171. It looks gay and splendid: it is an engine of destruction; it is treacherous as a morass.

174. Cf. Matt. vii, 14: "Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Ps. cxxiv, 7: "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler."

175. The East has always held that holy living gives miraculous power. Arahats were said to possess this power (jddhi) of flying through the air, or "levitation." There are still Hindus who claim these powers: but southern Buddhism does not take them seriously. I asked several Buddhists if this power were now attainable. "Possibly in Thibet," they answered. [**]

176. Cf. Jas. ii, 10: "Whosoever shall keep the whole

law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all." But the underlying idea in St. James, of loyalty to the King, is of course not present to the Buddhist mind.

178. Universal empire: the height of worldly ambition. Conversion: i.e. the first step towards Nirvana, when the attention is fixed upon the Supreme Bliss. "Sotapattti" means "entering the stream," up which the convert has to forge his way. After this ethical change he may have to undergo seven more births before he attains the goal.

182. The Buddha, being free of all taints or germs of rebirth, has no crack in his armour through which he may be wounded: i.e. he has no cause of rebirth.

183. The ideal is not, as is often said, merely negative: it is also positive and inward. Cf. St. Paul's more emphatic words: "Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good" (Rom. xii, 9).

The Buddhas. According to the Books there are many Buddhas: some in the dim past, others in the distant future. In Ceylon, Buddhists look wistfully for the coming Buddha--Metteyya or Maitri--the Loving One. In Japan they worship Amida Buddha--an ideal.

184. The word translated "fortitude" is "kantibalam," patience-strength, that blending of great qualities, passive and active, Eastern and Western, which is as rare as it is beautiful.

194. Cf. Ps. cxxiii, 1: "Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."

197-200. This section may be regarded as the Buddhist, analogue of the Beatitudes of Christ: it depicts the blessed life as a life of calm and peace; either solitary or in the company of Buddha's true followers, a man may enjoy that bliss which is the bloom upon virtue in this life: and hereafter the Rest of the Ineffable.

207. Like Jesus, Gautama offers his followers a family life whose ties are more intimate and tender than those of blood. In the Sangha they are to find their kinsfolk and a better family life than they have left. (Cf. "Who is My mother