THE CIVILIZATIONS OF MAN IO5 



philosophy until the time of Gautama Buddha. With him, 

 some 2,500 years ago, we find a clear and simple teaching of 

 all that is necessary for man to know in order to resolve all 

 his social conflicts: a man must not live for himself alone; 

 he must not live to gratify his senses; he must not live for 

 worldly goods; he must not desire personal immortality. 

 Gautama tried to guide his followers along the Noble Eight- 

 fold Path which included: right knowledge— all ideas must 

 be examined with great care, one should not cling to super- 

 stition (in this he anticipated the science and philosophy of 

 a latter day) ; right intention— one must not merely intend, 

 one must make the right effort, diligently and intelligently; 

 right aspirations— one must desire to serve others, one must 

 love justice; right mindfulness— one must clear the mind of 

 petty feelings of superiority since vanity is an agent of per- 

 sonal destruction; right rapture— the ecstasies of the devout 

 are pointless. 



The original teaching of Gautama was aimed at turning 

 the natural desires of man into cooperative channels. It en- 

 couraged a devotion to science and art and tried to free man 

 from petty personal jealousies and cravings for fame. Gau- 

 tama thought that the dread of death and the futile desire 

 for life everlasting were as base and evil as lust and avarice. 

 He did not speak of God. He offered his followers Nirvana, 

 serenity of soul, when and if they had overcome all base 

 desires. Nirvana was not personal extinction, but the ex- 

 tinction of all that was petty and evil in life. 



Near the time of Gautama we encounter the teaching of 

 the Old Philosopher of China, Lao Tse, an evolutionist, 

 pacifist, and moralist. Lao Tse taught the Way, the Reason, 

 and the Word. He made a virtue of humility and gentle 

 compassion. One was not to act from purely personal mo- 

 tives. One was to recompense injury with kindness— repay 

 "Good for Evil." 



Also near the time of Gautama we encounter the great 

 Confucius, and the first clear statement of the Golden Rule, 



