00f1chama\ncommunity of Madras, and will shortly issue from the press.  The\nSpanish version (39th edition) is in the hands of my friend, Se\u00f1or\nXifr\u00e9, and the French one (37th edition) in those of Commandant Courmes.\n\nSo the work goes on, and by this unpretending agency the teachings of\nthe Buddha Dharma are being carried throughout the world.\n\nH. S. O.\n\nADYAR, 7_th January_, 1905.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE FORTY-SECOND EDITION\n\nThe writer of this Catechism has passed away from earth, but, before he\nleft the body, he had arranged with the High Priest Sumangala to make\nsome small corrections in the text.  These are incorporated in the\npresent edition by the High Priest's wish, expressed to me in Colombo,\nin November 1907.\n\nI have not altered the numbering of the questions, as it might cause\nconfusion in a class to change the numbers, if some pupils had the\nolder editions and some the new.\n\n  ADYAR,                  )\n  17_th February_, 1908.  )             ANNIE BESANT\n\n\n\n\nTHE BUDDHIST CATECHISM\n\n\nPART I\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA\n\n1. Question.  _Of what religion[1] are you?_\n\nAnswer.  The Buddhist.\n\n2.  Q.  _What is Buddhism?_\n\nA.  It is a body of teachings given out by the great personage known as\nthe Buddha.\n\n3.  Q.  _Is \"Buddhism\" the best name for this teaching?_\n\nA.  No; that is only a western term: the best name for it is Bauddha\nDharma.\n\n4.  Q.  _Would you call a person a Buddhist who had merely been born of\nBuddha parents?_\n\nA.  Certainly not.  A Buddhist is one who not only professes belief in\nthe Buddha as the noblest of Teachers, in the Doctrine preached by Him,\nand in the Brotherhood of Arhats, but practises His precepts in daily\nlife.\n\n5.  Q.  _What is a male lay Buddhist called?_\n\nA.  An Up[=a]saka.\n\n6.  Q.  _What a female?_\n\nA.  An Up[=a]sika.\n\n7.  Q.  _When was this doctrine first preached?_\n\nA.  There is some disagreement as to the actual date, but according to\nthe Sinhalese Scriptures it was in the year 2513 of the (present)\nKali-Yuga.\n\n8.  Q.  _Give the important dates in the last birth of the Founder?_\n\nA.  He was born under the constellation Vis[=a] on a Tuesday in May, in\nthe year 2478 (K.Y.); he retired to the jungle in the year 2506; became\nBuddha in 2513; and, passing out of the round of rebirths, entered\nParanirv[=a]na in the year 2558, aged eighty years.  Each of these\nevents happened on a day of full moon, so all are conjointly celebrated\nin the great festival of the full-moon of the month Wesak\n(_Vais[=a]kha_), corresponding to the month of May.\n\n9.  Q.  _Was the Buddha God?_\n\nA.  No.  Buddha Dharma teaches no \"divine\" incarnation.\n\n10.  Q.  _Was he a man?_\n\nA.  Yes; but the wisest, noblest and most holy being, who had developed\nhimself in the course of countless births far beyond all other beings,\nthe previous BUDDHAS alone excepted.\n\n11.  Q.  _Were there other Buddhas before him?_\n\nA.  Yes; as will be explained later on.\n\n12.  Q.  _Was Buddha his name?_\n\nA.  No.  It is the name of a condition or state of mind, of the mind\nafter it has reached the culmination of development.\n\n13.  Q.  _What is its meaning?_\n\nA.  Enlightened; or, he who has the all-perfect wisdom.  The P[=a]l[=i]\nphrase is _Sabbannu_, the One of Boundless Knowledge.  In Samskrt it is\n_Sarvaj\u00f1a_.\n\n14.  Q.  _What was the Buddha's real name then?_\n\nA.  SIDDH[=A]RTHA was his royal name, and GAUTAMA, or GOTAMA, his\nfamily name.  He was Prince of Kapilav[=a]stu and belonged to the\nillustrious family of the Okk[=a]ka, of the Solar race.\n\n15.  Q.  _Who were his father and mother?_\n\nA.  King Suddhodana and Queen M[=a]y[=a], called Mah[=a] M[=a]y[=a].\n\n16.  Q.  _What people did this King reign over?_\n\nA.  The S[=a]kyas; an Aryan tribe of Kshattriyas.\n\n17.  Q.  _Where was Kapilav[=a]stu?_\n\nA.  In India, one hundred miles north-east of the City of Benares, and\nabout forty miles from the Himalaya mountains.  It is situated in the\nNep[=a]l Terai.  The city is now in ruins.\n\n18.  Q.  _On what river?_\n\nA.  The Roh[=i]n[=i], now called the Kohana.\n\n19.  Q.  _Tell me again when Prince Siddh[=a]rtha was born?_\n\nA.  Six hundred and twenty-three years before the Christian era.\n\n20.  Q.  _Is the exact spot known?_\n\nA.  It is now identified beyond question.  An archaeologist in the\nservice of the Government of India has discovered in the jungle of the\nNep[=a]l Terai a stone pillar erected by the mighty Buddhist sovereign,\nAsoka, to mark the very spot.  The place was known in those times as\nthe Lumbin[=i] Garden.\n\n21.  Q.  _Had the Prince luxuries and splendours like other Princes?_\n\nA.  He had; his father, the King, built him three magnificent\npalaces--for the three Indian seasons--the cold, the hot, and the\nrainy--of nine, five, and three stories respectively, and handsomely\ndecorated.\n\n22.  Q.  _How were they situated?_\n\nA.  Around each palace were gardens of the most beautiful and fragrant\nflowers, with fountains of spouting water, the trees full of singing\nbirds, and peacocks strutting over the ground.\n\n23.  Q.  _Was he living alone?_\n\nA.  No; in his sixteenth year he was married to the Princess\nYasodhar[=a], daughter of the King Suprabuddha.  Many beautiful\nmaidens, skilled in dancing and music, were also in continual\nattendance to amuse him.\n\n24.  Q.  _How did he get his wife?_\n\nA.  In the ancient Kshattriya or warrior fashion, by overcoming all\ncompetitors in games and exercises of skill and prowess, and then\nselecting Yasodhar[=a] out of all the young princesses, whose fathers\nhad brought them to the tournament or _mela_.\n\n25.  Q.  _How, amid all this luxury, could a Prince become all-wise?_\n\nA.  He had such natural wisdom that when but a child he seemed to\nunderstand all arts and sciences almost without study.  He had the best\nteachers, but they could teach him nothing that he did not seem to\ncomprehend immediately.\n\n26.  Q.  _Did he become Buddha in his splendid palaces?_\n\nA.  No.  He left all and went alone into the jungle.\n\n27.  Q.  _Why did he do this?_\n\nA.  To discover the cause of our sufferings and the way to escape from\nthem.\n\n28.  Q.  _Was it not selfishness that made him do this?_\n\nA.  No; it was boundless love for all beings that made him devote\nhimself to their good.\n\n29.  Q.  _But how did he acquire this boundless love?_\n\nA.  Throughout numberless births and aeons of years he had been\ncultivating this love, with the unfaltering determination to become a\nBuddha.\n\n30.  Q.  _What did he this time relinquish?_\n\nA.  His beautiful palaces, his riches, luxuries and pleasures, his soft\nbeds, fine dresses, rich food, and his kingdom; he even left his\nbeloved wife and only son, R[=a]hula.\n\n31.  Q.  _Did any other man ever sacrifice so much for our sake?_\n\nA.  Not one in this present world-period: this is why Buddhists so love\nhim, and why good Buddhists try to be like him.\n\n32.  Q.  _But have not many men given up all earthly blessings, and\neven life itself, for the sake of their fellow-men?_\n\nA.  Certainly.  But we believe that this surpassing unselfishness and\nlove for humanity showed themselves in his renouncing the bliss of\nNirv[=a]na countless ages ago, when he was born as the Br[=a]hmana\nSumedha, in the time of D[=i]p[=a]nkara Buddha: he had then reached the\nstage where he might have entered Nirv[=a]na, had he not loved mankind\nmore than himself.  This renunciation implied his voluntarily enduring\nthe miseries of earthly lives until he became Buddha, for the sake of\nteaching all beings the way to emancipation and to give rest to the\nworld.\n\n33.  Q.  _How old was he when he went to the jungle?_\n\nA.  He was in his twenty-ninth year.\n\n34.  Q.  _What finally determined him to leave all that men usually\nlove so much and go to the jungle?_\n\nA.  A _Deva_[2] appeared to him when driving out in his chariot, under\nfour impressive forms, on four different occasions.\n\n35.  Q.  _What were these different forms?_\n\nA.  Those of a very old man broken down by age, of a sick man, of a\ndecaying corpse, and of a dignified hermit.\n\n36.  Q.  _Did he alone see these?_\n\nA.  No, his attendant, Channa, also saw them.\n\n37.  Q.  _Why should these sights, so familiar to everybody, have\ncaused him to go to the jungle?_\n\nA.  We often see such sights: he had not seen them, so they made a deep\nimpression on his mind.\n\n38.  Q.  _Why had he not also seen them?_\n\nA.  The Br[=a]hmana astrologers had foretold at his birth that he would\none day resign his kingdom and, become a BUDDHA.  The King, his father,\nnot wishing to lose an heir to his kingdom, had carefully prevented his\nseeing any sights that might suggest to him human misery and death.  No\none was allowed even to speak of such things to the Prince.  He was\nalmost like a prisoner in his lovely palaces and flower gardens.  They\nwere surrounded by high walls, and inside everything was made as\nbeautiful as possible, so that he might not wish to go and see the\nsorrow and distress that are in the world.\n\n39.  Q.  _Was he so kind-hearted that the King feared he might really\nwish to leave everything for the world's sake?_\n\nA.  Yes; he seems to have felt for all beings so strong a pity and love\nas that.\n\n40.  Q.  _And how did he expect to learn the cause of sorrow in the\njungle?_\n\nA.  By removing far away from all that could prevent his thinking\ndeeply of the causes of sorrow and the nature of man.\n\n41.  Q.  _How did he escape from the palace?_\n\nA.  One night, when all were asleep, he arose, took a last look at his\nsleeping wife and infant son; called Channa, mounted his favourite\nwhite horse Kanthaka, and rode to the palace gate.  The _Devas_ had\nthrown a deep sleep upon the King's guard who watched the gate, so that\nthey could not hear the noise of the horse's hoofs.\n\n42.  Q.  _But the gate was locked, was it not?_\n\nA.  Yes; but the _Devas_ caused it to open without the slightest noise,\nand he rode away into the darkness.\n\n43.  Q.  _Whither did he go?_\n\nA.  To the river Anom[=a], a long way from Kapilav[=a]stu.\n\n44.  Q.  _What did he then do?_\n\nA.  He sprang from his horse, cut off his beautiful hair with his\nsword, put on the yellow dress of an ascetic, and giving his ornaments\nand horse to Channa, ordered him to take them back to his father, the\nKing.\n\n45.  Q.  _What then?_\n\nA.  He went afoot towards R[=a]jagrha, the capital city of King\nBimbis[=a]ra, of Magadha.\n\n46.  Q.  _Who visited him there?_\n\nA.  The King with his whole Court.[3]\n\n46a.  Q.  _Thence whither did he go?_\n\nA.  To Uruvela, near the present Mah[=a]b[=o]dhi Temple at Buddha\nGay[=a].\n\n47.  Q.  _Why did he go there?_\n\nA.  In the forests were hermits--very wise men, whose pupil he\nafterwards became, in the hope of finding the knowledge of which he was\nin search.\n\n48.  Q.  _Of what religion were they?_\n\nA.  The Hindu religion: they were Br[=a]hmanas.[4]\n\n49.  Q.  _What did they teach?_\n\nA.  That by severe penances and torture of the body a man may acquire\nperfect wisdom.\n\n50.  Q.  _Did the Prince find this to be so?_\n\nA.  No; he learned their systems and practised all their penances, but\nhe could not thus discover the cause of human sorrow and the way to\nabsolute emancipation.\n\n51.  Q.  _What did he then do?_\n\nA.  He went away into the forest near Uruvela, and spent six years in\ndeep meditation, undergoing the severest discipline in mortifying his\nbody.\n\n52.  Q.  _Was he alone?_\n\nA.  No; five Br[=a]hman companions attended him.\n\n53.  Q.  _What were their names?_\n\nA.  Konda\u00f1\u00f1a, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mah[=a]n[=a]ma, and Assaji.\n\n54.  Q.  _What plan of discipline did he adopt to open his mind to know\nthe whole truth?_\n\nA.  He sat and meditated, concentrating his mind upon the higher\nproblems of life, and shutting out from his sight and hearing all that\nwas likely to interrupt his inward reflections.\n\n55.  Q.  _Did he fast?_\n\nA.  Yes, through the whole period.  He took less and less food and\nwater until, it is said, he ate scarcely more than one grain of rice or\nof sesamum seed each day.\n\n56.  Q.  _Did this give him the wisdom he longed for?_\n\nA.  No.  He grew thinner and thinner in body and fainter in strength\nuntil, one day, as he was slowly walking about and meditating, his\nvital force suddenly left him and he fell to the ground unconscious.\n\n57.  Q.  _What did his companions think of that?_\n\nA.  They fancied he was dead; but after a time he revived.\n\n58.  Q.  _What then?_\n\nA.  The thought came to him that knowledge could never be reached by\nmere fasting or bodily suffering, but must be gained by the opening of\nthe mind.  He had just barely escaped death from self-starvation, yet\nhad not obtained the Perfect Wisdom.  So he decided to eat, that he\nmight live at least long enough to become wise.\n\n59.  Q.  _Who gave him food?_\n\nA.  He received food from Sujat[=a], a nobleman's daughter, who saw him\nsitting at the foot of a nyagrodha (banyan) tree.  He arose, took his\nalms-bowl, bathed in the river Nera\u00f1j[=a]ra, ate the food, and went\ninto the jungle.\n\n60.  Q.  _What did he do there?_\n\nA.  Having formed his determination after these reflections, he went at\nevening to the B[=o]dhi, or Asvattha tree, where the present\nMah[=a]b[=o]dhi Temple stands.\n\n61.  Q.  _What did he do there?_\n\nA.  He determined not to leave the spot until he attained perfect\nwisdom.\n\n62.  Q.  _At which side of the tree did he seat himself?_\n\nA.  The side facing the east.[5]\n\n63.  Q.  _What did he obtain that night?_\n\nA.  The knowledge of his previous births, of the causes of rebirths,\nand of the way to extinguish desires.  Just before the break of the\nnext day his mind was entirely opened, like the full-blown lotus\nflower; the light of supreme knowledge, or the Four Truths, poured in\nupon him.  He had become BUDDHA--the Enlightened, the all-knowing--the\nSarvaj\u00f1a.\n\n64.  Q.  _Had he at last discovered the cause of human misery?_\n\nA.  At last he had.  As the light of the morning sun chases away the\ndarkness of night, and reveals to sight the trees, fields, rocks, seas,\nrivers, animals, men and all things, so the full light of knowledge\nrose in his mind, and he saw at one glance the causes of human\nsuffering and the way to escape from them.\n\n65.  Q.  _Had he great struggles before gaining this perfect wisdom?_\n\nA.  Yes, mighty and terrible struggles.  He had to conquer in his body\nall those natural defects and human appetites and desires that prevent\nour seeing the truth.  He had to overcome all the bad influences of the\nsinful world around him.  Like a soldier fighting desperately in battle\nagainst many enemies, he struggled: like a hero who conquers, he gained\nhis object, and the secret of human misery was discovered.\n\n66.  Q.  _What use did he make of the knowledge thus gained?_\n\nA.  At first he was reluctant to teach it to the people at large.\n\n67.  Q.  _Why?_\n\nA.  Because of its profound importance and sublimity.  He feared that\nbut few people would understand it.\n\n68.  Q.  _What made him alter this view?_[6]\n\nA.  He saw that it was his duty to teach what he had learnt as clearly\nand simply as possible, and trust to the truth impressing itself upon\nthe popular mind in proportion to each one's individual Karma.  It was\nthe only way of salvation, and every being had an equal right to have\nit pointed out to him.  So he determined to begin with his five late\ncompanions, who had abandoned him when he broke his fast.\n\n69.  Q.  _Where did he find them?_\n\nA.  In the deer-park at Isipatana, near Benares.\n\n70.  Q.  _Can the spot be now identified?_\n\nA.  Yes, a partly ruined st[=u]pa, or dagoba, is still standing on that\nvery spot.\n\n71.  Q.  _Did those five companions readily listen to him?_\n\nA.  At first, no; but so great was the spiritual beauty of his\nappearance, so sweet and convincing his teaching, that they soon turned\nand gave him the closest attention.\n\n72.  Q.  _What effect did this discourse have upon them?_\n\nA.  The aged Konda\u00f1\u00f1a, one who \"understood\" (_Anna_), was the first to\nlose his prejudices, accept the Buddha's teaching, become his disciple,\nand enter the Path leading to Arhatship.  The other four soon followed\nhis example.\n\n73.  Q.  _Who were his next converts?_\n\nA.  A rich young layman, named Yasa, and his father, a wealthy\nmerchant.  By the end of three months the disciples numbered sixty\npersons.\n\n74.  Q.  _Who were the first women lay disciples?_\n\nA.  The mother and wife of Yasa.\n\n75.  Q.  _What did the Buddha do at that time?_[7]\n\nA.  He called the disciples together, gave them full instructions, and\nsent them out in all directions to preach his doctrine.\n\n76.  Q.  _What was the essence of it?_\n\nA.  That the way of emancipation lies in leading the holy life and\nfollowing the rules laid down, which will be explained later on.\n\n77.  Q.  _Tell me what name he gave to this course of life?_\n\nA.  The Noble Eightfold Path.\n\n78.  Q.  _How is it called in the P[=a]l[=i] language?_\n\nA.  _Ariyo atthangiko maggo_.\n\n79.  Q.  _Whither did the Buddha then go?_\n\nA.  To Uruvela.\n\n80.  Q.  _What happened there?_\n\nA.  He converted a man named K[=a]shyapa, renowned for his learning and\nteacher of the Jatilas, a great sect of fire-worshippers, all of whom\nbecame also his followers.\n\n81.  Q.  _Who was his next great convert?_\n\nA.  King Bimbis[=a]ra, of Magadha.\n\n82.  Q.  _Which two of the Buddha's most learned and beloved disciples\nwere converted at about this time?_\n\nA.  S[=a]riputra and Moggall[=a]na, formerly chief disciples of\nSa\u00f1jaya, the ascetic.\n\n83.  Q.  _For what did they become renowned?_\n\nA.  S[=a]riputra for his profound learning (_Praj\u00f1a_), Moggall[=a]na\nfor his exceptional spiritual powers (_Iddhi_).\n\n84.  Q.  _Are these wonder-working powers miraculous?_\n\nA.  No, but natural to all men and capable of being developed by a\ncertain course of training.\n\n85.  Q.  _Did the Buddha hear again from his family after leaving them?_\n\nA.  Oh yes, seven years later, while he was living at R[=a]jagrha, his\nfather.  King Suddhodana, sent a message to request him to come and let\nhim see him again before he died.\n\n86.  Q.  _Did he go?_\n\nA.  Yes.  His father went with all his relatives and ministers to meet\nhim and received him with great joy.\n\n87.  Q.  _Did he consent to resume his old rank?_\n\nA.  No.  In all sweetness he explained to his father that the Prince\nSiddh[=a]rtha had passed out of existence, as such, and was now changed\ninto the condition of a Buddha, to whom all beings were equally akin\nand equally dear.  Instead of ruling over one tribe or nation, like an\nearthly king, he, through his Dharma, would win the hearts of all men\nto be his followers.\n\n88.  Q.  _Did he see Yasodhar[=a] and his son R[=a]hula?_\n\nA.  Yes.  His wife, who had mourned for him with deepest love, wept\nbitterly.  She also sent R[=a]hula to ask him to give him his\ninheritance, as the son of a prince.\n\n89.  Q.  _What happened?_\n\nA.  To one and all he preached the Dharma as the cure for all sorrows.\nHis father, son, wife, [=A]nanda (his half-brother), Devadatta (his\ncousin and brother-in-law), were all converted and became his\ndisciples.  Two other famous ones were Anuruddha, afterwards a great\nmetaphysician, and Up[=a]li, a barber, afterwards the greatest\nauthority on Vinaya.  Both of these gained great renown.\n\n90.  Q.  _Who was the first Bhikkuni?_\n\nA.  Praj[=a]pat[=i], the aunt and foster-mother of Prince\nSiddh[=a]rtha.  With her, Yasodhar[=a] and many other ladies were\nadmitted into the Order as _Bhikkhunis_ or female devotees.\n\n91.  Q.  _What effect did the taking up of the religious life by his\nsons, Siddh[=a]rtha and [=A]nanda, his nephew, Devadatta, his son's\nwife, Yasudhar[=a], and his grandson, R[=a]hula, have upon the old King\nSuddhodana?_\n\nA.  It grieved him much and he complained to the Buddha, who then made\nit a rule of the Order that no person should thenceforth be ordained\nwithout the consent of his parents if alive.\n\n92.  Q.  _Tell me about the fate of Devadatta?_\n\nA.  He was a man of great intelligence and rapidly advanced in the\nknowledge of the Dharma, but being also extremely ambitious, he came to\nenvy and hate the Buddha, and at last plotted to kill him.  He also\ninfluenced Aj[=a]tashatru, son of King Bimbis[=a]ra, to murder his\nnoble father, and to become his--Devadatta's--disciple.\n\n93.  Q.  _Did he do any injury to the Buddha?_\n\nA.  Not the least, but the evil he plotted against him recoiled upon\nhimself, and he met with an awful death.\n\n94.  Q.  _For how many years was the Buddha engaged in teaching?_\n\nA.  Forty-five years, during which time he preached a great many\ndiscourses.  His custom and that of his disciples was to travel and\npreach during the eight dry months, but during the season of Way--the\nrains--he and they would stop in the p[=a]nsulas and vih[=a]ras which\nhad been built for them by various kings and other wealthy converts.\n\n95.  Q.  _Which were the most famous of these buildings?_\n\nA.  Jet[=a]van[=a]r[=a]ma; Veluvan[=a]r[=a]ma; Pubb[=a]r[=a]ma;\nNigrodh[=a]r[=a]ma and Isipatan[=a]r[=a]ma.\n\n96.  Q.  _What kind of people were converted by him and his disciples?_\n\nA.  People of all ranks, nations and castes; r[=a]jas and coolies, rich\nand poor, mighty and humble, the illiterate and the most learned.  His\ndoctrine was suited to all.\n\n97.  Q.  _Give some account of the decease of the Buddha?_\n\nA.  In the forty-fifth season after his attaining Buddhahood, on the\nfull-moon day of May, knowing that his end was near, he came at evening\nto Kusin[=a]g[=a]ra, a place about one hundred and twenty miles from\nBenares.  In the s[=a]la grove of the Mallas, the Uparvartana of\nKusin[=a]g[=a]ra, between two s[=a]la trees, he had his bedding spread\nwith the head towards the north according to the ancient custom.  He\nlay upon it, and with his mind perfectly clear, gave his final\ninstructions to his disciples and bade them farewell.\n\n98.  Q.  _Did he also make new converts in those last tours?_\n\nA.  Yes, a very important one, a great Br[=a]hmana pandit named\nSubhadra.  He had also preached to the Mallya princes and their\nfollowers.\n\n99.  Q.  _At day-break what happened?_\n\nA.  He passed into the interior condition of _Sam[=a]dhi_ and thence\ninto Nirv[=a]na.\n\n100.  Q.  _What were his last words to his disciples?_\n\nA.  \"Bhikkhus,\" he said, \"I now impress it upon you, the parts and\npowers of man must be dissolved.  Work out your salvation with\ndiligence.\"\n\n101.  Q.  _What convincing proof have we that the Buddha, formerly\nPrince Siddh[=a]rtha, was a historical personage?_\n\nA.  His existence is apparently as clearly proved as that of any other\ncharacter of ancient history.\n\n102.  Q.  _Name some of the proofs?_\n\nA.  (1) The testimony of those who personally knew him.\n\n(2) The discovery of places and the remains of buildings mentioned in\nthe narrative of his time.\n\n(3) The rock-inscriptions, pillars and dagobas made in memory of him by\nsovereigns who were near enough to his time to be able to verify the\nstory of his life.\n\n(4) The unbroken existence of the Sangha which he founded, and their\npossession of the facts of his life transmitted from generation to\ngeneration from the beginning.\n\n(5) The fact that in the very year of his death and at various times\nsubsequently, conventions and councils of the Sangha were held, for the\nverification of the actual teachings of the Founder, and the handing\ndown of those verified teachings from teacher to pupil, to the present\nday.\n\n(6) After his cremation his relics were divided among eight kings and a\nst[=u]pa was erected over each portion.  The portion given to King\nAj[=a]tashatru, and by him covered with a st[=u]pa at R[=a]jagrha, was\ntaken, less than two centuries later, by the Emperor Asoka and\ndistributed throughout his Empire.  He, of course, had ample means of\nknowing whether the relics were those of the Buddha or not, since they\nhad been in charge of the royal house of Patna from the beginning.\n\n(7) Many of the Buddha's disciples, being Arhats and thus having\ncontrol over their vital powers, must have lived to great ages, and\nthere was nothing to have prevented two or three of them, in succession\nto each other, to have covered the whole period between the death of\nthe Buddha and the reign of Asoka, and thus to have enabled the latter\nto get from his contemporary every desired attestation of the fact of\nthe Buddha's life.[7]\n\n(8) The \"Mah[=a]vansa,\" the best authenticated ancient history known to\nus, records the events of Sinhalese history to the reign of King\nVijaya, 543 B.C.--almost the time of the Buddha--and gives most\nparticulars of his life, as well as those of the Emperor Asoka and all\nother sovereigns related to Buddhistic history.\n\n103.  Q.  _By what names of respect is the Buddha called?_\n\nA.  S[=a]kyamuni (the S[=a]kya Sage); S[=a]kya-Simha (the S[=a]kyan\nLion); Sugata (the Happy One); Satthta (the Teacher); Jina (the\nConqueror), Bhagavat (the Blessed One); Lokan[=a]tha (the Lord of the\nWorld); Sarvaj\u00f1a (the Omniscient One); Dharmar[=a]ja (the King of\nTruth); Tath[=a]gata (the Great Being), etc.\n\n\n\n[1] The word \"religion\" is most inappropriate to apply to Buddhism\nwhich is not a religion, but a moral philosophy, as I have shown later\non.  But, by common usage the word has been applied to all groups of\npeople who profess a special moral doctrine, and is so employed by\nstatisticians.  The Sinhalese Buddhists have never yet had any\nconception of what Europeans imply in the etymological construction of\nthe Latin root of this term.  In their creed there is no such thing as\na \"binding\" in the Christian sense--a submission to or merging of self\nin a Divine Being.  _[=A]gama_ is their vernacular word to express\ntheir relation to Buddhism and the BUDDHA.  It is pure Samskrt, and\nmeans \"approach, or coming\"; and as \"_Buddha_\" is enlightenment, the\ncompound word by which they indicate Buddhism--_Buddh[=a]gama_--would\nbe properly rendered as \"an approach or coming to enlightenment,\" or\npossibly as a following of the Doctrine of S[=A]KYAMUNI.  The\nmissionaries, finding _[=A]gama_ ready to their hand, adopted it as the\nequivalent for \"religion\"; and Christianity is written by them\n_Christian[=a]gama_, whereas it should be _Christianibandhana_, for\n_bandhana_ is the etymological equivalent for \"religion\".  The name\n_Vibhajja v[=a]da_--one who analyses--is another name given to a\nBuddhist, and Advayav[=a]d[=i] is a third.  With this explanation, I\ncontinue to employ under protest the familiar word when speaking of\nBuddhistic philosophy, for the convenience of the ordinary reader.\n\n[2] See the definition of _deva_ given later.\n\n[3] For an admirable account of this interview consult Dr. Paul Carus'\n_Gospel of Buddha_, page 20, _et seq._\n\n[4] The term Hind[=u], once a contemptuous term, used by the\nMusalm[=a]ns to designate the people of Sindh, whom they conquered, is\nnow used in an ecclesiastical sense.\n\n[5] No reason is given in the canonical books for the choice of this\nside of the tree, though an explanation is to be found in the popular\nlegends upon which the books of Bishop Bigandet and other European\ncommentators are based.  There are always certain influences coming\nupon us from the different quarters of the sky.  Sometimes the\ninfluence from one quarter will be best, sometimes that from another\nquarter.  But the Buddha thought that the perfected man is superior to\nall extraneous influences.\n\n[6] The ancient story is that the God Brahm[=a] himself implored him\nnot to withhold the glorious truth.\n\n[7] Br[=a]hmanism not being offered to non-Hind[=u]s, Buddhism is\nconsequently, the oldest missionary religion in the world.  The early\nmissionaries endured every hardship, cruelty, and persecution, with\nunfaltering courage.\n\n[8] At the Second Council there were two pupils of [=A]nanda,\nconsequently centenarians, while in Asoka's Council there were pupils\nof those pupils.\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nTHE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE\n\n106.  Q.  _What is the meaning of the word Buddha?_\n\nA.  The enlightened, or he who has the perfect wisdom.\n\n107.  Q.  _You have said that there were other Buddhas before this one?_\n\nA.  Yes; our belief is that, under the operation of eternal causation,\na Buddha takes birth at intervals, when mankind have become plunged\ninto misery through ignorance, and need the wisdom which it is the\nfunction of a Buddha to teach.  (See also Q. 11.)\n\n108.  Q.  _How is a Buddha developed?_\n\nA.  A person, hearing and seeing one of the Buddhas on earth, becomes\nseized with the determination so to live that at some future time, when\nhe shall become fitted for it, he also will be a Buddha for the guiding\nof mankind out of the cycle of rebirth.\n\n109.  Q.  _How does he proceed?_\n\nA.  Throughout that birth and every succeeding one, he strives to\nsubdue his passions, to gain wisdom by experience, and to develop his\nhigher faculties.  He thus grows by degrees wiser, nobler in character,\nand stronger in virtue, until, finally, after numberless re-births he\nreaches the state when he can become Perfected, Enlightened, All-wise,\nthe ideal Teacher of the human race.\n\n110.  Q.  _While this gradual development is going on throughout all\nthese births, by what name do we call him?_\n\nA.  B[=o]dhisat, or B[=o]dhisattva.  Thus the Prince Siddhartha Gautama\nwas a B[=o]dhisattva up to the moment when, under the blessed B[=o]dhi\ntree at Gay[=a], he became Buddha.\n\n111.  Q.  _Have we any account of his various rebirths as a\nBodhisattva?_\n\nA.  In the J[=a]takatthakath[=a], a book containing stories of the\nB[=o]dhisattva's reincarnations, there are several hundred tales of\nthat kind.\n\n112.  Q.  _What lesson do these stories teach?_\n\nA.  That a man can carry, throughout a long series of reincarnations,\none great, good purpose which enables him to conquer bad tendencies and\ndevelop virtuous ones.\n\n113.  Q.  _Can we fix the number of reincarnations through which a\nB[=o]dhisattva must pass before he can become a Buddha?_\n\nA.  Of course not: that depends upon his natural character, the state\nof development to which he has arrived when he forms the resolution to\nbecome a Buddha, and other things.\n\n114.  Q.  _Have we a way of classifying B[=o]dhisattvas?  If so,\nexplain it._\n\nA.  B[=o]dhisattvas--the future Buddhas--are divided into three classes.\n\n115.  Q.  _Proceed.  How are these three kinds of B[=o]dhisats named?_\n\nA.  Pann[=a]dhika, or Udghatitaj\u00f1a--\"he who attains least quickly\";\nSaddh[=a]dhika, or Vipachitaj\u00f1a--\"he who attains less quickly\"; and\nViry[=a]dhika, or Gneyya--\"he who attains quickly\".  The Pann[=a]dhika\nB[=o]dhisats take the course of Intelligence; the Saddh[=a]dhika take\nthe course of Faith; the Virya[=a]hika take the course of energetic\nAction.  The first is guided by Intelligence and does not hasten; the\nsecond is full of Faith, and does not care to take the guidance of\nWisdom; and the third never delays to do what is good.  Regardless of\nthe consequences to himself, he does it when he sees that it is best\nthat it should be done.\n\n116.  Q.  _When our B[=o]dhisattva became Buddha, what did he see was\nthe cause of human misery?  Tell me in one word._\n\nA.  Ignorance (Avidy[=a]).\n\n117.  Q.  _Can you tell me the remedy?_\n\nA.  To dispel Ignorance and become wise (Pr[=a]j\u00f1a).\n\n118.  Q.  _Why does ignorance cause suffering?_\n\nA.  Because it makes us prize what is not worth prizing, grieve when we\nshould not grieve, consider real what is not real but only illusionary,\nand pass our lives in the pursuit of worthless objects, neglecting what\nis in reality most valuable.\n\n119.  Q.  _And what is that which is most valuable?_\n\nA.  To know the whole secret of man's existence and destiny, so that we\nmay estimate at no more than their actual value this life and its\nrelations; and so that we may live in a way to ensure the greatest\nhappiness and the least suffering for our fellow-men and ourselves.\n\n120.  Q.  _What is the light that can dispel this ignorance of ours and\nremove all sorrows?_\n\nA.  The knowledge of the \"Four Noble Truths,\" as the Buddha called them.\n\n121.  Q.  _Name these Four Noble Truths?_\n\nA.  1.  The miseries of evolutionary existence resulting in births and\ndeaths, life after life.\n\n2.  The cause productive of misery, which is the selfish desire, ever\nrenewed, of satisfying one's self, without being able ever to secure\nthat end.\n\n3.  The destruction of that desire, or the estranging of one's self\nfrom it.\n\n4.  The means of obtaining this destruction of desire.\n\n122.  Q.  _Tell me some things that cause sorrow?_\n\nA.  Birth, decay, illness, death, separation from objects we love,\nassociation with those who are repugnant, craving for what cannot be\nobtained.\n\n123.  Q.  _Do these differ with each individual?_\n\nA.  Yes: but all men suffer from them in degree.\n\n124.  Q.  _How can we escape the sufferings which result from\nunsatisfied desires and ignorant cravings?_\n\nA.  By complete conquest over, and destruction of, this eager thirst\nfor life and its pleasures, which causes sorrow.\n\n125.  Q.  _How may we gain such a conquest?_\n\nA.  By following the Noble Eight-fold Path which the Buddha discovered\nand pointed out.\n\n126.  Q.  _What do you mean by that word: what is this Noble Eight-fold\nPath?_  (For the P[=a]l[=i] name see Q. 79.)\n\nA.  The eight parts of this path are called _angas_.  They are: 1.\nRight Belief (as to the law of Causation, or Karma); 2. Right Thought;\n3. Right Speech; 4. Right Action; 5. Right Means of Livelihood; 6.\nRight Exertion; 7. Right Remembrance and Self-discipline; 8. Right\nConcentration of Thought.  The man who keeps these _angas_ in mind and\nfollows them will be free from sorrow and ultimately reach salvation.\n\n127.  Q.  _Can you give a better word for salvation?_\n\nA.  Yes, emancipation.\n\n128.  Q.  _Emancipation, then, from what?_\n\nA.  Emancipation from the miseries of earthly existence and of\nrebirths, all of which are due to ignorance and impure lusts and\ncravings.\n\n129.  Q.  _And when this salvation or emancipation is attained, what do\nwe reach?_\n\nA.  NIRV[=A]NA.\n\n130.  Q.  _What is Nirv[=a]na?_\n\nA.  A condition of total cessation of changes, of perfect rest, of the\nabsence of desire and illusion and sorrow, of the total obliteration of\neverything that goes to make up the physical man.  Before reaching\nNirv[=a]na man is constantly being reborn; when he reaches Nirv[=a]na\nhe is born no more.\n\n131.  Q.  _Where can be found a learned discussion of the word\nNirv[=a]na and a list of the other names by which the old P[=a]l[=i]\nwriters attempt to define it?_\n\nA.  In the famous Dictionary of the P[=a]l[=i] Language, by the late\nMr. B. O. Childers, is a complete list.[1]\n\n132.  Q.  _But some people imagine that Nirv[=a]na is some sort of\nheavenly place, a Paradise.  Does Buddhism teach that?_\n\nA.  No.  When K[=u]tadanta asked the Buddha \"Where is Nirv[=a]na,\" he\nreplied that it was \"wherever the precepts are obeyed\".\n\n133.  Q.  _What causes us to be reborn?_\n\nA.  The unsatisfied selfish desire (Skt., _trshn[=a]_; P[=a]l[=i],\ntanh[=a]) for things that belong to the state of personal existence in\nthe material world.  This unquenched thirst for physical existence\n(_bh[=a]va_) is a force, and has a creative power in itself so strong\nthat it draws the being back into mundane life.\n\n134.  Q.  _Are our rebirths in any way affected by the nature of our\nunsatisfied desires?_\n\nA.  Yes, and by our individual merits or demerits.\n\n135.  Q.  _Does our merit or demerit control the state, condition or\nform in which we shall be re-born?_\n\nA.  It does.  The broad rule is that if we have an excess of merit we\nshall be well and happily born the next time; if an excess of demerit,\nour next birth will be wretched and full of suffering.\n\n136.  Q.  _One chief pillar of Buddhistic doctrine is, then, the idea\nthat every effect is the result of an actual cause, is it not?_\n\n A.  It is; of a cause either immediate or remote.\n\n137.  Q.  _What do we call this causation?_\n\nA.  Applied to individuals, it is Karma, that is, action.  It means\nthat our own actions or deeds bring upon us whatever of joy or misery\nwe experience.\n\n138.  Q.  _Can a bad man escape from the outworkings of his Karma?_\n\nA.  The _Dhammapada_ says: \"There exists no spot on the earth, or in\nthe sky, or in the sea, neither is there any in the mountain-clefts,\nwhere an (evil) deed does not bring trouble (to the doer).\"\n\n139.  Q.  _Can a good man escape?_\n\nA.  As the result of deeds of peculiar merit, a man may attain certain\nadvantages of place, body, environment and teaching in his next stage\nof progress, which ward off the effects of bad Karma and help his\nhigher evolution.\n\n140.  _What are they called?_\n\nA.  _Gati Sampatti_, _Up[=a]dhi Sampatti_, _K[=a]la Sampatti_ and\n_Payoga Sampatti_.\n\n141.  Q.  _Is that consistent or inconsistent with common sense and the\nteachings of modern science?_\n\nA.  Perfectly consistent: there can be no doubt of it.\n\n142.  Q.  _May all men become Buddhas?_\n\nA.  It is not in the nature of every man to become a Buddha; for a\nBuddha is developed only at long intervals of time, and seemingly, when\nthe state of humanity absolutely requires such a teacher to show it the\nforgotten Path to Nirv[=a]na.  But every being may equally reach\nNirv[=a]na, by conquering Ignorance and gaining Wisdom.\n\n143.  Q.  _Does Buddhism teach that man is reborn only upon our earth?_\n\nA.  As a general rule that would be the case, until he had evolved\nbeyond its level; but the inhabited worlds are numberless.  The world\nupon which a person is to have his next birth, as well as the nature of\nthe rebirth itself, is decided by the preponderance of the individual's\nmerit or demerit.  In other words, it will be controlled by his\nattractions, as science would describe it; or by his Karma, as we,\nBuddhists, would say.\n\n144.  Q.  _Are there worlds more perfectly developed, and others less\nso than our Earth?_\n\nA.  Buddhism teaches that there are whole _Sakwalas_, or systems of\nworlds, of various kinds, higher and lower, and also that the\ninhabitants of each world correspond in development with itself.\n\n145.  Q.  _Has not the Buddha summed up his whole doctrine in one\ng[=a]th[=a], or verse?_\n\nA.  Yes.\n\n146.  Q.  _Repeat it?_\n\nA.  _Sabba p[=a]passa akaranm,\n    Kusalassa upasampad[=a]\n    Sachitta pariyo dapanam--\n    Etam Buddh[=a]nus[=a]sanam._\n\n    \"To cease from all evil actions,\n    To generate all that is good,\n    To cleanse one's mind:\n    This is the constant advice of the Buddhas.\"\n\n147.  Q.  _Have the first three of these lines any very striking\ncharacteristics?_\n\nA.  Yes: the first line embodies the whole spirit of the _Vinaya\nPitaka_, the second that of the _Sutta_, the third that of the\n_Abhidhamma_.  They comprise only eight P[=a]l[=i] words, yet, as the\ndew-drop reflects the stars, they sparkle with the spirit of all the\nBuddha Dharma.\n\n148.  Q.  _Do these precepts show that Buddhism is an active or a\npassive religion?_\n\nA.  To \"cease from sin\" may be called passive, but to \"get virtue\" and\n\"to cleanse one's own heart,\" or mind, are altogether _active_\nqualities.  Buddha taught that we should not merely not be evil, but\nthat we should be _positively_ good.\n\n149.  Q.  _Who or what are the \"Three Guides\"[2] that a Buddhist Is\nsupposed to follow?_\n\nA.  They are disclosed in the formula called the Tisarana: \"I follow\nBuddha as my Guide: I follow the Law as my Guide: I follow the Order as\nmy Guide.\"  These three _are_, in fact, the Buddha Dharma.\n\n150.  Q.  _What does he mean when repeating this formula?_\n\nA.  He means that he regards the Buddha as his all-wise Teacher, Friend\nand Exemplar; the Law, or Doctrine, as containing the essential and\nimmutable principles of Justice and Truth and the path that leads to\nthe realisation of perfect peace of mind on earth; and the Order as the\nteachers and exemplars of that excellent Law taught by Buddha.\n\n151.  Q.  _But are not some of the members of this \"Order\" men\nintellectually and morally inferior?_\n\nA.  Yes; but we are taught by the Buddha that only those who diligently\nattend to the Precepts, discipline their minds, and strive to attain or\nhave attained one of the eight stages of holiness and perfection,\nconstitute his \"Order\".  It is expressly stated that the Order referred\nto in the \"Tisarana\" refers to the \"Attha Ariya Puggala\"--the Noble\nOnes who have attained one of the eight stages of perfection.  The mere\nwearing of yellow robes, or even ordination, does not of itself make a\nman pure or wise or entitle him to reverence.\n\n152.  Q.  _Then it is not such unworthy bhikkhus as they, whom the true\nBuddhist would lake as his guides?_\n\nA.  Certainly not.\n\n153.  Q.  _What are the five observances, or universal precepts, called\nthe Pa\u00f1cha S[=i]la, which are imposed on the laity in general?_\n\nA.  They are included in the following formula,, which Buddhists repeat\npublicly at the vih[=a]ras (temples):\n\nI observe the precept to refrain from destroying the life of beings.\n\nI observe the precept to refrain from stealing.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from unlawful sexual intercourse.[3]\n\nI observe the precept to refrain from falsehood.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from using intoxicants.\n\n154.  Q.  What strikes the intelligent person on reading these S[=i]las?\n\nA.  That one who observes them strictly must escape from every cause\nproductive of human misery.  If we study history we shall find that it\nhas all sprung from one or another of these causes.\n\n155.  Q.  In which S[=i]las is the far-seeing wisdom of the Buddha most\nplainly shown?\n\nA.  In the first, third and fifth; for the taking of life, sensuality,\nand the use of intoxicants, cause at least ninety-five per cent of the\nsufferings among men.\n\n156.  Q.  _What benefits does a man derive from the observance of these\nPrecepts?_\n\nA.  He is said to acquire more or less merit according to the manner\nand time of observing the precepts, and the number observed; that is,\nif he observes only one precept, violating the other four, he acquires\nthe merit of the observance of that precept only; and the longer he\nkeeps that precept the greater will be the merit.  He who keeps all the\nprecepts inviolate will cause himself to have a higher and happier\nexistence hereafter.\n\n157.  Q.  _What are the other observances which it is considered\nmeritorious for the laity as such to undertake voluntarily to keep?_\n\nA.  The _Atthanga S[=i]la_, or the Eightfold Precept, which embraces\nthe five above enumerated (omitting the word \"unlawful\" in the third),\nwith three additional; _viz._:\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from eating at an unseasonable time.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from dancing, singing, music and\nunbecoming shows, and from the use of garlands, scents, perfumes,\ncosmetics, ointments, and ornaments.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from using high and broad beds.\n\nThe seats and couches here referred to are those used by the\nworldly-minded for the sake of pleasure and sensual enjoyment.  The\ncelibate should avoid these.\n\n158.  Q.  _How would a Buddhist describe true merit?_\n\nA.  There is no great merit in any merely outward act; all depends upon\nthe inward motive that provokes the deed.\n\n159.  Q.  _Give an example?_\n\nA.  A rich man may expend lakhs of rupees in building d[=a]gobas or\nvih[=a]ras, in erecting statues of Buddha, in festivals and\nprocessions, in feeding priests, in giving alms to the poor, or in\nplanting trees, digging tanks, or constructing rest-houses by the\nroadside for travellers, and yet have comparatively little merit if it\nbe done for display, or to hear himself praised by men, or for any\nother selfish motives.  But he who does the least of these things with\na kind motive, such as love for his fellow-men, gains great merit.  A\ngood deed done with a bad motive benefits others, but not the doer.\nOne who approves of a good deed when done by another shares in the\nmerit, _if his sympathy is real, not pretended_.  The same rule applies\nto evil deeds.\n\n160.  Q.  _But which is said to be the greatest of all meritorious\nactions?_\n\nA.  The _Dhammapada_ declares that the merit of disseminating the\nDharma, the Law of Righteousness, is greater than that of any other\ngood work.\n\n161.  Q.  _What books contain all the most excellent wisdom of the\nBuddha's teachings?_\n\nA.  The three collections of books called _Tripitakas_ or \"_Three\nBaskets_\".\n\n162.  Q.  _What are the names of the three Pitakas, or groups of books?_\n\nA.  The _Vinaya Pitaka_, the _Sutta Pitaka_ and the _Abhidhamma Pitaka_.\n\n163.  Q.  _What do they respectively contain?_\n\nA.  The first contains all that pertains to morality and the rules of\ndiscipline for the government of the Sangha, or Order; the second\ncontains instructive discourses on ethics applicable to all; the third\nexplains the psychological teachings of the Buddha, including the\ntwenty-four transcendental laws explanatory of the workings of Nature.\n\n164.  Q.  _Do Buddhists relieve these books to be inspired, or\nrevealed, by a Divine Being?_\n\nA.  No; but they revere them as containing all the parts of that most\nExcellent Law, by the knowing of which man may break through the\ntrammels of _Sams[=a]ra_.\n\n165.  Q.  _In the whole text of the three Pitakas how many words are\nthere?_\n\nA.  Dr. Rhys-Davids estimates them at 1,752,800.\n\n166.  Q.  _When were the Pitakas first reduced to writing?_\n\nA.  In 88-76 B.C., under the Sinhalese King, Wattagamini, or three\nhundred and thirty years after the Paranirv[=a]na of the Buddha.\n\n167.  Q.  _Have we reason to believe that all the discourses of the\nBuddha are known to us?_\n\nA.  Probably not, and it would be strange if they were.  Within the\nforty-five years of his public life he must have preached many hundreds\nof discourses.  Of these, in times of war and persecution, many must\nhave been lost, many scattered to distant countries, and many\nmutilated.  History says that enemies of the Buddha Dharma burnt piles\nof our books as high as a coco-nut tree.\n\n168.  Q.  _Do Buddhists consider the Buddha as one who by his own\nvirtue can save us from the consequence of our individual sins?_\n\nA.  Not at all.  Man must emancipate himself.  Until he does that he\nwill continue being born over and over and over again--the victim of\nignorance, the slave of unquenched passions.\n\n169.  Q.  _What, then, was the Buddha to us, and all other beings?_\n\nA.  An all-seeing, all-wise Counsellor; one who discovered the safe\npath and pointed it out; one who showed the cause of, and the only cure\nfor, human suffering.  In pointing to the road, in showing us how to\nescape dangers, he became our Guide.  He is to us like one leading a\nblind man across a narrow bridge over a swift and deep stream and so\nsaving his life.\n\n170.  Q.  _If we were to try to represent the whole spirit of the\nBuddha's doctrine by one word, which word should we choose?_\n\nA.  Justice.\n\n171.  Q.  _Why?_\n\nA.  Because it teaches that every man gets, under the operations of\nunerring KARMA, exactly that reward or punishment which he has\ndeserved, no more and no less.  No good deed or bad deed, however\ntrifling, and however secretly committed, escapes the evenly-balanced\nscales of Karma.\n\n172.  Q.  _What is Karma?_[4]\n\nA.  A causation operating on the moral, as well as on the physical and\nother planes.  Buddhists say there is no miracle in human affairs: what\na man sows that he must and will reap.\n\n173.  Q.  _What other good words have been used to express the essence\nof Buddhism?_\n\nA.  Self-culture and universal love.\n\n174.  Q.  _What doctrine ennobles Buddhism, and gives it its exalted\nplace among the world's religions?_\n\nA.  That of _Mitta_ or _Maitreya_--compassionate kindness.  The\nimportance of this doctrine is moreover emphasised in the giving of the\nname \"Maitri\" (the Compassionate One), to the coming Buddha.\n\n175.  Q.  _Were all these points of Doctrine that you have explained\nmeditated upon by the Buddha near the Bo-tree?_\n\nA.  Yes, these and many more that may be read in the Buddhist\nScriptures.  The entire system of Buddhism came to his mind during the\nGreat Enlightenment.\n\n176.  Q.  _How long did the Buddha remain near the Bo-tree?_\n\nA.  Forty-nine days.\n\n177.  Q.  _What do we call the first discourse preached by the\nBuddha--that which he addressed to his five former companions?_\n\nA.  The _Dhammacakka-ppavattana sutta_--the S[=u]tra of the Definition\nof the Rule of Doctrine.[5]\n\n178.  Q.  _What subjects were treated by him in this discourse?_\n\nA.  The \"Four Noble Truths,\" and the \"Noble Eightfold Path\".  He\ncondemned the extreme physical mortification of the ascetics, on the\none hand, and the enjoyment of sensual pleasures on the other; pointing\nout and recommending the Noble Eightfold Path as the Middle Path.\n\n179.  Q.  _Did the Buddha hold with idol-worship?_\n\nA.  He did not; he opposed it.  The worship of gods, demons, trees,\netc., was condemned by the Buddha.  External worship is a fetter that\none has to break if he is to advance higher.\n\n180.  Q.  _But, do not Buddhists make reverence before the statue of\nthe Buddha, his relics, and the monuments enshrining them?_\n\nA.  Yes, but not with the sentiment of the idolater.\n\n181.  Q.  _What is the difference?_\n\nA.  Our Pagan brother not only takes his images as visible\nrepresentations of his unseen God or gods, but the refined idolater, in\nworshipping, considers that the idol contains in its substance a\nportion of the all-pervading divinity.\n\n182.  Q.  _What does the Buddhist think?_\n\nA.  The Buddhist reverences the Buddha's statue and the other things\nyou have mentioned, only as mementoes of the greatest, wisest, most\nbenevolent and compassionate man in this world-period (Kalpa).  All\nraces and people preserve, treasure up, and value the relics and\nmementoes of men and women who have been considered in any way great.\nThe Buddha, to us, seems more to be revered and beloved than any one\nelse, by every human being who knows sorrow.\n\n183.  Q.  _Has the Buddha himself given us something definite upon this\nsubject?_\n\nA.  Certainly.  In the _Mah[=a] Pari-Nirv[=a]na Sutta_ he says that\nemancipation is attainable only by leading the Holy life, according to\nthe Noble Eight-fold Path, not by eternal worship (_[=a]misa\np[=u]j[=a]_), nor by adoration of himself, or of another, or of any\nimage.\n\n184.  Q.  _What was the Buddha's estimate of ceremonialism?_\n\nA.  From the beginning, he condemned the observance of ceremonies and\nother external practices, which only tend to increase our spiritual\nblindness and our clinging to mere lifeless forms.\n\n185.  Q.  _What as to controversies?_\n\nA.  In numerous discourses he denounced this habit as most pernicious.\nHe prescribed penances for Bhikkhus who waste time and weaken their\nhigher intuitions in wrangling over theories and metaphysical\nsubtleties.\n\n186.  Q.  _Are charms, incantations, the observance of lucky hours and\ndevil-dancing a part of Buddhism?_\n\nA.  They are positively repugnant to its fundamental principles.  They\nare the surviving relics of fetishism and pantheistic and other foreign\nreligions.  In the _Br[=a]hmaj[=a]ta Sutta_ the Buddha has\ncategorically described these and other superstitions as Pagan, mean\nand spurious.[6]\n\n187.  Q.  _What striking contrasts are there between Buddhism and what\nmay be properly called \"religions\"?_\n\nA.  Among others, these: It teaches the highest goodness without a\ncreating God; a continuity of life without adhering to the\nsuperstitious and selfish doctrine of an eternal, metaphysical\nsoul-substance that goes out of the body; a happiness without an\nobjective heaven; a method of salvation without a vicarious Saviour;\nredemption by oneself as the Redeemer, and without rites, prayers,\npenances, priests or intercessory saints; and a _summum bonum_, _i.e._,\nNirv[=a]na, attainable in this life and in this world by leading a\npure, unselfish life of wisdom and of compassion to all beings.\n\n188.  Q.  _Specify the two main divisions of \"meditation,\" i.e., of the\nprocess by which one extinguishes passion and attains knowledge?_\n\nA.  _Samatha_ and _Vidarsama_: (1) the attenuation of passion by\nleading the holy life and by continued effort to subdue the senses; (2)\nthe attainment of supernormal wisdom by reflection: each of which\nembraces twenty aspects, but I need not here specify them.\n\n189.  Q.  _What are the four paths or stages of advancement that one\nmay attain to?_\n\nA.  (1) Sott[=a]patti--the beginning or entering into which follows\nafter one's clear perception of the \"Four Noble Truths\"; (2)\nSakard[=a]g[=a]mi--the path of one who has so subjugated lust, hatred\nand delusion that he need only return once to this world; (3)\n_An[=a]gami_--the path of those who have so far conquered self that\nthey need not return to this world; (4) _Arhat_--the path of the holy\nand worthy Arhat, who is not only free from the necessity of\nreincarnation, but has capacitated himself to enjoy perfect wisdom,\nboundless pity for the ignorant and suffering, and measureless love for\nall beings.\n\n190.  Q.  _Does popular Buddhism contain nothing but what is true, and\nin accord with science?_\n\nA.  Like every other religion that has existed many centuries, it\ncertainly now contains untruth mingled with truth; ever gold is found\nmixed with dross.  The poetical imagination, the zeal, or the lingering\nsuperstition of Buddhist devotees have, in various ages, and in various\nlands, caused the noble principles of the Buddha's moral doctrines to\nbe coupled more or less with what might be removed to advantage.\n\n191.  Q.  _When such perversions are discovered, what should be the\ntrue Buddhist's earnest desire?_\n\nA.  The true Buddhist should be ever ready and anxious to see the false\npurged away from the true, and to assist, if he can.  Three great\nCouncils of the Sangha were held for the express purpose of purging the\nbody of Teachings from all corrupt interpolations.\n\n192.  Q.  _When?_\n\nA.  The first, at Sattapanni cave, just after the death of the Buddha;\nthe second at Valukarama, in Vaisali; the third at Asokarama Vih[=a]ra,\nat P[=a]taliputra, 235 years after Buddha's decease.\n\n193.  Q.  _In what discourse does the Buddha himself warn us to expect\nthis perversion of the true Doctrine?_\n\nA.  In the _Sanyutta Nik[=a]ya_.\n\n194.  Q.  _Are there any dogmas in Buddhism which we are required to\naccept on faith?_\n\nA.  No: we are earnestly enjoined to accept nothing whatever on faith;\nwhether it be written in books, handed down from our ancestors, or\ntaught by the sages.\n\n195.  Q.  _Did he himself really teach that noble rule?_\n\nA.  Yes.  The Buddha has said that we must not believe in a thing said\nmerely because it is said; nor in traditions because they have been\nhanded down from antiquity; nor rumours, as such; nor writings by\nsages, merely because sages wrote them; nor fancies that we may suspect\nto have been inspired in us by a Deva (that is, in presumed spiritual\ninspiration); nor from inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption\nwe may have made; nor because of what seems an analogical necessity;\nnor on the mere authority of our own teachers or masters.\n\n196.  Q.  _When, then, must we believe?_\n\nA.  We are to believe when the writing doctrine or saying is\ncorroborated by our own reason and consciousness.  \"For this,\" says he\nin concluding, \"I taught you not to believe merely because you have\nheard, but when you believed of your own consciousness, then to act\naccordingly and abundantly.\"  (See the _K[=a]l[=a]ma Sutta_ of the\n_Anguttara Nik[=a]ya_, and the _Mah[=a] Pari Nirv[=a]na Sutta_.)\n\n197.  Q.  _What does the Buddha call himself?_\n\nA.  He says that he and the other Buddhas are only \"preachers\" of truth\nwho point out the way: we ourselves must make the effort.\n\n198.  Q.  _Where is this said?_\n\nA.  In the _Dhammapada_, Chapter xx.\n\n199.  Q.  _Does Buddhism countenance hypocrisy?_\n\nA.  The Dhammapada says: \"Like a beautiful flower full of colour\nwithout scent the fine words of him who does not act accordingly are\nfruitless.\"\n\n200.  Q.  _Does Buddhism teach us to return evil for evil?_\n\nA.  In the _Dhammapada_ the Buddha said: \"If a man foolishly does me\nwrong, I will return to him the protection of my ungrudging love; the\nmore evil comes from him, the more good shall go from me.\"  This is the\npath followed by the Arhat.[7]  To return evil for evil is positively\nforbidden in Buddhism.\n\n201.  Q.  _Does it encourage cruelty?_\n\nA.  No, indeed.  In the Five Precepts and in many of his discourses,\nthe Buddha teaches us to be merciful to all beings, to try and make\nthem happy, to love them all, to abstain from taking life, or\nconsenting to it, or encouraging its being done.\n\n202.  Q.  _In which discourse is this stated?_\n\nA.  The _Dhammika Sutta_ says: \"Let him (the householder) not destroy,\nor cause to be destroyed, any life at all, or _sanction the act of\nthose who do so_.  Let him refrain from even hurting any creature.\"[8]\n\n203.  Q.  _Does it approve of drunkenness?_\n\nA.  In his _Dhammika Sutta_ we are warned against drinking liquors,\ncausing others to drink, or sanctioning the acts of those who drink.[9]\n\n204.  Q.  _To what are we told that drunkenness leads?_\n\nA.  To demerit, crime, insanity, and ignorance--which is the chief\ncause of rebirth.\n\n205.  Q.  _What does Buddhism teach about marriage?_\n\nA.  Absolute chastity being a condition of full spiritual development,\nis most highly commended; but a marriage to one wife and fidelity to\nher is recognised as a kind of chastity.  Polygamy was censured by the\nBuddha as involving ignorance and promoting lust.\n\n206.  Q.  _In what discourse?_\n\nA.  The _Anguttara Nik[=a]ya_, Chapter iv, 55.\n\n207.  Q.  _What does it teach as to the duty of parents to children?_\n\nA.  They should restrain them from vice, train them in virtue; have\nthem taught arts and sciences; provide them with suitable wives and\nhusbands, and give them their inheritance.\n\n208.  Q.  What is the duty of children?\n\nA.  To support their parents when old or needy; perform family duties\nincumbent on them; guard their property; make themselves worthy to be\ntheir heirs, and when they are gone, honour their memory.\n\n209.  Q.  _What of pupils to the teacher?_\n\nA.  To show him respect; minister to him; obey him; supply his wants;\nattend to his instruction.\n\n210.  Q.  _What of husband to wife?_\n\nA.  To cherish her; treat her with respect and kindness; be faithful to\nher; cause her to be honoured by others; provide her with suitable\nornaments and clothes.\n\n211.  Q.  _What of the wife to her husband?_\n\nA.  To show affection to him; order her household aright; be hospitable\nto guests; be chaste; be thrifty; show skill and diligence in all\nthings.\n\n212.  Q.  Where are these precepts taught?\n\nA.  In the Sig[=a]lov[=a]da Sutta.\n\n213.  Q.  Do riches help a man to future happiness?\n\nA.  The Dhammapada says: \"One is the road that leads to wealth, another\nthe road that leads to Nirv[=a]na.\"\n\n214.  Q.  Does that mean that no rich man can attain Nirv[=a]na?\n\nA.  That depends on which he loves most.  If he uses his wealth for the\nbenefit of mankind--for the suffering, the oppressed, the\nignorant--then his wealth aids him to acquire merit.\n\n215.  Q.  But if the contrary?\n\nA.  But if he loves and greedily hoards money for the sake of its\npossession, then it weakens his moral sense, prompts him to crime,\nbrings curses upon him in this life, and their effects are felt in the\nnext birth.\n\n216.  Q.  _What says the \"Dhammapada\" about ignorance?_\n\nA.  That it is a taint worse than all taints that a man can put upon\nhimself.\n\n217.  Q.  _What does it say about uncharitableness towards others?_\n\nA.  That the fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself\ndifficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff,\nbut his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the\ngambler.\n\n218.  Q.  _What advice does the Buddha give us as to man's duty to the\npoor?_\n\nA.  He says that a man's net income should be divided into four parts,\nof which one should be devoted to philanthropic objects.\n\n219.  Q.  _What five occupations are said to be low and base?_\n\nA.  Selling liquor, selling animals for slaughter, selling poison,\nselling murderous weapons, and dealing in slaves.\n\n220.  Q.  _Who are said to be incapable of progress in spirituality?_\n\nA.  The killers of father, mother, and holy Arhats; Bhikkhus who sow\ndiscord in the Sangha; those who attempt to injure the person of a\nBuddha; those who hold extremely nihilistic views as to the future\nexistence; and those who are extremely sensual.\n\n121.  Q.  _Does Buddhism specify places or conditions of torment into\nwhich a bad man's Karma draws him on leaving this life?_\n\nA.  Yes.  They are: Sanj[=i]va; K[=a]las[=u]tra; Sangh[=a]ta; Raurava;\nMah[=a]-Raurava T[=a]pa; Prat[=a]pa; Av[=i]chi.\n\n222.  Q.  _Is the torment eternal?_\n\nA.  Certainly not.  Its duration depends on a man's Karma.\n\n223.  Q.  _Does Buddhism declare that non-believers in Buddha will of\nnecessity be damned for their unbelief?_\n\nA.  No; by good deeds they may enjoy a limited term of happiness before\nbeing drawn into rebirth by their unexhausted _tanh[=a]_.  To escape\nrebirth, one must tread the Noble Eight-fold Path.\n\n224.  Q.  _What is the spiritual status of woman among Buddhists?_\n\nA.  According to our religion they are on a footing of perfect equality\nwith men.  \"Woman,\" says the Buddha, in the _Chullavedalla Sutta_, \"may\nattain the highest path of holiness that is open to man--Arhatship.\"\n\n225.  Q.  _What does a modern critic say about the effect of Buddhism\non woman?_\n\nA.  That \"it has done more for the happiness and enfranchisement of\nwoman than any other creed\" (Sir Lepel Griffin).\n\n226.  Q.  _What did the Buddha teach about caste?_\n\nA.  That one does not become of any caste, whether Pariah, the lowest,\nor Br[=a]hmana the highest, by birth, but by deeds.  \"By deeds,\" said\nHe, \"one becomes an outcast, by deeds one becomes a Br[=a]hmana\" (See\n_Vassala Sutta_).\n\n227.  Q.  _Tell me a story to illustrate this?_\n\nA.  Ananda, passing by a well, was thirsty and asked Prakrti, a girl of\nthe M[=a]tanga, or Pariah, caste, to give him water.  She said she was\nof such low caste that he would become contaminated by taking water\nfrom her hand.  But Ananda replied: \"I ask not for caste but for\nwater\"; and the M[=a]tanga girl's heart was glad and she gave him to\ndrink.  The Buddha blessed her for it.\n\n228.  Q.  _What did the Buddha say in \"Vasala Sutta\" about a man of the\nPariah Sop[=a]ka caste?_\n\nA.  That by his merits he reached the highest fame; that many Khattiyas\n(Kshattriyas) and Br[=a]hmanas went to serve him; and that after death\nhe was born in the Br[=a]hma-world: while there are many Br[=a]hmanas\nwho for their evil deeds are born in hell.\n\n229.  Q.  Does Buddhism teach the immortality of the soul?\n\nA.  It considers \"soul\" to be a word used by the ignorant to express a\nfalse idea.  If everything is subject to change, then man is included,\nand every material part of him must change.  That which is subject to\nchange is not permanent: so there can be no immortal survival of a\nchangeful thing.[10]\n\n230.  Q.  _What is so objectionable in this word \"soul\"?_\n\nA.  The idea associated with it that man can be an entity separated\nfrom all other entities, and from the existence of the whole of the\nUniverse.  This idea of separateness is unreasonable, not provable by\nlogic, nor supported by science.\n\n231.  Q.  _Then there is no separate \"I,\" nor can we say \"my\" this or\nthat?_\n\nA.  Exactly so.\n\n232.  Q.  _If the idea of a separate human \"soul\" is to be rejected,\nwhat is it in man which gives him the impression of having a permanent\npersonality?_\n\nA.  _Tanh[=a]_, or the unsatisfied desire for existence.  The being\nhaving done that for which he must be rewarded or punished in future,\nand having _Tanh[=a]_, will have a rebirth through the influence of\nKarma.\n\n233.  Q.  _What is it that is born?_\n\nA.  A new aggregation of Skandhas, or personality[2] caused by the last\ngenerative thought of the dying person.\n\n234.  Q.  _How many Skandhas are there?_\n\nA.  Five.\n\n235.  Q.  _Name the five Skandhas?_\n\nA.  R[=u]pa, Vedan[=a], Sa\u00f1\u00f1[=a], Samkh[=a]r[=a],_ and _Vi\u00f1\u00f1[=a]na_.\n\n236.  Q.  _Briefly explain what they are?_\n\nA.  __R[=u]pa_, material qualities; _Vedan[=a]_, sensation; _Sa\u00f1\u00f1[=a]_,\nabstract ideas; _Samkh[=a]r[=a]_, tendencies of mind; _Vi\u00f1\u00f1[=a]na_,\nmental powers, or consciousness.  Of these we are formed; by them we\nare conscious of existence; and through them communicate with the world\nabout us.\n\n237.  Q.  _To what cause must we attribute the differences in the\ncombination of the five Skandhas which make every individual differ\nfrom every other individual?_\n\nA.  To the ripened Karma of the individual in his preceding births.\n\n238.  Q.  _What is the force of energy that is at work, under the\nguidance of Karma, to produce the new being?_\n\nA.  Tanh[=a]--the will to _live_.[12]\n\n239.  Q.  _Upon what is the doctrine of rebirths founded?_\n\nA.  Upon the perception that perfect justice, equilibrium and\nadjustment are inherent in the universal system of Nature.  Buddhists\ndo not believe that one life--even though it were extended to one\nhundred or five hundred years--is long enough for the reward or\npunishment of a man's deeds.  The great circle of rebirths will be more\nor less quickly run through according to the preponderating purity or\nimpurity of the several lives of the individual.\n\n240.  Q.  _Is this new aggregation of Skandhas--this new\npersonality--the same being as that in the previous birth, whose\nTanh[=a] has brought it into existence?_\n\nA.  In one sense it is a new being; in another it is not.  In\nP[=a]l[=i] it is--\"_nacha so nacha a\u00f1\u00f1o_\" which means not the same nor\nyet another.  During this life the _Skandhas_ are constantly\nchanging;[13] and while the man A. B., of forty, is identical, as\nregards personality, with the youth A. B., of eighteen, yet, by the\ncontinual waste and reparation of his body, and change of mind and\ncharacter, he is a different being.  Nevertheless, the man in his old\nage justly reaps the reward of suffering consequent upon his thoughts\nand actions at every previous stage of his life.  So the new being of a\nrebirth, being the same individuality as before, but with a changed\nform, or new aggregation of _Skandhas_, justly reaps the consequences\nof his actions and thoughts in the previous existence.\n\n241.  Q.  _But the aged man remembers the incidents of his youth,\ndespite his being physically and mentally changed.  Why, then, is not\nthe recollection of past lives brought over by us from our last birth,\ninto the present birth?_\n\nA.  Because memory is included within the _Skandhas_; and the\n_Skandhas_ having changed with the new reincarnation, a new memory, the\nrecord of of that particular existence, develops.  Yet the record or\nreflection of all the past earth-lives must survive; for, when Prince\nSiddh[=a]rtha became Buddha, the full sequence of his previous births\nwas seen by him.  If their several incidents had left no trace behind,\nthis could not have been so, as there would have been nothing for him\nto see.  And any one who attains to the fourth state of _Dhy[=a]na_\n(psychical insight) can thus retrospectively trace the line of his\nlives.\n\n242.  Q.  _What is the ultimate point towards which tend all these\nseries of changes in form?_\n\nA.  Nirv[=a]na.\n\n243.  Q.  _Does Buddhism teach that we should do good with the view of\nreaching Nirv[=a]na?_\n\nA.  No; that would be as absolute selfishness as though the reward\nhoped for had been money, a throne, or any other sensual enjoyment.\nNirv[=a]na cannot be so reached, and the unwise speculator is\nforedoomed to disappointment.\n\n244.  Q.  _Please make it a little clearer?_\n\nA.  Nirv[=a]na is the synonym of unselfishness, the entire surrender of\nselfhood to truth.  The ignorant man aspires to nirv[=a]nic happiness\nwithout the least idea of its nature.  Absence of selfishness is\nNirv[=a]na.  Doing good with the view to getting results, or leading\nthe holy life with the object of gaining heavenly happiness, is not the\nNoble Life that the Buddha enjoined.  Without hope of reward the Noble\nLife should be lived, and that is the highest life.  The nirv[=a]nic\nstate can be attained while one is living on this earth.\n\n245.  Q.  _Name the ten great obstacles to advancement, called\nSanyojanas, the Fetters?_\n\nA.  Delusion of self (_Sakk[=a]ya-ditthi_); Doubt (_Vicikicch[=a]_);\nDependence on superstitious rites (_S[=i]labbata-par[=a]m[=a]sa_);\nSensuality, bodily passions (_K[=a]ma_); Hatred, ill-feeling\n(_Patigha_); Love of life on earth (_R[=u]par[=a]ga_); Desire for life\nin a heaven (_Ar[=u]par[=a]ga_); Pride (_M[=a]na_); Self-righteousness\n(Uddhacca); Ignorance (_Avijj[=a]_).\n\n246.  Q.  _To become an Arhat, how many of these fetters must be\nbroken?_\n\nA.  All.\n\n247.  Q.  _What are the five Nirw[=a]ranas or Hindrances?_\n\nA.  Greed, Malice, Sloth, Pride, and Doubt.\n\n248.  Q.  _Why do we see this minute division of feelings, impulses,\nworkings of the mind, obstacles and aids to advancement so much used in\nthe Buddha's teachings?  It is very confusing to a beginner._\n\nA.  It is to help us to obtain knowledge of ourselves, by training our\nminds to think out every subject in detail.  By following out this\nsystem of self-examination, we come finally to acquire knowledge and\nsee truth as it is.  This is the course taken by every wise teacher to\nhelp his pupil's mind to develop.\n\n249.  Q.  _How many of the Buddha's disciples were specially renowned\nfor their superior qualities?_\n\nA.  There are eighty so distinguished.  They are called the As[=i]ti\nMah[=a] S[=a]vakas.\n\n250.  Q.  _What did the Buddha's wisdom embrace?_\n\nA.  He knew the nature of the Knowable and the Unknowable, the Possible\nand the Impossible, the cause of Merit and Demerit; he could read the\nthoughts of all beings; he knew the laws of Nature, the illusions of\nthe senses and the means to suppress desires; he could distinguish the\nbirth and rebirth of individuals, and other things.\n\n251.  Q.  _What do we call the basic principle on which the whole of\nthe Buddha's teaching is constructed?_\n\nA.  It is called Paticca Samupp[=a]da.[14]\n\n252.  Q.  _Is it easily grasped?_\n\nA.  It is most difficult; in fact, the full meaning and extent of it is\nbeyond the capacity of such as are not perfectly developed.\n\n253.  Q.  _What said the great commentator Buddha Ghosha about it?_\n\nA.  That even he was as helpless in this vast ocean of thought as one\nwho is drifting on the ocean of waters.\n\n254.  Q.  _Then why should the Buddha say, in the Parinibb[=a]na Sutta,\nthat he \"has no such thing as the closed fist of a teacher, who keeps\nsomething back\"?  If his whole teaching was open to every one's\ncomprehension why should so great and learned a man as Buddha Ghosha\ndeclare it so hard to understand?_\n\nA.  The Buddha evidently meant that he taught everything freely; but\nequally certain is it that the real basis of the Dharma can only be\nunderstood by him who has perfected his powers of comprehension.  It\nis, therefore, incomprehensible to common, unenlightened persons.\n\n255.  Q.  _How does the teaching of the Buddha support this view?_\n\nA.  The Buddha looked into the heart of each person, and preached to\nsuit the individual temperament and spiritual development of the hearer.\n\n\n\n[1] Mr. Childers takes a highly pessimistic view of the Nirv[=a]nic\nstate, regarding it as annihilation.  Later students disagree with him.\n\n[2] _Saranam_.  Wijesinha Mudaliar writes me: \"This word has been\nhitherto very inappropriately and erroneously rendered _Refuge_, by\nEuropean P[=a]l[=i] scholars, and thoughtlessly so accepted by native\nP[=a]l[=i] scholars.  Neither P[=a]l[=i] etymology nor Buddhistic\nphilosophy justifies the translation.  _Refuge_, in the sense of a\n_fleeing back or a place of shelter_, is quite foreign to true\nBuddhism, which insists on every man working out his own emancipation.\nThe root _Sr_ in Samskrt (_sara_ in P[=a]l[=i]) means to move, to go;\nso that _Suranim_ would denote a moving, or he or that which goes\nbefore or with another--a Guide or Helper.  I construe the passage\nthus: _Gachch[=a]mi_, I go, _Buddham_, to Buddha _Saranam_, as my\nGuide.  The translation of the _Tisarana_ as the \"Three Refuges,\" has\ngiven rise to much misapprehension, and has been made by anti-Buddhists\na fertile pretext for taunting Buddhists with the absurdity of taking\nrefuge in non-entities and believing in unrealities.  The term refuge\nis more applicable to Nirv[=a]na, of which _Saranam_ is a synonym.  The\nHigh Priest Sumangala also calls my attention to the fact that the\nP[=a]l[=i] root _Sara_ has the secondary meaning of killing, or that\nwhich destroys.  _Buddham saranam gachchh[=a]mi_ might thus be rendered\n\"I go to Buddha, the Law, and the Order, as the destroyers of my\nfears--the first by his preaching, the second by its axiomatic truth,\nthe third by their various examples and precepts.\"\n\n[3] This qualified form refers, of course, to laymen who only profess\nto keep five precepts; a Bhikkhu must observe strict celibacy.  So,\nalso, must the laic who binds himself to observe eight of the whole ten\nPrecepts for specified periods; during these periods he must be\ncelibate.  The five Precepts were laid down by Buddha for all people.\nThough one may not be a Buddhist, yet the five and eight Precepts may\nprofitably bo observed by all.  It is the taking of the \"Three Refuges\"\nthat constitutes one a Buddhist.\n\n[4] Karma is defined as the sum total of a man's actions.  The law of\nCause and Effect is called the _Patice a Samuppada Dhamma_.  In the\n_Anguttara Nikaya_ the Buddha teaches that my action is my possession,\nmy action is my inheritance, my action is the womb which bears me, my\naction is my relative, my action is my refuge.\n\n[5] After the appearance of the first edition, I received from one of\nthe ablest P[=a]l[=i] scholars of Ceylon, the late L. Corneille\nWijesinha, Esq., Mudaliar of Matale, what seems a better rendering of\n_Dhammacakka-ppavattana_ than the one previously given; he makes it\n\"The Establishment of the Reign of Law\".  Professor Rhys-Davids\nprefers, \"The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness\".  Mr.\nWijesinha writes me: \"You may use 'Kingdom of Righteousness,' too, but\nit savours more of dogmatic theology than of philosophic ethics.\n_Dhammacakkappavattana suttum_ is the discourse entitled 'The\nEstablishment of the Reign of Law'.\"  Having shown this to the High\nPriest, I am happy to be able to say that he assents to Mr. Wijesinha's\nrendering.\n\n[6] The mixing of these arts and practices with Buddhism is a sign of\ndeterioration.  Their facts and phenomena are real and capable of\nscientific explanation.  They are embraced in the term \"magic,\" but\nwhen resorted to, for selfish purposes, attract bad influences about\none, and impede spiritual advancement.  When employed for harmless and\nbeneficent purposes, such as healing the sick, saving life, etc., the\nBuddha permitted their use.\n\n[7] A Buddhist ascetic who, by a prescribed course of practice, has\nattained to a superior state of spiritual and intellectual development.\nArhats may be divided into the two general groups of the\n_Samathayanika_ and _Sukkha Vipassaka_.  The former have destroyed\ntheir passions, and fully developed their intellectual capacity or\nmystical insight; the latter have equally conquered passion, but not\nacquired the superior mental powers.  The former can work phenomena,\nthe latter cannot.  The Arhat of the former class, when fully\ndeveloped, is no longer a prey to the delusions of the senses, nor the\nslave of passion or mortal frailty.  _He penetrates to the root of\nwhatsoever subject his mind is applied to_ without following the slow\nprocesses of reasoning.  His self-conquest is complete; and in place of\nthe emotion and desire which vex and enthral the ordinary man, he is\nlifted up into a condition which is best expressed in the term\n\"Nirv[=a]nic\".  There is in Ceylon a popular misconception that the\nattainment of Arhatship is now impossible; that the Buddha had himself\nprophesied that the power would die out in one millennium after his\ndeath.  This rumour--and the similar one that is everywhere heard in\nIndia, _viz._, that this being the dark cycle of the _Kali Yuga_, the\npractice of Yoga Vidy[=a], or sublime spiritual science, is\nimpossible--I ascribe to the ingenuity of those who should be as pure\nand (to use a non-Buddhistic but very convenient term) psychically wise\nas were their predecessors, but are not, and who therefore seek an\nexcuse!  The Buddha taught quite the contrary idea.  In the _N[=i]ga\nNik[=a]ya_ he said: \"Hear, Subbhadra!  The world will never be without\nArhats if the ascetics (Bhikkhus) in my congregations _well and truly\nkeep my precepts_.\"  (_Imeccha Subhaddabhikkhu samma vihareiyum asunno\nloko Arahantehiassa._)\n\n[8] Kolb, in his _History of Culture_, says: \"It is Buddhism we have to\nthank for the sparing of prisoners of war, who heretofore had been\nslain; also for the discontinuance of the carrying away into captivity\nof the inhabitants of conquered lands.\"\n\n[9] The fifth S[=i]la has reference to the mere taking of intoxicants\nand stupefying drugs, which leads ultimately to drunkenness.\n\n[10] The \"soul\" here criticised is the equivalent of the Greek\n_psuche_.  The word \"material\" covers other states of matter than that\nof the physical body.\n\n[11] Upon reflection, I have substituted \"personality\" for\n\"individuality\" as written in the first edition.  The successive\nappearances upon one or many earths, or \"descents into generation,\" of\nthe _tanhaically_-coherent parts (_Skandhas_) of a certain being are a\nsuccession of personalities.  In each birth the _personality_ differs\nfrom that of the previous, or next succeeding birth.  Karma the _deus\nex machina_, masks (or shall we say reflects?) itself, now in the\npersonality of a sage, again as an artisan, and so on throughout the\nstring of births.  But though personalities ever shift, the one line of\nlife along which they are strung like beads, runs unbroken, it is ever\n_that particular line_, never any other.  It is therefore\nindividual--an individual vital undulation--which is careering through\nthe objective side of Nature, under the impulse of Karma and the\ncreative direction of Tanh[=a] and persists through many cyclic\nchanges.  Professor Rhys-Davids calls that which passes from\npersonality to personality along the individual chain, \"character\" or\n\"doing\".  Since \"character\" is not a mere metaphysical abstraction, but\nthe sum of one's mental qualities and moral propensities, would it not\nhelp to dispel what Professor Rhys-Davids calls \"the desperate\nexpedient of a mystery\" (_Buddhism_, p. 101), if we regarded the\nlife-undulation as individuality and each of its series of natal\nmanifestations as a separate personality?  We _must_ have two words to\ndistinguish between the concepts, and I find none so clear and\nexpressive as the two I have chosen.  The perfected individual,\nBuddhistically speaking, is a Buddha, I should say; for a Buddha is but\nthe rare flower of humanity, without the least supernatural admixture.\nAnd, as countless generations--\"four_ asankhyyas_ and a hundred\nthousand cycles\" (Fausboll and Rhys-David's _Buddhist Birth Stories_,\nNo. 13)--are required to develop a man into a Buddha, and _the iron\nwill to become one runs throughout all the successive births_, what\nshall we call that which thus wills and perseveres?  Character, or\nindividuality?  An individuality, but partly manifested in any one\nbirth, built up of fragments from all the births.\n\nThe denial of \"Soul\" by Buddha (see _Sanyutta Nik[=a]ya_, the _Sutta\nPitaka_) points to the prevalent delusive belief in an independent\npersonality; an entity, which after one birth would go to a fixed place\nor state where, as a perfect entity, it could eternally enjoy or\nsuffer.  And what he shows is that the \"I am I\" consciousness is, as\nregards permanency, logically impossible, since its elementary\nconstituents constantly change and the \"I\" of one birth differs from\nthe \"I\" of every other birth.  But everything that I have found in\nBuddhism accords with the theory of a gradual evolution of the\nperfected man--_viz._, a Buddha--through numberless natal experiences.\nAnd in the consciousness of that individual who, at the end of a given\nchain of births, attains Buddhahood, or who succeeds in attaining the\nfourth stage of Dhy[=a]na, or mystic self-development, in any of his\nbirths anterior to the final one, the scenes of all these serial births\nare perceptible.  In the _J[=a]takat-thavannana_--so well translated by\nProfessor Rhys-Davids--an expression continually recurs which, I think,\nrather supports such an idea, _viz._: \"Then the Blessed One _made\nmanifest an occurrence hidden by change of birth_,\" or \"that which had\nbeen hidden by,\" etc.  Early Buddhism then clearly held to a permanency\nof records in the [=A]k[=a]sha, and the potential capacity of man to\nread the same when he has evolved to the stage of true individual\nenlightenment.  At death, and in convulsions and trance, the _javana\nchitt[=a]_ is transferred to the object last created by the desires.\nThe will to live brings all thoughts into objectivity.\n\n[12] The student may profitably consult Schopenhauer in this\nconnection.  Arthur Schopenhauer, a modern German philosopher of the\nmost eminent ability, taught that \"the Principle or Radical, of Nature,\nand of all her objects, the human body included, is, intrinsically what\nwe ourselves are the most conscious of in our own body, _viz._, Will.\nIntellect is a secondary capacity of the primary will, a function of\nthe brain in which this will reflects itself as Nature and object and\nbody, as in a mirror...  Intellect is secondary, but may lead, in\nsaints, to a complete renunciation of will, as far as it urges \"life\"\nand is then extinguished in Nirv[=a]na (L. A. Sanders in _The\nTheosophist_ for May 1882, p. 213).\n\n[13] Physiologically speaking, man's body is completely changed every\nseven years.\n\n[14] This fundamental or basic principle may be designated in\nP[=a]l[=i], _Nid[=a]na_--chain of causation or, literally, \"Origination\nof dependence\".  Twelve _Nid[=a]nas_ are specified, _viz._:\n_Avijj[=a]_--ignorance of the truth of natural religion;\n_Samkh[=a]ra_--causal action, karma; _Vi\u00f1\u00f1ana_--consciousness of\npersonality, the \"I am I\"; _N[=a]ma r[=u]pa_--name and form;\n_Salayatana_--six senses; _Phassa_--contact, _Vedan[=a]_--feeling,\n_Tanh[=a]_--desire for enjoyment; _Up[=a]d[=a]na_--clinging,\n_Bhava_--individualising existence; _J[=a]ti_--birth, caste; _Jar[=a],\nnarana, sokaparidesa, dukkha, domanassa, up[=a]y[=a]sa_--decay, death,\ngrief, lamentation, despair.\n\n\n\n\nPART III\n\nTHE SANGHA\n\n\n256.  Q.  _How do Buddhist Bhikkhus differ from the priests of other\nreligions?_\n\nA.  In other religions the priests claim to be intercessors between men\nand God, to help to obtain pardon of sins; the Buddhist Bhikkhus do not\nacknowledge or expect anything from a divine power.\n\n257.  Q.  _But why then was it worth while to create this Order, or\nBrotherhood, or Society, apart from the whole body of the people, if\nthey were not to do what other religious orders do?_\n\nA.  The object in view was to cause the most virtuous, intelligent,\nunselfish and spiritually-minded persons to withdraw from the social\nsurroundings where their sensual and other selfish desires were\nnaturally strengthened, devote their lives to the acquisition of the\nhighest wisdom, and fit themselves to teach and guide others out of the\npleasant path leading towards misery, into the harder path that leads\nto true happiness and final liberation.\n\n258.  Q.  _Besides the Eight, what two additional observances are\nobligatory upon the Bhikkhus?_\n\nA.  I observe the precept to abstain from dancing, singing and\nunbecoming shows.\n\nI observe the precept to abstain from receiving gold or silver.\n\nThe whole _Dasa_, or _Bhikkhu S[=i]la_ or Ten Precepts, are binding on\n_all_ Bhikkhus and _Samaneras_, or novices, but optional with lay\ndevotees.\n\nThe _Atthanga S[=i]la_ are for those who aspire to higher stages beyond\nthe heavenly regions,[1] aspirants after Nirv[=a]na.\n\n259.  Q.  _Are there separate Rules and Precepts for the guidance and\ndiscipline of the Order?_\n\nA.  Yes: there are 250, but all come under the following four heads:\n\nPrincipal Disciplinary Rules {_P[=a]timokkha Samvara S[=i]la_).\n\nObservances for the repression of the senses (_Indriya Samvara\nS[=i]la_).\n\nRegulations for justly procuring and using food, diet, robes, etc.,\n(_Paccaya Sannissita S[=i]la_).\n\nDirections for leading an unblemished life (_Ajivapari Suddha S[=i]la_).\n\n260.  Q.  _Enumerate some crimes and offences that Bhikkhus are\nparticularly prohibited from committing?_\n\nA.  Real Bhikkhus abstain from:\n\nDestroying the life of beings;\n\nStealing;\n\nFalse exhibition of \"occult\" powers to deceive anybody;\n\nSexual intercourse;\n\nFalsehood;\n\nThe use of intoxicating liquors, and eating at unseasonable times;\n\nDancing, singing, and unbecoming shows;\n\nUsing garlands, scents, perfumes, etc.;\n\nUsing high and broad beds, couches, or seats; receiving presents of\ngold, silver, raw grain and meat, women, and maidens, slaves, cattle,\nelephants, etc.;\n\nDefaming;\n\nUsing harsh and reproachful language;\n\nIdle talk;\n\nReading and hearing fabulous stories and tales;\n\nCarrying messages to and from laymen;\n\nBuying and selling;\n\nCheating, bribing, deception, and fraud;\n\nImprisoning, plundering, and threatening others;\n\nThe practice of certain specified magical arts and sciences, such as\nfortune-telling, astrological predictions, palmistry, and other\nsciences, that go under the name of magic.  Any of these would retard\nthe progress of one who aimed at the attainment of Nirv[=a]na.\n\n261.  Q.  _What are the duties of Bhikkhus to the laity?_\n\nA.  Generally, to set them an example of the highest morality; to teach\nand instruct them; to preach and expound the Law; to recite the\n_Paritta_ (comforting texts) to the sick, and publicly in times of\npublic calamity, when requested to do so; and unceasingly to exhort the\npeople to virtuous actions.  They should dissuade them from vice; be\ncompassionate and tender-hearted, and seek to promote the welfare of\nall beings.\n\n262.  Q.  _What are the rules for admission into the Order?_\n\nA.  The candidate is not often taken before his tenth year; he must\nhave the consent of his parents; be free from leprosy, boils,\nconsumption and fits; be a free man; have no debts; and must not be a\ncriminal or deformed or in the royal service.\n\n263.  Q.  _As a novice what is he called?_\n\nA.  _Samanera_, a pupil.[2]\n\n264.  Q.  _At what age can a Samanera be ordained as _Sramana_--monk?_\n\nA.  Not before his twentieth year.\n\n265.  Q.  When ready for ordination what happens?\n\nA.  At a meeting of Bhikkhus he is presented by a Bhikkhu as his\nproposer, who reports that he is qualified, and the candidate says: \"I\nask the Sangha, Reverend Sirs, for the _Upasampada_ (ordination)\nceremony, etc.\"\n\nHis introducer then recommends that he be admitted.  He is then\naccepted.\n\n266.  Q.  _What then?_\n\nA.  He puts on the robes and repeats the Three Refuges {_Tisarana_) and\nTen Precepts (_Dasa S[=i]la_.)\n\n267.  Q.  _What are the two essentials to be observed?_\n\nA.  Poverty and Chastity.  A Bhikkhu before ordination must possess\neight things, _viz._, his robes, a girdle for his loins, a\nbegging-bowl, water-strainer, razor, needle, fan, sandals.  Within\nlimitations strictly specified in the Vin[=a]ya, he may hold certain\nother properties.\n\n268.  Q.  _What about the public confession of faults?_\n\nA.  Once every fortnight, a _Patimokka_ (Disburdenment) ceremony is\nperformed, when every Bhikkhu confesses to the assembly such faults as\nhe has committed and takes such penances as may be prescribed.\n\n269.  Q.  _What daily routine must he follow?_\n\nA.  He rises before daylight, washes, sweeps the vih[=a]ra, sweeps\naround the Bo-tree that grows near every vih[=a]ra, brings the\ndrinking-water for the day and filters it; retires for meditation,\noffers flowers before the d[=a]goba, or relic-mound, or before the\nBo-tree; then takes his begging-bowl and goes from house to house\ncollecting food--which he must not ask for, but receive in his bowl as\ngiven voluntarily by the householders.  He returns, bathes his feet and\neats, after which he resumes meditation.\n\n270.  Q.  _Must we believe that there is no merit in the offering of\nflowers (mala p[=u]j[=a]) as an act of worship?_\n\nA.  That act itself is without merit as a mere formality; but if one\noffers a flower as the sweetest, purest expression of heartfelt\nreverence for a holy being, then, indeed, is the offering an act of\nennobling worship.\n\n271.  Q.  _What next does the Bhikkhu do?_\n\nA.  He pursues his studies.  At sunset he again sweeps the sacred\nplaces, lights a lamp, listens to the instructions of his superior, and\nconfesses to him any fault he may have committed.\n\n272.  Q.  _Upon what are his four earnest meditations\n(Sati-patth[=a]na) made?_\n\nA.  1.  On the body, Kay[=a]napass[=a]n[=a].\n    2.  On the feeling, Vedan[=a]nupass[=a]n[=a].\n    3.  On the mind, Chitt[=a]nnpass[=a]n[=a].\n    4.  On the doctrine, Dhamm[=a]nupass[=a]n[=a].\n\n273.  Q.  _What is the aim of the four Great Efforts\n(Sammappadh[=a]n[=a])?_\n\nA.  To suppress one's animal desires and grow in goodness.\n\n274.  Q.  _For the perception by the Bhikkhu of the highest truth, is\nreason said to be the best, or intuition?_\n\nA.  Intuition--a mental state in which any desired truth is\ninstantaneously grasped.\n\n275.  Q.  _And when can that development be reached?_\n\nA.  When one, by the practice of J\u00f1[=a]na, comes to its fourth stage of\nunfolding.\n\n276.  Q.  _Are we to believe that in the final stage of J\u00f1[=a]na, and\nin the condition called Sam[=a]dhi, the mind is a blank and thought is\narrested?_\n\nA.  Quite the contrary.  It is then that one's consciousness is most\nintensely active, and one's power to gain knowledge correspondingly\nvast.\n\n277.  Q.  _Try to give me a simile?_\n\nA.  In the ordinary waking state one's view of knowledge is as limited\nas the sight of a man who walks on a road between high hills; in the\nhigher consciousness of J\u00f1[=a]na and _Sam[=a]dhi_ it is like the sight\nof the eagle poised in the upper sky and overlooking a whole country.\n\n278.  Q.  _What do our books say about the Buddha's use of this\nfaculty?_\n\nA.  They tell us that it was his custom, every morning, to glance over\nthe world and, by his divine (clairvoyant) sight, see where there were\npersons ready to receive the truth.  He would then contrive, if\npossible, that it should reach them.  When persons visited him he would\nlook into their minds, read their secret motives, and then preach to\nthem according to their needs.\n\n\n\n[1] The Up[=a]saka and Up[=a]sika observe these on the Buddhist\n_Uposatha_ (Sabbath) days (in Skr. _Upavasata_).  They are the 8th,\n14th and 15th days of each half lunar month.\n\n[2] The relationship to his Guru, or teacher, is almost like that of\ngodson to godfather among Christians, only more real, for the teacher\nbecomes father, mother, family and all to him.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV\n\nTHE RISE AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM\n\n\n279.  Q.  _As regards the number its followers, how does Buddhism at\nthis date compare with the other chief religions?_\n\nA.  The followers of the Buddha Dharma outnumber those of every other\nreligion.\n\n280.  Q.  _What is the estimated number?_\n\nA.  About five hundred millions (5,000 lakhs or 500 crores): this is\nfive-thirteenths, or not quite half, of the estimated population of the\nglobe.\n\n281.  Q.  _Have many great battles been fought and many countries\nconquered; has much human blood been spilt to spread the Buddha Dharma?_\n\nA.  History does not record one of those cruelties and crimes as having\nbeen committed to propagate our religion.  So far as we know, it has\nnot caused the spilling of a drop of blood.  (See footnote\n_ante_--Professor Kolb's testimony.)\n\n282.  Q.  _What, then, is the secret of its wonderful spread?_\n\n\nA.  It can be nothing else than its intrinsic excellence: its\nself-evident basis of truth, its sublime moral teaching, and its\nsufficiency for all human needs.\n\n283.  Q.  _How has it been propagated?_\n\nA.  The Buddha, during the forty-five years of his life as a Teacher,\ntravelled widely in India and preached the Dharma.  He sent his wisest\nand best disciples to do the same throughout India.\n\n284.  Q.  _When did He send for his pioneer missionaries?_\n\nA.  On the full-moon day of the month _Wap_ (October).\n\n285.  Q.  _What did he tell them?_\n\nA.  He called them together and said: \"Go forth, Bhikkhus, go and\npreach the law to the world.  Work for the good of others as well as\nfor your own....  Bear ye the glad tidings to every man.  Let no two of\nyou take the same way.\"\n\n286.  Q.  _How long before the Christian era did this happen?_\n\nA.  About six centuries.\n\n287.  Q.  _What help did Kings give?_\n\nA.  Besides the lower classes, great Kings, R[=a]j[=a]s and\nMah[=a]r[=a]j[=a]s were converted and gave their influence to spread\nthe religion.\n\n288.  Q.  _What about pilgrims?_\n\nA.  Learned pilgrims came in different centuries to India and carried\nback with them books and teachings to their native lands.  So,\ngradually, whole nations forsook their own faiths and became Buddhists.\n\n289.  Q.  _To whom, more than to any other person, is the world\nindebted for the permanent establishment of Buddha's religion?_\n\nA.  To the Emperor Ashoka, surnamed the Great, sometimes Piyad[=a]si,\nsometimes Dharm[=a]shoka.  He was the son of Bindus[=a]ra, King of\nMagadha, arid grandson of Chandragupta, who drove the Greeks out of\nIndia.\n\n290.  Q.  _When did he reign?_\n\nA.  In the third century B.C., about two centuries after the Buddha's\ntime.  Historians disagree as to his exact date, but not very greatly.\n\n291.  Q.  _What made him great?_\n\nA.  He was the most powerful monarch in Indian history, as warrior and\nas statesman; but his noblest characteristics were his love of truth\nand justice, tolerance of religious differences, equity of government,\nkindness to the sick, to the poor, and to animals.  His name is revered\nfrom Siberia to Ceylon.\n\n292.  Q.  _Was he born a Buddhist?_\n\nA.  No, he was converted in the tenth year after his anointment as\nKing, by Nigrodha Samanera, an Arhat.\n\n293.  Q.  _What did he do for Buddhism?_\n\nA.  He drove out bad Bhikkhus, encouraged good ones, built monasteries\nand d[=a]gobas everywhere, established gardens, opened hospitals for\nmen and animals, convened a council at Patna to revise and re-establish\nthe Dharma, promoted female religious education, and sent embassies to\nfive Greek kings, his allies, and to all the sovereigns of India, to\npreach the doctrines of the Buddha.  It was he who built the monuments\nat Kapilavastu, Buddha G[=a]ya, Isipatana and Kusin[=a]r[=a], our four\nchief places of pilgrimage, besides thousands more.\n\n294.  Q.  _What absolute proofs exist as to his noble character?_\n\nA.  Within recent years there have been discovered, in all parts of\nIndia, fourteen Edicts of his, inscribed on living rocks, and eight on\npillars erected by his orders.  They fully prove him to have been one\nof the wisest and most high-minded sovereigns who ever lived.\n\n29.5.  Q.  _What character do these inscriptions give to Buddhism?_\n\nA.  They show it to be a religion of noble tolerance, of universal\nbrotherhood, of righteousness and justice.  It has no taint of\nselfishness, sectarianism or intolerance.  They have done more than\nanything else to win for it the respect in which it is now held by the\ngreat pandits of western countries.\n\n296.  Q.  _What most precious gift did Dharm[=a]shoka make to Buddhism?_\n\nA.  He gave his beloved son, Mahinda, and daughter, Sanghamitta, to the\nOrder, and sent them to Ceylon to introduce the religion.\n\n297.  Q.  _Is this fact recorded in the history of Ceylon?_\n\nA.  Yes, it is all recorded in the Mah[=a]vansa, by the keepers of the\nroyal records, who were then living and saw the missionaries.\n\n298.  Q.  _Is there some proof of Sanghamitta's mission still visible?_\n\nA.  Yes; she brought with her to Ceylon a branch of the very Bodhi tree\nunder which the Buddha sat when he became Enlightened, and it is still\ngrowing.\n\n299.  Q.  _Where?_\n\nA.  At Annr[=a]dhapura.  The history of it has been officially\npreserved to the present time.  Planted in 306 B.C., it is the oldest\nhistorical tree in the world.\n\n300.  Q.  _Who was the reigning sovereign at that time?_\n\nA.  D[=e]vanampiyatissa.  His consort, Queen Anula, had invited\nSanghamitta to come and establish the Bhikkhuni branch of the Order.\n\n301.  Q.  _Who came with Sanghamitta?_\n\nA.  Many other Bhikkhunis.  She, in due time, admitted the Queen and\nmany of her ladies, together with five hundred virgins, into the Order.\n\n302.  Q.  _Can we trace the effects of the foreign work of the Emperor\nAshoka's missionaries?_\n\nA.  His son and daughter introduced Buddhism into Ceylon: his monks\ngave it to the whole of Northern India, to fourteen Indian nations\noutside its boundaries, and to five Greek kings, his allies, with whom\nhe made treaties to admit his religious preachers.\n\n303.  Q.  _Can you name them?_\n\nA.  ANTIOCHUS of Syria, PTOLEMY of Egypt, ANTIGONUS of Macedon, MARGAS\nof Cyrene, and ALEXANDER of Epiros.\n\n 304.  Q.  _Where do we learn this?_\n\nA.  From the Edicts themselves of Ashoka the Great, inscribed by him on\nrocks and stone pillars, which are still standing and can be seen by\neverybody who chooses to visit the places.\n\n305.  Q.  _Through what western religious brotherhoods did the Buddha\nDharma mingle itself with western thought?_\n\nA.  Through the sects of the Therapeuts of Egypt and the Essenes of\nPalestine.\n\n306.  Q.  _When were Buddhist books first introduced into China?_\n\nA.  As early as the second or third century B.C.  Five of\nDharm[=a]shoka's monks are said--in the Samanta Pas[=a]dika and the\nS[=a]rattha D[=i]pan[=i]--two P[=a]l[=i] books--to have been sent to\nthe five divisions of China.\n\n307.  Q.  _Whence and when did it reach Korea?_\n\nA.  From China, in the year A. D. 372.\n\n308.  Q.  _Whence and when did it reach Japan?_\n\nA.  From Korea, in A. D. 552.\n\n309.  Q.  _Whence and when did it reach Cochin China, Formosa, Java,\nMongolia, Yorkand, Balk, Bokhara, Afghanistan and other Central Asian\ncountries?_\n\nA.  Apparently in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.\n\n310.  Q.  _From Ceylon, whither and when did it spread?_\n\nA.  To Burma, in A.D. 450, and thence gradually into Arakan, Kamboya\nand Pegu.  In the seventh century (A.D. 638) it spread to Siam, where\nit is now, as it has been always since then, the State religion.\n\n311.  Q.  _From Kashmir, where else did it spread besides to China?_\n\nA.  To Nep[=a]l and Tibet.\n\n312.  Q.  Why is it that Buddhism, which was once the prevailing\nreligion throughout India, is now almost extinct there?\n\nA.  Buddhism was at first pure and noble, the very teaching of the\nTathagata; its Sangha were virtuous and observed the Precepts; it won\nall hearts and spread joy through many nations, as the morning light\nsends life through the flowers.  But after some centuries, bad Bhikkhus\ngot ordination (_Upasampada_) the Sangha became rich, lazy, and\nsensual, the Dharma was corrupted, and the Indian nation abandoned it.\n\n313.  Q.  _Did anything happen about the ninth or tenth century A.D. to\nhasten its downfall?_\n\nA.  Yes.\n\n314.  Q.  _Anything besides the decay of spirituality, the corruption\nof the Sangha, and the reaction of the populace from a higher ideal of\nman to unintelligent idolatry?_\n\nA.  Yes.  It is said that the Mussalm[=a]ns invaded, overran and\nconquered large areas of India; everywhere doing their utmost to stamp\nout our religion.\n\n315.  Q.  _What cruel acts are they charged with doing?_\n\nA.  They burnt, pulled down or otherwise destroyed our vih[=a]ras,\nslaughtered our Bhikkhus, and consumed with fire our religious books.\n\n316.  Q.  _Was our literature completely destroyed in India?_\n\nA.  No.  Many Bhikkhus fled across the borders into Tibet and other\nsafe places of refuge, carrying their books with them.\n\n317.  Q.  _Have any traces of these books been recently discovered?_\n\nA.  Yes.  Rai Bh[=a]dur Sarat Chandra D[=a]s, C.I.E., a noted Bengali\npandit, saw hundreds of them in the vih[=a]ra libraries of Tibet,\nbrought copies of some of the most important back with him, and is now\nemployed by the Government of India in editing and publishing them.\n\n318.  Q.  _In which country have we reason to believe the sacred books\nof primitive Buddhism have been best preserved and least corrupted?_\n\nA.  Ceylon.  The _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ says that in this island\nBuddhism has, for specified reasons, \"retained almost its pristine\npurity to modern times\".\n\n319.  Q.  _Has any revision of the text of the Pitakas been made in\nmodern times?_\n\nA.  Yes.  A careful revision of the Vin[=a]ya Pitaka was made in Ceylon\nin the year A.D. 1875, by a convention of the most learned Bhikkhus,\nunder the presidency of H. Sumangala, Pradh[=a]na Sthav[=i]ra.\n\n320.  Q.  _Has there been any friendly intercourse in the interest of\nBuddhism between the peoples of the Southern and those of the Northern\nBuddhist countries?_\n\nA.  In the year A.D. 1891, a successful attempt was made to get the\nPradh[=a]na Nayakas of the two great divisions to agree to accept\nfourteen propositions as embodying fundamental Buddhistic beliefs\nrecognised and taught by both divisions.  These propositions, drafted\nby Colonel Olcott, were carefully translated into Burmese, Sinhalese\nand Japanese, discussed one by one, unanimously adopted and signed by\nthe chief monks, and published in January 1892.\n\n321.  Q.  _With what good result?_\n\nA.  As the result of the good understanding now existing, a number of\nJapanese bhikkhus and samaneras have been sent to Ceylon and India to\nstudy P[=a]l[=i] and Samskrt.\n\n322.  Q.  _Are there signs that the Buddha Dharma is growing in favour\nin non-Buddhistic countries?_[1]\n\nA.  There are.  Translations of our more valuable books are appearing,\nmany articles in reviews, magazines and newspapers are being published,\nand excellent original treatises by distinguished writers are coming\nfrom the press.  Moreover, Buddhist and non-Buddhist lecturers are\npublicly discoursing on Buddhism to large audiences in western\ncountries.  The Shin Shu sect of Japanese Buddhists have actually\nopened missions at Honolulu, San Francisco, Sacramento and other\nAmerican places.\n\n323.  Q.  _What two leading ideas of ours are chiefly taking hold upon\nthe western mind?_\n\nA.  Those of Karma and Reincarnation.  The rapidity of their acceptance\nis very surprising.\n\n324.  Q.  _What is believed to be the explanation of this?_\n\nA.  Their appeals to the natural instinct of justice, and their evident\nreasonableness.\n\n\n\n[1] See Appendix.\n\n\n\n\nPART V\n\nBUDDHISM AND SCIENCE\n\n325.  Q.  _Has Buddhism any right to be considered a scientific\nreligion, or may it be classified as a \"revealed\" one?_\n\nA.  Most emphatically it is not a revealed religion.  The Buddha did\nnot so preach, nor is it so understood.  On the contrary, he gave it\nout as the statement of eternal truths, which his predecessors had\ntaught like himself.\n\n326.  Q.  _Repeat again the name of the Sutta, in which the Buddha\ntells us not to believe in an alleged revelation without testing it by\none's reason and experience?_\n\nA.  The K[=a]l[=a]ma Sutta, of the Anguthara Nik[=a]ya.\n\n327.  Q.  _Do Buddhists accept the theory that everything has been\nformed out of nothing by a Creator?_\n\nA.  The Buddha taught that two things are causeless, _viz._,\n[=A]k[=a]sha, and Nirv[=a]na.  Everything has come ont of [=A]k[=a]sha,\nin obedience to a law of motion inherent in it, and, after a certain\nexistence, passes away.  Nothing ever came out of nothing.  We do not\nbelieve in miracles; hence we deny creation, and cannot conceive of a\ncreation of something out of nothing.  Nothing organic is eternal.\nEverything is in a state of constant flux, and undergoing change and\nreformation, keeping up the continuity according to the law of\nevolution.\n\n328.  Q.  _Is Buddhism opposed to education, and to the study of\nscience?_\n\nA.  Quite the contrary: in the _Sig[=a]low[=a]da Sutta_ in a discourse\npreached by the Buddha, He specified as one of the duties of a teacher\nthat he should give his pupils \"instruction in science and lore\".  The\nBuddha's higher teachings are for the enlightened, the wise, and the\nthoughtful.\n\n329.  Q.  _Can you show any further endorsement of Buddhism by science?_\n\nA.  The Buddha's doctrine teaches that there were many progenitors of\nthe human race; also that there is a principle of differentiation among\nmen; certain individuals have a greater capacity for the rapid\nattainment of Wisdom and arrival at Nirv[=a]na than others.\n\n330.  Q.  _Any other?_\n\nA.  Buddhism supports the teaching of the indestructibility of force.\n\n331.  Q.  _Should Buddhism be called a chart of science or a code of\nmorals?_\n\nA.  Properly speaking, a pure moral philosophy, a system of ethics and\ntranscendental metaphysics.  It is so eminently practical that the\nBuddha kept silent when Malunka asked about the origin of things.\n\n332.  Q.  _Why did he do that?_\n\nA.  Because he thought that our chief aim should be to see things as\nthey exist around us and try to make them better, not to waste time in\nintellectual speculations.\n\n333.  Q.  _What do Buddhists say is the reason for the occasional birth\nof very good and wise children of bad parents, and that of very bad\nones of good parents?_\n\nA.  It is because of the respective Karmas of children and parents;\neach may have deserved that such unusual relationships should be formed\nin the present birth.\n\n334.  Q.  _Is anything said about the body of the Buddha giving out a\nbright light?_\n\nA.  Yes, there was a divine radiance sent forth from within by the\npower of his holiness.\n\n335.  Q.  _What is it called in P[=a]l[=i]?_\n\nA.  Buddharansi, the Buddha rays.\n\n336.  Q.  _How many colours could be seen in it?_\n\nA.  Six, linked in pairs.\n\n337.  Q.  _Their names?_\n\nA.  N[=i]la, Pita, Lohita, Avadata, Mangast[=a], Prabhasvra.\n\n338.  Q.  _Did other persons emit such shining light?_\n\nA.  Yes, all Arhats did and, in fact, the light shines stronger and\nbrighter in proportion to the spiritual development of the person.\n\n339.  Q.  _Where do we see these colours represented?_\n\nA.  In all vih[=a]ras where there are painted images of the Buddha.\nThey are also seen in the stripes of the Buddhist Flag, first made in\nCeylon but now widely adopted throughout Buddhist countries.\n\n340.  Q.  _In which discourse does the Buddha himself speak of this\nshining about him?_\n\nA.  In the _Mah[=a]-Parinibbana Sutt[=a]_, [=A]nanda his favourite\ndisciple, noticing the great splendour which  came  from  his  Master's\nbody, the Buddha said that on two occasions this extraordinary shining\noccurs, (_a_) just after a Tath[=a]gat[=a] gains the supreme insight,\nand (_b_) on the night when he passes finally away.\n\n341.  Q.  _Where do we read of this great brightness being emitted from\nthe body of another Buddha?_\n\nA.  In the story of Sumedha and Dip[=a]nk[=a]ra Buddha, found in the\n_Nid[=a]nakath[=a]_ of the _J[=a]taka_ book, or story of the\nreincarnations of the Bodhisattva Siddh[=a]rtha Gautama.\n\n342.  Q.  _How is it described?_\n\nA.  As a halo of a fathom's depth.\n\n343.  Q.  _What do the Hindus call it?_\n\nA.  _Tejas_; its extended radiance they call Pr[=a]k[=a]sha.\n\n344.  Q.  _What do Europeans call it now?_\n\nA.  The human aura.\n\n345.  Q.  _What great scientist has proved the existence of this aura\nby carefully conducted experiments?_\n\nA.  The Baron Von Reichenbach.  His experiments are fully described in\nhis _Researches_, published in 1844-5.  Dr. Baraduc, of Paris, has,\nquite recently, photographed this light.\n\n346.  Q.  _Is this bright aura a miracle or a natural phenomenon?_\n\nA.  Natural.  It has been proved that not only all human beings but\nanimals, trees, plants and even stones have it.\n\n347.  Q.  _What peculiarity has it in the case of a Buddha or an Arhat?_\n\nA.  It is immensely brighter and more extended than in cases of other\nbeings and objects.  It is the evidence of their superior development\nin the power of _Iddh[=i]_.  The light has been seen coming from\nd[=a]gobas in Ceylon where relics of the Buddha are said to be\nenshrined.\n\n348.  Q.  _Do people of other religions besides Buddhism and\nHind[=u]ism also believe in this light?_\n\nA.  Yes, in all pictures of Christian artists this light is represented\nas shining about the bodies of their holy personages.  The same belief\nis found to have existed in other religions.\n\n349.  Q.  _What historical incident supports the modern theory of\nhypnotic suggestion?_\n\nA.  That of Chullapanthaka, as told in the P[=a]l[=i] Commentary on the\n_Dhammapada_, etc.\n\n350.  Q.  _Give me the facts._\n\nA.  He was a bhikkhu who became an Arhat.  On that very day the Buddha\nsent a messenger to call him.  When the man reached the Vih[=a]ra, he\nsaw three hundred bhikkhus in one group, each exactly like the others\nin every respect.  On his asking which was Chullapanthaka, every one of\nthe three hundred figures replied: \"I am Chullapanthaka.\"\n\n351.  Q.  _What did the messenger do?_\n\nA.  In his confusion he returned and reported to the Buddha.\n\n352.  Q.  _What did the Buddha then tell him?_\n\nA.  To return to the vih[=a]ra and, if the same thing happened, to\ncatch by the arm the _first_ figure who said he was Chullapanthaka and\nlead him to him.  The Buddha knew that the new Arhat would make this\ndisplay of his acquired power to impress illusionary pictures of\nhimself upon the messenger.\n\n353.  Q.  _What is this power of illusion called in P[=a]l[=i]?_\n\nA.  _Manomaya Iddh[=i]_.\n\n354.  Q.  _Were the illusionary copies of the Arhat's person material?\nWere they composed of substance and could they have been felt and\nhandled by the messenger?_\n\nA.  No; they were pictures impressed by his thought and trained\nwill-power upon the messenger's mind.\n\n355.  Q.  _To what would you compare them?_\n\nA.  To a man's reflection in a mirror, being exactly like him yet\nwithout solidity.\n\n356.  Q.  _To make such an illusion on the messenger's mind, what was\nnecessary?_\n\nA.  That Chullapanthaka should clearly conceive in his own mind his\nexact appearance, and then impress that, with as many duplicates or\nrepetitions as he chose, upon the sensitive brain of the messenger.\n\n357.  Q.  _What is this process now called?_\n\nA.  Hypnotic suggestion.\n\n358.  Q.  _Could any third party have also seen these illusionary\nfigures?_\n\nA.  That would depend on the will of the Arhat or hypnotiser.\n\n359.  Q.  _What do you mean?_\n\nA.  Supposing that fifty or five hundred persons were there, instead of\none, the Arhat could will that the illusion should be seen by all\nalike; or, if he chose, he could will that the messenger should be the\nonly one to see them.\n\n360.  Q.  _Is this branch of science well known in our day?_\n\nA.  Very well known; it is familiar to all students of mesmerism and\nhypnotism.\n\n361.  Q.  _In what does our modern scientific belief support the theory\nof Karma, as taught in Buddhism?_\n\nA.  Modern scientists teach that every generation of men is heir to the\nconsequences of the virtues and the vices of the preceding generation,\nnot in the mass, as such, but in every individual case.  Every one of\nus, according to Buddhism, gets a birth which represents the causes\ngenerated by him in an antecedent birth.  This is the idea of Karma.\n\n362.  Q.  _What say the V[=a]settha Sutta about the causation in\nNature?_\n\nA.  It says: \"The world exists by cause; all things exist by cause, all\nbeings are bound by cause.\"\n\n363.  Q.  _Does Buddhism teach the unchangeableness of the visible\nuniverse; our earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the mineral,\nvegetable, animal and human kingdoms?_\n\nA.  No.  It teaches that all are constantly changing, and all must\ndisappear in course of time.\n\n364.  Q.  _Never to reappear?_\n\nA.  Not so: the principle of evolution, guided by Karma, individual and\ncollective, will evolve another universe with its contents, as our\nuniverse was evolved out of the [=A]k[=a]sha.\n\n365.  Q.  _Does Buddhism admit that man has in his nature any latent\npowers for the production of phenomena commonly called \"miracles\"?_\n\nA.  Yes; but they are natural, not supernatural.  They may be developed\nby a certain system which is laid down in our sacred books, the\nVisuddhi M[=a]rga for instance.\n\n366.  Q.  _What is this branch of science called?_\n\nA.  The P[=a]l[=i] name is Iddhi-vidhan[=a]n[=a].\n\n367.  Q.  _How many kinds are there?_\n\nA.  Two:  _B[=a]hira_, _i.e._, one in which the phenomena-working power\nmay be temporarily obtained by ascetic practices and also by resort to\ndrugs, the recitation of _mantras_ (charms), or other extraneous aids;\nand _Sasaniks_, that in which the power in question is acquired by\ninterior self-development, and covers all and more than the phenomena\nof _Laukika Iddh[=i]_.\n\n368.  Q.  _What class of men enjoy these powers?_\n\nA.  They gradually develop in one which pursues a certain course of\nascetic practice called _Dhy[=a]na_.\n\n369.  Q.  Can this Iddhi power be lost?[1]\n\nA.  The _B[=a]hira_ can be lost, but the _Sasanika_ never, when once\nacquired.  _Lokottara_ knowledge once obtained is never lost, and it is\nby this knowledge _only_ that the absolute condition of Nirv[=a]na is\nknown by the Arhat.  And this knowledge can be got by following the\nnoble life of the Eightfold Path.\n\n370.  Q.  _Had Buddha the Lokottara Iddh[=i]?_\n\nA.  Yes, in perfection.\n\n371.  Q.  _And his disciples also had it?_\n\nA.  Yes, some but not all equally; the capacity for acquiring these\noccult powers varies with the individual.\n\n372.  Q.  _Give examples?_\n\nA.  Of all the disciples of the Buddha, Mogall[=a]na was possessed of\nthe most extraordinary powers for making phenomena, while [=A]nanda\ncould develop none during the twenty-five years in which he was the\npersonal and intimate disciple of the Buddha himself.  Later he did, as\nthe Buddha had foretold he would.\n\n373.  Q.  _Does a man acquire these powers suddenly or gradually?_\n\nA.  Normally, they gradually develop themselves as the disciple\nprogressively gains control over his lower nature in a series of\nbirths.[2]\n\n374.  Q.  _Does Buddhism pretend that the miracle of raising those who\nare dead is possible?_\n\nA.  No.  The Buddha teaches the contrary, in that beautiful story of\nKis[=a] Gotami and the mustard-seed.  But when a person only seems to\nbe dead but is not actually so, resuscitation is possible.\n\n375.  Q.  _Give me an idea of these successive stages of the Lokottara\ndevelopment in Iddh[=i]?_\n\nA.  There are six degrees attainable by Arhats; what is higher than\nthem is to be reached only by a Buddha.\n\n376.  Q.  _Describe the six stages or degrees?_\n\nA.  We may divide them into two groups, of three each.  The first to\ninclude (1) Progressive retrospection, _viz._, a gradually acquired\npower to look backward in time towards the origin of things; (2)\nProgressive foresight, or power of prophecy; (3) Gradual extinction of\ndesires and attachments to material things.\n\n377.  Q.  _What would the second group include?_\n\nA.  The same faculties, but inimitably developed.  Thus, the full Arhat\npossesses perfect retrospection, perfect foresight, and has absolutely\nextinguished the last trace of desire and selfish attractions.\n\n378.  Q.  _What are the four means for obtaining Iddh[=i]?_\n\nA.  The will, its exertion, mental development, and discrimination\nbetween right and wrong.\n\n379.  Q.  _Our Scriptures relate hundreds of instances of phenomena\nproduced by Arhats: what did you say was the name of this faculty or\npower?_\n\nA.  _Iddh[=i] vidha_.  One possessing this can, by manipulating the\nforces of Nature, produce any wonderful phenomenon, _i.e._, make any\nscientific experiment he chooses.\n\n380.  Q.  _Did the Buddha encourage displays of phenomena?_\n\nA.  No; he expressly discouraged them as tending to create confusion in\nthe minds of those who were not acquainted with the principles\ninvolved.  They also tempt their possessors to show them merely to\ngratify idle curiosity and their own vanity.  Moreover, similar\nphenomena can be shown by magicians and sorcerers learned in the\n_Laukika_, or the baser form of _Iddh[=i]_ science.  All false\npretensions to supernatural attainment by monks are among the\nunpardonable sins (_Tevijja Sutta_).\n\n381.  Q.  _You spoke of a \"deva\" having appeared to the Prince\nSiddh[=a]rtha under a variety of forms; what do Buddhists believe\nrespecting races of elemental invisible beings having relations with\nmankind?_\n\nA.  They believe that there are such beings who inhabit worlds or\nspheres of their own.  The Buddhist doctrine is that, by interior\nself-development and conquest over his baser nature, the Arhat becomes\nsuperior to even the most formidable of the devas, and may subject and\ncontrol the lower orders.\n\n382.  Q.  _How many kinds of devas are there?_\n\nA.  Three: _K[=a]m[=a]v[=a]char[=a]_ (those who are still under the\ndomination of the passions); _R[=u]p[=a]v[=a]char[=a]_ (a higher class,\nwhich still retain an individual form): _Ar[=a]p[=a]v[=a]char[=a]_ (the\nhighest in degree of purification, who are devoid of material forms).\n\n383.  Q.  _Should we fear any of them?_\n\nA.  He who is pure and compassionate in heart and of a courageous mind\nneed fear nothing: no man, god, _brahmarakkhas_, demon or deva, can\ninjure him, but some have power to torment the impure, as well as those\nwho invite their approach.\n\n\n\n[1] Sumangala Sthav[=i]ra explains to me that those transcendent powers\nare permanently possessed only by one who has subdued all the passions\n(_Klesa_), in other words, an Arhat.  The powers may be developed by a\nbad man and used for doing evil things, but their activity is but\nbrief, the rebellious passions again dominate the sorcerer, and he\nbecomes at last their victim.\n\n[2] When the powers suddenly show themselves, the inference is that the\nindividual had developed himself in the next anterior birth.  We do not\nbelieve in eccentric breaks in natural law.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nThe following text of the fourteen items of belief which have been\naccepted as fundamental principles in both the Southern and Northern\nsections of Buddhism, by authoritative committees to whom they were\nsubmitted by me personally, have so much historical importance that\nthey are added to the present edition of THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM as an\nAppendix.  It has very recently been reported to me by H. E. Prince\nOuchtomsky, the learned Russian Orientalist, that having had the\ndocument translated to them, the Chief Lamas of the great Mongolian\nBuddhist monasteries declared to him that they accept every one of the\npropositions as drafted, with the one exception that the date of the\nBuddha is by them believed to have been some thousands of years earlier\nthan the one given by me.  This surprising fact had not hitherto come\nto my knowledge.  Can it be that the Mongolian Sangha confuse the real\nepoch of S[=a]kya Muni with that of his alleged next predecessor?  Be\nthis as it may, it is a most encouraging fact that the whole Buddhistic\nworld may now be said to have united to the extent at least of these\nFourteen Propositions.\n\nH. S. O.\n\n\n\nFUNDAMENTAL BUDDHISTIC BELIEFS\n\nI  Buddhists are taught to show the same tolerance, forbearance, and\nbrotherly love to all men, without distinction; and an unswerving\nkindness towards the members of the animal kingdom.\n\nII  The universe was evolved, not created; and its functions according\nto law, not according to the caprice of any God.\n\nIII  The truths upon which Buddhism is founded are natural.  They have,\nwe believe, been taught in successive kalpas, or world-periods, by\ncertain illuminated beings called BUDDHAS, the name BUDDHA meaning\n\"Enlightened\".\n\nIV  The fourth Teacher in the present kalpa was S[=a]kya Muni, or\nGautama Buddha, who was born in a Royal family in India about 2,500\nyears ago.  He is an historical personage and his name was\nSiddh[=a]rtha Gautama.\n\nV  S[=a]kya Muni taught that ignorance produces desire, unsatisfied\ndesire is the cause of rebirth, and rebirth, the cause of sorrow.  To\nget rid of sorrow, therefore, it is necessary to escape rebirth; to\nescape rebirth, it is necessary to extinguish desire; and to extinguish\ndesire, it is necessary to destroy ignorance.\n\nVI  Ignorance fosters the belief that rebirth is a necessary thing.\nWhen ignorance is destroyed the worthlessness of every such rebirth,\nconsidered as an end in itself, is perceived, as well as the paramount\nneed of adopting a course of life by which the necessity for such\nrepeated rebirths can be abolished.  Ignorance also begets the illusive\nand illogical idea that there is only one existence for man, and the\nother illusion that this one life is followed by states of unchangeable\npleasure or torment.\n\nVII  The dispersion of all this ignorance can be attained by the\npersevering practice of an all-embracing altruism in conduct,\ndevelopment of intelligence, wisdom in thought, and destruction of\ndesire for the lower personal pleasures.\n\nVIII  The desire to live being the cause of rebirth, when that is\nextinguished rebirths cease and the perfected individual attains by\nmeditation that highest state of peace called _Nirv[=a]na_.\n\nIX  S[=a]kya Muni taught that ignorance can be dispelled and sorrow\nremoved by the knowledge of the four Noble Truths, _viz._:\n\n1. The miseries of existence;\n\n2. The cause productive of misery, which is the desire ever renewed of\nsatisfying oneself without being able ever to secure that end;\n\n3. The destruction of that desire, or the estranging of oneself from it;\n\n4. The means of obtaining this destruction of desire.  The means which\nhe pointed out is called the Noble Eightfold Path, _viz._: Right\nBelief; Right Thought; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Means of\nLivelihood; Right Exertion; Right Remembrance; Right Meditation.\n\nX  Right Meditation leads to spiritual enlightenment, or the\ndevelopment of that Buddha-like faculty which is latent in every man.\n\nXI  The essence of Buddhism, as summed up by the Tath[=a]gath[=a]\n(Buddha) himself, as:\n\n  To cease from all sin,\n  To get virtue,\n  To purify the heart.\n\nXII  The universe is subject to a natural causation known as \"Karma\".\nThe merits and demerits of a being in past existences determine his\ncondition in the present one.  Each man, therefore, has prepared the\ncauses of the effects which he now experiences.\n\nXIII  The obstacles to the attainment of good karma may be removed by\nthe observance of the following precepts, which are embraced in the\nmoral code of Buddhism, _viz._: (1) Kill not; (2) Steal not; (3)\nIndulge in no forbidden sexual pleasure; (4) Lie not; (5) Take no\nintoxication or stupefying drug or liquor.  Five other precepts which\nneed not be here enumerated should be observed by those who would\nattain, more quickly than the average layman, the release from misery\nand rebirth.\n\nXIV  Buddhism discourages superstitious credulity.  Gautama Buddha\ntaught it to be the duty of a parent to have his child educated in\nscience and literature.  He also taught that no one should believe what\nis spoken by any sage, written in any book, or affirmed by tradition,\nunless it accord with reason.\n\nDrafted as a common platform upon which all Buddhists can agree.\n\nH. S. OLCOTT, P.T.S.\n\n\n\nRespectfully submitted for the approval of the High Priests of the\nnations which we severally represent, in the Buddhist Conference held\nat Adyar, Madras, on the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of January,\n1891 (A.B. 2434).\n\n  Japan  . . . . . ( Kozen Gunaratana\n                   ( Chiezo Tokuzawa\n  Burmah . . . . .   U. Hmoay Tha Aung\n  Ceylon . . . . .   Dhammapala Hevavitarana.\n  The Maghs of\n  Chittagong . . .   Krshna Chandra Chowdry, by\n                     his appointed Proxy, Maung\n                     Tha Dwe.\n\n\nBURMAH\n\nApproved on behalf of the Buddhists of Burmah, this 3rd day of\nFebruary, 1891 (A. B. 2434):\n\nTha-tha-na-baing Saydawgyi; Aung Myi Shweb[=o]n Sayadaw; Me-ga-waddy\nSayadaw; Hmat-Khaya Sayadaw; Hti-lin Sayadaw; Myadaung Sayadaw;\nHla-Htwe Sayadaw; and sixteen others.\n\n\nCEYLON\n\nApproved on behalf of the Buddhists of Ceylon this 25th day of\nFebruary, 1891 (A.B. 2434); Mahannwara upawsatha pusp[=a]r[=a]ma\nvih[=a]r[=a]dhipati Hippola Dhamma Rakkhita Sobhit[=a]bhidh[=a]na\nMah[=a] N[=a]yaka Sthavirayan wahanse wamha.\n\n(Hippola Dhamma Rakkhita Sabhit[=a]bhidhana, High Priest of the\nMalwatta Vihare at Kandy).\n\n                                          (Sd.) HIPPOLA.\n\n\nMahanuwara Asgiri vih[=a]r[=a]dhipati Yatawatt[=e]\nChandajotty[=a]bhidhana Mah[=a] N[=a]yaka Sthavirayan wahanse\nwamha--(Yatawatt[=e] Chandajotty[=a]bhidhana, High Priest of Asgiri\nTihare at Kandy).\n\n                                          (Sd.) YATAWATTE\n\n\nHikkaduwe Sr[=i] Sumangala Srip[=a]dasth[=a]ne saha Kolamba palate\npradh[=a]na N[=a]yaka Sthavirayo (Hikkaduwe Sr[=i] Sumangala, High\nPriest of Adam's Peak and the District of Colombo).\n\n                                          (Sd.) H. SUMANGALA\n\n\nMaligawe Pr[=a]china Pustak[=a]l[=a]yadhyakshaka Sur[=i]yagoda\nSonuttara Sthavirayo (Suriyagoda Sonuttara, Librarian of the Oriental\nLibrary at the Temple of the Tooth Relic at Kandy).\n\n                                          (Sd.) S. SONUTTARA\n\n\nSugata S[=a]sanadhaja Vinay[=a] ch[=a]riya\nDhammalank[=a]r[=a]bhidh[=a]na N[=a]yaka Sthavira.\n\n                                          (Sd.) W. DHAMMALANKARA\n\n\nPawara neruttika chariya Mah[=a] Vibhavi Subhuti of Waskaduwa.\n\n                                          (Sd.) W. SUBHUTI\n\n\nJAPAN\n\nAccepted as included within the body of Northern Buddhism.\n\n  Shaku Genyu        (Shingon    Shu)\n  Fukuda Nichiyo     (Nichiren    \" )\n  Sanada Seyko       (Zen         \" )\n  Ito Quan Shyu      ( \"          \" )\n  Takehana Hakuyo    (Jodo        \" )\n  Kono Rioshin       (Ji-Shu      \" )\n  Kiro Ki-ko         (Jodo Seizan \" )\n  Harutani Shinsho   (Tendai      \" )\n  Manabe Shun-myo    (Shingon     \" )\n\n\nCHITTAGONG\n\nAccepted for the Buddhists of Chittagong.\n\n  Nagawa Parvata Vih[=a]ar[=a]dhipati\n  Guna Megu Wini-Lankara,\n  Harbing, Chittagong, Bengal.\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nThe Buddhist Catechism has been compiled from personal studies in\nCeylon, and in part from the following works:\n\n\n  _Vinaya Texts_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Davids and Oldenberg.\n  _Buddhist Literature in China_ . . . . . . Beal.\n  _Catena of Buddhist Scriptures_  . . . . . Do.\n  _Buddhaghosa's Parables_ . . . . . . . . . Rogers.\n  _Buddhist Birth Stories_ . . . . . . . . . Fausboll and Davids.\n  _Legend of Gautama_  . . . . . . . . . . . Bigandet.\n  _Chinese Buddhism_ . . . . . . . . . . . . Edkins.\n  _Kalpa Sutra and Nava Patva_ . . . . . . . Stevenson.\n  _Buddha and Early Buddhism_  . . . . . . . Lillie.\n  _Sutta Nip[=a]ta_  . . . . . . . . . . . . Sir Coomara Swami.\n  _N[=a]gananda_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Broyd.\n  _Kusa Jataka_  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steele.\n  _Buddhism_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhys-Davids.\n  _Dhammapada_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fausboll and Max M\u00fcller.\n  _Romantic History of Buddha_ . . . . . . . Beal.\n  _Ud[=a]navarga_  . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rockhill.\n  _Twelve Japanese Buddhist Sects_ . . . . . B. Nanjio.\n  _The Gospel of Buddha_ . . . . . . . . . . Paul Carus.\n  _The Dharma_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Do.\n  _Ancient India_  . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. C. Dutt.\n  _The \"Sacred Books of the East\" Series_  . Max M\u00fcller's Edition.\n  _Encyclopaedia Britannica_\n\n\n\n\n\n    Printed by\n   Annie Besant\n  Vasanta Press\n  Adyar Madras","title":"The Buddhist Catechism","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":44508}