As it has been stated of science, so it may be affirmed of all inquiry, "that at a certain stage of its development a degree of vagueness best consists with fertility."
Christianity and Buddhism possess three prominent features—"the metaphysical," "the ethical," and "the biographical." As the two latter have been so exhaustively contrasted in connection with these systems, I have confined myself in the following pages chiefly to a consideration of their mystical relationship.
D. M. S.
Caledonian United Service Club, Edinburgh.
February, 1899.
SANSCRIT AND PALI TERMS USED.
| Samskāra Sankhāra | Includes everything of which impermanence may be predicated, or, which is the same thing, everything
which springs from a cause. (Childers.) Gestaltungen—Oldenberg's Buddha, German edition. Conformations—English translation of Oldenberg's Buddha. |
| Skandhas | The five attributes or elements of being—form, sensation, perception, discrimination, and consciousness. |
| Bhikkhu Bhikshu | Mendicant, monk, friar. |
| Akāsa | Space. |
| Samsāra | The ocean of Birth and Death, transiency, worldliness, the restlessness of a worldly life, the agitation of selfishness, the vanity fair of life. (Paul Carus.) |
| Mahāyāna | The great vehicle—viz., of salvation. |
| Hināyāna | The little vehicle—viz., of salvation. |
| Karma | Action, work, the law of action, retribution, results of deeds previously done, and the destiny resulting therefrom. (Paul Carus.) |