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 XII - CEREMONIAL AND RITUALISTIC BUDDHISM
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
Having in the last Lecture described the manner in which hierarchical systems were established in various Buddhist countries, we are naturally led on to consider in the present Lecture the development of what may be called ‘Ceremonial and Ritualistic Buddhism’; for no hierarchy can maintain its hold over the masses anywhere without the aid of outward manifestations, rites, ceremonies, and appeals to the senses.
Early Buddhism was, as we have already shown, vehemently opposed, not only to all sacerdotalism, but to all merely external ritualistic and ceremonial observances. It swept away the whole Vedic ritual—the whole sacrificial system of the Brāhmans; it rejected all penitential austerities and painful bodily mortifications; it denounced every form of superstition, idolatry, and priestcraft; it maintained that to lead a life of purity and high morality was better than all the forms and ceremonies of religion.
But the very vehemence of its opposition tended to bring about a reaction. Indeed, the history of all religious movements proves that the teaching of extreme doctrines of any kind is almost invariably followed by a Nemesis, though the teacher of them may himself not live to see it.
At the outset a reformer of the ultra type is sure to gain adherents by his enthusiasm and earnestness, as well as by his ardour in condemning abuses, but a time is almost certain to come when his followers will themselves lapse into the identical practices which it was his great object to denounce.
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- BuddhismIn its Connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism and in its Contrast with Christianity, pp. 303 - 339Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1889