were also common in Greece from the sixth century B.C. onwards but the result was small, for the genius of the Greeks turned towards politics and philosophy.  But in India, where politics had strangely little attraction for the cultured classes, energy and intelligence found an outlet in the religious life and created a multitude of religious societies.  Even to-day Hinduism has no one creed or code and those who take a serious interest in religion are not merely Hindus but follow some sect which, without damning what it does not adopt, selects its own dogmas and observances.  This is not sectarianism in the sense of schism.  It is merely the desire to have for oneself some personal, intimate religious life.  Even in so uncompromising and levelling a creed as Islam the devout often follow special tariqs, that is, roads or methods of the devotional life, and these tariqs, though differing more than the various orders of the Roman Catholic Church, are not regarded as sects distinct from ordinary orthodoxy.  When Christ died, Christianity was not much more than such a tariq.  It was an incipient religious order which had not yet broken with Judaism.

This idea of the private, even secret religious body is closely allied to another, namely, that family life and worldly business are incompatible with the quest for higher things.  In early ages only priests and consecrated persons are expected to fast and practise chastity but when once the impression prevails that such observances not only achieve particular ends but produce wiser, happier, or more powerful lives, then they are likely to be followed by considerable numbers of the more intelligent, emotional and credulous sections of the population.  The early Christian Church was influenced by the idea that the world is given over to Satan and that he who would save himself must disown it.  The gentler Hindus were actuated by two motives.  First, more than other races, they felt the worry and futility of worldly life.  Secondly, they had a deep-rooted belief that miraculous powers could be acquired by self-mortification and the sensations experienced by those who practised fasting and trances confirmed this belief.

The third cause for the foundation and increase of religious orders is a perception of the influence which they can exercise.  The disciples of a master or the priests of a god, if numerous and organized, clearly possess a power analogous to that of an army.  To use such institutions for the service and protection of the true faith is an obvious expedient of the zealot:  ecclesiastical statecraft and ambition soon make their appearance in most orders founded for the assistance of the Church militant.  But of this spirit Buddhism has little to show; except in Tibet and Japan it is almost absent.  The ideal of the Buddha lay within his order and was to be realized in the life of the members.  They had no need to strive after any extraneous goal.