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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(APRIL, 1925
as it did, more and more the same methods, ador. tious fears and notions of tdbu, but solely by a
wish that the Sangha should accommodato itself ing divinities of the same class and sometimes
to the social views and prejudices of its age. Apart tho solfsame gods, Buddhism was bound to be
from matters of social hygiene and decency, the abeorbed by Hinduism. The contact with the
discipline recommended by the Buddhist scrip cult of Siva transformed the Muhdyd no into an esoteric doctrine replete with Tantric ideas and tures is purely a moral discipline, and the pollution mysticism. This was the last avatdra of Buddhism, which thoy seek to wipe away is that of the heart.
"That which is impure is murder, thoft, lying, which practically ceased to exist in India from
cheating, light words, and avarice-not the food the 11th century. The third section of M. Oltramare's treatise is! that one ea'e." Rules are not an end in them
selves, but only the means to the one great enddevoted to a discussion of the place occupied by
f Indian Theosophy, Salvation. Lastly, Buddhism in the history of Indian Theosophy,
according to Buddhism the and in the third chapter of that section he deals whole soul and life of a man must be devoted to with the points of resemblance and difference the faith. Brahmanism had regulated mortal between that religion and the other chief religious life by successivo staged--the period of tutelage,
the householder's systems of India. The points of contact are many,
life, the secetic stage in the
forest, and finally the stage of sanyda-abandonbut are perhaps less remarkable than those which
ment of all earthly tice. The Buddha on the differentiate the doctrine of the Buddha from
other hand realized how brief and fragile a thing other creeds. First and foremost, Buddhism proclaimed the is life: no man can count on the morrow. There
fore he preached the need of immediate renunciaright and the duty of the individual man. It
tion for them that thirst for salvation, sweeping cast aside traditional ritual and established in
To acquire
asice the ita place & personal private faith.
artificial distinctions allowed by Hin
duism. The forest : the Bodhisattva knowledge of the Truth by oneself and then teach
can truly
dwell there by shaping his thoughts to scoord with it to others-that is what constitutos demuvidyd,
the spirit of the true vd napraatha. the first of the five heads of knowledge possessed
There must
be no delay, for "the slothful man who, in the by the Bodhisatta.
days of his vigorous youth, does not arise at the Secondly, as it has its seat in the heart of the
right moment, will never find the path of wisdom. individual man, Buddhism is eminently # psy.
Thero must be no division of a man's spiritual chological faith. Inasmuch as all religious acts
energy; he must give himself wholly to his task and religious sentiment act directly on the inner
--the task of ensuring his own salvation. consciousness of man, they are in offect psycholo.
In a final brief chapter the anthor sums up the gical. Equally so is the benefit which accrues
lemon of Buddhism, as he understands it, after from adoration of the Buddha : for enlightened
elaborate and painstaking research. I cannot Buddhists know that this cult is a source of puri.
do better than conclude this indifferent review fying emotion for him who follows it. It confirms
of a very able work by translating, as boat I car, the wisdom of the individual mind, assists the
the final paragraph. "Must one assume that dovout to destroy the germs of sin within him,
humanity would be wise to sit at the feet of the and, like faith, it leads directly to Vision or Nlu
Ancient Hindu sage? Many persons in Europe mination. "Honour and respect the Buddha,
and America think so. It may therefore be worth and the mysteries of the Law will be made plain
while to state in a fuw words why neither the man to yo."
ner in which Buddhism has approached the proThirdly, Buddhism broke down the ancient blem of man's destiny nor the solution which is barriers between the sacred and profane, and offers of that problem can really satisfy us. I donied the division of society into two rigid groupe, is impossible for us to embraco doctrine which or the division of places into two categories. If puts forward as the goal of life an intellectual and reverence is offered to bhikshu, declared the spiritual immobility, and as its ideal, wiadom Buddha, he owes it to ideas associated with the which sits apart and gazes from afar upon the garment he wears, and not to any personal active struggles of human existence. Buddhism
netification or consecration. One's veneration of brings happiness to those who follow it with sin. olupas and chaity arises from their being memen- cerity, because it teaches them to curb their tos of mighty acts or from their serving as the desires and sook their satisfaction in the narrow cap kat of precious relics; but these sanctuaries sphere of retirement and contemplation. But are so far from being "sacred," that all the world moral restlessness, spiritual unrest, the desire for may freely enter them. There was no trace of
so n hing better, the thirst for a fuller and deeper "fetichism" in the doctrine preached by the experience of what Life significe—these pomem Buddha, and so far as the prohibitions onunciated far greater beauty. The ideal of the Buddhist is by Buddhism in respect of food, ato., are concerned. I terrible mutilation of the Man." they were manifestly dictated, not by supersti
8. M. EDWARDS
