CHAPTER V.

SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS.

It is only when we come to take a bird's-eye view of these two great religions, which have exercised so enormous and so abiding an influence over the human race, and when clearness of vision is unobscured by numberless petty details and dogmas, that we can perceive the factors common to both which have given them their present stability and strength.

No religion, no system of morals, no philosophy, can be secure unless they rest upon the groundwork of universal truth and necessity; and it is certain that, if Christianity and Buddhism did not possess these supports, they would not now be what they actually are--the ruling forces to millions of human beings.

It has been said with much truth that the daily life of an ordinary man is a continual round of intoxication. Some form or other of inebriating excitement seems absolutely necessary to him, if he is to escape from the Slough of Despond of _ennui_ and all its evil consequences. The remark is equally true of the human race as a whole. It cannot survive, apparently, without constant stimuli to urge and goad it forward. Were such stimuli wanting from time to time, man would probably degenerate, and cease to show that love of progress and activity which is so essential to his existence as man. Consequently, we note, looking back through the vista of history which lies open to our view, the periodical appearance of some great religious reformer, whose task it is to infuse new zeal and strength into the flagging energies of his fellow-creatures. Gotama, Jesus, Savonarola, General Booth, are all greater or lesser instances in point; have all worked upon the same basic conception, however different the condition of their times may have required the superficial doctrines of their various creeds to be.

Some--Jesus and Gotama, and possibly Mahomed--worked with the full cognizance of the task before them; others, who have not been gifted with so large a measure of divine insight, have wrought and lived for the same purpose, blindly, and unconscious of the complete significance of their action.

But, it may be asked, if Jesus and Gotama were gnomic, how comes it that the Buddhism and Christianity of to-day are so radically different in their outward manifestations? To answer this question we have merely to take a broad glance at history.

At the time of the advent of Gotama the people of India were in possession of a civilization remarkable in many respects, but most remarkable, perhaps, in the freedom and latitude of thought prevalent. It is difficult for many who have been brought up within the contracted influences of those who regard all alien religions and non-Christian countries as so many black spots on the pages of history and on the maps of the world, and who have been surrounded in their youth by the innumerable restrictions placed upon all speculative propensities, to realize that, at the time when they were mere cave-dwellers and unclothed sojourners with the beasts of the field, a great and lofty civilization was existent in what they would possibly consider a barbarous corner of the globe, and that a people there held dominion whose chief intellectual pastime was to range over the vast domains of speculative thought and all the interminable mysteries of life. The Indian has been a philosopher by birth and breeding from time immemorial; and only among a race of philosophers could such a religion as Buddhism, with its sudden iconoclasm, have been preached with so little opposition, and have taken root so rapidly, when we come to consider the strong hold the Brahmanical ceremonial had upon the people at that time.

With the inception of Christianity, however, the case was very different. At the birth of Jesus the inhabitants of Palestine, with the exception of the Essenes, were sunk low in the mire of bigotry, prejudice, and priestly domination. The mind of the people was less philosophically prepared to grasp a broad and exalted creed such as essential Christianity; it required dogmas more definite, doctrines more easily comprehended; and Jesus had perforce to mould his utterances to the temperament and mental capacity of the people among whom he preached.

To the east of the Holy Land was India, with its refined and more perfect civilization; to the west, Central Europe, with its savage and ignorant tribes, worshippers of trees, and in servitude to many superstitious practices and customs. Christianity, with its immense potential resources, its innate power for good, required some outlet for its activities; and, as was only natural, it spread in the direction where a pure and sublime religion was most needed, and experienced little difficulty in eventually conquering the savage intellect of Central Europe. Becoming appropriated by men who, living in the far North, depended for their very life upon a ceaseless struggle with adverse circumstances, it gradually lost the softening and refining influences which are so characteristic of the Oriental temperament, and became the vehicle for the passions and ambitions of a race more brutal and more unsympathetic than that among which it took its rise.

And to what an extent has this religion of Christ, the evangel of peace and goodwill, been since prostituted! The mistaken--though, no doubt, well-intended--dogmas formulated by the Holy Catholic Church proved to be, in their short-sightedness and complete lack of insight into human nature, a prolific source of degeneration, bigotry, persecution, ignorance, immorality, and extreme ecclesiastical tyranny in the Dark Ages. The rigid and narrow doctrines inculcated by the Puritans have been almost as fruitful a cause of moral perversion and reckless narrow-mindedness. To-day it must be acknowledged that we have outgrown the gross and debasing Christianity of those mediæval times; but many of us are still fast chained in the shackles of prejudice and intolerance, with all their concomitant delusions and hypocrisies.

Bruno, in his day, said: "Christianity has been tried for eighteen centuries; the religion of Christ remains to be tried." This remark, however, overstates the case considerably, for it must be confessed that there have been many instances of individual lives which have approached as closely to the ideal as far as it has been practicable within human limits.

True Christianity many of us have yet to learn; it is but the husk which exists with the many as yet. Nevertheless, we flatter ourselves sometimes as the elect of the earth, and despatch emissaries of civilization to the darkest corners of heathendom to carry with them only a very imperfect presentment of our great religion in practice and doctrine.

It is but lately that stern necessity caused the deserts of the Soudan to be strewn with the corpses of many thousands of dervishes, and the pietist section of the British press rejoiced at the great victory of Christianity over Islam, and the fulfilment of a long-cherished _revenge_ for the most truly Christian of English soldiers! To such an extent can inconsistency flourish among the most morally advanced of the earth's inhabitants. And if Europeans have been zealous in waging war to the death against the heathen in the name of their common religion, they have been no less ready to turn the gospel of peace into an apologia for such an internecine slaughter as few other causes have given rise to, until, at the present day, it is hardly possible to write seriously--in order that they may be taken seriously--the words, "How these Christians love one another!"

When we turn to India, to Ceylon, and more especially to Burmah, we are brought face to face with a very different state of things. It is true that in some parts--Thibet, for instance--Buddhism has been debased to an even worse state than Christianity in Europe; but, after all, that is merely asserting that human nature is human nature. The broader aspect of Buddhism in Asia must, to any unprejudiced observer, appear in striking contrast to the prostitution to which other religions in other corners of the earth have been subjected. It seems to be one of the unalterable laws which govern human conduct that the teaching of any great religious reformer should, in the centuries which follow his disappearance from the arena in which he had striven, be brought low and narrowed down, partly by the short-sightedness of its adherents, but mostly owing to the unhealthy influences of ecclesiastical domination such as was typical of mediæval Europe and Brahmanical India. That Buddhism should in great degree have escaped such a fate must be attributed, not only to the intrinsic value of the system itself, but also to the character of the people among whom it has survived.

There have been many calumniators, from interested motives, of Buddhism; but no false representations, however frequently reiterated, can serve to mask the purity and nobility of this remarkable religion. It has never, like Christianity, been made the pretext of warfare and the conquest of alien races; no blood has ever been shed in its propagation; no despairing cries of martyred wives and orphan children rise up from the centuries that are past to stamp its forehead with the brand of Cain. By reason alone has it spread and become endeared to the many millions who now owe it allegiance; reason and truth are the only swords which have been unsheathed in the cause of its promulgation.[AT] It has, in fact, conquered by its sweet reasonableness alone, unaided by artificial and compulsory means.

[AT] "No ravished country has ever borne witness to the prowess of the followers of the Buddha; no murdered men have poured out their blood on their hearthstones, killed in his name; no ruined women have cursed his name to high heaven. He and his faith are clean of the stain of blood. He was the preacher of the Great Peace, of love, of charity, of compassion; and so clear is his teaching that it can never be misunderstood" (_The Soul of a People_, by H. Fielding, p. 88).

The gradually diminishing popularity of the religious war sentiment which actuates people to perpetrate such iniquities as Crusades and Jehads will, it is presumed, afford relief in the future, at least to some sections of the Christian world, by removing an opportunity out of the way for the reproach of those who take their stand by the non-resistance principle as enunciated by the founder of the Christian faith. The carrying out of the non-resistance principle in its totality seems to increase in impracticability in proportion to the advancing complexity of social and national life. A very near approach to the achievement of the object embodied in the principle can only be imagined possible under the most primitive conditions of existence, notably in such cases where the country inhabited provides the necessities of life without involving any violent struggle for their acquisition. Christian nations, by the force of circumstances and the nature of their environment, are unfortunately impelled, it would seem, to disregard and set aside the very distinct teaching of Jesus on this point; and some of us, facing both ways, endeavour to escape from the dilemma, and pour balm upon our consciences, by assuming that war is amply justified by Scripture and expressly sanctioned by the Almighty. In this connection it would perhaps be the most straightforward course for us to frankly admit with Tolstoi that war is as fundamentally un-Christian as it is un-Buddhistic, and to be prepared to face the consequences of its unlawfulness in the sight of God rather than to dislocate the teaching of Jesus with a view to the selfish satisfaction of our consciences, and for the ultimate purpose of settling down into a comfortable frame of mind when brought into contact with this unpleasant subject.

In spite of the many detractors Buddhism has had, it has been appreciated in cultivated centres of Europe and America to an extent which is the surest token of its intrinsic worth. In Asia it is difficult to realize how profound and enduring has been its influence for good.

Perhaps, on account of the presence of dogmas, such as the negation of soul as a permanent individual entity and of immortality as it is known among us, which are to the average European intellect absurd and most repugnant, it has been more readily assimilated as a belief by races which, unlike ourselves, are philosophic by nature and by birth. But by far the most important part of Buddhism in its practical significance is the doctrine of Karma, which has proved so great a stumbling-block to many, and a medium of contempt for those professing other faiths. It would hardly be exaggeration to describe this as one of the grandest ethical theories ever devised by the brain of man, ranging as it does over the whole sphere of human activity and existence, and policing, as it were, the actions of human creatures.

Lest it should appear to any of my readers that I have laid undue stress upon the value and beauty of Buddhism in the foregoing pages, I would take this opportunity of disclaiming any intention on my part to draw invidious distinctions between the manifestations of the two faiths of which I have treated, and which, in my opinion, are _fundamentally_ one and the same.

In this connection my sole aim has been to give prominence to the many excellent properties possessed by Buddhism, with a view to clearing the way for an impartial appreciation of this religion by those who have never yet bestowed their attention or extended their sympathies to the subject with unbiased minds.

The dissolution, not the destruction, of symbolism which I have endeavoured to accomplish in dealing with the metaphysic of Christianity and Buddhism--of that symbolism which is so apt, when taken as a thing in itself, to contract our sympathies and darken our vision in respect of religions--will have achieved an object if it succeeds in carrying with it the conviction, at present[AU] so indisturbably possessed by the writer, that _essential_ Christianity and _true_ Buddhism cannot be differentiated; that the ultimate source of their power and loveliness is one; that they rest upon the same imperishable foundations, which are lost to sight in billowy clouds of mystery, in a splendour beyond imagining.

[AU] "In knowledge that man only is to be condemned who is not in a state of transition ... nor is there anything more adverse to accuracy than fixity of opinion" (_Faraday_).

The priest in Zola's _Rome_ looked forward to the day when symbols and rites, so necessary in the infancy of the world, would disappear altogether--"to the time when enlarged, purified, and instructed humanity would be able to support the brightness of naked truth" without their assistance.

It may be, however, that any premature abandonment of symbols, rites, and ceremonies might, under present conditions, prove disastrous, as such a course would go far to arrest artistic tendencies and stifle within us those cravings for the beautiful which are such undeniably potent and useful factors in conducting us onward to a realization of the invisible. All that appears requisite in this direction at the present moment is that the symbolic element in symbolism should be clearly recognized, and symbolism appraised at its true value.

Concurrently with the development of a deeper insight into the realities which subsist in symbols, there should arise in these Northern latitudes a class of people who would demonstrate by their character and actions that, under existing social conditions, and in all the turmoil of modern civilization, a nearer approach to the ideal life than has yet been made by a community is within the range of practicalities. This is the most clamant need of the day.

In our Western world we are confronted with innumerable obstacles in the way of leading the ideal, or Christ-like, life. The ideal _life-germ_ is in all of us, but too often hidden away under the veneer of respectability, and much obscured by conventionalities. This germ, if not very apparent in our public capacity, is distinctly discernible in the family life as typical of these islands. We see it in the eyes of the wife, in the restraint of the son, and we listen to it in the voices of our daughters. It struggles hard to develop itself in the face of stupendous difficulties. Its growth among our spiritual leaders is frequently handicapped by the isolating effects of aggrandizement. A cardinal, for instance--good and gracious as he invariably is--must always be more or less inaccessible and appalling. Our charities, too, are vitiated by ostentation. Prospectuses demand that a royalty should take the lead, and the titled figure as patrons, if the appeal made is designed to be irresistible. So that, to whichever side we turn, we find ourselves hampered in our aspirations towards the ideal by the exigencies of society, by our customs and absurdities.

Turning to the far East, we are face to face with other conditions, which undoubtedly lend themselves more readily to the impress of the ideal. Burmah is a country where strikingly successful endeavours continue to be made to hold constantly before the eyes of the people exemplars of the ideal life, and the results are astonishing--approximating a perfection which it is hardly possible to over-rate. Notwithstanding the enormous capacity and appreciation its inhabitants possess for the frivolities of existence, they are wont to support out of their slender resources a numerous staff of monks, who are to be found in all parts of the land, and in every place where their fellow-creatures congregate in small or large numbers.

However far laymen may deviate from the _Path_, the ideal life as exemplified by the monks must not be tampered with. It is the expressed will of the laity that this example should be unremittingly preserved in all its integrity and purity, whatever may be the sum of their own failings. It is this intense admiration and fervour on the part of the lay community for the ideal life, as known to them through the teaching of the Enlightened One, that has secured this incalculable blessing to the people, and made Burmah a model for all nations in this respect.

There is a sadness unspeakable in the thought that perhaps, ere long, this ancient and ennobling bond between the people and their religious teachers, between the material and the ideal, will be swept away in the wake of commerce and utilitarianism, and all their attendant debasements.

Mr. Fielding, in his book, _The Soul of a People_, brings all his unique experiences and intimate knowledge of the Burmese and the monkhood to impress upon us this marvellous object-lesson in the effect of a religion whose abiding principles are an ever-present, living force, and of which it may be truly said it is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

Everywhere, intermingled with this light-hearted people, delighting in colour, dress, and decoration of all kinds, there is ever to be seen the serene and passionless personality of the monk; no reviler of alien creeds; no possessor of priestly power; poorer than the poorest, yet rich in the inheritance of the Dharma; no figure-head of some illustrious superstition, mitred, and heralded through the streets; nought--save a lowly follower of the Perfect One, whose law it is that guides to the Great Peace, which,

"like a star, Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are."

AT THE MALAGAWA TEMPLE, CEYLON.

I.

Hail! Gentle Master, Grave and Sweet! Here at Thy shrine we bend the knee; With island flowers we deck Thy feet, And golden corn we bring to Thee. Star of our Night, Orb of our Day, Thou art our Refuge, Thou our Stay!

II.

Thy pitying eyes we see downcast, Yet are they fain to tell us this-- Sometime, somewhere, life's ocean[AV] past, We all shall taste immortal bliss! Star of our Night, Orb of our Day, Thou art our Refuge, Thou our Stay!

[AV] Samsāra--The ocean of Birth and Death.

III.

No adoration, praise, or prayer Hast Thou enjoined whilst here we live; But our great love can scarce forbear To pay Thee all our hearts can give. Star of our Night, Orb of our Day,[AW] Thou art our Refuge, Thou our Stay!

[AW]

"Atha sabbamahorattim Buddho tapati tejasāti."

--_Samyutta-Nikāya_, edited by M. Léon Feer, p. 284.

APPENDIX.

_METRICAL ADAPTATIONS OF BUDDHIST LEGEND AND SCRIPTURE._

THE LAST WORDS OF GOTAMA BUDDHA TO HIS FAVOURITE DISCIPLE ANANDA.

Weep not, Ananda, sorrow not! Have I not said ere this to thee That from all things which man most loves, From these, Ananda, man must flee?

How can it be, Ananda, then, That Birth and Growth should not decay, That all things made, begotten here, Should not, Ananda, pass away?

That cannot be. But thou for long In thought and words and holy deed The Perfect One hast glorified. Strive on, and thou shalt soon be freed.

It may be so, that thou shalt say "The Word has lost its Master here," "We have no Master more." Not thus, Ananda, be thou fraught with fear.

The Law and Ordinance I taught, These are your Master when I'm gone: Each man his own salvation is, Thus only is Deliverance won.

SAMSÂRA AND NIRVANA.[AX]

[AX] From _The Gospel of Buddha, according to Old Records_, told by Paul Carus.

I.

Look on this life and meditate! Herein are birth and growth's decay. Atoms combine and separate; Nought lasts: all things must pass away.

II.

As flowers are the glories of this world, Full blossoms scent the morning shade; The painted petals soon are furled, And in the heat of noon-day fade.

III.

Lo! everywhere the panting breath Of Pleasure and Pursuit of fame, Of panic flight from pain and death And fierce Desire's consuming flame.

IV.

The world is nought but endless change, A restless, driven, surging sea. Is it through lives we thus must range, Ever becoming, never be?

V.

Is there no permanency, then? No realm of rest where troubles cease, Where birth is not, nor death of men, No City of Eternal Peace?

VI.

Must anxious hearts for ever beat? What power from all this ill redeems? Will not our hot, earth-weary feet At last be dipped in cooling streams?

VII.

Buddha, our Lord, with pitying eyes Came and beheld this world of woe. He found the path whereby we rise Above all evil here below.

VIII.

Ye who for life unending crave Know that there lurks immortal bliss In transient form. There is no grave, No death for those who know of this.

IX.

Ye who for riches vainly yearn Take of the treasure He will give. Ye who the mighty Truth discern The birthless, deathless life will live.

X.

Truth is the immortal part of mind; Possessing truth is rich to be. In truth the changeless you will find, The image of Eternity!

REJOICE.[AY]

[AY] From _The Gospel of Buddha, according to Old Records_, told by Paul Carus.

I.

Let the whole earth with joy resound, Buddha, our Lord, the Blessed One, The hidden cause of Ill hath found, And for the world salvation won.

II.

He who the ravelled knot unwinds, Buddha, our Lord, has rent the veil! Illusion now no longer blinds, Nor fear of death our hearts assail.

III.

Ye who of tribulation tire, Ye who must struggle and endure, Rejoice; ye, too, who truth desire, For now is your deliverance sure.

IV.

Here is a balm for every woe, Here for the hungry princely fare; For those athirst the fountains flow, And Hope triumphant kills Despair.

V.

On mountain heights, in valleys low, O, darkened soul, where'er thou art, This light ineffable will glow With blessings for the pure in heart.

VI.

Bind up your wounds, ye bruiséd feet! O broken, beating hearts, be still! Drink, thirsty lips, the waters sweet; Ye that are hungered, eat your fill!

VII.

O children of the night, arise! The star of morning is on high. O bleeding breasts, O suppliant eyes, Be of good cheer, your bliss is nigh.

VIII.

Buddha, our Lord, the truth revealed, Which gives us strength in life and death; The sorrowing and the sick are healed, And every evil languisheth.

THE GOAL.[AZ]

[AZ] From _The Gospel of Buddha, according to Old Records_, told by Paul Carus.

I.

Why thus so long by Karma tied? O Bhikshus, listen! You and I The four great truths have set aside, Not understanding--that is why!

II.

Through rock and plant and breathing things Migrate[BA] the wandering souls of each, Till they, beyond imaginings, The perfect light of Buddha reach.

[BA] Although the expression "migrate" does not accurately represent the process of transition in a Buddhistic sense, it is retained here for want of a better.

III.

Karma inexorable reigns! E'en though you fly from star to star, The Past on you imprest remains, And what you were is what you are!

IV.

To new births onwards you must press Before the hill of light you see Where shines the beacon Righteousness From transmigration's bondage free.

V.

The higher birth I've reached, O friends; I've found the truth, rebirth's surcease; I've taught the noble path that wends To kingdoms of eternal peace.

VI.

I've showed to you Ambrosia's lake, Which all your sins will wash away; The sight of truth your thirst will slake, And Lust's destroying strife allay.

VII.

He who has crossed through Passion's fire, And climbed Nirvana's radiant shore, _His_ bliss the envious gods desire, _His_ heart defiled by sin no more.

VIII.

As lotus leaves upon the lake The pearly drops do not retain, So they the noble path who take, Though in the world, the world disdain.

IX.

A mother will her life bestow To safely guard an only son, But they unmeasured mercy show, And give their lives for anyone.

X.

Steadfast in mind let man remain, Whether he stand or walk or rest; Living or dying, sick or sane, Of all, this state of heart is best.

XI.

If truth's bedimmed by lust of sense, Reborn, man must again o'erpass The desert tracks of Ignorance, Illusion's mirage, Sin's morass.

XII.

But, when Truth holds entire sway, With it migration's cause departs; All selfish cravings melt away, And Truth its saving cure imparts.

XIII.

O Bhikshus, true deliverance this-- The only heaven to which we soar. This is salvation's endless bliss! Here, within sight, Nirvana's shore!

BUDDHA AND THE HERDSMAN.

(_Rhymed version of stanzas translated by Professor Rhys Davids._)

I.

Hot steams my food: all milked the cows-- The Herdsman Dhaniya said-- Hard by there stands where Māhi flows New thatched my lowly shed: My friends are near, my hearth burns bright, Then let the rain pour down to-night!

II.

Cool is my mind: no "fallow"[BB] there-- The Holy Buddha said-- One night for Māhi's banks I spare, And all unthatched my shed. Lo! now extinguished is the fire; The lamps of Lust have lost their light. "Dulness"[BC] and Evil both expire-- So let the rain pour down to-night!

[BB] Referring to the five fallow lands of the mind.

[BC] Dulness is used here in the sense of inactivity of mind.

III.

There are no gad flies here, my kine-- The Herdsman Dhaniya said-- Are roaming where the meadows shine, The rich grass is their bed. In vain the fickle rain god's might! So let the rain pour down to-night!

IV.

My basket raft was woven well-- The Holy Buddha said-- I've reached the shore, I've spoiled the spell, From me four floods have fled; These four--Delusion, Ignorance, The lust of life, the lust of sense-- No longer powerful to blight. So let the rain pour down to-night!

V.

Obedient is my wife: no wanton she-- The Herdsman Dhaniya said-- No evil word she spake of me While she and I were wed. Long dwelt with me my soul's delight. So let the rain pour down to-night!

VI.

Obedient is my heart: set wholly free-- The Holy Buddha said-- Restrained, subdued; o'erwatched by me Through passion's tempest led. No evil dims my heart's pure light. Then let the rain pour down to-night!

VII.

Earning my bread, I live at ease-- The Herdsman Dhaniya said-- My sons around by strength's increase To ripening manhood bred. No ill do they my joy to blight. So let the rain pour down to-night!

VIII.

No man can call me slave; I roam-- The Holy Buddha said-- At will I roam, each spot a home, And when I want am fed. No need for wage or gain to fight. So let the rain pour down to-night!

IX.

I've barren cows and calves yet young-- The Herdsman Dhaniya said-- And cows in calf and steers among, A bull lifts up his head-- Lord of the cows, a kingly sight. Then let the rain pour down to-night.

X.

No cows have I nor calves yet young-- The Holy Buddha said-- For cows in calf and steers among No bull lifts up his head; No lord of cows, no king of might! So let the rain pour down to-night!

XI.

Then lo! a cloud o'er hill and plain That moment thundering poured forth rain. When herdsman Dhaniya heard with dread The God's rain rush, he yielding said:

XII.

"O, great the gain accrued thereby! Since Holy Buddha came to-day, We trust in thine all-seeing eye. Be thou, O mighty Sage, our stay. My wife and I obedient ever To follow thee will make endeavour.

XIII.

"Under the Happy One we'll lead A holy life, and, as he saith, We'll put an end to pain and need, And pass beyond old age and death!"

BUDDHA AND THE KING.[BD]

[BD] This is a rhymed version of the Pabbajjā Sutta, which is contained in the Sutta Nipāta. _Vide_ Professor Rhys Davids's _American Lectures on Buddhism_, p. 99.

I.

Their peace I praise who seek not here a home. It is the peace the Blessed One hath found, He who resolved in solitude to roam, The sky his roof, his holy bed the ground.

II.

"Fulfilled with hindrance is the household life, It is the haunt of passion and of wrath. Free is the homeless state from every strife." He, meditating thus, went boldly forth.

III.

And, going forth, wrong deeds he set aside, Wrong thoughts and words he scattered to the wind, And in a life pure, calm, and sanctified, He found that peace whoever seeks shall find.

IV.

To Bimbasāra's royal town he went, Where lived the ruler of Magādha-land. Stately he moved, dispassionate, intent, From door to door, an alms-bowl in his hand.

V.

King Bimbasāra saw him as he crossed Beyond the terraced slopes of his domain. So sweet he looked in meditation lost. The king spake thus to his attendant train:

VI.

"Be full of care for this most noble man; In outward aspect great, all pure within. His eyes stray not beyond a fathom's span, So guarded moves he in this world of sin.

VII.

"See how serenely he performs his task; Of Royal birth must be this anchorite. Let the king's messengers run forth and ask, Where wilt thou rest, O mendicant, to-night?"

VIII.

The messengers, despatched at royal behest, The king's instructions hasten to obey; Then, bowing low, the Bhikshu thus addressed: "Whither, O Bhikshu, dost thou wend thy way?"

IX.

From house to house he wandered guardedly, And at each door with eyes downcast he stood. Mindful, restrained, dispassionate was he, Filling his alms-bowl with the proffered food.

X.

His task performed, in meditation deep He left the haunts of men, and silently Set forth to gain Pandāra's caverned steep; Then, turning, said: "My dwelling there shall be."

XI.

Seeing him stop, the messengers stayed still; One only to the king this message gave: "O king, he sits upon Pandāra's hill, Like to a lion in a mountain cave."

XII.

The prince forthwith upon his chariot rode, And hastened towards Pandāra's lofty crest; Then, stepping out, along the path he strode To where the mendicant had stopped to rest;

XIII.

And, bending low, thus spake he to the youth: "Young art thou yet, too delicate to face The life of those who battle for the truth, Thou seeming scion of an ancient race!

XIV.

"O glory of the vanguard of a band Of heroes onwards pressing to the fray, What is thy lineage, where thy royal land? O let me in these robes thy form array."

XV.

"Hard by Himaālaya's slopes there dwells, O king, A Sākya race, Kosālas known by name, Descendants of the sun; from these I spring; From these gone forth, I seek not earthly fame.

XVI.

"Seeing the danger of a carnal life, I have set forth to battle to the end, And in this struggle and protracted strife Raptures ineffable my path attend!"

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.

Variations in spelling, punctuation and accents are as in the original.

The repetition of the Title on the first page has been removed.

Italics are represented thus, _italic_.