Part 13 (2/2)

4. On the doctrine, Dhammanupa.s.sana.

273. Q. _What is the aim of the four Great Efforts (Sammappadhana)?_

A. To suppress one's animal desires and grow in goodness.

274. Q. _For the perception by the Bhikkhu of the highest truth, is reason said to be the best, or intuition?_

A. Intuition--a mental state in which any desired truth is instantaneously grasped.

275. Q. _And when can that development be reached?_

A. When one, by the practice of Jnana, comes to its fourth stage of unfolding.

276. Q. _Are we to believe that in the final stage of Jnana, and in the condition called Samadhi, the mind is a blank and thought is arrested?_

A. Quite the contrary. It is then that one's consciousness is most intensely active, and one's power to gain knowledge correspondingly vast.

277. Q. _Try to give me a simile?_

A. In the ordinary waking state one's view of knowledge is as limited as the sight of a man who walks on a road between high hills; in the higher consciousness of Jnana and _Samadhi_ it is like the sight of the eagle poised in the upper sky and overlooking a whole country.

278. Q. _What do our books say about the Buddha's use of this faculty?_

A. They tell us that it was his custom, every morning, to glance over the world and, by his divine (clairvoyant) sight, see where there were persons ready to receive the truth. He would then contrive, if possible, that it should reach them. When persons visited him he would look into their minds, read their secret motives, and then preach to them according to their needs.

[1] The Upasaka and Upasika observe these on the Buddhist _Uposatha_ (Sabbath) days (in Skr. _Upavasata_). They are the 8th, 14th and 15th days of each half lunar month.

[2] The relations.h.i.+p to his Guru, or teacher, is almost like that of G.o.dson to G.o.dfather among Christians, only more real, for the teacher becomes father, mother, family and all to him.

PART IV

THE RISE AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

279. Q. _As regards the number its followers, how does Buddhism at this date compare with the other chief religions?_

A. The followers of the Buddha Dharma outnumber those of every other religion.

280. Q. _What is the estimated number?_

A. About five hundred millions (5,000 lakhs or 500 crores): this is five-thirteenths, or not quite half, of the estimated population of the globe.

281. Q. _Have many great battles been fought and many countries conquered; has much human blood been spilt to spread the Buddha Dharma?_

A. History does not record one of those cruelties and crimes as having been committed to propagate our religion. So far as we know, it has not caused the spilling of a drop of blood. (See footnote _ante_--Professor Kolb's testimony.)

282. Q. _What, then, is the secret of its wonderful spread?_

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