s which cannot be expressed in terms of happiness.

The will receives more attention in European philosophy than in Indian,
whether Buddhist or Brahmanic, which both regard it not as a separate
kind of activity but as a form of thought. As such it is not neglected
in Buddhist psychology: will, desire and struggle are recognized as good
provided their object is good, a point overlooked by those who accuse
Buddhism of preaching inaction[68].

Schopenhauer's doctrine that will is the essential fact in the universe
and in life may appear to have analogies to Indian thought: it would be
easy for instance to quote passages from the Pitakas showing that
_tanha_, thirst, craving or desire, is the force which makes and remakes
the world. But such statements must be taken as generalizations
respecting the world as it is rather than as implying theories of its
origin, for though _tanha_ is a link in the chain of causation, it is
not regarded as an ultimate principle more than any other link but is
made to depend on feeling. The Maya of the Vedanta is not so much the
affirmation of the will to live as the illusion that we have a real
existence apart from Brahman, and the same may be said of Ahamkara in
the Sankhya philosophy. It is the principle of egoism and individuality,
but its essence is not so much self-assertion as the _mistaken_ idea
that this is _mine_, that _I_ am happy or unhappy.

There is a question much debated in European philosophy but little
argued in India, namely the freedom of the will. The active European
feeling the obligation and the difficulties of morality is perplexed by
the doubt whether he really has the power to act as he wishes. This
problem has not much troubled the Hindus and rightly, as I think. For if
the human will is not free, what does freedom mean? What example of
freedom can be quoted with which to contrast the supposed non-freedom of
the will? If in fact it is from the will that our notion of freedom is
derived, is it not unreasonable to say that the will is not free?
Absolute freedom in the sense of something regulated by no laws is
unthinkable. When a thing is conditioned by external causes it is
dependent. When it is conditioned by internal causes which are part of
its own nature, it is free. No other freedom is known. An Indian would
say that a man's nature is limited by Karma. Some minds are incapable of
the higher forms of virtue and wisdom, just as some bodies are incapable
of athlet