NOTES 49 



Note 10 (p. 21). 



The influence of the picture of the personal qualities of 

 Gautama, afforded by the legendary anecdotes which rapidly grew 

 into a biography of the Buddha and by the birth stories, which 

 coalesced with the current folk-lore, and were intelligible to all 

 the world, doubtless played a large part. Further, although 

 Gautama appears not to have meddled with the caste system, he 

 refused to recognize any distinction, save that of perfection in 

 the way of salvation, among his followers ; and by such teaching, 

 no less than by the inculcation of love and benevolence to all 

 sentient beings, he practically levelled every social, political and 

 racial barrier. A third important condition was the organization 

 of the Buddhists into monastic communities for the stricter 

 professors, while the laity were permitted a wide indulgence in 

 practice and were allowed to hope for accommodation in some of 

 the temporary abodes of bliss. With a few hundred thousand 

 years of immediate paradise in sight, the average man could be 

 content to shut his eyes to what might follow. 



Note 11 (p. 22). 



En ancient times it was the fashion, even among the Greeks 

 themselves, to derive all Greek wisdom from Eastern sources ; 

 not long ago it was as generally denied that Greek philosophy 

 had any connexion with oriental speculation ; it seems probable, 

 however, that the truth lies between these extremes. 



The Ionian intellectual movement does not stand alone. It is 

 only one of several sporadic indications of the working of some 

 powerful mental ferment over the whole of the area comprised 

 between the ^Egean and northern Hindostan during the eight, 

 seventh, and sixth centuries before our era. In these three 

 hundred years, prophetism attained its apogee among the Semites 

 of Palestine ; Zoroasterism grew and became the creed of a 

 conquering race, the Iranic Aryans ; Buddhism rose and spread 

 with marvellous rapidity among the Aryans of Hindostan ; while 

 scientific naturalism took its rise among the Aryans of Ionia. 

 It would be difficult to find another three centuries which have 

 given birth to four events of equal importance. All the 



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