56 EVOLUTION AND RELIGION 



idea, in fact, of humanity, was in India first pronounced 

 by Buddha." * 



ATHEISM 



A certain element of grim humor was lent to Buddha's 

 excessive revolt against the overwrought spiritualism 

 and ritualistic tyranny of Brahmanism by the fact that 

 he went so far as to ignore, if not deny, God. But, in 

 revenge, his followers soon made short work of this 

 cardinal omission by turning around and practically 

 deifying the Buddha himself. It is true, their more 

 advanced thinkers claim that he is not a God, but only 

 the ideal of what any man may become. Yet when 

 we consider the exaggerated adoration paid to the 

 topes wherein his relics are reputed to lie, and to his 

 images in the temples; when we note the sacrificial 

 offerings and prayers addressed to him 2500 years 

 after his death, it becomes very difficult to grasp this 

 subtle, shadowy distinction between the ideal man 

 and the deified man. 



UNIVERSAL SYMPATHY 



But however this may be, in the words of another 

 writer: "The element in Buddhism which more than 

 any other, perhaps, gave it an advantage over all sur- 

 rounding religions, and led to its surprising extension, 

 was the spirit of universal charity and sympathy that 

 it breathed, as contrasted with the exclusiveness of 

 caste. In this respect, it held much the same relation 

 1 Chips from a German Workshop, vol. I. p. 252. 



