SCIENCE AND BUDDHISM 
 
114
pendent thought, of keen ecstasy  of love of 
knowledge, of practical training, 
that the 
Buddhasanana Samagama 1 appeals; it 
is 
time that Buddhism reformed itself 
from 
within; though its truths be held untarnished 
(and even this  is not every where the cas e), 
its methods, its organisation, are sadly
 in 
need of repair; research must be done, men 
must be perfected, error must 
be fought.  
And if in the West a great Buddhist society  
is built up of m en of intellect, of the men in 
whose hands the future lie s, there is then an 
awakening, a true redem ption, of the weary 
and forgetful Empires of the East. 
X 
THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH 
To return from our little digression to the 
original plan of our essay
.  It is time to  
note the “Noble Eightfold 
Path,” referred  
to and its consideration deferred, in Sec-tion 
III. 
In this Fourth Noble Truth we approach 
the true direction of Buddhism; progress is 
but another word for change; is it possible to 
move in a direction whose goal is the 
changeless?  The answer is Yea and Am en! 
and it is detailed in the 
Noble Eightfold 
Path, of which I propose to give a short 
resumé.  First, however, of the goal.  It may 
be readily syllogised: 
All existing things are (by  nature, inevi-
tably) subject to change. 
In Nirvana is no change. 
∴ No existing thing is or can be in 
Nirvana. 
Now here is the great difficulty; for this 
syllogism is perfectly  sound, and y
et we 
speak of attaining Nirvana, 
tasting Nir- 
vana, &c. 
[We must distinguish the Hindu Nirvana, 
which means Cessation of Existence in certain 
Lokas; never absolute Cessation, as the 
 
1 Or International Buddhist Society, 
founded in Rangoon in 1903. 
Buddhist tradition, the ety mology, and the 
logical value alike require for 
the word as 
applied to the Buddhist goal.  
See Chidders, 
Pali Dictionary, sub voce Nibbana.] 
The explanation is really  as follows : only 
by this term Nirvana can we foreshadow to 
you the reality ; for even as the Dawn of 
Dhyana is indescribable in language, 
à 
fortiori Nirvana is  so.  To give an example, 
for that something of the sort is necessary I 
freely admit, to defend so apparently
 
mystical a s
tatement, I m
ay give 
the 
following from my own experience. 
In a certain meditation one day
 I re-
corded: 
“I wa s (a) conscious of external things 
seen behind after my
 nose had 
vanished.  
(b) Conscious that I was 
not conscious of 
these things .  Thes
e ( a) and 
(b) were 
simultaneous.” 
I subsequently  discovered this 
peculiar 
state of cons ciousness classified in the Ab-
hidhamma.  That it is a contradiction in 
terms I am perfectly  aware; to as sign any  
meaning to it is frankly beyond me; but I am 
as certain that s uch a s tate once existed in 
me as I am of anything. 
Similarly with Nirvana and its 
definition.  
The Arahat knows what it is, and describes 
it by its accidentals, s uch as  blis s.  I m ust 
raise, very reluctantly, a protest against the 
idea of Professer Rhy s Davids (if I have 
understood him aright) that 
Nirvana is the 
mental state resulting from the continuous 
practice of all the virtues and methods of 
thought characteristic of Buddhism.  No 
; 
Nirvana is a state belonging to a different 
plane, to a higher dimension than any thing 
we can at pres
ent conceive of.  It 
has 
perhaps its analogies and correspondences 
on the normal planes, and so shall we find  
of the steps as well as  of the Goal.  Even 
 
the sim ple first step, 
which every true 
Buddhist has taken, Sam maditthi, is a very 
different thing from the point of view of 
 
an Arahat.  The Buddha 
stated expressly 
that none but an Arahat 
could really com-
prehend the Dhamma.