44. SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS. 
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 any one 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. Iam sure to hear the admirers of Buddhism say,— 
Ts 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. 
Jn 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, Jove 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 on which holiness may grow and be developed. 
Nay, more, Christ Himself honoured a wedding with his presence, 
