BUDA-BUDDHISM. leaves may be discovered, often very curiously of Hungary; and an old Gothic church. Behind, folded or rolled up, and the different forms and positions which the leaves assume in the bud, are very characteristic of different kinds of plants. This is called the vernation (q. v.) of leaves, and is analogous to the aestivation (q. v.) of flowers. Leaf-bud. The buds of exogenous plants originate in cellular prolongations of the medullary rays bursting through the bark; those of endogenous plants are in communication with the cellular matter which lies between the bundles of woody tissue in the stem; and buds elongate into branches by the addition of new cellular matter to the extremity. Leaf-buds are capable of subsisting when separated from the parent plant and placed in favourable situations, developing themselves into new plants with the most exact correspondence in their characteristics to the parent plant; and of this gardeners avail themselves in the process of budding (q. v.), and in various ways for the propagation of plants. Some plants propagate themselves by a natural detachment of buds (bulbils or bulblets), modified into a character analogous to that of bulbs (q. v.); and bulbs themselves may indeed be regarded as subterranean leaf-buds with thickened scales. The eyes of the potato are also subterranean leafbuds, the tuber being regarded as a thickened subterranean stem; and all plants with subterranean stems produce subterranean leaf-buds, sending above ground only herbaceous annual shoots, as Asparagus, the Banana, &c. Buds may be produced in exogenous plants from the extremity of any medullary ray, and may be made to spring from a leafless part of the stem by an incision, the effect of which is to direct a greater supply of sap to the part immediately beneath it. In a few plants, buds are produced on the edges, or even on the surface of leaves. In consequence of their power of independent existence, buds have been looked upon by some physiologists as distinct organised beings congregated in the tree or plant, a view which involves exaggeration, and therefore error. Flower-buds cannot be used for budding, or otherwise for propagation of the plant, but when removed from their original stock, always die. Some of the lowest animals propagate themselves by buds (gemmation), and many of the zoophyte systems or polypidoms extend in this manner. See GEMMATION, REPRODUCTION, POLYPE, and ZOOPHYTES. BU'DA (Slavonic, Bu'din; German, O'fen), a city of Hungary, forming with Festh (with which it is united by a magnificent suspension-bridge) the capital of the kingdom, is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about 130 miles south-east of Vienna, in lat. 47° 29′ N., and long. 19° 3' E. B. has a highly picturesque appearance, being built round the Schlossberg (Castle-hill) in the form of an amphitheatre, in the midst of a district covered with vineyards. Crowning this centre hill or rock, which has an elevation of 485 feet above the sea, is the citadel; the palace in which are preserved the royal insignia and towering above the rock, rises the Blocks berg, strongly fortified, with a precipitous face to the Danube, the slopes of the other sides being occupied with houses. B. has many educational and charitable institutions; and a fine observatory crowns the Blocksberg. It has some celebrated hot sulphur springs, with a temperature of 117° 5' F., from which it derives its German name, Ofen (Oven). Three of the baths erected by the Turks are still in a perfect state of preservation, and are much frequented by the common people. B. has some manufactures of silk, velvet, woollen, cotton, leather, and gunpowder; and cannon and type foundries; but its chief trade is in wine, of which it produces between four and five millions of gallons annually. This is known as the 'Ofenerwein, and is of excellent quality. Pop. 50,200. B. is a place of great antiquity, but its importance dates from 1240, when the fortress was erected on the Schlossberg. During the inroads of the Turks, it was regarded as the key of Christendom. It was captured by Solyman the Magnificent in 1526, but retaken in the following year by Ferdinand I., king of Bohemia. In 1541 it was again taken by Solyman, who introduced into it a garrison of 12,000 janizaries; and it remained in the possession of the Turks until 1686, when it was captured by the Duke of Lorraine. During the Hungarian struggle of 1848-1849, the city suffered considerably. The fortifications of B., within recent years, have been greatly strengthened. He studied there At BUDEUS (the Latinised form of Guillaume Bude), one of the greatest French scholars of his age, was born at Paris in 1647. and at Orleans. His works on philology, philosophy, and jurisprudence display extensive learning, but the two best known are the De Asse et Partibus ejus (Paris, 1514), which contains a very thorough investigation into ancient coins; and the Commentarii Linguæ Græcæ (Paris, 1519), which greatly advanced the study of Greek literature in France, and is still held in high estimation by classical scholars. B.'s knowledge of Greek was particularly good. His style both in Latin and French is nervous, but harsh, and abounds in Greek constructions. His abilities were manifested not only in Louis XII. twice literature, but in public business. sent him to Rome as ambassador; and Francis I. also employed him in several negotiations. B.'s suggestion, Francis founded the Collège de France, and was also persuaded to refrain from prohibiting printing, which the bigoted Sorbonne had advised in 1533. During his life B. held several important offices. He was Royal Librarian, Maître des Requêtes, and Provost of Paris. He died 23d August 1540. A collected edition of his works appeared at Basel in 1557. B. was suspected of a leaning towards Calvinism. Certain circumIn his correstances render this highly probable. spondence with his friend Erasmus, he repeatedly expresses his contempt for monks and ignorant ecclesiastics, and on one occasion terms the doctors of the Sorbonne prating sophists.' Besides, what death, his widow and several members of his family is perhaps even more conclusive, shortly after his went to Geneva, and openly abjured Catholicism. BU'DDHISM, BUDDHA. The religion known as Buddhism (from the title of 'The Buddha,' meaning the Wise,' 'the Enlightened,' acquired by its founder) has existed now for 2460 years, and may be said to be the prevailing religion of the world. In Hindustan, the land of its birth, it has now little hold, except among the Nepaulese and some other northern tribes; but it bears full sway in Ceylon, and over the whole Eastern Peninsula; it divides BUDDHISM. is indicative of the leading doctrine of his system. Others are- The Blessed' (Bhagavat); 'the Venerable of the World;' the Bodhisatva,' the import of which will be afterwards explained. The history of this person is overlaid with a mass of extravagant and incredible legend; and at least one eminent Orientalist, Professor H. H. Wilson, thinks it still doubtful whether the Buddha was an actual historical personage, and not rather an allegorical figment. Agreeing that the doctrine was introduced about the time assigned, he thinks it more likely that it originated with a school formed of persons of various castes, comprising even Brahmans. But by Oriental authorities generally, the Buddha is received as the actual personal founder of the religion that goes by his name. the adherence of the Chinese with the systems | the root budh, to know, and according to Wilson, of Confucius and Lao-tse, claiming perhaps two- means properly, 'he to whom truth is known;' it thirds of the population; it prevails also in Japan (although not the established religion); and, north of the Himalayas, it is the religion of Tibet (where it assumes the form of Lamaism), and of the Mongolian population of Central Asia, and extends to the very north of Siberia, and even into Swedish Lapland. Its adherents are estimated at 400 millions- -more than a third of the human race. Yet, until within the last sixteen years, nothing was known in Europe respecting the nature and origin of this world-religion, beyond the vaguest notices and conjectures. About the year 1828, Mr. B. H. Hodgson, British resident at the court of Nepaul, where Buddhism prevails, discovered the existence of a large set of writings in the Sanscrit language, forming the national canonical books. These books have since been found to be the texts from which Assuming that the Buddha was a real person, the Buddhist scriptures of Tibet, Mongolia, and and that there is a basis of fact under the mass of China must have been translated. The books of extravagant fable with which he is surrounded, the the Ceylon Buddhists are in the language called history of Buddhism may be thus briefly outlined: Pali; and though not translations of the Nepaulese | The Prince Siddhartha gives early indications of a standards, they are found to agree with them in contemplative, ascetic disposition; and his father, substance, and to be only another and somewhat fearing lest he should desert his high station as later version of the same traditions. Translations Kshatriya (see HINDUISM and CASTE) and ruler, and from the Ceylon standards are used by the Buddhists of Burmah and Siam. Copies of the Sanscrit books of Nepaul, having been sent by Mr. Hodgson to the Asiatic Societies of London and Paris, engaged the attention of the eminent Oriental scholar, Eugène Burnouf, who published in 1844 his Introduction to the History of Buddhism; and this book may be said to have been the beginning of anything like correct information on the subject among the western nations. The most diverse opinions had previously prevailed as to the time and place of the origin of Buddhism. Some looked upon it as a relic of what had been the original religion of Hindustan, beford Brahmanism intruded and drove it out; a relic of a wide-spread primeval worship, whose ramifications it was endeavoured to trace by identifying Buddha with the Woden of the Scandinavians, the Thoth or Hermes of the ancient Egyptians, and other mythological personages. Others held that it could not be older than Christianity, and must have originated in a blundering attempt to copy that religion-so striking are the many points of resemblance that present themselves. Although the means are still wanting of giving a circumstantial history of Buddhism, the main outline is no longer doubtful. Oriental scholars now concur in fixing the date of its origin about the beginning of the 6th c. B. C., and in making it spring up in the north of Hindustan. According to the Buddhist books, the founder of the religion was a prince of the name of Siddhartha, son of Suddhodana, king of Kapilavastu, which is placed somewhere on the confines of Oude and Nepaul. He is often called Sakya, which was the name of the family, and also Gautama, the name of the great 'Solar' race of which the family was a branch. The name Sakya often becomes Sakya-muni (muni, in San., means 'solitary,' and is allied to Gr. monos, the root of 'monk'), in allusion to the solitary habits assumed by the prince. To Gautama is frequently prefixed Sramana, meaning ascetic. Of the names, or rather titles, given to Siddhartha in his state of perfection, the most important is the Buddha,* which is from *There is a confusing variety in the modes in which this name is spelled by European writers. S. Hardy, in his Manual of Buddhism, gives more than fifty forms that have come under his notice. Some of the more common are: Bud, Bod, Buth, Budh, Boodh, Bhood, take to a religious life, has him early married to a charming princess, and surrounded with all the splendour and dissipation of a luxurious court. Twelve years spent in this environment only deepen the conviction, that all that life can offer is vanity and vexation of spirit. He is constantly brooding over the thought that old age, withered and joyless, is fast approaching; that loathsome or racking sickness may at any moment seize him; that death will at all events soon cut off all present sources of enjoyment, and usher in a new cycle of unknown trials and sufferings. These images hang like Damocles' swords over every proposed feast of pleasure, and make enjoyment impossible. He therefore resolves to try whether a life of austerity will not lead to peace; and, although his father seeks to detain him by setting guards on every outlet of the palace, he escapes, and begins the life of a religious mendicant, beg now about 30 years old.. To mark his breaking off all secular ties, he cuts off the long locks that were a sign of his high caste; and as the shortened hair turned upwards, he is always represented in figures with curly hair, which induced early European writers to consider him as of Ethiopian origin. He commences by studying all that the Brahmans can teach him, but finds their doctrine unsatisfactory. Six years of rigorous asceticism are equally vain; and resolving to return to a more genial life, he is deserted by his five disciples, and then undergoes a fierce temptation from the demon of wickedness. But no discouragement or opposition can divert Sakya-muni from the search after deliverance. He will conquer the secret by sheer force of thinking. He sits for weeks plunged in abstraction, revolving the causes of things. If we were not born, he reflects, we should not be subject to old age, misery, and death; therefore, the cause of these evils is birth. But whence comes birth or continued existence? Through a long concatenation of intermediate causes, he arrives at the conclusion that ignorance is the ultimate cause of existence; and therefore, with the removal of ignorance, existence and all its anxieties and miseries would be cut off at their source. Passing through successive Budo, Buddow, Boutta, Poota, Poth, Pot. The Chinese, owing to the meagreness of their articulations, seem to have been unable to come nearer to the real sound than Fo, Foe, or Fohi; from the same cause, they convert Bramah into Fan. BUDDHISM. stages of contemplation, he realises this in his own emperor as a third state religion. The Chinese person, and attains the perfect wisdom of the Buddhists have always looked on India as their Buddha. The scene of this final triumph received 'holy land;' and, beginning with the 4th c. of our the name of Bodhimanda (the seat of intelligence), era, a stream of Buddhist pilgrims continued to and the tree under which he sat was called flow from China to India during six centuries. Bodhidruma (the tree of intelligence), of intelligence), whence Several of these pilgrims have left accounts of their Bo-tree. The Buddhists believe the spot to be travels, which throw a light on the course of the centre of the earth. Twelve hundred years Buddhism in India, and on the internal state of after the Buddha's death, Hiouen-Thsang, the the country in general, that is looked for in vain Chinese Pilgrim, found the Bodhidruma-or a tree in the literature of India itself. See HIOUENthat passed for it-still standing. Although the THSANG. As to the spread of Buddhism north of religion of Buddha is extinct in the neighbourhood, the Himalayan mountains, we have the historical there are, about 5 miles from Gaya Proper, in Bahar, | fact, that a Chinese general, having about the year extensive ruins and an old dagoba, or a temple, 120 B. C. defeated the barbarous tribes to the north which are believed to mark the place. Near the of the desert of Gobi, brought back as a trophy a temple there flourished, in 1812, a peepul-tree, golden statue of the Buddha. apparently 100 years old, which may have been planted in the place of the original Bo-tree. Having arrived at the knowledge of the causes of misery, and of the means by which these causes are to be counteracted, the Buddha was now ready to lead others on the road to salvation. It was at Benares that he first preached, or, in the consecrated phrase, turned the wheel of the law;'* but the most important of his early converts was Bimbisara, the sovereign of Magadha (Bahar), whose dynasty continued for many centuries to patronise the new faith. During the forty years that he continued to preach his strange gospel, he appears to have traversed a great part of Northern India, combating the Brahmans, and everywhere making numerous converts. He died at Kusinagara (in Oude), at the age of 80, in the year 543 B. c.; and his body being burned, the relics were distributed among a number of contending claimants, and monumental tumuli were erected to preserve them. See TOPES. A prominent name in the history of Buddhism is that of Asoka, king of Magadha, in the 3d c. of our era, whose sway seems to have extended over the whole peninsula of Hindustan, and even Over Ceylon. This prince was to Buddhism what Constantine was to Christianity. He was at first a persecutor of the faith, but being convertedby a miracle, according to the legend-he became its zealous propagator. Not, however, as princes usually promote their creed; for it is a distinguishing characteristic of Buddhism, that it has never employed force, hardly even to resist aggression. Asoka shewed his zeal by building and endowing viharas or monasteries, and raising topes and other monuments over the relics of Buddha and in spots remarkable as the scenes of his labours. Hiouen-Thsang, in the 7th c. of our era, found topes attributed to Asoka from the foot of the Hindu Kush to the extremity of the peninsula. There exist, also, in different parts of India, edicts inscribed on rocks and pillars, inculcating the doctrines of Buddha. The edicts are in the name of King Piyadasi; but Orientalists are almost unanimous in holding Piyadasi and Asoka to be one and the same. Not a single building or sculptured stone has been discovered in continental India of earlier date than the reign of this monarch, whose death is assigned to 226 B. C. A remarkable spirit of charity and toleration runs through these royal sermons. The 'king beloved of the gods' desires to see the ascetics of all creeds living in all places, for they 'A man all teach the essential rules of conduct. ought to honour his own faith only; but he should There are never abuse the faith of others. The most important point in the history of Buddhism, after the death of its founder, is that of the three councils which fixed the canon of the sacred scriptures and the discipline of the church. The Buddha had written nothing himself; but his chief followers, assembled in council immediately after his death, proceeded to reduce his teaching to writing. These canonical writings are divided into three classes, forming the Tripitaka, or 'triple basket.' The first class consist of the Soutras, or discourses of the Buddha; the second contains the Vinaya, or discipline; and the third, the Abhidharma, or metaphysic. The first is evidently the fundamental text out of which all the subsequent writings have been elaborated. | even circumstances where the religion of others The other two councils probably revised and ought to be honored, and in acting thus, a man expanded the writings agreed upon at the first, fortifies his own faith, and assists the faith of adding voluminous commentaries. As to the dates others.' of the other two councils, there are irreconcilable discrepancies in the accounts; but at all events the third was not later than 240 B. C., so that the Buddhist canonical scriptures, as they now exist, were fixed two centuries and a half before the Christian era. The Buddhist religion early manifested a zealous missionary spirit; and princes and even princesses, became devoted propagandists. A prince of the royal house of Magadha, Mahindo, carried the faith to Ceylon, 307 B. C. The Chinese annals speak of a Buddhist missionary as early as 217 B. C.; and the doctrine made such progress, that in 65 A. D. it was acknowledged by the Chinese For the glimpses we get of the state of Buddhism in India, we are indebted chiefly to the accounts of Chinese pilgrims. Fa-hian, at the end of the 4th c., found some appearances of decline in the east of Hindustan, its birthplace, but it was still strong in the Punjab and the north. In Ceylon, it was flourishing in full vigour, the ascetics or monks numbering from 50,000 to 60,000. In the 7th c.that is, 1200 years after the death of the BuddhaHiouen-Thsang represents it as widely dominant and flourishing, and patronised by powerful rajahs. Its history was doubtless more or less checkered. The Brahmans, though little less tolerant than the followers of Buddha, seem to have been in some cases roused into active opposition; and some princes employed persecution to put down the new faith. It was probably during the first four or five centuries of our era, and as a result of persecution, that Buddhists, driven from the great cities, retired among the hills of the west, and there constructed those cave-temples which, for their number, vastness, Section of Buddhist Cave-temple at Karli-from Fergusson's Handbook of Architecture. internal corruption, or the persecution of powerful princes, adherents of the old faith-we are utterly in the dark. But it is certain that from the time of Hiouen-Thsang's visit, its decay must have been rapid beyond precedent; for about the 11th or 12th c., the last traces of it disappear from the Indian peninsula. What, then, is the nature of this faith, which has been for so long, and is still, the sole light of so many millions of human beings? In answering this question, we must confine ourselves here to a brief outline of the intellectual theory on which the system is based, and of the general character of its morality and ritual observances, as they were conceived by the founder and his more immediate followers; referring for the various forms which the external observances have assumed to the several countries where it is believed and practised. See BURMAH, CEYLON, CHINA, JAPAN, TIBET. Buddhism is based on the same views of human existence, and the same philosophy of things in general, that prevailed among the Brahmans. It accepts without questioning, and in its most exaggerated form, the doctrine of the transmiof the transmigration of souls, which lies at the root of so nuch that is strange in the Eastern character. For a particular account of this important doctrine or notion, which seems ingrained in the constitution of Eastern minds, and without a knowledge of which no phase of thought or feeling among them can be understood, the reader is referred to TRANSMIGRATION; while the peculiar cosmogony or system of the universe with which it is associated, and which is substantially the same among Hindus and Buddhists, will be described under HINDUISM. It is sufficient here to say, that, according to Buddhist belief, when a man dies, he is immediately born again, or appears in a new shape; and that shape may, according to his merit or demerit, be any of the innumerable orders of being composing the Buddhist universe-from a clod to a divinity. If his demerit would not be sufficiently punished by a degraded earthly existence-in the form, for instance, of a woman or a slave, of a persecuted or a disgusting anima., of a plant, or even of a piece of inorganic matter-he will be born in some one of the 136 Buddhist hells, situated in the interior of the earth. These places of punishment have a regular gradation in the intensity of the suffering and in the length of time the sufferers live, the least term of life being 10 millions of years, the longer terms being almost beyond the powers of even Indian notation to express. A meritorious life, on the other hand, secures the next birth either in an exalted and happy position on earth, or as a blessed spirit, or even divinity, in one of the many heavens; in which the least duration of life is about 10 billions of years. But however long the life, whether of misery or of bliss, it has an end, and at its close the individual must be born again, and may again be either happy or miserable-either a god or, it may be, the vilest inanimate object.* The Buddha himself, before his last birth as Sakyamuni, had gone through every conceivable form of existence on the earth, in the air, and in the water, in hell and in heaven, and had filled every condition in human life. When he attained the perfect knowledge of the Buddha, he was able to recall all these existences; and a great part of the Buddhist legendary literature is taken up in narrating his exploits when he lived as an elephant, as a bird, as a stag, and so forth. The Buddhist conception of the way in which the quality of actions-which is expressed in Pali by the word Karma, including both merit and demerit determines the future condition of all sentient beings, is peculiar. They do not conceive any god or gods as being pleased or displeased by the actions, and as assigning the actors their future condition by way of punishment or of reward. The very idea of a god, as creating or in any way ruling the world, is utterly absent in the Buddhist system. God is not so much as denied; he is simply not known. Contrary to the opinion once confidently and generally held, that a nation of atheists never existed, it is no longer to be disputed that the numerous Buddhist nations are essentially atheist; for they know no beings with greater supernatural power than any man is supposed capable of attaining to by virtue, austerity, and science; and a remarkable indication of this startling fact is to be seen in the circumstance, that some at least of the Buddhist nations-the Chinese, Mongols, and Tibetans-have no word in their languages to express the notion of God. The future condition of the Buddhist, then, is not assigned him by the Ruler of the universe; the 'Karma' of his actions determines it by a sort of virtue inherent in the nature of things-by the blind and unconscious concatenation of cause and effect. But the laws by *One legend makes Bhagavat, in order to impress upon the monks of a monastery the importance of their duties, point to a besom, and, by his supernatural insight, reveal to them that it had once been of assembly; the walls and pillars, again, he told them, a novice, who had been negligent in sweeping the hall had once existed as monks, who soiled the walls of the hall by spitting upon them. BUDDHISM. which consequences are regulated seem dark, and even capricious. A bad action may lie dormant, as it were, for many existences; the taint, however, is A there, and will some time or other break out. Buddhist is thus never at a loss to account for any calamity that may befall himself or others. matter of dispute. According to its etymology, the word means 'extinction,' 'blowing out,' as of a candle; and most Orientalists are agreed that in the Buddhist scriptures generally it is equivalent to Even in those schools which attempt annihilation. to draw a distinction, the distinction is of the most evanescent kind. The key of the whole scheme of Buddhist salvation lies in what Gautama called his Four Sublime Verities. The first asserts that pain exists; the second, that the cause of pain is desire or attachment-the meaning of which will appear further on; the third, that pain can be ended by Nirvana; and the fourth shews the way that leads to Nirvana. This way to Nirvana consists in eight things: right faith, right judgment, right language, right purpose, right practice, right obedience, right memory, and right meditation. In order to understand how this method is to lead to the proposed end, we must turn to the metaphysical part of the system contained in the 'concatenation of causes,' which may be looked upon as a development of the second 'verity '—namely, that the cause of pain is desire-or rather, as the analysis upon which that verity is founded. The immediate cause of pain is birth-for if we were not born, we should not be exposed to death or any of the ills of life. Birth, again, is caused by previous existence; it is only a transition from one state of existence into another. All the actions and affections of a being throughout his migrations leave their impressions, stains, attach Another basis of Buddhism is the assumption, that human existence is on the whole miserable, and a curse rather than a blessing. This notion, or rather feeling, is, like transmigration, common to Buddhism and Brahmanism, and is even more prominent in Buddhism than in the old faith. It is difficult for a European to conceive this state of mind, or to believe that it can be habitual in a whole people; and many signal errors in dealing with the Indian nations have arisen from overlooking the fact. The cause would seem The cause would seem to lie chiefly in the comparatively feeble physical organisation of Easterns in general. With a vigorous animal vitality, there is a massive enjoyment in mere bodily existence sufficient to drown a large amount of irritation and suffering, leaving life still sweet and desirable; while the spontaneous activity attending this vigour, makes it a pleasure instead of a pain to contend with and conquer difficulties. The Indian, on the contrary, even when he looks robust, has little intensity of animal vitality; and therefore, bodily existence, in itself, has to him little relish. Tedium of life, it is well known, arises more from negative than positive sources; and it requires but little bitter added to make his cup disgusting. So far, again, from finding activity a source of enjoy-ments adhering to him, and the accumulation of ment, exertion is painful, and entire quiescence is, in his eyes, the highest state of conceivable enjoyment. When to this we add that want of security and peace, and that habitual oppression of the many by the few, with all the attendant degradation and positive suffering, which may be considered the normal state of things in the East, need we wonder that to men so constituted and so circumstanced, life should seem a burden, a thing rather to be feared than otherwise? The little value that Hindus set upon their lives is manifested in many ways. The punishment of death, again, has little or no terror for them, and is even sometimes coveted as an honour. For, in addition to the little value of their present existence, they have the most undoubting assurance that their soul, if dislodged from its present tenement, will forthwith find another, with a chance, at least, of its being a better one. these determines at each stage the peculiar modi- In the eyes, then, of Sakya-muni and his followers, sentient existence was hopelessly miserable. Misery was not a mere taint in it, the removal of which would make it happy; misery was its very essence. Death was no escape from this inevitable lot; for, according to the doctrine of transmigration, Morality and Religious Observances.-The eight death was only a passage into some other form of existence equally doomed. Even the heaven and parts or particulars constituting the theoretical the state of godhead which form part of the cycleway' (to Nirvana), was developed by Gantama into of changes in this system, were not final; and a set of practical precepts enjoining the various this thought poisoned what happiness they might duties of common life and of religion. They are all be capable of yielding. Brahman philosophers had sought escape from this endless cycle of of unsatisfying changes, by making the individual soul be absorbed in the universal spirit (Brahm); Gautama had the same object in view-viz., exemption from being born again; but he had not the same means of reaching it. His philosophy was utterly atheistic, like that of the original Sankhya school of philosophy, whose views he chiefly borrowed, and ignored a supreme God or Creator; it did not leave even an impersonal Spirit of the universe into which the human soul could be absorbed. Gautama sees no escape but in what he calls NIRVANA, the exact nature of which has been ostensibly intended as means of counteracting or destroying the chain of causes that tie men to existence and necessitate being born again, especially that most important link in the chain constituted by the attachments or desires resu.cing from former actions; although the special fitness of some of the precepts for that end is far from being apparent. It is easy to understand how the austerities that are prescribed might subdue the passions and affections, and lessen the attachment to existence; but how the exercise of benevolence, of meekness, of regard to truth, of respect to parents, &c., on which Gautama laid so much stress, should have this effect, it is difficult to conceive. Luckily for the Buddhist |