HOWLAND COLLECTION OF BUDDHIST ART. 739 



as lust, hatred, anger, envy, and delusion. By thus uprooting all 

 desire, and by perfect detachment from life and its attractions, cessa- 

 tion of the renewal of existence will be attained. 



According- to the Buddhist doctrine the historical founder of Bud- 

 dhism was Only one of the many Buddhas who appear in this world at 

 intervals of many ages, and any one can become a Buddha — that is, 

 attain to the way of salvation for himself and others — by practicing 

 self-denial and contemplation. 



THE BUDDHIST COMMUNITY (SANGHA). 



The Buddhist community in the strict sense consists of an order of 

 monks and nuns (Bhikhshus and Bhikhshunis) who, as a rule, live in 

 monasteries and are vowed to celibacy, poverty, and obedience. But 

 already in Buddha's lifetime it was found impracticable for all his 

 adherents to retire from the world and join the order. On these lay- 

 believers only the first five of the ten injunctions quoted above are obli- 

 gatory. Among the virtues recommended to the masses are reverence 

 of parents and teachers, care for wife and children, submission to 

 authority, control over self, patience, forbearance, humility and con- 

 tentment, almsgiving, respect for the life of sentient creatures, and 

 care for the welfare of all living things. 



Buddha, his doctrine, and the community form the triad of Bud- 

 dhism, and the formula of confessing fellowship with -Buddhism is: 

 I take my refuge in the Buddha, in the Dharma, and in the Sangha. 



HISTORY OF THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM. 



Already at the death of Buddha the number of Buddhists seems to 

 have been considerable. About the middle of the third century B. C, 

 during the reign of Asoka, Buddhism began to spread all over India. 

 Towards the end of the eleventh century A. D. it was entirely sup- 

 pressed in India itself, the land of its origin. But it had been adopted 

 by the kings of Ceylon in the third century B. C. From thence and 

 the south of India it w T as carried, in the fifth and seventh centuries 

 A. D., to Burma, Siam, and the Javanese archipelago. It entered 

 China about 70 A. D. and spread from thence to Korea in the fourth 

 century A. D., and to Japan in the sixth century A. D. It is the 

 established religion of Nepal and Tibet, and has adherents among the 

 Mongols and Kalmucks on the lower Volga and the Buriats of southern 

 Siberia. Wherever Buddhism w T ent it was modified by the national 

 characteristics and inherited beliefs of its converts, so that its funda- 

 mental doctrines w T ere often overshadowed, sometimes destroyed, and 

 it developed into strangely inconsistent and even antagonistic beliefs 

 and practices. At the same time it everywhere exercised a profound 

 influence, both on the moral and religious life of the peoples and on 

 their art and architecture. 



