Chap. XI.] BUDDHISM A SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY. 535 



for parents, the care for one's family, a sinless vocation, 

 contentment and gratitude, subjection to reproof, mo- 

 deration in prosperity, submission under affliction, and 

 cheerfulness at all times. " Those," said Buddha, " wlio 

 practise all these virtues, and are not overcome by evil, 

 will enjoy the perfection of happiness, and attain to 

 supreme renown." ^ 



Buddliism, it may be perceived from this sketch, is, 

 properly speaking, less a form of rehgion than a school 

 of philosophy ; and its u'orsliii)^ according to the institutes 

 of its founders, consists of an appeal to the reason, rather 

 than an attempt on the imagination through the instru- 

 mentahty of rites and parade. "Salvation is made de- 

 pendent, not upon the practice of idle ceremonies, the 

 repeating of prayers or of hjTims, or invocations to 

 pretended gods, but upon moral quahfications, which 

 constitute individual and social happiness here, and 

 ensure it hereafter." ^ In later times, and in the failure 

 of Buddhism by unassisted arguments to ensure the ob- 

 servance of its precepts and the practice of its morals, 

 the experiment has been made to arouse the attention 

 and excite the enthusiasm of its followers by the adoj)tion 

 of ceremonies and processions ; but these are declared 

 to be only the innovations of priestcraft, and the Singha- 

 lese, whilst they unite in their celebration, are impatient 

 to explain that such practices are less rehgious than 

 secular, and that the Perrehera in particular, the chief 

 of their annual festivals, Avas introduced, not in honour 

 of Buddha, but as a tribute to the Kandyan kings as the 

 patrons and defenders of the faith.^ 



In its formula, whatever alterations Buddhism may 



' Discoui'so of Buddlia entitled 

 Manf/ala. 



^ Colonel Sykes, Asiat. Jouni., vol. 

 xii. p. 266. 



^ Fa IIian describes the proces- 

 sion of Riiddliists wliicli lie witnessed 

 in the liingdoui of Khotan, and it is 



M M 4 



not a little remarkable, that along 

 with the image of liiiddha were as- 

 sociated those of the Brahmanical 

 deities Indra and Brahma, the Lha 

 of the Thibetans and the Tueyri of 

 the Moo-ids. 



