BUDDHISM, AND " THE LIGHT 01' ASIA." 185 



Take the three principal doctrines of the Buddhistic system, — 

 <hat of life as a condition of misery, of transmigration or the 

 transrotation of births, and of Nirvana, as deliverance from that 

 transmigration, with no promise of an endless existence in conscious 

 purity and happiness. I do not understand how a healthy, honest 

 mind can see in it anything to be desired, and for which (not to 

 introduce the subject of Christianity) the old religion of China, 

 which is generally denominated Confucianism, should be forsaken. 



Mr. Collins does not entirely accept the excessive estimate of the 

 numbers of Buddhists as compared with that of the other principal 

 religions of the world. Why should we, without authoritative 

 statistics on the point, be ready to hand over to this system the 

 largest percentage of mankind ? I shall be surprised if it be 

 proved that Buddhism has one hundred million followers. Sir 

 Edwin Arnold, as quoted by Mr. Collins, estimates them at four 

 hundred and seventy millions ; seventy millions would, I think, 

 be a nearer estimate. 



Again, the influence of the system as a civilizer and elevator of 

 man's social condition has been greatly over-rated. In illustration 

 of this assertion let me quote part of an account given in the 

 Daihj News, of " a journey across Thibet," by Captain Bower, at 

 a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society in 1893 : — " As 

 seen in Thibetan countries, the Buddhist religion has nothing 

 in common with the pure morality preached by Gautama Buddha 

 The doctrines of the founder are too abstract, he thinks, for the 

 average Thibetan mind, and this has led to innovations which have 

 developed until the grossest superstition, little better than African 

 fetichism, and hardly bearing any resemblance to the original 

 precepts, is all one meets with in this stronghold of Buddhism, 

 The nomads were described as greedy, faithless, and suspicious. 

 Their suspicions, however, do not a+tach only to foreigners, as every 

 camp seems to view every other camp as not only a possible, but 

 a very probable enemy." 



For the moral and social state of the Mongols, 1 need only refer 

 to that most interesting volume by the late Rev. James Gilmour, — 

 his Life among the Mongols. 



On the follies of whatis called " Esoteric Buddhism," Mr. Collins's 

 paper is explicit enough. 



