Book 4 (Part II)

io8 not leave a mark on the mind, and all marks are bad marks. Hope and fear are only opposite phases of a single emotion; both are incompatible with the purity of the soul. With the passions of man the case is somewhat different, as they are functions of his own will. They need to be disciplined, not to be suppressed. But emotion is impressed from without. It is an invasion of the circle. As the Dhammapada says: An ill-thatched house is open to the mercy of the rain and wind ; So passion hath the power to break into an unreflecting mind. A well-thatched house is proof against the fur}' of the rain and wind ; So passion hath no power to break into a rightly-ordered mind. Let then the Student practise observation of those things which normally would cause him emotion; and let him, having written a careful description of what he sees, check it by the aid of some person familiar with such sights. Surgical operations and dancing girls are fruitful fields for the beginner. In reading emotional books such as are inflicted on children, let him always endeavour to see the event from the standpoint opposite to that of the author. Yet let him not emulate the partially emancipated child who complained of a picture of the Colosseum that " there was one