But these ideas must not be confused with Christian beliefs, for Buddhism teaches nothing of any immaterial existence.  The foundations of its creed have been summed up in the Four Great Truths, which are as follows: 

1.  That misery always accompanies existence;

2.  That all modes of existence of men or animals, in death or heaven, result from passion or desire (tanha);

3.  That there is no escape from existence except by destruction of desire;

4.  That this may be accomplished by following the fourfold way to Nirvana.

The four stages are called the Paths, the first being an awakening of the heart.  The first enemy which the believer has to fight against is sensuality and the last is unkindliness.  Above everything is universal charity.  Till he has gained that the believer is still bound, his mind is still dark.  True enlightenment, true freedom, are complete only in love.  The last great reward is “Nirvana,” eternal rest or extinction.

For forty-five years Gautama taught in the valley of the Ganges.  In the twentieth year his cousin Ananda became a mendicant and attended on Gautama.  Another cousin, however, stirred up some persecution of the great teacher, and the oppositions of the Brahmans had to be faced.

There are clear accounts of the last few days of Gautama’s life.  On a journey toward Kusi-nagara he had rested in a grove at Pawa, presented to the society by a goldsmith of that place named Chunda.  After a midday meal of rice and pork, prepared by Chunda, the Master started for Kusi-nagara, but stopped to rest at the river Kukusta.  Feeling that he was dying, he left a message for Chunda, promising him a great reward in some future existence.  He died at the river Kukusta, near Kusi-nagara, teaching to the last.

Gautama’s power arose from his practical philanthropy.  His philosophy and ethics attracted the masses.  He did not seek to found a new religion, but thought that all men would accept his form of the ancient creed.  It was his society, the Sangha, or Buddhist order, rather than his doctrine, which gave to his religion its practical vitality.

The following lines, filled with the poetic beauty of the Orient, are taken from the last spoken words of the great founder of Buddhism and the Book of the Great Decease.  They give a clew to the cult of that religion and breathe the spirit of Nirvana in every scintillating sentence.  As nearly as may be the translation is a literal one, done by Rhys-Davids, the world’s greatest living authority on this subject: 

Now the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ananda, and said:  “It may be, Ananda, that in some of you the thought may arise, ’The word of the Master is ended, we have no teacher more!’ But it is not thus, Ananda, that you should regard it.  The truths and the rules of the order which I have set forth and laid down for you all, let them, after I am gone, be the Teacher to you.