Besides the absolutely necessary " aversions and observances" above mentioned, the transgression of which must lead to misery in the next existence, there are certain vir tues or "perfections" of a supererogatory or transcendent kind, that tend directly to " conduct to the other shore" (Nirvana). The most essential of these are almsgiving or charity, purity, patience, courage, contemplation, and knowledge. Charity or benevo lence may be said to be the charateristic virtue of Buddhism—a charity boundless in its self-abnegation, and extending to every sentient being. The benevolent actions done by the Buddha himself, in the course of his many millions of migrations, were favorite themes of his followers. On one occasion, seeing a tigress starved and unable t6 feed her cubs, lie hesitated not to make his body an oblation to charity, and allowed them to devour him. Benevolence to animals, with that tendency to exaggerate a right principle so characteristic of the east, is carried among the Buddhist monks to the length of avoiding the destruction of fleas and the most noxious vermin, which they remove from their persons with all tenderness.
There are other virtues of a secondary kind, though still highly commendable. Thus, not content with forbidding lying, the Buddha strictly enjoins the r.voidance of all offensive and gross language, and of saying or repeating anything that can set others at enmity among themselves; it is a duty, on the contrary, especially for a sramana, to act on al] occasions as a peacemaker. • Patience under injury, and resignation in misfortune, are strongly inculcated. Humility, again, holds a no less prominent place amongst Buddhist graces than it does anion.- the Christian. The Buddhist saints are to conceal their good works, and display their faults. As the outward expression of this sentiment of humility, Gautanla instituted the practice of confession. Twice a month, at the new and at the fall moon, the monks confessed tlteir faults aloud before the assembly. This humiliation and repentance seems the only means of expiating sin that was known to Gautama. Confession was exacted of all believers, only not so frequently as of the monks. The edicts of Piyadasi recommend a general and public confession at least once in five years. The practice of public confession would seem to have died out by the time of Hionen-Thsaug's visit to India.
Such are the leading features of the moral code of the Buddha, of which it has been said, that "for pureness, excellence, and wisdom, it is only second to that of the Divine Lawgiver himself." But the original morality of Buddhism has, in the course of time, been disfigured by many subtilties, puerilities, and extravagances, derived from the casuistry of the various schools of later times; just as the casuistry of the Jesuits, for instance, perverted many of the precepts of Christianity. The theory on which the
Buddha founds his whole system gives, it must be confessed, only too much scope to such perversions; for, on that theory, truth is to be spoken, self to be sacrificed, benevo lence to be exercised, not for the sake of the good thus done to others, but solely for the effect of this.conduct on the soul of the actor, in preparing him for escape from exist ence. To teach men "the means of arriving at the other shore," was another expression for teaching virtue; and that other shore was annihilation. On this principle, the Buddhist casuist can, like the Jewish, render of none effect the universal law of charity and the duty of respecting and aiding parents, on which the Buddha laid such stress. Thus, a Bikshu—that is, one who has engaged to lead a life of self-denial, celibacy, and mendicancy, and is thus on the high-road to Nirvana—is forbidden to look at or con verse with a female, lest any disturbing emotion should ruffle the serene indifference of his soul; and so important is this, that "if his mother have fallen into a river, and be drowning, he shall not give her his hand to help her out; if there he a pole at hand, lie may reach that to her; but if not, she must drown."—Wilson.
Contemplation and science or knowledge (1. c., of the concatenation of causes and effects) are ranked as virtues in Buddhism, and hold a prominent place among the means of attaining Nirvana. It is reserved, in fact, for abstract contemplation to effect. the final steps of the deliverance. Thought is the highest faculty of man, and, in the mind of an eastern philosopher, the mightiest of all forces. A kinn. who had become a con vert to Buddhism is represented as seating himself with his legs crossed, and his mind collected; and "cleaving, with the thunderbolt of science, the mountain of ignorance." be saw before him the desired state. It is in this cross-legged, contemplative position that the Buddha is almost always represented—that crowning intellectual act of his, when, seated under the Bo-tree (q v.), he attained the full knowledge of the Buddha, saw the illusory nature of all things. broke the last. bonds that tied him to existence, and stood delivered for evermore from the necessity of being born again, being consid ered the culmination of his character, and the highest object of imitation to all his followers.