A very serious defect of Southern Buddhism is its double standard of morality, one for the layman and another for the monk. It places the celibate _bhikkhu_ (mendicant) on a higher footing than the layman. During the Buddha's own lifetime he was accused of making many homes desolate, and this has been a constant criticism in China where it is a crime not to beget sons; and where Buddhism has been obstinately monastic. There have been great exceptions, especially where kings have been good Buddhists, but it is on the whole a monastic religion, and has continually reverted to type. 12. It rates Womanhood Low. Another alleged weakness, which will specially interest those who are entering upon the careful study of non-Christian religions at the present time, is the relatively low place which the Buddhist system, at least in theory, gives to women. While in practice, as has been pointed out, the women of Burma are the better half of the population, yet in strict theory they are not "human beings" at all: they are less than human: only he who takes the yellow robe and becomes for a time a monk reaches the status of full humanity. Yet Gotama said equally severe things about men; the two sexes, he taught, are a snare to one another: but women are the worse! A Singhalese Christian pastor praying for power to resist the Devil added, "and all _her_ works," and women are in fact so described in many passages of the Buddhist Books. Love between the sexes and lust are not distinguished. And here, perhaps, is the supreme service that Jesus renders to human society: he makes family life a sacred thing, and safeguards women and children from abuse, bringing them to honour and sanctity. Buddhism being concerned chiefly with the monastic life of meditation has not much to say about the family. It does not, at least in Southern Asia, teach the Fatherhood of God from whom "all families are named." 13. A Summary. Such, in bare outline, is Southern Buddhism--in its origin a stoical agnosticism which ignored the gods and bade men rely upon themselves in following the paths of goodness that lead to happiness. Because it thus ignored the deepest instincts of humanity, first by turning the thoughts of men away from God, and again by glorifying celibacy, these instincts, refusing to be snubbed, have taken a revenge, so that to-day Buddhism survives, largely because of the teachings it has been compelled to adopt in the process of moulding itself "nearer to the heart's desire." This may be illustrated in two ways. _Nibbāna_ at best, originally, an ideal of negative, solitary bliss, has been replaced by an ideal of social life hereafter. Moreover, faith in self-mastery has given place to prayers for help, or, among the most conservative, to the belief that there is a store of merit gained by the sacrificial lives of the Buddhas throughout the ages, which may be "tapped" by the faithful.