THE BUDDHA'S 
 'WAY OF VIRTUE' 
 
 MVISDOM^
 
 /7
 
 Ube Misfcom of tbe East Series 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 L. CRANMER-BYNG 
 
 Dr. S. A. KAPADIA 
 
 THE BUDDHA'S 
 WAY OF VIRTUE
 
 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL 
 
 " ' Eschew all evil : cherish good : cleanse your inmost 
 thoughts 'this is the teaching of Buddhas." 
 
 Dhammapada, 183. 
 
 " Everything has two handles, the one by which it may 
 be carried, the other by which it may not. ... Lay hold 
 of the handle by which it can be carried." 
 
 EPICTETUS (Encheiridion xliii).
 
 WISDOM OF THE EAST 
 
 THE BUDDHA'S 
 WAY OF VIRTUE" 
 
 A TRANSLATION OF THE DHAMMAPADA 
 FROM THE PALI TEXT 
 
 BY W. D. C. WAGISWARA 
 
 K. J. SAUNDERS 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, CEYLON BRANCH 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY 
 1912
 
 TO 
 
 N. P. C. 
 
 2005505
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 NOTE 
 
 . 19 
 
 EDITORIAL NOTE ..... 
 
 . 20 
 
 1- 
 
 THE TWIN TRUTHS 
 
 . 21 
 
 II. 
 
 ZEAL ...... 
 
 . 24 
 
 III. 
 
 THE MIND ..... 
 
 . 26 
 
 IV. 
 
 FLOWERS 
 
 . 28 
 
 V. 
 
 THE FOOL 
 
 . 30 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE WISE MAN .... 
 
 . 32 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE ARAHAT .... 
 
 . 34 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE THOUSANDS .... 
 
 . 36 
 
 IX. 
 
 VICE 
 
 . 38 
 
 X. 
 
 PUNISHMENT .... 
 
 . 40 
 
 XI. 
 
 OLD AGE 
 
 . 42 
 
 XII. 
 
 SELF 
 
 . 44 
 
 XIII. 
 
 THE WORLD .... 
 
 46 
 
 XIV. 
 
 
 48 
 
 XV. 
 
 BLISS . 
 
 . 51 
 
 
 7 

 
 CONTENTS 
 
 XVI. AFFECTION ..... 
 
 . 53 
 
 XVII. ANGER 
 
 . 55 
 
 XVIII. SIN 
 
 . 57 
 
 XIX. THE RIGHTEOUS 
 
 . 60 
 
 XX. THE PATH .... 
 
 . 62 
 
 XXI. MISCELLANY .... 
 
 . 66 
 
 XXII. HELL 
 
 . 68 
 
 XXIII. THE ELEPHANT . . . 
 
 . 70 
 
 XXIV. DESIRE . . . . 
 
 . 72 
 
 XXV. THE BHIKKHU .... 
 
 . 76 
 
 XXVI. THE BRAHMIN .... 
 
 79 
 
 NOTES ....... 
 
 . 85 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE SAYINGS OF THE DISCIPLES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE BUDDHA ..... 
 
 . 100 
 
 APPENDIX: THE BUDDHIST IDEAL . 
 
 . 102
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 1 
 
 THE Dhammapada was accepted at the Council 
 of Asoka in 240 B.C. as a collection of the sayings 
 of Gautama ; yet it was not put into writing 
 until some generations had passed, and probably 
 contains accretions of later date. 
 
 However that may be, there is no doubt that 
 it breathes the very spirit of the Teacher, and 
 it has always been used in Buddhist lands as 
 a handbook of " devotion " or meditation, in 
 whose solemn precepts men hear the voice of 
 Sakyamuni summoning them to the life of con- 
 templation, of strenuous mind-culture. The 
 world, it tells them, is without permanence or 
 purpose, other than that of expiation ; the 
 body is "a nest of disease " and the seat of 
 " desire " ; the mind itself is subject to decay, 
 and capricious, easily led away after false pursuits. 
 
 Yet here, in the mind of man, lies his hope 
 of salvation : he may make it a strong tower 
 of defence. Though the world is out of gear,
 
 10 INTRODUCTION 
 
 yet, like the Stoic, he may build within himself 
 a kingdom and be at peace. 
 
 -And so the call to " play the man " rings out 
 with sturdy confidence. All men may attain, if 
 they will, to happiness and serenity, for, with a 
 modern Stoic, the Buddhist proclaims : 
 
 " I am the master of my fate ; 
 
 I am the captain of my soul." 
 
 Gautama then was no thoroughgoing pessimist ; 
 that such a nature was pessimistic at all is due 
 to the age in which he lived. It was the 
 " sub-conscious mind " of his nation, and not 
 his own brave spirit, that shut him in to the 
 belief in a ceaseless flux of " becoming," a weary 
 round of pain and retribution. For, by the 
 sixth century B.C., India had passed from the 
 sunny paganism of the Rig Veda into a more 
 thoughtful and more gloomy phase of her 
 religious development. 
 
 There were not wanting heroic spirits who 
 offered a way of escape, urging men to plunge 
 into asceticism or to court the mystic trance. 
 These were the religious leaders of the day, at 
 whose feet Gautama sat. Others, the great ma- 
 jority, were not ready for such heroic measures. 
 They tried to square the gods, and to live un- 
 molested, or to forget all in the pleasures of 
 sense or the more subtle joys of the intellect. 
 
 To Gautama, all alike seemed " to follow
 
 INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 Wandering fires." How degrading this thraldom 
 to immoral and capricious gods ! How empty 
 and unsatisfying this mysticism when shorn of all 
 ethical content ! Which is more to be pitied, the 
 grasping priest or the foolish worshipper ? Which 
 more deluded, the worldling or the devotee ? 
 
 To all alike the Dhammapada has a message 
 of warning and encouragement : to the worldling 
 it holds out the promise of a truer wealth and 
 fame (75, 303) and a more blessed family life 
 (204-7, 302) ; to the warrior it offers a higher 
 " chivalry " (270) and a more heroic contest 
 (103, 104) ; to the philosopher a deeper wisdom 
 than much speaking (28, 100, 258) ; to the 
 mystic a purer and more lasting bliss (197-200) ; to 
 the devotee a more fruitful sacrifice (106-7) ; and 
 to the Brahmin a more ennobling service ( xxvi) 
 and a more compelling authority (73, 74). It is, 
 in fact, possible largely to reconstruct the religious 
 life of Gautama's day from the stanzas of the 
 Dhammapada. 
 
 For all classes the Buddha has the same 
 message : the great reality is character ; all 
 else are shadows not worth pursuing, for none 
 of them strengthens moral fibre, and all alike 
 are tainted with " desire." 
 
 Like Socrates, he saw in himself a physician of 
 the soul, and at times he resorted to surgery 
 to " stab the spirit broad awake," to call men 
 from superstition on the one hand and materialism
 
 12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 on the other. With Epictetus he would have 
 said, " A philosopher's school, my friends, is 
 a surgery, on leaving which you look to have 
 felt, not pleasure but pain." 
 
 Men needed above all things a moral tonic ; 
 there lies the secret at once of his stoicism and 
 his agnosticism ; luxury here, a barren mysticism 
 there these were sapping men's strength, and 
 all the energy they could command was needed 
 in the fight for character. They must strive 
 and agonise to " cut out desire," to push their 
 way " against the stream," to cross life's stormy 
 " ocean " and reach the haven of peace. And 
 they must do it alone, not trusting to priest, 
 or sacrifice, or the help of Heaven. 
 
 For this insistence upon morality to the 
 exclusion of " religion " Gautama is often labelled 
 " atheist." Nothing could be more unfair : 
 agnostic he may have been or seemed to be ; 
 but his was no irreligious spirit : the man who 
 scoffs at the " other world " he condemns in 
 uncompromising terms, and Ethics so lofty as 
 this " Way of Virtue " never emanated from 
 any but a reverent spirit. It is one of the 
 puzzles of Psychology that so pure a soul ever 
 stopped short at Ethics ; yet we must remember 
 that he was a reformer, that reformers are apt 
 to be one-sided, and that during long and painful 
 years he had suffered at the hands of a false 
 " religiosity " ; the iron had entered into his soul.
 
 INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 " If Buddhists admit neither judge norcreator," 
 says Professor de la Vallee Poussin, "at least 
 they recognise a sovereign and infallible justice 
 a justice of wonderful insight and adaptability, 
 however mechanically it acts. ... In my opinion 
 it is a calumny to accuse Buddhists of atheism : 
 they have, at any rate, taken full cognisance 
 of one of the aspects of the divine." * 
 
 Gautama believed above all things in a moral 
 order, which, if it is inexorable, is also too righteous 
 to yield to sacrificial bribes : 
 
 " Not in the sky, nor in mid-ocean, nor in mountain-cave, 
 can one find sanctuary from his sin. . . . Often do men in 
 terror seek sanctuary in mountains and in jungles, by sacred 
 groves or trees : in them there is no safe sanctuary." 
 (Dhammapada, 127, 188-9.) 
 
 So too the Psalmist cries, "Whither shall I 
 flee from Thy presence ? If I ascend into 
 heaven, Thou art there: if I go down to hell, 
 Thou art there also." 
 
 Like the Hebrew prophet, too, he strikes a 
 note of strenuous endeavour, of profound dis- 
 satisfaction with the actual, and of aspiration 
 after the ideal : unlike the Hebrew and the 
 Christian, he sees in the actual no promise of 
 the ideal. His " way of salvation " is therefore 
 monastic ; men are to leave the world if they 
 would escape suffering and be truly happy : 
 the layman may one day attain the far-off goal, 
 
 * Bouddhisme, p. 70.
 
 14 INTRODUCTION 
 
 but for him remains a long and weary pilgrimage, 
 many revolutions of the wheel of existence. 
 
 It is to Bhikkhus then that these stanzas are 
 in the main addressed. They are comments 
 made by the Teacher to his disciples as occasion 
 arose ; and to study them in a sympathetic 
 spirit we of the West must for a time forget 
 our impatience with " cloistered virtue." The 
 saintly life in the world is no doubt a truer 
 ideal than the saintly life out of it, yet saintliness 
 of any type is not to be despised. 
 
 The Buddhist holds that in contemplative 
 activity a man may best serve the world : is 
 i not true that " we need reservoirs of every 
 kind of excellence " ? We read in the Dhamma- 
 pada of the fragrance of holy deeds which 
 pervades the high heavens, and of the light 
 that such a life may cast athwart a dark world. 
 The " religious " is more to be envied than 
 kings or even gods, and more fruitful. 
 
 " Good is kingship of the earth ; 
 Good attaining heavenly birth : 
 World-conquest's good, but better far 
 The fruits of true conversion are." 
 
 (Dhammapada, 178.) 
 
 These fruits are " self -reverence, self-knowledge, 
 self-control " (c/. 261) ; self-culture is in the 
 end the truest benevolence, says the Buddhist, 
 and the deepest wisdom. That " wisdom " of 
 which we shall hear so much in the following
 
 INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 pages, is "a certain over-mastering principle 
 or power, that lays hold, primarily indeed, of the 
 intellect, but through the intellect of the entire 
 personality, moulding and disciplining the will 
 and the emotions into absolute unison with 
 itself, a principle from which courage, temperance, 
 justice, and every other virtue inevitably flow." * 
 
 " A man is not wise by much speaking. , . . He is the 
 wise man who is forgiving, kindly, and without fear." 
 
 (Dhammapada, 258.) 
 
 For Gautama sees in ignorance not merely a 
 calamity, but also a moral fault ; he agrees 
 with the Darwinians in recognising in man the 
 ape and the tiger, but adds, with Dr. Creighton, 
 that " when the ape and the tiger go, there still 
 remains the donkey, a far more formidable 
 beast." f 
 
 Moha, infatuation, and Avijjd, ignorance, are 
 everywhere, and " Ignorance is the greatest of 
 taints, more destructive than avarice and im- 
 purity." (Ibid., 242, 243.) 
 
 He himself was the " enlightened," " the 
 seer " who by insight had won emancipation, 
 and he teaches that if men will only see things 
 as they are, then they cannot but eschew evil 
 and do good ; but the great multitude are 
 
 * Dr. J. Adam, The Religious Teachers of Greece, p. 329. 
 
 f Tibetan Buddhism illustrates these three cardinal vices 
 by pictures of the cook (lust), the snake (anger), and the hog 
 (stupidity).
 
 16 INTRODUCTION 
 
 fools and blind. To give them new ideals and 
 to lift the veil off their darkened hearts this 
 was the work of Gautama, and in attempting it 
 he revealed a sturdy optimism and a magnetic 
 personality which went far to energise his ideal. 
 These qualities place him high amongst ethical 
 teachers. 
 
 H 
 
 And what shall we say of his system as religion ? 
 The student of these pages will find himself in 
 a moonlit world, beautiful yet cold : 
 
 " A common greyness silvers everything." 
 
 Here is no " sunset touch," no mystic hint of 
 Him " whose dwelling is the light of setting 
 suns " ; our hearts are not stirred as we read 
 by any assurance of the reality of the Unseen. 
 Mysticism in short finds no entrance here a 
 fact which makes the Dhammapada almost 
 unique amongst the great things of religious 
 literature. Instead we find " common sense " 
 supreme, mathematical, and a little cold, yet 
 confident of itself and of its firm grasp of all 
 the factors in life's equation. Instead of passion 
 and romance we shall find self-mastery and a 
 half- humorous sweet reasonableness. Every- 
 where Law is at work, and there is nothing 
 besides : no hint of whence law emanates, of 
 how it works, or why. These are questions alike
 
 INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 unprofitable and unanswerable. It is enough, 
 the Buddha would say, that the world makes for 
 righteousness, that sin is punished, and that 
 goodness does not go unrewarded. " As you 
 sow, so shall you reap." Happiness is the bloom 
 upon virtue ; sorrow is the blight upon sin : 
 and this is the ultimate motive to the strenuous 
 life. 
 
 " Is such a world worth while ? " asks full- 
 blooded Youth. " And is a calm like this 
 enough ? " " The world," comes the serene 
 answer, " is worth nothing at all : it has no 
 reality and no purpose, save that of retribution : 
 man's only happiness is to escape. The calm 
 and peaceful frame of mind is the only happy 
 one, the promise of a Rest hereafter, ineffable 
 and placid : to this man can and must attain." 
 
 K. J. S. 
 
 TEINITY COLLEGE, KANDY. 
 atte/'tide, 1912.
 
 NOTE 
 
 AN accurate and sympathetic knowledge of 
 Buddhism and of the spirit of the Buddha is 
 best got from such a book as the Dhammapada, 
 which contains the concentrated essence of the 
 religion. In view of widespread misinterpreta- 
 tion, a literal and accessible translation of this 
 book, therefore, needs no apology. I have 
 worked at the translation throughout with my 
 friend Mr. Wagiswara, himself a Buddhist, and 
 for many years a Bhikkhu ; that fact and the 
 appearance of our translation in this series will 
 vouch for sympathetic treatment in the rendering. 
 It is notoriously difficult to find the exact English 
 equivalents of Eastern terms, yet we trust that 
 the spirit has been truly reproduced, and our 
 version aims rather at accuracy than at elegance. 
 Great thoughts are best " plain-set," and more- 
 over it is impossible to reproduce the music of 
 the old slokas of Indian poetry. We have 
 referred frequently to Dr. Fausb oil's Latin 
 version, and occasionally to Professor Max 
 Miiller's edition in "The Sacred Books of the 
 East." Only where the Sinhalese and Chinese 
 commentaries are really illuminating have I 
 referred to them in the notes, for which I am 
 chiefly responsible. 
 
 K. J. S. 
 
 19
 
 EDITORIAL NOTE 
 
 THE object of the Editors of this series is a 
 very definite one. They desire above all things 
 that, in their humble way, these books shall be 
 the ambassadors of good-will and understanding 
 between East and West the old world of Thought 
 and the new of Action. In this endeavour, and 
 in their own sphere, they are but followers of the 
 highest example in the land. They are confident 
 that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and 
 lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help 
 to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which 
 neither despises nor fears the nations of another 
 creed and colour. 
 
 L. CRANMER-BYNG. 
 S. A. KAPADIA. 
 
 NOHTHBROOK SOCIETY, 
 21 CROMWELL ROAD, 
 KENSINGTON, S.W.
 
 THE BUDDHA'S 
 "WAY OF VIRTUE" 
 
 i 
 
 THE TWIN TRUTHS 
 
 FOR the proper understanding of Buddhism 
 these opening stanzas are all-important. One 
 of the Buddha's key-thoughts was what modern 
 psychologists call the "law of apperception": 
 the value of things depends upon our attitude 
 to them. 
 
 Part of Gautama's work of reform was a "trans- 
 valuation of values," a shifting of emphasis ; 
 and, like the Stoics, he taught the indifference of 
 the things of sense. " Men are disturbed," said 
 Epictetus, " not by things, but by the view they 
 take of things." 
 
 1 . Mind it is which gives to things their quality, 
 their foundation, and their being : whoso speaks 
 or acts with impure mind, him sorrow dogs, as 
 the wheel follows the steps of the draught-ox. 
 
 2. Mind it is which gives to things their quality, 
 
 21
 
 22 THE TWIN TRUTHS 
 
 their foundation, and their being : whoso speaks 
 or acts with purified mind, him happiness accom- 
 panies as his faithful shadow. 
 
 3. "He has abused me, beaten me, worsted 
 me, robbed me " ; those who dwell upon such 
 thoughts never lose their hate, 
 
 4. " He has abused me, beaten me, worsted 
 me, robbed me " ; those who dwell not upon 
 such thoughts are freed of hate. 
 
 5. Never does hatred cease by hating ; by not 
 hating does it cease : this is the ancient law. 
 
 6. If some there are who know not by such 
 hatred we are perishing, and some there are who 
 know it, then by their knowledge strife is ended. 
 
 7. As the wind throws down a shaky tree, so 
 Mara [Death] o'erwhelms him who is a seeker 
 after vanity, uncontrolled, intemperate, slothful, 
 and effeminate. 
 
 8. But whoso keeps his eyes from vanity, con- 
 trolled and temperate, faithful and strenuous, 
 Mara cannot overthrow, as the wind beating 
 against a rocky crag. 
 
 9. Though an impure man don the pure 
 yellow robe [of the Bhikkhu], himself unindued 
 with temperance and truth, he is not worthy of 
 the pure yellow robe. 
 
 10. He who has doffed his impurities, calm and 
 clothed upon with temperance and truth, he 
 wears the pure robe worthily. 
 
 11. Those who mistake the shadow for the
 
 MIND DISCIPLINE 23 
 
 substance, and the substance for the shadow, 
 never attain the reality, following wandering 
 fires [lit. followers of a false pursuit]. 
 
 12. But if a man knows the substance and 
 the shadow as they are, he attains the reality, 
 following the true trail. 
 
 13. As the rain pours into the ill-thatched 
 house, so lust pours into the undisciplined mind. 
 
 14. As rain cannot enter the well-thatched house, 
 so lust finds no entry into the disciplined mind. 
 
 15. Here and hereafter the sinner mourns : 
 yea mourns and is in torment, knowing the 
 vileness of his deeds. 
 
 16. Here and hereafter the good man is glad: 
 yea is glad and rejoices, knowing that his deeds 
 are pure. 
 
 17. Here and hereafter the sinner is in torment : 
 tormented by the thought " I have sinned " ; 
 yea rather tormented when he goes to hell. 
 
 18. Here and hereafter the good man rejoices ; 
 rejoices as he thinks " I have done well " : yea 
 rather rejoices when he goes to a heaven. 
 
 19. If a man is a great preacher of the sacred 
 text, but slothful and no doer of it, he is a hire- 
 ling shepherd, who has no part in the flock. 
 
 20. If a man preaches but a little of the text 
 and practises the teaching, putting away lust 
 and hatred and infatuation ; if he is truly wise 
 and detached and seeks nothing here or here- 
 after, his lot is with the holy ones.
 
 11 
 
 ZEAL 
 
 ZEAL or earnestness (appamado) plays an im- 
 portant part in Buddhist Ethics. The way is 
 steep, therefore let the wayfarer play the man. 
 Zeal may be displayed either in strenuous 
 mind-culture or in deeds of piety these are 
 the equivalents of "Faith" and "Works" in 
 the Buddhist system. 
 
 21. Zeal is the way to Nirvana. Sloth is the 
 day of death. The zealous die not : the slothful 
 are as it were dead. 
 
 22. The wise who know the power of zeal 
 delight in it, rejoicing in the lot of the noble. 
 
 23. These wise ones by meditation and reflec- 
 tion, by constant effort reach Nirvana, highest 
 freedom. 
 
 24. Great grows the glory of him who is 
 zealous in meditation, whose actions are pure 
 and deliberate, whose life is calm and righteous 
 and full of vigour. 
 
 25. By strenuous effort, by self-control, by 
 
 24
 
 REACHING SUPREMACY 26 
 
 temperance, let the wise man make for himself 
 an island which the flood cannot overwhelm. 
 
 26. Fools in their folly give themselves to 
 sloth : the wise man guards his vigour as his 
 greatest possession. 
 
 27. Give not yourselves over to sloth, and to 
 dalliance with delights : he who meditates with 
 earnestness attains great joy. 
 
 28. When the wise one puts off sloth for zeal, 
 ascending the high tower of wisdom he gazes 
 sorrowless upon the sorrowing crowd below ! 
 Wise himself, he looks upon the fools as one 
 upon a mountain-peak gazing upon the dwellers 
 in the valley. 
 
 29. Zealous amidst the slothful, vigilant among 
 the sleepers, go the prudent, as a racehorse out- 
 strips a hack. 
 
 30. By zeal did Sakra reach supremacy among 
 the gods. Men praise zeal ; but sloth is always 
 blamed. 
 
 31. A Bhikkhu who delights in zeal, looking 
 askance at sloth, moves onwards like a fire, 
 burning the greater and the lesser bonds. 
 
 32. A Bhikkhu who delights in zeal, looking 
 askance at sloth, cannot be brought low, but is 
 near to Nirvana.* 
 
 * Better, perhaps, " in the very presence of Nirvana."
 
 m 
 
 THE MIND 
 
 33. THIS trembling, wavering mind, so difficult 
 to guard and to control this the wise man 
 makes straight as the fletcher straightens his 
 shaft. 
 
 34. As quivers the fish when thrown upon 
 the ground, far from his home in the waters, 
 so the mind quivers as it leaves the realm of 
 Death. 
 
 35. Good it is to tame the mind, so difficult 
 to control, fickle, and capricious. Blessed is the 
 tamed mind. 
 
 36. Let the wise man guard his mind, in- 
 comprehensible, subtle, and capricious though 
 it is. Blessed is the guarded mind. 
 
 37. They will escape the fetters of Death 
 who control that far-wandering, solitary, in- 
 corporeal cave-dweller, the mind. 
 
 38. In him who is unstable and ignorant of the 
 law and capricious in his faith, wisdom is not 
 perfected. 
 
 39. There is no fear in him, the vigilant one
 
 THE SWORD OF WISDOM 27 
 
 whose mind is not befouled with lust, nor em- 
 bittered with rage, who cares nought for merit 
 or demerit. 
 
 40. Let him who knows that his body is brittle 
 as a potsherd, make his mind strong as a fortress ; 
 let him smite Mara with the sword of wisdom, 
 and let him guard his conquest without dalliance. 
 
 41. Soon will this body lie upon the ground, 
 deserted, and bereft of sense, like a log cast 
 aside. 
 
 42. Badly does an enemy treat his enemy, 
 a foeman his foe : worse is the havoc wrought 
 by a misdirected mind. 
 
 43. Not mother and father, not kith and kin 
 can so benefit a man as a mind attentive to the 
 right.
 
 iv 
 
 FLOWERS 
 
 44. WHO shall conquer this world, and the 
 realm of Death with its attendant gods ? Who 
 shall sort the verses of the well-preached Law, 
 as a clever weaver of garlands sorts flowers ? 
 
 45. My disciple shall conquer this world and 
 Death with its attendant gods : it is he who 
 shall sort the verses of the well-preached Law 
 as a clever garland-maker sorts flowers. 
 
 46. Let him escape the eye of Mara, regarding 
 his body as froth, knowing it as a mirage, plucking 
 out the flowery shafts of Mara. 
 
 47. He who is busy culling pleasures, as one 
 plucks flowers, Death seizes and hurries off, as 
 a great flood bears away a sleeping village. 
 
 48. The Destroyer treads him underfoot as he 
 is culling worldly pleasures, still unsated with 
 lusts of the flesh. 
 
 49. As a bee taking honey from flowers, 
 without hurt to bloom or scent, so let the sage 
 seek his food from house to house. 
 
 50. Be not concerned with other men's evil 
 
 28
 
 THE FRAGRANCE OF GOOD DEEDS 29 
 
 words or deeds or neglect of good : look rather 
 to thine own sins and negligence [lit. " sins of 
 commission and omission " : things done and 
 undone]. 
 
 61. As some bright flower fair to look at, 
 but lacking fragrance so are fair words which 
 bear no fruit in action. 
 
 52. As some bright flower, fragrant as it is fair, 
 so are fair words whose fruit is seen in action. 
 
 53. As if from a pile of flowers one were to 
 weave many a garland, so let mortals string 
 together much merit. 
 
 54. No scent of flower is borne against the 
 wind, though it were sandal, or incense or jasmine : 
 but the fragrance of the holy is borne against 
 the wind : the righteous pervade all space 
 [with their fragrance]. 
 
 55. More excellent than the scent of sandal 
 and incense, of lily and jasmine, is the fragrance 
 of good deeds. 
 
 56. A slight thing is this scent of incense and 
 of sandal- wood, but the scent of the holy pervades 
 the highest heaven. 
 
 57. Death finds not the path of the righteous 
 and strenuous, who are set free by their perfect 
 wisdom. 
 
 58. 59. As on some roadside dung-heap, a 
 flower blooms fragrant and delightful, so amongst 
 the refuse of blinded mortals shines forth in 
 wisdom the'follower of the true Buddha.
 
 v 
 
 THE FOOL* 
 
 60. LONG is the night to the watcher, long is 
 the league to the weary traveller : long is the 
 chain of existence to fools who ignore the true 
 Law. 
 
 61. If on a journey thou canst not find thy 
 peer or one better than thyself, make the. journey 
 stoutly alone : there is no company with a fool. 
 
 62. " I have sons and wealth," thinks the 
 fool with anxious care ; he is not even master 
 of himself, much less of sons and wealth. 
 
 63. The fool who knows his folly is so far 
 wise : but the fool who reckons himself wise 
 is called a fool indeed. 
 
 64. Though for a lifetime the fool keeps 
 company with the wise, yet does he not learn 
 righteousness, as spoon gets no taste of soup. 
 
 65. If but for a moment the thoughtful keep 
 company with the wise, straightway he learns 
 righteousness, as tongue tastes soup. 
 
 66. Fools and dolts go their way, their own 
 
 * cf. Introduction, pp. 14, 15. 
 30
 
 EVIL FRUIT 31 
 
 worst enemies : working evil which bears bitter 
 fruit. 
 
 67. That is no good deed which brings remorse, 
 whose reward one receives with tears and 
 lamentation. 
 
 68. But that is the good deed which brings 
 no remorse, whose reward the doer takes with 
 joy and gladness. 
 
 69. Honey-sweet to the fool is his sin until 
 it ripens : then he comes to grief. 
 
 70. If once a month the fool sips his food 
 from a blade of the sacred grass his is no 
 fraction of the Arahat's worth. 
 
 71. Evil does not straightway curdle like 
 milk, but is rather like a smouldering fire which 
 attends the fool and burns him. 
 
 72. When the fool's wisdom bears evil fruit 
 it bursts asunder his happiness, and smashes 
 his head. 
 
 73. 74. If one desire the praise of knaves, 
 or leadership amongst the Bhikkhus, and lordship 
 in the convents, and the reverence of the laity, 
 thinking "Let layman and religious alike appre- 
 ciate my deeds ; let them do my bidding and obey 
 my prohibitions," if such be his fond imaginings, 
 then will ambition and self-will wax great. 
 
 75. One is the road leading to gain, another 
 is that leading to Nirvana : knowing this, let 
 the Bhikkhu, the follower of Buddha, strive in 
 solitude, not seeking the praise of men,
 
 vi 
 
 THE WISE MAN 
 
 76. LOOK upon him who shows you your faults 
 as a revealer of treasure : seek his company 
 who checks and chides you, the sage who is 
 wise in reproof : it fares well and not ill with 
 him who seeks such company. 
 
 77. Let a man admonish, and advise, and 
 keep others from strife ! So will he be dear to 
 the righteous, and hated by the unrighteous. 
 
 78. Avoid bad friends, avoid the company 
 of the evil : seek after noble friends and men 
 of lofty character. 
 
 79. He who drinks in the law lives glad, for 
 his mind is serene : in the law preached by the 
 Noble the sage ever finds his joy. 
 
 80. Engineers control the water ; fletchers 
 straighten the arrow ; carpenters fashion their 
 wood. Sages control and fashion themselves. 
 
 81. As some massive rock stands unmoved 
 by the storm-wind, so the wise stand unmoved 
 by praise or blame.
 
 THE WAY OF THE LAW 33 
 
 82. As a deep lake, clear and undefiled, so 
 are sages calmed by hearing the law. 
 
 83. Freely go the righteous ; the holy ones 
 do not whine and pine for lusts : unmoved by 
 success or failure, the wise show no change of 
 mood. 
 
 84. Desire not a son for thyself nor for another, 
 nor riches nor a kingdom ; desire not thy gain 
 by another's loss : so art thou righteous, wise, 
 and good. 
 
 85. Few amongst men are they who reach 
 the farther shore : the rest, a great multitude, 
 stand only on the bank. 
 
 86. The righteous followers of the well-preached 
 law, these are the mortals who reach the far 
 shore. But hard is their journey through the 
 realm of Death. 
 
 87. 88. Leaving the way of darkness, let the 
 sage cleave to the way of light : let him leave 
 home for the homeless life, that solitude so 
 hard to love [Nirvana]. Putting away lust 
 and possessing nothing, let the sage cleanse 
 himself from every evil thought. 
 
 89. They are serene in this world, whose 
 mind is perfected in that clear thought which 
 leads to Arahatship, whose delight is in re- 
 nunciation, free from taints, and lustrous.
 
 VII 
 
 THE AEAHAT 
 
 90. No remorse is found in him whose journey 
 is accomplished, whose sorrow ended, whose free- 
 dom complete, whose chains are all shaken off. 
 
 91. The mindful press on, casting no look 
 behind to their home-life ; as swans deserting 
 a pool they leave their dear home. 
 
 92. Some there are who have no treasure 
 here, temperate ones whose goal is the freedom 
 which comes of realising that life is empty and 
 impermanent : their steps are hard to track as 
 the flight of birds through the sky. 
 
 93. He whose taints are purged away, who 
 is indifferent to food, whose goal is the freedom 
 which comes of realising life's emptiness and 
 transciency, is hard to track as the flight of 
 birds in the sky. 
 
 94. Even the gods emulate him whose senses 
 are quiet as horses well-tamed by the charioteer, 
 who has renounced self-will, and put away all 
 taints. 
 
 95. No more will he be born whose patience 
 
 34
 
 PLACES OF DELIGHT 35 
 
 is as the earth's, who is firm as a pillar and 
 pious, pure as some unruffled lake. 
 
 96. Calm is the thought, calm the words 
 and deeds of such a one, who has by wisdom 
 attained true freedom and self-control. 
 
 97. Excellent is the man who is not credulous, 
 who knows Nirvana, who has cut all bonds, 
 destroyed the germs of rebirth, cast off lust. 
 
 98. In the village or the jungle, on sea or 
 land, wherever lives the Arahat, there is the 
 place of delight. 
 
 99. Pleasant are the glades where the herd 
 come not to disport themselves : there shall the 
 Holy take their pleasure, who seek not after lust.
 
 VIII 
 
 THE THOUSANDS 
 
 100. BETTER than a thousand empty words is 
 one pregnant word, which brings the hearer 
 peace. 
 
 101. Better than a thousand idle songs is a 
 single song, which brings the hearer peace. 
 
 102. Better it is to chant one verse of the 
 law, that brings the hearer peace, than to chant 
 a hundred empty songs. 
 
 103. If one were to conquer a thousand 
 thousand in the battle he who conquers self 
 is the greatest warrior. 
 
 104, 105. Self-conquest is better than other 
 victories : neither god nor demi-god, neither 
 Mara nor Brahma, can undo the victory of such 
 a one, who is self -controlled and always calm. 
 
 106. If month by month throughout a hundred 
 years one were to offer sacrifices costing thou- 
 sands, and if for a moment another were to 
 reverence the self-controlled this is the better 
 worship. 
 
 107. If one for a hundred years tended the 
 
 36
 
 THE BETTER PART 37 
 
 sacred fire in the glade, and another for a moment 
 reverenced the self-con trolled, this is the better 
 worship. 
 
 108. Whatsoever sacrifice or offering a man 
 makes for a full year in hope of benefits, all 
 is not worth a quarter of that better offering 
 reverence to the upright. 
 
 109. In him who is trained in constant courtesy 
 and reverence to the old, four qualities increase : 
 length of days, beauty, gladness, and strength. 
 
 110. Better than a hundred years of impure 
 and intemperate existence is a single day of 
 moral, contemplative life. 
 
 111. Better is one day of wise and contem- 
 plative life than a thousand years of folly and 
 intemperance. 
 
 112. Better one day of earnest energy than 
 a hundred years of sloth and lassitude. 
 
 113. Better one day of insight into the fleeting 
 nature of the things of sense, than a hundred 
 years of blindness to this transiency. 
 
 114. Better one day of insight into the deathless 
 state [Nirvana], than a hundred years of blindness 
 to this immortality. 
 
 115. Better one day of insight into the Supreme 
 Law, than a hundred years of blindness to 
 that Law.
 
 VICE 
 
 116. CLING to what is right : so will you keep 
 the mind from wrong. Whoso is slack in well- 
 doing comes to rejoice in evil. 
 
 117. If one offends, let him not repeat his 
 offence ; let him not set his heart upon it. Sad 
 is the piling up of sin. 
 
 118. If one does well, let him repeat his well- 
 doing : let him set his heart upon it. Glad is 
 the storing up of good. 
 
 119. The bad man sees good days, until his 
 wrong-doing ripens ; then he beholds evil days. 
 
 120. Even a good man may see evil days 
 till his well-doing comes to fruition ; then he 
 beholds good days. 
 
 121. Think not lightly of evil "It will not 
 come nigh me." Drop by drop the pitcher is 
 filled : slowly yet surely the fool is saturated 
 with evil. 
 
 122. Think not lightly of good "It will not 
 come nigh me." Drop by drop the pitcher is
 
 DEEDS MAKE DESTINY 39 
 
 filled : slowly yet surely the good are filled with 
 merit. 
 
 123. A trader whose pack is great and whose 
 caravan is small shuns a dangerous road ; a 
 man who loves his life shuns poison : so do 
 thou shun evil. 
 
 124. He who has no wound can handle poison : 
 the unwounded hand cannot absorb it. There 
 is no evil to him that does no evil. 
 
 125. Whoso is offended by the inoffensive 
 man, and whoso blames an innocent man, his 
 evil returns upon him as fine dust thrown against 
 the wind. 
 
 126. Some go to the womb ; some, evil-doers, 
 to hell ; the good go to heaven ; the sinless to 
 Nirvana. 
 
 127. Not in the sky, nor in mid-ocean, nor 
 in mountain-cave can one find sanctuary from 
 his sins. 
 
 128. Not in the sky, not in mid-ocean, not 
 in mountain-cave can one find release from the 
 conquering might of death.
 
 PUNISHMENT 
 
 129. ALL fear the rod, all quake at death. Judge 
 then by thyself, and forbear from slaughter, or 
 from causing to slay. 
 
 130. To all is life dear. Judge then by thyself, 
 and forbear to slay or to cause slaughter. 
 
 131. Whoso himself desires joy, yet hurts 
 them who love joy, shall not obtain it hereafter. 
 
 132. Whoso himself desires joy and hurts 
 not them who love it, shall hereafter attain to 
 
 iy- 
 
 133. Speak not harshly to any one : else will 
 men turn upon you. Sad are the words of 
 strife : retribution will follow them. 
 
 134. Be silent as a broken gong : so wilt 
 thou reach peace ; for strife is not found in thee. 
 
 135. As the herdsman drives out his cows 
 to the pasture, so Old Age and Death drive out 
 the life of men. 
 
 136. Verily the fool sins and knows it not : 
 by his own deeds is the fool tormented as by fire. 
 
 137. He who strikes those who strike not 
 
 40
 
 EVIL RETURNS TO EVIL 41 
 
 and are innocent will come speedily to one of 
 these ten states : 
 
 138. To cruel torment, loss, accident, severe 
 illness, and madness he will come : 
 
 139. To visitation from the King, grievous 
 slander, loss of kith and kin, and perishing of 
 his wealth he will come : 
 
 140. Ravaging fire will destroy his houses, 
 and after death the poor wretch will go to hell. 
 
 141. Not nakedness, nor matted hair, not 
 dirt, nor fastings, not sleeping in sanctuaries, 
 nor ashes, nor ascetic posture none of these 
 things purifies a man who is not free from doubt. 
 
 142. If even a fop fosters the serene mind, 
 calm and controlled, pious and pure, and does 
 no hurt to any living thing, he is the Brahmin 
 he is the Samana, he is the Bhikkhu. 
 
 143. Is there in all the world a man so modest 
 that he provokes no blame, as a noble steed 
 never deserves the whip ? As a noble steed 
 stung by the whip, be ye spirited and swift. 
 
 144. By faith, by righteousness, by manliness, 
 by meditation, by just judgment, by theory and 
 practice, by mindfulness, leave aside sorrow no 
 slight burden. 
 
 145. Engineers control the water, fletchers 
 fashion their shafts, carpenters shape the wood : 
 it is themselves that the pious fashion and 
 control.
 
 xi 
 
 OLD AGE 
 
 146. WHERE is the joy, what the pleasure, whilst 
 all is in flames ? Benighted, would ye not seek 
 a torch ? 
 
 147. Look at this painted image, wounded 
 and swollen, sickly and full of lust, in which 
 there is no permanence ; 
 
 148. This wasted form is a nest of disease 
 and very frail : it is full of putrid matter and 
 perishes. Death is the end of life. 
 
 149. What delight is there for him who sees 
 these grey bones scattered like gourds in autumn ? 
 
 150. Here is a citadel of bones plastered with 
 flesh and blood, and manned by old age and 
 death, self-will and enmity. 
 
 151. As even the king's bright chariot grows 
 old, so the body of man also comes to old age. 
 But the law of the holy never ages : the holy 
 teach it to the holy. 
 
 152. The simpleton ages like the ox : his 
 weight increases, but not his wisdom. 
 
 153. Many births have I traversed seeking 
 
 42
 
 BROKEN THY HOUSE LIES 43 
 
 the builder ; in vain ! Weary is the round of 
 births. 
 
 154. Now art thou seen, Builder. Never- 
 more shalt thou build the house ! All thy 
 beams are broken ; cast down is thy cornerstone. 
 My mind is set upon Nirvana ; it has attained 
 the extinction of desire. 
 
 155. They who have not lived purely nor 
 stored up riches in their youth, these ruefully 
 ponder, as old herons by a lake without fish. 
 
 156. They who have not lived purely nor 
 stored up riches in their youth, are as arrows 
 that are shot in vain : they mourn for the past.
 
 XII 
 
 SELF 
 
 157. IF a man love himself, let him diligently 
 watch himself : the wise will keep vigil for one 
 of the three watches of the night. 
 
 158. Keep first thyself aright : then mayest 
 thou advise others. So is the wise man un- 
 blameable. 
 
 159. If one so shapes his own life as he directs 
 others, himself controlled, he will duly control 
 others : self, they say, is hard to tame. 
 
 160. A man is his own helper : who else is 
 there to help ? By self-control man is a rare 
 help to himself. 
 
 161. The ill that is begun and has its growth 
 and its being in self, bruises the foolish one, as 
 the diamond pierces its own matrix. 
 
 162. As the creeper overpowers the tree, so 
 he whose sin is great, works for himself the havoc 
 his enemy would wish for him. 
 
 163. Ill is easy to do ; it is easy to do harm : 
 hard indeed it is to do helpful and good deeds. 
 
 164. Whoso fondly repudiates the teaching 
 
 44
 
 RESOLVE TO BE THYSELF 45 
 
 of the noble and virtuous Arahats, following 
 false doctrine, is like the bamboo which bears 
 fruit to its own destruction. 
 
 165. Thou art brought low by the evil thou 
 hast done thyself : by the evil thou hast left 
 undone art thou purified. Purity and impurity 
 are things of man's inmost self ; no man can 
 purify another. 
 
 166. Even for great benefit to another let no 
 man imperil his own benefit. When he has 
 realised what is for his own good, let him pursue 
 that earnestly.
 
 XIII 
 
 THE WORLD 
 
 167. LET no man foster evil habits ; let no man 
 live in sloth : let none follow false doctrines, 
 none prolong his sojourn in this world. 
 
 168. Up ! Idle not, but follow after good. 
 The good man lives happy in this world and 
 the next. 
 
 169. Follow after virtue, not after vice. The 
 virtuous live happy in this world and the next. 
 
 170. The king of Death sees not him who 
 regards the world as a bubble, a mirage. 
 
 171. Come then, think of the world as a painted 
 chariot of the king a morass where fools are 
 sinking, where the wise take no pleasure. 
 
 172. He who in former days was slothful, 
 and has put off sloth, lights up the world as the 
 moon freed of the clouds. 
 
 173. He who covers his idle deeds with goodness 
 lights up the world as the moon freed of clouds. 
 
 174. Blinded are the men of this world ; few 
 there are who have eyes to see : few are the 
 
 46
 
 THE FRUIT OF CONVERSION 47 
 
 birds which escape the fowler's net ; few are 
 they who go to heaven. 
 
 175. Through the sky fly the swans : Rishis 
 too pass through the air. The wise leave the 
 world altogether, deserting Mara and his hosts. 
 
 176. There is no wrong he would not do who 
 breaks one precept, speaking lies and mocking 
 at the life to come. 
 
 177. Misers go not to the realm of gods : 
 therefore he is a fool who does not delight in 
 liberality. The wise delighting in liberality come 
 thereby with gladness to the other world. 
 
 178. Good is kingship of the earth ; good is 
 birth in heaven ; good is universal empire ; 
 better still is the fruit of conversion.
 
 XIV 
 
 THE BUDDHA 
 
 179. INTO his victory which is never reversed 
 there enters no element of weakness : through 
 what fault can you lead captive the faultless 
 one, the Buddha whose sphere is Nirvana ? 
 
 180. By what fault will you lead captive the 
 faultless Buddha, whose sphere is Nirvana ? 
 In him are no clinging meshes of desire to lead 
 him captive. 
 
 181. The gods themselves emulate the truly 
 wise and mindful, who are busy in meditation 
 and prudent, delighting in the peace of Nirvana. 
 
 182. Arduous is human birth : arduous is 
 mortal life : arduous is hearing of the Law : 
 arduous the uprising of Buddhas. 
 
 183. " Eschew all evil : cherish good : cleanse 
 your inmost thoughts " this is the teaching of 
 Buddhas. 
 
 184. " Patience and fortitude is the supreme 
 asceticism : Nirvana is above all," say the 
 Buddhas. He is no recluse who harms others : 
 nor is he who causes grief an ascetic [samana]. 
 
 48
 
 THE SUPREME SANCTUARY 49 
 
 185. Hurt none by word or deed, be consistent 
 in well-doing : be moderate in food, dwell in 
 solitude, and give yourselves to meditation this 
 is the advice of Buddhas. 
 
 186. Not by a shower of gold is satisfaction 
 of the senses found: "little pleasure, lasting 
 pain," so thinks the sage. 
 
 187. The follower of the true Buddha finds no 
 delight even in divine pleasures : but his joy is 
 in the destruction of desire [tanha]. 
 
 188. Often do men in terror seek sanctuary in 
 mountains or jungles, by sacred groves or trees ; 
 
 189. In them is no safe sanctuary ; in them is 
 not the supreme sanctuary ; in them is not 
 that sanctuary whither a man may go and cast 
 aside his cares. 
 
 190. But he who goes for sanctuary to the 
 Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha looks 
 in his wisdom for the four noble truths : 
 
 191. " Sorrow, the arising of sorrow, the 
 cessation of sorrow, and the noble eightfold 
 path which leads to their cessation." 
 
 192. Here truly is the gure sanctuary : here 
 is the supreme sanctuary : here is the sanctuary 
 where a man may go and cast aside his care. 
 
 193. Hard to find is the Exalted One : he is 
 not born in every place : happy dwells the 
 household into which he, the wise one, is born : 
 
 194. A blessing is the arising of Buddhas, a 
 blessing is the true preaching. Blessed is the 
 
 4
 
 60 THE BUDDHA 
 
 unity of the Sangha, blessed is the devotion of 
 those who dwell in unity. 
 
 195, 196. Immeasurable is the merit of him 
 who does reverence to those to whom reverence 
 is due, Buddha and his disciples, men who 
 have left behind them the trammels of evil, 
 and crossed beyond the stream of sorrow and 
 wailing, calmed and free of all fear.
 
 xv 
 
 BLISS 
 
 197. JOY ! We live in bliss ; amongst men 
 of hate, hating none. Let us indeed dwell among 
 them without hatred. 
 
 198. Joy! In bliss we dwell; healthy 
 amidst the ailing. Let us indeed dwell amongst 
 them in perfect health. 
 
 199. Yea in very bliss we dwell : free from 
 care amidst the careworn. Let us indeed dwell 
 amongst them without care. 
 
 200. In bliss we dwell possessing nothing : 
 let us dwell feeding upon joy like the shining 
 ones in their splendour. 
 
 201. The victor breeds enmity ; the conquered 
 sleeps in sorrow. Regardless of either victory 
 or defeat the calm man dwells in peace. 
 
 202. There is no fire like lust ; no luck so bad 
 as hate. There is no sorrow like existence : 
 no bliss greater than Nirvana [rest]. 
 
 203. Hunger is the greatest ill : existence is 
 the greatest sorrow. Sure knowledge of this 
 is Nirvana, highest bliss. 
 
 51
 
 52 BLISS 
 
 204. Health is the greatest boon ; content is 
 the greatest wealth ; a loyal friend is the truest 
 kinsman ; Nirvana is the Supreme Bliss. 
 
 205. Having tasted the joy of solitude and 
 of serenity, a man is freed from sorrow and from 
 sin, and tastes the nectar of piety. 
 
 206. Good is the vision of the Noble ; good 
 is their company. He may be always happy 
 who escapes the sight of fools. 
 
 207. He who consorts with fools knows lasting 
 grief. Grievous is the company of fools, as that 
 of enemies ; glad is the company of the wise, 
 as that of kinsfolk. 
 
 208. Therefore do thou consort with the wise, 
 the sage, the learned, the noble ones who shun 
 not the yoke of duty : follow in the wake of 
 such a one, the wise and prudent, as the moon 
 follows the path of the stars.
 
 XVI 
 
 AFFECTION 
 
 209. HE who gives himself to vanity and not 
 to the truly profitable, shunning the true pursuit, 
 and grasping at pleasure, will come to envy him 
 who has sought the true profit. 
 
 210. Let no man cleave to what is pleasant 
 or unpleasant : parting with the pleasant is pain, 
 and painful is the presence of the unpleasant. 
 
 211. Take a liking to nothing ; loss of the 
 prize is evil. There are no bonds for him who 
 has neither likes nor dislikes. 
 
 212. From attachment comes grief, from 
 attachment comes fear. He who is pure from 
 attachment knows neither grief nor fear. 
 
 213. From affection come grief and fear. 
 He who is without affection knows neither grief 
 nor fear. 
 
 214. From pleasure come grief and fear. 
 He who is freed from pleasure knows neither 
 grief nor fear. 
 
 215. From* lust come grief and fear. He who 
 is freed from lust 'knows neither grief nor fear, 
 
 53
 
 54 AFFECTION 
 
 216. From desire come grief and fear. He 
 who is free of desire knows neither grief nor fear. 
 
 217. The man of counsel and insight, of 
 righteousness and truth, who minds his own 
 affairs, him the crowd holds dear. 
 
 218. If a man's heart be set upon the In- 
 effable [Nirvana], his mind brought to per- 
 fection, and every thought freed from lust, he 
 is called the strong swimmer who forges his way 
 against the stream. 
 
 219. When, after long voyaging afar, one 
 returns in safety home, kinsfolk and friends 
 receive him gladly ; 
 
 220. Even so his good deeds receive the good 
 man, when he leaves this world for the next, 
 as kinsfolk greet a dear traveller.
 
 XVII 
 
 ANGER 
 
 221. PUT away anger, eschew self-will, conquer 
 every bond ; no suffering touches him who does 
 not cling to phenomenal existence, but calls 
 nothing his own. 
 
 222. Whoso controls his rising anger as a 
 running chariot, him I call the charioteer : the 
 others only hold the reins. 
 
 223. By calmness let a man overcome wrath ; 
 let him overcome evil by good ; the miser let 
 him subdue by liberality, and the liar by truth. 
 
 224. Speak the truth, be not angry, give of 
 thy poverty to the suppliant : by these three 
 virtues a man attains to the company of the gods. 
 
 225. The innocent, the sages, those whose 
 action is controlled, these go to the eternal state 
 where they know not sorrow [Nirvana]. 
 
 226. All taints pass away from them who are 
 ever vigilant and active day and night, with 
 faces set towards Nirvana. 
 
 227. This is an ancient law, O Atula, not the 
 law of a day : men blame the silent and they 
 
 55
 
 56 ANGER 
 
 blame the talker ; even the man of few words 
 they blame. No one in the world gets off 
 unblamed. 
 
 228. There never was, nor will be, nor is 
 there now to be found, one wholly blamed or 
 wholly praised. 
 
 229, 230. But who is worthy to blame him 
 whom the wise praise after daily scrutiny, who 
 is himself wise and without blemish as a medal 
 of purest gold ? Even the gods seek to emulate 
 such a one ; even Brahma praises him. 
 
 231. Guard against evil deeds : control the 
 body. Eschew evil deeds and do good. 
 
 232. Guard against evil words ; control the 
 tongue. Eschew evil words and speak good ones. 
 
 233. Guard against evil thoughts ; control 
 the mind. Eschew evil thoughts and think 
 good ones. 
 
 234. The wise, controlled in act, in word, in 
 thought, are well controlled indeed.
 
 XVIII 
 
 SIN 
 
 235. THOU art withered as a sere leaf : Death's 
 messengers await thee. Thou standest at the 
 gate of death, and hast made no provision for 
 the journey. 
 
 236. Make to thyself a refuge ; come, strive 
 and be prudent : when thy impurities are purged, 
 thou shalt come into the heavenly abode of the 
 Noble. 
 
 237. Thy life is ended ; thou art come into 
 the Presence of Death : there is no resting- 
 place by the way, and thou hast no provision 
 for the journey. 
 
 238. Make for thyself a refuge ; come, strive 
 and play the sage ! Burn off thy taints, and thou 
 shalt know birth and old age no more. 
 
 239. As a smith purifies silver in the fire, 
 so bit by bit continually the sage burns away 
 his impurities. 
 
 240. It is the iron's own rust that destroys 
 it : it is the sinner's own acts that bring him 
 to hell. 
 
 57
 
 68 IMPURITY 
 
 241. Disuse is the rust of mantras ; laziness 
 the rust of households ; sloth is the rust of 
 beauty ; neglect is the watcher's ruin. 
 
 242. Impurity is the ruin of woman ; and 
 avarice the ruin of the giver : ill-deeds are the 
 rust of this world and the next. 
 
 243. More corrosive than those is the rust of 
 ignorance, the greatest of taints : put off this 
 rust and be clean, Bhikkhus. 
 
 244. Life is easy for the crafty and shameless, 
 for the wanton, shrewd, and impure : 
 
 245. Hard it is for the modest, the lover of 
 purity, the disinterested and simple and clean, 
 the man of insight. 
 
 246. 247. The murderer, the liar, the thief, 
 the adulterer, and the drunkard these even in 
 this world uproot themselves. 
 
 248. Know this, man, evil is the un- 
 disciplined mind ! See to it that greed and 
 lawlessness bring not upon thee long suffering. 
 
 249. Men give according to faith or caprice. 
 If a man fret because food and drink are given 
 to another, he comes not day or night to serene 
 meditation [i.e. Samadhi]. 
 
 250. He in whom this [envious spirit] is 
 destroyed and wholly uprooted, he truly day 
 and night attains serene meditation. 
 
 251. There is no fire like lust, no ravenous 
 beast like hatred, no snare like folly, no flood 
 like desire.
 
 THE CENSORIOUS ONE 59 
 
 252. To see another's fault is easy : to see 
 one's own is hard. Men winnow the faults of 
 others like chaff : their own they hide as a 
 crafty gambler hides a losing throw. 
 
 253. The taints of this man are ever growing. 
 He is far from the purification of taints [Arahat- 
 ship], the censorious one who is ever blaming 
 others. 
 
 254. There is no path through the sky : there 
 is no " religious " apart from us. The world 
 without delights in dalliance : the Blessed Ones 
 are freed from this thrall. 
 
 255. There is no path through the sky ; there 
 is no " religious " apart from us. Nothing in 
 the phenomenal world is lasting ; but Buddhas 
 endure immovable.
 
 XIX 
 
 THE BIGHTEOUS 
 
 256, 257. HASTY judgment shows no man just. 
 He is called just who discriminates between 
 right and wrong, who judges others not hastily, 
 but with righteous and calm judgment, a wise 
 guardian of the law. 
 
 258. Neither is a man wise by much speaking : 
 he is called wise who is forgiving, kindly, and 
 fearless. 
 
 259. A man is not a pillar of the law for his 
 much speaking : he who has heard only part 
 of the law and keeps it indeed, he is a pillar of 
 the law and does not slight it. 
 
 260. No man is made an " elder " by his grey 
 locks : mere old age is called empty old age. 
 
 261. He is called "elder" in whom dwell 
 truth and righteousness, harmlessness and self- 
 control and self-mastery, who is without taint 
 and wise. 
 
 262. Not by mere eloquence or comeliness is 
 a man a " gentleman," who is lustful, a miser, 
 and a knave. 
 
 60
 
 THE TRUE SAGE 61 
 
 263. But he in whom these faults are uprooted 
 and done away, the wise and pure is called a 
 gentleman. 
 
 264. Not by his shaven crown is one made a 
 " religious " who is intemperate and dishonour- 
 able. How can he be a "religious" who is 
 full of lust and greed ? 
 
 265. He who puts off entirely great sins and 
 small faults by such true religion is a man 
 called "religious." 
 
 266. Not merely by the mendicant life is a 
 man known as a mendicant : he is not a mendicant 
 because he follows the law of the flesh ; 
 
 267. But because, being above good and evil, 
 he leads a pure life and goes circumspectly. 
 
 268. 269. Not by silence [mona] is a man a 
 sage [muni] if he be ignorant and foolish : he 
 who holds as it were the balance, taking the 
 good and rejecting the bad, he is the sage : he 
 who is sage for both worlds, he is the true sage. 
 
 270. A man is no warrior who worries living 
 things : by not worrying is a man called warrior. 
 
 271, 272. Not only by discipline and vows, 
 not only by much learning, nor by meditation 
 nor by solitude have I won to that peace which 
 no worldling knows. Rest not content with 
 these, O Bhikkhus, until you have reached the 
 destruction of all taints.
 
 xx 
 
 THE PATH 
 
 HAPPINESS is for Gautama, as for Aristotle, " the 
 bloom upon virtue." The path which leads to 
 the Supreme Bliss is the path of morality defined 
 as the Noble Eightfold Path. If a man follow 
 this, he is happy here and hereafter. 
 It consists of : 
 
 Right Views, 
 Right Aspirations, 
 Right Speech, 
 Right Action, 
 Right Livelihood, 
 Right Effort, 
 Right Mindfulness, 
 Right Contemplation. 
 
 This is described by Gautama as a Middle Path 
 between the extreme of sensuality on the one 
 hand and asceticism on the other ; or between 
 superstitious credulity and sceptical materialism. 
 It is a truly noble ideal : yet one must never 
 forget that " Righteousness " throughout is 
 Buddhistically denned : e.g. " Right Views " 
 
 62
 
 IMPERMANENCE, SORROW, UNREALITY 63 
 
 means a correct grasp of the Buddhist teaching 
 that all is transient, all is sorrowful, all is unreal. 
 Again, " Right Contemplation " is the practice 
 of Samadhi, concentration of the mind upon 
 Buddhist ideas, such as the above. The highest 
 "Livelihood," again, is to live upon the alms of 
 the faithful. 
 
 273. Best of paths is the Eightfold ; the four 
 truths are the best of truths : purity is the best 
 state ; best of men is the seer. 
 
 274. This is the way ; there is none other 
 that leads to the seeing of Purity [Nirvana.] 
 Do you follow this path : that is to befool 
 Mara. 
 
 275. Travelling by this way you'll end your 
 grief : it is the way I preached when I learnt 
 to throw off my bonds. 
 
 276. 'Tis you who must strive : the Blessed 
 Ones are only preachers. They who strive and 
 meditate are freed from Mara's bonds. 
 
 277. "All is passing " : when one sees and 
 realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow : 
 this is the way of purity. 
 
 278. " All is sorrow " : when one sees and 
 realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow : 
 this is the way of purity. 
 
 279. "All is unreal " : when one sees and 
 realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow { 
 this is the way of purity.
 
 64 THE PATH 
 
 280. He who fails to strive when 'tis time to 
 strive, young and strong though he be, slothful 
 and enmeshed in lust, the sluggard, never finds 
 the path to wisdom. 
 
 281. Whoso guards his tongue and controls 
 his mind and does nothing -wrong : keeping 
 clear these three paths, he will achieve the way 
 shown by the wise. 
 
 282. From meditation springs wisdom ; from 
 neglect of it the loss of wisdom. Knowing this 
 path of progress and decline, choose the way 
 that leads to growth of wisdom. 
 
 283. Cut down the jungle (I do not mean 
 with an axe!). For from the jungle of lust 
 springs fear, and if you cut it down,, you will 
 be disentangled, Bhikkhus ! 
 
 284. Whilst the entanglement of a man with 
 a woman is not utterly cut away, he is in bondage, 
 running to her as a sucking calf to the cow. 
 
 285. Pluck out the bond of self as one pulls 
 up an autumn lotus. Forge thy way along the 
 path of safety, Nirvana, shown by the Blessed. 
 
 286. " Here will I pass the wet season ; here 
 the winter and summer," thinks the fool, 
 unmindful of what may befall. 
 
 287. Then comes Death and sweeps him away 
 infatuated with children and cattle, and en- 
 tangled with this world's goods, as a flood carries 
 off a sleeping village. 
 
 288. There is no safety in sons, or in father,
 
 TOWARDS NIRVANA 65 
 
 or in kinsfolk when Death overshadows thee : 
 amongst thine own kith and kin is no refuge : 
 
 289. Knowing this clearly, the wise and 
 righteous man straightway clears the road that 
 leads to Nirvana.
 
 XXI 
 
 MISCELLANY 
 
 290. IP at the cost of a little joy one sees great 
 joy, he who is wise will look to the greater and 
 leave the less. 
 
 291. Whoso seeks his own pleasure by another's 
 pain, is entangled in hate and cannot get free. 
 
 292. Duty neglected ; evil done : the taints 
 of the proud and slothful wax ever more and 
 more. 
 
 293. But those who are ever pondering the 
 nature of the body, who run not after evil, who 
 are constant in duty in these, the vigilant and 
 wise, taints come utterly to an end. 
 
 294. Having destroyed Mother and Father 
 and two noble Kings, with the whole Kingdom 
 and its Vizier, innocent goes the Brahmin ! 
 
 295. Innocent goes the Brahmin having de- 
 stroyed Mother and Father and two Brahmin 
 Kings, and the five Roads and their fierce 
 guardians. 
 
 296. The followers of Gautama are ever vigilant ; 
 their thought day and night is set upon Buddha . 
 
 66
 
 THE LIFELONG VIGIL 67 
 
 297-301. The followers of Gautama are ever 
 vigilant ; day and night is their thought set 
 upon the Dhamma, the Sangha, the body, com- 
 passion [not harming], mind-culture. 
 
 302. Hard it is to leave home as a recluse ! 
 hard also to live at home as a householder ; 
 hard is the community life ; the lot of the 
 wanderer in the world is also hard. 
 
 303. The faithful, upright man is endowed 
 with [the true] fame and wealth, and is honoured 
 wherever he goes. 
 
 304. Far off are seen the Holy Ones, like the 
 Himalayas : the unholy pass unseen as arrows 
 shot in the darkness. 
 
 305. Alone when eating, alone when sleeping, 
 alone when walking, let a man strongly control 
 himself and take his pleasure in the forest glade.
 
 xxii 
 
 HELL 
 
 306. THE liar goes to hell, and the villain who 
 denies his crime ; these mean ones are alike in 
 the world beyond. 
 
 307. Though clad in yellow robe, the man of 
 many sins who is uncontrolled is born in hell : 
 the sinner is punished by his sin. 
 
 308. Better to swallow a ball of red-hot iron 
 than to live uncontrolled upon the bounty of 
 the faithful. 
 
 309. Four evil consequences follow the sluggard 
 and the adulterer : retribution, broken slumber, 
 an evil name, and in the end hell. 
 
 310. That way lie retribution and an evil 
 character, the short-lived joy of trembling 
 sinners, and a heavy penalty from the ruler. 
 Therefore run not after thy neighbour's wife. 
 
 311. As pampas-grass clumsily handled cuts 
 the hand, so is the community life : abused, it 
 brings a man to hell. 
 
 312. All duties carelessly performed ; all vows
 
 A TASK WELL DONE 69 
 
 slightingly observed ; the recluse life that is 
 open to suspicion these bear no great fruit. 
 
 313. If a duty is to be done, do it with thy 
 might : a careless recluse scatters contagion 
 broadcast. 
 
 314. Better leave undone a bad deed ; one 
 day the doer will lament : good it is to do the 
 good deed which brings no remorse. 
 
 315. As a fortress guarded within and without, 
 so guard thyself. Leave no loophole for attack ! 
 They who fail at their post mourn here, and 
 hereafter go to hell. 
 
 316. Some are ashamed at what is not shame- 
 ful, and blush not at deeds of shame : these 
 perverse ones go to hell. 
 
 317. They who see fear where there is no fear, 
 and tremble not at fearful things : these perverse 
 ones go to hell. 
 
 318. They who think evil where there is no 
 evil, and make light of grievous sin : these 
 perverse ones go to hell. 
 
 319. But whoso calls sin sin, and innocence 
 innocence : these right-minded ones go to 
 happiness.
 
 XXIII 
 
 THE ELEPHANT 
 
 THE elephant is the symbol in Buddhism of 
 endurance and solitary strength. 
 
 320. I will endure abuse as the elephant en- 
 dures the arrow in the battle : evil is the crowd. 
 
 321. Men lead the tamed elephant into battle ; 
 upon his back the king rides : he who is tamed 
 and endures abuse patiently is praised of men. 
 
 322. Noble are the tamed mules ; noble the 
 blood-horses of Sindh, and the great elephants 
 of war : better is he who has tamed himself. 
 
 323. Not by bridling them will one journey 
 to the unknown shore [Nirvana], but by bridling 
 himself. 
 
 324. Dhanapalako, the great elephant, is hard 
 to control in the time of rut : he will not taste 
 his food in captivity, but longs after the elephant- 
 grove. 
 
 325. If one becomes a sluggard or a glutton, 
 rolling over in gross sleep like a stall-fed hog, 
 
 70
 
 GUARD YOUR THOUGHTS 71 
 
 again and again does he come to the womb, 
 the foolish one ! 
 
 326. This mind of mine would wander in days 
 of old whither desire and lust and caprice led 
 it : now will I control it as a mahout controls 
 the elephant in rut. 
 
 327. Be ye zealous : guard your thoughts. 
 As an elephant sunk in the mud extricate your- 
 selves from the clutches of evil. 
 
 328. If you can find a dutiful friend to go 
 with you, a righteous and prudent man not 
 caring for hardships, go with him deliberately. 
 
 329. If you cannot find such a one, travel 
 alone as a king leaving a conquered realm, or 
 as the elephant in the jungle. 
 
 330. It is better to be alone ; there is no 
 companionship with a fool : travel alone and 
 sin not, forgetting care as the elephant in the 
 jungle. 
 
 331. Good are companions in time of need ; 
 contentment with thy lot is good ; at the hour 
 of death, merit is a good friend, and good is the 
 leaving of all sorrow. 
 
 332. Good is reverence for mother and father : 
 good, too, reverence for recluses and sages. 
 
 333. Good is lifelong righteousness ; and 
 rooted faith is good : good is the getting of 
 wisdom, and good the avoiding of sin.
 
 XXIV 
 
 DESIRE 
 
 (desire) is defined as the hankering after 
 pleasure, or existence, or success (or all three). 
 (Mahavagga xvi. 20.) It is the germ from which 
 springs all human misery : birth, old age, and 
 suffering. To be rid of Tanha is to be free of 
 pain, to pass into the Beyond, the painless 
 dream-world of Nirvana. 
 
 334. As the " maluwa " creeper, so spreads 
 the desire of the sluggard. From birth to birth 
 he leaps like a monkey seeking fruit. 
 
 335. Whoso is subdued by this sordid clinging 
 desire, his sorrows wax more and more, like 
 " birana " grass after rain. 
 
 336. But his sorrows drop off like water from 
 the lotus leaf, who subdues this sordid, powerful 
 desire. 
 
 337. I give you this good counsel, all ye who 
 are gathered here : cut out desire as one digs 
 up the grass to find the fragrant root. Let 
 
 72
 
 THE ROOTS OF EVIL 73 
 
 not Mara break you again and again as the 
 river breaks the rushes. 
 
 338. A tree, though it be cut down, yet springs 
 up again, if its roots are safe and firm : thus 
 sorrow, if it be not uprooted, springs repeatedly 
 to birth. 
 
 339. If man's desires flow unchecked, the waves 
 of his lust and craving bear him off misguided 
 one ! 
 
 340. Everywhere flow the streams ; every- 
 where the creeper sprouts and takes hold. If 
 thou seest this creeper growing, be wise ! pluck 
 it out by the roots. 
 
 341. Men hug delights ; they foster some 
 pet sin, hankering after which they suffer birth 
 and old age. 
 
 342. Dogged by lust, men double like a hunted 
 hare. Fast bound in its fetters, they go through 
 long ages to misery. 
 
 343. Dogged by lust, they double like a hunted 
 hare. Throw off thy lust, O Bhikkhu, if thou 
 wouldst be free. 
 
 344. Whoso has left the tangle of home-life 
 for the solitude of the jungle, and goes back to 
 it, regard him thus : " Lo, one who was freed, 
 and ran back to his chains." 
 
 345. Iron and wood and hemp these sages 
 call not heavy bonds, but rather love of bejewelled 
 women, and the care for children and wives. 
 
 346. This is a heavy bond indeed : light
 
 74 DESIRE 
 
 though it seem, it drags men down, and is not 
 easily cut off. Yet some there are who cut 
 even this asunder, and leave behind them pleasure 
 and lust, with no backward glance. 
 
 347. Some again there are who fall into the 
 meshes of their own lust as the spider falling 
 into her own net : even this the wise cut through, 
 leaving sorrow behind, with no backward glance. 
 
 348. Lay aside past, future, and present, 
 escaping the world : wholly freed in mind, thou 
 shalt not again return to birth and old age. 
 
 349. Desire waxes great in him who is oppressed 
 by wandering thoughts, fired with lust and 
 seeking after pleasure. So doth he make his 
 fetters strong. 
 
 350. Whoso delights in calming his thoughts 
 and looks askance at the things of sense, will 
 thus come to an end, and cut the bonds of Mara. 
 
 351. This will be his last body, who has reached 
 the goal, who is fearless, detached, and un- 
 blameable : who has pulled out the rivets of 
 existence. 
 
 352. He who is detached and not grasping, 
 a clever student of the law and its meaning, 
 knowing the words and their order, he is called 
 the enlightened ; this is his last birth. 
 
 353. " All conquering and all knowing am 
 I, detached, untainted, untrammelled, wholly 
 freed by destruction of desire. Whom shall I 
 call Teacher ? Myself found the way."
 
 THE LAW SURPASSES ALL THINGS 75 
 
 354. The gift of the Law surpasses every 
 gift ; the savour of the Law surpasses every 
 savour ; the pleasure of the Law surpasses 
 every pleasure. The destruction of desire con- 
 quers all sorrow. 
 
 355. Wealth kills the fool if he look not to 
 the Beyond : for greed of wealth fools kill each 
 other. 
 
 356. Weeds are the bane of fields, and lust 
 the bane of the crowd. Therefore a gift given 
 where there is no lust bears much fruit. 
 
 357-9. Weeds are the bane of fields ; wrath, 
 infatuation, and avarice are the bane of the 
 crowd. A gift given where there is neither 
 wrath, nor infatuation, nor avarice bears much 
 fruit.
 
 xxv 
 
 THE BHIKKHU 
 
 360. GOOD is restraint of eye and ear : of smell 
 and taste. 
 
 361. Good is restraint of action and of speech ; 
 restraint of mind and of every sense is good. 
 The Bhikkhu restrained in all things casts aside 
 every care. 
 
 362. Best amongst the temperate is he who 
 is temperate in hand and foot and tongue : the 
 man of inward joy and calm, him I call Bhikkhu. 
 
 363. The Bhikkhu who is temperate and moder- 
 ate in speech, not puffed up, but a wise preacher 
 and interpreter sweet are his words ! 
 
 364. He who abides in the law and takes 
 his pleasure therein, revolving it in his mind 
 and pondering it, he is a Bhikkhu who falls not 
 away from the Law. 
 
 365. Let him neither make much of his own 
 gain, nor envy that of others : the Bhikkhu who 
 envies others attains not the true meditation. 
 
 366. Even the gods praise that Bhikkhu whose 
 
 76
 
 WHOM THE GODS PRAISE 77 
 
 own gain is slight, yet who covets not the gain 
 of other men, but lives pure and strenuous. 
 
 367. He who clings not to self-hood and to 
 existence, but mourns at the vanity of this 
 fleeting world, he is called Bhikkhu. 
 
 368. The Bhikkhu who lives kindly and trusts 
 in Buddha's Teaching he approaches Nirvana, 
 the calm and blissful end of rebirth. 
 
 369. Bale out the ship, O Bhikkhu, then will 
 it go lightly ; cut the thongs of lust and hate ; 
 so wilt thou come to Nirvana. 
 
 370. Cut the five bonds, leave other five, 
 and take in their place five more : he who has 
 got beyond the five evil states is said to have 
 crossed the flood. 
 
 371. Keep vigil, Bhikkhu, be not slothful, 
 let not your mind dally with delights : suffer 
 not the pangs of hell, and wail not as the flames 
 devour you, " O day of woe " ! 
 
 372. There is no meditation apart from wisdom ; 
 there is no wisdom apart from meditation. Those 
 in whom wisdom and meditation meet are not 
 far from Nirvana. 
 
 373. Divine pleasure is his who enters into 
 solitude, the Bhikkhu who is calmed and sees 
 the law with the seeing eye : 
 
 '374. Whenever he ponders the beginning and 
 the end of the elements of being, he finds joy 
 and bliss ; nectar it is to those who know. 
 
 376. This is the beginning in my teaching for
 
 78 THE BHIKKHU 
 
 a wise Bhikkhu ; self-mastery, contentment, and 
 control by the precepts : to cultivate those who 
 are noble, righteous, and zealous friends ; 
 
 376. To be hospitable and courteous, this is 
 to be glad and to make an end of sorrow. 
 
 377. As jasmine sheds its withered blossoms 
 so, O Bhikkhus, do you put away lust and hatred. 
 
 378. He who is controlled in act, in speech, 
 in thought, and altogether calmed, having purged 
 away worldliness, that Bhikkhu is called calm. 
 
 379. Come, rouse thyself ! Examine thine own 
 heart. The Bhikkhu who is thus self-guarded 
 and mindful will live in happiness. 
 
 380. Each man is his own helper, each his 
 own host ; therefore curb thyself as the merchant 
 curbs a spirited horse. 
 
 381. The glad Bhikkhu who puts his trust in 
 Buddha's Preaching goes to Nirvana, calm and 
 blissful end of rebirth. 
 
 382. Let the young Bhikkhu apply himself 
 to Buddha's Preaching : so will he light up the 
 world as the moon escaped from the clouds.
 
 XXVI 
 
 THE BRAHMIN 
 
 383. PLAY the man and stem the flood of passion ! 
 Cast off your lusts, Brahmin ; having known 
 the ending of the perishable, thou knowest the 
 imperishable, Brahmin. 
 
 384. When the Brahmin has travelled the 
 twofold path of meditation, then indeed his 
 chains fall off him, for he knows the truth. 
 
 385. Him I call the Brahmin whom desire 
 assails not from within nor from without, in 
 whom is no fear, he is indeed free. 
 
 386. Him I call Brahmin who is meditative, 
 clean of heart, solitary, who has done his duty 
 and got rid of taints, who has reached the goal 
 of effort. 
 
 387. The sun shines by day, the moon lights 
 up the night ; radiant is the soldier in his panoply, 
 radiant the Brahmin in his meditation ; but 
 the Buddha in his brightness is radiant day 
 and night. 
 
 388. By Brahmin I mean one who has put 
 
 79
 
 80 THE BRAHMIN 
 
 away evil ; for his serenity is a man called 
 Samano ; for excluding his own sin is a man 
 called recluse. 
 
 389. Do no evil to a Brahmin ; let not the 
 Brahmin return evil for evil. Woe to him who 
 kills a Brahmin ; yea, rather, woe to that Brahmin 
 who loses his temper ! 
 
 390. It is no slight benefit to a Brahmin when 
 he learns to hold his impulses in check ; from 
 whatever motive evil temper is controlled, by 
 that control grief is truly soothed. 
 
 391. By whomsoever no evil is done in deed, 
 or word, or thought, him I call a Brahmin who 
 is guarded in these three. 
 
 392. As the Brahmin honours the burnt- 
 sacrifice, so do thou honour him, from whomso- 
 ever is learnt the law of the true Buddha. 
 
 393. Not by matted locks, nor by lineage, 
 nor by caste is one a Brahmin ; he is the 
 Brahmin in whom are truth and righteousness 
 and purity. 
 
 394. What boots your tangled hair, fool, 
 what avails your garment of skins ? You have 
 adorned the outer parts, within you are full of 
 uncleanness. 
 
 395. A man clothed in cast-off rags, lean, 
 with knotted veins, meditating alone in the 
 forest, him I call a Brahmin. 
 
 396. Not him do I call Brahmin who is merely 
 born of a Brahmin mother ; men may give him
 
 WHO IS THE BRAHMIN 81 
 
 salutation as a Brahmin, though he be not 
 detached from the world : but him I call a 
 Brahmin who has attachment to nothing. 
 
 397. Him I call a Brahmin who has cut the 
 bonds, who does not thirst for pleasures, who 
 has left behind the hindrances. 
 
 398. Whoso has cut the cable, and the 
 rope and the chain with all its links, and has 
 pushed aside the bolt, this wise one I call a 
 Brahmin. 
 
 399. Whoever bears patiently abuse and injury 
 and imprisonment, whose bodyguard is fortitude, 
 he is the Brahmin. 
 
 400. He is the Brahmin who does not give 
 way to anger, who is careful of religious duties, 
 who is upright, pure, and controlled, who has 
 reached his last birth. 
 
 401. He who clings not to pleasures as water 
 clings not to the lotus leaf, nor mustard-seed 
 to the needle-point, him I call Brahmin. 
 
 402. He is the Brahmin who in this very 
 world knows the end of sorrow, who has laid 
 the burden aside and is free. 
 
 403. Whoso is wise with deep wisdom, seeing 
 the right way and the wrong, and has reached the 
 goal, him I call Brahmin. 
 
 404. He is the Brahmin who is not entangled 
 either with householders or with recluses, who 
 has no home and few wants. 
 
 405. He who lays down the rod, who neither
 
 82 THE BRAHMIN 
 
 kills, nor causes the death of creatures, moving 
 or fixed, he is the Brahmin. 
 
 406. Not opposing those who oppose, calm 
 amidst the fighters, not grasping amidst men 
 who grasp, he is the Brahmin. 
 
 407. He is the Brahmin from whom anger, 
 and hatred, and pride, and slander have dropped 
 away, as the mustard-seed from the needle- 
 point. 
 
 408. If one were to preach gentle, and in- 
 structive, and truthful words by which no man 
 is offended, he is the Brahmin. 
 
 409. Whoso takes nothing small or great, 
 good or bad, unless it be given him, he is the 
 Brahmin. 
 
 410. In whom are found no longings, who 
 is free and detached from this world and the 
 next, he is the Brahmin. 
 
 411. Him I call a Brahmin in whom lust is 
 not found, who has cast off doubt, who knows 
 the path that leads to Nirvana [the deathless 
 state] and reaches it. 
 
 412. Who in this life has passed from the 
 grip of either merit or demerit, free of sorrow, 
 cleansed and purified, him I call Brahmin. 
 
 413. W T ho is clear as the moon, pure, and 
 limpid, and serene, who has quenched his thirst 
 for life ; 
 
 414. Who has passed through this impassable 
 quagmire of rebirth, and infatuation, has waded
 
 THE LEADER SUPREME 83 
 
 through it and got beyond it, who is meditative 
 and supplies no fuel to the fires of lust and 
 doubt, him I call a Brahmin. 
 
 415. Who in this life, deserting his lusts, goes 
 from home into solitude, and has quenched lust, 
 and with it the desire to be reborn ; 
 
 416. Who in this life deserts craving, and goes 
 from home into solitude, who has quenched 
 craving, and with it the desire to be reborn, 
 him I call Brahmin. 
 
 417. Who has left behind him human pleasures 
 and passed beyond heavenly ones, and is freed 
 from all entanglement of delight ; 
 
 418. Who has left aside both gusto and dis- 
 gust, who is cooled and has in him no spark of 
 rebirth, victor in all worlds, and hero, him I call 
 Brahmin. 
 
 419. He is the Brahmin who fully knows the 
 perishing of living things and their uprising, 
 who is detached and happy and wise. 
 
 420. He is the Brahmin whose way is not 
 known to gods, nor heavenly minstrels, nor 
 immortals ; the Arahat pure of all taint, him I 
 call the Brahmin. 
 
 421. Whoso has nothing left, of past or future 
 or present states, who is poor and grasps at 
 nothing, him I call Brahmin. 
 
 422. The Leader Supreme, the heroic, the 
 great Rishi, the Victor without lust and purified, 
 the Buddha, he i$ the Brahmin.
 
 84 THE BRAHMIN 
 
 423. He is the Brahmin indeed who knows 
 his former lives, and who knows heaven and 
 hell, who has reached the end of births, the sage 
 whose knowledge is perfect, and who is perfect 
 with all perfection. 
 
 THE END 
 
 OF 
 THE DHAMMAPADA
 
 NOTES 
 
 1, 2. THESE stanzas contain two ideas which are of the 
 very warp and woof of Buddhism : 
 
 (a) The view depends upon the point of view ; 
 
 (b) Thought is potent in influencing man's destiny. 
 The Chinese Commentary illustrates both these ideas : 
 Two merchants listened to the Buddha's preaching ; one 
 was delighted, the other angry : men hear what they are 
 prepared to hear. Soon after one was killed, the other 
 became King : so potent is thought ! 
 
 8. Cf. Luke vi, 48. 
 
 9, 10. The Buddha often used a play upon words to 
 arrest men's attention and help their memory. The Pali 
 of these stanzas contains a pun of this kind, which cannot 
 be imitated in English : Kasavam means either the yellow 
 robe of the mendicant, or impurity, stain, sin. 
 
 11, 12. The work of Gautama as a preacher lay largely 
 in this directing of men's efforts : the great reality is char- 
 acter ; this and this alone is man's business upon earth. 
 
 All else are " shadows " not worth pursuing. Cf. St. 
 John's words : " Little children, flee idols " (i.e. " shadows "), 
 1 John v, 21. So St. Paul speaks of covetousness as " idola- 
 try " the pursuit of the great " shadow," Mammon 
 (Col. iii, 5). 
 
 When the Buddhist puts on the yellow robe, he symbolises 
 his belief that " virtue is the truest wealth " : the gold of 
 character is alone worth striving after. (Cf. Dhammapada, 75 
 and note.) On the day of his ordination (upasampada) 
 the candidate adorns himself with all the jewellery he can 
 obtain, and doffs it only to don the yellow robe. 
 
 15-18. Here and Hereafter : i.e. hi this birth and the 
 next. Man may be, reborn upon earth, or in one of the 
 
 85
 
 86 NOTES 
 
 hells or in one of the heavens. A demon who does well 
 may become a man or a god : a god who lives unworthily 
 may become a man or a demon. 
 
 Tormented when he goes to hell. The Buddhist Temples 
 are full of frescoes of these torments : men who have killed 
 animals are being slowly devoured by them ; other sinners 
 are being forced by demon torturers to climb spiky trees, 
 or burnt in fires most realistically drawn, or made to swallow 
 balls of red-hot iron; low-caste men who have offended 
 the high castes are being crushed by great rocks ! 
 
 The Buddha's own discourses contain minute detail of 
 such torments. It is not clear whether he was using an 
 argumentum ad hominem, or really believed in a hereafter 
 of physical torment. In any case his moral code has been 
 strangely perverted hi modern Buddhism. 
 
 18. The reward for virtue is twofold the approval of 
 conscience and a good rebirth. 
 
 19. Cf. Matt, xxiii, 2 ; John x, 12. 
 
 20. The holy ones : Arahats, those who have attained. 
 The sentence means : " he is on his way to Nirvana." 
 
 21. Amatapadam : lit. " The endless or deathless state" 
 (Fausboll). Nirvana is defined by many such phrases in 
 the Dhammapada sometimes negative, as here ; sometimes 
 positive, as in 23 " highest freedom." Whatever the 
 Supreme Bliss be, it is unlike all human experience save 
 that of the Arahat. 
 
 Rhys Davids translates " ambrosia, or nectar." 
 As it were dead : i.e. spiritually or morally dead. Cf. 
 "Let the dead bury then: dead," Matt, viii, 22, and "The 
 life of the fool is worse than death," Ecclus. xxii, 11. 
 
 22. The lot of the Noble. The word " Aryo " meant in 
 Gautama's day Nobleman, or Aryan. He defined the noblem an 
 anew, making nobility consist not in birth, but in conduct. 
 Then he developed the meaning till it stood for Arahats 
 the experts in his system, those who have attained. 
 
 23. Meditation: jhanam that ecstatic contemplation in 
 which the mind, rapt from the sounds and sights of the
 
 NOTES 87 
 
 ordinary world, concentrates itself upon some single object 
 or idea ; this leads to serenity and a unique bliss, an- 
 ticipation of Nirvana. 
 
 Highest freedom. Nirvana is complete freedom from : (1) 
 The body and suffering : (2) Desire and other taints. 
 
 25. An island : i.e. Nirvana. 
 
 Self-control, temperance. Buddhism makes much of the 
 " cardinal virtues." 
 
 26. The Buddhist motto may be said to be " Strive without 
 ceasing." 
 
 27. The joy which is born of meditation plays a great 
 part in Buddhist psychology and ethics. (Cf. Rhys Davids' 
 Early Buddhism, pp. 62-5.) 
 
 28. Contrast this somewhat Epicurean attitude with St. 
 Paul's exhortation " Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and 
 weep with them that weep " (Rom. xii, 15). 
 
 The Buddhist position is in reality midway between the 
 Epicurean and the Christian ; it is stoical : the attitude 
 to be assumed towards the " crowd " is either mettam, 
 benevolence if (one's own salvation being certain) one can 
 help them : or it is upekhd, detachment. " What can't 
 be cured must be endured." Mudita, sympathy, and 
 Karund, pity, are also duties, but it is no use wasting these 
 upon the blinded and foolish crowd. (Cf. 61, 64.) 
 
 30. Sakra: i.e. Indra, a high god of Hinduism whom 
 Buddhism has relegated to the rank of an archangel, ruling 
 the Tavatimsa heaven. He is said to have been a young 
 Brahmin who for his 7eal in doing good was reborn as Sakra. 
 His human name was Magha. He is regarded by Buddhists 
 as a kind of recording angel. (Childers;) 
 
 31. Bhikkhu. The "religious" of Buddhism is neither 
 " priest " nor " monk " in the strict sense, for he offers no 
 sacrifice, and he lives not alone, but either with one or two 
 others, or with the " community." The word " bhikkhu " 
 means " mendicant." 
 
 The greater and the lesser bonds: all those "trammels" which 
 bind him to the phenomenal world ; all that affects his senses.
 
 88 NOTES 
 
 33. In his doctrine of the mind, Gautama was no pessimist ; 
 it is by nature fickle and difficult to control : yet nurture 
 can make it stable and obedient. (Cf. especially 40, where 
 Gautama's optimistic attitude to the mind is thrown into 
 strong relief by his pessimistic attitude to the body ; if the 
 body be brittle and of slight value, yet the mind may be 
 made strong and precious.) His pessimistic attitude to the 
 body is partly assumed with intent " to wean men from it," 
 and this view is borne out by the genial attitude he takes 
 towards asceticism : once a man has learnt to sit loose to 
 the things of sense he is free to enjoy them. Gautama laid 
 himself open to the name of worldling, and the immediate 
 cause of his death was his courteous acceptance of the rich 
 meal prepared for him by Cunda the smith. 
 
 34. The simile is obscure : it is apparently only intended 
 to make one point clear the palpitating effort needed 
 to escape Mara. 
 
 39. Merit. The desire for merit is almost universal in 
 Buddhist lands ; yet Buddha teaches that man should act 
 with his eye fixed not upon " merit," but upon Nirvana. 
 (But cf. 53.) By "merit" is meant the credit balance 
 in the bank of character procuring rebirth to a happy 
 life on earth, or in a heaven. 
 
 46. The flowery sliafts of Mara : the insidious advances 
 of the King of Death. Cf. Ps. v, 9 : " They flatter with 
 their tongue." 
 
 49. The mendicant is to take what is given him by the 
 faithful, doing them no harm, and taking nothing but what 
 they freely give. 
 
 51. Cf. Matt, xxiii, 3: "They say and do not." 
 
 54. Natural law is not universally valid in the spiritual 
 world ! 
 
 56. Certain " rishis," having neglected cleanliness in 
 their pursuit of holiness, were ashamed to come into the 
 presence of the gods : " Never fear," said the gods, 
 " our nostrils are filled with the fragrance of your good 
 deeds."
 
 NOTES 89 
 
 Cf. our phrases : " The odour of sanctity " ; " The beauty 
 of holiness." 
 
 61. According to Buddhism neither will profit by such 
 companionship. (Cf. 64.) 
 
 64. Cf. Ecclus. xxii, 7 : "He that teacheth a fool is as 
 one that glueth a potsherd together." 
 
 70. i.e. extreme asceticism and religious observance 
 are not worth a tithe of goodness. 
 
 73-4. Ambition and self-will are the besetting faults of 
 the Brahmin. 
 
 75. Cf. " Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." 
 
 76. The wise will value a candid friend. 
 
 79. A better draught than the soma juice, which led to 
 ecstasy ! 
 
 89. That leads to Arahatship. SambSdhi (Arahatship) 
 has seven component parts, which may be taken to represent 
 the Buddhist ideal of character : mindfulness, wisdom, 
 energy, joyousness, serenity, concentrated meditation, and 
 equanimity. 
 
 Whose delight is in renunciation. Cf. Bhagavad-Gita xii : 
 " Near to renunciation very near 
 Dwelleth eternal Peace." 
 
 92, 93. Whose goal is the freedom ... A definition of Nirvana. 
 The Commentator explains the simile as expressing the 
 mysterious freedom of Arahats in the spiritual sphere. 
 (Cf. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest 
 the sound of it, but canst not tell whence it cometh and 
 whither it goeth : So is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
 John iii, 8.) 
 
 94. Even the gods. The true Buddhist is above all gods ! 
 Charioteer. Cf. Plato's famous simile of the Charioteer 
 
 Reason and the two horses of Sensibility and Spirit : one 
 rebellious, the other docile. Cf. also " The spirit is willing, 
 but the flesh is weak." 
 
 95. Whose patience is as the earth's : the earth does not 
 shrink or protest whatever is laid upon it. 
 
 97. This is one of those curious enigmas or puzzles which
 
 90 NOTES 
 
 occur in the Buddha's teaching. It can be translated in a 
 sense opposed to that here given : viz. " Best of men is the 
 faithless, the ungrateful, the rebel, who has lost his chance of 
 salvation, who has given up all hope." It was spoken by 
 Gautama to some thirty recluses who accused Sariputto of 
 these faults, because he told his master not to preach to 
 him, but to them, " I already know the truth by experience ; 
 these others need it on authority : therefore preach to 
 them." Buddha's words express with great skill the two 
 ways in which he and the recluses looked upon his disciple's 
 sturdy confidence. It is of course quite impossible in an 
 analytic language like English to reproduce the puns. 
 
 100. Cf. St. Paul : " I had rather speak five words with 
 my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than 
 ten thousand words in a tongue." (1 Cor. xiv, 19.) 
 
 103-5. Cf. Prov. xvi, 32 : " He that is slow to anger 
 is better than the mighty : and he that ruleth his spirit 
 than he that taketh a city." 
 
 104, 105. Buddhist ethics make much of the truth that 
 external forces cannot harm the true man: man cannot 
 be hurt except by himself. (Cf. 124.) 
 
 106. Cf. 1 Sam. xv, 22 : " To obey is better than sacrifice." 
 
 109. Cf. Manu, II, 121 : and Asoka's Rock Edict, II : 
 " Father and mother must be hearkened to ... this leads 
 to length of days." Cf. also the fifth commandment of 
 the Decalogue : " Honour thy father and thy mother that 
 thy days may be long in the land." 
 
 110, 111. Cf. the Psalmist: "One day in Thy courts 
 is better than a thousand." 
 
 125. Gautama again and again insists that natural law 
 holds good in the spiritual world, though there are ex- 
 ceptions. (Cf. 54.) 
 
 126. Oo to the womb : i.e. are born upon earth. 
 127-8. Cf. Introduction, p. 13. 
 
 129-32. Cf. Luke vi, 31 : The Golden Rule. 
 141. Doubt : one of the deadly sins in Buddhism. The 
 Buddha claimed omniscience, and though he did not dis-
 
 NOTES 91 
 
 courage investigation and inquiry, from the great mass of 
 men, who are ignorant and foolish, he demanded the plunge 
 of faith. 
 
 Matted hair, etc. The Sumagadha-avadana relates that 
 Sumagadha, seeing the naked and unkempt ascetics of 
 Brahminism, exclaimed : " O Mother, if these are saints, 
 what must sinners be like ? " (Cf. Max Miiller's Dham- 
 mapada, p. 38.) 
 
 142. Buddhism so often labelled pessimistic is striking 
 in the genial attitude it takes towards asceticism. It en- 
 courages fasting only as a means to self-control and con- 
 centration of mind: for the rest the only kind of fasting 
 it urges is " fasting from sin." Even the " man of the 
 world " may be a true " Brahmin " though it is very 
 difficult. (Cf. Asoka's Minor Rock Edict, I : " Even by the 
 small man, who chooses to exert himself, immense heavenly 
 bliss may be won.") 
 
 The Samana : lit. " the calmed " (see note on 264). 
 
 144. By faith Buddhism means the calm acceptance of all 
 Gautama taught : after his death it ceased to be an attitude 
 to his person and became a conviction that his claims to 
 omniscience were well founded, and that his system is the 
 true interpretation of the world and of human life. 
 
 But Buddhism is nothing if not psychological, and faith 
 (saddha) came to mean a subjective state of consciousness 
 akin to serenity (passadhi), consequent upon acceptance of 
 Buddha's teaching. 
 
 146. Fire is for the Buddhist the synonym of suffering : 
 all is regarded as a flux the world dissolving " with fervent 
 heat." There is no meaning or permanence in this world : 
 all the more need to seek salvation. In the burning heat of 
 India the metaphor is a very vivid one for weariness and pain. 
 
 147-51. The Body too is a poor thing : in these ways 
 Buddhism is distinctly pessimistic as compared with 
 Christianity, which sees in the world a potential Kingdom 
 of God, and in the human body a " temple of the Holy 
 Spirit " : yet, be it noted, Gautama painted this lurid picture
 
 92 NOTES 
 
 with intent to awaken men to the powers of their mind and 
 character. 
 
 150. A citadel of bones. There are occasional gleams of 
 grim humour in the Buddhist books : the following story 
 illustrates both the " law of apperception " and the Buddhist 
 attitude to the body. The hermit Maha-Tissa was walking 
 near Anuradhapura meditating upon the transiency of life. 
 A woman who had quarrelled with her husband passed him, 
 gaily dressed and bejewelled, and smiled at him, showing 
 her pearly teeth. When the husband, who was in pursuit, 
 came up with him he called to him : " Reverend Sir, did 
 you see a woman pass this way ? " "I saw only a skeleton," 
 replied the sage ; " whether it was man or woman I know 
 not " (Visuddhi-Maggai). 
 
 151. Cf. " My words shall never pass away." 
 
 152. Like the ox. So the prophet Amos addresses the 
 fat and sensual women of his day: "Ye kine of Bashan" 
 (Amos iv, 1) : " massive in body but small in mind " (cf. 
 Deut. xxxii, 15). 
 
 153. 154. These famous words are held by Buddhists to 
 have been those uttered by Gautama at the moment of en- 
 lightenment. 
 
 The allegory that underlies them is this : The Builder 
 is Desire (Tanha) the cause of rebirth : the seeker tried 
 long to find this cause ; at the moment of his enlightenment 
 it flashed into his mind, " If desire be dead, then there is 
 nothing to bind man to the wheel of existence." The Builder 
 causes the body to be built : its " corner-stone " (or ridge- 
 pole) is ignorance (avijja), and its " beams " are bad states 
 of consciousness. 
 
 Admirably rendered by Sir Edwin Arnold : 
 
 " Many a house of life 
 
 Hath held me seeking ever him who wrought 
 These prisons of the senses, sorrow-fraught ; 
 Sore was my ceaseless strife. 
 
 But now, 
 Thou Builder of this tabernacle Thou !
 
 NOTES 93 
 
 I know Thee ! Never shall Thou build again 
 
 These walla of pain, 
 Nor raise the roof -tree of deceits ; nor lay 
 
 Fresh rafters on the clay ; 
 Broken Thy house is, and the ridge-pole split ! 
 
 Delusion fashioned it ! 
 Safe pass I them deliverance to obtain." 
 
 155. Cf. " Like a pelican of the wilderness " (Ps. cii, 6). 
 
 157. This is a practice enjoined in the Books : the passage 
 may mean also " for one of the three periods of life." 
 
 158. Cf. Matt, vii, 1-5 : " Judge not, that ye be not 
 judged," etc. 
 
 164. Bears fruit ... It dies down after flowering. 
 
 166. The hedonistic note in Buddhism cannot be denied : 
 " Ethics," says Dr. Martineau, " must either perfect them- 
 selves in religion, or disintegrate themselves in hedonism." 
 Buddhist ethics, seeing no great social purpose being worked 
 out in the world, fails to reconcile the claims of self-culture 
 and benevolence, falling back upon the monastic com- 
 promise that in the long run self-culture is the highest 
 benevolence. (Cf. Introduction, p. 14) 
 
 171. It looks gay and splendid : it is an engine of de- 
 struction ; it is treacherous as a morass. 
 
 174. Cf. Matt, vii, 14 : " Narrow is the way which leadeth 
 unto life, and few there be that find it." 
 
 Ps. cxxiv, 7 : " Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the 
 snare of the fowler." 
 
 175. The East has always held that holy living gives 
 miraculous power. Arahats were said to possess this power 
 (jddhi) of flying through the air, or " levitation." There are 
 still Hindus who claim these powers : but southern Buddhism 
 does not take them seriously. I asked several Buddhists if 
 this power were now attainable. "Possibly in Thibet," 
 they answered.* 
 
 176. Cf. Jas. ii, 10 : " Whosoever shall keep the whole 
 
 * " The Buddhist," vol. i, No. 9, contains an account by 
 an eye-witness of a self -levitated lama.
 
 04 NOTES 
 
 law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all." 
 But the underlying idea in St. James, of loyalty to the 
 King, is of course not present to the Buddhist mind. 
 
 178. Universal empire : the height of worldly ambition. 
 
 Conversion : i.e. the first step towards Nirvana, when 
 the attention is fixed upon the Supreme Bliss. " Sotdpatti " 
 means " entering the stream," up which the convert has 
 to forge his way. After this ethical change he may have 
 to undergo seven more births before he attains the goal. 
 
 182. The Buddha, being free of all taints or germs of 
 rebirth, has no crack in his armour through which he may 
 be wounded : i.e. he has no cause of rebirth. 
 
 183. The ideal is not, as is often said, merely negative : 
 it is also positive and inward. Cf. St. Paul's more emphatic 
 words : " Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which ia 
 good" (Rom. xii, 9). 
 
 The Buddhas. According to the Books there are many 
 Buddhas : some in the dim past, others in the distant future. 
 In Ceylon, Buddhists look wistfully for the coming Buddha 
 Metteyya or Maitri the Loving One. In Japan they 
 worship Amida Buddha an ideal. 
 
 184. The word translated " fortitude " is " kantibalam," 
 patience-strength, that blending of great qualities, passive 
 and active, Eastern and Western, which is as rare as it is 
 beautiful. 
 
 194. Cf. Ps. cxxiii, 1 : " Behold how good and pleasant it 
 is for brethren to dwell together in unity." 
 
 197-200. This section may be regarded as the Buddhist, 
 analogue of the Beatitudes of Christ : it depicts the blessed 
 life as a life of calm and peace ; either solitary or in the 
 company of Buddha's true followers, a man may enjoy that 
 bliss which is the bloom upon virtue in this life : and here- 
 after the Rest of the Ineffable. 
 
 207. Like Jesus, Gautama offers his followers a family life 
 whose ties are more intimate and tender than those of blood. 
 In the Sangha they are to find their kinsfolk and a better 
 family life than they have left. [C/. " Who is My mother
 
 NOTES 06 
 
 or My brethren ? . . . Whosoever shall do the will of God, 
 the same is My brother and My sister and mother." Mark 
 iii, 35.] Yet it must be borne in mind that to enter this 
 company a man must be a celibate : and that perfect 
 solitude is held up as the safer ideal. 
 
 208. The cold clear moonlight of this simile is symbolic 
 of the Buddhist ideal. 
 
 212, 213. Buddhism teaches benevolence to all, attach- 
 ment to none. It is a monastic ideal, and may be paralleled 
 from such books as the Imitatio Christi. Cf. Bk. I, 
 chap, viii : " We must have charity towards all, but 
 familiarity is not expedient." 
 
 There is, however, a vital difference : the Buddhist 
 Bhikkhu is to shun society that nothing may mar his self- 
 culture : the Christian monk that he may be " familiar 
 with God alone, and with His Angels." When Prince 
 Siddhartha (afterwards the Buddha) heard of the birth of 
 his son Rahula, and they tried to bring him back, he is said 
 to have remarked : " That is one more bond to be cut." 
 The " Great Renunciation " involved no less than this. 
 
 218. The Ineffable. The Buddha describes Nirvana 
 probably from his own experience of that ecstatic joy which 
 is said to be the reward of deep meditation. 
 
 This word " ineffable " is one used all by who have known 
 this experience. Cf. Myers' St. Paul : 
 
 " Oh could I tell, ye surely would believe it ! 
 Oh could I only say what I have seen ! 
 How should I tell, or how can ye receive it, 
 How till He bringeth you where I have been ? " 
 
 and St. Paul's words of his own experience in 2 Cor. xii, 2-4. 
 Against the stream. The fight for character is one against 
 long odds. Nature has at times to be "pitchforked." 
 (Cf. Mrs. Rhys Davids' Buddhist Psychology, p. Ixvii.) 
 Man is not at the mercy of the " stream " of natural impulse ; 
 but swimming against i,t is hard work. (Cf. 244, 245.)
 
 96 NOTES 
 
 221. Phenomenal existence : Pali namd rupa, " name and 
 form," i.e. things mental and material. 
 
 227. Atida : according to the Commentator, one of 
 Gautama's disciples : he is not mentioned elsewhere. If 
 we read " atulam " the meaning is " an incomparable saying." 
 
 241. Disuse . . . mantras : i.e. if the words are not used 
 they are forgotten. 
 
 251. Lust . . . hatred . . . folly. The three inveterate foes 
 of the good life. Buddhism sees that man has in him ape, 
 tiger, and ass. (Cf. Introduction, p. 15.) 
 
 252. Or "as the fowler hides his snare." 
 
 254, 255. We have followed the Sinhalese scholar, Mr. 
 James D'Alwis, in this translation : he is supported by the 
 Commentary. Another possible rendering is: "No one 
 outside the Buddhist community can walk through the air, 
 but only a samana" (Fausboll). But this taxes the 
 construction too severely, and as Professor Max Miiller 
 says, Buddha did not encourage the display of miraculous 
 power. 
 
 264. Cf. Imitatio Christi, bk. I, chap, xvii : " The habit 
 and the shaven crown do little profit : but change of manners, 
 and perfect mortification of passions make a true religious 
 man." 
 
 Samano, before Gautama's day, meant " ascetic," being 
 derived from the root "sram" to work hard, to do penance. 
 He gave a new derivation and a new significance to the 
 word sam, meaning " calm." 
 
 264-9. These stanzas contain a play on the words : 
 Gautama is giving new definitions of current terms. It is 
 hardly possible to render these in English : perhaps in 264-5 
 the use of the word " religious " as both noun and adjective 
 is a fair analogy from Christian monasticism. The pun in 
 270 is only to be permitted as illustrating the spirit of the 
 section. 
 
 268-9. So Asoka says of impiety and piety : " The one 
 course avails me for the present life, the other avails me 
 also for the life to come." (Pillar Edict, III) ; and Thomas
 
 NOTES 97 
 
 & Kempis, quoting Phil, iii, 8 : " He is truly prudent, 
 that regards all earthly things as dung, that he may gain 
 Christ." 
 
 270. Meekness is the true heroism : " Blessed are the 
 meek, for they shall inherit the earth " ; " Fight the good 
 fight." As in mediaeval Europe, so in ancient India, all 
 "nobles" (Aryans) were warriors. Gautama gives a new 
 definition of the true knight. (Cf. the history of the words 
 "chivalry," "gentle," and "generous," under Christian 
 influences.) 
 
 273. The four truths : suffering : its cause : its cure : 
 the eightfold path of escape. 
 
 The seer : cakkhumd, the man who has the eye for truth : 
 the man of insight. 
 
 274. The " seeing of Purity." The phrase may mean 
 equally well the " purification of vision." The man of insight 
 is the pure man ; to one who ventured to dispute Gautama's 
 judgment he exclaimed : "Shall he whose mind is dominated 
 by passion surpass the Blessed One in wisdom ? " (Cf. 
 Christ's words : " My judgment is just, because I seek not 
 Mine own will.") 
 
 276. Blessed Ones : Tathagata, " those who have arrived," 
 or reached Nirvana. 
 
 277-9. " All is passing " : one of the leading tenets 
 of Heraclitus and the Orphists, who belong to the same 
 century as the Buddha (sixth century B.c). Their teaching, 
 so far as it has survived, has many points of similarity 
 with his. 
 
 " All is passing . . . all is sorrow . . . all is unreal." 
 The words ring out again and again like the solemn tolling 
 of some cloister bell, summoning men away from the pursuit 
 of shadows, to that only worthy object " the path of Purity " 
 Nirvana. 
 
 283. Vanam means either " lust " or a " forest " : English 
 cannot reproduce the play upon words. 
 
 284. Even married love is regarded by Buddhism as an 
 " entanglement " of this kind. 
 
 7
 
 98 NOTES 
 
 286. Cf. the parable of the Rich Fool, and St. James : 
 " Go to now, ye that say to-day or to-morrow we will go 
 into the city, and spend a year there . . . whereas ye know 
 not what shall be on the morrow " (iv, 13, 14). 
 
 294. The Commentator explains this curious verse as 
 follows : The Mother is lust : the Father self-will : the 
 Kings are heresies two extremes on either side of the 
 middle path (cf. Introductory Note, xx) ; the Kingdom is 
 sensuality (cf. 97). 
 
 295. The five roads are lust, hatred, disturbance of mind, 
 sloth, and doubt. 
 
 301. The principal objects of meditation. 
 
 302. Hard is the community life : reading samanasamvaso 
 with Max Miiller and the Chinese version, instead of 
 'samanasamvaso (= asamanasamvaso) with Fausboll and 
 the Sinhalese. 
 
 The wanderer in the world : i.e. the layman. 
 307. Suffering is the blight upon sin. 
 
 310. Therefore ... Cf. the simple authority of the seventh 
 commandment, " Thou shalt not commit adultery," and 
 of Christ's words to the woman taken in adultery, " Go 
 and sin no more." 
 
 311. " Corruptio optimi pessima." 
 
 324. Dhdnapalako : i.e. guardian of wealth. 
 
 340. The streams : sensations. 
 
 The creeper : passion. 
 
 344. The pun on the word vanam (forest and lust) is re- 
 peated here : " tangle " perhaps expresses both meanings. 
 
 353. Spoken, according to the Commentary, when the 
 Buddha was on the way to Benares, and the Brahmin Upaka 
 sceptically asked him who was his Teacher, and what the 
 cause of his serenity and joy. Here Gautama claims om- 
 niscience : elsewhere he claims to be the only Teacher : 
 "Non seulement Cakyamuni est source de verite, mais il 
 est la source unique " (De la Vallee Poussin, Bouddhisme, 
 p. 138). (Cf. Mahavagga i, 6, 8.) 
 
 356-9. As weeds spoil a good harvest, so these passions
 
 NOTES 99 
 
 spoil the good harvest of character. Seed sown in clean 
 soil is fruitful : so are gifts to the Noble. 
 
 370. The five bonds to be cut are egoism, doubt, false 
 asceticism, lust, and hatred. The five to be left off are 
 longing for higher states of birth, for still higher ones, self- 
 will, want of purpose, and ignorance. The five to be taken 
 are faith, manliness, mindfulness, deep meditation, and 
 wisdom. (Commentary.) 
 
 " He who has crossed the flood " = Oghatinna. 
 
 Take five more. Man is destined to be yoked, if not by 
 sin, then by duty. (Cf. " Whose service is perfect freedom.") 
 
 373. Divine pleasure : the joy of the unified will. 
 
 384. Meditation may be either special or general : i.e. 
 upon any of the forty objects which lead to Samadhi, or 
 upon the transiency, sorrow, and unreality of things. 
 
 For he knows ... Cf. " Ye shall know the Truth, and the 
 Truth shall make you free" (John viii, 32). 
 
 385. Lit. " In whom is found neither near bank nor 
 far " : i.e. neither noticing external objects by attending 
 to them, nor letting his desires go out to seek them. (Com- 
 mentary.) 
 
 387. The face of the seer is said to shine. 
 
 388. Deriving Brahmano from the root vah or bah to 
 put away. 
 
 394. Cf. Luke xi, 39 ; Matt, xxiii, 27. 
 
 398. The cable is D5sa, hatred ; the chain with its links 
 is Tanha, desire in all its forms ; the bolt is Moha, infatuation, 
 or folly. 
 
 395. This stanza seems to have a Brahminical origin: 
 unless we lay all the stress on meditating. 
 
 405. Fixed or moving creatures, according to the Sinhalese 
 Commentary, refers either to men or to animals. In a 
 metaphorical sense, fixed creatures are Arahats, moving 
 ones are common men. In a literal sense fixed creatures 
 may be such things as molluscs.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE SAYINGS OF THE 
 DISCIPLES OF THE BUDDHA 
 
 THE following are selections from another book 
 which bears the impress of a very early date, 
 and gives us vivid glimpses of the Buddhist 
 Ideal : the Thera-Theii-Gatha, or Songs of 
 the Elders and Sisters. The Psalms of the 
 Sisters, Mrs. Rhys Davids' fine translation of 
 the latter portion of this book, is a valuable 
 commentary on the Dhammapada, and reveals 
 the great power of Buddhism (whilst the en- 
 thusiasm for Buddha was still alive) over the 
 human heart. 
 
 SAYINGS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE BUDDHIST 
 IDEAL 
 
 Its asceticism : 
 
 " Gold-bedecked and bejewelled, carrying her son upon 
 her hip and followed by attendants, came my wife. 
 
 " Beholding her, the mother of my son, I beheld a snare 
 set by the Evil One [Mara]." Thera-gatha, 299. 
 
 " Where a man dwells alone, he is as Brahma ; where two 
 dwell, they dwell as gods ; where three dwell, it is as a village ; 
 where there are more, it is a rabble." (The fewer the safer !) 
 
 Ibid., 245. 
 
 100
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE SAYINGS 101 
 
 Its stoicism : 
 
 " The rain pours gurgling down : alone dwell I in dreadful 
 cave. Yet for me it holds not dread nor fear ; I am one who 
 knows them not." Ibid., 189. 
 
 " As the elephant calmly endures the battle, so this lean 
 one, with limbs gnarled as tree-trunks, endures the sting of 
 insects as he bathes." Ibid., 243. 
 
 " The cold dark nights of winter chap the skin and freeze 
 
 the thoughts, O Mogharaja ! What shall the Bhikkhu do ? 
 
 " The men of Magadha have taken in their harvest. I, 
 
 too, like others who delight in life, will lie down and take 
 
 my rest in the straw." 
 
 " Home have I left ; for I have left my world ! 
 Child have I left, and all my cherished herds ! 
 Lust have I left, and Ill-will too is gone, 
 And Ignorance have I put far from me ; 
 Craving and root of craving overpowered, 
 Cool am I now, knowing Nibbana's peace." 
 
 Theri-gdtha, 18. 
 (MRS. RHYS DAVIDS' Translation.) 
 
 Its earnestness : 
 
 " Xot for sleep is the star-spangled night, but for work to 
 him who is wise." Thera-gathd, 192. 
 
 " When disease assailed my body, then my mind awoke 
 and cried, ' The sickness is upon me ! It is high time to 
 play the man.' " Ibid., 30. 
 
 " Happy freedom ! Happy freedom ! Good it is to be freed 
 from three crooked things, from scythe and plough and hoe. 
 There they stand ; no use have I for them ! Let me meditate 
 again and again ; let me lead the strenuous life [of thought]." 
 
 Ibid., 43. 
 
 " Of yore my mind would wander whither caprice and 
 desire led it. To-day I hold it in check as the mahout can 
 hold with his prod the elephant in rut." Ibid., 76. 
 
 " They who have lost their foothold fall. But they can, 
 if they will, arise again and yet again. I have won up the 
 steep slope : loving what is lovely I have easily attained." 
 
 Ibid., 62.
 
 APPENDIX 
 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL 
 
 (ARAHATSHIP OR NIRVANA) 
 AS DEPICTED IN THE DHAMMAPADA 
 
 THE " ambrosial [or deathless] path," Nirvana, 
 is the prize which these stanzas hold out to 
 the strenuous : this is at once the goal of effort 
 and its cessation, a calm haven after strenuous 
 voyaging.* The seer speaks with a quiet rapture 
 and a serene assurance which convince us as we 
 read, that whether it is Gautama himself who 
 speaks, or whether it is the collective voice of his 
 followers, here is in any case the utterance of 
 a real experience of the soul. Can it be that 
 these men entered behind the veil of sense and 
 time, and that their voices ring down the ages 
 from that mysterious Beyond to which the 
 mystics of all ages have aspired ? 
 
 We cannot say ; yet it is very clear that if 
 the metaphysical Nirvana is a fantasy, the 
 ethical Nirvana is real enough : and Gautama 
 was above all things an ethical teacher. That 
 
 * Upasama implies both the idea of Peace and the idea 
 that there has been a struggle to win it. 
 
 102
 
 NIRVANA HERE AND NOW 103 
 
 we shall understand Nirvana from a perusal of 
 those pages is not likely ; that it will attract 
 Western thinkers is not wholly to be desired ; 
 but we can at least study the ethical experience 
 of which Nirvana is but the description and the 
 attempted explanation : and a grasp of what 
 Arahatship means is essential to the under- 
 standing of Buddhism. The Arahat is one who, 
 through obedience to the preaching of Buddha, 
 has reached that calm state when the will no 
 longer struggles, but is unified and at rest. 
 
 As the eagle, after long strain of upward flight, 
 stays poised in mid-air, so the seer reaches the 
 calm and severe heights of character. This is 
 Nirvana in the present world : and Nirvana 
 hereafter may be more mysterious, but it must 
 be of the same kind. 
 
 Very much as the Christian, experiencing 
 " the peace that passes understanding," interprets 
 in the light of this experience the serenity and 
 calm of the Hereafter, so the Buddhist " saint," 
 having known the quiet and serenity of the 
 unified will, projects this experience into the 
 future. 
 
 To both alike this future is " ineffably sublime " ; 
 words fail men when they attempt to speak of 
 the Beyond : and yet we can piece together a 
 picture of their inmost thoughts from such 
 fragmentary descriptions of their experience as 
 they let fall.
 
 104 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL 
 
 Arahatship and Nirvana, then, form one ideal, 
 and it is with this that the Dhammapada is 
 concerned. 
 
 We have seen that Nirvana is ineffable 
 (stanza 218 and note) ; but we have also to 
 remember that it can be experienced here and 
 now. In stanza 402 we read; 
 
 " He is the Brahmin who in this very world knows the 
 end of sorrow, who has laid the burden aside and is free." * 
 
 For whilst " the burden " is ultimately bodily 
 existence, yet it is the sinfulness and egoism 
 and pride of the flesh which make that burden 
 so intolerable : the body is in fact a good servant 
 but a bad master, and he who masters his body 
 is already as it were freed from it. 
 
 " Happy is he," says the Digha Nikaya, " who is free of 
 lust and beyond its power : the highest bliss is freedom 
 from pride and self-will." 
 
 " There is no sorrow like existence, no bliss like Nirvana," 
 says the Dhammapada. 
 
 " 'The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against 
 the flesh,' cries St. Paul. . . . ' Unhappy man that I am ! 
 Who shall deliver me from this body of death ? ' " 
 
 These and similar passages are a cry for deliver- 
 ance ; and both teachers insist upon the same 
 great truth, that man's bodily life, in so far as 
 it is dominated by self-will and lust, is an evil 
 
 * c/. stanza 32 : where " near to Nirvana " should 
 probably be rendered "in the very presence of Nirvana." 
 (RHYS DAVIDS.)
 
 THE IDEAL OF ESCAPE 105 
 
 to be escaped at any cost. Neither is Manichean : 
 it is not the body that is evil, but the body 
 enslaved by the tyranny of evil desires. 
 
 And for both teachers it is the perversity of 
 the " flesh " that shapes the ideal of escape ; 
 though the one longs after the life of dissolution, 
 and the other believes that he will be " clothed 
 upon " with a " glorified body " hereafter.* 
 
 The salient feature of the Buddhist ideal is 
 freedom : 
 
 " Him I call Brahmin who has cut the bonds, who thirsts 
 not for pleasure, who has left behind the hindrances." 
 
 (See 397 and note on 398.) 
 
 The phrase "highest freedom" occurs more 
 than once in these stanzas as a synonym for 
 Nirvana, and, as Mrs. Rhys Davids has shown, 
 it is this aspect of Nirvana which is most fre- 
 quently hymned in the Psalms of the Sisters, 
 that remarkable collection of verses attributed 
 to the women-elders of the Sangha.f (Cf. 
 Dhammapada, 90, 92, 93, 96, etc.) 
 
 Inasmuch as this " highest freedom " is 
 escape from lust and other " bonds," it is an 
 
 * From a more positive point of view we may say that 
 for the Buddhist, Peace is an ideal of equilibrium now and 
 of unconsciousness hereafter : for the Christian, Peace is 
 an ideal of conscious fellowship with God begun now and 
 hereafter consummated. 
 
 t This collection, published by the Pali Text Society, will 
 go far to prove how real and deep was the ethical experience 
 of the early Buddhists.
 
 106 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL 
 
 ideal for this life : inasmuch as it is escape from 
 the round of rebirths it is an ideal for the future : 
 here Arahatship passes over into Nirvana.* 
 
 And in both alike the way of escape lies in 
 the mind of man : 
 
 " All that we are by Mind is wrought, 
 
 Fashioned and fathered by our Thought." * 
 
 The Arahat has mastered his mind (that " frail 
 and fickle thing " that in the worldling " leaps 
 hither and thither, like a monkey seeking fruit) " ; 
 and therefore he is already free from the tyranny 
 of the flesh (c/. 89). For it is the mental " bonds " 
 lust, pride, self-will which have bound him 
 through the long waste of years to one body 
 after another ; and it is " knowledge " which 
 sets him free : 
 
 " He is the Brahmin indeed who . . . has reached the 
 end of rebirths, the sage whose knowledge is perfect, and 
 who is perfect with all perfection." 
 
 This freedom of Nirvana is envisaged as Rest : 
 and there is in these stanzas a cry for rest which 
 runs through all the Buddhist books like some 
 pathetic fugue : a desire so passionate as to be 
 almost unintelligible to Western minds. 
 
 But to men obsessed heart and spirit with the 
 
 * In technical phraseology the ethical Nirvana is called 
 Savupadisesanibbanam, or Nirvana, in whicli the five skandhas 
 or elements of being remain ; and the metaphysical Nirvana 
 is called Anupadisesanibbanam, or Nirvana, in which they 
 cease to exist. (See Note at end.)
 
 AN IDEAL OF KINDLINESS 107 
 
 " weary weight of the intolerable years," life after 
 life of suffering and care, it is a real longing 
 which here finds rhythmic expression : 
 
 " All is fleeting, all is unreal, all is sorrowful." (277-9.) 
 " There is no sorrow, like to existence : no bliss like 
 Nirvana, the Supreme Best." (202.) 
 
 Worldly existence is wholly evil ; but every 
 man is free to cultivate the " otherworldly " 
 frame of mind, and be at peace. For Buddhism 
 is in a sense eudaemonistic ; it does not flout 
 man's desire to be happy : only it defines this 
 happiness in terms of inward peace and self- 
 control. 
 
 Section XV of the Dhammapada is the Bud- 
 dhist analogue of the Beatitudes of Jesus, and, 
 as an ideal of the Happy Life, ranks high indeed. 
 
 It is an ideal of kindliness and serenity, of 
 peace and unity, which is very winsome ; it 
 would be hard to pick a quarrel with the ex-" 
 ponents of such a life ! 
 
 To the Christian it seems none the less an 
 ideal more passive and stoical, less loving and 
 mystical than that of Jesus ; and yet we cannot 
 but rejoice that the East has had this ideal 
 so long before it. To the Karma-haunted 
 millions of India it has shone with a steady 
 and alluring radiance, in time past more potent 
 than to-day, but even now embedded in their 
 subconsciousness. 
 
 Its calm and cool attractiveness is beautifully
 
 108 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL 
 
 symbolised in the poetic imagery of the Dhamma- 
 pada : 
 
 " The good man shines like the moon escaped from clouds, 
 he is pure as some unruffled lake." (95.) 
 
 And the company of such a leader with his 
 disciples is 
 
 "As the moon following the path of the stars." (208.) 
 
 Another lovely moonlit scene embodies and 
 symbolises the spirit of this ideal : 
 
 The Buddha's six chief disciples are in a 
 park, and as they sit in the tropical moonlight 
 they ask one another what quality in the Bhikkhu 
 could add to the beauty of the scene. Amongst 
 the answers are three which throw light upon 
 the meaning of Arahatship : 
 
 " The peace and insight of moral victory," says one, 
 " The joy and insight of Emancipation," says another ; 
 
 and Sariputta wins the Master's approval by his 
 reply: 
 
 " When a Bhikkhu masters his heart [cittam] and does not 
 let it master him." 
 
 " Hear from me," says Gautama. " Hear from 
 me what kind of Bhikkhu could add a lustre to 
 the wood ; one who, sitting serene and controlled, 
 resolves : * Till my heart is freed from the ferments 
 of lust I shall not quit my seat.' "* 
 
 This scene is most suggestive, for it throws 
 
 * Majjhima Nikaya, 32.
 
 SOLITUDE IS ESSENTIAL 10& 
 
 into strong contrast Buddhist and Christian 
 Ethics, and further it leads us into the heart 
 of a vexed and difficult problem. 
 
 With regard to the first point, it is sufficient 
 to say here that Buddhism teaches a rigorous 
 and calm self-mastery, Christianity demands a 
 passionate self-surrender. 
 
 With regard to the second, we may state the 
 problem thus : Is Nirvana a social ideal ? Or 
 is it an ideal of solitude and forgetfulness ? The 
 answer seems to be that Buddhism holds out 
 no promiseof the reunion of emancipated "souls "; 
 Nirvana is the cessation of all personal existence : 
 yet the experience of the peace and joy of Noble 
 Companionship such companionship and com- 
 munion of soul as is here depicted is too good 
 not to be desired. And this desire has tinged 
 the ideal picture of the Beyond : in spite of 
 metaphysics the ethical asserts itself : 
 
 " Good is the Vision of the Noble " (i.e. Arahats). 
 " Good is their company." (206.) 
 
 " A loyal friend is the truest kinsman : 
 Nirvana is the greatest Bliss." (204.) 
 
 To sum up the Buddhist position upon the 
 question of " Society and Solitude " is no easy 
 task ; but we may express it tentatively thus : 
 At first solitude is essential : 
 
 " Alone man lives like Brahma : in twos men live like 
 gods : in threes they are as a village. More than this is a 
 mob."
 
 110 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL 
 
 And as the Dhammapada says, 
 
 " Even for great benefit to another let no man imperil 
 his own benefit." (166.) 
 
 But if an Arahat is to be found, his society can 
 do nothing but good : let the Bhikkhu resort 
 to him. If there are a company of Arahats, let 
 them rejoice in communion and fellowship. 
 And hereafter 
 
 Nirvana is "the unknown shore." (323.) 
 
 It is "the solitude which it is hard to love." (88.) 
 
 With all his kindliness and even geniality Buddha 
 does not disguise the fact that victory will be 
 purchased at a heavy cost : 
 
 " One is the road leading to wealth : another is that 
 leading to Nirvana." 
 
 To win to the goal will mean asceticism all along 
 the line : 
 
 " Cut out the bonds. . . . 
 Play the man. . . . 
 Travel stoutly alone. ..." 
 
 Such are his rallying-cries. 
 
 For the " Path of Safety " is beset with " evil 
 beasts." And to win across " the torrent " to 
 the safety of the " other side " needs courage 
 and strenuous effort. And, having won through, 
 men will find a great solitude, a peace, a freedom, 
 only to be purchased by ceasing to be. Such is 
 Nirvana in the fullest sense. 
 
 Freedom ; Safety ; Rest : Calmness ; Kindli-
 
 ETHICAL AND ATTAINABLE 111 
 
 ness ; Self-control : Solitary effort or the company 
 of the select few. Above all, Bliss, ineffable yet 
 traceable to its seat in the unified will. Such is 
 Arahatship, or Nirvana in this present life. 
 It is a lofty ideal, and though no Buddhist 
 now strives to realise Nirvana, yet there are men 
 in all Buddhist lands gazing into the remote 
 future to see Arahatship shining afar off like 
 some dim yet lovely star. Arid because it 
 is ethical, therefore it is attainable : 
 
 " I ought, therefore I can." 
 
 In the days of Gautama it is clear that men 
 reached the goal of Arahatship, and knew the 
 peace and joy of a mind and conscience at rest. 
 For the contagion of his enthusiasm and the 
 magnetism of his personality went far to energise 
 ideals which are real enough beneath a tropic 
 sun, and, in so far as they are ethical ideals, 
 vital enough in all lands. And to-day Buddhists 
 look wistfully to a Coming One, Maitri, who 
 shall spur them on to victory : or they put 
 their trust in the grace of an Amida who demands 
 only faith in his saving power. 
 
 The Christian will see in these aspirations 
 and yearnings the promise of a speedy fulfilment, 
 when men see the Majesty and the Love of God 
 revealed in Christ : and he will welcome the 
 teachings of Gautama the Buddha as the utterance 
 of a prophet and a seer.
 
 112 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL 
 
 NOTE 
 
 Nirvana is thus explained in the Abhi- 
 dhammattha-Sangaha, translated by Mr. Shwe 
 Zan Aung, and published by the Pah' Text Society 
 under the title Compendium of Philosophy. 
 
 OF NIBBANA 
 
 Now Nibbana, which is reckoned as beyond 
 these worlds, is to be realised through the know- 
 ledge belonging to the Four Paths. It is the 
 object of those Paths, and of their Fruits. It 
 is called Nibbana, in that it is a " departure " 
 from that craving which is called Vana, lusting. 
 This Nibbana is in its nature single, but for 
 purposes of logical treatment it is twofold, 
 namely, the element of Nibbana, wherewith is 
 yet remaining stuff of life, and the element 
 without that remainder. So, too, when divided 
 into modes, it is threefold namely, Void, Sign- 
 less, and Absolute Content. 
 
 MNEMONIC 
 
 Great Seers, wholly from Vana lust set free, 
 Declare Nibbana such a path to be : 
 Past death, past end (it goes, this blessed way), 
 Uncaus6d, having no beyond, they say. 
 
 Thus, as fourfold, Tathagatas reveal, 
 The ultimate kinds of things we know and feel : 
 Mind first, and next, concomitants of mind, 
 Body as third, Nibbana last in kind. 
 
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