188 THE 1;EV. K. COLLINS^ ON 



THE AUTHOR'S FURTHER REPLY. 



October 12, 1895. 



With regard to tlie very interesting question as to the influence 

 of Early Buddhist Missionaries in Northern Syria before the 

 Christian era, I should have been thankful if Colonel Conder 

 liad quoted the exact passage in Josephus, to which he refers. I 

 am not aware of any mention in Josephus of Buddhist Missionaries. 

 There is no word to connect the tenets, there alluded to, of either 

 Pharisees, Sadducees, or Essenes, with Buddhist teaching. Nor in 

 Contra Apion I, is there any evidence that the "Kalani," mentioned 

 by Aristotle, were Buddhists. I have, however, touched upon this 

 part of the subject in a former paper. 



I can hardly see that the quotation from Professor Rhys 

 Davids — " Disturb not yourselves by curiosities or desires as to 

 a future existence " — represents the true chai^acter of Buddha's 

 teaching. His one aim, as expressed in vei"y numerous reports of 

 his sayings, was to escape the endless future series of tx^ans- 

 migrations of the soul then believed in ; and the great end of his 

 teaching was, that his dev^otees should enter Nirvana after death ; 

 Nirvana not being a word of his own coining, but a Hindu 

 expression already applied to a future state of existence. I should 

 rather have concluded, from the often repeated sayings of Buddha, 

 as reported by his disciples, that his teaching was — " Do every- 

 thing with an eye to the Future." 



The question of possible Jewish influence Southwards 600 years 

 B.C. is, perhaps, not a very vital one. But was it not quite as 

 possible for there to have been a Hebrew influence Southwards, as 

 for there to have been a Buddhist influence Northwards ? Babylon 

 was, no doubt, directly in communication with India at that time 

 thi^ough her merchants. 



In reference to remarks by the Rev. A. B. Hutchinson, Professor 

 Legge, and Dr. Sutton, I may add, that the moral precepts of 

 Buddha do not seem to have secured any high state of morality in 

 the Buddhist Priests of Ceylon, unless they are greatly belied 

 by the testimony of their own countj'yiiieu. Practically the 



