ism, according to Buddha, consists of samskâras, generally translated "confections," that is, soulstructures, formations or dispositions which through function have originated in a gradual development. All creatures are the product of an immeasurably long chain of deeds. They are the result of their

Karma.

Man also is a bundle of samskâras; his eye is the product of seeing, resulting from sensation under the influence of light; his ear is the product of hearing, resulting from sensation under the influence of sounds; and in the same way all the organs of our bodily and of our spiritual organizations are the product of deeds transmitted to us either directly by inheritance or indirectly by education. These samskâras constitute our being. The eye sees, the ear hears; our thoughts think. There is no metaphysical entity behind them as their agent, but these samskâras, or soul-forms, constituting our existence are transmitted by action, word and example, to others. There is, accordingly, no soul migration, but there is rebirth; viz., there is a reappearance of the same type of soul. Our samskâras impress themselves on and they continue in others. Death is only the discontinuance of their presence in the special body of an individual; but death is not the annihilation of a man's karma, for his karma continues according to the law of causation. Death does not annihilate the samskâras who continue in following generations according to the deeds done during life. Thus death disappears in Buddha's soul-conception, and the

realities of our psychical existence are recognized in their pre-existence as well as in their continuation after death.

The Buddhistic view of immortality which is based on the denial of the âtman is forcibly expressed in the Buddhist canon. Buddha, having attained enlightenment, met on his way Upaka, a young Brahman and a former acquaintance of his. Upaka said to Gautama: "Your countenance, friend, is serene, and your eyes are bright, indicating purity and blessedness." And Buddha, having told Upaka that he had attained deliverance, adds (according to the translation of Prof. Samuel Beal from a Chinese text): "I am now going to the city of Benares to establish the kingdom of righteousness, to give light to those enshrouded in darkness and open the gate of Immortality to men." *

Buddha's idea of salvation is ultimately based on enlightenment, and enlightenment is to him the recognition of the nature of things. We are confronted with evil and find the root of all evil in the waywardness of our own heart. There is the notion that our inmost existence is an ego-entity, but this is an error; it is the illusion of self, for the preser

* The romantic legend of Sâkya Buddha translated from the Chinese Sanskrit by S. Beal, p. 245. The translation of the corresponding passage from the Pali reads, according to Rhys Davids, as follows: I am now going to establish the kingdom of righteousness. For this purpose I am going to the city of Benares, to give light to those enshrouded in darkness and to open the gate of Immortality to men.

vation of which we are so anxious.

Selfhood is the

source of vanity, egotism and sin. There is no moral wrong but it has its ultimate root in selfhood. Knowing, now, that selfhood is an illusion, that this limited individuality of ours is only a temporary abode of the soul, whose stream flows on uninterruptedly, we learn the transitoriness of the ills that the flesh is heir to, and identify the true self of our real being with those immortal elements of our soul which are not touched by death. Buddha's ideal, accordingly, is the utter annihilation of all thought of self and the preservation of all that is in conformity with enlightenment. The utter extermination of desire alone can afford a final deliverance from the evil of existence, leading to that absolute peace of mind which is called Nirvana.

Buddha rejected the religious superstition that there was any merit in ceremonies and sacrifices; but he rejected also the monkish ethics of asceticism, proclaiming openly and without equivocation that holiness cannot be attained by self-mortification and austerities, but only by a radical surrender of all selfish desire.

Gautama Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, was what to-day would be called a freethinker, for his religion is different from Brahmanism, in so far as he promises no help from Brahma or any other Deity, but enjoins its devotees to rely upon themselves, and have no other guide but the truth. "Hold fast to the truth as to a lamp," were the significant words of Buddha in his farewell address

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to his disciples before he died. He bowed to no authority, and set up no creed, no dogma. He denied the divine inspiration of the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of Brahmanism, refused to recognize castes, rejected rituals as irrelevant, denounced sacrifices as inhuman, ridiculed prayer as useless, disdained worship, refused to believe in the creation of the world by an Ishvara (i. e., a good Lord and personal God), and denied the existence of a soul-entity or âtman. In a word, he opposed all the favorite notions of Brahmanism, the religion of his time. And yet he was not an irreligious man. On the contrary, he was deeply religious, and certainly more religious than any of the priests of his age who denounced him as irreligious. Such was the influence of his powerful personality that his disciples spread his doctrine over all Asia, and his religion has even in its aberrations preserved the moral earnestness of its founder.

Of special interest is the method in which the Brahmanical belief of Brahma as the creator, governor and Lord over all things is treated in Buddhistic literature. As an instance we quote from the Dîgha-Nikâya, XI. 67, where a certain priest is introduced who goes in quest of a philosophical problem. After having addressed all the sages, kings, and gods, he comes at last to Brahma himself. And Brahma says: "I, O priest, am Brahma, Great "Brahma, the Supreme Being, the Unsurpassed, "the Perceiver of All Things, the Controller, the "Lord of All, the Maker, the Fashioner, the Chief,

"the Victor, the Ruler, the Father of All Beings "Who Have Been and Are to Be." The priest, having patiently listened to this self-definition, calls Brahma's attention to his question, saying: "My "friend, I am not asking you, Are you Brahma, "Great Brahma, the Supreme Being, etc.? but I ask

you a question which I should like to have an"swered." But Brahma, instead of replying to the question, repeats his speech a second and a third time, and when the priest is not to be quieted in this way Brahma takes the questioner by the arm, leads him aside and says to him in a whisper: "O priest, these gods of "my suite believe as follows: Brahma sees all "things, knows all things, has penetrated all things. "Therefore was it that I did not answer you in "their presence. I do not know the answer to your "question. Therefore it was a sin and a crime that 66 you left the Blessed One and went elsewhere in quest of an answer. Turn back, O priest, and having drawn near to the Blessed One, ask him "this question, and as the Blessed One shall explain "unto you, so believe."

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Concerning Buddha's atheism the following passage quoted from Max Müller's essay on "Buddhist Nihilism" is instructive. Max Müller says:

"As to Atheism, it cannot be denied that, if we call the old gods of the Veda-Indra and Agni, and Yama-gods, Buddha was an Atheist. He does not believe in the divinity of those deities. What is noteworthy is that he does not by any means deny their bare existence, just as little as St. Augustine