or My brethren?... Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother and My sister and mother."--Mark iii, 35.) Yet it must be borne in mind that to enter this company a man must be a celibate: and that perfect solitude is held up as the safer ideal.

208. The cold clear moonlight of this simile is symbolic of the Buddhist ideal.

212, 213. Buddhism teaches benevolence to all, attachment to none. It is a monastic ideal, and may be paralleled from such books as the Imitatio Christi. Cf. Bk. I, chap. viii: "We must have charity towards all, but familiarity is not expedient."

There is, however, a vital difference: the Buddhist Bhikkhu is to shun society that nothing may mar his self-culture: the Christian monk that he may be "familiar with God alone, and with His Angels." When Prince Siddhartha (afterwards the Buddha) heard of the birth of his son Rahula, and they tried to bring him back, he is said to have remarked: "That is one more bond to be cut." The "Great Renunciation" involved no less than this.

218. The Ineffable. The Buddha describes Nirvana probably from his own experience of that ecstatic joy which is said to be the reward of deep meditation.

This word "ineffable" is one used all by who have known this experience. Cf. Myers' St. Paul:

"Oh could I tell, ye surely would believe it!
Oh could I only say what I have seen!
How should I tell, or how can ye receive it,
How till He bringeth you where I have been?"

and St. Paul's words of his own experience in 2 Cor. xii, 2-4.

Against the stream. The fight for character is one against long odds. Nature has at times to be "pitchforked." (Cf. Mrs. Rhys Davids' Buddhist Psychology, p. lxvii.) Man is not at the mercy of the "stream" of natural impulse; but swimming against it is hard work. (Cf. 244, 245.)

221. Phenomenal existence: Pali nama rupa, " name and form," i.e. things mental and material.

227. Atula: according to the Commentator, one of Gautama's disciples: he is not mentioned elsewhere. If we read "atulam" the meaning is "an incomparable saying."

241. Disuse...mantras: i.e. if the words are not used they are forgotten.

251. Lust... hatred... folly. The three inveterate foes of the good life. Buddhism sees that man has in him ape, tiger, and ass. (Cf. Introduction, p. 15.)

252. Or "as the fowler hides his snare."

254, 255. We have followed the Sinhalese scholar, Mr. James D'Alwis, in this translation: he is supported by the Commentary. Another possible rendering is: "No one outside the Buddhist community can walk through the air, but only a samana" (Fausboll). But this taxes the construction too severely, and as Professor Max Muller says, Buddha did not encourage the display of miraculous power.