Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 1. Charles Eliot
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Mr Bradley
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But also sometimes
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Even when low class yogis display the tortures which they inflict on their bodies, their object I think is not to show what penances they undergo but simply that pleasure and pain are alike to them.
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The sense of human dignity was strongest among the early Buddhists. They (or some sects of them) held that an arhat is superior to a god (or as we should say to an angel) and that a god cannot enter the path of salvation and become an arhat.
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Cf. Bosanquet,
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The Chinese critic Hsieh Ho who lived in the sixth century of our era said: "In Art the terms ancient and modern have no place." This is exactly the Indian view of religion.
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And in Russia there are sects which prescribe castration and suicide.
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This, of course, does not apply to Buddhism in China, Japan and Tibet.
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This is not true of the more modern Upanishads which are often short treatises specially written to extol a particular deity or doctrine.
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Mahâparinibbâna sutta. See the table of parallel passages prefixed to Rhys Davids's translation,
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Much the same is true of the various editions of the Vinaya and the Mahâvastu. These texts were produced by a process first of collection and then of amplification.
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The latter part of Mahâbhârata XII.
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Though European religions emphasize man's duty to God, they do not exclude the pursuit of happiness: e.g. Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647). Question 1, "What is the chief end of man?
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Mrs Rhys Davids has brought out the importance of the will for Buddhist ethics in several works. See
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The words are kâmacâra and akâmacâra. Chand. Up. 8. 1-6.
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Mahâvag. I. 6.
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But all general statements about Hinduism are liable to exceptions. The evil spirit Duḥsaha described in the Mârkandeya Purâna (chaps. L and LI) comes very near the Devil.
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I can understand that the immediate reality is a duality or plurality and that the one spirit may appear in many shapes.
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The Śatapatha Brâhmana has a curious legend (XI. 1. 6. 8 ff.) in which the Creator admits that he made evil spirits by mistake and smites them. In the Kârikâ of Gauḍapâda, 2. 19 it is actually said: Mayaishâ tasya devasya yayâ sammohitaḥ svayam.
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He does not say this expressly and it requires careful statement in India where it is held strongly that God being perfect cannot add to his bliss or perfection by creating anything. Compare Dante,
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The history of Japan and Tibet offers some exceptions.
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There are some exceptions,
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But there are other kinds of worship, such as the old Vedic sacrifices which are still occasionally performed, and the burnt offerings (homa) still made in some temples. There are also tantric ceremonies and in Assam the public worship of the Vishnuites has probably been influenced by the ritual of Lamas in neighbouring Buddhist countries.
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This position is of great importance as tending to produce a similar arrangement of religious paraphernalia. The similarity disappears when Buddhist ceremonies are performed round Stûpas out of doors.
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As explained elsewhere, I draw a distinction between Tantrism and Śâktism.
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It does not seem to me to have given much inspiration to Rossetti in his
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But in justice to the Tantras it should be mentioned that the Mahâ-nirvâṇa Tantra, x. 79, prohibits the burning of widows.
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See
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According to the census of 1911 no less than 72 per cent. of the population live by agriculture.
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The chief exceptions are: (
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See for instance Huxley's striking definition of Buddhism in his