ey can administer the sacraments of religion; they can speed the
parting soul to God; they can damn the parting soul to hell. A priest is
one who is clothed with much authority and holiness.

But in Buddhism there is not, there cannot be, anything of all this. The
God who lies far beyond our ken has delegated His authority to no one.
He works through everlasting laws. His will is manifested by
unchangeable sequences. There is nothing hidden about His laws that
requires exposition by His agents, nor any ceremonies necessary for
acceptance into the faith. Buddhism is a free religion. No one holds the
keys of a man's salvation but himself. Buddhism never dreams that anyone
can save or damn you but yourself, and so a Buddhist monk is as far away
from our ideas of a priest as can be. Nothing could be more abhorrent to
Buddhism than any claim of authority, of power, from above, of holiness
acquired except by the earnest effort of a man's own soul.

These monks, who are so common all through Burma, whose monasteries are
outside every village, who can be seen in every street in the early
morning begging their bread, who educate the whole youth of the country,
are simply men who are striving after good.

This is a difficult thing for us to understand, for our minds are bent
in another direction. A religion without a priesthood seems to us an
impossibility, and yet here it is so. The whole idea and thing of a
priesthood would be repugnant to Buddhism.

It is a wonderful thing to contemplate how this brotherhood has existed
all these many centuries, how it has always gained the respect and
admiration of the people, how it has always held in its hands the
education of the children, and yet has never aspired to sacerdotalism.
Think of the temptation resisted here. The temptation to interfere in
government was great, the temptation to arrogate to themselves priestly
powers is far, far greater. Yet it has been always resisted. This
brotherhood of monks is to-day as it was twenty-three centuries ago--a
community of men seeking for the truth.

Therefore, in considering these monks, we must dismiss from our minds
any idea of priesthood, any idea of extra human sanctity, of extra human
authority. We must never liken them in any way to our priests, or even
to our friars. I use the word monk, because it is the nearest of any
English word I can find, but even that is not quite correct. I have
often found this difficulty. I do not like to