CURRENT LITERATURE.
Buddhism in its Connection with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in its Contrast "with Christianity. By Sir Monier Monier-Williams, K.C.I.E. (J. Murray.)—In this volume we have a careful but somewhat disjointed account of that curious ethico-philo- sophical excursus of Brahmanism that after the death of the Buddha Gautama developed into the religious system that bears his name. The importance of Buddhism has been as much ex- aggerated as the number of its adherents, which an authority on the subject reckons at 450 millions. Sir M. Monier-Williams shows that the highest probable number does not exceed 100 millions, and even that we believe to be in excess of the truth. In China and Japan, the majority of the so-called Buddhists are really Amidists, and Buddhists and Amidists together are, for the most part, more or less Confucianists or Taouists in China, and Confucianists or Shintoists in Japan as well ; while in Mongolia, Buddhism has become a mere shadow of its former self, being largely infected by Shamanism. Even in Siam and South-Eastern Asia, Buddhism has been practically lost in its Pantheon. In Japan. the Amidists show some activity, and in the West a fanciful sort of Buddhism has seized hold of some minds in a manner which is one of the wonders of the century. Of the early history of Buddhism very little is really known. The Tripitaka which contains it cannot have been in existence earlier than a century and a half after the death of Buddha, and of the Tripitaka itself we have none but late rifaceimenti. We may admit that Gautama was a real personage, who actually existed some time before the holding of Asoka's Council in B.C. 250. But of Gautama's personal history only a few traits can be received as even natural, while the mere naturalness of events proves no more than the possibility of their having occurred. What have always seemed to us to be among the most probable of the many stories that the vast literature of Buddhism contains concerning the doings of Gautam.9, are the legend of his behaviour when he met his wife, Yasadhara, after seven years' absence—("The Princess is not clean from longings as I am." he said, "but she is full of grief, and if her grief has not its course, her heart will break, and therefore she , may embrace me ")—and that of the manner of his death, which was caused by a surfeit of pork and rice. In a previous work Sir M. Monier-Williams has already given a valuable account of the relations of Buddhism to Hinduism, and shown how very much closer they are than has been usually supposed ; in the present, he deals with the same theme, but, in addition, draws comparisons
between Buddhism and Christianity which, though just enough, strike us as being of a somewhat superficial character. The fundamental difference between the two systems is the simple one that Christianity is divine in its basis, and that Buddhism is not. It is not only that Buddhism is agnostic in its refusal to look beyond its cosmos ; it is truly atheistic, because it teaches man to rule his conduct absolutely without respect to any power beyond himself. It is, moreover, absolutely pessimistic in that it regards even bare existence as an evil. Buddhism is, in fact, one long indictment against Nature. Its four fundamental truths are that existence is wholly evil, that existence comes from desire, that desire must be destroyed, and that to destroy it we must tread the path that leads to nirvana, which is non-existence rather than nothingness, not-ness of all phenomenal existence; with real existence Gautama did not concern himself. The result is that all activity of man is bad, and the only good of ourselves or others is (phenomenal) annihilation. Hence the beauty of Buddhist ethics is much more apparent than real. Christianity bids us lead a righteous and noble life, because by doing so we carry out the will of God ; but so far as Buddhism bids us act likewise, it is merely to get rid of the bonds of all existence, whether above or below Mount Meru, in the highest heaven or in the lowest hell. In a word, according to the doctrine of the son of Suddhodana, by sin we live; the doctrine of Christ warns us that by sin we die.
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