Art. VII.—Remarks on the present state of Buddhism in China

Extract

[The following paper upon the present state of Buddhism in China, by the late Dr. Gutzlaff, was drawn up at my request, and was received by me scarcely a fortnight before the intelligence of his death arrived. He appears to picture the practice of Buddhism as it now meets the eye in China, rather than as inculcated in the precepts of its founder; and in consequence both clergy and laity testify to the corruptions which have gradually disfigured its primitive character. Dr. Gutzlaff's very strong language with respect to the ignorance, selfish habits, chicanery, mendacity, mendicancy, and idleness of the priesthood (mendicancy and contemplation, however, being ordinances of Buddhism), contrasted with his conflicting statements that the priesthood is generally despised yet popular, may have been influenced by his religious enthusiasm, which, although he had ceased to labour as a missionary, manifested itself to the last in his connexion with the Chinese Christian Union. Dr. GutzlafT does not give much that is new with respect to Buddhism, but the paper is interesting as a resumé, and affords corroborative evidence to the writings of others. His account of the Páli works in Chinese characters discourages us from the expectation of learning much from them; but in case a few of them conld be transcribed according to the sounds into some known character, they would become legible to a good Páli scholar. But he says there are a few works in a character originally used for writing Páli, and they may be considered faithful transcripts of the earliest writings of Buddhism.