BUDDHISM, AND " THE LIGHT OF x\STA." 189 



Euddliism of to-day iu Ceylon consists of an ignorant adoration of 

 a legendary Buddha, and a recourse to the devil-worship and 

 sorcfry that pervade nearly the whole of India. The hope of 

 Nirvana has vanished long since, it being regarded as something 

 utterly unattainable in the present age. The future looked for is 

 simply re-birth, the nature of which is supposed to be determined 

 by the merit or demei'it of the past. 



There is not the least evidence, that there was ever any esoteric, 

 as contrasted with exoteric, system of doctrines in Buddhism. It 

 is, perhaps, worth noting, that even Madame Blavatsky herself, iu 

 her Secret Loctrhie, denies that Mr. Sinnett's iJsuteric Buddhisin ia 

 a proper representation of the actual teaching of Buddha. 

 " Esoteric Buddhism " is the offspring of modern European brains. 

 It is also certainly the fact, that many of the European discussions 

 on ancient Buddhism and Hinduism have originated among the 

 youth of India and Ceylon a class of ideas on religious questions 

 that, thirty or forty years ago, the most deeply read Pundits never 

 dreamt of. 



