Which of these funeral scenes (chosen because Buddhism plays almost its chief part at such times) is most true to type? It is a perplexing question. Buddhism has from the very beginning been chiefly a religion for monks, calling men and women to leave the world. It was never exactly optimistic, and yet another permanent root of its remarkable power over humankind has been that often men and women who obeyed possessed a sense of discovery, of hopefulness, of sheer joy; especially strong in its golden age, the first five centuries of its existence. There was something vernal in the air. "In joy we live, hating none; let us live in the midst of those who hate, unhating; in the midst of those who ail, let us live in perfect health; having nothing, yet we possess great riches." Such is the spirit of the early _sangha_ (monastic community). And when we turn to the Buddhism of to-day we find that it retains these two dominant characteristics: this blending of sadness and quiet joy. Even in sunny Burma the old people and the monks seem sad at times, and even in Ceylon and Siam the ordinary folk are fairly cheerful as they go on pilgrimages or make their offerings to monk or image. V. BUDDHISM AS A LIVING RELIGION Buddhism stands in a different relation to Christianity from any other world religion, because it has unquestionably done for Eastern peoples something of the intellectual, moral, and spiritual service which Christianity has done for Europe and America. Moreover, it is showing a strange power of revival. It also seems to make a real appeal to certain types of mind in the West. Little groups of Westerners in Burma and in Ceylon, the former Scotch, the latter German, have for some years been promoting the propagation of Buddhism in Western lands. They feel convinced that it is "the religion of mature minds." One of their number, a Scot, known as _Bhikkhu Silācāra_,[7] wrote in 1913: "This seems to be the place of honour which Burma is called upon to fill in the family of the nations of the world--that of being _Dhammadāyaka_ to the world, giver of the _dhamma_[8] of the Blessed One to all the nations of the earth. What prouder, what more glorious, what more merit-bringing position could any people ask for than to be chosen as the bearer of the sublime teaching of the Blessed One?" There is a considerable amount of publication of Buddhist propaganda to-day in Europe and America, even if few Eastern Buddhists are found with the courage to preach Buddhism in person in Western cities. In Germany, where there are said to be scores of thousands of Buddhists, a publishing house has been set up at Breslau; and the _Buddhist Review_ is published in London. In North America Buddhism has numerous missions, especially on the Pacific Coast, where it aims at converting Americans as well as at ministering to the Japanese. It is the only non-Christian religion which has this appeal. What gives it this hold,