BUDDHIST OPINIONS AND MONUMENTS OF ASIA. 259 



equally among the dreaded and the respected, both in the very metropolis of 

 religion (Pataliputa) ; and in foreign places," to teach them "righteousness, which 

 passeth knowledge." 



The Buddhists were then a powerful and a rich community; and in the fifth cen- 

 tury, the Chinese traveller Fa Hean* found Buddhism the prevailing religion of In- 

 dia. But in the middle of the seventh century, another Chinese traveller (Hwan 

 Thsang) found that the zealous Buddhists had degenerated into rich, selfish, and 

 idle monks. This engendered a feeling of dislike and jealousy among the people, 

 and as they rejected the sacred books of the Hindus, and many of their cherished 

 dogmas, the Brahmins persecuted them with relentless fury, and after ages of san- 

 guinary wars, they were expelled from India. The vanquished Buddhists fled to 

 Ceylon, and other neighbouring countries ; and the feeble remnant in Hindostan 

 live in small communities, abstain from carnal pleasure, and pass a monotonous 

 existence in the routine of a monastic life, without any of that fervid enthusiasm 

 for which their predecessors were once so distinguished. But although so few 

 remain in the original seat of the religion, so great was their success in other 

 countries, that there are now upwards of three hundred millions of Asiatics who 

 profess the Buddhist religion. 



One cause of the almost total extinction of Buddhism in India was, that it re- 

 quired its followers to lead a life of charity, abstinence, and privation, with a long 

 course of prayer, penance, and devout abstraction, in order to work out their escape 

 from the circle of existence ; or to attain what they considered the state of beati- 

 tude in another world. This produced constant disputes and divisions, which, 

 with their wandering habits, the frequent and cruel persecutions, and the pre- 

 cepts of their religion, induced them to visit distant countries, to gain followers 

 to their peculiar opinions, which they modified to suit the people they visited. At 

 this period some intercourse was still maintained between the cognate, but widely 

 separated races ; and the new doctrines were carried westward by missionaries, 

 who, finding some of the races they visited unprovided with a written language, 

 had recourse to symbols, already used in the East, to express their fundamental 

 doctrines. These were modified to suit the particular circumstances of the people 

 they resided among. The Asiatics were idolaters from an early period, and have 

 continued so ; and from their power and riches, and a certain advancement in the 

 arts, they constructed magnificent temples, and idols of Buddha ; while they relied 

 on symbols among the rude tribes of Britain. Such differences in the method of 

 propagating the religion must be expected, and seem to strengthen the argument 

 in favour of their identity ; and an enumeration of the remains of the interesting 

 race in India, will afford useful indications of their opinions. These are — 



1. Magnificent Cave Temples, excavated out of the solid rock. Some of these 

 are beautifully decorated with paintings and sculptures. 



* See the admirable translation, and most interesting notes, by J. W. Laidlay, Esq. Calcutta, 1848. 

 VOL. XXI. PART II. 4 A 



