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 THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE, 1888. 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE 
 IMPORTANT ANNUAL MEETING 
 
 ALSO THE 
 
 ADDEESS 
 
 BY 
 
 Sir MONIER MONIER- WILLIAMS, K.C.I.E. D.C.L. LL.D. 
 
 Baden Professor of Sanscrit in the, University of Oxford. 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, 
 
 June ith, 1888. 
 
 The President, Professor G. G. STOKES, M.A., D.C.L., 
 
 President of the Royal Society, in the Chair. 
 
 THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE, 
 
 7, ADELPHI TERRACE, STRAND, W.O. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 Not to be bound with the Volume.
 
 SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE TWENTY- 
 SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE VICTORIA 
 INSTITUTE, HELD AT THE HOUSE OF THE 
 SOCIETY OF ARTS, 4th JUNE, 1888. 
 
 The President, Professor G. G. Stokes, M.A., D.C.L., President 
 of the Royal Society, in the chair. 
 
 The Report having been read by the Honorary Secretary, Captain 
 Francis Petrie, F.G.S., &c., 
 
 Sir J. RiSDON Bennett, F.R.S., moved the adoption of the 
 Report, and referred to the important volume of transactions just 
 issued as sufficient evidence of the sound principles on which the 
 Institute was conducted. 
 
 Professor H. W. Bristow, F.R.S., Senior Director of the Geologi- 
 cal Survey of Great Britain, seconded the adoption of the Report, 
 and complimented the Council on the excellent way in which their 
 work had been done. 
 
 Mr. David Howard, F.C.S., &c., returned thanks on behalf of 
 the Council " whose anxious task had been so kindly recognized." 
 Sir MoNiER MoNiER- Williams, K.C.I.E., then delivered 
 the ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
 
 The Bishop of Dunedin moved a vote of thanks to Sir Monier 
 MoNiER- Williams and all those who had contributed the Papers, 
 and to the discussion thereof during the session, and pointed out 
 the value of the Address. 
 
 Mr. W. S. Seton Karr, D.C.L. — late Puisne Judge of the 
 High Court at Calcutta — cordially seconded the resolution. 
 
 Sir Henry Barklt,K.C.B., G.C.M.G., F.R.S., moved a vote of 
 thanks to the President, which was seconded by the Rev. Robinson 
 Thornton, D.D. 
 
 The Meeting then adjourned to the museum, where refreshments 
 were served. 
 
 *»* The large meeting occupiea the hall, vestibule, and a room off the hall. 
 
 A 2
 
 il SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE REPORT. 
 
 The Report stated : — 
 
 That during the past year Her Majesty had very graciously accepted 
 an Address from the Institute, accompanied by its latest 
 volumes. 
 
 That increasing interest in its Objects was evinced both at home 
 and abroad. 
 
 That the steady support of the Institute's Members continued, and 
 had been of the utmost value in giving solidity to the Institute, 
 in strengthening its working, and in causing many who might 
 otherwise not have joined or aided in its work to do so, 
 and the value of the transactions had been much enhanced 
 thereby. The Report called special attention to the importance 
 of these points as the future of the Institute so much depended 
 upon its ability to 7nake use of present opportunities. 
 
 That the system under which papers were read, and the discussions 
 and comments thereon published, now enabled Members in the 
 most distant parts of the world to contribute papers, and to 
 take part in the discussions. 
 
 That the Institute's American offshoot was progressing satisfactorily, 
 and that, although an independent society, its existence had 
 not lessened the amount of American support to the Institute. 
 
 That the increase of tha Institute's Library of Reference, which had 
 been got together by the help of many Members and Asso- 
 ciates, was most important. The acquisition of a complete 
 collection of the standard works of the day bearing upon the 
 many subjects that came within the scope of the Institute 
 would be of the greatest advantage, as such works are constantly 
 inquired for both by town and country Members. 
 
 That the Members had elected, subject to their acceptance of the 
 office, the Lord Chancellor as Vice-President, and Professor 
 Bristow, F.R.S., Captain Creak, R.N., F.R.S., Sir J. 
 Lefroy, K.C.B., F.R.S., Mr. Cox Bompas, F.G.S., Mr. G. A. 
 Spottiswoode, and the Rev. F. A, Walker, D.D., F.L.S., to 
 the Council. 
 
 It reported that the accounts of the Institute had been 
 .audited as usual by two specially qualified Members not on the 
 
 , uiuc
 
 AT THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING. Ill 
 
 Council. The Council referred to the great value and amount of 
 the Institute's work, now extending all over the world, and which 
 was accomplished on an income of twelve hundred pounds ; such 
 work was only possible by reason of carefully -planned organisation 
 which had been adopted. 
 
 The Papers read were : — 
 
 Meetings. 
 
 Monday, December 5, 1887. — " Evolution and Revelation." By the 
 Rev. H. J. Clarke. Additions by Sir J. W. Dawson, K.C.M.G., 
 r.E.S., and others. 
 
 Monday, January 2, 1888. — " On the Theory of Natural Selection and 
 the Theory of Design." By Professor Duns, D.D., F.R.S.E. 
 Remarks, &c., by Lord Grimthorpe, and others. 
 
 Monday, February 6. — " The Aborigines of Australia, their Ethnic Position 
 and Relations." By J. Fraser, B.A., F.R.S. (N. S. Wales). 
 
 Monday, February 6. — Lecture on the Creation. By Dr. Warring 
 (United States). 
 
 Monday, February 20.— On some New Chaldean and Assyrian Discoveries. 
 By W. St. C. Boscawen, F.R.Hist.Soc. 
 
 Monday, March 5.—" Oriental Entomology." By F. A. Walker, D.D., 
 F.L.S. "Ancient Human Footprints in Nicaragua," with refer- 
 ence to Dr. Carl Flint's discoveries there, and Dr. Brinton's 
 remarks explanatory of the same. (With photograph.) 
 
 Monday, March 19. — "On the Results of many years' Survey among the 
 Coral Formations in the Pacific." By Dr. H. B. Guppy, R.N., 
 F.R.S. With remarks by the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, 
 Captain Wharton, R.N., F.R.S. ; Professor J. Getkie, LL.D., 
 F.R.S. ; Mr. John Murray ("Challenger" Expedition) ; Mr. W. 
 H. Huddleston, F.R.S., F.C.S. 
 
 Monday, April 9. — " On the AVave of Translation described by Mr. J. 
 Scott Russell, F.R.S., and its Effects as noticed in both Hemi- 
 spheres." By Admiral Selwyn, R.N. With remarks by 
 Admiral Scott, and others. 
 
 Monday, April 16. — " A Physical Theory of Moral Freedom," being a 
 refutation of the Theory of Automatism. By J. J. Murphy, 
 Esq., M.A. Remarks by Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., F.R.S. ; 
 the Hon. J. M. Gregory (Philadelphia), and others. 
 
 Monday, May 7.— On the Names of the Lists of Thothmes III. which may 
 be assigned to Judea. With Map. By M. Maspero. Translated 
 by the Rev. H. G. Tomkins. With communications from Sir 
 Charles Wilson, K.C.B., F.R.S., M. Le Page Renouf, Captain 
 C. R. CoNDER, and others ; also a communication from Canon 
 LiDDON on the great value of the paper at the present time. 
 
 Monday, June 4. — Annual Address. " Mystical Buddhism in connexion 
 with the Yoga system of Philosophy." By Sir Monier-Monier 
 Williams, Professor of Sanscrit at Oxford University. Annual 
 Meeting held at the House of the Society of Arts. 
 
 Monday, June 18. — " On the Botany of Syria and Palestine." By Pro- 
 fessor G. E. Post, M. A., M.D. ; an important paper, containing the 
 result of years' careful exploration, — prepared by special request.
 
 IV SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 The Report referring to the issue of Vol. XXI. of the Journal, 
 stated that much of the Institute's work tended to aid science, 
 and much, of a special character, tended to show the errors of those 
 who sought to attack religion in the name of science. 
 
 On some Uses made of the Institute by its Members. — " Last year 
 it was pointed out that to many Members their connexion with the 
 Institute had proved more than a mere personal advantage to them- 
 selves ; as they found that the Institute met a need felt both at 
 home and abroad, especially in our Colonies and India, where the 
 want of a true appreciation of the actual results of scientific inquiry 
 has led many, especially the less informed, to credit such statements 
 as that ' Science and Philosophy were alike opposed to Revela- 
 tion,' and that ' the progress of Science has given a death-blow to 
 all belief in the truth of the Bible.' (As one result of this, the 
 Bible is a forbidden book in more than one Board School at home 
 and in our Colonies.) And they had sought to make use of the 
 Institute's investigations to dispel such erroneous ideas as those 
 referred to, by using the papers in the Journal as lectures, or to 
 lecture from, in their respective localities, often corresponding with 
 the Institute as to the preparation of such lectures ; by reprinting 
 portions of the Journal in foreign and Colonial journals, translating 
 papers (in many countries) ; by using their influence in their 
 respective localities to secure that local libraries and Institutions 
 should subscribe for the Journal, thus bringing its pages before a 
 still wider circle of readers ; by interesting others in its proceedings, 
 and in many other ways which the Council trust may be even 
 more generally adopted." 
 
 Among several other matters — the report referred to the impor- 
 tance of an increase of " the Special Fund " used in extending 
 the library of reference, in publishing summaries of important 
 papers, and in organising the publication of the People's Edition 
 throughout the world.
 
 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM IN CONNEXION WITH THE 
 YOGA PHILOSOPHY OF THE HINDUS. By Sie 
 MONIER MoNIER-WlLLIAMS, K.C.I.E., D.C.L., LL.D., 
 Ph.D., Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of 
 Oxford."^ 
 
 THE first idea implied by Buddhism is intellectual enhghten- 
 ment. But Buddhism has its own theory of enlighten- 
 ment — its own idea of true knowledge, which it calls Bodhi, 
 not Veda. By true knowledge it means knowledge acquired 
 by man through his own intellectual faculties and through his 
 own inner consciousness, instincts, and intuitions, unaided by 
 any external or supernatural revelation of any kind. 
 
 But it is important to observe that Buddhism, in the carry- 
 ing out of its own theory of entire self-dependence in the 
 search after truth, was compelled to be somewhat inconsistent 
 with itself. It enjoined self-conquest, self-restraint, self- 
 concentration and separation from the world for the attainment 
 of perfect knowledge and for the accomplishment of its own 
 summum honum — the bliss of Nirvana — the bliss of doliver- 
 
 * In this paper some of the diacritical marks, required for the accurate 
 representation of Oriental words in the Roman character, have been omitted.
 
 I MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 
 
 ance from tlie fires of passion and the flames of concupiscence. 
 Yet it encouraged association and combination for mutual 
 help. It established a universal brotherhood of celibate 
 monks, open to persons of all castes and ranks, to rich and 
 poor, learned and unlearned alike — a community of men which 
 might, in theory, be co-extensive with the whole world — all 
 bound together by the common aim of self-conquest, all 
 animated by the wish to aid each other in the battle with 
 carnal desires, all penetrated by a desire to follow the example 
 of the Buddha, and be guided by the doctrine or law which he 
 promulgated. 
 
 Coenobitic monasticism in fact became an essential part of 
 true Buddhism and a necessary instrument for its propagation. 
 
 In all this the Buddha showed himself to be eminently 
 practical in his methods and profoundly wise in his generation. 
 Evidently, too, he was wise in abstaining at first from all 
 mystical teaching. Originally Buddhism set its face against 
 all solitary asceticism and secret efibrts to attain sublime 
 heights of knowledge. It had no occult, no esoteric system 
 of doctrine which it withheld from ordinary men. 
 
 Nor did true Buddhism at first concern itself with any form 
 of philosophical or metaphysical teaching, which it did not 
 consider helpful for the attainment of the only kind of true 
 knowledge worth striving for — the knowledge of the origin 
 of sufi'ering and its remedy — the knowledge that suff'ering 
 and pain arise from indulging lusts, and that life is in- 
 separable from suffering, and is an evil to be got rid of by 
 suppressing self and extinguishing desires. 
 
 In the MaJid-parinihhdna-futta (Rhys Davids, 11-32) is re- 
 corded one of the Buddha^s remarks shortly before his decease. 
 
 " What, Ananda, does the Ord^r desire of me ? I have 
 taught the law (desito dhammo) without making any distinc- 
 tion between esoteric and exoteric doctrine (anantaram aba- 
 hiram karitva). In the matter of the law, the Tathagata 
 (i.e., the Buddha) has never had the closed fist of a teacher 
 (acariya-mutthi) — that is of a teacher who withholds some 
 doctrines and communicates others.^^ 
 
 Nevertheless, admitting, as we must, that early Buddhism 
 had no mysteries reserved for a privileged circle, we must not 
 shut our eyes to the fact that the great importance attached 
 to abstract meditation in the Buddhist system could not fail 
 in the end to encourage the growth of mystical ideas. 
 
 Furthermoi'e, it is undeniable that such ideas were, in some 
 countries, carried to the most extravagant extremes. Efforts 
 to induce a> trance-like or hypnotic condition, by abstracting 
 the thoughts from all bodily influences, by recitation of mysti-
 
 SIR MONIER MONIEE-WILLIAMS. 3 
 
 cal sentences and by superstitious devices for the acquisition 
 of supernatural faculties^ were placed above good works and 
 all the duties of the moral code. 
 
 We might pointy too, to the strange doctrine which arose in 
 Nepal and Tibet — the doctrine of the Dhyani-Buddhas (or 
 Buddhas of Meditation) — 'Certain abstract essences existing in 
 the formless worlds of thought, who were held to be ethereal 
 and eternal representatives of the transitory earthly Buddhas. 
 
 Our present concern, however, is rather with the growth 
 and development of mystical Buddhism in India itself, througb 
 its connexion with the system called Yoga and Yogacara. 
 
 The close relationship of Buddhism to that system is 
 well known. The various practices included under the 
 name Yoga did not owe their origin to Buddhism. They were 
 prevalent in India before Grautama Buddha^s time ; and one 
 of the most generally accepted facts in his biography is that, 
 after abandoning his home and worldly associations, he resorted 
 to certain Brahman ascetics who were practising Yoga. 
 
 What then was the object which these ascetics had in view ? 
 
 The word Yoga literally means " union " (as derived from 
 the Sanskrit root " yu]," to join), and the proper aim of every 
 man who practised Yoga was the mystic union (or rather 
 re-union) of his own spirit with the one eternal Soul or 
 Spirit of the Universe, and the acquisition of divine know- 
 ledge through that union. 
 
 It may be taken for granted that this was the Buddha's 
 first aim when he addressed himself to Yoga in the fifth 
 century B.C., and even to this hour, earnest men in India 
 resort to this system with the same object. 
 
 In the Indian Magazine for July, 1887 (as well as in my 
 Brdhmanism and Hindfdsm'^) is a short biography of a 
 quite recent religious reformer named Svami Payananda 
 Sarasvati, whose acquaintance I made at Bombay in 1876 
 and 1877, and who only died in 1883. The story of his life 
 reads almost like a repetition of the life of Buddha, though 
 bis teaching aimed at restoring the supposed monotheistic 
 doctrine of the Veda, 
 
 It is recorded that his father, desiring to initiate him into 
 the mysteries of Saivism, took him to a shrine dedicated to 
 the god Siva; but the sight of some mice stealing the con- 
 secrated offerings and of some rats playing on the heads of the 
 idol led him to disbelieve in Siva-worship as a means of union 
 with the Supreme Being. Longing, however, for such unioUi 
 
 * Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street (see p. 529)
 
 4 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 
 
 and for emancipation from the burden of repeated births, 
 he resolved to renounce marriage and abandon the world. 
 Accordingly, at the age of twenty-two, he clandestinely 
 quitted his home, the darkness of evening covering his flight. 
 Taking a secret path, he travelled thirty miles during the night. 
 Next day he was pursued by his father, who tried to force 
 him to return, but in vain. After travelling farther and 
 farther from his native province, he took a vow to devote 
 himself to the investigation of truth. Then he wandered for 
 many years all over India, trying to gain knowledge from sages 
 and philosophers, but without any satisfactory result, till 
 finally he settled at Ahmedabad. There, having mastered 
 the higher Yoga system, he became the leader of a new sect 
 called the Arya-Samaj. 
 
 And here we may observe that the expression ''higher 
 Yoga " implies that another form of that system was intro- 
 duced. In point of fact, the Yoga system grew, and became 
 twofold — that is, it came in the end to have two objects. 
 
 The earlier was the higher Yoga. It aimed only at union 
 with the Spirit of the Universe. The more developed system 
 aimed at something more. It sought to acquire miraculous 
 powers by bringing the body under control of the will, and 
 by completely abstracting the soul from body and mind, and 
 isolating it in its own essence. This condition is called Kaivalya. 
 
 In the fifth century B.C., when Gautama Buddha began his 
 career, the later and lower form of Yoga seems to have been 
 little known. Practically, in those days earnest and devout 
 men craved only for union with the Supreme Being, and 
 absorption into his essence. Many methods of effecting such 
 union and absorption were contrived. And these may be 
 classed under two chief heads — bodily mortification (tapas) 
 and abstract meditation (dhyana). 
 
 By either one of these two chief means, the devotee was 
 supposed to be able to get rid of all bodily fetters — to be able 
 to bring his bodily organs into such subjection to the spiritual 
 that he became unconscious of possessing any body at all. It 
 was in this way that his spirit became fit for blending with the 
 Supreme Spirit. 
 
 We learn from the Lalita-vistara that various forms of 
 bodily torture, self-maceration, and austerity were common in 
 Gautama's time. 
 
 Some devotees, we read, seated themselves in one spot and 
 kept perpetual silence, with their legs bent under them. Some 
 ate only once a day or once on alternate days, or at intervals 
 of four, six, or fourteen days. Some slept in wet clothes or 
 on ashes, gravel, stones, boards, thorny grass, or spikes, or
 
 SIR MONIEE MONIEE-WILLIAMS. O 
 
 with the face downwards. Some went naked, making no 
 distinction between fit or unfit places. Some smeared them- 
 selves with ashes, cinders, dust^ or clay. Some inhaled smoke 
 and fire. Some gazed at the sun, or sat surrounded by five 
 fires, or rested on one foot, or kept one arm perpetually up- 
 lifted, or moved about on their knees instead of on their feet, 
 or baked themselves on hot stones, or entered water, or 
 suspended themselves in the air. 
 
 Then, again, a method of fasting called very painful (ati- 
 kricchra), described by Manu (xi. 213), was often practised. 
 It consisted in eating only a single mouthful every day for 
 nine days and then abstaining from all food for the three 
 following days. 
 
 Another method, called the lunar fast (vi. 20, xi. 216), con- 
 sisted in beginning with fifteen mouthfuls at full moon, and 
 reducing the quantity by one mouthful till new moon, and 
 then increasing it again in the same way till full moon. 
 
 Passages without number might be quoted from ancient 
 literature to prove that similar practices were resorted to 
 throughout India with the object of bringing the body into 
 subjection to the spirit. And these practices have continued 
 up to the present day. 
 
 A Muhammadan traveller, whose narrative is quoted by 
 Mr. Mill {British India, I. 355), once saw a man standing 
 motionless with his face towards the sun. 
 
 The same traveller, having occasion to revisit the same spot 
 sixteen years afterwards, found the very same man in the very 
 same attitude. He had gazed on the sun^s disk till all sense 
 of external vision was extinguished. 
 
 A Yogi was seen not very long ago (Mill's India, I. 353) 
 seated between four fires on a quadrangular stage. He stood 
 on one leg gazing at the sun, while these fires were lighted at 
 the four corners. Then placing himself upright on his head, 
 with his feet elevated in the air, be remained for three hours 
 in that position. He then seated himself cross-legged, and 
 continued bearing the raging heat of the sun above his head 
 and the fires which surrounded him till the end of the day, 
 occasionally adding combustibles with his own hands to 
 increase the flames. 
 
 I, myself, in the course of my travels, encountered Yogis 
 who had kept their arms uplifted for years, or had wandered 
 about from one place of pilgrimage to another under a per- 
 petual vow of silence, or had no place to lie upon but a bed of 
 spikes. 
 
 As to fasting, the idea that attenuation of the body by 
 abstinence from food, facilitates union of the human soul with
 
 O MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 
 
 the divine, or at any rate promotes a keener insight into 
 spiritual things^ is doubtless as common in Europe as in Asia; 
 but the most austere observer of Lent in European countries 
 would be hopelessly outdone by devotees whose extraordinary 
 powers of abstinence may be witnessed in every part of India, 
 
 If we now turn to the second great method of attaining 
 mystic union with the Divine Essence, namely, by profound 
 abstract thought, we may observe that it, too, was everywhere 
 prevalent in Buddha's time. 
 
 Indeed, one of the names given by Indian philosophers to 
 the One Universal Spirit is Cit, '' Thought." By that name 
 of course, is meant pure abstract thought, or the faculty 
 of thought separated from every conci'ete object. Hence, 
 in its highest state the eternal infinite Spirit, by its very 
 nature, thinks of nothing. It is the simple thought faculty, 
 wholly unconnected with any object, about which it thinks. 
 In point of fact, the moment it begins to exercise this 
 faculty, it necessarily abandons for a time its condition of 
 absolute oneness, abstraction and isolation, to associate itself 
 with something inferior, which is not itself. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that intense concentration of the mind 
 on the One Universal Spirit amounts to fixing the thought on 
 a mere abstract Essence, which reciprocates no thought in 
 return, and is not conscious of being thought about by its 
 worshipper. 
 
 In harmony with this theory, we find that the definition of 
 Yoga, in the second aphorism of the Yoga-sutra, is, '' the 
 suppression (nirodha) of the functions or modifications (vritti) 
 of the thinking principle (citta)." So that, in reality, the 
 union of the human mind with the infinite Principle of 
 thought amounts to such complete mental absorption, that 
 thought itself becomes lost in pure thought. 
 
 In the SaJiimtald (vii. 175) there is a description of an ascetic 
 engaged in this form of Yoga, whose condition of fixed medi- 
 tation and immovable impassiveness had lasted so long that 
 ants had thrown up a mound as high as his waist, and birds 
 had built their nests in the long clotted tresses of his tangled 
 hair. 
 
 Not very dissimilar phenomena may be witnessed even in 
 the present day. I, myself, not many years ago, saw at 
 Allahabad a devotee who had maintained a sitting, contem- 
 plative posture with his feet folded under his body, in one 
 place near the fort for twenty years. 
 
 During the Mutiny cannon thundered over his head, and 
 bullets hissed all around him, but nothing apparently dis- 
 turbed his attitude of profound meditation.
 
 SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS. 7 
 
 It is clear, then, from all we have stated, that, supposing' 
 Gautama to have made up his mind to renounce the world 
 and devote himself to a religious life, his adoption of a course 
 of Yoga was a most ordinary proceeding. 
 
 In the first instance, as we have seen, he tested the value 
 of painful self-mortification by a long sexennial fast. Then, 
 after discovering the uselessness of mere bodily austerities, 
 he took food naturally, and adopting the second method, 
 applied himself to profound abstract meditation. 
 
 A large number of the images of Buddha represent him 
 sitting on a raised seat, with his legs folded under his body, 
 and his eyes half-closed, in this condition of abstraction 
 (samadhi) — sometimes called Yoga-nidra ; that is, a trance-like 
 state, compared to profound sleep, or a kind of hypnotism. 
 
 According to the account given in the Mahd-vagcja (i. 1), 
 he seated himself in this way under four trees in succession, 
 remaining absorbed in thought for seven days and nights 
 under each tree, till he was, so to speak, re-born as Buddha 
 " the Enlightened." Till then he had no right to that title. 
 
 And those four successive seats probably symbolised the 
 four recognised stages of meditation* (dhyana) rising one above 
 the other, till thought itself was converted into non-thought. 
 
 We know, too, that the Buddha went through still higher 
 progressive stages of meditation at the moment of his death 
 or final decease (Pari-nirvana), thus described in the Malm- 
 parinihhdna sutta (vi. 11) : 
 
 " Then the Venerable One entered into the first stage of 
 meditation (pathamajjhanam) ; and rising out of the first 
 stage, he passed into the second ; and rising out of the 
 second, he passed into the third ; and rising out of the third, 
 he passed into the fourth ; and rising out of the fourth stage, 
 he attained the conception of the infinity of space (akasanan- 
 cayatanam) ; and rising out of the conception of the infinity 
 of space, he attained the conception of the infinity of intelli- 
 gence (or second Arupa-brahma-loka). And rising out of 
 the idea of the infinity of intelligence, he attained the 
 conception of absolute nonentity (akincannayatanara) ; and 
 rising out of the idea of nonentity, he entered the region 
 where there is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness ; 
 and rising out of that region, he entered the state in which 
 all sensation and all perception of ideas had wholly ceased.'^ 
 
 This strange passage shows that even four progressive 
 
 * I give this as a theory of my own. M. Senart considers that the sun's 
 progress is symbolised. I am no believer in the sun theory as applicable to 
 this point.
 
 8 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 
 
 stages of abstraction did not satisfy the requirements of later 
 Buddhism in regard to the intense sublimation of the thinking 
 faculty needed for the complete effacement of all sense of 
 individuality. Higher and higher altitudes had to be reached, 
 insomuch that the fourth stage of abstract meditation is 
 sometimes divided and sub-divided into what are called eight 
 vimokhas and eight samapattis — all of them forms and stages 
 of ecstatic meditation.* 
 
 A general name, however, for all the higher trance-like 
 states is Samddhl, and by the practice of Samadhi the six 
 transcendent faculties (Abhiiiiaa) might ultimately be obtained, 
 viz., the inner ear, or power of hearing words and sounds 
 however distant (clair-audience, as it might be called), the 
 inner eye or power of seeing all that happens in every part of 
 the world (clair-voyance), knowledge of the thoughts of others, 
 recollection of former existences, the knowledge of the mode 
 of destroying the corrupting influences of passion, and, 
 finally, the supernatural powers called Iddhi, to be subse- 
 quently explained. 
 
 But to return to the Buddha^s first course of meditation at 
 the time when he first attained Buddhahood. This happened 
 during one particular night, which was followed by the birth- 
 day of Buddhism. 
 
 And what was the first grand outcome of that first profound 
 mental abstraction ? One legend relates that in the first 
 watch of the night all his previous existences flashed across 
 his mind; in the second he understood all present states of 
 being; in the third he traced out the chain of causes and 
 effects, and at the dawn of day he knew all things. 
 
 According to another legend, there was an actual outburst 
 of the divine light before hidden within him. 
 
 We read in the Lalita-vistara (chap, i.) that at the supreme 
 moment of his intellectual illumination brilliant flames of 
 light issued from the crown of his head, through the inter- 
 stices of his cropped hair. These rays are sometimes repre- 
 sented in his images, emerging from his skull in a form 
 resembling the five fingers of an extended hand. 
 
 Mark, however, that it is never stated that Gautama ever 
 attained to the highest result of the true Yoga of Indian 
 philosophy — union with the Supreme Spirit. On the con- 
 trary, his self-enlightenment led to entire disbelief in the 
 separate existence of any eternal, infinite Spirit at all — any 
 Spirit, in fact, with which a spirit existing in his own body 
 could blend, or into which it could be absorbed. 
 
 * These are described in Childers's Pali Dictionary, s,v.
 
 SIR MONIER MONIER- WILLIAMS. 9 
 
 If the Buddha was not a materiahst, in the sense of believing 
 in the eternal existence of material atoms, neither could he 
 in any sense be called a " spiritualist/' or " spiritist." 
 
 With him Creation did not proceed fi'om an Omnipotent 
 Spirit evolving phenomena out of itself by the exercise of 
 almighty will, nor from an eternal self-existing, self-evolving 
 germ of any kind. As to the existence of any spiritual 
 substance in the Universe which was not matter and was 
 imperceptible by the senses, it could not be proved. 
 
 Nor did he believe in the eternal existence of an invisible, 
 intangible, human self or Ego, commonly called Soul, as dis- 
 tinct from a material body. In this he differed widely from 
 the Yoga. The only eternity of early Buddhism was in an 
 eternity of '^becoming," not of ''being'' — an eternity of 
 universes, all succeeding each other, and all lapsing into 
 nothingness. 
 
 In short, the Buddha's enlightenment consisted, first, in 
 the discovery of the origin and remedy of suffering, and, next, 
 in the knowledge of the existence of an eternal Force — a 
 force generated by what in Sanskrit is called Karman, " Act." 
 Who, or what, started the first act the Buddha never pre- 
 tended to be able to explain. He confessed himself in regard 
 to this point a downright Agnostic. 
 
 All he affirmed was that every man was created by the 
 force of his own acts in former bodies, combined with a force 
 generated by intense attachment to existence (upadana). 
 The Buddha himself was so created, and had been created 
 and re-created through countless bodily forms ; but he had 
 no spirit or soul existing separately between the intervals of 
 each creation. By his protracted meditation he attained to no 
 higher knowledge than this, and although he himself rose to 
 loftier heights of knowledge than any other man of his day, 
 he never aspired to other than the extraordinary faculties 
 which were within the reach of any human being capable of 
 rising to the same sublime abstraction of mind. 
 
 He was even careful to lay down a precept that the acquisi- 
 tion of transcendent human faculties was restricted to the 
 perfected saints called Arhats ; and so important did he con- 
 sider it to guard such faculties from being claimed by mere 
 impostors, that one of the four prohibitions communicated to 
 all monks on first admission to his monastic Order was that 
 they were not to pretend to such powers. 
 
 Nor is there any proof that even Arhats in Gautama's time 
 were allowed to claim the power of working physical miracles. 
 
 By degrees, no doubt, powers of this kind were ascribed to 
 them as well as to the Buddha. Even in the Vinaya, one of
 
 10 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 
 
 the oldest portions of the Tripitaha, we find it stated that 
 Gaatama Buddha gained adherents by performing three thou- 
 sand five hundred supernatural wonders (in Pali patihariya). 
 These were thought to be evidences of his mission as a great 
 teacher and saviour of mankind ; but the part of the narrative 
 recording these, although very ancient, is probably a legendary 
 addition of later date. It is interesting, however, to trace in 
 other portions of the first literature, the development of the 
 doctrine that Buddhahood meant first transcendent know- 
 ledge^ and then supernatural faculties, and finally miraculous 
 powers. 
 
 In the Akhanheyya Sutta (said to be written in the fourth 
 century B.C.) occurs this remarkable passage, translated by 
 Professor Rhys Davids (p. 214) : — 
 
 "^'If a Monk should desire through the destruction of 
 the corrupting influences (asavas), by himself, and even in 
 this very world, to know and realise and attain to Arhatship, 
 to emancipation of heart, and emancipation of mind, let him 
 devote himself to that quietude of heart which springs from 
 within, let him not drive back the ecstasy of contemplation, 
 let him look through things, let him be much alone. 
 
 *'If a Monk should desire to hear with clear and heavenly 
 ear, surpassing that of men, sounds both human and celestial, 
 whether far or near; if he should desire to comprehend by 
 his own heart the hearts of other beings and of other men ; 
 if he should desire to call to mind his various temporary 
 states in the past, such as one, two, three, four, five, ten, 
 twenty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand births, or 
 his births in many an age and aeon of destruction and 
 renovation, let him devote himself to that quietude which 
 springs from within." 
 
 Then, in the Mahd-parinibbdna-sutta (i. 33) occurs the 
 following : — 
 
 " At that time the Blessed One — as instantaneously as a 
 strong man would stretch forth his arm, or draw it back again 
 when he had stretched it forth — vanished from this side of the 
 river, and stood on the further bank with the company of the 
 brethren." 
 
 And, again, the following : — 
 
 " I call to mind, Ananda, how when I used to enter into an 
 assembly of many hundred nobles, before I had seated myself 
 there, or talked to them, or started a conversation with them, 
 I used to become in colour like unto their colour, and in voice 
 like unto their voice. Then, with religious discourse, I used 
 to instruct, incite, and quicken them, and fill them with 
 gladness. But they knew me not when I spoke, and would 
 
 /
 
 SIR MONIES MONIEE- WILLIAMS. 11 
 
 say^ ' Who may this be who thus speaks ? a man or a god ? ' 
 Then, having instructed, incited, quickened and gladdened 
 them with religious discourse, I would vanish away. But they 
 knew me not even when I vanished away ; and would say, 
 ' Who may this be who has thus vanished away ? a man, or 
 a god ? ' " {Mahd-parinibhdna-sutta, iii. 22.) 
 
 Such passages in the early literature afford an interesting 
 examplification of the growth of supernatural and mystical 
 ideas, and account for the ultimate association of the Northern 
 Buddhistic system, with Saivism, demonology, magic, and 
 various spiritual phenomena connected with what has been 
 called "Esoteric Buddhism. ^^ 
 
 These ideas, however, originated in India, and we may 
 now proceed to trace their development in the later Yoga or 
 "aphorisms of the Yoga philosophy," composed by Patanjali, 
 to which I have already referred. 
 
 In that work eight requisites of Yoga are enumerated 
 (ii. 29) ; namely 1, abstaining from five evil acts (yama) ; 2, 
 performing five positive duties (niyama) ; 3, settling the 
 limbs in certain postures (asana) ; 4, regulating and sup- 
 pressing the breath (pranayama) ; 5, withdrawing the senses 
 from their objects (pratyahara) ; 6, fixing the thinking faculty 
 (dharana) ; 7, internal self-contemplation (dhyana) ; 8, trance- 
 like self-concentration (samadhi). 
 
 These eight are indispensable requisites for the gaining of 
 Patanjali's summuvi honum — the complete abstraction or 
 isolation (kaivalya) of the soul in its own essence and for 
 the acquirement of supernatural faculties. 
 
 Taking now these eight requisites of Yoga in order, we may 
 observe, with regard to the first, that the five evil acts to be 
 avoided correspond to the five commandments in Buddhism, 
 viz., " kill not," " steal not," " commit no impurity,'' 
 "lie not." The fifth alone, " abstain from all worldly enjoy- 
 ments," is diJfferent, the Buddhist fifr.h prohibition being 
 " drink no strong drink." 
 
 With regard to the second requisite, the five positive 
 duties are — self-purification, both external and internal (both 
 called sauca) ; the practice of contentment (santosha) ; bodily 
 mortification (tapas) ; muttering of prayers, or repetition 
 of mystical syllables (svadhyaya, or japa), and contemplation 
 of the Supreme Being. 
 
 The vai'ious processes of bodily mortification and austerities 
 have been already described. 
 
 As to the muttering of prayers, the repetition of mystic 
 syllables such as Om (a symbol for the Triad of Gods), or 
 of any favourite deity's name, is held among Hindus to be 
 
 £
 
 12 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 
 
 liighly efficacious.* In a similar manner among Northern 
 Buddhists the six-syllabled sentence : " Om mani padme 
 hum " — " Reverence to the jewel in the lotus. Amen'^ — is 
 used as a charm ag-ainst the sixfold course of transmigration. 
 The Jewel may mean Avalokitesvara, the patron saint of 
 Tibet, fabled to have sprung from a lotus, or it may contain a 
 douhle-entendre — an occult allusion to the Sankhya Purusha 
 and Prakriti, or to the Linga and Yoni of Saivism, as 
 symbolising the generative force of Nature. No other prayer- 
 formula in the world is repeated so often. 
 
 Other mystical syllables (such as sam, yam, ram, lam) are 
 supposed to contain some occult virtue. 
 
 The third requisite — posture — would appear to us a some- 
 what trivial aid to the union of the human spirit with the 
 divine ; but with Hindus it is an important auxiliary, fi'aught 
 with great benefit to the Yogi. 
 
 The alleged reason is that certain sitting postures (asana) 
 and cramping of the lower limbs are peculiarly efficacious 
 in producing bodily quietude and preventing restlessness. 
 Some of the postures have curious names, for example : — 
 Padmasana, " the lotus posture " ; virasana, " the heroic 
 posture " ; sinhasana, '^ the lion posture " ; kurmasana, 
 "the tortoise posture"; kukkutasana, ^'the cock posture ''; 
 dhanur-asana, " bow posture " ; mayurasana, " peacock pos- 
 ture." In the first the right foot is placed on the left thigh, 
 and the left on the right thigh. 
 
 In short, the idea is that compression of the lower 
 limbs, in such a way as to prevent the possibility of the 
 slightest movement, is most important as a preparation for 
 complete abstraction of soul. 
 
 Then, as another aid, particular twistings (called mudra) of 
 the upper limbs — of the arms, hands, and fingers — are enjoined. 
 
 In Europe violent movements of the limbs are practised 
 by devotees with the view of uniting the human spirit with 
 the Divine. Those who have seen the whirling and '' howl- 
 ing " dervishes of Cairo can testify to this. The fainting fits 
 which result from their violent exertions, inspirations, expi- 
 rations, and utterances of the name of God are believed to 
 be ecstatic states in which such union is effected. 
 
 The fom-th requisite — regulation and suppression of the 
 breath — is perhaps the one of all the eight which it is most 
 difficult for Europeans to understand or appreciate ; yet with 
 Hindus it is all-important (being called Hatha- vidya). Nor 
 are the ideas connected with it wholly unknown in Europe. 
 
 See my Brdkmanism and Hindmsm (John Murray), p. 105.
 
 SIR MONIER MONIEE-WILLIAMS. 13 
 
 According to Swedenborg,* thought commences and 
 corresponds with respiration : — 
 
 " When a man thinks quickly his breath vibrates with rapid 
 alternations ; when the tempest of anger shakes his mind his 
 breath is tumultuous ; when his soul is deep and tranquil, so 
 is his respiration." And he adds : " It is strange that this 
 correspondence between the states of the brain or mind and 
 the lungs has not been admitted in science." 
 
 The Hindu belief certainly is that deep inspirations of 
 breath assist in concentrating and abstracting the thoughts 
 and preventing external impressions. But, more than this, 
 five sorts of air are supposed to permeate the human body 
 and play an important part in its vitality. The Hatha- dipika 
 says : " As long as the air remains in the body, so long life 
 remains. Death is the exit of the breath. Hence the air 
 should be retained in the body." 
 
 In regulating the breath, the air must first be drawn up 
 through one nostril (the other being closed with the finger), 
 retained in the lungs, and then expelled through the other 
 nostril. This exercise must be practised alternately with the 
 right and left nostril. Next, the breath must be drawn 
 forcibly up through both nostrils, and the air imprisoned for 
 as long a time as possible in the lungs. Thence it must be 
 forced by an efibrt of will towards the internal organs of the 
 body, or made to mount to the centre of the brain. 
 
 The Hindus, however, do not identify the breath with the 
 soul. They believe that a crevice or suture called the 
 Brahma-randhram at the top of the skull serves as an out- 
 let for the escape of the soul at death. A Hindu Yogi^s skull 
 is sometimes split at death by striking it with a sacred shell. 
 The idea is to facilitate the exit of the soul. It is said that 
 in Tibet the hair is torn out of the top of the head, with the 
 same object. 
 
 In the case of a wicked man the soul is supposed to escape 
 through one of the lower openings of the body. 
 
 The imprisonment of the breath in the body by taking in 
 more air than is necessary for respiration, is the most im- 
 portant of the breath exercises. It is said that Hindu 
 ascetics, by constant practice, are able by this means to 
 sustain life under water, or to be buried alive for long 
 periods of time. Such feats of endurance would be wholly 
 impracticable in the case of Europeans. It seems, however, 
 open to question, whether or not it may not be possible for 
 human beings of particular constitutions to practise a kind of 
 
 * Quoted in Colonel Olcott s Yoga Philosophy, p. 282. 
 B 2'
 
 14 MYSTICAL BDDDHISM. 
 
 hibernation like tliat of animals, by some method of suspend- 
 ing temporarily the organic functions. A certain Colonel 
 Townsend is said to have succeeded in doing so. 
 
 A well-known instance of suspended animation occurred in 
 the Punjab in 1837. A certain Yogi was there, by his own 
 request, buried alive in a vault for forty days in the presence 
 of Runjit Singh and Sir Claude Wade ; his eyes, ears, and 
 every orifice of his body having been first stopped with plugs 
 of wax. Dr. McGregor, the then residency surgeon, also 
 watched the case. Every precaution was taken to prevent 
 deception. English officials saw the man buried, as well 
 as exhumed, and a perpetual guard over the vault was kept 
 night and day by order of Runjit Singh himself. At the end 
 of forty days the disinterment took place. The body was 
 dried up like a stick, and the tongue, which had been turned 
 back into the thi-oat, had become like a piece of horn. Those 
 who exhumed him followed his previously-given directions for 
 the restoration of animation, and the Yogi told them he had 
 only been conscious of a kind of ecstatic bliss in the society 
 of other Yogis and saints, and was quite ready to be buried 
 over again. 
 
 What amount of fraud, if any, there may be in these 
 feats it is impossible to say. The phenomena may possibly 
 be accounted for by the fact that Indian Yogis have studied 
 the habits of hibernating animals for ages, 
 
 I may add that it is commonly believed throughout 
 India that a man whose body is sublimated by intense ab- 
 stract meditation never dies, in the sense of undergoing 
 corruption and dissolution. When his supposed death occurs 
 he is held to be in a state of trance, which may last for cen- 
 tui'ies, and his body is, therefore, not burnt, but buried — 
 generally in a sitting posture — and his tomb is called a samadh. 
 With regard to the fifth requisite — the act of withdrawing 
 the senses from their object, as, for example, the eye from 
 visible forms — this is well compared to the act of a tortoise 
 withdrawing its limbs under its shell. 
 
 The sixth requisite — fixing the principle of thought — com- 
 prises the act of directing the thinking faculty (citta) towards 
 various parts of the body, for example, towards the heart, 
 or towards the crown of the head, or concentrating the will- 
 force on the region between the two eyebrows, or even fixing 
 the eyes intently on the tip of the nose. (Compare Bhagavad- 
 gltd, vi. 13.) 
 
 The seventh and eighth requisites — viz., internal self-con- 
 templation and intense self -concentration — are held (when 
 conjoined with the sixth) to be most important as leading to 
 
 /
 
 SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS. 15 
 
 the acquisition of certain supernatural powers, of which, the 
 following are most commonly enumerated : — (1) Animan, " the 
 faculty of reducing the body to the size of an atom " ; (2) 
 Mahiman, or Gariman, "increasing the size or weight at will "; 
 (3) Laghiman, " making the body light at will " ; (4) Prapti, 
 " reaching or touching any object or spot, however apparently 
 distant"; (5) Prakamya, '^unlimited exercise of wilP'; (6) 
 Isitva, "gaining absolute power over one's self and others'' ; 
 (7) Vasita, "bringing the elements into subjection"; (8) 
 Kamavasayita, " the power of suppressing all desires." 
 
 A Yogi who has acquired these powers can rise aloft to the 
 skies, fly through space, pierce the mysteries of planets and 
 stars, cause storms and earthquakes, understand the language 
 of animals, ascertain what occurs in any part of the world, 
 or of the universe, recollect the events of his own previous 
 lives, prolong his present life, see into the past and future, 
 discern the thoughts of others, assume any form he likes, 
 disappear, reappear, and even enter into another man's body 
 and make it his own. 
 
 Such were some of the extravagant ideas which grew with 
 the growth of the Yoga system, and all these exist in the 
 later developments of Buddhism. The Buddha himself is 
 fabled by his followers to have ascended to the Trayas-trinsa 
 heaven of Indra, walked on water, stepped from one mountain 
 to another, and left impressions of his feet on the solid rock; 
 although in the well-known Dhamma-pada it is twice de^ 
 clared (254, 255), " There is no path through the air." 
 
 Of course it was only natural that, with the development of 
 Buddhism and its association with Saivism, the Buddha him- 
 self should have become a centre for the growth and accumula- 
 tion of supernatural and mystical ideas. It is in this way 
 that the later docti'ine makes every Buddha have a threefold 
 existence or possess three bodies, much in the same way as 
 in Hinduism three bodies are assigned to every being. 
 
 The first of the Buddha's bodies is the Dharma-kaya 
 "body o£ the Law," supposed to be a kind of ethereal 
 essence of a highly sublimated nature and co-extensive with 
 space. This essence was believed to be eternal, and after 
 the Buddha's death, was represented by the Law or Doctrine 
 (Dhai'ma) he taught. Its Br^hmanical analogue is probably 
 Brahman, "the Universal Spirit," which, when associated 
 with Illusion (or the Karana-sarira), may assume a highly 
 ethereal subtle body, called Linga-sarira. 
 
 The second body is the Sambhoga-kaya, "body of con- 
 scious bliss," which is of a less ethereal and more material 
 natui'e than the last. Its Brahmanical analogue appears to be
 
 16 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 
 
 the intermediate celestial body belonging to departed spirits, 
 called Bhoga-deha, which is of an ethereal character, though 
 it is composed of sufiSciently gross (sthula) material particles 
 to be capable of experiencing happiness in heaven. 
 
 The third body is the Nirmana-kaya, " body of visible shapes 
 and transformations/' that is to say, those visible concrete 
 material forms in which every Buddha who exists as an in- 
 visible and eternal essence, is manifested on the earth or 
 elsewhere for the propagation of the true doctrine. The 
 Brahmanical analogue of this third body appears to be the 
 earthly gross body, called Sthula-sarira. 
 
 There is a well-known legend which relates how the great 
 Brahman sage Sankaracarya entranced his gross body, and 
 then, having forced out his soul along with his subtle body, 
 entered the dead body of a recently deceased King, which he 
 occupied for several weeks. 
 
 In connexion with these mystical ideas, I may here allude 
 to the belief that certain modern Eastern sages, skilled in 
 occult science, have the power of throwing their gross bodies 
 into a state of mesmeric trance, and then by a determined 
 effort of will projecting or forcing out the ethereal body 
 through the pores of the skin, and making this phantasmal 
 form visible in distant places."^ 
 
 We learn from Mr. Sinnett that a community of Buddhist 
 " Brothers " called Mahatmas, are now living in secluded 
 spots in the deserts of Tibet, who have emancipated their 
 interior selves from physical bondage by meditation, and are 
 believed to possess " astral " or ethereal bodies (distinct from 
 their gross bodies), with which they are able to rise in the 
 air, or move through space, by the mere exercise of will. 
 
 I am not aware whether the Psychical Research Society has 
 extended its researches to the deserts of Tibet, where these 
 phenomena are said to take place. 
 
 In curious agreement with these notions, are the beliefs 
 of various uncivilised races. Dr. Tylor, in his Primitive 
 Culture (I. 440), relates how the North American Indians 
 and others believe that their souls quit their bodies during 
 sleep, and go about hunting, dancing, visiting, etc. 
 
 Old legends relate how Simon Magus made statues walk ; 
 how he flew in the air; changed his shape; assumed two 
 faces ; made the vessels in a house seem to move of them- 
 selves (Yule's Marco Polo, i. 306). Friar Ricold relates that 
 " a man from India was said to fly. The truth was that he 
 
 * Colonel Olcott and Mr. Sinnett mention this faculty as characteristic of 
 Asiatic occultism.
 
 SIB MONIEB MONIER- WILLIAMS. 17 
 
 did walk close to the surface of the ground without touching 
 it " (Yule's Marco Polo, I. 307). 
 
 As to the phenomena of modern spiritualism, these are 
 declared by Mr. Sinnett to be quite distinct from those of 
 Asiatic occultism. He maintains that modern spiritualism 
 requires the intervention of " mediums/' who neither control 
 nor understand the manifestations of which they are the pas- 
 sive instruments ; whereas the phenomena of occultism are 
 the " achievements of a conscious living opei^ator/' produced 
 by a simple effort of his own will. The important point, he 
 adds, " which occultism brings out is, that the soul of man, 
 while something enormously subtler and more ethereal and 
 
 more lasting than the body, is itself a material body 
 
 The ether that transmits light is held to be material by any 
 one who holds it to exist at all ; but there is a gulf of differ- 
 ence between it and the thinnest of the gases." In another 
 place he advances an opinion that the spirit is distinct from 
 the soul. It is the soul of the soul. 
 
 And again : " The body is the prison of the soul for 
 ordinary mortals. Wo can see merely what comes before 
 its windows ; we can take cognisance only of what is brought 
 within its bars. But the adept has found the key of his 
 prison, and can emerge from it at pleasure. It is no longer a 
 prison for him — merely a dwelling. In other words, the adept 
 can project his soul out of his body to any place he pleases 
 with the rapidity of thought."'* 
 
 It is worth noting that many believers in Asiatic occultism 
 hold that a hitherto unsuspected force exists in nature called 
 Odic force (is this to be connected with Psychic force?), and 
 that it is by this that the levitation of entranced persons is 
 effected. Some are said to have the power of lightening their 
 bodies by swallowing large draughts of air. The President 
 of the Theosophical Society, Colonel Olcott, alleges that he 
 himself, in common with many other observers, has seen a 
 person raised in the air by a mere effort of will. 
 
 Surely these phenomena may be mere feats of conjuring. 
 In the Asiatic Monthly Journal for March, 1829, an account 
 is given of a Brahman who poised himself apparently in the 
 air, about four feet from the ground, for forty minutes, in the 
 presence of the Governor of Madras. Another juggler sat on 
 three sticks put together to form a tripod. These were 
 removed, one by one, and the man remained sitting in the 
 
 * The Occult World, by A. P. Sinnett ,Vice-President of the Theosophical 
 Society, pp. 12, 15, 20.
 
 18 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 
 
 air. On tlie other haad^ it is contended, that '' since we 
 have attained, in the last half-century, the theory of evolu- 
 tion, the antiquity of man, the far greater antiquity of the 
 world itself, the correlation of physical forces, the conserva- 
 tion of energy, spectrum analysis, photography, the loco- 
 motive engine, electric telegraph, spectroscope, electric light, 
 and the telephone, who shall dare to fix a limit to the capacity 
 of man ? ^^ * Few will be disposed to deny altogether the 
 truth of such a contention, however much they may dissent 
 from Colonel Olcott's theosophical and neo-Buddhist views. 
 
 There may be, of course, latent faculties in humanity which 
 are at present quite unsuspected, and yet are capable of 
 development in the future. 
 
 I may also refer to the statement of Sir James Paget, in 
 his recent address on " Scientific Study,''' that many things 
 now held to be inconceivable and past man's imagination are 
 profoundly and assuredly true, and that it will be in the power 
 of Science to prove them to be so.f 
 
 Clearly mystical Buddhism is far too big a subject to be 
 compressed within the limits of a single paper. 
 
 I will merely, in conclusion, express my doubts whether 
 Asiatic occultism, as connected with the Yoga philosophy, 
 and as believed in by Colonel Olcott, Mr. Sinnett, and many 
 others, will ever bear the searching light of European 
 scientific investigation. 
 
 Nevertheless, it seems to me to be a subject which ought 
 not to be brushed aside by our scientists as unworthy of con- 
 sideration. It furnishes, in my opinion, a highly interesting 
 topic of inquiry, especially in its bearing on the so-called 
 " Spiritualism/' '*' neo-Buddhism," and " Theosophy " of the 
 present day. The practices connected with mesmerism, 
 animal magnetism, clairvoyance, thought-reading, &c., have 
 their counterparts in the Yoga system prevalent in India 
 more than 2,000 years ago. " The thing that hath been, it is 
 that which shall be ; and that which is done is that which 
 shall be done : and there is no new thing under the sun." 
 
 * Colonel Olcott's Lectures on TItcosojjhy and Archaic Religions, p. 109. 
 t Eeport in the Times newspaper.
 
 Sir M. Monier-Williams, K.C.I.E., ox a pew of the chief 
 
 CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES OF BuDDHISM 
 
 AND OF Christianity. 
 
 Those who have watched the progress of modern thought in 
 regard to Buddhism will appreciate the insertion here 
 of the following speech^ by the Author of the Victoria 
 Institute's Address. 
 
 " It is one of the strange phenomena of the present day, that even 
 educated persons are apt to fall into raptures over the doctrines of 
 Buddhism, attracted by the bright gems which its admirers cull out 
 of its moral code, and display ostentatiously, while keeping out of 
 sight all the dark spots of that code, all its triviality and all those 
 precepts which no Christian could soil his lips by uttering. 
 It has even been asserted that much of the teaching in the 
 Sermon on the Mount is based on previously current moral precepts, 
 which Buddhism was the first to introduce to the world, 500 years 
 before Christ. But this is not all. The admirers of Buddhism 
 maintain that the Buddha was not a mere teacher of morality, but 
 of many other great truths. He has been justly called, say they, 
 ' the Light of Asia,' though they condescendingly admit that 
 Christianity, as a later development, is more adapted to become the 
 religion of the world. 
 
 " Let us, then, inquire for a moment what claim Gautama Buddha 
 has to this title, ' the Light of Asia.' 
 
 " Now, in the first place, those who give him this name forget that 
 his doctrines only spread over Eastern Asia, and that Mohammed 
 has as much right as Buddha to be called ' the Light of Asia.' But 
 Avas the Buddha, in any true sense, a Light to any part of the 
 world ? It is certainly true that the main idea implied by 
 Buddhism is intellectual enlightenment. Buddhism, before all 
 things, means enlightenment of mind, resulting from intense self- 
 concentration, from intense abstract meditation, combined with the 
 exercise of a man's own reasoning faculties and intuitions. It was 
 only after such a course of meditation that the so-called Light of 
 Knowledge burst upon the man Gautama. It was only then that 
 he became Buddha, the Enlightened One. We read in the Lalita 
 
 * This speech was delivered at the 1888 Missionary Confergnoe.
 
 20 
 
 Vistara that, at the supreme moment of this enlightenment, actual 
 flames of light issued from the crown of the Buddha's head. Of 
 what nature, then, was this so-called Light of Knowledge that 
 radiated from the Buddha ? Was it the knowledge of his own deep 
 depravity of heart, or of the origin of sin ? No ; the Buddha's 
 light was in this respect profound darkness. He confessed himself 
 a downright Agnostic. The origin of the first evil act was to him 
 an inexplicable mystery. Was it, then, a knowledge of the good- 
 ness, justice, and holiness of an Omnipotent Creator ? Was it a 
 knowledge of the Fatherhood of God ? No ; the Buddha's light 
 was in these respects also absolute darkness. Here, too, he 
 acknowledged himself a thorough Agnostic. He knew nothing of 
 the existence of any Supreme Being — of any Being higher than 
 himself. What, then, was the light that broke upon the Buddha ? 
 What was this enlightenment which has been so much written about 
 and extolled ? All that he claimed to have discovered was the 
 Origin of suffering and the remedy of suffering. All the light 
 of knowledge to which he attained came to this : that suffering 
 arises from indulging desires ; that suffering is inseparable from 
 life ; that all life is suffering ; and that suffering is to be got rid 
 of by the suppression of desires, and by the extinction of personal 
 existence. You see here the first great contrast. When the 
 Buddha said to his converts, ' Come, follow me,' he bade them 
 expect to get rid of suffering, he told them to stamp out suffering 
 by stamping out desires. When the Christ said to His disciples, 
 ' Come, follow me,' He bade them expect suffering. He told them 
 to glory in their sufferings, to rejoice in their sufferings, nay, to ex- 
 pect the perfection of their characters through suffering. It is 
 certainly noteworthy that both Christianity and Buddhism agree in 
 asserting that all creation travaileth in pain, in bodily suffering, in 
 tribulation. But mark the vast, the vital distinction in the teach- 
 ing of each. The one taught men to aim at the glorification of the 
 suffering body, the other at its utter annihilation. What says our 
 Bible ? We Christians, it says, are members of Christ's Body, of 
 His flesh and of His Bones, of that Divine Body, which was a 
 suffering body, a cross-bearing body, and is now a glorified body, 
 an ever-living, life-giving body. A Buddhist, on the other hand, 
 repudiates, as a simple impossibility, all idea of being a member of 
 the Buddha's body. How could a Buddhist be a member of a body 
 which was burnt, which was dissolved, which became extinct at the 
 moment when the Buddha's whole personality became extinguished
 
 21 
 
 also ? But, say the admirers of Buddhism, at least you will admit 
 that the Buddha told men to get rid of sin, and to aim at sanctity 
 of life ? Nothing of the kind. The Buddha had no idea of sin, 
 as an offence against God, no idea of true holiness. What he said 
 was, Get rid of the demerit of evil actions and accumulate merit by 
 good actions. This storing up of merit — like capital at a bank — 
 is one of those inveterate propensities of human nature which 
 Christianity alone has delivered men from. 
 
 " Only the other day I met an intelligent Sikh from the Punjab, 
 and asked him about his religion. He replied, ' I believe in One 
 God, and I repeat my prayers, called Jap-jee, every morning and 
 evening. These prayers occupy six pages of print, but I can get 
 through them in little more than ten minutes.' He seemed to 
 pride himself on this rapid recitation as a work of increased merit. 
 I said, ' What else does your religion require of jow ? ' He 
 replied, ' I have made one pilgrimage to a sacred well near 
 Amritsar ; eighty-five steps lead down to it. I descended and bathed 
 in the sacred pool. Then I ascended one step and repeated my 
 Jap-jee in about ten minutes. Then I descended again to the 
 pool and bathed again, and ascended to the second step and 
 repeated my prayers a second time. Then I descended a third 
 time, and ascended to the third step, and repeated my Jap-jee a 
 third time ; and so on for the whole eighty-five steps. It took me 
 exactly fourteen hours, from 5 p.m. one evening to 7 a.m. next 
 morning.' I asked, ' What good did you expect to get by going 
 through this task ? ' He replied, ' I hope I have laid up a great 
 store of merit, which will last me for a long time.' This, let me 
 tell you, is a genuine Hindu idea. It is of the very essence of 
 Brahmanism and Hinduism. It is equally a Mohammedan idea. 
 It is even more a Buddhist idea. Buddhism recognises the terrible 
 consequences of evil actions, but provides no remedy except the 
 accumulation of merit by good actions as a counterpoise. The Buddha 
 never claimed to be a deliverer from sin. He never pretended to 
 set anyone free from the bondage of sinful acts and sinful habits. 
 He never professed to provide any remedy for the leprosy of sin, 
 any medicine for a dying sinner. On the contrary, by his doctrine 
 of Karma be bound a man hand and foot to the consequences of his 
 own acts with chains of adamant. He said, in effect, to everyone 
 of his disciples, ' You are in slavery to a tyrant of your own setting 
 up ; your own deeds, words, and thoughts in the present and for- 
 mer states of being are your own avengers through a countless
 
 22 
 
 series of existences. If yon have been a murderer, a thief, a liar, 
 impure, a drunkard, you must pay the penalty iu your next birth ; 
 either in one of the hells, or as an unclean animal, or as an evil 
 spirit, or as a demon. You cannot escape, and I am powerless to set 
 you free.' ' Not in the heavens ' (says the Dhamma-pada), ' not 
 in the midst of the sea, not if thou hidest thyself in the clefts of the 
 mountains, wilt thou find a place where thou canst escape the force 
 of thine own evil actions.' Contrast the first sennon of Christ, 
 * The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath sent me to 
 proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to 
 them that are bound.' Yes, in Christ alone there is deliverance 
 from the bondage of fonner transgressions, from the prison-house 
 of former sins ; a total cancelling of the past, a complete blotting 
 out of the handwriting, that is against us ; the opening of a clear 
 course for every man to start afresh ; the fz'ee gift of pardon and of 
 life to every criminal, to every sinner — even the most heinous. 
 
 " But here, again, I seem to hear some admirers of Buddhism 
 say : — ' We admit the force of these contrasts, but surely you will 
 allow that in the law of Buddha we find precepts which tell us not 
 to love the world, not to love money, not to show enmity towards 
 our enemies, not to do unrighteous acts, not to commit impurities, 
 to overcome evil by good, and to do to others as we would be done 
 by ? ' Yes, I admit all this ; nay, I admit even more. I allow 
 that some Buddhist precepts go beyond corresponding Christian 
 injunctions ; for the laws of Buddha prohibit all killing, even of 
 animals for food. They demand total abstinence from stimulating 
 drinks, disallowing even moderation in their use. They bid all 
 who aim at the highest perfection abandon the world, and lead a 
 life of celibacy and monkhood. In fine, they enjoin total absti- 
 nence, because they dare not trust human beings to be temperate. 
 How, indeed, could they trust them, when they promise no help, no 
 Divine grace, no restraining power .'' The glory of Christianity is, 
 that having freely given that power to man, it ti'usts him to make 
 use of the gift. It seems to speak to him thus : ' Thy Creator 
 has endowed thee with freedom of choice, and therefore respects 
 thy liberty of action. He imposes on thee no rule of total absti- 
 nence in regard to natural desires ; He simply bids thee keep 
 them within bounds, so that thy self-control and thy moderation may 
 be known unto all men. He places thee in the world amid trials 
 and tefliptations, and says to thee, ' My grace is sufficient for thee, 
 and by its aid thou may est overcome them all.'
 
 23 
 
 " And, believe me, the great contrast between the moral precepts 
 of Buddhism and Christianity is not so much in the letter of the 
 precepts as in the motive power brought to bear in their application. 
 Buddhism says : Be righteous by yourselves, and through your- 
 selves, and for the final getting rid of all suffering, of all 
 individuality, of all life in yourselves. Christianity says : Be 
 righteous through a power implanted in you from above ; through 
 the power of a life-giving principle, freely given to you, and always 
 abiding in you.' The Buddha said to his followers : — ' Take 
 nothing from me, trust to no one but yourselves.' Christ said, and 
 says to us still : — ' Take all from Me ; take this free gift ; put on 
 this spotless robe ; eat this bread of -life ; drink this living water.' 
 He who receives a priceless gift is not likely to insult the 
 Giver of it. He who accepts a snow-white robe is not likely 
 willingly to soil it by impure acts. He who tastes life-giving bread 
 is not likely to relish husks. He who draws deep draughts at a 
 living well is not likely to prefer the polluted water of a stagnant 
 pool. If any one, therefore, insists on placing the Buddhist and 
 Christian moral codes on the same level, let him ask himself one 
 plain question : Who would be the more likely to lead a godly, 
 righteous, and sober life — a life of moderation and temperance — a 
 life of holiness and happiness ; the man who has learnt his morality 
 from the extinct Buddha, or the man who draws his morality and 
 his holiness from the living, the eternal, the life-giving Christ ? 
 
 " Still, I seem to hear some one say, ' We grant all this, we admit 
 the truth of what you have stated ; nevertheless, for all that, you 
 must allow that Buddhism conferred a great benefit on India by 
 setting free its teeming population, before entangled in the meshes 
 of ceremonial observances and Brahmanical priestcraft.' Yes, I 
 admit this ; nay, I admit even more than this. I admit that 
 Buddhism conferred many other benefits on the millions inhabiting 
 the most populous part of Asia. It promoted progress up to a 
 certain point ; it preached purity in thought, word, and deed 
 (though only for the accumulation of merit) ; it proclaimed the 
 brotherhood of humanity ; it avowed sympathy with social liberty 
 and freedom ; it gave back much independence to women ; it incul- 
 cated universal benevolence, extending even to animals ; and, from 
 its declaration that a man's future depended on his present acts and 
 conditions, it did good service for a time in preventing stagnation, 
 promoting activity, and elevating the character of humanity. 
 
 " But if, after making all these concessions, I am told that, on my
 
 24 
 
 own showing, Buddhism was a kind of introduction to Christianity, or 
 that Christianity is a kind of development of Buddhism, I must ask 
 you to bear with me a little longer while I point out certain other 
 contrasts, which ought to make it clear to every reasonable man 
 how vast, how profound, how impassable is the gulf separating the 
 true religion from a mere system of morality, founded on a form of 
 pessimistic philosophy. And, first of all, let us note that Christ 
 was God-sent, whereas Buddha was self-sent. Christ was with 
 His Father from everlasting, and was in the fulness of time sent by 
 Him into the world to be born of a pure virgin, in the likeness and 
 fashion of men. Buddha, on the contrary, by a force derived from 
 his own acts, passed through innumerable bodies of gods, demi-gods, 
 demons, men, and animals, until he reached one out of numerous 
 supposed heavens, and thence by his own will descended upon 
 earth, to enter the side of his mother, in the form of a white 
 elephant. Then Christ came down from heaven to be bom on 
 earth in a poor and humble station, to be reared in a cottage, to be 
 trained to toilsome labour as a working man. Buddha came down 
 to be born on earth in a rich and princely family ; to be brought 
 up amid luxurious surroundings, and finally to go forth as a 
 mendicant, begging his own food and doing nothing for his own 
 support. Then, again, Christ as He grew up, showed no signs of 
 earthly majesty in His external form, whereas the Buddha is 
 described as marked with certain mystic symbols of universal 
 monarchy on his feet and on his hands, and taller and more stately 
 in frame and figure than ordinary human beings. Then, when each 
 entered on his ministry as a teacher, Christ was despised and 
 rejected by kings and princes, and followed by poor and ignorant 
 fishennen, by common people, publicans, and sinners ; Buddha was 
 honoured by kings and princes, and followed by rich men and 
 learned disciples. Then Christ had all the treasures of knowledge 
 hidden in Himself, and made known to His disciples that He was 
 Himself the Way and the Truth, Himself their Wisdom, Righteous- 
 ness, Sanctification, and Redemption ; Buddha declared that all 
 enlightenment and wisdom were to be attained by his disciples, not 
 through him, but through themselves and their own intuitions, 
 and that, too, only after long and painful discipline in countless 
 successive bodily existences. Then, when we come to compare the 
 death of each, the contrast reaches its climax, for Christ was put 
 to death violently by wicked men and died in agony an atoning 
 death, suffering for the sins of the world at the age of thirty-three,
 
 25 
 
 leaving behind in Jerusalem about one hundred and twenty disciples 
 after a short ministry of three years ; whereas Buddha died peace- 
 fully among his friends, suffering from an attack of indigestion at 
 the age of eighty, leaving behind many thousands of disciples after 
 forty-five years of teaching and preaching. And what happened 
 after the death of each ? Christ the Holy One saw no corruption, 
 but rose again in His present glorified body, and is alive for ever- 
 more. Nay, has life in Himself ever-flowing in life-giving streams 
 towards His people. The Buddha is dead and gone for ever ; his 
 body, according to the testimony of his own disciples, was burnt, 
 more than 400 years before the Advent of Christ, and its ashes dis- 
 tributed everywhere as relics. Even according to the Buddha's 
 own declaration he now lives only in the doctrine which he left behind 
 him for the guidance of his followers. And here again in regard to 
 the doctrine left behind by each, a vast distinction is to be noted. 
 For the doctrine delivered by Christ to His disciples is to spread by 
 degrees everywhere until it prevails eternally. Whereas the 
 doctrine left by Buddha, though it advanced rapidly by leaps and 
 bounds, is, according to his own admission, to fade away by degrees, 
 till at the end of 5,000 years it has disappeared altogether from the 
 earth, and another Buddha must descend to restore it. 
 
 " Then that other Buddha must be followed by countless succeed- 
 ing Buddhas in succeeding ages, whereas there is only one Christ, 
 who can have no successor, for He is still alive and for ever present 
 with His people. ' Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
 the world.' Then observe that, although the Buddha's doctrine 
 was ultimately written down by his disciples in certain collections 
 of books, in the same manner as the doctrine of Christ, yet that a 
 gulf of difference — a fundamental difference of character — separates 
 the Sacred Books of each, the Bible of the Christian and the 
 Bible of the Buddhist. The Christian's Bible claims to be a super- 
 natural Revelation, yet it attaches no mystical talismanic virtue to 
 the mere sound of its words. On the other hand the characteristic of 
 the Buddhist Bible is that it utterly repudiates all claim to be a super- 
 natural revelation ; yet the very sound of its words is believed to 
 possess a meritorious efficacy, capable of elevating anyone who 
 hears it to heavenly abodes in future existences. In illustration I 
 may advert to a legend current in Ceylon, that once on a time 
 500 bats lived in a cave where two monks daily recited the 
 Buddha's law (the recitation being called ' Bana '). These bats 
 gained such merit by simply hearing the sound of the words
 
 26 
 
 that when they died they were all re-born as men and ultimately* 
 as gods. 
 
 " But, again. I am sure to hear the admirers of Buddhism say — 
 Is it not the case that the doctrine of Buddha, like the doctrine of 
 Christ, has self-sacrifice as its key-note ? Well, be it so. I admit 
 that the Buddha taught a kind of self-sacrifice. I admit that it is 
 recorded of the Buddha himself that on one occasion he plucked 
 out his own eyes, and that on another he cut ofi his own head, and 
 that on a third he cut his own body to pieces, to redeem a dove 
 from a hawk. But note the vast distinction between the self- 
 sacrifice taught by the two systems. Christianity demands the 
 suppression of selfishness. Buddhism demands the suppression of 
 self, with the one object of extinguishing all consciousness of self. 
 In the one the true self is elevated and intensified. In the other 
 the true self is annihilated by the practice of a false form of non- 
 selfishness, which has for its final object the annihilation of the Ego, 
 the utter extinction of the illusion of personal individuality. 
 
 " Then note other contrasts. According to the Christian Bible, 
 regulate and sanctify the heart's desires and affections. Accord- 
 ing to the Buddhist, suppress and utterly destroy them if you wish 
 for true sanctification. Christianity teaches that, in the highest 
 form of life, love is intensified. Buddhism teaches that, in the 
 highest state of existence, all love is extinguished. According to 
 Christianity, go and earn your own bread, support yourself and 
 your family. Marriage, it says, is honourable and undefiled, and 
 married life is a field on which holiness may grow and be developed. 
 Nay, more. Christ Himself honoured a wedding with his presence, 
 and took up little children in His arms and blessed them. Buddhism, 
 on the other hand, says. Avoid maiTied life ; shun it as if it were 
 a burning pit of live coals ; or, having entered on it, abandon wife, 
 children, and home, and go about as celibate monks, engaging in 
 nothing but in meditation and recitation of the Buddha's Law — 
 that is, if you aim at the highest degree of sanctification. And then 
 comes the important contrast, that no Christian trusts to his own 
 works as the sole meritorious cause of salvation, but is taught to 
 say, I have no merit of my own, and when I have done all I am an 
 unprofitable servant. Whereas Buddhism, on the contrarv, teaches 
 that every man must trust to his own merits only. Fitly do the 
 rags worn by its monks symbolise the miserable patchwork of 
 its own self-righteousness. Not that Christianity ignores the 
 necessity for good works ; on the contrary, no other system insists
 
 on a lofty morality so strongly, but only as a thank-offering — only 
 ns the outcome and evidence of faith — never as the meritorious 
 instrument of salvation. 
 
 "Lastly, I must advert again to the most important and essential 
 of all the distinctions which separate Christianity from Buddhism- 
 Christianity regards personal life as the most precious, the most 
 sacred of all possessions, and God Himself as the highest example 
 of intense personality, the great ' I Am that I Am,' and teaches 
 us that we are to thirst for a continuance of personal life as a gift 
 for Him ; nay, more, that we are to thirst for the living God Him- 
 self and for conformity to His likeness ; while Buddhism sets forth 
 as the highest of all aims the utter extinction of personal identity— 
 the utter annihilation of the Ego — ^of all existence in any form 
 whatever, and proclaims, as the only true creed, the ultimate reso- 
 lution of everything into nothing, of every entity into pure non- 
 entity. What shall I do to inherit eternal life ? says the Christian. 
 What shall I do to inherit eternal extinction of life ? says the Budd- 
 hist. It seems a mere absurdity to have to ask, in concluding this 
 address, Whom shall we choose as our guide, our hope, our salva- 
 tion — ' the Light of Asia,' or ' the Light of the world ' ? the 
 Buddha, or the Christ ? It seems mere mockery to put this final 
 question to lational and thoughtful men in the nineteenth century : — 
 Which book shall w« clasp to our hearts in the hour of death — the 
 book that tells us of the extinct man Buddha, or the Bible that 
 reveals to us the living Christ, the Redeemer of the world ? "
 
 €\t Wutam Institute, 
 
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 ^|)ilos0pj)ical BmU] of ireal "Iritak 
 
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 JOURNAL OF TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 VOL. XVIII. 
 
 On Misrepresentations of Christianity. By Lord O'Neill (the late). 
 Science not Opposed to Revelation. By J. L. Porter, D.D., LL.D., Pres. Queen's Coll. 
 Recent Egyptological Research in its Biblical Relation. By the Rev. H. G. Tomkins. 
 Cuneiform Inscriptions as illustrative of the times of the Jewish Captivity, By W. Sx. 
 
 Chad Boscawen, F.R.Hist.Soc. 
 Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon — On Recently Discovered Inscriptions of this King. By 
 
 E. A. Budge, M.A., M.R.A.S. 
 Buddhism. By Rev. R. Collins. Remarks by Dr. Leitner (Lahore), Professor Rht3 
 
 Davids, Mr. Rassam, Rev. S. Coles (Ceylon), &c. Also a Full Note on Krishna. 
 Pessimism. By (the late) W. P. James, Esq. 
 
 On the Prehistoric Factory of Flints at Spiennes. By Rev. J. Magens Mello, F.G.S. 
 The Evolution of the Pearly Nautilus. By S. R. Pattison, Esq., F.G.S. 
 On "Prehistoric Man in Egypt and the Lebanon." By Sir J. W. Dawson, K.C.M.G., 
 
 F.R.S., McGill University, Montreal. Remarks by Professors W. Warinqton Smyth, 
 
 F.R.S., W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., T. Rdpert Jones, F.R.S., T. Wiltshire, F.G.S., 
 
 Colonel Herschel, F.R.S., Dr. Rae, F.R.S. 
 
 VOL. XIX. 
 
 f On the Inductive Logic. By Prof. R. L. Dabney, D.D., LL.D. Speeches by Sir H. 
 Barkly, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., F.R.S., Sir J. Lefroy, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., &c. 
 On Evolution by Natural Selection. J. Hassell, Esq. 
 ' Remarks on Evolution by Professor Virchow. 
 On the Recency of the Close of the Glacial Epoch. By D. Mackintosh, Esq., F.G.S 
 Communications from Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S. , and others. 
 I On the recession of Niagara (with the United States Government Survey Diagrams).
 
 THE VICTORIA INSTITDTE. 
 
 75. 
 
 76. 
 
 On the Religion of the Aboriginal Tribes of Jndia. By Professor J. Avert. Remarks by 
 
 General Haig, Mr. H. RassaM, and others. 
 On the Evolution of Savages by Degradation. Rev. F. A. Allen, M. A. 
 Some Thoughts on the Evolution of Religions. By Rev. W. R. Blackett, M.A. 
 On the Relation of Fossil Botany to Theories of Evolution. By late W. P. James, F.L.S. 
 
 Remarks bv Sir R. Owen, F.R.S., Prof. W. Cakruthers, F.R.S., Dr. J. Braxton 
 
 Hicks, F.R.S., &c. 
 Was Primeval Man a Savage ? By J. Hassell, Esq. 
 Remarks on Evolution and Development. By Rev. J. White, M.A. 
 On Some Characteristics of Primitive Religions. By Rev. R. COLLINS, M.A. 
 Human Responsibility. By Rev. G. Blencowe. 
 
 On the Worship and Traditions of the Aborigines of America. By Rev. M. Eells, M.A. 
 \ Remarks by Professor J. 0. DORSET, U.S. Survey. 
 
 \Note on Comparative Religions. 
 
 VOL. XX. 
 
 77. Special Address by the Institute's President, Professor G. G. Stokes, M.A., D.C.L. 
 
 President of the Royal Society. 
 Egypt: Physical, Historical, Literary, and Social. By J. Leslie Porter, D.D.,D.C.L., 
 
 President of Queen's College, Be&ast. Remarks by the Earl of Belmore, Right Hon. 
 
 A. S. Atrton (the late), &c. 
 On the Theory of Natural Selection and the Theory of Design, By Professor DuNS, D.D., 
 
 F.R.S.E. Remarks by Right Hon. Lord Grimthorpe, &c. 
 
 78. On Agnosticism. By J. Hassell, Esq. 
 
 On the Structure of the Gorilla. By K. Charlesworth, Esq., F.G.S. ; with illustration. 
 Notes on the Antiquity of Man. By the Editor. The Chronology of Animal Life on the 
 
 Earth prior to the Advent of Man. By Sii- J. William Dawson, K CM. G., F.R.S., 
 
 President of the British Association. 
 Historical Evidences of the Migration of Abram. By W. St. C. Boscawen, F.R.Hist.Soc, 
 
 with drawings. Notes by Professor Satce, F.R.S., E. A. W. Budge, Esq., &,c. 
 A Samoan Tradition of Creation. By Rev. T. Powell, F.L.S. ; Notes on the Islands. 
 
 79. The Fundamental Assumptions of Agnosticism. By Rev. H. J. Clarke. 
 
 On Miracles. By Rev. H. C. M. Watson. Remarks by Lord Grimthorpe, &c. 
 On Accounts of the Creation. By W. P. James, Esq., F.L.S. (the late). 
 
 80. On Final Cause. By Professor R. L. Dabnet, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 On Structure and Structureless. By Prof. Lionel S. Beale, M.B., F. R.S. 
 
 On the Meteorology of Syria and Palest.ne. By Professor G. E. Post, F.L.S. (with chart). 
 
 Remarks by Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., F.R.S., &c. 
 On the Geographical Names on the List of Thothmes III. By Professor G. Maspero 
 
 (with map). Remarks by Sir Charles Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., Captain 
 
 C. R. CoNDER, R.E., Dr. Wright, &c. Note on Excavations round the Sphinx. By 
 
 Prof. Maspero. 
 
 VOL. XXL— 1887-8. 
 
 81. Results of an Expedition to Arabia Petrsea and Palestine (with chart). By Professor E. 
 
 HoLL, F.R.S., Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland. 
 Jewish, Phoenician, and Early Greek Art. By Rev. Dr. Porter, President, Queen's Col- 
 lege, Belfast. 
 
 82. The Discoveries at Sidon. 
 
 The Empire of the Hittites. By Rev. W. Wright, D.D. Note on the Hittites. 
 
 Canaan, Ancient and Modem. By Professor Tristram, F.R.S. 
 
 On Caves. By Professor T. McK. Hughes, F.G.S. (Cambridge), with comments by Sir 
 
 J. W. Dawson, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., Sir Warington W. Smyth, F.R.S., and others. 
 Oriental Entomology. By Rev. F. A. Walker, D.D., F.L.S. Notes by S. T. Klein, Esq., 
 
 F.L.S., and others. 
 Petra. By Professor E. Hull, F.R.S. (with chart). 
 
 83. On Krishna. By Rev. R. Collins, M.A. Notes by Sir M. AIonier- Williams, K.C.I.E., 
 
 Professors Max Muller, E. B. Cowell, Douglas, de Lacouperie, Dr. Leitner, and 
 
 Dr. Edersheim. 
 The Pedigree of the Coral Reefs of England. By S. R. Pattison, F.G.S. Remarks by 
 
 Professor G. G. Stokes, P. R.S. 
 Practical Optimism. By Canon Saumarez Smith, B.D. 
 
 84. Traditions of the Aborigines of North America. By Rev. S. D. PeeT (with illustrations). 
 On the Beauty of Nature. By Lord Grimthorpe, with special paper by Rev. W. 
 
 Arthur, M.A. 
 Evolution. By Rev. H. J. Clarke, M.A. Remarks by Sir J. W. Dawson, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. 
 Appendices ; The Jewish Nation and Diseases. Egyptian Discoveries in 1888. (Library 
 
 List, &c.) The Sacred Books of the East. By^SLr M. MoNlER- Williams, K.C.I.E.