aspirations must always remain before the mind's eye; truthfulness and gentleness must characterize every word; uprightness and absolute integrity must mark the conduct. A livelihood must be sought and adhered to which does no harm to living things; there must be a lifelong perseverance in doing good, in acts of kindness, gentleness, and beneficence; the mind and intellect must be active and watchful; calm and tranquil meditation must fill the life with peace. A more beautiful picture of life was never conceived by poet or visionary; and a more perfect system of self-culture was never proclaimed by philosopher or saint.
The idea of self-culture was no doubt developed during the long course of meditation and good works in which Gautama passed his life. On the eve of his death he called together his brethren and recapitulated the entire system of self-culture under seven heads, and these are known as the Seven Jewels of the Buddhist Law.
"Which, then, O brethren, are the truths which, when I had perceived, I made known to you; which, when you have mastered, it behoves you to practise, meditate upon, and spread abroad, in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated, in order that it may continue to be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men. They are these: the four earnest meditations, the fourfold great struggle against sin, the four roads to saintship, the five moral powers, the five organs of spiritual
