the extravagances of Lamaism have become famous, Buddhism in all essentials has been metamorphosed into an entirely different creed, presenting little or no resemblance to the pure form in which it originally existed. We shall see, indeed, later that even in Siam considerable divergences are to be found, not only in popular practice but also in popular belief and doctrine from orthodox Buddhism. Nevertheless it is a great advantage to study Buddhism in Ceylon or Burmah or Siam, for in these countries the old ideals are still cherished, at least among a minority, and here alone is it possible to bring to some extent to the test of practice the precepts and the theories of life and existence laid down by the founder of the religion.

The story of Buddha has been so often retold that it will suffice to give the barest outline of it. Born about 500 years before Christ at an Indian some hundred miles to the north-east of Benares, and heir to his father's throne, Gautama, the future Buddha, committed the great act of his life in the twenty-ninth year of his age-the great Act of Renunciation, when, moved by the sufferings of humanity, he abandoned father and home and wife and child to devote himself entirely to the religious life. After several years of penance and self-mortification he saw the error of his ways and the folly of extreme asceticism, and after undergoing -as the legends tell us-temptation similar to that by which Christ was tried in the wilderness, he

eventually attained the fulness of wisdom and enlightenment under the Bo tree, and became Buddha. The rest of his long life he devoted to preaching and teaching, setting an example of perfect charity and unselfishness; a figure hardly inferior to that of Christ Himself.

The relation of Buddhism to Brahminism is somewhat analogous to that of Christianity to Judaism, or even perhaps of Protestantism to Catholicism. Gautama made no pretence of founding a new religion. His object was to purify and widen Brahminism, not to supplant it: to free it from the ceremonies and formalities which had grown up like weeds around it, and to open the road to salvation to all who were willing to follow him, regardless of caste and class distinction. At the same time, though much of his ethical and metaphysical teaching can be traced back to Hindu sources, notably the doctrine of transmigration, which he adopted with certain modifications, and which is the key to his system, yet such was the spirit of his teaching, such the force of his personality, that it was not long before Buddhism was recognised as a new religion, separate and distinct from the parent that had given it birth. It was not, indeed, possible to put the new wine into the old bottles.

Buddhism has always been recognised as one of the great world religions, but, as taught by its founder, it is really more in the nature of a

philosophical system than a religion properly so called. It is true that a variety of definitions have been given of the word "religion," and though our ears have become accustomed to the expression "natural religion," yet it is doubtful whether a system which bases itself entirely on natural law, and takes up a purely agnostic position with regard to the supernatural, is strictly entitled to the name. This, however, is rather a question of words and definitions, and subject to the above explanation the use of the term may be conceded. Buddhism rests on no supernatural basis like Christianity or other religions. It is completely agnostic as regards God, and the ultimate origin of things. It assumes two great laws, the law of universal causation and the law of moral justice or retribution, and these laws form the foundation of its system. Every effect has a cause, and as the law of causation is subject to that of justice, all sorrow and suffering must be due to some previous offence against the moral law. Hence the necessity of a previous and a future existence to explain and remedy the inequalities of the present life. The supreme object of man is to accumulate merit, so that he may better his position in another state, and ultimately attain to Nirvana, a cessation from all worldly emotion and consciousness, if not an entire cessation of existence, which is the goal to which the endeavours of all Buddhists must be directed. For all existence is evil, and so are all human passion and desire.