..續本文上一頁s; and so that we may live in a way to ensure the greatest happiness and the least suffering for our fellowmen and ourselves.

　　p. 31

　　120. Q. What is the light that can dispel this ignorance of ours and remove all sorrows

　　A. The knowledge of the "Four Noble Truths," as Buddha called them.

　　121. Q. Name these Four Noble Truths.

　　A. 1. The miseries of evolutionary existence resulting in births and deaths, life after life. 2. The cause productive of misery, which is the selfish desire, ever renewed, of satisfying one”s self, without being able ever to secure that end. 3. The destruction of that desire, or the estranging of one”s self from it. 4, The means of obtaining this destruction of desire.

　　122. Q. Tell me some things that cause sorrow.

　　A. Birth, decay, illness, death, separation from objects we love, association with those who are repugnant, craving for what cannot be obtained.

　　123. Q. Do these differ with each inpidual

　　A. Yes: but all men suffer from them in degree.

　　124. Q. How can we escape the sufferings which result from unsatisfied desires and ignorant cravings

　　A. By complete conquest over, and destruction of, this eager thirst for life and its pleasures, which causes sorrow.

　　p. 32

　　125. Q. How may we gain such a conquest

　　A. By following in the Noble Eight-fold Path which Buddha discovered and pointed out.

　　126. Q. What do you mean by that word: what is this Noble Eight fold Path

　　 (For Pâlî name see Q. 78).

　　A. The eight parts of this path are called aṅgas they are: 1. Right Belief (as to the law of Causation, or Karma); 2. Right Thought; 3. Right Speech; 4. Right Action; 5. Right Means of Livelihood; 6. Right Exertion; 7. Right Remembrance and Self-discipline; 8. Right Concentration of Thought. The man who keeps these aligns in mind and follows them will be free from sorrow and ultimately reach salvation.

　　127. Q. Can you give a better word for salvation

　　A. Yes, emancipation.

　　128. Q. Emancipation, then, from what

　　A. Emancipation from the miseries of earthly existence and of re-births, all of which are due to. ignorance and impure lusts and cravings.

　　129. Q. And when this salvation or emancipation is attained, what do we reach

　　p. 33

　　A. Nirvâṇa.

　　130. Q. What is Nirvâṇa

　　A. A condition of total cessation of changes, of perfect rest; of the absence of desire and illusion and sorrow; of the total obliteration of everything that goes to make up the physical man. Before reaching Nirvâṇa man is constantly being re-born: when he reaches Nirvâṇa he is re-born no more.

　　131. Q. Where can be found a learned discussion of the word Nirvâṇa, and a list of the other names by which the old Pâlî writers attempted to define it

　　A. In the famous Dictionary of the Pâlî Language, by the late Mr. R. C. Childers, is a complete list. *

　　132. Q. But some people imagine that Nirvâṇa is some sort of heavenly place, a Paradise. Does Buddhism teach that

　　A. No. When Kûtadanta asked the Buddha "Where is Nirvâṇa," he replied that it was "Wherever the precepts are obeyed."

　　133. Q. What causes us to be re-born

　　p. 34

　　A. The unsatisfied selfish desire (Sk., trishna; Pâlî, tanha) for things that belong to the state of personal existence in the material world. This unquenched thirst for physical existence (bhâva) is a force, and has a creative power in itself so strong that it draws the being back into mundane life.

　　134. Q. Are our re-births in any way affected by the nature of our unsatisfied desires

　　A. Yes; and by our inpidual merits or demerits.

　　135. Q. Does our merit or demerit control the state, condition or form in which we shall be re-born

　　A. It does. The broad rule is…

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