ere of no
consequence. Rank depended not on the outward circumstance of birth, but
on the ability of the individual to resist evil, or, upon his
capacity to receive the higher truths enunciated by the new sun or
savior--Buddha.

In one of the canonical books he is represented as saying:

"Since the doctrine which I teach is completely pure, it makes no
distinction between noble and common, between rich and poor. It is, for
example, like water, which washes both noblemen and common people, both
rich and poor, both good and bad, and purifies all without distinction.
It may, to take another illustration, be compared to fire, which
consumes mountains, rocks, and all great and small objects between
heaven and earth. Again, my doctrine is like heaven, inasmuch as there
is room within it without exception, for whomsoever it may be; for men
and women, for boys and girls, for rich and poor."(121)

121) Viscount Amberley, Analysis of Religious Belief, vol. i., p. 216.

There is little doubt that the religion of Buddha was an attempt to
return to the almost forgotten principles of a past age of spiritual and
moral greatness. According to this ancient wisdom, man is an immortal
soul struggling for perfection. The growth of the real man is a natural
unfolding of the divine principle within, such process of evolution
being accomplished through the power of the will. As every individual
must work out his own salvation, this will-force must ever be directed
toward the complete mastery of the body, or the lower self. In other
words, the development of the higher life depends upon the power of the
individual to overcome or conquer evil. The effect of every thought,
word, and deed is woven into the soul, and no one can evade the
consequences of his own acts. All sin is the result of selfishness, so
that only when one renounces self and begins to live for others does the
soul-life begin. No one who has arrived at a state of soul-consciousness
will lead a selfish or impure life. On the contrary, every impulse of
the devout Buddhist goes out toward humanity and God, of whom he is a
conscious part.

Gotama Buddha was not a "savior" in the sense of bloody sacrifice for
the sins of the people. On the contrary, he was an example to mankind--a
man who through moral purification and a life of self-abnegation
had prepared himself for this holy office. Mythologically, or
astrologically, he was the new sun born at the close of the cycle