History of Religious Evolution 735 



time arrived when, after years of intense asceticism, he pro- 

 claimed a new doctrine, that of the eight-fold noble pathway. 

 This consisted in right-mindfulness, right views, right aspira- 

 tions, right rapture, right effort, right speech, right behavior, 

 right living. 



By the time of his death at an advanced age he had already 

 influenced for good and had regenerated multitudes in north- 

 ern India, either by his personal teaching or by that of his 

 disciples. 



When we remember that he was born about 550 B. C, and 

 that from this date onward to the appearance of Christ a 

 constant ferment and movement of Aryan, of Iranian, of Greek, 

 of Bactrian, of Macedonian, of Assyrian, of Egyptian, and 

 later of Roman armies, teachers, prophets, merchants, and 

 war-captives marched more or less across the wide area from 

 Greece — and later even Rome — on the west to the valley of 

 the Ganges on the east, we need not wonder that he may have 

 absorbed much from Zoroastrianism, from Egyptian lore, and 

 from Judaism, while in return many of his doctrines carried 

 as sutras could scarcely fail to reach and influence western 

 thought. 



The steady progress eastward of Buddhism continued for 

 a millennium, till it became the dominant belief from western 

 India to Japan, and from Ceylon to Thibet. 



The remarkable feature of Buddhism is that it represents 

 a purely subjective religion, which emphasizes as strongly 

 as does Christianity the two cardinal virtues of aspiration 

 after good and repression of evil. Unlike many other impor- 

 tant religious systems also, it is in no sense a world or universe 

 embracing system, and does not recognize great social, na- 

 tional, or international bonds of love and symi)athy. Nor 

 does it recognize a supreme power or guiding principle in the 

 world or universe. Its central aim and tendency is indiN'idual- 

 istic and subjective. But many of the rules for right living 

 and sj^eaking are of a sublime nature and are of highest value. 

 On the other hand the injunctions to mortify many aims and 

 natural conditions that ensure continued and highest well- 



