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XV
THE LIFE OF THE MONK AND ITS LESSONS
ATTACHMENT TO EARTHLY THINGS FATAL TO SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
SUCH, briefly and most imperfectly sketched, is the life of the great Monk, orderly and progressive, selfrestrained and dignified; the life that teaches man comfort in sorrow, and acts as a messenger of peace and harmony; the life that teaches him to train and exalt his own nature, to purify his own thoughts and elevate his own emotions; the life that teaches him that attachment to the things of the earth is fatal to progress in the life of the spirit; the life that teaches him something of the spiritual truths underlying all great religions of the world, and guides him not only in his spiritual and intellectual life, but also in all his relations with his fellow-men, in the life of the family, of the community, and of the nation.
DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN THE REAL AND THE UNREAL
Vexed with the world, and discerning the valuelessness of the transitory, he left everything that was near and dear to him, and, going forth into the homeless state, far away from the din and turmoil of modern busy life, far away from the busy haunts of man, he began carrying out his researches in the
