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is absolutely a different “person” from the youth A. B.; and not only this, but, if scientific calculation be correct, every particle of his body is renewed about every seven years. In the course of time he may grow less gross, or more so; less vigorous, or A BUDDHIST CATECHITSM. 7x while the man A, B. of forty is identical, as regards personality, with the youth A.B. of eighteen, yet by the continual waste and repair of his body, and change of mind and character, more so. But consciousness and memory assure him he is the same individual, whatever the change in his vwga,— material qualities, the physical one of the skazdhas. But observe, now, not only does the body change, but the ‘‘mind” also; the man’s character is affected, for better or worse; he “knows” more than-he did before; he does not “ think” or “feel” just as he did before, —in short, all the rest of the skandhas are in perpetual modification too. We have only to bridge over “death” with these undeniable facts, and continue the process of shifting skandhas after the dissolution of the physical body, to get on good logical ground for re- incarnation ; for, according alike to Buddhistic and Christian doctrine, “death ” only affects one of the skandhas,—the rupa, or material quali- ties. And what of the rest of the qualities or principles that make up a human being? For there he is still, in the astral world, — in Kama-Loka, in the astral form, — continuing his existence exactly where he left it off in the physical world when he left his body behind, having escaped there- from by the dissipation of the “life-principle,” or s7vatma, which formerly bound him to his “‘corpse.” Consider now, as Pagans and Christians alike believe, this physical or phenomenal world to be the “world. of causes,” and the next to be “the world of effects.”? Then the individual will get “the fruit of works,” —as an orthodox theologian would say, — and that would be Karma. But the Karmic law is neither a flash of lightning nor a judgment. It does not “fix” a person at once and for- ever. Itis a “natural law in the spiritual world,” continually operative, thus modifying personality as surely in the next as in this world. So the personality continues to change, for better or worse; all the skandhas that survive physical dissolution being gradually modified, just as before 72 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. he is a different being. Nevertheless, the man in his old age justly reaps the reward or suffering consequent upon his thoughts and actions at every previous stage of his life. So the the person parted with his vasa. And consider, again, that the individual is himself continuously operative, as well as operated upon. He has WILL-POWER still; he has aha, let us say, — “ the will to live;” he has “desire:” ¢azha is the sum of all desires. But “desire” of no kind can be gratified except in and by matter. Zaha is a gravitating energy, involving a kind of moral “ law of gravitation,” in exact accordance with the force of which the individual will sooner or later “fall into genera- tion”? again, —take another “dip in the mud;” z.¢., be re-incarnated, or re-born in matter. Zazha is the impulse, the tendency itself; karma, the modifier, the director, the controller of that force. A new aggregation of skandhas, a new “ personality ” for the same individual, is the result, — in short, a ‘‘re-birth,” necessitated by fazha, determinated by sarma. The doctrine as a whole, if we catch its significance, simply rounds up a cycle of human experiences, instead of leaving it like a rope in air, beginning and ending nowhere in particular. It returns unto itself, completing a cycle or orbit, —now approaching perihelion as it nears the sun (“ Spirit,” “ God”), then receding in aphelion (“ matter,” “darkness,” “ evil”); and so continuing to revolve through re-births, like the earth in its orbit, as long as Zaha (“ gravitation,” “will,” “desire”) lasts. To put an end to all this— “ existence,” with its shifting skandhas, its conflict of good and bad arma, its remorseless tazha—is the aim of the Buddhistic philosophy; the attainment of that end is Virvdna. Of Nirvana numberless definitions have been more or less successfully attempted. The difficulty is not so much to translate the word as to transplant the idea from the teeming theosophic soil of its birth to the bleak and arid fields of a sterile orthodoxy. But any good Catholic can A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. 73 new being of a re-birth, being the same individuality as before, but with a changed form or new aggregation of Skandhas, _ justly reaps the consequences of his actions and thoughts in the previous existence. tell you what he means by “the communion of the saints and life everlasting,” while a good Protestant who has read his Baxter can speak of “the saints’ rest” and “ the bliss of heaven.” See further, Question 146. Iam tempted to quote, on the eonant theme of Re-incarnation, some words of a Cheela, very well known to me personally, whose name must be withheld: — “When a man’s ego is deprived of its physical body by death, and is purged of his earthly thoughts and desires in Kama-Loka, the con- scious unit or higher self [the ego, individual monad] passes into the more spiritual state of Dewachan, and there unfolds all the psychic and spiritual forces it has generated during life on earth. It progresses on those planes until the latent physical forces begin to assert themselves, and then it curves round to another incarnation. A slight reflection will show how each incarnation must be higher than the previous one, and how the psychic and spiritual forces generated by an individual produce two sets of effects, —one determining his stay in Devachan, the other governing his next incarnation. “The Doctrine of Re-incarnation is the corner-stone of the esoteric philosophy, as well as of all archaic religions. It is founded on the natural fact that effects must be proportionate to causes. Energy stored up during a finite period of time can never produce effects stretching over an infinity of time. The thought-energy represented by the unsatis- fied physical inclinations [¢azha] of an ego being in its nature indestruc- tible, requires physical existence to work itself out; hence the necessity 74. A BUDDHIST CATECHTISM. 145. Q. But the aged man remembers the incidents of his youth, despite his being physically and mentally changed: why, then, ts not the recollection of past lives brought over by us from our last birth into the present birth ? A. Because memory is included within the Skandhas; and the Skandhas having changed with the new existence, a new memory, the record of that particular existence, develops. Yet of re-incarnations. If any human ego is entirely devoid of physical ten- dencies and inclinations, it will not be under the necessity of further births and deaths on the physical plane. In the mystical language of the Fast, such an ego is said to burst the wheel of births and re-births (saz- sara), and attain Nirvana. When humanity collectively shall have been perfected, and all physical possibilities realized, our earth itself, having completed its course, will pass into Nirvana.” In the above paragraph Devachan may be crudely translated “heaven,” or an exalted state where preponderating good karma is rewarded. It differs from the orthodox “heaven” chiefly in being neither perfected nor perpetual happiness. Its opposite is known as Av/tchi, translated “hell,” with the same qualification. ama-Loka is practically the Roman Catholic’s “ purgatory.” Christian doctrine grossly exaggerates and dis- torts both Devachan and Avitchi from their real truth, ignoring all but the crudest conceptions of their respective extremes. Protestantism is stit) more violently untruthful, forcing premature delivery of the scarcely z<able individual over to immediate salvation or damnation. Western fcience, representing the half-way house (see Question 130, zo¢e) of mun- dane human evolution, dispenses with all three, and busies herself solely with the rapa of an individual, ignoring about six-sevenths of the parts, properties, and principles of the human constitution. — C.] a A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. 75 the record or reflection of all the past lives must survive ; for when Prince Siddartha became Buddha, the full sequence of his previous births was seen by him. If theif several inci- dents had left no trace behind, he could not have done this, as there would have been nothing for him to see. And any one who attains to the state of YAana can thus retrospectively trace the line of his lives. 146. QO. What is the ultimate point towards which tend all these series of changes in form ? A. Nirvdna.! [1 “Repress, then, for the future this longing for assurance of immor- tality, and rather say to yourself, ‘If Iam not perfect, I am not worthy toendure. If I am perfect, let me be content; I have fulfilled my nature, and God has fulfilled himself in me.’ For this at least I hold to be self- evident, — Should immortality be a fact, the least likely way to attain the perfection which alone can fit us for it is to convert the expectation of wt into a motive [tanha] either of conduct, feeling, or belief [karma]. “ Such, again, is pure catholic doctrine, whether Christian or Buddhist ; for, as the Buddha-Word says, — To Buddhas Nirvana is the name of that which alone is good. He whe flees to Buddha, who clings to his Doctrine and Church, “He will understand aright the Fourfold Lofty Truth. “<Te who, loosed from all ties of sense, has risen to the divine com- munion; ; “* He who has thus laid aside every weight ; “< Him alone do I call a Brahmana.’” — Anon. “ A Brahmana, ” — one who has only to die to attain Nirvana, where self is lost, or rather found, in the absolute ideal, in God. —C.