Besides these precepts there are many minor regulations, some of them entering very minutely into the life of the laity, and others the monks. There are rules for the conduct of parents and children, pupils and teachers, husband and wife, friends and companions, masters and servants, laymen and the religious order; in fact, considering the light Gautama possessed, the moral teaching of Buddhism is of a very high order. But what about the means of attaining to moral excellence? Here Buddhism, it must be confessed, is found wanting. To conceive of a high state of moral excellence is manifestly better within the reach of man’s unaided mind, than to find out a way for the bulk of mankind in their frailty and sinfulness to reach it. In order to place before the reader any intelligible view of the Buddhist way of salvation, it is essential that we consider first its teaching concerning the nature and circumstances of man. Buddhism is thoroughly pessimistic in its outlook. It teaches that life is a misery, existence an evil. This doctrine is taught in the sacred books with a wealth and ingenuity of illustration worthy of a more gay and festive theme. The sentient being is “like a worm in the midst of a nest of ants; like a lizard in the hollow of a bamboo that is burning at both ends; like a living carcass, bereft of hands and feet, and thrown upon the sand.” All beings are “entangled in a web of passions; tossed upon the raging billows of a sea of ever-renewing existences; whirling in a vortex of endless miseries; tormented incessantly by the stings of concupiscence; sunk in a dark abyss of ignorance; the wretched victims of an illusory, unsubstantial and unreal world.” It is true these views of life do not seem unduly to distress the followers of Gautama. The Burmans, the best of Buddhists, are as merry and laughing a people as are to be found anywhere, and the burden of life rests not more lightly upon any people than upon them. Nevertheless such is the teaching. “_Anaiksa, Doakka, Anatta_” is the formula in Burmese: “Transient, Sorrowful, Unreal.” The monk muses on this in his monastery. The pious Buddhist repeats it to himself as he spends his spare time smoking and meditating on the bench at his door, or strolling idly about, telling off the beads of his rosary the while. Seeing that life is necessarily a misery, and existence an evil, the problem of life would seem to be how to bring existence to an end. The Christian would say wait for the release of death, but two formidable difficulties stand in the way, to prevent death proving any release—namely, _Transmigration_ and _Karma_ (Burmese _Kan_).