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Their mutual relation is a purely moral one, free from all outward obligation. In imitation of their master, the Buddha, the mendicant brethren are to be to the laity a living example of self- control, self-denial and charity. When desired to do so, they are to explain and expound the doc- trine to the laymen, and be ready at all times to give them spiritual advice and assistance in all the various circumstances of life when they stand in need of comfort and consolation. 169. How are the Laymen to behave towards the Brotherhood? They are to show the members of the Order due respect and reverence, and provide for their 70 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM daily sustenance — clothing and the like. By so doing they are gaining merit, and they are pro- moting their own happiness. (*’) 170. Does the Order possess any spiritual power over the Laity? No; the Buddhist knows of no excommunica- tion, no ecclesiastical laws and penances, no rigorous disciplinary system. But the Order repudiates all communion with an Upasaka who has been guilty of some grave moral offence, or who has spoken contemptuously of the Buddha, the doctrine, or the Order. In token of his being henceforth unworthy to provide for the wants of the brethren, they upset before him the alms-bowl they are in the habit of carrying about with them. 171. What in the words of the doctrine should the true Bhikshu be? If a Bhikshu should desire, so the holy Scripture says, to attain the state of perfect peace, and Nirvana: Let him be without guile, upright and con- scientious, gentle-spoken, kind, modest, content, and having few wants, not over-anxious, keeping repose of heart, without presumption, without desire. Let him do nothing unworthy; let him live in thought, word, and deed in the spirit of the doc- trine and the precepts; let him strengthen him- self in the knowledge of the four grand truths, A BUDDHIST CATECHISM 71 and walk without blame in the sublime eightfold path. Let him not rejoice in good fortune, nor de- spond in calamity; let him not be elated by approbation, nor cast down by dishonour and dis- grace; but let him ever keep that equanimity which results from the cessation of all desire. Let him be mindful that it is not the dress which makes the Samana, not the outward ob- servance of the vows and precepts; not a life of retirement, poverty and lowliness, nor any amount of learning; but that he alone, who is pure of heart and free from all concupiscence and desire, is a true disciple of the Tathagata. Therefore, let him pursue knowledge, increase in holiness and self-control, and in charity. Let him be kind and merciful towards all living beings, far and near, the strong and the weak, the good and the bad. Let him not deceive nor hurt, nor threaten, nor despise any one. Like a mother pitying her own child, so let him look with pity and compassion on every being. Serene and unruffled, like a deep Alpine lake, must be the mind of him who walks in the sublime eightfold path. For he who has overcome error and delusion, hope and fear, passion and desire, love and hatred — who lives in purity, who has got rid of the lust of life, and obtained supreme intuition — has reached the end of suffering and birth-renewal, has entered on Nirvana. APPENDIX VERSES FROM THE DHAMMAPADA2 EARNESTNESS is the path to Nirvana, thoughtlessness is the path of death. Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already. Not the perversities of others, not their sins of com- mission and omission, but his own misdeeds and negli- gences should a wise man take heed to. Like a beautiful flower full of colour but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words of him who does not act correspondingly thereto. Long is the night to him who is awake, long is a mile to him who is tired, long is the way of transmigration to the foolish who do not know the true doctrine. “These children and this wealth belong to me,” with such thoughts a fool is tormented. He himself does not belong to himself, how much less sons and wealth. As long as the evil deed does not bear fruit, the fool thinks it like honey; but when it ripens, then the fool suffers grief. Most people are born again; evil-doers go to the dark worlds, righteous people go to a bright state. Those who are free from all fetters and worldly de- sires attain Nirvana — they are never born again. Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, 1The Dhammapada forms part of the Sutta Pitaka, and is a most beautiful collection of verses and passages from the three Pitakas. (See Max Miiller, “Sacred Books of the East,” vol. x.) 73 74 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM it will not come nigh unto me. Even by water-drops a pitcher is filled; the fool becomes full of evil, even if he gather it little by little. Let a man avoid evil deeds as a rich merchant avoids a dangerous road, as a man who loves life avoids poison. He who has no wound on his hand, may touch poison. There is no evil for one who does not commit evil. Aqueduct-makers lead the water, fletchers shape the arrow, carpenters plane a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves. If a man conquer in battle a thousand times a thou- sand men, and if a man conquer himself, he is the greater conqueror. One’s own self conquered is better than all other people. Not an angel or Mara, or even a god, could change into defeat the victory of a man who has van- quished himself and always lives under restraint. Do not follow the evil path, do not live in thought- lessness, do not adhere to false doctrine, be a friend of the world. Rouse thyself, do not be idle, follow the law of virtue. The virtuous rest in bliss in this world and in the next. From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear. He who is free from love of pleasure knows neither grief nor fear. From concupiscence comes grief, from concupiscence comes fear. He who is free from concupiscence, knows neither grief nor fear. From illusion comes grief, from illusion comes fear. He who is free from illusion, knows neither grief nor fear, There is no fire like passion, there is no ill-luck like hatred, there is no pain like this body, there is no happiness like Nirvana. The best of ways is the eightfold, the best of truths A BUDDHIST CATECHISM 75 the four words, the best of virtues passionlessness, the best of men he who has true insight. Let a man overcome anger by love, let him over- come evil by good, let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the har by truth. : By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers, by oneself merit is won, by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another. You yourself must make an effort. The Buddhas are only proclaimers of the truth. The thoughtful only who enter the path, are freed from all fetters. For self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord? He who has well subdued his own self, verily, that man has found a lord such as few can find. NOTES Nore 1. — It has often been a subject of controversy among scholars in Europe whether Buddhism is more appropriately called religion or moral philosophy. It is, in fact, both. It combines the sublimest moral doctrines with the profoundest philosophic truths. Buddhism teaches its adherents the laws and force of the universe, reveals to man the essential nature of his being, points out to him his true destiny, passing far beyond this transient life of earth; enlightens his mind, rouses his latent moral powers and faculties, kindles in him the love for what is noble and good, and enables him, by devoting his whole mind to the conscientious fulfilment of its precepts, to attain the supreme goal of all living beings — namely, deliverance, eternal peace, Nirvana. Buddhism must therefore be called a religion. At the same time it is also a system of philosophy, for it does not demand of its adherents a blind be- lief, but an unshaken reflection. The doctrines of Buddhism are not based on the arbitrary will of an incomprehensible God-Creator, or a _ supernatural revelation, but on the natural conditions of life and of the world. Buddhism does not attempt to frighten the evil-doer by threats of eternal punishment, but it seeks to enlighten him whose vision is obscured by earthly illusions, so that he may perceive the truth; leads him who is in earnest along the path of spiritual development to the supreme end, where earthly things vanish like shadows, and where the sad, apparently dite 78 A BUDDHIST CATECHISM inexplicable contradictions of human life find their solution in the knowledge of what is eternal and un- changeable. Norse 2. — The Sakyas belonged to the great Aryan race, and the region inhabited by them was situated in the north-east of India, at the foot of the Himalayas. Their capital was Kapilavasthu, forty miles from Benares, on the river Rohini, now called Kohana. Nore 3. — There were already in India recluses and ascetics many centuries before the birth of the Buddha. They were either living together in small forest huts of bambu, absorbed in the study of the holy mystic writ- ings (the Upanishads of the Vedas), or separately in caves and under trees. A great number, too, were homeless wanderers, begging their bread from door to door, and inflicting on themselves the most cruel tor- tures, in order to extinguish all sensations, to free the soul from every earthly tie, and to attain union with Brahma. Notr 4.— The holy books of the Buddhist give the following account of these incidents: During one of his drives in the park, Prince Sidd- hartha unexpectedly met an old man broken with age and infirmity, who, leaning on his stick, could hardly drag himself along.