The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris JastrowHopkins, Edward Washburn
Religion
The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow
Hopkins, Edward Washburn
India -- Religion
[Footnote 35: 'A place which is appropriated for the
reception of old, worn-out, lame, or disabled animals. At
that time (1823) they chiefly consisted of buffaloes and
cows, but there were also goats and sheep, and even cocks
and hens,' and also 'hosts of vermin.']
[Footnote 36: JRAS. 1834, p. 96. The town was taxed to
provide the food for the rats.]
[Footnote 37: Because the Jains have reverted to idolatry,
demonology, and man-worship. But at the outset they appear
to have had two great principles, one, that there is no
divine power higher than man; the other, that all life is
sacred. One of these is now practically given up, and the
other was always taken too seriously.]
* * * * *
CHAPTER XIII.
BUDDHISM.
While the pantheistic believer proceeded to anthropomorphize in a
still greater degree the _[=a]tm[=a]_ of his fathers, and eventually
landed in heretical sectarianism; while the orthodox Brahman simply
added to his pantheon (in Manu and other law-codes) the Brahmanic
figure of the Creator, Brahm[=a]; the truth-seeker that followed the
lines of the earlier philosophical thought arrived at atheism, and in
consequence became either stoic or hedonist. The latter school, the
C[=a]rv[=a]kas, the so-called disciples of Brihaspati, have, indeed, a
philosophy without religion. They simply say that the gods do not
exist, the priests are hypocrites; the Vedas, humbug; and the only
thing worth living for, in view of the fact that there are no gods, no
heaven, and no soul, is pleasure: 'While life remains let a man live
happily; let him not go without butter (literally _ghee_) even though
he run into debt,' etc.[1] Of sterner stuff was the man who invented a
new religion as a solace for sorrow and a refuge from the nihilism in
which he believed.
Whether Jainism or Buddhism be the older heresy, and it is not
probable that any definitive answer to this question will ever be
given, one thing has become clear in the light of recent studies,
namely, the fact already shown, that to Brahmanism are due some of the
most marked traits of both the heretical sects. The founder of
Buddhism did not strike out a new system of morals; he was not a
democrat; he did not originate a plot to overthrow the Brahmanic
priesthood; he did not invent the order of monks.[2] There is,
perhaps, no person in history in regard to whom have arisen so many
opinions that are either wholly false or half false.[3]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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