OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS CEKEMONIAL 117 



previous acts in unbroken succession from the beginning of existence, 

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

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

 vidual existence has 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, whose 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 quahties. What a man reaps. Buddhism teaches, that he 

 must himself have sown, as whatesover 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 

 8-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 Uving 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 nonreahty of any abiding 

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

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

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

 extinction of the " three-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 thi-ee distinct significations: (1) Eternal 

 bhssful 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, the cardinal sins of Buddhism, and a consequent passion- 

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



