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A sagacious hint of the author’s, looking to the establishment of a “Darwinian psychology,” if the term be admissible; that is to say, to the secure founding of a psychic science by the application of the principles of evolution to the soul as well as to the body —to the finer as well as to the grosser elements which constitute a human being. Should Orient and Occident clasp hands in such meet human work, most precious truths, proclaimed by the avatars of the Supreme Spirit from all eternity, cherished in the bosoms of the “ chosen noble few ” of every age and of every creed, may yet flash out to dissipate the darkness) of religious and scientific superstitions. — C.] I } 36 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. human ignorance is so deep, and his benevolent desire to teach mankind the. cause of sorrow and the means of escape is so strong, that he voluntarily re-incarnates himself in many births, until at last he has become pure enough to attain the Buddha- hood. Having reached that state, and preached the law, he only then consents to pass out of the cycle of births into the perfect release of Paranirvana. 74. Q. Proceed. What are these three kinds of Bodhisats called ? A. Panyadika, or Udghatitagnya, “he who attains quickly ;” Saddhadhika, or Vipachitagnya, “he who attains less quickly ;” and Wiriadhika, or Gneyya, “he who attains least quickly.”’. 75. Q. Well, will you proceed? A. Just so modern science teaches that out of the millions of beings that appear upon earth some reach perfection most quickly, some less quickly, and others least quickly. Buddhists say that the nature of the re-birth is controlled by the Karma —the preponderance of merit or demerit — of the previous existence. Scientific men say the new form is partly the result of influences from “ conditions of environment” that surrounded the previous generation. There is thus an agreement between Buddhism and science as to the root-idea. 76. Q. And therefore, do not both Buddhism and Darwin- ism teach that all beings are alike subject to universal law ? lita A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. 7 a A. Both do so teach. 77- Q. Then may every man become a Buddha? A. It is not in the nature of every man to become a Buddha, for a Buddha is developed only at long intervals of time, and, seemingly, only when the state of humanity absolutely requires such a teacher to show it the forgotten path to Nirvana. But every being may equally reach Nirvana by conquering ignorance! and gaining wisdom. [1 “Ignorance” is a term of more comprehensive signification in Orien- tal than in our usages, extending to moral as well as intellectual nescience. Thus Patanjali (“ Yoga,” Book ii. Aph. 5) defines it as the notion that the temporal, the impure, the evil, and what is not soul, are severally eternal, pure, good, and soul. Bhojarajah’s Commentary amplifies this aphorism, declaring ignorance in general to be the notion that what is of this, zs this. The notion that there is eternalness in what is uneternal, as a water-jar, is called ignorance. So too is the notion that things impure, as the body, are puré; that objects which are evil are joys; that the body, which is not the soul, is the soul, — as when a bumpkin fancies that his eye sees, or a physiologist has a notion that his brain thinks. The Com- mentary concludes by saying that “this explains the mistake of vice for virtue, and of the useless for the useful.” Chatterji has some measured and seasonable words upon this topic: — “Ignorance is painful; and it is immaterial whether our ignorance begets an overestimate of the importance of life, or the opposite. The great delusion of an absolute existence outside of Cosmos produces a perfect paralysis of the present life, and all the misery consequent there- upon; while the overestimate of this life ends in sensuality and bigotry. This overestimate proceeds from two causes, both equally dangerous, — | 38 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. 78. Q. Does Buddhism teach that man is re-born only upon our Earth ? A. No. Weare taught that the inhabited worlds are num- berless ; the world upon which a person is to have his next birth, as well as the nature of the re-birth itself, being decided by the preponderance of the individual’s merit or demerit. In other words, it will be controlled by his attractions, as science would describe it. 79. Q. Are there worlds more perfect and developed, and others less so, than our Earth ? A. Buddhism teaches this; and also that the inhabitants of ae world correspond in development with itself. . Q. Has not the Buddha summed up his whole religion in one ‘‘ sutta,” or verse ? Asa CS; 81. Q. Will you repeat it? corporealism [z.e. ‘‘materialism,” as commonly understood, the “rational agnosticism” of scientific orthodoxy], which cannot conceive of any existence dissociated from the present body, and certain forms of dog- matic religion [z.e. “revealed” ecclesiasticism, in its endless guises], which supplement this erring, miserable life of humanity by an eternity of existence taking its color from causes generated in finite time. The pleasures of this life appear in gigantic proportions to the votary of the former system, and dogmatic morality becomes the omnipotent ruler of the so-called religious man.” —C.] A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. 39 A, Sabbapipassa akaranam ; Kusalassa upasampadé ; Sa chitta pariyo dapanam, — Etam Buddhénu stranam Q. Do these precepts show that Buddhism is an active, or a passive religion? A. To “cease from sin’? may be called a passive quality ; but to “get virtue” and to “cleanse one’s own heart” are altogether active qualities. Buddha taught that we should not merely not be evil, but that we should be positively good. 83. QO. Who or what are the “ Three Guides”? that a Buddhist is supposed to follow? 1 “To cease from all sin; To get virtue ; To cleanse one’s own heart, — ) This is the religion of the Buddhas.” This celebrated verse has a meaning that should not be overlooked by the student of Buddhistic philosophy. The first line embodies the whole spirit of the Vizaya; the second line that of the Sw/éa ; the third that of the Adidkamma. Thus in three lines, collectively comprising only eight Pali words, are condensed the entire essence of the Buddhist scriptures. According to Mr. Rhys-Davids, there are about 1,752,800 words in the whole text of the three Pitakas. 2 Sdranam. Wijesinha Mudaliyar writes me,— “This word has been hitherto very inappropriately and erroneously rendered ‘refuge’ by European Pali scholars, and’ thoughtlessly so accepted by native Pali scholars. Neither Pali etymology nor Buddhistic philosophy justifies the 40 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. ee A. They are disclosed in the formula called the Zisérana, —“T follow Buddha as my guide; I follow the law as my guide ; I follow the order as my guide.” 84. QO. What does he mean when repeating this formula? A. He means that he regards the Lord Buddha as his all- wise teacher and exemplar; the law, or doctrine, as con- taining the essential and immutable principles of justice and truth, and thus being the path that leads to the summum bonum,; and the order as the teachers and expounders of that excellent law revealed by Buddha. translation. ‘Refuge,’ in the sense of ‘a fleeing back’ or ‘a place of shelter,’ is quite foreign to true Buddhism, which insists that every man shall work out his own emancipation. The root S7Z in Sanskrit (Séra in Pali) means ‘to move,’ ‘to gc ;’ so that Sévanam would denote a moving, or he or that which goes before or with another —a ‘ guide,’ or ‘ helper.” I construe the passage thus: Gacchami, I go, Buddham, to Buddha, Sdranam, as my guide. The translation of the 7¢sdrana as the ‘three refuges’ has given rise to much misapprehension, and has been made by Anti-Buddhists a fertile pretext for taunting Buddhists with the absurd- ity of taking refuge in nonentities and believing in unrealities. The term ‘refuge’ is more applicable to Nirvana, of which Sévanam is a synonym.” The High Priest calls my attention to the fact that the Pali root Sdra has also the secondary meaning of “ killing him” or “ that which destroys.” Buddham Sdranam gacchami might thus be rendered: “T go to Buddha, the law, and the order, as the destroyers of my fears, — the first by his preaching, the second by its axiomatic truth, the third by their virtuous example and precepts.” A BUDDHIST CATECHISM. Al 85. QO. But are not many of the members of this “ order” men intellectually and morally inferior to ourselves ? A, Yes; but we are taught by Buddha that only those who diligently attend to the precepts, discipline their minds, and strive to attain, or have attained, to one of the eight stages of holiness and perfection, constitute his “order.” It is ex- pressly stated that the order referred to in the TZzsdrana is that of the Attha Ariya Puggala,— ascetics who have attained to one of the eight stages of perfection. 86. QO. What are the five observances or Precepts, called the “Panca sila,” zwposed on the Buddhist laity in general? [} Questions 86 to 91. — In the general tenor of these “ precepts ” we observe, — (a) A moral code or system of practical ethics in no wise peculiar in its principles or practices: these being a part of common hu- manities. (4) Additional injunctions upon the clergy, as customary in all countries: these being on the whole most consonant with the rules for the government of Catholic priests, except in the important particular that obedience to ecclesiastical authority is not specified ; for submission to hierarchical rule is foreign to the humane and catholic spirit of the “ Protestants of India.