Identifier: indianmythlegend00inmack Title: Indian myth and legend Year: 1913 (1910s) Authors: Mackenzie, Donald Alexander, 1873-1936 Subjects: Hindu mythology Publisher: London, Gresham Contributing Library: Indiana University Digitizing Sponsor: Indiana University

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Text Appearing Before Image: d in Buddhism andno hope of immortality. Gods and demons and humanbeings are living creatures; gods have no power overthe Universe, and need not be worshipped or sacrificedto, because they are governed by laws, and men havenothing to fear from them, Buddha denied the existence of the Self-Soul of theUpanishads. Self is not God, in the sense that it is aphase of the World Soul. The self-state is, accordingto the Enlightener, a combination of five elements—matter, feeling, imagination, will, and consciousness;these are united by Kamma,^ the influence which causeslife to repeat itself. Buddha had accepted, in a limitedsense, the theory of Transmigration of5ouls. He taught,however, that rebirth was the result of actions and desire. It is the yearning for existence, he said, which leadsfrom new birth to new birth, which finds its desire indifi^erent directions, the desire for pleasure, the desire forexistence, the desire for power. Death occurs when 1 Karma, works and their consequences.

Text Appearing After Image: BUDDHA EXPOUNDING THE LAW NEW FAITHS 131 the five elements which constitute life are divided; afterdeath nothing remains but the consequences of actionsand thoughts. Rebirth follows because the yearning,the essence of works, brings the elements togetheragain. The individual exists happily, or the reverse,according to his conduct in a former life; sorrow anddisease are results of wrong living and wrong thinkingin previous states of existence. The aim of the Buddhist is to become the masterof his fate. Life to him is hateful because, as theEnlightener taught, birth is suffering, death is suffering;to be joined to one thou dost not love is suffering, tobe divided from thy love is suffering, to fail in thy desireis suffering; in short, the fivefold bonds that unite us toearth—those of the five elements—are suffering. Asthere can be no life without suffering in various degrees,it behoves the believer to secure complete emancipationfrom the fate of being reborn. Life is a dismal andtrag

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