the
allowance of one pepper-pod a day; that he had been incarnate many times
before, and that on his ascension through the air to heaven he left his
footprint on a mountain in Ceylon; that there is a paradise of gems, and
flowers, and feasts, and music for the good, and a hell of sulphur, and
flames, and torment for the wicked; that it is lawful to resort to the
worship of images, but that those are in error who deify men, or pay
respect to relics; that there are spirits, and goblins, and other
superhuman forms; that there is a queen of heaven; that the reading of
the Scriptures is in itself an actual merit, whether its precepts are
followed or not; that prayer may be offered by saying a formula by rote,
or even by turning the handle of a mill from which invocations written
on paper issue forth; that the revealer of Buddhism is to be regarded as
the religious head of the world.

The reader cannot fail to remark the resemblance of these ideas to some
of those of the Roman Church. When a knowledge of the Oriental forms of
religion was first brought into Europe, and their real origin was not
understood, it was supposed that this coincidence had arisen through the
labours of Nestorian, or other ancient missionaries from the West, and
hopes were entertained that the conversion of Eastern Asia would be
promoted thereby. But this expectation was disappointed, and that which
many good men regarded as a preparation for Christianity proved to be a
stumbling-block in its way. It is not improbable that the
pseudo-Christianity of the Chinese revolters, of which so much has
recently been said, is of the same nature, and will end with the same
result.

[Sidenote: The great diffusion of Buddhism.]

[Sidenote: Its practical godlessness.]

Decorated with these extraneous but popular recommendations, Buddhism
has been embraced by two-fifths of the human race. It has a prodigious
literature, great temples, many monuments. Its monasteries are scattered
from the north of Tartary almost to the equinoctial line. In these an
education is imparted not unlike that of the European monasteries of the
Middle Ages. It has been estimated that in Tartary one-third of the
population are Lamas. There are single convents containing more than two
thousand individuals; the wealth of the country voluntarily pours into
them. Elementary education is more widely diffused than in Europe: it is
rare to meet with a person who cannot read. Among the priests the