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- Preface v
- Postscript on the common error in regard to the comparative prevalence of Buddhism in the world xiv
- List of Illustrations xxix
- Rules for Pronunciation xxxi
- Pronunciation of Buddha, etc. Addenda and Corrigenda xxxii
- LECTURE I.
Introductory Observations. - Buddhism in its relation to Br?hmanism. Various sects in Br?hmanism. Creed of the ordinary Hind?. Rise of scepticism and infidelity. Materialistic school of thought. Origin of Buddhism and Jainism. Manysidedness of Buddhism. Its complexity. Labours of various scholars. Divisions of the subject. The Buddha, his Law, his Order of Monks. Northern Buddhism 1-17
- LECTURE II.
The Buddha as a Personal Teacher. - The Buddha’s biography. Date of his birth and death. His names, epithets, and titles. Story of the four visions. Birth of the Buddha’s son. The Buddha leaves his home. His life at R?ja-g?iha. His study of Br?hmanical philosophy. His sexennial fast. His temptation by M?ra. He attains perfect enlightenment. The Bodhi-tree. Buddha and Muhammad compared. The Buddha’s proceedings after his enlightenment. His first teaching at Benares. First sermon. Effect of first teaching. His first sixty missionaries. His fire-sermon. His eighty great disciples. His two chief and sixteen leading disciples. His forty-five years of preaching and itineration. His death and last words. Character of the Buddha’s teaching. His method illustrated by an epitome of one of his parables 18-52
- LECTURE III.
The Dharma or Law and Scriptures of Buddhism. - Origin of the Buddhist Law (Dharma). Buddhist scriptures not like the Veda. First council at R?ja-g?iha. K??yapa chosen as leader. Recitation of the Buddha’s precepts. Second council at Vai??l?. ?andra-gupta. Third council at Patn?. Composition of southern canon. Tri-pi?aka or three collections. Rules of discipline, moral precepts, philosophical precepts. Commentaries. Buddha-ghosha. A?oka’s inscriptions. His edicts and proclamations. Fourth council at J?landhara. Kanishka. The northern canon. The nine Nep?lese canonical scriptures. The Tibetan canonical scriptures (Kanjur) 53-70
- LECTURE IV.
The Sa?gha or Buddhist Order of Monks. - Nature of the Buddhist brotherhood. Not a priesthood, not a hierarchy. Names given to the monks. Method of admission to the monkhood. Admission of novices. Three-refuge formula. Admission of full monks. Four resources. Four prohibitions. Offences and penances. Eight practices. The monk’s daily life. His three garments. Confession. Definition of the Sa?gha or community of monks. Order of Nuns. Lay-brothers and lay-sisters. Relation of the laity to the monkhood. Duties of the laity. Later hierarchical Buddhism. Character of monks of the present day in various countries 71-92
- LECTURE V.
The Philosophical Doctrines of Buddhism. - The philosophy of Buddhism founded on that of Br?hmanism. Three ways of salvation in Br?hmanism. The Buddha’s one way of salvation. All life is misery. Indian pessimistic philosophy. Twelve-linked chain of causation. Celebrated Buddhist formula. The Buddha’s attitude towards the S??khya and Ved?nta philosophy of the Br?hmans. The Buddha’s negation of spirit and of a Supreme Being. Br?hmanical theory of metempsychosis. The Buddhist Skandhas. The Buddhist theory of transmigration. Only six forms of existence. The Buddha’s previous births. Examples given of stories of two of his previous births. Destiny of man dependent on his own acts. Re-creative force of acts. Act-force creating worlds. No knowledge of the first act. Cycles of the Universe. Interminable succession of existences like rotation of a wheel. Buddhist Kalpas or ages. Thirty-one abodes of six classes of beings rising one above the other in successive tiers of lower worlds and three sets of heavens 93-122
- LECTURE VI.
The Morality of Buddhism and its chief aim—Arhatship or Nirv??a. - Inconsistency of a life of morality in Buddhism. Division of the moral code. First five and then ten chief rules of moral conduct. Positive injunctions. The ten fetters binding a man to existence. Seven jewels of the Law. Six (or ten) transcendent virtues. Examples of moral precepts from the Dharma-pada and other works. Moral merit easily acquired. Aim of Buddhist morality. External and internal morality. Inner condition of heart. Four paths or stages leading to Arhatship or moral perfection. Three grades of Arhats. Series of Buddhas. Gautama the fourth Buddha of the present age, and last of twenty-five Buddhas. The future Buddha. Explanation of Nirv??a and Pari-nirv??a as the true aim of Buddhist morality. Buddhist and Christian morality contrasted 123-146
- LECTURE VII.
Changes in Buddhism and its disappearance from India. - Tendency of all religious movements to deterioration and disintegration. The corruptions of Buddhism are the result of its own fundamental doctrines. Re-statement of Buddha’s early teaching. Recoil to the opposite extreme. Sects and divisions in Buddhism. The first four principal sects, followed by eighteen, thirty-two, and ninety-six. Mah?-y?na or Great Method (vehicle). H?na-y?na or Little Method. The Chinese Buddhist travellers, F?-hien and Hiouen Thsang. Reasons for the disappearance of Buddhism from India. Gradual amalgamation with surrounding systems. Interaction between Buddhism, Vaish?avism, and ?aivism. Ultimate merging of Buddhism in Br?hmanism and Hind?ism 147-171
- LECTURE VIII.
Rise of Theistic and Polytheistic Buddhism. - Development of the Mah?-y?na or Great Method. Gradual deification of saints, sages, and great men. Tendency to group in triads. First triad of the Buddha, the Law, and the Order. Buddhist triad no trinity. The Buddha to be succeeded by Maitreya. Maitreya’s heaven longed for. Constitution and gradations of the Buddhist brotherhood. Headship and government of the Buddhist monasteries. The first Arhats. Progress of the Mah?-y?na doctrine. The first Bodhi-sattva Maitreya associated with numerous other Bodhi-sattvas. Deification of Maitreya and elevation of Gautama’s great pupils to Bodhi-sattvaship. Partial deification of great teachers. N?g?rjuna, Gorakh-n?th. Barlaam and Josaphat 172-194
- LECTURE IX.
OBSERVE.The prevalent error in regard to the number of Buddhists at present existing in the world is pointed out in the Postscript at the end of the Preface (p. xiv).
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