1845.] du Buddhism Indien, par E. Burnouf. 789 



theon, which was produced after the period of the Vedas, until the gods 

 are considered as the moral rulers of the world. 



Let us now apply these criteria to the religion of Buddha to see, 

 whether it belongs to the primitive religions, or to those which can only 

 arise in a more advanced age of mankind. First, its views of the world 

 are not simple ; we find therein a developed theory of the material 

 elements, of an eternal circle of life and death, of a necessary connec- 

 tion of causes and effects ; of infinite spaces and times, &c. together with 

 almost all the gods of the Brahmans. Further, the view of the world 

 is not material, but there is clearly perceived the difference between 

 mind and matter, a doctrine of the origin of all mental and material 

 elements, from one element, which transcends the perception of our 

 senses, and which in fact is the void, the nothing, a view which un- 

 doubtedly requires a far advanced abstraction. Further, as regards the 

 mind, many different stages of its development are distinguished, and 

 it is explicitly stated, that it is the destination of man to pass through 

 all these stages, to liberate himself from all the trammels of nature, and 

 to aspire by his own efforts to the highest degree of spiritual existence. 

 Lastly, the moral element prevails in Buddhism; it is essentially a 

 religion, in which the highest object is Dharmma, the realization of the 

 moral law by a finite being, as the only means of receiving true li- 

 beration from the evil of life, and obtaining the state of a Buddha. 



This explanation goes far to prove, that Buddhism is not simple, 

 that all its elements are based on a previous development, and we may 

 therefore safely assert, that it is not a primitive religion, but the result 

 of religious ideas, previously cultivated in the people ; or, with one 

 word, Buddhism belongs to history, and if its documents be not lost, 

 we must be able to trace its origin. The native country of Buddhism 

 is India, and as there was no other religion but Brahmanism, this must 

 have been its parent. If this be true, it cannot be difficult to show 

 that form of Brahmanism to which it owes its existence. We, however, 

 conclude here this exposition, which we made only for the purpose of 

 contributing to settle a question which has too long been a matter of 

 discussion to Oriental scholars, and return now to our immediate object. 



As we already observed, Burnouf's work gives the historical evi- 

 dence of the connection between Brahmanism and Buddhism. It 

 introduces us into the very circumstances from which Buddhism arose. 



