Chapter 5
BUDDHISM AND SCIENCE
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 experience?_
A. The Kalama Sutta, of the Anguthara Nikaya.
327. Q. _Do Buddhists accept the theory that everything has been formed out of nothing by a Creator?_
A. The Buddha taught that two things are causeless, _viz._, Akasha, and Nirvana. Everything has come ont of Akasha, in obedience to a law of motion inherent in it, and, after a certain existence, passes away. Nothing ever came out of nothing. We do not believe in miracles; hence we deny creation, and cannot conceive of a creation of something out of nothing. Nothing organic is eternal. Everything is in a state of constant flux, and undergoing change and reformation, keeping up the continuity according to the law of evolution.
328. Q. _Is Buddhism opposed to education, and to the study of science?_
A. Quite the contrary: in the _Sigalowada Sutta_ in a discourse preached by the Buddha, He specified as one of the duties of a teacher that he should give his pupils "instruction in science and lore". The Buddha's higher teachings are for the enlightened, the wise, and the thoughtful.
329. Q. _Can you show any further endorsement of Buddhism by science?_
A. The Buddha's doctrine teaches that there were many progenitors of the human race; also that there is a principle of differentiation among men; certain individuals have a greater capacity for the rapid attainment of Wisdom and arrival at Nirvana than others.
330. Q. _Any other?_
A. Buddhism supports the teaching of the indestructibility of force.
331. Q. _Should Buddhism be called a chart of science or a code of morals?_
A. Properly speaking, a pure moral philosophy, a system of ethics and transcendental metaphysics. It is so eminently practical that the Buddha kept silent when Malunka asked about the origin of things.
332. Q. _Why did he do that?_
A. Because he thought that our chief aim should be to see things as they exist around us and try to make them better, not to waste time in intellectual speculations.
333. Q. _What do Buddhists say is the reason for the occasional birth of very good and wise children of bad parents, and that of very bad ones of good parents?_
A. It is because of the respective Karmas of children and parents; each may have deserved that such unusual relationships should be formed in the present birth.
334. Q. _Is anything said about the body of the Buddha giving out a bright light?_
A. Yes, there was a divine radiance sent forth from within by the power of his holiness.
335. Q. _What is it called in Pali?_
A. Buddharansi, the Buddha rays.
336. Q. _How many colours could be seen in it?_
A. Six, linked in pairs.
337. Q. _Their names?_
A. Nila, Pita, Lohita, Avadata, Mangasta, Prabhasvra.
338. Q. _Did other persons emit such shining light?_
A. Yes, all Arhats did and, in fact, the light shines stronger and brighter in proportion to the spiritual development of the person.
339. Q. _Where do we see these colours represented?_
A. In all viharas where there are painted images of the Buddha. They are also seen in the stripes of the Buddhist Flag, first made in Ceylon but now widely adopted throughout Buddhist countries.
340. Q. _In which discourse does the Buddha himself speak of this shining about him?_
A. In the _Maha-Parinibbana Sutta_, Ananda his favourite disciple, noticing the great splendour which came from his Master's body, the Buddha said that on two occasions this extraordinary shining occurs, (_a_) just after a Tathagata gains the supreme insight, and (_b_) on the night when he passes finally away.
341. Q. _Where do we read of this great brightness being emitted from the body of another Buddha?_
A. In the story of Sumedha and Dipankara Buddha, found in the _Nidanakatha_ of the _Jataka_ book, or story of the reincarnations of the Bodhisattva Siddhartha Gautama.
342. Q. _How is it described?_
A. As a halo of a fathom's depth.
343. Q. _What do the Hindus call it?_
A. _Tejas_; its extended radiance they call Prakasha.
344. Q. _What do Europeans call it now?_
A. The human aura.
345. Q. _What great scientist has proved the existence of this aura by carefully conducted experiments?_
A. The Baron Von Reichenbach. His experiments are fully described in his _Researches_, published in 1844-5. Dr. Baraduc, of Paris, has, quite recently, photographed this light.
346. Q. _Is this bright aura a miracle or a natural phenomenon?_
A. Natural. It has been proved that not only all human beings but animals, trees, plants and even stones have it.
347. Q. _What peculiarity has it in the case of a Buddha or an Arhat?_
A. It is immensely brighter and more extended than in cases of other beings and objects. It is the evidence of their superior development in the power of _Iddhi_. The light has been seen coming from dagobas in Ceylon where relics of the Buddha are said to be enshrined.
348. Q. _Do people of other religions besides Buddhism and Hinduism also believe in this light?_
A. Yes, in all pictures of Christian artists this light is represented as shining about the bodies of their holy personages. The same belief is found to have existed in other religions.
349. Q. _What historical incident supports the modern theory of hypnotic suggestion?_
A. That of Chullapanthaka, as told in the Pali Commentary on the _Dhammapada_, etc.
350. Q. _Give me the facts._
A. He was a bhikkhu who became an Arhat. On that very day the Buddha sent a messenger to call him. When the man reached the Vihara, he saw three hundred bhikkhus in one group, each exactly like the others in every respect. On his asking which was Chullapanthaka, every one of the three hundred figures replied: "I am Chullapanthaka."
351. Q. _What did the messenger do?_
A. In his confusion he returned and reported to the Buddha.
352. Q. _What did the Buddha then tell him?_
A. To return to the vihara and, if the same thing happened, to catch by the arm the _first_ figure who said he was Chullapanthaka and lead him to him. The Buddha knew that the new Arhat would make this display of his acquired power to impress illusionary pictures of himself upon the messenger.
353. Q. _What is this power of illusion called in Pali?_
A. _Manomaya Iddhi_.
354. Q. _Were the illusionary copies of the Arhat's person material? Were they composed of substance and could they have been felt and handled by the messenger?_
A. No; they were pictures impressed by his thought and trained will-power upon the messenger's mind.
355. Q. _To what would you compare them?_
A. To a man's reflection in a mirror, being exactly like him yet without solidity.
356. Q. _To make such an illusion on the messenger's mind, what was necessary?_
A. That Chullapanthaka should clearly conceive in his own mind his exact appearance, and then impress that, with as many duplicates or repetitions as he chose, upon the sensitive brain of the messenger.
357. Q. _What is this process now called?_
A. Hypnotic suggestion.
358. Q. _Could any third party have also seen these illusionary figures?_
A. That would depend on the will of the Arhat or hypnotiser.
359. Q. _What do you mean?_
A. Supposing that fifty or five hundred persons were there, instead of one, the Arhat could will that the illusion should be seen by all alike; or, if he chose, he could will that the messenger should be the only one to see them.
360. Q. _Is this branch of science well known in our day?_
A. Very well known; it is familiar to all students of mesmerism and hypnotism.
361. Q. _In what does our modern scientific belief support the theory of Karma, as taught in Buddhism?_
A. Modern scientists teach that every generation of men is heir to the consequences of the virtues and the vices of the preceding generation, not in the mass, as such, but in every individual case. Every one of us, according to Buddhism, gets a birth which represents the causes generated by him in an antecedent birth. This is the idea of Karma.
362. Q. _What say the Vasettha Sutta about the causation in Nature?_
A. It says: "The world exists by cause; all things exist by cause, all beings are bound by cause."
363. Q. _Does Buddhism teach the unchangeableness of the visible universe; our earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms?_
A. No. It teaches that all are constantly changing, and all must disappear in course of time.
364. Q. _Never to reappear?_
A. Not so: the principle of evolution, guided by Karma, individual and collective, will evolve another universe with its contents, as our universe was evolved out of the Akasha.
365. Q. _Does Buddhism admit that man has in his nature any latent powers for the production of phenomena commonly called "miracles"?_
A. Yes; but they are natural, not supernatural. They may be developed by a certain system which is laid down in our sacred books, the Visuddhi Marga for instance.
366. Q. _What is this branch of science called?_
A. The Pali name is Iddhi-vidhanana.
367. Q. _How many kinds are there?_
A. Two: _Bahira_, _i.e._, one in which the phenomena-working power may be temporarily obtained by ascetic practices and also by resort to drugs, the recitation of _mantras_ (charms), or other extraneous aids; and _Sasaniks_, that in which the power in question is acquired by interior self-development, and covers all and more than the phenomena of _Laukika Iddhi_.
368. Q. _What class of men enjoy these powers?_
A. They gradually develop in one which pursues a certain course of ascetic practice called _Dhyana_.
369. Q. Can this Iddhi power be lost?[1]
A. The _Bahira_ can be lost, but the _Sasanika_ never, when once acquired. _Lokottara_ knowledge once obtained is never lost, and it is by this knowledge _only_ that the absolute condition of Nirvana is known by the Arhat. And this knowledge can be got by following the noble life of the Eightfold Path.
370. Q. _Had Buddha the Lokottara Iddhi?_
A. Yes, in perfection.
371. Q. _And his disciples also had it?_
A. Yes, some but not all equally; the capacity for acquiring these occult powers varies with the individual.
372. Q. _Give examples?_
A. Of all the disciples of the Buddha, Mogallana was possessed of the most extraordinary powers for making phenomena, while Ananda could develop none during the twenty-five years in which he was the personal and intimate disciple of the Buddha himself. Later he did, as the Buddha had foretold he would.
373. Q. _Does a man acquire these powers suddenly or gradually?_
A. Normally, they gradually develop themselves as the disciple progressively gains control over his lower nature in a series of births.[2]
374. Q. _Does Buddhism pretend that the miracle of raising those who are dead is possible?_
A. No. The Buddha teaches the contrary, in that beautiful story of Kisa Gotami and the mustard-seed. But when a person only seems to be dead but is not actually so, resuscitation is possible.
375. Q. _Give me an idea of these successive stages of the Lokottara development in Iddhi?_
A. There are six degrees attainable by Arhats; what is higher than them is to be reached only by a Buddha.
376. Q. _Describe the six stages or degrees?_
A. We may divide them into two groups, of three each. The first to include (1) Progressive retrospection, _viz._, a gradually acquired power to look backward in time towards the origin of things; (2) Progressive foresight, or power of prophecy; (3) Gradual extinction of desires and attachments to material things.
377. Q. _What would the second group include?_
A. The same faculties, but inimitably developed. Thus, the full Arhat possesses perfect retrospection, perfect foresight, and has absolutely extinguished the last trace of desire and selfish attractions.
378. Q. _What are the four means for obtaining Iddhi?_
A. The will, its exertion, mental development, and discrimination between right and wrong.
379. Q. _Our Scriptures relate hundreds of instances of phenomena produced by Arhats: what did you say was the name of this faculty or power?_
A. _Iddhi vidha_. One possessing this can, by manipulating the forces of Nature, produce any wonderful phenomenon, _i.e._, make any scientific experiment he chooses.
380. Q. _Did the Buddha encourage displays of phenomena?_
A. No; he expressly discouraged them as tending to create confusion in the minds of those who were not acquainted with the principles involved. They also tempt their possessors to show them merely to gratify idle curiosity and their own vanity. Moreover, similar phenomena can be shown by magicians and sorcerers learned in the _Laukika_, or the baser form of _Iddhi_ science. All false pretensions to supernatural attainment by monks are among the unpardonable sins (_Tevijja Sutta_).
381. Q. _You spoke of a "deva" having appeared to the Prince Siddhartha under a variety of forms; what do Buddhists believe respecting races of elemental invisible beings having relations with mankind?_
A. They believe that there are such beings who inhabit worlds or spheres of their own. The Buddhist doctrine is that, by interior self-development and conquest over his baser nature, the Arhat becomes superior to even the most formidable of the devas, and may subject and control the lower orders.
382. Q. _How many kinds of devas are there?_
A. Three: _Kamavachara_ (those who are still under the domination of the passions); _Rupavachara_ (a higher class, which still retain an individual form): _Arapavachara_ (the highest in degree of purification, who are devoid of material forms).
383. Q. _Should we fear any of them?_
A. He who is pure and compassionate in heart and of a courageous mind need fear nothing: no man, god, _brahmarakkhas_, demon or deva, can injure him, but some have power to torment the impure, as well as those who invite their approach.
[1] Sumangala Sthavira explains to me that those transcendent powers are permanently possessed only by one who has subdued all the passions (_Klesa_), in other words, an Arhat. The powers may be developed by a bad man and used for doing evil things, but their activity is but brief, the rebellious passions again dominate the sorcerer, and he becomes at last their victim.
[2] When the powers suddenly show themselves, the inference is that the individual had developed himself in the next anterior birth. We do not believe in eccentric breaks in natural law.
APPENDIX
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 them, the Chief Lamas of the great Mongolian Buddhist monasteries declared to him that they accept every one of the propositions as drafted, with the one exception that the date of the Buddha is by them believed to have been some thousands of years earlier than the one given by me. This surprising fact had not hitherto come to my knowledge. Can it be that the Mongolian Sangha confuse the real epoch of Sakya Muni with that of his alleged next predecessor? Be this as it may, it is a most encouraging fact that the whole Buddhistic world may now be said to have united to the extent at least of these Fourteen Propositions.
H. S. O.
FUNDAMENTAL BUDDHISTIC BELIEFS
I Buddhists are taught to show the same tolerance, forbearance, and brotherly love to all men, without distinction; and an unswerving kindness towards the members of the animal kingdom.
II The universe was evolved, not created; and its functions according to law, not according to the caprice of any God.
III The truths upon which Buddhism is founded are natural. They have, we believe, been taught in successive kalpas, or world-periods, by certain illuminated beings called BUDDHAS, the name BUDDHA meaning "Enlightened".
IV The fourth Teacher in the present kalpa was Sakya Muni, or Gautama Buddha, who was born in a Royal family in India about 2,500 years ago. He is an historical personage and his name was Siddhartha Gautama.
V Sakya Muni taught that ignorance produces desire, unsatisfied desire is the cause of rebirth, and rebirth, the cause of sorrow. To get rid of sorrow, therefore, it is necessary to escape rebirth; to escape rebirth, it is necessary to extinguish desire; and to extinguish desire, it is necessary to destroy ignorance.
VI Ignorance fosters the belief that rebirth is a necessary thing. When ignorance is destroyed the worthlessness of every such rebirth, considered as an end in itself, is perceived, as well as the paramount need of adopting a course of life by which the necessity for such repeated rebirths can be abolished. Ignorance also begets the illusive and illogical idea that there is only one existence for man, and the other illusion that this one life is followed by states of unchangeable pleasure or torment.
VII The dispersion of all this ignorance can be attained by the persevering practice of an all-embracing altruism in conduct, development of intelligence, wisdom in thought, and destruction of desire for the lower personal pleasures.
VIII The desire to live being the cause of rebirth, when that is extinguished rebirths cease and the perfected individual attains by meditation that highest state of peace called _Nirvana_.
IX Sakya Muni taught that ignorance can be dispelled and sorrow removed by the knowledge of the four Noble Truths, _viz._:
1. The miseries of existence;
2. The cause productive of misery, which is the desire ever renewed of satisfying oneself without being able ever to secure that end;
3. The destruction of that desire, or the estranging of oneself from it;
4. The means of obtaining this destruction of desire. The means which he pointed out is called the Noble Eightfold Path, _viz._: Right Belief; Right Thought; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Means of Livelihood; Right Exertion; Right Remembrance; Right Meditation.
X Right Meditation leads to spiritual enlightenment, or the development of that Buddha-like faculty which is latent in every man.
XI The essence of Buddhism, as summed up by the Tathagatha (Buddha) himself, as:
To cease from all sin, To get virtue, To purify the heart.
XII The universe is subject to a natural causation known as "Karma". The merits and demerits of a being in past existences determine his condition in the present one. Each man, therefore, has prepared the causes of the effects which he now experiences.
XIII The obstacles to the attainment of good karma may be removed by the observance of the following precepts, which are embraced in the moral code of Buddhism, _viz._: (1) Kill not; (2) Steal not; (3) Indulge in no forbidden sexual pleasure; (4) Lie not; (5) Take no intoxication or stupefying drug or liquor. Five other precepts which need not be here enumerated should be observed by those who would attain, more quickly than the average layman, the release from misery and rebirth.
XIV Buddhism discourages superstitious credulity. Gautama Buddha taught it to be the duty of a parent to have his child educated in science and literature. He also taught that no one should believe what is spoken by any sage, written in any book, or affirmed by tradition, unless it accord with reason.
Drafted as a common platform upon which all Buddhists can agree.
H. S. OLCOTT, P.T.S.
Respectfully submitted for the approval of the High Priests of the nations which we severally represent, in the Buddhist Conference held at Adyar, Madras, on the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of January, 1891 (A.B. 2434).
Japan . . . . . ( Kozen Gunaratana ( Chiezo Tokuzawa Burmah . . . . . U. Hmoay Tha Aung Ceylon . . . . . Dhammapala Hevavitarana. The Maghs of Chittagong . . . Krshna Chandra Chowdry, by his appointed Proxy, Maung Tha Dwe.
BURMAH
Approved on behalf of the Buddhists of Burmah, this 3rd day of February, 1891 (A. B. 2434):
Tha-tha-na-baing Saydawgyi; Aung Myi Shwebon Sayadaw; Me-ga-waddy Sayadaw; Hmat-Khaya Sayadaw; Hti-lin Sayadaw; Myadaung Sayadaw; Hla-Htwe Sayadaw; and sixteen others.
CEYLON
Approved on behalf of the Buddhists of Ceylon this 25th day of February, 1891 (A.B. 2434); Mahannwara upawsatha pusparama viharadhipati Hippola Dhamma Rakkhita Sobhitabhidhana Maha Nayaka Sthavirayan wahanse wamha.
(Hippola Dhamma Rakkhita Sabhitabhidhana, High Priest of the Malwatta Vihare at Kandy).
(Sd.) HIPPOLA.
Mahanuwara Asgiri viharadhipati Yatawatte Chandajottyabhidhana Maha Nayaka Sthavirayan wahanse wamha--(Yatawatte Chandajottyabhidhana, High Priest of Asgiri Tihare at Kandy).
(Sd.) YATAWATTE
Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Sripadasthane saha Kolamba palate pradhana Nayaka Sthavirayo (Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, High Priest of Adam's Peak and the District of Colombo).
(Sd.) H. SUMANGALA
Maligawe Prachina Pustakalayadhyakshaka Suriyagoda Sonuttara Sthavirayo (Suriyagoda Sonuttara, Librarian of the Oriental Library at the Temple of the Tooth Relic at Kandy).
(Sd.) S. SONUTTARA
Sugata Sasanadhaja Vinaya chariya Dhammalankarabhidhana Nayaka Sthavira.
(Sd.) W. DHAMMALANKARA
Pawara neruttika chariya Maha Vibhavi Subhuti of Waskaduwa.
(Sd.) W. SUBHUTI
JAPAN
Accepted as included within the body of Northern Buddhism.
Shaku Genyu (Shingon Shu) Fukuda Nichiyo (Nichiren " ) Sanada Seyko (Zen " ) Ito Quan Shyu ( " " ) Takehana Hakuyo (Jodo " ) Kono Rioshin (Ji-Shu " ) Kiro Ki-ko (Jodo Seizan " ) Harutani Shinsho (Tendai " ) Manabe Shun-myo (Shingon " )
CHITTAGONG
Accepted for the Buddhists of Chittagong.
Nagawa Parvata Vihaaradhipati Guna Megu Wini-Lankara, Harbing, Chittagong, Bengal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Buddhist Catechism has been compiled from personal studies in Ceylon, and in part from the following works:
_Vinaya Texts_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Davids and Oldenberg. _Buddhist Literature in China_ . . . . . . Beal. _Catena of Buddhist Scriptures_ . . . . . Do. _Buddhaghosa's Parables_ . . . . . . . . . Rogers. _Buddhist Birth Stories_ . . . . . . . . . Fausboll and Davids. _Legend of Gautama_ . . . . . . . . . . . Bigandet. _Chinese Buddhism_ . . . . . . . . . . . . Edkins. _Kalpa Sutra and Nava Patva_ . . . . . . . Stevenson. _Buddha and Early Buddhism_ . . . . . . . Lillie. _Sutta Nipata_ . . . . . . . . . . . . Sir Coomara Swami. _Nagananda_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Broyd. _Kusa Jataka_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steele. _Buddhism_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhys-Davids. _Dhammapada_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fausboll and Max Müller. _Romantic History of Buddha_ . . . . . . . Beal. _Udanavarga_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rockhill. _Twelve Japanese Buddhist Sects_ . . . . . B. Nanjio. _The Gospel of Buddha_ . . . . . . . . . . Paul Carus. _The Dharma_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Do. _Ancient India_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. C. Dutt. _The "Sacred Books of the East" Series_ . Max Müller's Edition. _Encyclopaedia Britannica_
Printed by Annie Besant Vasanta Press Adyar Madras
* * * * * * * * *
[Note: the version of this book that follows contains many macron-ized characters, vowels with a horizontal bar above them. The macron indicates that the vowel is pronounced long, e.g. a-macron is pronounced as in "way". Since these characters are Unicode, they cannot be displayed in a Latin1/ISO-8859 file. They have been indicated as in the line below. In the UTF8 version of this file, the actual characters have been used. The HTML file uses entities to display the characters.]
_Nam[=o] Tass[=a] Bhagavat[=o] Arahat[=o] Samm[=a] Sambuddhassa_
THE
BUDDHIST CATECHISM
BY
HENRY S. OLCOTT
PRESIDENT-FOUNDER OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
_Approved and recommended for use in Buddhist schools by H. Sumangala, Pradhana Nayaka Sthavira, High Priest of Sripada and the Western Province and Principal of the Vidyodaya Parivena_
FORTY-FOURTH EDITION. (Corrected)
Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras
LONDON AND BENARES: THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY
1915
DEDICATION
In token of respect and affection I dedicate to my counsellor and friend of many years, Hikkaduwe Sumangala, Pradh[=a]na N[=a]yaka Sthav[=i]ra and High Priest of Adam's Peak (Sripada) and the Western Province, THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM, in its revised form.
H. S. OLCOTT
_Adyar_, 1903.
CONTENTS
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
CERTIFICATE TO THE FIRST EDITION
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 Parivena._
VIDYODAYA COLLEGE,
_April_ 7, 1897.
I have gone over the thirty-third (English) edition of the Catechism, with the help of interpreters, and confirm my recommendation for its use in Buddhist schools.
H. SUMANGALA.
PREFACE
TO THE THIRTY-THIRD EDITION
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 follow out the Dharma in its details. In the present edition a great many new questions and answers have been introduced, while the matter has been grouped within five categories, _viz._: (1) The Life of the Buddha; (2) the Doctrine; (3) the Sangha, or monastic order; (4) a brief history of Buddhism, its Councils and propaganda; (5) some reconciliation of Buddhism with science. This, it is believed, will largely increase the value of the little book, and make it even more suitable for use in Buddhist schools, of which, in Ceylon, over one hundred have already been opened by the Sinhalese people under the general supervision of the Theosophical Society. In preparing this edition I have received valuable help from some of my oldest and best qualified Sinhalese colleagues. The original edition was gone over with me word by word, by that eminent scholar and bhikkhu, H. Sumangala, Pradh[=a]na N[=a]yaka, and the Assistant Principal of his P[=a]l[=i] College at Colombo, Hyeyantuduve Anunayaka Terunnanse; and the High Priest has also kindly scrutinised the present revision and given me invaluable points to embody. It has the merit, therefore, of being a fair presentation of the Buddhism of the "Southern Church," chiefly derived from first-hand sources. The Catechism has been published in twenty languages, mainly by Buddhists, for Buddhists.
H. S. O.
ADYAR, 17_th May_, 1897.
PREFACE
TO THE THIRTY-SIXTH EDITION
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 read what so ripe a scholar as Mr. G. R. S. Mead, author of _Fragments of of a Faith Forgotten_, _Pistis Sophia_, and many other works on Christian origins, thinks of the value of the compilation. He writes in the _Theosophical Review_: "It has been translated into no less than twenty different languages, and may be said without the faintest risk of contradiction, to have been the busiest instrument of Buddhist propaganda for many a day in the annals of that long somnolent dharma. The least that learned Buddhists of Ceylon can do to repay the debt of gratitude they owe to Colonel Olcott and other members of the Theosophical Society who have worked for them, is to bestir themselves to throw some light on their own origins and doctrines."
I am afraid we shall have to wait long for this help to come from the Buddhist bhikkhus, almost the only learned men of Ceylon; at least I have not been able during an intimate intercourse of twenty-two years, to arouse their zeal. It has always seemed to me incongruous that an American, making no claims at all to scholarship, should be looked to by the Sinhalese to help them teach the dharma to their children; and as I believe I have said in an earlier edition, I only consented to write THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM after I had found that no bhikkhu would undertake it. Whatever its demerits, I can at least say that the work contains the essence of some 15,000 pages of Buddhist teaching that I have read in connexion with my work.
H. S. O.
ADYAR, 7_th February_, 1903.
PREFACE
TO THE FORTIETH EDITION
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 religion, are useless in a rational scheme of elementary instruction.
The new Sinhalese version (38th edition) which is being prepared by my respected friend, D. B. Jayatilaka, Principal of [=A]nanda (Buddhist) College, Colombo, is partly printed, but cannot be completed until he is relieved of some of the pressure upon his time. The Tamil version (41st edition) has been undertaken by the leaders of the Pañchama community of Madras, and will shortly issue from the press. The Spanish version (39th edition) is in the hands of my friend, Señor Xifré, and the French one (37th edition) in those of Commandant Courmes.
So the work goes on, and by this unpretending agency the teachings of the Buddha Dharma are being carried throughout the world.
H. S. O.
ADYAR, 7_th January_, 1905.
PREFACE
TO THE FORTY-SECOND EDITION
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.
ADYAR, ) 17_th February_, 1908. ) ANNIE BESANT
THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM