[111] Supra, [i. 550 sq.]
[112] Supra, [i. 578 sq.]
[114] Barth, op. cit. p. 49. See, e.g., Âpastamba, i. 7. 20. 1 sqq.; i. 8. 23. 6.
[115] Barth, op. cit. pp. 77, 78, 115 sq. Müller, Anthropological Religion, p. 301. Dhammapada, i. 1 sq. Rhys Davids, Hibbert Lectures on the History of Buddhism, p. 85. Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 289. Hopkins, op. cit. p. 319 sq.
Buddha did not base his system on any belief in gods, hence there is no place in it for a ritual nor for sin in the sense of offending a supernatural being. He that is pure in heart is the true priest, not he that knows the Vedas; the Vedas are nothing, the priests are of no account, save as they be morally of repute.[116] If the genuine Buddhist can be said to worship any higher power, it is the moral order which never fails to assert itself in the law of cause and effect. But Buddha’s followers were less metaphysical, and “the clouds returned after the rain.” The old gods of Brahmanism came back, Buddha himself was deified as an omniscient and everlasting god, and Buddhism incorporated most of the local deities and demons of those nations it sought to convert.[117] From being originally a metaphysical and ethical doctrine, it was thus transformed into a religion full of ritualism, and, it should be added, profusely mixed with magic. In Lamaism, especially, ritual is elevated to the front rank of importance; we find there pompous services closely resembling those of the Church of Rome, litanies and chants, offerings and sacrifice.[118] And the muttering of certain mystic formulas and short prayers is alleged to be far more efficacious than mere moral virtue as a means of gaining the glorious heaven of eternal bliss, the paradise of the fabulous Buddha of boundless light.[119] So also in China the teachers of Buddhism “were by no means rigorous in enforcing the obligations of men to morality. To expiate sins, offerings to the idols and to the priests were sufficient. A temple built in honour of Fŏ, and richly endowed, would suffice to blot out every stain of guilt, and serve as a portal to the blessed mansions of Buddha.”[120]
[116] Hopkins, op. cit. p. 319.
[117] Waddell, Buddhism in Tibet, pp. 126, 325 sq. Griffis, Religions of Japan, pp. 187, 207. Davis, China, ii. 51.