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mans, versed though they be in the three Vedas, is foolish talk ? Verily Vasettha that Brahmans versed in the three Vedas should be able to show the way to a state of union with that which they do not know, neither have seen-such a conditon of things has no existence. As when a string of blind men are clinging one to the other, reither can the foremost see nor can the middle one see, nor can the hindmost see, just so is the talk of the Brahmans versed in the three Vedas."
What explanation then does Bouddha offer as to the nature of man and his relation to the world around him. In fact, Buddhism does not attempt to solve the problem of the primary origin of all things when Malunka asked Buddha whether the existence of the world is eternal or not-eternal, he made him no reply: the reason of this was that it was considered by him as an inquiry which tended to no profit. Buddhism takes as its ultinate fact the existence of the material world and of conscious beings living within it and it holds that everything is subject to the law of cause and effect, and that everything is constantly though imperceptibly chainging. The whole cosmos-earth, heavens and bell is always tending to removation or destruction; is always in & course of change, a series of revolutions, or of cycles, of which the beginning and end are unknowable and unknown.
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