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of books, in the same manner as the doctrine of Christ, yet that a 

 gulf of difference a fundamental difference of character separates 

 the Sacred Books of each, the Bible of the Christian and the 

 Bible of the Buddhist. The Christian's Bible claims to be a super- 

 natural Revelation, yet it attaches no mystical talismanic virtue to 

 the mere sound of its words. On the other hand the characteristic of 

 the Buddhist Bible is that it utterly repudiates all claim to be a super- 

 natural revelation ; yet the very sound of its words is believed to 

 possess a meritorious efficacy, capable of elevating anyone who 

 hears it to heavenly abodes in future existences. In illustration I 

 may advert to a legend current in Ceylon, that once on a time 

 500 bats lived in a cave where two monks daily recited the 

 Buddha's law (the recitation being called ' Bana '). These bats 

 gained such merit by simply hearing the sound of the words 

 that when they died they were all re-born as men and ultimately 

 as gods. 



" But, again. I am sure to hear the admirers of Buddhism say - 

 Is it not the case that the doctrine of Buddha, like the doctrine of 

 Christ, has self-sacrifice as its key-note ? Well, be it so. I admit 

 that the Buddha taught a kind of self-sacrifice. I admit that it is 

 recorded of the Buddha himself that on one occasion he plucked 

 out his own eyes, and that on another he cut off his own head, and 

 that on a third he cut his own body to pieces, to redeem a dove 

 from a hawk. But note the vast distinction between the self- 

 sacrifice taught by the two systems. Christianity demands the 

 suppression of selfishness. Buddhism demands the suppression of 

 self, with the one object of extinguishing all consciousness of self. 

 In the one the true self is elevated and intensified. In the other 

 the true self is annihilated by the practice of a false form of non- 

 selfishness, which has for its final object the annihilation of the Ego, 

 the utter extinction of the illusion of personal individuality. 



" Then note other contrasts. According to the Christian Bible, 

 regulate and sanctify the heart's desires and affections. Accord- 

 ing to the Buddhist, suppress and utterly destroy them if you wish 

 for true sanctification. Christianity teaches that, in the highest 

 form of life, love is intensified. Buddhism teaches that, in the 

 highest state of existence, all love is extinguished. According to 

 Christianity, go and earn your own bread, support yourself and 

 your family. Marriage, it says, is honourable and undefiled, and 

 married life is a field 011 which holiness may grow and be developed. 

 Nay, more. Christ Himself honoured a wedding with his presence, 



