Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Postscript on the common error in regard to the comparative prevalence of Buddhism in the world
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Rules for Pronunciation
- Pronunciation of Buddha, etc. Addenda and Corrigenda
- LECTURE I INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS
- LECTURE II THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER
- LECTURE III THE DHARMA OR LAW AND SCRIPTURES OF BUDDHISM
- LECTURE IV THE SAṄGHA OR BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS
- LECTURE V THE PHILOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM
- LECTURE VI THE MORALITY OF BUDDHISM AND ITS CHIEF AIM—ARHATSHIP OR NIRVĀṆA
- LECTURE VII CHANGES IN BUDDHISM AND ITS DISAPPEARANCE FROM INDIA
- LECTURE VIII RISE OF THEISTIC AND POLYTHEISTIC BUDDHISM
- LECTURE IX THEISTIC AND POLYTHEISTIC BUDDHISM
- LECTURE X MYSTRICAL BUDDHISM IN ITS CONNEXION WITH THE YOGA PHILOSOPHY
- LECTURE XI HIERARCHICAL BUDDHISM, ESPECIALLY AS DEVELOPED IN TIRET AND MONGOLIA
- LECTURE XII CEREMONIAL AND RITUALISTIC BUDDHISM
- LECTURE XIII FESTIVALS, DOMESTIC RITES, AND FORMULARIES OF PRAYERS
- LECTURE XIV SACRED PLACES
- LECTURE XV MONASTERIES AND TEMPLES
- LECTURE XVI IMAGES AND IDOLS
- LECTURE XVII SACRED OBJECTS
- SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS ON THE CONNEXION OF BUDDHISM WITH JAINISM
- LECTURE XVIII BUDDHISM CONTRASTED WITH CHRISTIANITY
- OBSERVE
- Plate section
LECTURE II - THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Postscript on the common error in regard to the comparative prevalence of Buddhism in the world
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Rules for Pronunciation
- Pronunciation of Buddha, etc. Addenda and Corrigenda
- LECTURE I INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS
- LECTURE II THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER
- LECTURE III THE DHARMA OR LAW AND SCRIPTURES OF BUDDHISM
- LECTURE IV THE SAṄGHA OR BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS
- LECTURE V THE PHILOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM
- LECTURE VI THE MORALITY OF BUDDHISM AND ITS CHIEF AIM—ARHATSHIP OR NIRVĀṆA
- LECTURE VII CHANGES IN BUDDHISM AND ITS DISAPPEARANCE FROM INDIA
- LECTURE VIII RISE OF THEISTIC AND POLYTHEISTIC BUDDHISM
- LECTURE IX THEISTIC AND POLYTHEISTIC BUDDHISM
- LECTURE X MYSTRICAL BUDDHISM IN ITS CONNEXION WITH THE YOGA PHILOSOPHY
- LECTURE XI HIERARCHICAL BUDDHISM, ESPECIALLY AS DEVELOPED IN TIRET AND MONGOLIA
- LECTURE XII CEREMONIAL AND RITUALISTIC BUDDHISM
- LECTURE XIII FESTIVALS, DOMESTIC RITES, AND FORMULARIES OF PRAYERS
- LECTURE XIV SACRED PLACES
- LECTURE XV MONASTERIES AND TEMPLES
- LECTURE XVI IMAGES AND IDOLS
- LECTURE XVII SACRED OBJECTS
- SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS ON THE CONNEXION OF BUDDHISM WITH JAINISM
- LECTURE XVIII BUDDHISM CONTRASTED WITH CHRISTIANITY
- OBSERVE
- Plate section
Summary
It is much to be regretted that among all the sacred books that constitute the Canon of the Southern Buddhists (see p. 61)—the only true Canon of Buddhism— there is no trustworthy biography of its Founder.
For Buddhism is nothing without Buddha, just as Zoroastrianism is nothing without Zoroaster, Confucianism nothing without Confucius, Muhammadanism nothing without Muhammad, and I may add with all reverence, Christianity nothing without Christ.
Indeed, no religion or religious system which has not emanated from some one heroic central personality, or in other words, which has not had a founder whose strongly marked personal character constituted the very life and soul of his teaching and the chief factor in its effectiveness, has ever had any chance of achieving world-wide acceptance, or ever spread far beyond the place of its origin.
Hence the barest outline of primitive Buddhism must be incomplete without some sketch of the life and character of Gautama Buddha himself. Yet it is difficult to find any sure basis of fact on which we may construct a fairly credible biography.
In all likelihood legendary histories of the Founder of Buddhism were current in Nepāl and Tibet in the early centuries of our era; but unhappily his too enthusiastic and imaginative admirers have thought it right to testify their admiration by interweaving with the probable facts of Gautama Buddha's life, fables so extravagant that some modern critical scholars have despaired of attempting to sift truth from fiction, and have even gone to the extreme of doubting that Gautama Buddha ever lived at all.
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- BuddhismIn its Connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism and in its Contrast with Christianity, pp. 18 - 52Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1889