No. 2371. CATALOGUE OF liUDDHWT ART— CA8AN0W1CZ 293 



previous acts in unbroken succession from the beginning of existence, 

 which in the Buddhist conception of man, constitutes his character, 

 iiis real self, his ego, as it were. This alono endures when an indi- 

 vidual existence lias come to an end, and if the thirst of living and 

 the fire of passions are not entirely extinguished, it gathers around 

 itself, as a kind of transmigration of character, new elements and 

 results in a new sentient being, whoso nature, condition, and fortune 

 it determines. Individuals are merely the present and temporary 

 links in a long chain of cause and effect. Each link is the summarized 

 result of the various activities of all that have gone before, 

 and is, in its turn, part and parcel of all that will follow. By the 

 theory of Karma, Buddhism explains the mystery of fate in the 

 apparent unequal distribution here of happiness and woe, entirely 

 independent of moral qualities. What a man reaps, Buddhism 

 toaches, that ho must himself have sown, as whatsoever a man sows 

 that shall he also reap. (3) The cessation of sorrow through the 

 extinction of the passions, of evil desires and the attachment to 

 material objects, which destroys the power of the senses so that they 

 no longer give birth to new beings. (4) The way to cessation by 

 following the eight-fold path: (1) Right views (that is, freedom from 

 superstition or delusion), (2) right resolve (high and worthy of the 

 intelligent earnest man), (3) right speech (kindly, open, truthful), 

 (4) right conduct (peaceful, honest, pure) , (5) right way of earning a 

 livelihood (causing hurt to no living being), (6) right endeavor (in 

 self-training and in self-control), (7) right mindfulness (the active 

 and watchful mind), (8) right contemplation (earnest thought on the 

 mysteries of life). Each of these terms is a summary of the manifold 

 energies of thought, feeling, and will in various combinations and 

 applications, and the whole may be characterized — to use a modern 

 designation — as a system of "ethical culture." The general philo- 

 sophical presuppositions of Gautama's system are: The inevitable 

 connection of desire and suffering; the nonreality of any abiding 

 ego-principle or self, and the impermanence of all individual exist- 

 ence. The ethical teachings of Buddha are founded on a definite 

 method of self-culture and self-discipline which would lead to the 

 extinction of the " throe-fold fire" of self-deception, desire, and malev- 

 olence and to a release at once from suffering and becoming — Nirvana. 

 The term nirvana, which literally means "going out" (like the flame 

 of a candle), is used with threo distinct significations: (1) Eternal 

 blissful repose, the peace which puts an end to all striving (something 

 like the "beatific vision" conceived by Christians); (2) extinction 

 and absolute annihilation; (3) to Buddha it seemingly meant the 

 dying down or going out of the fires of lust, hatred, anger, and delusion 

 or dullness, tho cardinal sins of Buddhism, and a consequent passion- 

 less calm beyond reach of temptation. By thus uprooting all desire, 



