In token of respect and affection I dedicate to my counsellor and friend of many years, Hikkaduwe Sumangala, Pradhāna Nāyaka Sthavīra and High Priest of Adam's Peak (Sripada) and the Western Province, THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM, in its revised form. H. S. OLCOTT Adyar , 1903. THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA THE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE THE SANGHA THE RISE AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM BUDDHISM AND SCIENCE APPENDIX —The Fourteen Propositions accepted by the Northern and Southern Buddhists as a Platform of Unity...

VIDYODAYA COLLEGE, Colombo , 7 th July , 1881. I hereby certify that I have carefully examined the Sinhalese version of the Catechism prepared by Colonel H. S. Olcott, and that the same is in agreement with the Canon of the Southern Buddhist Church. I recommend the work to teachers in Buddhist schools, mid to all others who may wish to impart information to beginners about the essential features of our religion. H. SUMANGALA, High Priest of Sripada and Galle, and Principal of the Vidyodaya Pariv

In the working out of my original plan, I have added more questions and answers in the text of each new English edition of the Catechism, leaving it to its translators to render them into whichever of the other vernaculars they may be working in. The unpretending aim in view is to give so succinct and yet comprehensive a digest of Buddhistic history, ethics and philosophy as to enable beginners to understand and appreciate the noble ideal taught by the Buddha, and thus make it easier for them to

The popularity of this little work seems undiminished, edition after edition being called for. While the present one was in the press a second German edition, re-translated by the learned Dr. Erich Bischoff, was published at Leipzig, by the Griebens Co., and a third translation into French, by my old friend and colleague, Commandant D. A. Courmes, was being got ready at Paris. A fresh version in Sinhalese is also preparing at Colombo. It is very gratifying to a declared Buddhist like myself to r

The popularity of this little work is proved by the constant demand for new editions, in English and other languages. In looking over the matter for the present edition, I have found very little to change or to add, for the work seems to present a very fair idea of the contents of Southern Buddhism; and, as my object is never to write an extended essay on the subject, I resist the temptation to wander off into amplifications of details which, however interesting to the student of comparative rel

The writer of this Catechism has passed away from earth, but, before he left the body, he had arranged with the High Priest Sumangala to make some small corrections in the text. These are incorporated in the present edition by the High Priest's wish, expressed to me in Colombo, in November 1907. I have not altered the numbering of the questions, as it might cause confusion in a class to change the numbers, if some pupils had the older editions and some the new....

1. Question. Of what religion[ 1 ] are you? Answer. The Buddhist. 2. Q. What is Buddhism? A. It is a body of teachings given out by the great personage known as the Buddha. 3. Q. Is "Buddhism" the best name for this teaching? A. No; that is only a western term: the best name for it is Bauddha Dharma. 4. Q. Would you call a person a Buddhist who had merely been born of Buddha parents? A. Certainly not. A Buddhist is one who not only professes belief in the Buddha as the noblest of Teachers, in th

106. Q. What is the meaning of the word Buddha? A. The enlightened, or he who has the perfect wisdom. 107. Q. You have said that there were other Buddhas before this one? A. Yes; our belief is that, under the operation of eternal causation, a Buddha takes birth at intervals, when mankind have become plunged into misery through ignorance, and need the wisdom which it is the function of a Buddha to teach. (See also Q. 11.) 108. Q. How is a Buddha developed? A. A person, hearing and seeing one of t

256. Q. How do Buddhist Bhikkhus differ from the priests of other religions? A. In other religions the priests claim to be intercessors between men and God, to help to obtain pardon of sins; the Buddhist Bhikkhus do not acknowledge or expect anything from a divine power. 257. Q. But why then was it worth while to create this Order, or Brotherhood, or Society, apart from the whole body of the people, if they were not to do what other religious orders do? A. The object in view was to cause the mos

279. Q. As regards the number its followers, how does Buddhism at this date compare with the other chief religions? A. The followers of the Buddha Dharma outnumber those of every other religion. 280. Q. What is the estimated number? A. About five hundred millions (5,000 lakhs or 500 crores): this is five-thirteenths, or not quite half, of the estimated population of the globe. 281. Q. Have many great battles been fought and many countries conquered; has much human blood been spilt to spread the

325. Q. Has Buddhism any right to be considered a scientific religion, or may it be classified as a "revealed" one? A. Most emphatically it is not a revealed religion. The Buddha did not so preach, nor is it so understood. On the contrary, he gave it out as the statement of eternal truths, which his predecessors had taught like himself. 326. Q. Repeat again the name of the Sutta, in which the Buddha tells us not to believe in an alleged revelation without testing it by one's reason and experienc

The following text of the fourteen items of belief which have been accepted as fundamental principles in both the Southern and Northern sections of Buddhism, by authoritative committees to whom they were submitted by me personally, have so much historical importance that they are added to the present edition of THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM as an Appendix. It has very recently been reported to me by H. E. Prince Ouchtomsky, the learned Russian Orientalist, that having had the document translated to the

The Buddhist Catechism has been compiled from personal studies in Ceylon, and in part from the following works:...