In its transfer to distant lands and its developments throughout Eastern
Asia, the faith which had originated in India suffered many changes.
Dividing into two great branches, it became a notably different religion
according as it moved along the southern, the northern, or the eastern
channel. By the vehicle of the Pali language it was carried to Ceylon,
Siam, Burma, Cambodia and the islands of the south; that is, to southern
or peninsular and insular Asia. Here there is little evidence of any
striking departure from the doctrines of the Pali Pitakas; and, as
Southern Buddhism does not greatly concern us in speaking of the
religions of Japan, we may pass it by. For although the books and
writings belonging to Southern Buddhism, and comprehended under the
formula of the Hinayana or Smaller Vehicle, have been studied in China,
Korea and Japan, yet they have had comparatively little influence upon
doctrinal, ritualistic, or missionary development in Chinese Asia.
Astonishingly different has been the case with the Northern Buddhisms
which are those of Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, Manchuria, China, Korea and
Japan. As luxuriant as the evolutions of political and dogmatic
Christianity and as radical in their departures from the primitive
simplicity of the faith, have been these forms of Buddhist doctrine,
ritual and organization.
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