BUDDHISM
32
BUDDHISM
was also evangelized by Chinese Buddhists at an
early period.
Buddhism was first introduced into Tibet in the latter part of the seventh century, but it did not be- gin to thrive till the ninth century. In 1260, the Buddhist conqueror of Tibet, Kublai Khan, raised the head lama, a monk of the great Sakja monastery, to the position of spiritual and temporal ruler. His modern successors have the title of Dalai Lama. Lamaism is based on the Northern Buddhism of India, after it had become saturated with the dis- gusting elements of .<5iva worship. Its deities are innumerable, its idolatry unlimited. It is also much given to the use of magic formulas and to the end- less repetition of sacred names. Its favourite formula is, Om mani padme hum (O jewel in the lotus. Amen), which, written on streamers exposed to the wind, and multiplied on paper slips turned by hand or wind or water, in the so-called prayer-wheels, is thought to secure for the agent unspeakable merit. The Dalai Lama, residing in the great monastery at Lhasa, passes for the incarnation of Amitabha, the Buddha of the Sukhavati paradise. Nine months after his death, a newly born babe is selected by divination as the reincarnate Buddha. Catholic missionaries to Tibet in the early part of the last century were struck by the outward resemblances to ( 'atholic liturgy and discipline that were presented by Lamaism — its infallible head, grades of clergy corresponding to bishop and priest, the cross, mitre, dalmatic, cope, censer, holy water, etc. At once voices were raised proclaiming the Lamaistic origin of Catholic rites and practices. Unfortunately for this shallow theory, the Catholic Church was shown to have possessed these features in common with the Christian Oriental Churches long before Lamaism was in existence. The wide propagation of Nesto- rianism over Central and Eastern Asia as early as A. d. 635 offers a natural explanation for such re- semblances as are accretions on Indian Buddhism. The missionary zeal of Tibetan lamas led to the ex- tension of their religion to Tatary in the twelfth ami following centuries. While Northern Buddhism was thus exerting a widespread influence over Central and Eastern Asia, the earlier form of Buddhism was making peaceful conquests of the countries and islands in the South. In the fifth century, mis- sionaries from Ceylon evangelized Burma. Within the next two centuries, it spread to Siam, Cambodia, Java, and adjacent islands.
The number of Buddhists throughout the world is commonly estimated at about four hundred and fifty millions, that is, about one-third of the human race. But in this estimate the error is made of classing all the Chinese and Japanese as Buddhists. Professor Legge, whose years of experience in China give special weight to his judgment, declares that the Buddhists in the whole world are not more than one hundred millions, being far outnumbered not only by Christians, but also by the adherents of Confucianism and Hinduism. Professor Monier Williams holds the same view. Even if Buddhism, however, outranked Christianity in the number of adherents, it would be a mistake to attribute to the religion of Buddha, as some do, a more successful propagandist!! than to the religion of Christ. The latter has made its immense conquests, not by com- promising with error and superstition, but by winning souls to the exclusive acceptance of its saving truths. Wherever it has spread, it lias maintained its indi- viduality. <tn the other hand, the vast majority of t lie adherents of Buddhism cling to forms of creed and worship that Buddha, if alive, would reprobate. Northern Buddhism became the very opposite of what Buddha taught to men, and in spreading to
foreign lands accommodated itself to the degrading superstitions of the peoples it sought to win. It is
only the Southern Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, and
Siam who deserve to be identified with the order
founded by Buddha. They number at most but
thirty millions of souls.
V. Buddhism and Christianity. — Between Bud- dhism and Christianity there are a number of re- semblances, at first sight striking. The Buddhist order of monks and nuns offers points of similarity with Christian monastic systems, particularly the mendicant orders. There are moral aphorisms as- cribed to Buddha that are not unlike some of the sayings of Christ. Most of all, in the legendary life of Buddha, which in its complete form is the outcome of many centuries of accretion, there are many parallelisms, some more, some less striking, to the Gospel stories of Christ. A few third-rate scholars, taking for granted that all these resemblances are pre-Christian, and led by the fallacious principle that resemblance always implies dependence, have vainly tried to show that Christian monasticism is of Buddhist origin, and that Buddhist thought and legend have been freely incorporated into the Gospels. To give greater speciousness to their theory, they have not scrupled to press into service, besides the few bona fide resemblances, many others that were either grossly exaggerated, or fictitious, or drawn from Buddhist sources less ancient than the Gospels. If, from this vast array of alleged Buddhist infil- trations, all these exaggerations, fictions, and ana- chronisms are eliminated, the points of resemblance that remain are, with perhaps one exception, such as may be explained on the ground of independent origin. The exception is the story of Buddha's con- version from the worldly life of a prince to the life of an ascetic, which was transformed by some ( (rien- tal Christian of the seventh century into the popular medieval tale of " Barlaam and Josaphat ". (q. v.) Here is historic evidence of the turning of a Buddhist into a Christian legend just as, on the other hand, the fifth-century sculptures of Gospel scenes on the ruined Buddhist monasteries of Jamalgiri, in Northern Panjab, described in the scholarly work of Fergusson and Burgess, "The Cave Temples of India", offer reliable evidence that the Buddhists of that time did not scruple to embellish the Buddha legend with adaptations from Christian sources. But is there any historical basis for the assertion that Buddhist influence was a factor in the formation of Christianity and of the Christian Gospels? The advocates of this theory pretend that the rock-inscriptions of Asoka bear witness to the spread of Buddhism over the Greek-speaking world as early as the third cen- tury n. c, since they mention the flourishing ex- istence of Buddhism among the Yavanas, i. e. Greeks within the dominion of Antiochus. But in the unani- mous judgment of first-rate scholars, the Yavanas here mentioned mean simply and solely the Greek- speaking peoples on the extreme frontier next to India, namely, Bactria and the Kabul valley. Again the statement in the late Buddhist chronicle, Maha- vansa, that among the Buddhists who came to the dedication of a great Slu/m in Ceylon in the second century B.C., "were oxer thirty thousand monks from the vicinity of Alassada, the capital of the Yona country", is taken to prove that long before the time of Christ, Alexandria in Egypt was the centre of flourishing Buddhist communities. Ii is true that Alassada is the Pali for Alexandria; but the best
scholars are agr 1 thai the city here meant is not
the ancient capital of Egypt , but as the text indicates,
the chief city of the Yona country, the Yavana coun- try of the rock-inscriptions, namely. Bactria and vicinity. Ami so, the city referred to is most likely Alexandria ad Caucasum.
In short , there is nothing in Buddhist records i hat may be taken as reliable evidence for the spread of Buddhism westward to the Greek world as early as
