bidden
times; to abstain from dancing, singing, music and stage
plays; not to use garlands, scents, unguents, or ornaments;
not to use a high or broad bed; not to receive gold or
silver.

The Eight Commandments are as follows:

Do not kill; do not steal; do not lie; do not drink
intoxicating drinks; do not commit fornication or adultery;
do not eat unseasonable food at night; do not wear garlands
or use perfumes; sleep on a mat spread on the ground.

The first five of these commands are given to every Buddhist, monk, or
layman; the last three are binding only on the monk.[26]

These laws and rules were, however, as we have indicated in
the chapter on Jainism, the common property, with some unimportant
variations and exceptions, of the Brahman ascetic, the Jain, and the
Buddhist. There was surely nothing here to rouse especial interest.
No. But there was one side of Buddhism that was new, not absolutely
new, for it formed part of the moral possession of that early band
which we may call the congregation of the Spirit. The Brahman
theoretically had done away with penance and with prayer, with the
Vedic gods and with the Vedic rites. Yet was it impossible for him
practically to absolve the folk of these. The priest might admit that
he knew a better way to salvation, but he still led the people over
the hard old road, and he himself went that way also, because it was
the way of the fathers, because it was the only way for them that were
unwise, and perhaps, too, because it was the only way in which the
priest could keep his place as guide and leader of the people.

Jainism smote down some of the obstacles that the Brahman had built
and kept. Mah[=a]v[=i]ra made the way to salvation shorter, but he did
not make it easier for the masses. Asceticism, self-mortification,
starvation, torture,--this was his means of gaining happiness
hereafter.

But Buddha cut down all obstacles. He made the lowest equal with the
highest. It is true that he was no democrat. It is true that his
success depended, in great part, on political influence, on the
conversion of kings and nobles, men of his own class. It is true also
that Buddha at first, like every other Hindu theosophist, sought no
salvation for the world around him, but only for himself. But he was
moved with pity for the multitude. And why? The sages among them knew
no path to happiness save through life-long torture; the common people