Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/362

 DOCTRINES OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA

T is not possible, within the limits of a single chapter, to give our readers anything like a complete summary of the doctrines of Buddha's creed, and our attempt will rather be to present the substance of the great lessons and ideas which Gautama preached and inculcated among his countrymen.

Buddhism is, in its essence, a system of self-culture and self-restraint. Doctrines and beliefs are of secondary importance, for the effort to end human suffering by living a holy life, free from passions and desires, was the cardinal idea with which Gautama was impressed on the day on which he was "enlightened" under the Bo-tree in Bodh Gaya, and it was the central idea which he preached to the last day of his life.

When he went from Bodh Gaya to Benares, and first preached his religion to his five former disciples, he explained to them the Fourfold Wisdom and the Eightfold Path, which form the essence of Buddhism.

"This, Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of Suffering. Birth is suffering, decay is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering. Presence of objects we hate is Rh