[Budastis], an ancient town in Lower Egypt, where festivals in honour of Bacchus used to be held every year.
[Buddha, Gautama], or Sakya-muni, the founder of Buddhism about the 5th century B.C., born a Hindu, of an intensely contemplative nature, the son of a king, who did everything in his power to tempt him from a religious life, from which, however, in his contemplation of the vanity of existence, nothing could detain him; retired into solitude at the age of 30, as Sakyamuni, i. e. solitary of the Sakyas, his tribe; consulted religious books, could get no good out of them, till, by-and-by, he abstracted himself more and more from everything external, when at the end of ten years, as he sat brooding under the Bo-tree alone with the universe, soul with soul, the light of truth rose full-orbed upon him, and he called himself henceforth and gave himself out as Buddha, i. e. the Enlightened; now he said to himself, "I know it all," as Mahomet in his way did after him, and became a preacher to others of what had proved salvation to himself, which he continued to do for 40 years, leaving behind him disciples, who went forth without sword, like Christ's, to preach what they, like Christ's, believed was a gospel to every creature.
[Buddhism], the religion of Buddha, a religion which, eschewing all speculation about God and the universe, set itself solely to the work of salvation, the end of which was the merging of the individual in the unity of being, and the "way" to which was the mortification of all private passion and desire which mortification, when finished, was the Buddhist Nirvâna. This is the primary doctrine of the Buddhist faith, which erelong became a formality, as all faiths of the kind, or of this high order, ever tend to do. Buddha is not answerable for this, but his followers, who in three successive councils resolved it into a system of formulæ, which Buddha, knowing belike how the letter killeth and only the spirit giveth life, never attempted to do. Buddha wrote none himself, but in some 300 years after his death his teachings assumed a canonical form, under the name of Tripitaka, or triple basket, as it is called. Buddhism from the first was a proselytising religion; it at one time overran the whole of India, and though it is now in small favour there, it is, in such form as it has assumed, often a highly beggarly one, understood to be the religion of 340 millions of the human race.
[Bude-light], a very brilliant light produced by introducing oxygen into the centre of an Argand burner, so called from the place of the inventor's abode.
[Budweis] (28), a Bohemian trading town on the Moldau, 133 m. NW. of Vienna.
[Buenos Ayres] (543), capital of the Argentine Republic, stands on the right bank of the broad but shallow river Plate, 150 m. from the Atlantic; it is a progressing city, improving in appearance, with a cathedral, several Protestant churches, a university and military school, libraries and hospitals; printing, cigar-making, cloth and boot manufacture are the leading industries; it is the principal Argentine port, and the centre of export and import trade; the climate does not correspond with the name it bears; a great deal of the foreign trade is conducted through Monte Video, but it monopolises all the inland trade.
[Buffalo] (256), a city of New York State, at the E. end of Lake Erie, 300 m. due NW. of New York; is a well-built, handsome, and healthy city; the railways and the Erie Canal are channels of extensive commerce in grain, cattle, and coal; while immense iron-works, tanneries, breweries, and flour-mills represent the industries; electric power for lighting, traction, &c., is supplied from Niagara.
[Buffon, George Louis Leclerc, Comte de], a great French naturalist, born at Montbard, in Burgundy; his father one of the noblesse de robe; studied law at Dijon; spent some time in England, studying the English language; devoted from early years to science, though more to the display of it, and to natural science for life on being appointed intendant of the Jardin du Roi; assisted, and more than assisted, by Daubenton and others, produced 15 vols. of his world-famous "Histoire Naturelle" between the years 1749 and 1767. The saying "Style is the man" is ascribed to him, and he has been measured by some according to his own standard. Neither his style nor his science is rated of any high value now: "Buffon was as pompous and inflated as his style" (1707-1780).
[Bugeaud, Thomas], marshal of France, born at Limoges; served under Napoleon; retired from service till 1830; served under Louis Philippe; contributed to the conquest of Algiers; was made governor, and created duke for his victory over the forces of the emperor of Morocco at the battle of Isly in 1844; his motto was Ense et aratro, "By sword and plough" (1784-1849).
[Bugenhagen, Johann], a German Reformer, a convert of Luther's and coadjutor; helpful to the cause as an organiser of churches and schools (1485-1558).