Page:Monier Monier-Williams - Indian Wisdom.djvu/42

xxxviii p. 284, line 9 from bottom); to pp. 201, 246, for that of regeneration or second birth; to pp. 2/8, 279, for that of atonement and expiation; to pp. 321-336 for the Hindu theory of incarnation and the need of a Saviour; to p. 324 for that of the triple manifestation or Hindu Triad; to pp. 104-106, 247 (with note 2), 251, for the Hindu and Muhammadan teaching as to the religious duties of prayer, ablutions, repetitions of sacred texts, almsgiving, penance, &c.; to p. 252, note i, for the actual practice of these duties at the present day; to pp. 104-106 for the infliction of self-mortifications, fasting, &c.; and, lastly, to pp. 282-294, 440-448, 457-462, for examples of moral and religious sentiments.

Lest, however, it should be inferred that, while advocating perfect fairness and impartiality in comparing all four religious systems, I have aimed in the present work at lowering in the slightest degree the commanding position occupied by our own faith, or written anything to place Christianity in an unfavourable light in relation to the other systems of the world, I conclude this Introduction by adverting to some principal points which, in my opinion, constitute the distinctive features of our own religion, separating it decisively from all the other creeds as the only divine scheme capable of regenerating the entire human race.

It seems to me, then, that in comparing together these four systems—Christianity, Islam, Brahmanism, and Buddhism—the crucial test of the possession of that absolute divine truth which can belong to one only of the four, and which—if supernaturally communicated by the common Father of mankind for the good of all His creatures—must be intended to prevail everywhere, ought to lie in the answer to two questions: 1st, What is the ultimate object at which each aims? 2ndly, By what means and by what agency is this aim to be accomplished?

1. Let us begin with Buddhism, because as a religious system it stands lowest; not indeed deserving, or even claiming, to be called a religion at all in the true sense of the word (see p. 57), though it is numerically the strongest of all the four creeds. With regard, then, to the first question:

The object aimed at by pure Buddhism is, as we have shown at p. 57, Nirvāna, the being blown out like a flame—in other words—utter annihilation. It is true that the S'ramanas or Bhikshukas, 'ascetics and religious mendicants,' alone can be said to aim directly at Nirvana (see pp. 57, 58). The Upāsakas or laymen