self or the individuality is spoken of, we must not forget that, in the estimation of the Buddhist, all separate existence of an independent entity known as the soul is a delusion. Man possesses no independent existence, and cannot say, “This is I," as he is only a transient, perishing part of a great whole. When the word "salvation" occurs it is not to be understood at all in the evangelical Christian sense. No Buddhist "seeks for any salvation which he is himself to enjoy in any future world." It pertains to his present life, and it signifies deliverance from those delusions, desires, and apprehensions which the Buddhist creed repudiates. Nothing is known about salvation from sin or its penalty. Again, in the "Noble Eightfold Path" there is a strenuous demand for rightness in several particulars, but the "right" things which are called for are to be understood and interpreted in accordance with Buddhist conceptions.3 The "saintship" of the Buddhist code is that consummation which is contemplated in Arahatship, or the becoming worthy in the Buddhist sense. All idea of "immortality" must be interpreted in the light of the doctrine of Karma, in accordance with which man is simply a link in the chain of cause and effect, and thus his immortality means that he cannot escape from the law of Karma, that is, he will only continue to exist in the sense of forming a part of the endless chain of sequences. It is plain that Buddhist terms cannot be understood in the Christian sense without a reversal of their meaning. The idea that there is a community of life and spirit between the two, or that Christianity is in any way derived from or dependent upon Buddhism for its history and teachings, is wholly without foundation, as the highest authorities upon Buddhist literature unhesitatingly affirm.5

Buddhism is a gospel of deliverance from the miseries of existence. Its method is through man's unaided mastery of himself and victory over his environment. It draws a sharp distinction between the laity, or the rank and file of its adherents, and a superior order known as the "Brotherhood of the Elect" (Sangho), consisting of all those who separate themselves from the rest of mankind by entering upon the struggle after Arahatship and the attainment of Nirvana. The members of

142.

1 Rhys Davids, "Buddhism: Its History and Literature," pp. 125-127, 133,

2 Ibid., pp. 131, 149, 150, 154.

3 Kellogg,

"The Light of Asia and the Light of the World," pp. 301-304. Rhys Davids, "Buddhism: Its History and Literature," pp. 128, 129. 5 Cf. Ellinwood, "Oriental Religions and Christianity," pp. 164-170; Grant, "The Religions of the World," p. 129.

Some distinctions

to be noted.

this order are called bhikshus, or monks, and samanos, or ascetics. The two classes are frequently called aryos, that is, the noble or elect, so that the expression the "Brotherhood of the Elect" may be regarded as a comprehensive designation of those who are in rank above the laity and are seeking for sainthood. When they have attained the rank of saints they are known as Arahats, or possessors of Arahatship. These latter only are possible candidates for Nirvana, a height of attainment to which no layman aspires or can expect to reach. The most that a layman can hope for is a favorable rebirth, and it is this discouraging prospect of endless rebirths from which the Arahat hopes to be delivered.

It will be noted that the basis of this system is pessimism. Its underlying postulate is the misery, not chiefly of moral degradation, but rather of physical existence. By existence is understood our career

1 The following readily accessible sources of information, to most of which repeated references are made in this section, are recommended to those who desire to study further in popular literary form the ethics of Buddhism:

'A Buddhist Catechism," by Subhadra Bhikshu (New York and London, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1895).

Buddhism" (the Duff Lectures, 1888), by Sir Monier Monier-Williams (London, Murray, 1889).

"Buddhism: Its History and Literature," by T. W. Rhys Davids, LL.D., Ph.D. (New York and London, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1896).

"" 'Buddhism ""

(a manual in the series of "Non-Christian Religious Systems"), by T. W. Rhys Davids, LL.D., Ph.D. (sixteenth edition, London, S. P. C. K.; New York, E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1894).

"Christianity and Buddhism," by T. Sterling Berry, D.D. (London, S. P. C. K. ; New York, E. & J. B. Young & Co., n. d.).

"The Light of Asia and the Light of the World," by S. H. Kellogg, D.D. (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1885).

"Oriental Religions and Christianity," by F. F. Ellinwood, D.D. (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892).

"

Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ," by Marcus Dods, D.D. (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1893).

"The Religions of the World," by G. M. Grant, D.D., LL.D. (London, A. & C. Black; New York, A. D. F. Randolph & Co., 1895).

""Religious Sys

Articles on Buddhism in Bettany's "The World's Religions,' tems of the World," "The Faiths of the World" (Giles Lectures), and "PresentDay Tracts," No. 46.

Article entitled “A Plain Account of Buddhism," by John Beames, B.C.S., in The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review for July, 1896, and January, 1897.

Articles entitled "Nine Centuries of Buddhism," by F. Becker Shawe, of Ladak, Tibet, in The Missionary Review of the World for April, May, June, July, and August, 1896.

The pessimistic basis of Buddhism.

here upon earth, involving as it does sorrow and suffering as an inevitable lot, and also our continued existence in the interminable cycles of rebirth. Death is, therefore, simply a phase in the changes of existence, to be followed by rebirth in accordance with the good or evil we have done in this life, or, in other words, in harmony with our Karma, by which our present state has been determined and which will decide hereafter the character of future rebirths. Karma simply represents the inexorable workings of the law of causality, by which absolute justice is meted out to every human being, as determined by his deserts, whether they be good or evil. The problem of Buddhism is, therefore, how to escape from existence with its attendant miseries. It offers no help in securing this deliverance from any source other than man's unaided power to master himself. Man must in his own strength enter alone upon a desperate struggle to suppress his “will to live," 2 to annihilate his desires and passions, reverse the constitutional tendencies of his nature, triumph over everything in his earthly environment which would attract or chain him to life, and become superior in his mental state to everything earthly and material. It is part of his victory to loathe his physical self, to despise every pleasant and desirable thing connected with ordinary earthly life, and become separated from his fellow-men in a realm of shadowy and colorless mental exaltation.

It will occur to us at once, as we compare this system with Christianity, that it is established upon the basis of man's wisdom; it represents blinded and staggering humanity, crushed and

dismayed by the insoluble problem of sorrow, and The secret of its wide baffled by the dismal enigma of existence, search

ing for light and groping after a way of escape.

extension.

It arose amid the intellectual and spiritual darkness of India six centuries before the Christian era, when the consolations of religion and the inspirations of morality were so sadly needed. The very fact that Buddhism proposed a way of deliverance from the sorrows and miseries of life was in that age and in that environment its secret of success. It brought also a message of universalism, in opposition to the limitations of caste, and advocated an ethical system in place of the burdensome and elaborate ritualism of Brahmanism. Its timeliness, as well as the purport of its message, was the secret of its expansion. It was a creed of action, a code of virtue, as opposed to wearisome 1 "A Buddhist Catechism,” p. 48.

2 Ibid., pp. 47, 48.

ceremonialism. Man was to be put upon his mettle, to achieve his own victory, to conquer his destiny, to triumph over his adverse environment, and win his way to peace and rest by a process of subjugation, elimination, and suppression. It resolves itself, however, into a plan of salvation by social suicide. It proposes triumph by abdication; it advocates escape through separation and isolation. In the end it emasculates manhood and withdraws the individual from the service and conflict of human life to an ideal but useless seclusion.1

Buddhism in its original conception is an ethical rather than a religious system. It dispenses with some of the essential features of a religion, especially of the Christian religion. It is

system.

Its defects as a religious without a Creator or a supreme personal God. It teaches no atonement, since each man is his own saviour. It has no place for repentance and faith, in the religious sense of these terms. It is without prayer, an exercise which is resolved entirely into meditation. It denies independent individual existence of the soul. It teaches no system of rewards and punishments, and has no place for the supernatural. In theory it is without sacrifices and ceremonies, concerning which it declares that they are unavailing and useless. While these are its doctrinal teachings, yet we find in its historical development that it has reversed many of these dogmatic positions. Its atheism is practically abandoned in the honor which is paid to the Buddha and to various supreme beings,

1 ་་ "In the gospel of the Buddha we are told that the whole world lieth in suffering. In the Gospel of Christ the whole world lieth in wickedness. 'Glory in your sufferings; rejoice in them; make them steps towards heaven,' says the Gospel of Christ. Away with all suffering; stamp it out, for it is the plague of humanity,' says the gospel of Buddha. 'The whole world is enslaved by sin,' says the Christian Gospel. The whole world is enslaved by illusion,' says the gospel of Buddha. Sanctify your affections,' says the one. 'Suppress them utterly,' says the other. 'Cherish your body and present it as a living sacrifice to God,' says the Christian Gospel. 'Get rid of your body as the greatest of all curses,' says the Buddhist. 'We are God's workmanship,' says the Christian Gospel, and God works in us, and by us, and through us.' 'We are our own workmanship,' says the gospel of Buddha, and no one works in us but ourselves.' Lastly, the Christian Gospel teaches us to prize the gift of personal life as the most sacred, the most precious, of all God's gifts. 'Life is real, life is earnest,' it seems to say, in the words of the great American poet; and it bids us thirst, not for death, not for extinction, but for the living God; whereas the Buddhist doctrine stigmatises all thirst for life as an ignorant blunder, and sets forth, as the highest of all aims, utter extinction of personal existence."-Sir Monier Monier-Williams, in an address at the anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1886.

2 In confirmation of the above statements consult "A Buddhist Catechism," pp. 51, 52, 63, 82, 84, 87, 76, 67 (note), 88, 64, 65.

known by different names in the several countries where it prevails.1 Its ritual has been loaded with ceremonialism; it worships images and relics; and in that extensive phase of it known as Lamaism it has surpassed all other religions in its mechanical facilities for prayer. Its prayer-wheels, its formulæ, especially the mystical "six syllables," which are endlessly repeated, whirled about in the wheels, turned by water, wind, and hand power, printed upon pieces of cloth to flutter in the breezes, and carved in thousands of places upon rocks and walls, are all mechanical expedients for endless prayer "by mouth, water, wind, and hand.' 2 Do we wonder that Buddhism is characterized by a shocking lack of reverence for a superior power, and that it is a system of the most intense and unrelieved legalism? The Buddha saved himself and made himself perfect,3 and this is the one law for all his followers.1

The four great foundation truths of Buddhism are designated by Dr. Menzies in his "History of Religion." 5 So far as the laity (upasakos) are concerned, the ethical code which applies

ethical code.

to them may be summarized as follows: (1) Thou The specifications of its shalt not destroy life-applicable to animal as well as human life. (2) Thou shalt not steal.

(3) Thou shalt not commit adultery. (4) Thou shalt not lie. (5) Thou shalt not drink intoxicating liquors. To this number three others may be added, which a layman may observe as a matter of merit, or

1 Dods, "Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ," pp. 181-185.

2 The Missionary Review of the World, June, 1896, pp. 416-420. 3" A Buddhist Catechism," pp. 5, 40.

4 "Buddhism teaches the highest kindliness and wisdom without a personal God; the highest understanding without revelation; a moral order of the world and just compensation which are of necessity consummated on the principle of the laws of nature and of our own being; a continuity of individuality without an immortal soul; an eternal beatitude without a local heaven; a possibility of redemption without a vicarious redeemer; a salvation at which each one is his own savior, and which can be attained by one's own strength, and already gained in this life and upon this earth without prayer, sacrifice, penances, and outward rites, without consecrated priests, without the mediation of saints, and without the action of divine grace."-Ibid., p. 89. 5 "1. The Noble Truth of Suffering. Birth is suffering, decay is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering. Presence of objects we hate is suffering, separation from objects we love is suffering, not to obtain what we desire is suffering. Briefly, the fivefold clinging to existence is suffering.

"2. The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering. Thirst that leads to rebirth, accompanied by pleasure and lust, finding its delight here and there. This thirst is threefold, namely, thirst for pleasure, thirst for existence, thirst for prosperity.

"3. The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering. It ceases with the complete cessation of this thirst, a cessation which consists in the absence of every pas