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neither is he another : there is a procession, or a sequence, following from this 

 body and the action of the thoughts." It is very difficult to understand this 

 matter ; but it has, to a great extent, been elucidated by Dr. Oldenburg, and 

 I can heartily recommend his book to those who have not read it. It is the 

 most able book that has been written on Buddhism ; and although we may 

 not agree with all he asserts, yet the impression every impartial reader will 

 derive is this — that Christianity is immensely superior to Buddhism ; 

 the teachings of our holy religion are far above what Buddha 

 gives. I think we ought to bear this in mind. It has often been asked, 

 " Why is it that Buddhism has had, and still has, such a hold on the human 

 mind, when this mystic Nirvana is its final goal — its summum honum ? " I 

 think the only reply we can give to this question is, that all Buddhists now 

 in the world, and all Buddhists who have been in the world since Buddha's 

 lime, have no hope of reaching Nirvana. They tell us it is impossible to 

 arrive at that state, and all the Buddhists now are as virtuous as they can 

 be, in order, as Buddha teaclies, that they may have greater happiness in the 

 next birth — it may be in this world, it may be in the upper world, or it may 

 be in the lower world ; but they believe that no one has any hope of reach- 

 ing Nirvana. This, I think, is the reason why Buddhism is still the religion 

 of so many millions of the human race. 



Principal G.W.LeitneRjM.A., Phd., LL.D. (Government College, Lahore). 

 — The concluding words in Mr. Collins's lecture point to an inference to 

 which, perhaps, full v/eight has not been given, and that is the inference to 

 be derived from the invasion of India by Alexander, which is rightly 

 described as having been " perhaps religious as well as military and mer- 

 cantile." In my opinion it was even more than this ; for, if we consult those 

 authors who deal with Alexander's invasion, we shall find that his object, at 

 any rate as it was believed to be by his contemporaries, was to spread Greek 

 influence through Asia. It was with this object that he set out ; and, although 

 Arriau wrote a considerable time afterwards, he wrote, as we know, as 

 accurately, perhaps, as any historian ever did ; while even in Plutarch we 

 find the same belief as that of Arrian crystallised in what he records, both as 

 to the object and the success of Alexander, to which he not only refers in- 

 cidentally, but makes special allusion to, in a speech which is entitled, 

 " Regarding the Virtue and Good Fortune of Alexander," in having intro- 

 duced, as it were, Europe into Asia, with particular reference to India. 

 One of the passages is : Karao-Trfi'poc 'Aaiav 'EXX7;i'iko7c: r't\iai. There 

 were festivals, we are told, in which not only was the rivalry of physical 

 force and skill displayed, but the rivalry also of the fine arts. We find 

 that, w'hen the soldiers rebelled on the oft-side of the Punjaub, — that is to 

 say, the side furthest from Greece and nearest to Hindostan, — they 

 did so on the ground, among others, that, whereas they were taken there for 

 the purpose of making the Asiatics Greek, they themselves were beingturned 

 into Asiatics : and it is quite clear that the word Asia, as there used, must have 

 referred to India in general and to the Punjaub in particular, since it was there 



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