Nipata bids a man love not only his neighbour but all the
world. "As a mother at the risk of her life watches over her own child,
her only child, so let every one cultivate a boundless love towards all
beings[472]." Nor are such precepts left vague and universal. If some of
his acts and words seem wanting in family affection, the Buddha enjoined
filial piety as emphatically as Moses or Confucius. There are two
beings, he says, namely Father and Mother, who can never be adequately
repaid[473]. If a man were to carry his parents about on his shoulders
for a hundred years or could give them all the kingdoms and treasures of
the earth, he still would not discharge his debt of gratitude[474]. But
whereas Confucius said that the good son does not deviate from the way
of his father, the Buddha, who was by no means conservative in religious
matters, said that the only way in which a son could repay his parents
was by teaching them the True Law.

The Buddha defines the sixth section of the path more fully than those
which precede. Right effort, he says, is when a monk makes an effort,
and strives to prevent evil states of mind from arising: to suppress
them if they have arisen: to produce good states of mind, and develop
and perfect them. Hitherto we have been considering morality,
indispensable but elementary. This section is the beginning of the
specially Buddhist discipline of mental cultivation. The process is apt
to seem too self-conscious: we wonder if a freer growth would not yield
better fruits. But in a comparison with the similar programmes of other
religions Buddhism has little to fear. Its methods are not morbid or
introspective: it does not fetter the intellect with the bonds of
authority. The disciple has simply to discriminate between good and bad
thoughts, to develop the one and suppress the other. It is noticeable
that under this heading of right effort, or right wrestling as it is
sometimes called, both desire and striving for good ends are
consecrated. Sloth and torpor are as harmful to spiritual progress as
evil desires and as often reprimanded. Also the aim is not merely
negative: it is partly creative. The disciple is not to suppress will
and feeling, but he is to make all the good in him grow; he should
foster, increase and perfect it.

What is right-mindfulness[475], the seventh section of the path? It is
"When a monk lives as regards the body, observant of the body,
strenuous, conscious, mindful and has