We must remember that there are two vastly different kinds of Buddhism. They are almost opposite; the one is certainly the negation of the other. The first is the Buddhism which the actual Buddha taught. You remember that he was an historic character, who lived at about five hundred years before Christ. An Indian prince, he is known under various names as Sakyamuni, Siddartha and Gautama. He pondered much over the problems of life and devoted himself to the solution of mysteries; he tried asceticism and listened to one teacher after another; he wandered, meditated, fasted; he finally reached enlightenment. He decided that life was an illusion and a snare which one would gladly be rid of; he discovered that the chain that bound one to this existence could be broken. Release comes from careful conduct; it comes through right living, and right thinking; it comes in course of time, after many many existences; through right living in one life man gathers _karma_ which carries him to higher and higher stages until at last he becomes a great scholar; finally he becomes a Bodhisattva, which is but one step from Buddha-hood; and finally, from a Bodhisattva, through enlightenment, he becomes a true Buddha and when his earthly life ends, passes out into oblivion, blissful, calm nothingness. Buddha was one of the greatest of world teachers. His teaching was simple; we may work out release gradually from the thraldom into which we are born; through careful thought and right living we may pass from stage to stage until at last we merge into infinity and lose our individuality. [Illustration: PLATE XVI Head-priest and Pagoda: Sinkei-sa, Diamond Mountains [Page 74]] Buddha taught that we end in _Nirvana_; his doctrine was a revolt against the idea of an individual soul that lives forever; in his religion there were no figures, no idols, nothing for worship. Buddhism proper taught nothing about gods. It simply taught men to strive for enlightenment, to become Buddhas and to pass out into _Nirvana_.