Buddhism and the Light of Asia
153 ORDINARY MEETING.* T. CHAPLlN, EsQ., M:.D., IN THE CHAIR. The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and contlrmed, and the" following Elections were announced :- AssoOIATES :--J. Calell Jackson, Esq., M.D., United States; Rev. J. H. Parry, B.A., B!lrma; Rev. W. M. Teape, B.A.., Durham; Rev. S. M. Zwemer, M.A.., Arabia. The following paper was then read by the author :-- B UDDHIS.M, AND " THE LIGHT OF ASIA.''t By the Rev. R. COLLINS, M.A. N what sense, and how far, can Buddha be call':ld "the I Light of Asia" 1 In putting the question thue, ! am hy no means wishing to suggest that I am embarking on an attempt to prove that the teaching of Buddha was all dark• ness. That cerhinly is not my conviction: how conld it be so in the face of many of the moral tenets that are to be read in the Buddhist books, as, for instance, that "the man -who has sinful friends, unwise associates, and frequents the com pany of those who follow evil practices, will come to de struction, both in this world, and in the next "; that " it is right that children should respect their parents, and peiform all kinds of offices for them " ; and that they are even '' to wash the feet and hands of their parents, thinking how they themselves were washed wheu they were yonng." Such are truly moral and noble precepts. But I demur at what mani festly tends to reprei.ent .Buddha as " the Light of Asia" in regions beyond those to which his influence really belonged.
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