..續本文上一頁A. A rich man may expend lakhs of rupees in building dâgobas or vihâras, in erecting statues of Buddha, in festivals and processions, in feeding

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　　priests, in giving alms to the poor, or in planting trees, digging tanks, or constructing rest-houses by the roadside for travellers, and yet have comparatively little merit if it be done for display, and to make himself praised by men, or for any other selfish motives. But he who does the least of these things with a kind motive, as from love for his fellow-men, gains great merit. A good deed done with a bad motive benefits others, but not the doer. One who approves of a good deed when done by another shares in the merit, if his sympathy is real, not pretended. The same rule as to evil deeds.

　　160. Q. But which is said to be the greatest of all meritorious actions

　　A. The Dhammapada declares that the merit of disseminating the Dharma, the Law of Righteousness, is greater than that of any other good work.

　　161. Q. What books contain all the most excellent wisdom of Buddha”s teachings

　　A. The three collections of books called Tripitakas, or "Three Baskets."

　　162. Q. What are the names of the three Pitakas, or groups of books

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　　A. The Vinâya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka and the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

　　163. Q. What do they respectively contain

　　A. The first contains all that pertains to morality and rules of discipline for the government of the Sangha, or Order; the second contains instructive discourses on ethics applicable to all; the third explains the psychological teachings of the Buddha, including the twenty-four transcendental laws explanatory of the workings of Nature.

　　164. Q. Do Buddhists believe these books to be inspired, or revealed by a Divine Being

　　A. No; but they revere them as containing all the parts of that most Excellent Law, by the knowing of which man may break through the trammels of Samsâra.

　　165. Q. In the whole text of the three Pitakas how many words are there

　　A. Dr. Rhys-Davids estimates them at 1,752,800.

　　166. Q. When were the Pitakas first reduced to writing

　　A. In 88–76 B.C., under the Sinhalese King, Wattagamini; or 330 years after the Parinirvâṇa of the Buddha.

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　　167. Q. Have we reason to believe that all the discourses of the Buddha are known to us

　　A. Probably not, and it would be strange if they were. Within the forty-five years of his public life he must have preached many hundreds of discourses. Of these, in times of war and persecution, many must have been lost, many scattered to distant countries, and many mutilated. History says that enemies of the Buddha Dharma burnt piles of our books as high as a cocoanut tree.

　　168. Q. Do Buddhists consider the Buddha as one who by his own virtue can save us from the consequences of our inpidual sins

　　A. Not at all. Man must emancipate himself. Until he does that he will continue being born over and over and over again—the victim of ignorance, the slave of unquenched passions.

　　169. Q. What, then, was the Buddha to us, and all other beings

　　A. An all-seeing, all-wise Counsellor; one who discovered the safe path and pointed it out; one who showed the cause of, and the only cure for, human suffering. In pointing to the road, in showing

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　　us how to escape dangers, he became our Guide. He is to us like one leading a blind man across a narrow bridge over a swift and deep stream and so saving his life.

　　170. Q. If we were to try to represent the whole spirit of the Buddha”s doctrine by one word, which word should we choose

　　A. Justice.

　　171. Q. Why

　　A. Because it teaches that every man gets, under the operations of unerring KARMA, exactly that reward or punishment which he has deserved, no more and no less. No good deed or bad deed, however trifling, a…

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