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Siddhartha, greatly astonished, inquired of his charioteer, Channa, who that extraor- dinary being was. ‘An old man,’ was Channa’s reply. ‘Was he born in that state?’ asked the prince. ‘No, my lord; he once was as young and as blooming as you are.’ ‘Are there any more of these old men?’ continued the prince, more and more amazed. ‘A great many more.’ ‘And how did he come to this miserable state?’ ‘It is the appointed lot of all men to grow old and decrepit unless they die in their youth.’ ‘For me too, Channa?’ ‘Yes, my lord.’ A BUDDHIST CATECHISM 79 This incident made so deep an impression on the young prince that he ordered his charioteer to return, for the park had lost all charms for him. Another time, when he was driving out, he saw a man infected with leprosy. On Channa’s explaining to him the nature of the sick man’s complaint, the prince was so affected that he gave up every amusement and began seriously to reflect on human suffering. On a third occasion, some time after, he saw a dead body lying in the middle of the road. This sight produced such an effect on him that he instantly turned back, exclaiming, ‘Woe to all human beings! Is there no means to destroy forever suffering and death renewed at every birth-renewal?’ This question preoccupied him incessantly. A final accidental meeting with a mendicant put an end to his doubts and anxiety. The mendicant wore a yellow robe such as the Buddhist Bhikshu now. His features and demeanour were ex- pressive of the deep calm and serenity of his mind. This prophetic sight, for such we must consider it, showed the prince the way to a solution of all the many harassing problems of existence. He forth- with resolved to retire from the world and to enter the path which alone leads to perfection. This allegory, clothed in the form of a legend, em- bodies the profound truth that through conviction of the vanity and evanescence of life alone, men are led to renounce the world and to experience that total change of heart which all saints and martyrs have undergone, and which to the worldly minded man seems an utter impossibility. Norts 5. — The doctrine of re-birth or re-incarnation is the most ancient and venerable truth possessed by mankind. It is that primitive religious sense of which we seem to have an innate knowledge unless prejudices and errors have been instilled in our minds from early 80 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM youth. It is conspicuous in the different systems of religion of all civilized nations, with the sole exceptions of Jews, Christians, and Mahometans, and forms the corner-stone of all other doctrines. Even in Christian and Mahometan countries great and wise men have at all times clung to it in secret. It only can emancipate us from the false belief that man has been created out of nothing by an almighty God, and that he has even to be grateful for the doubtful gift of life. The doc- trine of birth-renewal alone restores to man that true freedom of the will (spontaneity) which is incom- patible with the belief in a God-Creator; only this is based on justice, and justifies the sublime saying of Jesus of Nazareth: “Whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” The doctrine of re-incarnation is the key to the mystery of our existence, and gives a satisfactory explanation to the many puzzling ques- tions about the inequality of condition of the rich and poor, the righteous and the unrighteous, and the mani- fold miseries of suffering humanity. It teaches us that, like matter and force, our innermost being is in- destructible. We have entered this life of our own will and continued it through endless changing forms from the beginning of the world up to this present day. Death is not annihilation, it is the transition from one impermanent form into another. Let him who de- lights in life take comfort; no God and no devil can de- prive him thereof. Man’s fate rests entirely with him- self and on his own will; there are innumerable birth- renewals in store for him in which he will reap the fruits of his good and evil deeds. But there is a way of release open to him who is weary of renewed existence with its accompanying joys and sorrows. Let him but pursue it with firm resolve and strenuous effort, and he is sure to reach the ulti- mate goal where individuality, which of necessity is limited, suffering and imperfect, will be merged into _A BUDDHIST CATECHISM 81 what is eternal and immutable. All living things, consciously or unconsciously, aspire to this state of bliss, and nothing but their own illusions deter them from it. Note 6.— Queen Maya was no longer living, she had died seven days after the child’s birth. It is the fate of the mother of every future Buddha, for the womb that has given birth to a Buddha cannot after- wards bring forth a common mortal. Nore 7.— This place, where for many years the Buddha had given himself up to the severest penances, and where the light of truth rose within him, was after- wards called “Buddha Gaya,” that is to say, the hermi- tage of the Buddha. When, a thousand years later, Buddhism had spread over the whole of Central and Eastern Asia, temples and monasteries, inhabited by numbers of Bhikshus, were erected on the spot, which became the favourite and chief resort of pilgrims from all the different Buddhist countries. A ruined temple still marks the place. Nore 8. — Not only the sublime founder of the Bud- dhist religion, but likewise many Christian saints have experienced in themselves the inefficacy of pen- ance. “Self-mortification does not even lead to a favourable re-birth, much less to deliverance,” says Nagasena, the great apostle of the Buddhists of the North. For this reason, Buddhism rejects all self-torture and mortification of the flesh as useless and injurious, and directs its whole attention to the purification of heart and will from every evil passion and desire to the increase of self-culture and superior knowledge. The first step to it is the voluntary giving up of all possessions, sensual delights, worldly desires, the vow of poverty and of chastity. 82 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM Nots 9. — This tree is called by Buddhists Bodhi, or Botree —i.e., tree of knowledge — by botanists, Ficus religiosa. An offshoot of the original tree is still seen growing on the ruined temple of Buddha Gaya, not far from the present Rajgir. Another branch was taken to Ceylon and planted near Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of the island. This still flourishes, and is the oldest historical tree existent. Note 10.— Mara, the tempter and prince of this world, plays about the same part in the Buddhist re- ligion as Satan, the prince of darkness, does in the Christian religion. Jesus of Nazareth was tempted in the wilderness by Satan in the same way as the Bud- dha was by Mara. This allegory of course represents a mental conflict. Nore 11. — Buddhism neither denies nor affirms the existence of gods; they are not required for the attain- ment of moral perfection and salvation. Every one is free to believe in one or in a plurality of gods, if he has a wish to do so; but he must remember that all gods pass away as we do, and are subject to birth-renewal, even if their lives are of millions of years’ duration, and that the saint (Arahat) who has worked out his salvation, and above all the Buddha, is superior to any god. The word gods “Devanta,” mentioned above, means inhabitants of higher and brighter worlds. Nors 12.— An Arahat is one who has attained the fourth and supreme stage of holiness, and with it Nirvana. Notr 13.— The Buddha himself inculcated his doc- trine on the mind of his first disciples, who were Brah- mans — that is, men whose whole life had been spent in contemplation, self-denial, and strenuous efforts to attain Eternal Truth. This fact alone explains how it A BUDDHIST CATECHISM 83 was possible that in the short space of five months these men should so completely master the doctrine, that they, too, could be teachers. Notre 14.— The alms-bowl of the Buddhist mendi- cant is an earthen or metal dish with a straight handle. Each member of the Brotherhood is provided with one of these bowls, in which he collects the daily food. The Buddha himself did not infringe this rule, unless when he was invited to take his meal in the house of one of his lay adherents. Norte 15.— In the remote ages, of which we do not possess the faintest historical record, perfectly enlight- ened Buddhas appeared preaching the saving truth, for salvation is forever within reach of erring guilty suffering humanity, and man is never in want of the means, if he is but sincere in his effort to attain the truth. Whenever the pure doctrine is in danger of falling into decay and sensuality, a new Buddha is born. The last of these, the light of our own age, is this very Buddha Gotama whose followers we are. Nore 16.—No member of the Brotherhood is allowed to go unattended into the house of a woman. Nore 17.— The Blessed One is a frequently used epithet for the Buddha. There exists a large number of similar terms, all expressive of some quality of the Buddha.