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Buddhism has been called the light of Asia, and Gautama its illuminator;
but certainly the light has not been pure, nor the products of its
illumination wholesome. Pardon an illustration. In Christian churches
and cathedrals of Europe, there is still a great prejudice against the
use of pipes, and of gas made from coal, because of the machinery and of
the impure emanations. The prejudice is a wholesome one; for we all know
that most of the elements forming common illuminating gas are worthless
except to convey the very small amount of light-giving material, and
that these elements in combustion vitiate the air and give off
deleterious products which corrode, tarnish and destroy. Now though
Buddhist doctrine may have been the light of India, yet to reach the
Northern and Eastern nations of Asia it had, apparently, to be
adulterated for conveyance, as much as is the illuminating gas in our
cities. From the first, Northern Buddhism showed a wonderful affinity,
not only for Brahministic superstitions and speculations, but for almost
everything else with which it came in contact in countries beyond India.
Instead of combating, it absorbed. It adapted itself to circumstances,
and finding certain beliefs prevalent among the people, it imbibed them,
and thus gained by accretion until its bulk, both of beliefs and of
disciples, was in the inverse ratio of its purity.
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