1845.] du Buddhism Indien, par E. Burnovf. 785 



in a different language, and lastly use them as sources for the history, 

 religion, and philosophy of the Buddhists. 



The Buddhist religion claims in many respects a peculiar interest. 

 The changes it has undergone are most remarkable. Having over- 

 come the religion of the Brahmans on its own ground, having swayed 

 by its kings the greater part of India, it has been banished from its 

 native soil so entirely, that it is almost forgotten there by the bulk 

 of the population, while its followers in other parts of the earth are more 

 numerous than those of any other religion. It is an undeniable fact, 

 that a great part of mankind were humanized by it, and that for the 

 civilization of central and western Asia it has done the same, as Chris- 

 tianity has for the barbarians of Europe. 



But a higher interest is connected with its history for the philanthro- 

 pist. Has Buddhism been able to produce such a religious revolution 

 in India ? Has it been able to overcome the intellectual barrier with a 

 great number of the Hindoos, the tenacious adherence to their religious 

 impressions ? We may also perhaps be able to exercise a similar in- 

 fluence on the Hindoo mind, to break the instinctive resistance against 

 a religion which reveals the true aim of mankind, and is connected 

 with all the progress which mankind has made in science, in art, and 

 in the true spirit of government. 



And in this respect the annals of Buddhism should be attentively 

 studied. Truth in itself alone is not sufficient to eradicate errors, which 

 a long habit has accustomed people to consider as their most sacred 

 inheritance ; the mind of man being not prepared for a religious or even 

 a scientific truth, will reject it. As regards the propagation of religious 

 truth among a people, its character, habits, institutions should be 

 intimately known, before a lasting impression can be made on them. 

 The Buddhist annals are in this respect especially instructive, showing 

 the means, by which they succeeded in converting a people, every insti- 

 tution of which is calculated to perpetuate its religious associations. 

 Among the many important results, which are the fruit of Burnoufs 

 researches, we will here notice one, which appears to us of immense 

 importance to the future studies of Indian antiquity ; it is, that there 

 is established beyond doubt the higher antiquity of Brahmanism ; and 

 before we enter into a description of the work itself, we beg to be 

 permitted to consider this object from another point of view than that in 



