There are many books on Buddhism, and to produce a new one almost demands an apology. Yet most of them deal with the dead past, and Buddhism is a living religion which is showing remarkable powers of revival and adaptation. This is a movement of so great significance that I hope this small volume may prove of value, not only to missionaries but to all sympathetic students of a religion which has played an immense part in the world's history, and which is still a dominant influence in the lives o

1. At the great Pagoda in Rangoon. Let us visit the great Shwe Dagon pagoda in Rangoon, one of the living centres of the Buddhist world, where amidst a splendid grove of palms and forest trees the golden spire rises high above a vast platform crowded with shrines and images of the Buddha. Far below is the teeming city bathed in golden light, and humming with life; here all is still save for the rustle of leaves and the tinkling of innumerable bells upon the great pagoda pinnacle, and the shoutin

1. On a Hillside near Kandy. Over against this sketch of Buddhism as it appears in Burma let us consider a scene in a neighbouring land, the island of Ceylon, where for twenty-five hundred years, the religion of the yellow robe has held almost undisputed sway. Here it has a supreme opportunity, and has often used it nobly, building a great civilisation for a thousand years. It is early spring. The rains are over, and in the brilliant moonlight, the Singhalese peasants have gathered from their li

1. Siam a Buddhist Kingdom. Ceylon and Burma were for many centuries Buddhist kingdoms with a sovereign as patron and supporter of the monks and very often with members of the royal family amongst the great abbots. Buddhism has indeed depended much upon royal patronage, and in these days when kings are rare it is of special interest to get a glimpse of a modern Buddhist kingdom which is not unlike those of the past. Let us study a great festival in Siam where the king's own brother is Head of th

Buddhism stands in a different relation to Christianity from any other world religion, because it has unquestionably done for Eastern peoples something of the intellectual, moral, and spiritual service which Christianity has done for Europe and America. Moreover, it is showing a strange power of revival. It also seems to make a real appeal to certain types of mind in the West. Little groups of Westerners in Burma and in Ceylon, the former Scotch, the latter German, have for some years been promo

I have tried to show both the good and the bad sides of Buddhism in Southern Asia: and have laid emphasis upon those characteristics which demonstrate its continuing power. Southern Buddhists, however, need earnest and sympathetic missionaries, with a gospel of abounding life, of a Father God, and of communion with Him in Christ. Let all who contemplate this great service note the following points. 1. Modern Buddhism differs from the Theoretical Buddhism of Gotama. There is a marked difference b

From the Buddhism of Southern Asia to that of China and Japan is a far cry. It must be remembered that the monastic Buddhism, in which the Arhat seeking his own salvation is the ideal, gradually gave place before Buddhism left India and entered Eastern Asia to the Mahāyāna , or Great Vessel, in which the Bodhisattva , or compassionate servant of humanity, became the ideal. Other important changes also took place in the religion of Gotama during the five or six centuries after his death. In the f

The followers of this meditative school are to be found throughout the monasteries of China and Korea where they are known as the Chan sect; but here more than in Japan their quietism is mingled with the devotion to Amitābha or Omito-Fo, and though in many places such as the exquisite island of Putoshan they are faithful in the practice of meditation, they seem to have carried it to a far less perfect pitch than the more scholarly followers of the Japanese school. A Chinese Temple. Let us get a

In the year 1881 Dr. Rhys Davids said, "There is not the slightest danger of any European ever entering the Buddhist Order."[18] Yet a recent writer was told by a Buddhist in Ceylon that his religion was making its converts "chiefly amongst the Tamils and Germans," and in each of the Buddhist countries there is to-day a small but active group of converts from the European nations to Buddhism. It would be difficult to say whether these groups are the product or the cause of the undoubted revival

The Christian missionary in Buddhist lands is faced with a task of infinite fascination. He is dealing, in the first place, with remarkable peoples for whom their religion has done much of the great service which Christianity has done for him and his people. He will find everywhere traces of a mighty Buddhist civilisation, and in many places, if he has the eye to see, proofs that this venerable religion is still alive and is reforming itself to meet the needs of the modern world. In the second p

The following course of reading—drawn up for Secretaries of the Y.M.C.A. in the East by Dr. J. N. Farquhar and the writer—is recommended to those whose leisure is scant: First Year . General: Rhys Davids, Buddhism, Life and Teachings of Gautama, the Buddha (London: S.P.C.K. 3s. 6d.); V. Smith, Asoka (Oxford: Clarendon Press. 4s. New edition, 1920). Special: The Dhammapada . Sacred Books of the East, vol. x (out of print); The Mahaparinibbana . S.B.E., vol. xi (12s. 6d. See Introduction). Additio

For those who desire further and more detailed study the following suggestions, based upon Professor Hume's course at Union Theological Seminary and the present writer's at the Pacific School of Religion, are likely to prove helpful: A. The Life of the Buddha . Rhys Davids, Buddhism, Life and Teachings of Gautama, the Buddha , chaps. ii, iii, vii (see I, First Year); Kern, Manual of Indian Buddhism , part ii (London: Probsthain. 15s.); Oldenberg, Buddha , part i (see Introduction); Warren, Buddh

For still more detailed work see the excellent booklets prepared by the Board of Missionary Preparation, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, The Preparation of Missionaries to Buddhist Lands and Buddhism and Buddhists in China —both in the press....