Quite three-quarters of the population of this planet, as represented by its religious beliefs, which is supposed to find life worth living, looks through the spectacles of faith towards a life more worth living, after the dissolution of the body. In short, there are two distinct lives recognized by Buddhists—the living life and the non-living life; and it goes without saying that the latter is by far the more desirable of the two.
"Not the life of men's veins,
Not of flesh that conceives;
But the grace that remains,
The fair beauty that cleaves
To the life of the rains in the grasses, the life of the dews on the leaves."
Dr. Paul Carus says: "The good tidings of Buddha's religion are not so much the recognition of the existence of pain and care as the conquest of evil and the escape from suffering. The following verses from the Dhammapada have no pessimistic ring:—
"'Let us live happily, then, not hating those who hate us!
"'Among men who hate us, let us dwell free from hatred!
"'Let us live happily, then, free from ailments among the ailing!