Ki ,\ i i;\\s OF RECENT BOOKS 



,, (1 ,| IV mi judgment. Only a mind deeply interested in religion 



I have undertaken this lengthy study, and one of the best evi- 



bifl fitness to do so appears in the fact that while he tends 



the religion he is describing at the moment, he seems to 



no temptation to use satiric or cheap wit at the expense of 



Western religion; a temptation to which too many writers have 



succumbed. 



Beginning with a general view of early Indian religion, the work 



ploughs Bteadilj on. The learned author has acquired (laborious task !) 



nan? of the original languages concerned, and has then gone to the 



iginal documents for his material. It is sometimes difficult to tell 



whether he is making an independent study, or whether he is following 



some Btandard writer or translator. The references in the notes are 



so numerous that it would seem that every standard work had been 



consulted, and it is probably safe to presume that where no credit 



is given elsewhere the whole is independent. There is no space in 



a it-view of this sort to give, even in outline, the course of the 



whole tale. We have already indicated the amount of treatment 



given to Hinduism. The story of the rise and spread of Buddhism 



is followed through India, Ceylon and Farther India, Central Asia, 



the isles of the sea, China, Korea and Tibet. Unfortunately Japan 



had to be omitted, since before publication the author was appointed 



ambassador to Tokyo, and thought it the part of wisdom to say 



nothing, to "refrain from public comments on the institutions of the 



country to which he is accredited." But although there are omis- 



Bions, the account is extraordinarily complete for the amount of space 



ised, and the student who consults the work for information will 



rarely need to go elsewhere except for details. Incidentally, the index, 



which alone occupies 51 pages of fine type, will be found to be most 



useful. We regret, however, that there is no index to the Chinese 



characters used in the notes to the section on China. 



I I is this section on China that will be of most interest to 

 readers of the Journal. In the first place it has the great virtue, 

 too often lacking in works of this sort, of quoting names and technical 

 terms by their Chinese character. This will prove a great con- 

 venience to the serious student. Two incorrect characters should, 

 however, he noted: p. 269 ^ should be ^: p. 309 gg should be Jj& 

 (unless the Romanisation is incorrect). Again, in China (as 



vhere) to get the proper setting for Buddhism it is neces- 

 sarj to take account of other religions, and as a result we get 



excellent little handbook of 'Chinese religions together with 

 the account of Buddhism. For authorities, the author acknowledges 



