A merchant from Sûnaparanta having joined Buddha's society, was desirous of preaching to his relations, and is said to have asked the permission of the master so to do. "The people of Sûnaparanta," said Buddha, "are exceedingly violent; if they revile you what will you do?" "I will make no reply," said the mendicant. "And if they strike you?" "I will not strike in return," said the mendicant. "And if they kill you?" "Death," said the missionary, "is no evil in itself. Many even desire it to escape from the vanities of life." (Bigandet, p. 216.) BUDDHA'S THIRD COMMANDMENT. "Commit no adultery." Commentary by Buddha: "This law is broken by even looking at the wife of another with a lustful mind." (Buddhaghosa's "Parables," by Max Müller and Rogers, p. 153.) THE SOWER. It is recorded that Buddha once stood beside the ploughman Kasibhâradvaja, who reproved him for his idleness. Buddha answered thus:--"I, too, plough and sow, and from my ploughing and sowing I reap immortal fruit. My field is religion. The weeds that I pluck up are the passions of cleaving to this life. My plough is wisdom, my seed purity." ("Hardy Manual," p. 215.) On another occasion he described almsgiving as being like "good seed sown on a good soil that yields an abundance of fruits. But alms given to those who are yet under the tyrannical yoke of the passions, are like a seed deposited in a bad soil. The passions of the receiver of the alms, choke, as it were, the growth of merits." (Bigandet, p. 211.) "NOT THAT WHICH GOETH INTO THE MOUTH DEFILETH A MAN." In the "Sutta Nipâta," chap. ii., is a discourse on the food that defiles a man (Âmaghanda). Therein it is explained at some length that the food that is eaten cannot defile a man, but "destroying living beings, killing, cutting, binding, stealing, falsehood, adultery, evil thoughts, murder,"--this defiles a man, not the eating of flesh. "WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS." "A man," says Buddha, "buries a treasure in a deep pit, which lying concealed therein day after day profits him nothing, but there is a treasure of charity, piety, temperance, soberness, a treasure secure, impregnable, that cannot pass away, a treasure that no thief can steal. Let the wise man practise Dharma. This is a treasure that follows him after death." ("Khuddaka Pâtha," p. 13.) THE HOUSE ON THE SAND. "It [the seen world] is like a city of sand. Its foundation cannot endure." ("Lalita Vistara," p. 172.) BLIND GUIDES. "Who is not freed cannot free others. The blind cannot guide in the way." (_Ibid._ p. 179.) "AS YE SOW, SO SHALL YE REAP." "As men sow, thus shall they reap." ("Ta-chwang-yan-king-lun," sermon 57.) "A CUP OF COLD WATER TO ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES." "Whosoever piously bestows a little water shall receive an ocean in return." ("Ta-chwang-yan-king-lun," sermon 20). "BE NOT WEARY IN WELL-DOING." "Not to be weary in well-doing." ("Mahâmangala Sutta," ver. 7.) "GIVE TO HIM THAT ASKETH."