rder our life in accordance with them.

Now it will be understood, I think, why there is no prayer, no gathering
together for any ceremonial, in Buddhism; why there is no praise, no
thanksgiving of any kind; why it is so very different in this way from
our faith. Buddhism is a wisdom, a seeking of the light, a following of
the light, each man as best he can, and it has very little to correspond
with our prayer, our services of praise, our meetings together in the
name of Christ.

Therefore, when you see a man kneeling before a pagoda, moving silent
lips of prayer, when you see the people sitting quietly in the
rest-houses on a Sunday, when you see the old men telling their beads to
themselves slowly and sadly, when you hear the resonant chant of monks
and children, lending a soul to the silence of the gloaming, you will
know what they are doing. They are trying to understand and bring home
to themselves the eternal laws of righteousness; they are honouring
their great teacher.

This is all that there is; this is the meaning of all that you see and
hear. The Buddhist praises and honours the Buddha, the Indian prince
who so long ago went out into the wilderness to search for truth, and
after many years found it in his own heart; he reverences the Buddha for
seeing the light; he thanks the Buddha for his toil and exertion in
making this light known to all men. It can do the Buddha no good, all
this praise, for he has come to his eternal peace; but it can arouse the
enthusiasm of the follower, can bring into his heart love for the memory
of the great teacher, and a firm resolve to follow his teaching.

The service of his religion is to try and follow these laws, to take
them home into the heart, that the follower, too, may come soon into the
Great Peace.

This has been called pessimism. Surely it is the greatest optimism the
world has known--this certainty that the world is ruled by
righteousness, that the world has been, that the world will always be,
ruled by perfect righteousness.

To the Buddhist this is a certainty. The laws are laws of righteousness,
if man would but see, would but understand. Do not complain and cry and
pray, but open your eyes and see. The light is all about you, if you
would only cast the bandage from your eyes and look. It is so wonderful,
so beautiful, far beyond what any man has dreamt of, has prayed for, and
it is for ever and for ever.

This is the attitude of Buddhism towards prayer,