the four Truths.
Elsewhere[455] the Buddha himself when asked what ignorance means
replies that it is not to know that everything must have an origin and a
cessation. The formula means that it is ignorance of the true nature of
the world and the true interests of mankind that brings about the
suffering which we see and feel. We were born into the world because of
our ignorance in our last birth and of the desire for re-existence which
was in us when we died.

Of the supreme importance attached to this doctrine of causation there
can be no doubt. Perhaps the best instance is the story of Sariputta's
conversion. In the early days of the Buddha's mission he asked for a
brief summary of the new teaching and in reply the essential points were
formulated in the well-known verses which declare that all things have a
cause and an end[456]. Such utterances sound like a scientific dictum
about the uniformity of nature or cosmic law. But though the Pitakas
imply some such idea, they seem to shrink from stating it clearly. They
do not emphasize the orderly course of nature or exhort men to live in
harmony with it. We are given to understand that the intelligence of
those supermen who are called Buddhas sees that the four Truths are a
consequence of the nature of the universe but subsequent instruction
bids us attend to the truths themselves and not to their connection with
the universal scheme. One reason for this is that Indians were little
inclined to think of impersonal laws and forces[457]. The law of karma
and the periodic rhythm of growth and decay which the universe obeys are
ideas common to Hinduism and Buddhism and not incompatible with the
mythology and ritual to which the Buddha objected. And though the
Pitakas insist on the universality of causation, they have no notion of
the uniformity of nature in our sense[458]. The Buddhist doctrine of
causation states that we cannot obtain emancipation and happiness unless
we understand and remove the cause of our distress, but it does not
discuss cosmic forces like karma and Maya. Such discussion the Buddha
considered unprofitable[459] and perhaps he may have felt that
insistence on cosmic law came dangerously near to fatalism[460].

Though the number of the links may be varied the Buddha attached
importance to the method of concatenation and the impersonal formulation
of the whole and in one passage[461] he objects to the questions, what
are old age and death and who is it that