To ask why we should take that way, would seem to an Indian an unnecessary question, as it might seem to a Christian if he were asked why he wants to save his soul, but if the question is pressed, the answer must be at every point, for the Christian as much as for the Buddhist, to gain happiness[465].  Incidentally the happiness of others is fully cared for, since both religions make unselfishness the basis of morality and hold that the conscious and selfish pursuit of happiness is not the way to gain it, but if we choose to apply European methods of analysis to the Buddha’s preaching, it is utilitarian.  But the fact that he and his first disciples did not think such analysis and discussion necessary goes far to show that the temper created in his Order was not religiously utilitarian.  It never occurred to them to look at things that way.

The eightfold path is the road to happiness but it is the way, not the destination, and the action of the Buddha and his disciples is something beyond it.  They had obtained the goal, for they were all Arhats, and they might, if they had been inspired by that selfishness which some European authors find prominent in Buddhism, have entered into their rest.  Yet the Buddha bade them go among men and preach “for the gain and welfare of many” and they continued their benevolent activity although it could add nothing to the reward which they had already won.

The Buddha often commented on the eightfold path, and we may follow one of the expositions attributed to him[466].  What, he asks, is meant by right views (Sammaditthi)?  Simply a knowledge of the four truths, and of such doctrines about personality and karma as are implied in them.  But the negative aspects of this Sammaditthi are more striking than the positive.  It does not imply any philosophical or metaphysical system:  the Buddha has shaken off all philosophical theories[467].  Secondly, it does not imply that any knowledge or belief is of efficacy in itself, as the lore of the Brahmans is supposed to be or those Christian creeds which save by faith.  The Buddha has not a position such as the Church attributes to Christ, or later Buddhism to Amida.  All that is required under the head of right belief is a knowledge of the general principles and programme of Buddhism.

The Buddha continues, What is right resolve?  It is the resolve to renounce pleasures, to bear no malice and do no harm.  What is right speech?  To abstain from lying and slandering, harsh words and foolish chatter.  What is right conduct?  To abstain from taking life, from stealing, from immorality.  What is right livelihood?  To abandon wrong occupations and get one’s living by a right occupation.  This is elsewhere defined as one that does not bring hurt or danger to any living thing, and five bad occupations are enumerated, namely, those of a caravan-trader, slave-dealer, butcher, publican and poison seller.  European critics of Buddhism have often found fault