CHAP. XI.] BUDDHISM UNDER MANY SHAPES. 



527 



principles, of Buddhism ; and in arts, literature, and civili- 

 sation, the records of their own history, and the ruins of 

 their monuments, attest their deterioration in common with 

 that of every other nation which has not at some time been 

 brought under the ennobling influences of Christianity. 



In alluding to the doctrines of 'Buddhism, as it exists at 

 the present day, my observations are to be understood as 

 applying to the aspect under which it presents itself in 

 Ceylon, irrespective of the numerous forms in which it 

 has been cultivated elsewhere. Even before the de- 

 cease of the last Buddha, schisms had arisen amongst his 

 followers in India. Eighteen heresies are deplored in the 

 Mahawanso within two centuries from his death ; and four 

 distinct sects, each rejoicing in the name of Buddhists, are 

 still to be traced amongst the remnants of his worshippers 

 in Hindustan. 1 In its migrations to other countries since 

 its dispersion by the Brahmans, Buddhism has assumed and 

 exhibited itself in a variety of shapes. At the present day 

 its doctrines, as cherished among the Jainas of Guzerat and 

 Eajpootana 2 , differ widely from its mysteries, as adminis- 

 tered by the Lama of Thibet ; and both are equally distinct 

 from the metaphysical abstractions propounded by the 

 monks of Nepal. Its observances in Japan have under- 

 gone a still more striking alteration from their vicinity to 

 the Syntoos ; and in China they have been similarly mo- 

 dified in their contact with the rationalism of Lao-tsen 

 and the social demonology of the Confucians. 3 But in each 

 and all the distinction is in degree rather than essence ; and 

 the general concurrence is unbroken in all the grand 

 essentials of the system. 



1 Cokbrooke 's Essays on the Philo- 

 sophy of the Hindoos, sect. v. part 5, p. 

 401. See also ante, Vol. I. p. 377, 380. 



2 An account of the religion of the 

 Jains or Jainas, will be found in 



MOTTNTSTTJART ELPHINSTOJfE*S His- 

 tory of India, vol. i. b. ii. ch. 4. They 

 arose in the sixth or seventh century, 



were at their height in the eleventh, 

 and declined in the twelfth. See also 

 MAX MTJLLER, Hist. Samkrit Litera- 

 ture, p. 261, &c. 



3 Details of Buddhism in China 

 and Chin-India will be found in the 

 erudite commentaries of RLAPKOTH, 

 EEMUSAT, and LANDBESSE. 



