In a word, Buddhism knows nothing of
sacred documents or a canon of scripture contemporary with its first
disciples.
The splendid Buddhist age of India lasted nearly a thousand years, and
was one of superb triumphs in civilization. It was an age of spiritual
emancipation, of freedom from idol worship, of nobler humanity and of
peace.[12] It was followed by the Puranic epoch and the dark ages. Then
Buddhism was, as some say, "driven out" from the land of its birth,
finding new expansion in Eastern and Northern Asia, and again, a still
more surprising development in the ultima-Thule of the Asiatic
continent, Japan. There is now no Buddhism in India proper, the faith
being represented only in Ceylon and possibly also on the main land, by
the sect of the Jains, and peradventure in Persia by Babism which
contains elements from three religions.[13] Like Christianity, Buddhism
was "driven out" of its old home to bless other nations of the world. It
is probably far nearer the truth to say that Buddhism was never expelled
from India, but rather that it died by disintegration and relapse.[14]
It had become Brahmanism again. The old gods and the old idol-worship
came back. It is in Japan that the ends of the earth, eastern and
western civilization, and the freest and fullest or at least the latest
developments of Christianity and of Buddhism, have met.
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