m[=a]; but he that has
performed only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good
qualities, enters into union with Brahm[=a] and into the heaven of
Brahm[=a]"; and these eight good qualities are mercy, forbearance,
freedom from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from
greed and from covetousness. Nevertheless with the Brahman this is
adventitious, with the Buddhist it is essential.

These Four Great Truths are given to the world first at Benares,
whither Buddha went in order to preach to the five ascetics that had
deserted him. His conversation with them shows us another side of
Buddhistic ethics. The five monks, when they saw Buddha approaching,
jeered, and said: "Here is the one that failed in his austerities."
Buddha tells them to acknowledge him as their master, and that he is
the Enlightened One. "How," they ask, "if you could not succeed in
becoming a Buddha by asceticism, can we suppose that you become one by
indulgence?" Buddha tells them that neither voluptuousness nor
asceticism is the road that leads to Nirv[=a]na; that he, Buddha, has
found the middle path between the two extremes, the note is struck
that is neither too high nor too low. The five monks are converted
when they hear the Four Great Truths and the Eightfold Path, and there
are now six holy ones on earth, Buddha and his five disciples.

Significant also is the social status of Buddha's first conversion. It
is 'the rich youth' of Benares that flock about him,[16] of whom sixty
soon are counted, and these are sent out into all the lands to preach
the gospel, each to speak in his own tongue, for religion was from
this time on no longer to be hid behind the veil of an unintelligible
language. And it is not only the aristocracy of wealth that attaches
itself to the new teacher and embraces his doctrines with enthusiasm.
The next converts are a thousand Brahman priests, who constituted a
religious body under the leadership of three ascetic Brahmans. It is
described in the old writings how these priests were still performing
their Vedic rites when Buddha came again to Bodhi Gay[=a] and found
them there. They were overcome with astonishment as they saw his power
over the King of Snakes that lived among them. The gods--for Buddhism,
if not Buddha, has much to do with the gods--descend from heaven to
hear him, and other marvels take place. The Brahmans are all
converted. The miracles and the numbers may be stripped off, but thus