40 NOTES 



but not the least important, that a heavy tax is levied upon 

 all forms of success; and that failure is one of the commonest 

 disguises assumed by blessings. 



Note 4 (p. 13). 



"There is within the body of every man a soul which, at the 

 death of the body, flies away from it like a bird out of a cage, 



and enters upon a new life either in one of the heavens or 



one of the hells or on this earth. The only exception is the rare 

 case of a man having in this life, acquired a true knowledge of 

 God. According to the pre-Buddhistic theory the soul of such a 

 man goes along the path of the Gods to God and, being united 

 with Him, enters upon an immortal life in which his individuality 

 is not extinguished. In the later theory, his soul is directly 

 absorbed into the Great Soul, is lost in it and has no longer any 

 independent existence. The souls of all other men enter, after 

 the death of the body, upon a new existence in one or other 

 of the many different modes of being. If in heaven or hell, the 

 soul itself becomes a god or demon without entering a body ; 

 all superhuman beings, save the great gods being looked upon as 

 not eternal, but merely temporary creatures. If the soul returns 

 to earth it may or may not enter a new body ; and this either of 

 a human being, an animal, a plant or even a material object. 

 For all these are possessed of souls, and there is no essential 

 difference between these souls and the souls of men all being 

 alike mere sparks of the Great Spirit, who is the only real 

 existence." (Rhys Davids, Hibbert Lectures, 1881, p. 83.) 



For what I have said about Indian Philosophy, I am particularly 

 indebted to the luminous exposition of primitive Buddhism and 

 its relations to earlier Hindu thought, which is given by Prof. 

 Rhys Davids in his remarkable " Hibbert Lectures " for 1881, and 

 " Buddhism," (1890). The only apology I can offer for the freedom 

 with which I have borrowed from him in these notes, is my desire 

 to leave no doubt as to my indebtedness. I have also found 

 Dr. Oldenberg's "Buddha" (Ed. 2, 1890) very helpful. The 

 origin of the theory of transmigration stated in the above extract 

 is an unsolved problem. That it differs widely from the Egyptian 

 metempsychosis is clear. In fact, since men usually people the 



