=Buddha Transformed into a God.=--It no longer satisfied the Buddhists
to honor their founder as a perfect man; they made him a god, erecting
idols to him, and offering him worship. They adored also the saints,
his disciples; pyramids and shrines were built to preserve their
bones, their teeth, their cloaks. From every quarter the faithful came
to venerate the impression of the foot of Buddha.
=Mechanical Prayer.=--Modern Buddhists regard prayer as a magical
formula which acts of itself. They spend the day reciting prayers as
they walk or eat, often in a language which they do not understand.
They have invented prayer-machines; these are revolving cylinders and
around these are pasted papers on which the prayer is written; every
turn of the cylinder counts for the utterance of the prayer as many
times as it is written on the papers.
=Amelioration of Manners.=--And yet Buddhism remains a religion of
peace and charity. Wherever it reigns, kings refrain from war, and
even from the chase; they establish hospitals, caravansaries, even
asylums for animals. Strangers, even Christian missionaries, are
hospitably received; they permit the women to go out, and to walk
without veiling themselves; they neither fight nor quarrel.
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