Buddhism as a Religion (Its Historical Development and Its Present Conditions)

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THERE seems to be no need of books on Buddhism, yet, though the literature on this subject is indeed immense, a serious gap remains to be filled. In vain one looks about for a book which represents Buddhism as a present-day religion, comprising all the countries under its sway. The writers on Buddhism either deal chiefly with the Buddha himself and with the old Indian Buddhism (as Oldenberg and Rhys Davids), or they put before us the Buddhism of one single country-Ceylon, or Burma, or Tibet, or China (as Spence Hardy, Bigandet, Waddell, Edkins, and others). Even Monier-Williams' well-known book, though more complete than many others, is far from being an exhaustive record. Northern Buddhism he only slightly touches upon. But there should be a work showing Buddhism as a whole, beginning with Gautama Buddha himself, tracing the line of historical development which his religion took over all the lands of its influence, and painting a vivid picture of its present-day conditions and organizations everywhere.

This is the scope of the volume now before us. The book is written for a general public, avoiding purposely display of scholarship as much as possible. At the same time it should be understood that it is entirely based, not only on the most recent scientific publications of our best scholars, but on long personal investigations made on the spot.