Besides the absolutely necessary 'aversions and observances' above mentioned, the trans gression of which must lead to misery in the next existence, there are certain virtues or 'per fections' 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, •our age. contemplation, and knowledge. Charity or benevolence may be said to be the characteristic virtue of Buddhism—a charity boundless in its self-abnegation, and extending to every sentient being. The benevolent actions done by the himself, in the course of his many mil lions of migrations, were favorite themes of his followers. On one occasion, seeing a tigress starved and unable to feed her cubs, he hesitated not to make his body all 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. The sect of the damns carried this to absurd extremes.
are other virtues of a secondary kind, though still highly commendable. Thus, not con tent with forbidding lying, the Buddha strictly enjoins the avoidance 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 all occasions as a peace maker. Patience under injury and resignation in misfortune are strongly inculcated. Humil ity. again, holds a no less prominent place among, Buddhist graces than it does among the Christian. The Buddhist saints are to conceal their good works and display their faults. As the outward expression of this sentiment of hu mility, Gautama instituted the practice of con fession. Twice a month, at the new and at the full moon. the monks confessed their faults aloud before the assembly. This humiliation and re pentance seems the only means of expiating sin that was known to Ciautama. Confession was exacted of all believers, only not so frequently as of the monks. The edicts of Piyadasi recom mend a general and public confession at least once in five years. The practice of public confes sion would seem to have died out by the time of Hiouen-Thsang'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 him self." But the original morality of Buddhism
has, in the course of time, been disfigured by many subtleties, puerilities, and extravagances, derived from the casuistry of the various schools of later times. The theory on which the Buddha founds his whole system gives, it must be con fessed, only too much scope to such perversions; for, on that theory, truth is to be spoken, self to he sacrificed, benevolence to be exercised, not for the sake of the good thus done to others. but solely for the effect of this conduct on the in dividual himself, in preparing him for escape from existence. To teach men 'the means of arriving at the other shore' was another expres sion for teaching virtue; and that other shore was annihilation. On this prineiplo the Bud dhist casuist can, like the Jewish, render of no effect the universal law of charity and the duty of respecting and aiding parents, on which the Buddha laid such stress. Thus, a Bliikshu, or Bhikku—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 converse 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 lie a pole at hand he may reach that to her; but if not. she must drown."— Wilson.
Contemplation and science or knowledge (i.e. of the concatenation of causes and effects) are ranked as virtues in Buddhism, and hold a prominent place among the means of attaining Nirvana. lt 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 king who had become a convert to Buddhism is represented as seating himself with his legs crossed, and his mind collected : and 'cleaving with the thunder bolt of science the mountain of ignorance,' he saw before hint 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 ho-tree (q.v.), lie attained the full knowledge of the Buddha, saw the illusory na ture of all things, broke the last bonds that tied hint to existence, and stood delivered for ever more from the necessity cf being born again, being considered the culmination of his charac ter and the highest object of imitation to all his followers.