Buddhism
bood'dizm, a form of religious belief. The name is from Buddha, a word meaning teacher. Buddhism may be regarded as a reformed Brahminism. Clarke, in his Ten Great Religions, calls the Buddhists the Protestants of the East. Buddha began his teaching at Benares, India; but his followers appear to have been driven from Hindustan at a later period. Brahminism, however, acknowledges a trinity, while Buddhism does not recognize any supreme being. Buddhism rejects also the castes of Brahminism. Any one may become a Buddhist priest, but the priest is only a monk; for in this religion there are neither sacraments to administer nor rites to perform. The four "sublime verities" which lie at the foundation of the religion of Buddha are:
1. Pain is inseparable from existence. 2. Pain is the offspring of desire. 3. Existence can only cease with Nirvana. 4. Nirvana may be attained only through the extinction of desire.
The Buddhist religion accepts the Brahminical theory of the transmigration of souls. According to this theory, gross, that is to say, ordinary souls are born over and over, and are thus required to pass repeatedly through a world of birth, sin, suffering, and death. After the purification of countless existences the soul may be absorbed at last into Nirvana the Blest, a state where all desire is extinct. Buddha himself was believed to have passed through every possible form of existence before he became "the Enlightened."
The extinction of desire, which leads into the "path" to Nirvana, is acquired by the fulfillment of eight conditions. These are right view, right judgment, right language, right purpose, right practice, right obedience, right memory, and right meditation. Five precepts to be obeyed forbid man to kill, to lie, to steal, to commit adultery, and to fall into drunkenness. The virtues to be cultivated are charity, purity, patience, courage, contemplation, and knowledge. If acquired in this life, these virtues lead to a painless existence in the next life. As a mere ethical code Buddhism ranks second to Christianity. It is a mild code of morals, abhorrent of cruelty. The Brahminical practices of infanticide and burning of widows on their husbands' funeral pyres were forbidden by Buddhism.
The theological beliefs of the Buddhist form a collection of 108 volumes, which are believed to date from about 200 B. C. Much space is occupied with accounts of the previous existences of Buddha; for when he became "the Enlightened," he was able to remember all his former experiences.
The Buddhists held exclusive sway in Ceylon, Siam, Burma, Nepal, Java, Indo-China, and Tibet. They have followers in India, in China, and in Japan. There are in all about 148,000,000 Buddhists. As many more profess a semi-buddhist belief. Although the Buddhist nations are decadent, they have been great builders. Their shrines, towers, topes, and cave temples form a prominent chapter in the history of oriental architecture.
There is a remarkable statue of Buddha near Yokohama, Japan. It represents the founder of the religion as seated, tailor-fashion. The sitting figure is "as tall as a four-story house." It is made of bronze plates, fitted together so neatly that the joints cannot be seen. The brow wears a coronet, apparently of jewels. The eyes are of gold, and are a yard wide. It must be remembered that in theory Buddha is not a god to be worshiped, but an ideal of what any man may become. It is probable, however, that to the ignorant this distinction is of little weight, and that Buddhism is simple idolatry.