CHAP. XI.] BUDDHISM A SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY. 



535 



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

 will enjoy the perfection of happiness, and attain to 

 supreme renown." * 



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

 properly speaking, less a form of religion than a school 

 of philosophy ; and its worship, according to the institutes 

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

 than an attempt on the imagination through the instru- 

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

 pendent, not upon the practice of idle ceremonies, the 

 repeating of prayers or of hymns, or invocations to 

 pretended gods, but upon moral qualifications, which 

 constitute individual and social happiness here, and 

 ensure it hereafter." 2 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 adoption 

 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 religious than 

 secular, and that the Perahara in particular, the chief 

 of then" annual festivals, was introduced, not in honour 

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

 patrons and defenders of the faith. 3 



Whatever alterations in its formula Buddhism may 

 have undergone in Ceylon are altogether external, and 

 clearly referable to its anomalous association with the 

 worship of its ancient rivals the Brahmans. These 

 changes, however, are the result of proximity and asso- 



Discourse of Buddha entitled 



2 Colonel SYKES, Astat. Journ., vol. 

 xii. p. 266. 



3 FA HIAN describes the proces- 

 sion of Buddhists which he witnessed 

 in the kingdom of Khotan, and it is 



not a little remarkable, that along 

 with the image of Buddha were as- 

 sociated those of the Brahmanical 

 deities Indra and Brahma, the Lh<t 

 of the Thibetans and the Toegri of 

 the Moguls. 



M M 4 



