Suppose, on the other hand, there were an âtman behind every particular being; suppose, too, it were absolute and permanent and self-acting; and this phenomenal world would then come to a standstill, and life be forever gone. For is not changeability the most essential feature and condition of life, and also the strongest evidence for the non-existence of individual things as realities? The physical sciences recognise this universal fact of mutual transformation in its positive aspect and call it the law of the conservation of energy and of matter. Mahâyânism, recognising its negative side, proposes the doctrine of the non-âtman-ness of things, that is to say, the {44} impermanency of all particular existences. Therefore, it is said, “_Sarvam anityam, sarvam çûnyam, sarvam anâtman_.” (All is transitory, all is void, all is without ego.) Mahâyânists condemn the vulgar view that denies the consubstantiality and reciprocal transformation of all beings, not only because it is scientifically untenable, but mainly because, ethically and religiously considered, it is fraught with extremely dangerous ideas,--ideas which finally may lead a “brother to deliver up the brother to death and the father the child,” and, again, it may constrain “the children to rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.” Why? Because this view, born of egoism, would dry up the well of human love and sympathy, and transform us into creatures of bestial selfishness; because this view is not capable of inspiring us with the sense of mutuality and commiseration and of making us disinterestedly feel for our fellow-beings. Then, all fine religious and humane sentiments would depart from our hearts, and we should be nothing less than rigid, lifeless corpses, no pulse beating, no blood running. And how many victims are offered every day on this altar of egoism! They are not necessarily immoral by nature, but blindly led by the false conception of life and the world, they have been rendered incapable of seeing their own spiritual doubles in their neighbors. Being ever controlled by their sensual impulses, they sin against humanity, against nature, and against themselves. {45} We read in the _Mahâyâna-abhisamaya Sûtra_ (Nanjo, no. 196): “Empty and calm and devoid of ego Is the nature of all things: There is no individual being That in reality exists. “Nor end nor beginning having Nor any middle course, All is a sham, here’s no reality whatever: It is like unto a vision and a dream. “It is like unto clouds and lightning, It is like unto gossamer or bubbles floating It is like unto fiery revolving wheel, It is like unto water-splashing. “Because of causes and conditions things are here: In them there’s no self-nature [i.e., âtman]: All things that move and work, Know them as such. “Ignorance and thirsty desire, The source of birth and death they are: Right contemplation and discipline by heart, Desire and ignorance obliterate.