 Section 20 of Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Shashank Jakhmola. Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch, Volume 1 by Charles Iliad, Church and State. I will now turn to another point, namely the relations of Church and State. These are simplest in Buddhism, which teaches that the truth is one that all men ought to follow it and that all good kings should honour and encourage it. This is also the Christian position, but Buddhism has almost always been tolerant and has hardly ever countenanced the doctrine that error should be suppressed by force. Footnote 77. The history of Japan and Tibet offers some exceptions. End footnote. Buddhism does not claim to cover the whole field of religion as understood in Europe. If people like to propitiate spirits in the hope of obtaining wealth and crops, it permits them to do so. In Japan and Tibet, Buddhism has played a more secular role than in other countries analogous to the struggles of the medieval European Church for temporal authority. In Japan, the great monasteries very nearly became the chief military as well as the chief political power and this danger was averted only by the destruction of Haysian and other large establishments in the 16th century. What was prevented in Japan did actually happen in Tibet, for the monasteries became stronger than any of the competing secular factions and the principles set up an ecclesiastical government singularly like the Papacy. In southern countries such as Burma and Ceylon, Buddhism made no attempt to interfere in politics. This aloofness is particularly remarkable in Siam and Cambodia where state festivals are usually conducted by Brahmins and not by Buddhist ecclesiastics. In Siam, as formerly in Burma, the king being a Buddhist is in some ways the head of the church. He may reform lacks discipline or incorrect observances but apparently not of his own authority but merely as an executive power enforcing the opinion of the higher clergy. Buddhism and Hinduism both have the idea that the monk or priest is a person who in virtue of ordination or birth lives on a higher level than others. He may teach and do good but irrespective of that it is the duty of the laity to support the priesthood. This doctrine is preached by Hinduism in a stronger form than by Buddhism. The intellectual superiority of the Brahmins as a caste was sufficiently real to ensure its acceptance and in politics they had the good sense to rule by serving to be ministers and not kings. In theory and to a considerable extent in practice the Brahmins and their gods are not an Imperium in Imperio but an Imperium Super Imperium. The position was possible only because unlike the Papacy and unlike the Lamas of Tibet they had no Pope and no hierarchy. They produced no a Bekhed or Hildebrands and no Inquisitions. They did not quarrel with science but monopolized it. In India kings are expected to maintain the priesthood and the temples yet Hinduism rarely assumes the form of a state religion nor does it admit as state religions generally have to admit that the secular arm has a coordinate jurisdiction in as lacystical matters. Footnote 78 There are some exceptions. Example given ancient Cambodia, the Sikhs and the Marathas. End footnote Yet it affects every department of social life and a Hindu who breaks with it loses his social status. Hindu deities are rarely tribal gods like Athene of Athens or the gods of Mr. Kipling and the German Emperor. There are thousands of shrines specially favored by a divine presence but the worshippers think of that presence not as the protector of a race or city but as a special manifestation of a universal though often invisible power. The conquests of Mohammedans and Christians are not interpreted as meaning that the gods of Hinduism have succumbed to alien deities. The views prevalent in China and Japan as to the relations of church and state are almost the antipodes of those described. In those countries it is hardly dissembled theory of the official world that religion is a department of government and that there should be regulations for good and worship just as there are for ministers and etiquette. If we say that religion is identified with the government in Tibet and forms an Imperium, Super Imperium in India we may compare its position in the Far East to native states under British rule. There is no interference with creeds provided the respect ethical and social conventions. Interesting doctrines and rites are appreciated. The government accepts and rewards the loyal cooperation of the Buddhist and Taoist priesthoods but maintains the right to restrict their activity should it take a wrong political turn or should an excessive increase in the number of monks seem a public danger. The Chinese imperial government successfully claimed the strangest powers of a lacy-astical discipline since it promoted and degraded not only priests but deities. In both China and Japan there has often been a strong current of feeling in the official classes against Buddhism but on the other hand it often had the support of both emperors and people and princes not infrequently joined the clergy especially when it was desirable for them to live in retirement. Confucianism and Shintoism which are ethical and ceremonial rather than doctrinal have been in the past to some extent a lot of the governments of China and Japan are more accurately an aspect of those governments but for many centuries far eastern statesmen have rarely regarded Buddhism and Taoism as more than interesting and legitimate activities to be encouraged and regulated like educational and scientific institutions. End of section 20 Section 21 of Hinduism and Buddhism and historical sketch volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Shashank Jagmola Hinduism and Buddhism and historical sketch volume 1 by Charles Elliott Public Worship and Ceremonial In no point does Hinduism differ from western religions more than in its public worship and in spite of much that is striking and interesting the comparison is not to the advantage of India. It is true the temple worship is not so important for the Hindus as church services are for the Christian. They set more store on home ceremonies and on contemplation. Still the temples of India are so numerous so conspicuous and so crowded that the religion which maintains them must to some extent be judged by them. At any rate they avoid the false of public worship in the west. The practice of arranging the congregation in seats for which they pay seems to be more irreligious and the Slovenliness of the heathen and makes the whole performance resemble a very dull concert. Protestant services are in the main model done the same ritual or synagogue. Their meetings of the laity at which the scriptures are read prayers offered sermons preached and benedictions pronounced. The clergy plays a principle but not exclusive part. The rites of the Roman and eastern churches have borrowed much from pagan ceremonial but still they have not wholly departed from the traditions of the synagogue. They have also served as a model for Mohammedan ritual which differs from the Jewish in little but it's almost military regularity. But with all this the ordinary ritual of Hindu temples has nothing in common. Footnote 79. But there are other kinds of worship such as the old Vedic sacrifices which are still occasionally performed in the burnt offerings Homa still made in some temples. There are also the tantric ceremonies and in Assam the public worship of the Vaishnavites has probably been influenced by the ritual of Lamas in neighboring Buddhist countries. End footnote. It derives from other origin and follows other lines. The temple is regarded as the court of a prince and the daily ceremonies are the attendance of his courtiers on him. He must be awakened, fed, amused and finally put to bed. This conception of ritual prevailed in Egypt but in India there is no trace of it in Vedic literature and perhaps it did not come into fashion until Gupta times. Although the light may be present and salute the God such worship cannot be called congregational. Yet in other ways a Hindu temple may provide as much proper worship as a non-conformist chapel. In the corridors will generally be found readers surrounded by an attentive crowd to whom they recite and expound the Mahabharat or some other secret text. At festivals and times of pilgrimage the precincts are thronged by a crowd of worshippers the like of which is hardly to be seen in Europe worshippers not only devout but fired with enthusiasm which burst into a mighty chorus of welcome when the image of the God is brought forth from the inner shrine. The earlier forms of Buddhist ceremonial are of synagogue type though in no way derived from Jewish sources for though there is no prayer they consist chiefly of confession, preaching and reading the scriptures. But this Puritanic severity could not be popular and the veneration of images and relics was soon added to the ritual. The former was adopted by Buddhism earlier than by Brahmins. The latter though a conspicuous feature of Buddhism in all lands is almost unknown to Hinduism. In their later developments Buddhists and Christian ceremonies show an extraordinary resemblance due in my opinion chiefly to convergence though I do not entirely exclude mutual influence. Both Buddhism and Roman Catholicism accepted pagan ritual with some reservations and refinements. The worship has for its object an image or a shrine containing a relic which is placed in a conspicuous position at the end of the hall of worship. This position is of great importance as tending to produce a similar arrangement of religious paraphernalia. The similarity disappears when Buddhist ceremonies are performed round stupas out of doors. End footnote. Animals sacrifices are rejected but offerings of flowers, lights and incense are permitted as well as the singing of hymns. It is not altogether strange of Buddhist and Catholic rituals starting from the same elements ended by producing similar scenic effects. Yet though the scenic effect may be similar there is often a difference in the nature of the rite. Direct invocations are not wanting in Tibetan and Far Eastern Buddhism but many services consist not of prayers but of the recitation of scripture by which merit is required. This merit is then formally transferred by the officians to some special object such as the peace of the dead or the prosperity of a living supplyant. The later phases of both Hinduism and Buddhism are permeated by what is called Tantrism that is to say the endeavor to attain spiritual ends by ritual acts such as gestures and the repetition of formulae. Footnote 81. As explained elsewhere, I draw a distinction between Tantrism and Shaktism. End footnote. These expedients are dangerous and may become purile but those who ridicule them often forget that they may be termed sacramental with as much propriety as magical and are in fact based on the same theory as the sacraments of the Catholic Church. When a child is made illegible for salvation by sprinkling with water by the sign of the cross and by the mantra in the name of the Father etc. or when the divine spirit is localized in bread and wine and worshipped these rites are closely analogous to Tantric ceremonial. The Buddhist temple of the Far East are in original intention, copies of Indian edifices and in the larger establishments there is a daily routine of services performed by resident monks. But the management of religious foundation in these countries has been much influenced by old pagan usages as to temples and worship which show an interesting resemblance to the customs of classical antiquity but have little in common with Buddhist or Christian ideas. A Chinese municipal temple is a public building dedicated to a spirit of departed worthy. If sacrifices are offered in it they are not likely to take place more than three or four times a year. Private persons may go there to obtain luck by burning a little incense or still more frequently to meet the divine future. Public meetings and theatrical performances may be held there but anything like a congregational service is rare. Just so in ancient Rome a temple might be used for a meeting of the senate or for funeral games. End of section 21 Section 22 of Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Shashank Jakhmola Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch volume 1 by Charles Elliot The worship of the reproductive forces One aspect of Indian religions is so singular that it demands notice although it is difficult to discuss. I mean the worship of the generative forces the cult of a god or more often of a goddess who personifies the reproductive and also the destructive power of nature for it is not only in India that the two activities are seen to be akin existed in many countries. It was prominent in Babylonia and Asia Minor less prominent but still distinctly present in Egypt and in many cases was accompanied by hysterical and immortal rites by mutilations of the body and offerings of blood. But in most countries such deities and rites are a matter of ancient history. They decayed as civilization grew In China and Japan as formerly in Greece and Rome they are not an important constituent of religion. It is only in India and to some extent in Tibet which has been influenced by India that they have remained unabashed until modern times. If it is right to regard with veneration the great forces of nature fire, sun and water a similar feeling towards the reproductive forces cannot be unphilosophic or immortal nor does the idea that the supreme deity is a mother rather than a father though startling contain anything unseemly. Yet it is an undoubted fact that all the great religions except Hinduism though they may admit a goddess of mercy Quan Yin or the Madonna agrees in rejecting essentially sexual deities. Modern Europe is probably prudish to excess but the general practice of mankind testifies that words and acts too nearly connected with sexual things cannot be safely permitted in the temple. This remark would indeed be superfluous for it not that many millions of our Hindu fellow citizens are of a contrary opinion. Such practices prevail chiefly among the Shaktas in Bengal and Assam but similar license is permitted though the theoretical justification and theological settings are different in some Vishnuite sects. Both are probated by the majority of respectable Hindus but both find educated and able apologists. And though it may be admitted that worship of Dalinga may exist without bad effects moral or intellectual yet I think that these effects make themselves felt so soon as a sect becomes distinctively erotic. Anyone who visited two such different localities as Ka Makhya in Assam and Gokul near Muttra must be struck with the total absence in the shrines of anything that can be called beautiful, solemn or even terrible. The general impression is of something diseased uncleaned and undignified. The figure of the great goddess of life and death might have fired the invention of artists but as a matter of fact her worship has paralysed their hands and brains. Footnote 82 It does not seem to me to have given much inspiration to in his Atarte Siriyaka. End footnote Nor can I give much praise to the Tantras as literature. Footnote 83 But in justice to the Tantras it should be mentioned that the Mahanirvana Tantra X79 prohibits the burning of widows. End footnote It is true that, as some authors point out they contain fine sayings about God and the soul but in India such things form part of the common literary stock and do not entitle the author to the praise which he would win elsewhere unless his language or thoughts show originality. Such originality I have not found in those Tantras which are accessible. The magical and erotic parts may have the melancholy distinction of being unlike other works but the philosophical and theological sections could have been produced by any Hindu who had studied these branches of Indian literature. End of section 22 Section 23 of Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Shashank Jagmola Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch Volume 1 by Charles Eliot Hinduism in practice After reviewing the characteristics of a religion it is natural to ask what is its effect on those who profess it. Buddhism, Christianity and Islam offer materials for answering such a question since they are not racial religions. In historical times they have been accepted by people who did not profess them previously and we can estimate the consequences of such changes. But Hinduism has racial or geographical limits. It proselytizes but hardly outside the Indian area. It is difficult to distinguish it from Indian custom as the Gospel is distinguished from the practice of Europe. It is superfluous to inquire what would be its effect on other countries since it shows no desire to impose itself on them and they none to accept it. It is like Shinto in Japan which has molded the national character but the national character finding expression in religion. Shinto and Hinduism are also alike in perpetuating ancient beliefs and practices which seem anachronisms but otherwise they are very different for many races and languages have contributed their thoughts and hopes to the ocean of Hinduism and they all had an interest in speculation and mysticism unknown to the Japanese. The fact that Hinduism is something larger and more comprehensive than what we call a religion is one reason why it contains much of dubious moral value. It is analogous not to Christianity but to European civilization which produces side by side philanthropy and the horrors of war or to science which has given us the blessings of surgery and the curse of explosives. There is a deep rooted idea in India that a man's daily life must be accompanied by religious observances and a religious code by no means of universal application but still suitable to his particular class. An immortal occupation need not be irreligious it simply requires gods of a special character. Hence we find thugs killing and robbing their victims in the name of Kali but though the Hindu is not at ease unless his customs are sanctioned by his religion yet religion in the wider sense is not bound by custom many sects have declared that before god there is no caste. A Hindu may devote himself to religion and abandon the world with all its conventions but if like most men he prefers to live in the world it is his duty to follow the customs and usages sanction for his class and occupation. Thus as sister Nivedita has shown us in her beautiful writings, cooking, washing and all the humble round of domestic life become one long ritual of purification and prayer in which the entertainment of a guest stand out as a great sacrifice but though religion may thus give beauty and holiness to common things yet in as much as it sanctifies what it finds rather than prescribes what should be it must bear the blame for foolish and even injurious customs. Child marriages have nothing to do with the creed of Hinduism yet many Hindus, especially Hindu women would feel it irreligious as well as a social disgrace to let a daughter become adult without being married. A comparison of Indian Mohammedans and Hindus suggests that the former are more warlike and robust the latter more intellectual and indigeneous. The fact that some Mohammedans belong to hardy tribes of invaders must be taken into account but Islam deserves the credit of having introduced a simple and fairly healthy rule of life which does not allow every caste to make its own observances into a divine law. Yet it would seem that the medical and sanitary rules of Hinduism deserve less abuse than they generally receive. Colonel King, sanitary commissioner of the Madras presidency is quoted as saying in a lecture the institutes of Vishnu and the laws of Manu fit in excellently with the bacteriology, parasitology and applied hygiene of the west. The hygiene of food and water, private and public conservancy, disease suppression with prevention are all carefully dealt with. Footnote 84 See Asiatic Review July 1916 page 33 and footnote Hinduism certainly has proved marvelously stimulating to the intellect or shall we put it the other way is the product of profound acute and restless minds. It cannot be justly accused of being inner waiting or melancholy for many Hindu states were vigorous and war-like and the accounts of early travelers indicate that in pre-Mohammadan days the people were humane, civilized and contended. Footnote 85 Example Given Vijayanagar, the Marathas and the states of Rajputana and footnote It created an original and spiritual art for Indian art more than any other is the direct product of religion and not merely inspired by it. In ages when original talent is rare this close relation has disadvantages for it tends to make all art symbolic and conventional. An artist must not represent a deity in the way that he thinks most effective. The proportions, attitude and ornaments are all prescribed not because they suit a picture or statue but because they mean something. Indian literature is also directly related to religion. Its extent is well-nigh immeasurable. I will not alarm the reader with statistics of the theological and metaphysical treatises which it contains. A little of such goes a long way even when they are first-rate but India may at least boast of having more theological works which if considered as intellectual proportions must be placed in the first class than Europe. Nor are religious writings of a more human type absent the language of heart to heart and the heart to God. The Ramayana of Tulsidas and Tiruvukagam are extolled by growths Gryerson and Pope all of them Christians I believe as not only masterpieces of literature but as noble expressions of pure devotion and the poems of Kabir and Tukaram if less considerable as literary efforts show the same spiritual quality. Indian poetry even when nominally secular is perhaps too much under religious influence to suit our taste and the long didactic and philosophic haranguists which interrupt the action of the Mahabharat seem to us inartistic yet to those who take the pains to familiarize themselves with what at first is strange the Mahabharat is I think a greater poem than the Iliad. It should not be regarded as an epic distended and interrupted by interpolated sermons but as the scripture of the warrior caste which sees in the soldier's life a form of religion. I have touched in several places on the defects of Hinduism. They are due partly to its sanction of customs which have no necessary connection with it and partly to its extravagance which in the service of the God sees no barrier of morality or humanity but Suthi human sacrifices and orgies strike the imagination and as human importance which they have not and never had for Hinduism as a whole. If Hinduism were really bad so many great thoughts, so many good lives could not have grown up in its atmosphere. More than any other religion it is a quest of truth and not agreed which must necessarily become antiquated. It admits the possibility of new scriptures, new incarnations, new institutions. It has no quarrel with knowledge or speculation perhaps it excludes materialists because they have no common ground with religion but it tolerates even the Sankhya philosophy which has nothing to say about God or worship. It is truly dynamic and in the past whenever it has seemed in danger of withering it has never failed to bud with new life and put forth new flowers. More than other religions Hinduism appeals to the soul's immediate knowledge and experience of God. It has sacred books innumerable but they can agree little but this that the soul can become into contact and intimacy with its God whatever name be given him and even if he be super personal. The possibility and truth of this experience is hardly questioned in India and the task of religion is to bring it about not to promote the welfare of tribes and states but to affect the enlightenment and salvation of souls. The love of the Hindus for every form of argument and philosophizing is well known but it is happily counter balanced by another tendency. Instinct and religion both bring them into close sympathy with nature. India is in the main and agricultural country and nearly three quarter of the population are villagers whose life is bound up with the welfare of plants and animals and lies at the mercy of rivers that overflow or skies that withhold the rain. To such people nature myths and secret animals appeal with the force that Europeans really understand. The parrots that perch on the pinnacles of the temple and the oxen that rest in the shade of its courts are not intruders but humble brothers of mankind who may also be the messengers of the gods. End of section 23 Section 24 of Hinduism and Buddhism and historical sketch, volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Peter Yersley. Hinduism and Buddhism and historical sketch, volume 1 by Charles Elliott Section 24 Buddhism in Practice As I said above it is easier to estimate the effects of Buddhism than of Hinduism for its history is the chronicle of a great missionary enterprise and there are abundant materials for studying the results of its diffusion. Even its adversaries must admit that it has many excellent qualities. It preaches morality and charity and was the first religion to proclaim to the world not to a caste or country that these are the foundation of that law which, if kept brings happiness. It civilized many nations, for instance the Tibetans and Mongols. It has practiced toleration and true unworldliness if not without any exception at least far more generally than any other great religion. It has directly encouraged art and literature and so far as I know has never opposed the progress of knowledge but two charges may be brought against it which deserve consideration. First, that its pessimistic doctrines and monastic institutions are if judged by ordinary standards bad for the welfare of a nation. Second that more than any other religion it is liable to become corrupt. In all Buddhist lands though good laymen are promised the blessings of religion the monastic and contemplative life is held up as the ideal. In Christendom this ideal is rejected by Protestants and for the Roman and Oriental churches it is only one among others. Hence everyone's judgment of Buddhism must in a large measure depend on what he thinks of this ideal. Monks are not of this world and therefore the world hateeth them. If they keep to themselves they are called lazy and useless. If they take part in secular matters they meet with even severe criticism. Yet can anyone doubt that what is most needed in the present age is more people who have leisure and ability to think. Whatever evil is said of Buddhist monks is also said of Mount Athos and similar Christian establishments. I am far from saying that this depreciation of the cloistered life is just in either case but any impartial critic of monastic institutions must admit that their virtues avoid publicity and their faults attract attention. In all countries a large percentage of monks are indolent. It is the temptation which besets all but the elect. Yet the Buddhist ideal of the man who has renounced the world leaves no place for slackness. Nor, I think, does the Christian. Buddhist monks are men of higher aspirations than others. They try to make themselves supermen by cultivating not the forceful and domineering part of their nature but the gentle, charitable and intelligent part. The laity treats them with the greatest respect provided that they set an example of a life better than most men can live. A monastic system of this kind is found in Burma. I do not mean that it is not found in other Buddhist lands but I cite an instance which I have seen myself and which has impressed most observers favorably. The Burmese monks are not far from the ideal of Gautama yet perhaps by adhering somewhat strictly to the letter of his law they have lost something of the freedom he contemplated. In his time there were no books the mind found exercise and knowledge in conversation. A monastery was not a permanent residence except during the rainy season but merely a halting place for the brethren who were habitually wanderers continually hearing and seeing something new. Hermits and solitary dwellers in the forests were not unknown but assurately the majority of the brethren had no intention of secluding themselves from the intellectual life of the age. What would Gautama have done had he lived some hundreds or thousands of years later I see no reason to doubt that he would have encouraged the study of literature and science he would probably have praised all art which expresses noble and spiritual ideas while misdouting representations of sensuous beauty. The second criticism that Buddhists are prone to corrupt their faith is just for their courteous acquiescence in other creeds in feebles and denaturalizes their own. In Anam Korea and some parts of China though there are temples and priests more or less deserving the name of Buddhist there is no idea that Buddhism is a distinct religion or mode of life. Such statements as that the real religion of the Burmese is not Buddhism but animism are I think incorrect but even the Burmese are dangerously tolerant. This weakness is not due to any positive defect since Buddhism provides for those who lead the higher life a strenuous curriculum and for the laity a system of morality based on rational grounds and differing little from the standard accepted in both Europe and China except that it emphasizes the duties of mankind to animals. The weakness comes from the absence of any command against superstitious rights and beliefs when the cardinal principles of Buddhism are held strongly these accessories do not matter but the time comes when the creeper which was once an ornament grows into the walls of the shrine and splits the masonry the faults of western religions are mainly faults of self assertion such as the inquisition and opposition to science the faults of Indian religions are mainly tolerance of what does not belong to them and sometimes of what is not only foreign to them but bad in itself Buddhism has been both praised and blamed as a religion which acknowledges neither god nor the soul and its acceptance in its later phases of the supernatural has been regarded as proving the human mind's natural need of theism but it is rather an illustration of that craving for although superhuman help which makes Roman Catholics supplement theism with the worship of saints on the whole it is correct to say that Buddhism except perhaps in very exceptional sects has always taken and still takes a point of view which has little in common with European theism the world is not thought of as the handiwork of a divine personality nor the moral law as his will the fact that religion can exist without these ideas is of capital importance but any statements implying that Buddhism divorces morality from the doctrine of immortality may be misunderstood for it teaches that just as an old man may suffer for the follies of his youth so faults committed in one life may be punished in another rewards and punishments in another world were part of the creed of and tradition represents the missionaries who converted so long as using this simple argument it would not however be true to say that Buddhism makes the value of morality contingent on another world the life of an arhat which includes the strictest morality is commended on its own account as the best and happiest existence European assertions about Buddhism often imply that it sets up as an ideal and goal either annihilation or some condition of dreamy bliss modern Buddhists who mostly neglect nirvana as something beyond their powers just as the ordinary Christian does not say that he hopes to become a saint lose much of the master's teaching but do it less injustice than such misrepresentations the Buddha did not describe nirvana as something to be won after death but as a state of happiness attainable in this life by strenuous endeavor a state of perfect peace but compatible with energy as his own example showed End of section 24 please visit LibriVox.org Hinduism and Buddhism an historical sketch volume one by Charles Elliott interest of Indian thought for Europe we are now in a better position to answer the question asked at the beginning of this introduction is Indian thought of value or at least of interest for Europe let me confess that I cannot share confidence in the superiority of Europeans and their ways which is prevalent in the West whatever view we take of the rights and wrongs of the recent war it is clearly absurd for Europe as a whole to pose in the presence of such doings as a qualified instructor in humanity and civilization many of those who are proudest of our fancied superiority escape when the chance offers from European civilization and seek distraction and exploration and many who have spent their lives among what they consider inferior races are uneasy when they retire and settle at home in fact European civilization is not satisfying and Asia can still offer something more attractive to many who are far from Asiatic in spirit yet though most who have paid an increasing visit to the East feel its charm the history, art and literature of Asia are still treated with ignorant indifference in cultured circles and ignorance and indifference which are extraordinary in Englishmen who have so close a connection with India and devote a disproportionate part of their education to ancient Greece and Rome I have heard a professor of history in an English university who thought the history of India began with the advent of the British and that he did not know that China had any history at all and Matthew Arnold in speaking of Indian thought hardly escaped meriting his own favorite epithets of condemnation Philistine and Sogrenou Footnote 91 Essays in Criticism Second Series Amiel Europeans sometimes mention it as an amazing and almost ridiculous circumstance that an educated Chinese can belong to three religions Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism but I find this attitude of mind eminently sensible Confucianism is an admirable religion for state ceremonies and college chapels by attending its occasional rites one shows a decent respect for heaven and providence and commits oneself to nothing and though a rigid Confucianist may have the contempt of a scholar and statesman for popular ideas yet the most devout Buddhist and Taoist can conform to Confucianism without scruple whereas many who have attended an English coronation service must have wondered at the language which they seem to approve of by their presence and in China if you wish to water the aridity of Confucianism you can find in Buddhism or Taoism whatever you want in the way of emotion or philosophy and you will not be accused of changing your religion because you take this refreshment this temper is not good for creating new and profound religious thought but it is good for sampling and appreciating the quote varieties of religious and quote which offer their results as guides for this and other lives for religion is systematized religious experience and this experience depends on temperament there can therefore be no one religion in the European sent and it is one of the Hindus many merits that they recognize this some people ask of religion forgiveness for their sins others communion with the divine most want health and wealth many crave for an explanation of life and death Indian religion accommodates itself to these various needs nothing is more surprising than the variety of its phases except the underlying unity this power of varying in sympathetic response to the needs of many minds and growing in harmony the outlook of successive ages is a contrast to the pretended quote semper quote ubic quote ab omnibus of western churches for in view of their differences and mutual hostility it can only be called a pretense footnote 92 this definition of orthodoxy is due to saint Vincent of Lahrens quote ubic quote semper ubic end footnote Indians recognize that only the greatest and simplest religious questions can be asked now in the same words that came to the lips more than 2000 years ago and even if the questions are the same the answers of the thoughtful are still as widely divergent as the pronouncements of the Buddha and the Brahmins but nearly all the propositions contained in a European creed involve matters of history or science which are obviously affected by research and discovery as much as our astronomy or medicine and not only are the propositions out of date but they mostly refer to problems which have lost their interest but Indian religion is choose creeds and will not die with the spread of knowledge it will merely change and enter a new phase of life in which much that is now believed and practiced will be regarded as the gods and rights of the Veda are regarded now I do not think that there is much profit in comparing religions which generally means exalting one at the expense of the others but rather that it is interesting and useful to learn what others especially those least like think of these matters and in religious questions Asia has a distinct right to be heard for if Europeans have any superiority over asiatics it lies in practical science, finance and administration not in thought or art if one were collecting views about philosophy and religion in Europe one would not begin by consulting financiers and the policeman who stands in the middle of the street and directs the traffic to this side and that is not intellectually superior to those who obey him as if he were something superhuman Europeans in Asia are like such a policeman their gifts are authority and power to organize in other respects their superiority is imaginary I do not think that Christianity will ever make much progress in Asia for what is commonly known by that name is not the teaching of Christ but a rearrangement of it made in Europe and like most European institutions practical rather than thoughtful and as for the teaching of Christ himself the Indian finds it excellent but not ample or satisfying there is little in it which cannot be found in some of the many scriptures of Hinduism and it is silent on many points about which they speak if not with convincing authority at least with suggestive profundity neither do I think that Europe is likely to adopt Buddhist or Brahmanic methods of thought on any large scale theosophical and Buddhist societies have my sympathy but it is sympathy with lonely workers in an unpopular cause and I am not sure that they always understand what they try to teach there is truth at the bottom of the dogma that all Buddhas must be born and teach in India Asiatic doctrine may commend itself to European minds but it fits awkwardly into European life but this is no reason for refusing to accord to Indian religion at least the same attention that we give to Plato and Aristotle every idea which is held strongly by any large body of men is worthy of respectful examination although I do not think that because an opinion is widespread it is therefore true thus the idea that in the remote past there was some kind of paradise or golden age and that the span of human life was once much longer than now and was found among most nations yet research and analogy suggest that it is without foundation the fact that about half the population of the world has come under the influence of Hindu ideas gives Indian thought historical importance rather than authority the claim of India to the attention of the world is that she more than any other nation since history began to contemplating the ultimate mysteries of existence and in my eyes the fact that Indian thought diverges widely from our own popular thought is a positive merit in intellectual and philosophical pursuits we want new ideas and Indian ideas are not familiar or hack need in the west though I think that more European philosophers and mystics have lived at similar conclusions than is generally supposed Indian religions have more spirituality and a greater sense of the infinite than our western creeds and more liberality they are not merely tolerant but often hold that the different classes of mankind have their own rules of life and suitable beliefs and that he who follows such partial truths wrong to the greater and all inclusive truths on which his circumstances do not permit him to fix his attention and though some Indian religions may sanction bad customs sacrifice of animals and immoral rights yet on the whole they give the duty of kindness to animals a prominence unknown in Europe and are more penetrated with the idea that civilization means a gentle and enlightened temper an idea sadly forgotten in these days of war their speculative interest can hardly be denied for instance the idea of a religion without a personal god may seem distasteful or absurd but the student of human thought must take account of it and future generations may not find it a useless notion it is certain that in Asia we find Buddhist churches which preach morality and employ ritual and yet are not theistic and also various systems of pantheism which though they may use the word god obviously use it in a sense which has nothing in common with Christian and Mohammedan ideas India's greatest contribution to religion is not intellectual as the mass of commentaries and arguments produced by Hindus might lead us to imagine but the persistent and almost unchallenged belief in the reality and bliss of certain spiritual states which involve intuition all Indians agree that they are real even to the extent of offering an alternative superior to any ordinary life of pleasure and success but their value for us is lessened by the variety of interpretations that they receive and which make it hard to give a more detailed definition than that above for some they are the intuition of a particular god for others of divinity in general for Buddhists they mean a new life of knowledge freedom and bliss without reference to a deity but apart from such high matters I believe that the mental experience what is called meditation and concentration is well worth the attention of Europeans I am not recommending trances or a catalepsy in these as in other matters the Hindus are probably prone to exaggerate and the Buddha himself in his early quest for truth discarded trances as an unsatisfactory method but the reader can convince himself by experiment that the elementary discipline which consists in suppressing discursive thought and concentrating the mind on a particular object say a red flower so that for some time nothing else is present to the mind and the image of the flower is seen and realized in all its details is most efficacious for producing mental calm and alertness by such simple exercises the mind learns how to rest and refresh itself its quickness of apprehension and its retentive power are considerably increased for words and facts imprinted on it when by the suppression of its ordinary activities it has thus been made a tabula rasa remain fixed and clear such great expressions of emotional theism as the Ramayana of Tulsidas are likely to find sympathetic readers in Europe but the most original feature of Indian thought is that as already mentioned it produces systems which can hardly be refused the name of religion and yet are hardly theistic the Buddha preached a creed without reference to a supreme deity and the great emperor Ahsoka the friend of man and beast popularized this creed in India even at the present day the prosperous and intelligent community of giants follow a similar doctrine and the Advaita philosophy diverges widely from European theism it is true that Buddhism invented gods for itself and became more and more like Hinduism and that the later Vedantist and Sivayit schools have a strong bent to monotheism yet all Indian theism seems to me to have a pantheistic tinge and India is certainly the classic land of pantheism footnote 93 I know that this statement may encounter objections but I believe that few Indians would be surprised at the proposition that God is all things some might deny it but as a familiar error end footnote the difficulties of pantheism are practical it does not lend itself easily to popular cries and causes and it finds it hard to distinguish and condemn evil footnote 94 but orthodox Christianity really falls into the same difficulty for if God planned the redemption of the world and we are saved by the death of Christ then the chief priests Judas and the soldiers who crucified Christ are at least the instruments of salvation end footnote but it appeals to the scientific temper and is not repulsive to many religious and emotional natures indeed it may be said that in monotheistic creeds the most thoughtful and devout minds often tend towards pantheism as witness the Sufis among Muslims the Baalists among the Jews and many eminent mystics in the Christian church in India the only country where the speculative interest is stronger than the practical it is a common form of belief and it is of great importance for the history and criticism of religion to see how an idea which in Europe is hardly more than philosophic theory works on a large scale later Buddhism the so-called Mahayana may be justly treated as one of the many varieties of Indian religion not more differentiated from others than is for instance the creed of the Sikhs the speculative side of early Buddhism which was however mainly a practical movement may be better described as an Indian critique of current Indian views the psychology of the pitakas has certainly enough life to provoke discussion still for it receives both appreciative treatment and uncompromising condemnation at the hands of European scholars to set it aside as not worth the labor spent on elucidating it seems to me an error of judgment as a criticism of the doctrine developed in the Upanishads it is acute and interesting even if we hold the Upanishads to be in the right and no serious attempt to analyze the human mind can be without value for though the facts are before every human being such attempts are rare it is singular that so many religions should prescribe and prophecy for the soul without being able to describe its nature hesitation and diffidence in defining the deity seem proper and natural but it is truly surprising that they are not agreed as to the essential facts about their own consciousness their selves souls minds and spirits whether these are the same or different whether they are entities or aggregations the Buddha's answers to these questions cannot be dismissed as ancient or outlandish for they are practically the conclusions arrived at by a distinguished modern psychologist William James who says psychology the states of consciousness are all that psychology requires to do her work with metaphysics or theology may prove the soul to exist but for psychology the hypothesis of such a substantial principle of unity is superfluous end quote and again quote in this book the provisional solution which we have reached must be the final one and the last themselves are the thinkers end quote footnote 95 William James psychology pages 203 and 216 end footnote equally in sympathy with Buddhist ideas is the philosophy of Monsieur Bergson which holds that movement change becoming is everything and that there is nothing else no things that move change and become footnote 96 I quote this epitome from Wilden Carr's Henri Bergson the philosophy of change because the phraseology is thoroughly Buddhist and appears to have the approval of Monsieur Bergson himself end footnote Huxley too speaking of idealism said quote what Berkeley does not seem to have so clearly perceived is that the non-existence substance of mind is equally arguable it is a remarkable indication of the subtlety of Indian speculation that Gotama should have seen deeper than the greatest of modern idealists end quote footnote 97 Romain's lecture 1893 end footnote even Mr. Bradley says quote the soul is a particular group of psychical events as far as those events are taken merely as happening in time end quote footnote 98 appearance page 298 end footnote there is a smack of the patakas about this although Mr. Bradley's philosophy as a whole shows little sympathy for Buddhism but a wondrous resemblance both in thought and language to the Vedanta this is the more remarkable because there is no trace in his works of Sanskrit learning or even of Indian influence at second hand a peculiarly original and independent mind seems to have worked its way to many of the doctrines of the Advaita without entirely adopting its general conclusions for I doubt if Sankara would have said quote the positive relation of every appearance as an adjective to reality and the presence of reality on its appearances in different degrees and with different values this double truth we have found to be the center of philosophy end quote but still this is the gist of many Vedantic utterances both early and late footnote 99 thus the Svetasvatara Upanishad says that the whole world is filled with the parts or limbs of God and metaphors like sparks from a fire or threads from a spider seem and attempt to express the same idea Brahmana Aranyaka Upanishad 2.1.20 Mundaka Upanishad 2.1.1 end footnote Gaudapada states that the world of appearance is due to Zvabhava or the essential nature of Brahman and I imagine that the thought here is the same as when Mr. Bradley says that the absolute is positively present in all appearances among many coincidences both in thought and expression I note the following Mr. Bradley says quote the perfect means the identity of idea and existence accompanied by pleasure which is almost the verbal equivalent of Saksidinanda footnote 100 appearance page 244 essays on truth page 409 appearance page 413 though the above quotations are all from Mr. Bradley I might have added others from Mr. Bosonke's Gifford Lectures and from Mr. McTaggart end footnote quote the universe is one reality which appears in finite centers end quote quote how there can be such a thing as appearance we do not understand end quote in the same way Vedantists and Mahayanists can offer no explanation of Maya or whatever is the power which makes the universe of phenomena again he holds that neither our bodies nor our souls as we commonly understand the word are truly real and he denies the reality of progress quote for nothing perfect nothing genuinely real can move footnote 101 quote the plurality of souls in the absolute is therefore appearance and their existence not genuine souls like their bodies are as such nothing more than appearance neither body and soul is real in the end each is merely phenomenal quote appearance pages 305 to 307 end footnote and his discussion of the difficulty of reconciling the ideas of God and the absolute and specially the phrase quote short of the absolute God cannot rest and having reached that goal he is lost and religion with him end quote is an epitome of the oscillations of philosophic Hinduism which is the difficulty far more keenly than European religion because ideas analogous to the absolute are a more vital part of religion as distinguished from metaphysics in India than in Europe footnote 102 since I wrote this I have read Mr. Wells book God the Invisible King Mr. Wells knows that he is indebted to oriental thought and European religion in the future may be so too but I do not know if he realizes how nearly his God coincides with the Mahayanist conception of a bodhisattva such as avalokita or manjusri these great beings have as bodhisattvas a beginning they are not the creators of the world but masters and conquerors of it and helpers of mankind they have courage and eternal youth and manjusri quote bears a sword that clean discriminating weapon end quote like most asiatics Mr. Wells cannot allow his God to be crucified and he draws a distinction between God and the veiled being very like that made by Indians between Isvara and Brahman end footnote nor can Indian ideas as to Maya and the unreality of matter dismissed as curious dreams of mystical brains for the most recent phases of physics a science which changes its fundamental ideas as often as philosophy tend to regard matter as electrical charges in motion this theory is a phrase rather than an explanation but it has a real affinity to Indian phrases which say that Brahman or Sakti which are forces of the world I am not venturing here on any general comparison of European and Indian thought my object is merely to point out that the latter contains many ideas to which British philosophers find themselves led and from which when they have discovered them in their own way they do not shrink it can hardly then be without interest to see how these ideas have been elaborated often more and more boldly and thoroughly in Asia and section 25 recording by Linda Johnson section 26 of Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Shishang Jackmola Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch volume 1 by Charles Eliot book 2 early Indian religion a general view in this book I shall briefly sketch the condition of religion in India prior to the rise of Buddhism and in so doing shall be naturally led to indicate several of the fundamental ideas of Hinduism for few old ideas have entirely perished, new deities new sects and new rights have but the main theories of the older Upanishads still command respect and modern reformers try to justify their teaching from the ancient texts but I do not propose to discuss in detail the religion of the Vedic hymns for so far as it can be distinguished from later phases it looks backward rather than forward it is important to students of competitive mythology of the origin of religion of the Aryan race but it represents rather what the Aryans brought into India than what was invented in India and it is this latter which assumes a prominent place in the intellectual history of the world as Hinduism and Buddhism the ancient nature gods of the wind and the dawn have little place in the mental horizon of either Buddha or Bhagavad Gita and even when the old names regain the beings who bear them generally have new attributes still Vedic texts are used in modern worship and in many respects there is a real continuity of thought in the first chapter I inquire whether there is any element common to the religions of India and to the countries of eastern Asia and find that the worship of nature spirits and the veneration of ancestors prevail throughout the whole of this vast region and have not been suppressed by Buddhism or Brahmanism then coming to the purely Indian sphere I have thought it might not be amiss to give an epitome of such parts of Indian history as are of importance for religion next I endeavour to explain how the social institutions of India and the unique position acquired by the Brahman aristocracy have determined the character of Hindu religion, routine and yet unmistakably Indian in all its phases and I also investigate the influence of the belief in rebirth which from the time of the Upanishads onwards emanates Indian thought in the fourth and fifth chapters I trace the survival of some ancient ideas and show how many attributes of the way the gods can be found in modern deities who are at first sight widely different and how theories of salvation by sacrifice or asceticism or knowledge have been similarly persistenced in the sixth chapter I attempt to give a picture of religious life both Brahmanic and non-Brahmanic as it existed in India about the time when the Buddha was born of the non-Brahmanic sects which then flourished most have disappeared but one namely the Jains has survived and left a considerable record in literature and art I have therefore devoted a chapter to it here my object in this book is to discuss the characteristics of Indian religion which are not only fundamental but ancient hence this is not the place to dwell on bhakti or relatively modern theistic sects however create their importance in later Hinduism may be end of section 26 section number 27 of Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Shashank Jagmola Hinduism and Buddhism and historical sketch volume 1 by Charles Iliad religions of India and eastern Asia the country with which this work deals are roughly speaking India with Ceylon into China with parts of the Malayar Kipalango Japan and China with the neighboring regions such as Tibet and Mongolia all of them have been more or less influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism and in hardly any of them is Mohammedanism the prominent creed though it may have numerous adherents footnote 103 the Malay countries are the only exception and footnote the rest of Asia is mainly Mohammedan or Christian and though a few Buddhists may be found even in Europe such as the Kalmoks still neither Hinduism nor Buddhism has met with general acceptance west of India in one sense the common element in the religion of all these countries is the presence of Indian ideas due in most cases to Buddhism which is the export form of Hinduism although Brahmanic Hinduism reached Cambodia and the archipelago but this is not the element on which I wish now to insist I would rather inquire whether apart from the diffusion of ideas which has taken place in historical times there is any common substratum in the religious temperament of this area any fund of primitive or at least prehistoric ideas shared by its inhabitants such common ideas will be deep seated and not obvious for it needs but little first hand acquaintance with Asia to learn that all generalizations about the spirit of the east require careful testing and that such words as Asiatic or Oriental do not connote one type of mind for instance in China and Japan the control of the state over religion is exceptionally wrong in India it is exceptionally weak the religious temperaments of these nations differ from one another as much as the Mohammedan and European temperaments and the fact that many races have adopted Buddhism and refashioned it to their liking does not indicate that their mental texture is identical the cause of the superficial uniformity is rather that Buddhism in its prime had no serious rivals in either activity or profundity but presented itself to the inhabitants of eastern Asia as preeminently the religion of civilized men and was often backed by the support of princess yet one cannot help thinking that its success in eastern Asia and its failure in the west are not do merely to politics and geography but must correspond with some racial idiosyncrasies though it is hard to see what mental features are common to the dreamy Hindus and the practical Chinese it may be true that throughout eastern Asia for one reason or another such as political despotism want of military spirit or on the other hand a tendency to regard the family the clan or the state as the unit the sense of individuality is weaker than in western Asia or Europe so that pantheism and quietism with their doctrines of vanity of the world and the bliss of absorption arouse less opposition from robust lovers of life this is the most that can be stated and it is not explained why there are many Buddhist in Japan but none in Persia but apart from Buddhism and all creeds which have received a name certain ideas are universal in this vast region one of them is the belief in nature spirits being who dwell when rocks, trees streams and other natural objects and possess in their own sphere considerable powers of doing good or ill the Nagas Yakshas and Bhutas of India the Naths of Burma the Pays of Siam the Kami of Japan and the Shen of China are a few items in a list which might be indefinitely extended in many countries this ghostly population is as numerous as the birds of the forest they haunt every retired spot in perch unseen under the eaves of every house theology has not usually troubled itself to define their status and it may even be uncertain whether respect is shown to the spirits inhabiting streams and mountain peaks or to the peaks and streams themselves footnote 104 thus Moturi quoted in Aston's Shinto page 9 says birds, beasts, plants and trees, seas and mountains and all other things whatsoever which deserve to be dreaded and revered for the extraordinary and preeminent powers which they possess are called Kami and footnote they may be kindly though generally requiring punctilious attention or mischievous or determined enemies of mankind but infinite as are their variations the ordinary Asiatic no more doubts their existence than he doubts the existence of animals the position which they enjoy like their character is various for in Asia deities like men have careers which depend on luck many of them remain mere elves or goblins some become considerable local deities but often they occupy a position intermediate between real gods and fairies thus in southern India Burma and Ceylon may be seen humble shrines which are not exactly temples but the abodes of being home prudent people respect they have little concern with the many of the soul or the observance of the moral law but much to do with the vagaries of rivers and weather and with the prosperity of the village though these spirits may attain a higher position within a certain district as for instance Mahasaman the deity of Adam speak in Ceylon they are not of the same stuff as the great gods of Asia these latter are synthesis of many ideas and centuries of human thought have laboured other gigantic figures it is true that the mental attitude which defies the village stream is fundamentally the same as that which worships the sun but in the latter case the magnitude of the phenomenon defied sets it even for the most rustic mind in another plane also the nature gods of the Veda are not quite the same as the nature spirits which the Indian peasants worship today and worshiped as the Pitaka in the time of the Buddha for the Vedic deities are such forces as fire and light wind and water this is nature worship but the worship of nature generalised not of some bold rock or mysterious rustling tree it may be that a migratory life such as the ancient Aryans at one time led inclined their minds to these wider views since neither the family nor the tribe had an abiding interest in any one place thus the ancestors of the Turks in the days before Islam worshipped the spirits of the sky earth and water whereas the more civilised but sedentary Chinese had journey for every hamlet pool and hillock it is difficult to say whether monotheism is a development of this nature worship or has another origin in Japanese religion the monotheistic tendency is markedly absent ungoddess is the principal deity but remains simply prima interpari but in the ancient religion of China Tian or heaven also called Shangti the supreme ruler though somewhat shadowy and impersonal does become an omnipotent providence without even approximate rivals other superhuman beings are in comparison with him merely angels unfortunately the early history of Chinese religion is obscure and the documents scanty in India however the evolution of pantheism or theism though usually with a pantheistic tinge out of the worship of nature forces seem clear these gods or forces are seen to melt into one another and to be aspects of one another until the mind naturally passes onto the idea that they are all manifestations of one force finding expression in human consciousness as well as in physical phenomena the animist and pantheist represent different stages but not different methods of thought for the former every natural object which impresses him is alive the latter concurs in this view only he thinks the universe is instinct with one and the same life displaying itself in infinite variety one difficulty incidental to the treatment of asiatic religions in European languages is the necessity or at any rate the uneradicable habit of using well-known words like God and soul as the equivalence of asiatic terms which have not precisely the same content and which often imply a different point of view for practical life it is wise and charitable to minimize religious differences and emphasize points of agreement but this willingness to believe that others think as we do becomes a veritable wise if we are attempting an impartial exposition of their ideas if the English word God means the deity of ordinary Christianity who is much the same as Allah or Janova that is to say the creator of the world and enforcer of the moral law then it would be better never to use this word in writing of the religions of India and east in Asia for the concept is almost entirely foreign to them the nature spirits of which we have been speaking are clearly not God when an Indian peasant brings offerings to the tomb of a diseased brigand or the emperor of China promotes some departed worthy to be a deity of a certain class we call the ceremony deification but there is not the smallest intention of identifying the person deified with the supreme being an odd as it may seem the worship of such gods is compatible with monotheism or atheism in China Shangti is less definite than God and it does not appear that he is thought of as the creator of the world and of human souls footnote 105 this impersonality is perhaps a later characteristics the original form of the Chinese character for tea in heaven represented a man the old finish and Samayidi names for God perhaps belong to this stage of thought even the greater Hindu deities are not really God for those who follow the higher life can neglect and almost despise them without however denying their existence on the other hand, Brahman the pantheos of India though equal to the Christian God and Majesty is really a different conception for he is not a creator in the ordinary sense he is impersonal and though not evil yet he transcends both good and evil he might seem merely a force more suited to be the subject matter of science than of religion were not meditation on him the occupation and union with him the coal of many devout lives and even when Indian deities are most personal as in the Vishnuite sects it will be generally found that their relation to the world and the soul are not those of the Christian God it is because the conception of superhuman existence is so different in Europe and Asia that asiatic religions often seem contradictory or corrupt Buddhism and Jainism which we describe as atheistic and the colorless, respectable religion of educated Chinese become in their outward manifestations unblushingly polytheistic similar difficulties and ambiguities attend the use of the word soul for Buddhism which is supposed to hold that there is no soul preaches retribution in future existences for acts done in this and seeks to terrify the evil doer with the pains of hell whereas the philosophy of the Brahmins which inculcates a belief in the soul seems to teach in some of its phases that the disembodied and immortal soul has no consciousness in the ordinary human sense here language is dealing with the same problems as those which we describe as such phrases as the soul, immortality and continuous existence but it is striving to express ideas for which we have little sympathy and no adequate terminology they will be considered later but one attitude towards that which survives death is almost universal in East Asia and also easily intelligible it finds expression in the ceremonies known as ancestor worship this practice has attracted special attention in China where it is the commonest and most conspicuous form of religious observance but it is equally prevalent amongst the Hindus though less prominent because it is only one among the many rights which engage the attention of that most devout nation it is one of the main constituents in the religions of Indochina and Japan though the best authorities think that it was not the predominant element in the oldest form of Shinto it is less prominent among the Tibetan Burmese tribes but not absent for in Tibet there are both good and evil ghosts who demand recognition by appropriate rights it is sometimes hard to distinguish it from the worship of natural forces for instance in China and southern India most villages have a local deity who is often nameless the origin of such deities may be found either in a departed worthy or in some striking phenomenon or in the association of the two the cult of ghosts may be due either fear or affection and both motives are found in East Asia but though abundant examples of appropriation of angry spirits can be cited respect and consideration for the dead are the feelings which usually inspire these ceremonies and the present day and form the chief basis of family religion there is no need to explain the sentiment it is much stronger in Asia than in Europe but some of its manifestations may be paralleled by masses and prayers for the dead others by the care bestowed on graves and by notices in memoriam as a rule both in China and India only the last three generations are honoured in these ceremonies the reason is obvious the more ancient ancestors have ceased to be living memories but it might be hard to find a theoretical justification for neglecting them and it is remarkable that in all parts of Asia the cult of the dead fits very awkwardly into the official creeds it is not really consistent with any shrine of madam psychosis or with Buddhist teachings as to the impermanence of the ego in China may be found the further inconsistency that the spirit of a departed relative may receive the tribute of offerings and salutations called ancestor worship while at the same time Buddhist services are being performed for his deliverance from hell but of the wide distribution antiquity and strength of the cult there can be no doubt it is anterior not only to Brahmanism but to the doctrines of transmigration and karma and the main occupation of Buddhist priests in China and Japan is the performance of ceremonies supposed to benefit the dead even within Buddhism these practices cannot be dismissed as a late or foreign corruption in the Khudakka patha which if not belonging to the most ancient part of the Buddhist canon as at least pre-christian and purely Indian the dead are represented as waiting for offerings and as blessing those who give them it is also curious that a recent work called Raymond by Sir O. Lodge 1916 gives a view of the state after death which is substantially that of the Chinese for his teaching is that the dead retain their personality concerned themselves with the things of this world know what is going to happen here and can to some extent render assistance to the living footnote 106 see the account of the Faunus message in this book end footnote also and this point is specially remarkable burning and mutilation of the body seem to inconvenience the dead early Chinese work prescribes that during the performance of ancestral rites the ghosts are to be represented by people known as the personators of the dead who receive the offerings and are supposed to be temporarily possessed by spirits and to their mouthpieces possession by ghosts or other spirits is impopular esteem of frequent occurrence in India China Japan and Indochina it is one of the many factors which have contributed to the ideas of incarnation and deification that is that God's can become men and men God's the spheres of the human and divine are strictly separated to pass from one to the other is exceptional a single incarnation is regarded as an epoch making event of universal importance but in Asia the frontiers are not thus rigidly delimitated nor are God and man thus opposed the ordinary dead become powers in the spirit world and can bless or injure here the great dead become deities in another order of the ideas the dead immediately become reincarnate and reappear on earth the gods take the shape of men sometimes for the space of a human life sometimes for a shorter apparition many teachers in India have been revered as partial incarnations of Vishnu and most of the hierarchy intibit claims to be Buddhas or Bodhisattvas manifest in the flesh there is no proof that the doctrine met him psychosis existed in eastern Asia independently of Indian influence but the ready acceptance accorded to it was largely due to the prevalent feeling that the worlds of men and spirit are divided by no great gulf it is quite natural to step into the spirit world and back again into this it will not have escaped the readers attention that many of the features which I have noticed as common to the religions of eastern Asia such as the worship of nature spirits and ancestors are not peculiar to those countries but are almost if not quite universal in certain stages of religious development they can for instance be traced in Europe but whereas they exist here as survival's discernible only to the eye of research and even at the beginning of the Christian era had seized to be the obvious characteristics of European paganism in Asia they are still obvious age and logic have not impaired their vigor an official theology far from persecuting them has accommodated its shape to theirs this brings us to another point where the linguist difficulty again makes itself felt namely that the word religion has not quite the same meaning in eastern Asia as in Mohammedan and Christian lands I know of no definition which would cover Christianity Buddhism, Confucianism and the superstitions of African savages for the four have little community of subject matter or aim if any definition can be found it must I think be based on some superficial characteristic such as ceremonial nor is there any objection to refusing the title of religion to Buddhism and Confucianism except that an inconvenient lasuna would remain in our vocabulary for they are not adequately described as philosophies a crucial instance of the difference between the ideas prevalent in Europe and eastern Asia is the fact that in China many people belong to two or three religions and it would seem that when Buddhism existed in India the common practice was similar paganism and spiritual religion can coexist in the same mind provided their spheres are kept distinct but Christianity and Islam both retain the idea of a jealous God who demands not only exclusive devotion but also exclusive belief to believe in other gods is not only erroneous it is disobedience and disloyalty but such ideas have little currency in eastern Asia especially amongst Buddhists the Buddha is not a creator or a king but rather a physician he demands no allegiance and for those who disobey him the only punishment is continuance of the disease and though Indian deities may claim personal and exclusive devotion finding and limiting beliefs their priests are less exacting than papal or Muslim doctors despite sectarian formulas the Hindu cherishes broader ideas such as that all deities are forms in passing shapes of one essence that all have their proper places and that gods creeds and ceremonies are necessary helps in the lower stages of the religious life but immaterial to the adept it does not follow from this that Hindus are lukewarm or insincere in their convictions on the contrary, faith is more intense and more widely spread among them than in Europe nor can it be said that the religion is something detachable from ordinary life the burden of daily observance is prescribed and duly born seem to us intolerable but Buddhism and many forms of Hinduism present themselves as methods of salvation with a simplicity and singleness of aim which may be paralleled in the gospels but only rarely in the national churches of Europe the pious Buddhist is one who moulds his life and thoughts according to a certain law he is not much concerned with worshiping the gods of the state or city but has nothing against such worship his aim and procedure have nothing to do with spirits who give wealth and children or a word misfortune but since such matters are of great interest to mankind he is naturally brought into contact with them and he has no more objection to a religious service for procuring rain than to a scientific experiment for the same purpose similarly confusions follow a system of ethics which is sufficient for a gentleman and accords to a decorous recognition to a supreme being and ancestral spirits much concession to superstition would be reprehensible according to this code the gentleman honours some duty either for his private objects or because it is part of his duties as a magistrate he is not offending Confucius he is simply engaging in an act which has nothing to do with Confucianism the same distinction often applies in Indian religions but is less clear there because both the higher doctrine as well as ordinary ceremonial and mythology are described under one name as Hinduism but if a native of southern India intentionally sacrifices a buffalo to placate some village spirit it does not follow that all his religious notions are of this barbarous type Asiatic ideas as to the relations between religions are illustrated by an anecdote related to me in Assam Christianity has made many converts among the Khasis a non-Hindu tribe of that region and a successful revival meeting extending over a week was once held in a district professing Christians when the week was over and the missionaries gone the Khasis performed a ceremony in honour of the tribal deities their pastors regarded this as a woeful lapse from grace but no disbelief in Christianity or change of faith was implied the Khasis had embraced Christianity in the same spirit that animated the ancient disciples of the Buddha it was the higher law which spoke of a new life but it was not understood that it offered to take over the business of the local deities to look after crops and pigs and children to keep smallpox, tigers and serpents in order nobody doubted the existence of spirit who regulated these matters while admitting that ethics and the road to heaven were not in their department and therefore it was thought wise to supplement the Christian ceremonies by others held in their honour and thus let them see that they were not forgotten and run no risk of incurring their enmity my object in this chapter is to point out at the very beginning that in Asia the existence of a duly labelled religion such as Buddhism or Confucianism does not imply the suppression of older nameless beliefs especially about nature spirits and ghosts in China and many other countries we must not be surprised to find Buddhists honouring spirits who have nothing to do with Buddhism in India we must not suppose that the doctrines of Ramanuja or any other great teacher are responsible for the crudities of village worship nor yet rashly assume that the villager is ignorant of them End of section 27