Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 95

[Footnote 3: Details of Buddhism in China and Chin-India will be found in the erudite commentaries of KLAPROTH, REMUSAT, and LANDRESSE.]

Whilst Brahmanism, without denying the existence, practically ignores the influence and power of a creating and controlling intelligence, Buddhism, exulting in the idea of the infinite perfectibility of man, and the achievement of the highest attainable happiness by the unfaltering practice of every conceivable virtue, exalts the individuals thus pre-eminently wise into absolute supremacy over all existing beings, and attempts the daring experiment of an _atheistic morality._[1] Even Buddha himself is not wors.h.i.+pped as a deity, or as a still existent and active agent of benevolence and power. He is merely reverenced as a glorified remembrance, the effulgence of whose purity serves as a guide and incentive to the future struggles and aspirations of mankind. The sole superiority which his doctrines admit is that of goodness and wisdom; and Buddha having attained to this perfection by the immaculate purity of his actions, the absolute subjugation of pa.s.sion, and the unerring accuracy of his unlimited knowledge, became ent.i.tled to the homage of all, and was required to render it to none.

[Footnote 1: M. REMUSAT announces, as the result of his researches, that neither the Chinese; the Tartars, nor Monguls have any word in their dialects expressive of our idea of a G.o.d.--_Fo[)e] Kou[)e] Ki_, p. 138; and M. BARTHELEMY SAINT-HILLAIRE adds, that "il n'y a pas trace de l'idee de Dieu dans le Bouddhisme entier, ni au debut ni au terme."--_Le Bouddha_, &c., Introd. p. iv. Colonel SYKES, in the xiith vol. of the _Asiatic Journal_, pp. 263 and 376, denies that Buddhism is _atheistic;_ and adduces, in support of his views, allusions made by FA HIAN. But the pa.s.sages to which he refers present no direct contradiction to those metaphysical subtleties by which the Buddhistical writers have carefully avoided whilst they closely approach the admission of belief in a deity.

I am not prepared to deny that the faith in a supreme being may not have characterised Buddhism in its origin, as the belief in a Great First Cause in the person of Brahma is still acknowledged by the Hindus, although honoured by no share of their adoration. But it admits of little doubt that neither in the discourses of its priesthood at the present day nor in the practice of its followers in Ceylon is the name or the existence of an omnipotent First Cause recognised in any portion of their wors.h.i.+p. MAUPIED has correctly described Buddhism both in Ceylon and China as a system of refined atheism (_Essai sur l'Origine des Peuples Anciens_, ch. x. p. 277), and MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE gives the weight of his high authority in the statement that "The most ancient of Baudha sects entirely denies the being of a G.o.d; and some of those which admit the existence of G.o.d still refuse to acknowledge him as the creator and ruler of the world.... The theistical sect seems to prevail in Nepaul, and the _atheistical to subsist in perfection in Ceylon._"--_History of India_, vol. i. pt. ii. ch. 4. An able writer in the fourth volume of the _Calcutta Review_ has also controverted the a.s.sertion of its atheistic complexion; but whatever truth may be developed in his views, their application is confined to Buddhism in Hindustan and Nepal, and is utterly at variance with the practice and received dogmas in Ceylon.]

Externally coinciding with Hinduism, so far as the avatar of Buddha may be regarded as a pendant for the incarnation of Brahma, the wors.h.i.+p of the former is essentially distinguished from the religion of the latter in one important particular. It does not regard Buddha as an actual emanation or manifestation of the divinity, but as a guide and example to teach an enthusiastic self-reliance by means of which mankind, of themselves and by their own una.s.sisted exertions, are to attain to perfect virtue here and to supreme happiness hereafter. Both systems inculcate the mysterious doctrine of the metempsychosis; but whilst the result of successive embodiments is to bring the soul of the Hindu nearer and nearer to the final beat.i.tude of absorption into the essence of Brahma, the end and aim of the Buddhistical transmigration is to lead the purified spirit to _Nirwana_[1], a condition between which and utter annihilation there exists but the dim distinction of a name. Nirwana is the _exhaustion_ but not the _destruction_ of existence, the _close_ but not the _extinction_ of being.

[Footnote 1: "Nirwana" is Sanskrit, _ni_ (_r_ euphon. causa) _wana_ desire. The Singhalese name "Nirwana" is also derived from _newanawa_, to extinguish. See J. BARTHELEMY SAINT-HILAIRE, _Le Bouddha_, 133, 177, &c.]

In deliberate consistency with this principle of human elevation, the doctrines of Buddha recognise the full eligibility of every individual born into the world for the attainment of the highest degrees of intellectual perfection and ultimate bliss; and herein consists its most striking departure from the Brahmanical system in denying the superiority of the "twice born" over the rest of mankind; in repudiating a sacerdotal supremacy of race, and in claiming for the pure and the wise that supremacy and exaltation which the self-glorified Brahmans would monopolise for themselves.

Hence the supremacy of "_caste_" is utterly disclaimed in the sacred books which contain the tenets of Buddha; and although in process of time his followers have departed from that portion of his precepts, still distinction of birth is nowhere authoritatively recognised as a qualification for the priesthood. Buddha being in fact a deification of human intellect, the philanthropy of the system extends its partic.i.p.ation and advantages to the whole family of mankind, the humblest member of which is sustained by the a.s.surance that by virtue and endurance he may attain an equality though not an identification with the supreme intelligence. Wisdom thus exalted as the sole object of pursuit and veneration, the Buddhists, with characteristic liberality, admit that the teaching of virtue is not necessarily confined to their own professors; especially when the ceremonial of others does not involve the taking of life. Hence in a great degree arises the indifference of the Singhalese as to the comparative claims of Christianity and Buddhism, and hence the facility with which, both under the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British Government, they have combined the secret wors.h.i.+p of the one with the ostensible profession of the other. They in fact admit Christ to have been a teacher, second only to Buddha, but inferior, inasmuch as the latter, who was perfect in wisdom, has attained to the bliss of Nirwana.[1]

[Footnote 1: Sir JOHN DAVIS in his account of the Chinese, states that the Buddhists there wors.h.i.+p the "_Queen of Heaven_," a personage evidently borrowed from the Roman Catholics, and that the name of "_Jesus_" appears in the list of their divinities. (Chap. xiv.)

A curious ill.u.s.tration of the prevalence of this disposition to conform to two religions was related to me in Ceylon. A Singhalese chief came a short time since to the princ.i.p.al of a government seminary at Colombo, desirous to place his son as a pupil of the inst.i.tution, and agreed, without an instant's hesitation, that the boy should conform to the discipline of the school, which requires the reading of the Scriptures and attendance at the hours of wors.h.i.+p and prayer; accounting for his ready acquiescence by an a.s.surance that he entertained an equal respect for the doctrines of Buddhism and Christianity. "But how can you," said the princ.i.p.al, "with your superior education and intelligence, reconcile yourself thus to halt between two opinions, and submit to the inconsistency of professing an equal belief in two conflicting religions?" "Do you see," replied the subtle chief, laying his hand on the arm of the other, and directing his attention to a canoe, with a large spar as an outrigger lashed alongside, in which a fisherman was just pus.h.i.+ng off upon the lake, "do you see the style of these boats, in which our fishermen always put to sea, and that that spar is almost equivalent to a second canoe, which keeps the first from upsetting? It is precisely so with myself: I add on _your_ religion to steady my _own, because I consider Christianity a very safe outrigger to Buddhism._"]

As regards the _structure of the universe_, the theories of the Buddhists, though in a great degree borrowed from the Brahmans, occupy a much less prominent position in their mythology, and are less intimately identified with their system of religion. Their attention has been directed less to physical than to metaphysical disquisitions, and their views of cosmogony have as little of truth as of imagination in their details. The basis of the system is a declaration of the eternity of matter, and its submission at remote intervals to decay and re-formation; but this and the organisation of animal life are but the results of spontaneity and procession, not the products of will and design on the part of an all powerful Creator.

Buddhism adopts something approaching to the mundane theory of the Brahmans, in the multiplicity and superposition of worlds and the division of the earth into concentric continents, each separated by oceans of various fabulous liquids. Its notions of geography are at once fanciful and crude; and again borrowing from the Shastras its chronology, extends over boundless portions of time, but invests with the authority of history only those occurrences which have taken place since the birth of Gotama Buddha.

The Buddhists believe in the existence of _lokas_, or heavens, each differing in glory, and serving as the temporary residences of demiG.o.ds and divinities, as well as of men whose etherialisation is but inchoate, and who have yet to visit the earth in farther births and acquire in future transmigrations their complete attainment of Nirwana. They believe likewise in the existence of h.e.l.ls which are the abodes of demons or tormentors, and in which the wicked undergo a purgatorial imprisonment preparatory to an extended probation upon earth. Here their torments are in proportion to their crimes, and although not eternal, their duration extends almost to the infinitude of eternity; those who have been guilty of the deadly sins of parricide, sacrilege, and defiance of the faith being doomed to the endurance of excruciating deaths, followed by instant revival and a repet.i.tion of their tortures without mitigation and apparently without end.[1]

[Footnote 1: DAVY'S _Account of the Interior of Ceylon_, p. 204.]

It is one of the extraordinary anomalies of the system, that combined with these principles of self-reliance and perfectibility, Buddhism has incorporated to a certain extent the doctrine of fate or "necessity,"

under which it demonstrates that adverse events are the general results of _akusala_ or moral demerit in some previous stage of existence. This belief, which lies at the very foundation of their religion, the Buddhists have so adapted to the rest of the structure as to avoid the inconsistency of making this directing power inherent in any Supreme Being, by a.s.signing it as one of the attributes of matter and a law of its perpetual mutations.

Like all the leading doctrines of Buddhism, however, its theories on this subject are propounded with the usual admixture of modification and casuistry; only a portion of men's conduct is presumed to be exclusively controllable by _fate_--neither moral delinquency nor virtuous actions are declared to be altogether the products of an inevitable necessity; and whilst both the sufferings and the enjoyments of mortals are represented as the general consequences of merit in a previous stage of existence, even this fundamental principle is not without its exception, inasmuch as the vicissitudes are admitted to be partially the results of man's actions in this life, or of the influence of others from which his own deserts are insufficient to protect him. The main article, however, which admits neither of modification nor evasion, is that neither in heaven nor on earth can man escape from the _consequences_ of his acts; that morals are in their essence productive causes, without the aid or intervention of any higher authority; and hence forgiveness or atonement are ideas utterly unknown in the despotic dogmas of Buddha.

Allusion has already been made to the subtleties entertained by the priesthood, in connexion with the doctrine of the _metempsychosis_, as developed in their sacred books; but the exposition would be tedious to show the distinctions between their theories, and the opinions of transmigration entertained by the ma.s.s of the Singhalese Buddhists. The rewards of virtue and the punishment of vice are supposed to be equally attainable in this world; and according to the amount of either, which characterizes the conduct of an individual in one stage of being, will be the elevation or degradation into which he will be hereafter born.

Thus punishment and reward become equally fixed and inevitable: but retribution may be deferred by the intermediate exhibition of virtue, and an offering or prostration to Buddha, or an aspiration in favour of faith in his name, will suffice to ward off punishment for a time, and even produce happiness in an intermediate birth; hence the most flagitious offender, by an act of reverence in dying, may postpone indefinitely the evil consequence of his crimes, and hence the indifference and apparent apathy which is a remarkable characteristic of the Singhalese who suffer death for their offences[1].

[Footnote 1:

Et vos barbaricos ritus, moremque sinistrum Sacrorum Druidae positis repetistis ab armis.

Solis nosse deos, et coeli numina vobis Aut solis nesclre datum: nemora alta remoti Incolitis lucis: _vobis auctoribus umbrae Non tacitas Erebi sedes Ditisque profundi Pallida regna petunt: regit idem spiritus arius...o...b.. alio: longae (si canitis cognita) vitae Mors media, st. Certe populi quos despicit Arcios Felices errore suo, quos ille timorum Maximus haud urget leti metus, etc._

LUCAN, l. i. 450 ct seq.]

To mankind in general Buddha came only as an adviser and a friend; but, as regards his own priesthood, he a.s.sumes all the authority of a lawgiver and chief. Spurning the desires and vanities of the world, he has taught them to aspire to no other reward for their labours than the veneration of the human race, as teachers of knowledge and examples of benevolence. Taking the abstract idea of perfect intelligence and immaculate virtue for a divinity, Buddhism accords honour to all in proportion to their approaches towards absolute wisdom, and as the realisation of this perfection is regarded as almost hopeless in a life devoted to secular cares, the priests of Buddha, on a.s.suming their robe and tonsure, forswear all earthly occupations; subsist on alms, not in money, but in food; devote themselves to meditation and self-denial; and, being thus proclaimed and recognised as the most successful aspirants to Nirwana, they claim the homage of ordinary mortals, acknowledge no superior upon earth, and withhold even the tribute of a salutation from all except the members of their own religious order.

To mankind in general the injunctions of Buddha prescribe _a code of morality_ second only to that of Christianity, and superior to every heathen system that the world has seen.[1] It forbids the taking of life from even the humblest created animal, and prohibits intemperance and incontinence, dishonesty and falsehood--vices which are referable to those formidable a.s.sailants, _raga_ or concupiscence, _doso_ or malignity, and _moha_, ignorance or folly.[2] These, again, involve all their minor modifications--hypocrisy and anger, unkindness and pride, ungenerous suspicion, covetousness, evil wishes to others, the betrayal of secrets, and the propagation of slander. Whilst all such offences are forbidden, every excellence is simultaneously enjoined--the forgiveness of injuries, the practice of charity, a reverence for virtue, and the cheris.h.i.+ng of the learned; submission to discipline, veneration for parents, the care for one's family, a sinless vocation, contentment and grat.i.tude, subjection to reproof, moderation in prosperity, submission under affliction, and cheerfulness at all times. "Those," said Buddha, "who practise all these virtues, and are not overcome by evil, will enjoy the perfection of happiness, and attain to supreme renown."[3]

[Footnote 1: "Je n'hesite pas a ajouter que, sauf le Christ tout seul, il n'est point, parmi les fondateurs de religion de figure, plus pure ni plus touchante que celle de Bouddha. Sa vie n'a point de tache."--_Le Bouddha_, par J. BARTHELEMY SAINT-HILAIRE, Introd. p. v.]

[Footnote 2: The Rev. Mr. GOGERLY's _Notes on Buddhism_. LEE's _Ribeyro_, p. 267.]

[Footnote 3: Discourse of Buddha ent.i.tled _Mangala_.]

Buddhism, it may be perceived from this sketch, is, properly speaking, less a form of religion than a school of philosophy; and _its wors.h.i.+p_, according to the inst.i.tutes of its founders, consists of an appeal to the reason, rather than an attempt on the imagination through the instrumentality of rites and parade. "Salvation is made dependent, not upon the practice of idle ceremonies, the repeating of prayers or of hymns, or invocations to pretended G.o.ds, but upon moral qualifications, which const.i.tute individual and social happiness here, and ensure it hereafter."[1] In later times, and in the failure of Buddhism by una.s.sisted arguments to ensure the observance of its precepts and the practice of its morals, the experiment has been made to arouse the attention and excite the enthusiasm of its followers by the adoption of ceremonies and processions; but these are declared to be only the innovations of priestcraft, and the Singhalese, whilst they unite in their celebration, are impatient to explain that such practices are less religious than secular, and that the Perrehera in particular, the chief of their annual festivals, was introduced, not in honour of Buddha, but as a tribute to the Kandyan kings as the patrons and defenders of the faith.[2]

[Footnote 1: Colonel SYKES, _Asiat. Journ._, vol. xii. p. 266.]

[Footnote 2: FA HIAN describes the procession of Buddhists which he witnessed in the kingdom of Khotan, and it is not a little remarkable, that along with the image of Buddha were a.s.sociated those of the Brahmanical deities _Indra_ and _Brahma_, the _Lha_ of the Thibetans and the _Toeyri_ of the Moguls.]

In its formula, whatever alterations Buddhism may have undergone in Ceylon are altogether external, and clearly referable to its anomalous a.s.sociation with the wors.h.i.+p of its ancient rivals the Brahmans. These changes, however, are the result of proximity and a.s.sociation rather than of incorporation or adoption; and even now the process of expurgation is in progress with a view to the restoration of the pristine purity of the faith by a formal separation from the observances of Hinduism. The schismatic kings and the Malabar sovereigns introduced the wors.h.i.+p of Vishnu and s.h.i.+va into the same temples with that of Buddha.[1] The innovation has been perpetuated; and to the present day the statues of these conflicting divinities are to be found within the same buildings: the Dewales of Hinduism are erected within the same inclosure as the Wiharas of the Buddhists; and the Kappoorales of the one religion officiate at their altars, almost beneath the same roof with the priests and neophytes of the other. But beyond this parade of their emblems, the wors.h.i.+p of the Hindu deities throughout the Singhalese districts is entirely devoid of the obscenities and cruelty by which it is characterised on the continent of India; and it would almost appear as if these had been discontinued by the Brahmans in compliment to the superior purity of the wors.h.i.+p with which their own had become thus fortuitously a.s.sociated. The exclusive prejudices of caste were at the same remote period partially engrafted on the simpler and more generous discipline of Buddha; and it is only recently that any vigorous exertions have been attempted for their disseverance.

[Footnote 1: See _ante_, Vol. I. Part III. ch. viii. p. 378.]

On comparing this system with other prevailing religions which divide with it the wors.h.i.+p of the East, Buddhism at once vindicates its own superiority, not only by the purity of its code of morals, but by its freedom from the fanatical intolerance of the Mahometans and its abhorrent rejection of the revolting rites of the Brahmanical faith. But mild and benevolent as are its aspects and design, its theories have failed to realise in practice the reign of virtue which they proclaim.

Beautiful as is the body of its doctrines, it wants the vivifying energy and soul which are essential to ensure its ascendancy and power. Its cold philosophy and thin abstractions, however calculated to exercise the faculties of anch.o.r.ets and ascetics, have proved insufficient of themselves to arrest man in his career of pa.s.sion and pursuit; and the bold experiment of influencing the heart and regulating the conduct of mankind by the external decencies and the mutual dependencies of morality, unsustained by higher hopes and by a faith that penetrates eternity, has proved in this instance an unredeemed and hopeless failure. The inculcation of the social virtues as the consummation of happiness here and hereafter, suggests an object sufficiently attractive for the bulk of mankind; but Buddhism presents along with it no adequate knowledge of the means which are indispensable for its attainment. In confiding all to the mere strength of the human intellect and the enthusiastic self-reliance and determination of the human heart, it makes no provision for defence against those powerful temptations before which ordinary resolution must give way; and affords no consoling support under those overwhelming afflictions by which the spirit is prostrated and subdued, when unaided by the influence of a purer faith and unsustained by its confidence in a diviner power. From the contemplation of the Buddhist all the awful and unending realities of a future life are withdrawn--his hopes and his fears are at once mean and circ.u.mscribed; the rewards held in prospect by his creed are insufficient to incite him to virtue; and its punishments too remote to deter him from vice. Thus, insufficient for time, and rejecting eternity, the utmost triumph of his religion is to live without fear and to die without hope.

Both socially and in its effects upon individuals, the result of the system in Ceylon has been apathy almost approaching to infidelity. Even as regards the tenets of their creed, the ma.s.s of the population exhibit the profoundest ignorance and manifest the most irreverent indifference.

In their daily intercourse and acts, morality and virtue, so far from being apparent as the rule, are barely discernible as the exception.

Neither hopes nor apprehensions have proved a sufficient restraint on the habitual violation of all those precepts of charity and honesty, of purity and truth, which form the very essence of their doctrine; and in proportion as its tenets have been slighted by the people, its priesthood are disregarded, and its temples neglected.

No national system of religion, no prevailing superst.i.tion that has ever fallen under my observation presents so dull a level, and is so pre-eminently deficient in popular influences, as Buddhism amongst the Singhalese. It has its mult.i.tude of followers, but it is a misnomer to describe them as its _votaries_, for the term implies a warmth and fervour unknown to a native of Ceylon. He believes, or he thinks he believes, because he is of the same faith with his ancestors; but he looks on the religious doctrines of the various sects which surround him with a stolid indifference which is the surest indication of the little importance which he attaches to his own. The fervid earnestness of Christianity, even in its most degenerate forms, the fanatical enthusiasm of Islam, the proud exclusiveness of Brahma, and even the zealous warmth of other Northern faiths, are all emotions utterly foreign and unknown to the followers of Buddhism in Ceylon.

Yet, strange to tell, under all the icy coldness of this barren system, there burn below the unextinguished fires of another and a darker superst.i.tion, whose flames overtop the icy summits of the Buddhist philosophy, and excite a deeper and more reverential awe in the imagination of the Singhalese. As the Hindus in process of time superadded to their exalted conceptions of Brahma, and the benevolent attributes of Vishnu, those dismal dreams and apprehensions which embody themselves in the horrid wors.h.i.+p of s.h.i.+va, and in invocations to propitiate the destroyer; so the followers of Buddha, unsatisfied with the vain pretensions of unattainable perfection, struck down by their internal consciousness of sin and insufficiency, and seeing around them, instead of the reign of universal happiness and the apotheosis of intellect and wisdom, nothing but the ravages of crime and the sufferings produced by ignorance, have turned with instinctive terror to propitiate the powers of evil, by whom alone such miseries are supposed to be inflicted, and to _wors.h.i.+p the demons_ and tormentors to whom their superst.i.tion is contented to attribute a circ.u.mscribed portion of power over the earth.

DEMON WORs.h.i.+P prevailed amongst the Singhalese before the introduction of Buddhism by Mahindo. Some principle akin to it seems to be an aboriginal impulse of uncivilised man in his first and rudest conceptions of religion, engendered, perhaps, by the spectacle of cruelty and pain, the visitations of suffering and death, and the contemplation of the awful phenomena of nature--storms, torrents, volcanoes, earthquakes, and destruction. The conciliation of the powers which inflict such calamities, seems to precede, when it does not supplant, the adoration of the benevolent influence to which belong the creation, the preservation, and the bestowal of happiness on mankind; and in the mind of the native of Ceylon this ancient superst.i.tion has maintained its ascendancy, notwithstanding the introduction and ostensible prevalence of Buddhism; for the latter, whilst it admits the existence of evil spirits, has emphatically prohibited their invocation, on the ground that any malignant influence they may exert over man is merely the consequence of his vices, whilst the cultivators of virtue may successfully bid them defiance. The demons here denounced are distinct from a cla.s.s of demiG.o.ds, who, under the name of _Yakshyos_, are supposed to inhabit the waters, and dwell on the sides of Mount Meru, and are distinguished not only for gentleness and benevolence but even by a veneration for Buddha, who, in one of his earlier transmigrations, was himself born under the form of a Yakshyo, and, attended by similar companions, traversed the world teaching righteousness. One section of these demiG.o.ds, however, the _Rakshyos_, are fierce and malignant, and in these respects resemble the Yakkas or demons so much dreaded by the Singhalese, and who, like the _Ghouls_ of the Mahometans, are believed to infest the vicinity of graveyards, or, like the dryads and hamadryads of the ancients, to frequent favourite forests and groves, and to inhabit particular trees, whence they sally out to seize on the pa.s.ser by.[1] The Buddhist priests connive at demon wors.h.i.+p because their efforts are ineffectual to suppress it, and the most orthodox Singhalese, whilst they confess its impropriety, are still driven to resort to it in all their fears and afflictions.

[Footnote 1: Travellers from Point de Galle to Colombo, in driving through the long succession of gardens and plantations of coco-nuts which the road traverses throughout its entire extent, will not fail to observe fruit-trees of different kinds, round the stem of which _a band of leaves has been fastened_ by the owner. This is to denote that the tree has been devoted to a demon; and sometimes to Vishnu or the Kattregam dewol. Occasionally these dedications are made to the temples of Buddha, and even to the Roman Catholic altars, as to that of St. Anne of Calpentyn. This ceremony is called _Gok-band-ema_, "the tying of the tender leaf," and its operation is to protect the fruit from pillage till ripe enough to be plucked and sent as an offering to the divinity to whom it has thus been consecrated. There is reason to fear, however, that on these occasions the devil is, to some extent, defrauded of his due, as the custom is, after applying a few only of the finest as an offering to the evil one, to appropriate the remainder to the use of the owner. When coco-nut palms are so preserved, the fruit is sometimes converted into oil and burned before the shrine of the demon. The superst.i.tion extends throughout other parts of Ceylon; and so long as the wreath continues to hang upon the tree, it is presumed that no thief would venture to plunder the garden.]

Independent of the malignant spirits or Yakkas, who are the authors of indefinite evil, the Singhalese have a demon or _Sanne_ for each form of disease, who is supposed to be its direct agent and inflictor, and who is accordingly invoked for its removal; and others, who delight in the miseries of mankind, are to be propitiated before the arrival of any event over which their pernicious influence might otherwise prevail.

Hence, on every domestic occurrence, as well as in every domestic calamity, the services of the _Kattadias_ or devil-priests are to be sought, and their ceremonies performed, generally with observances so barbarous as to be the most revolting evidence still extant of the uncivilised habits of the Singhalese. Especially in cases of sickness and danger, the a.s.sistance of the devil-dancer is implicitly relied on: an altar, decorated with garlands, is erected within sight of the patient, and on this an animal, frequently a c.o.c.k, is to be sacrificed for his recovery. The dying man is instructed to touch and dedicate to the evil spirit the wild flowers, the rice, and the flesh, which have been prepared as the _pidaneys_ or offerings to be made at sunset, at midnight, and the morning; and in the intervals the dancers perform their incantations, habited in masks and disguises to represent the demon which they personate, as the immediate author of the patient's suffering. In the frenzy of these orgies, the Kattadia having feigned the access of inspiration from the spirit he invokes, is consulted by the friends of the afflicted, and declares the nature of his disease, and the probability of its favourable or fatal termination. At sunrise, the ceremony closes by an exorcism chanted to disperse the demons who have been attracted by the rite; the devil-dancers withdraw with the offerings, and sing, as they retire, the concluding song of the ceremony, "that the sacrifice may be acceptable and the life of the sufferer extended."

In addition to this Yakka wors.h.i.+p, which is essentially indigenous in Ceylon, the natives practise the invocation of a distinct cla.s.s of demons, their conceptions of which are evidently borrowed from the debased ceremonies of Hinduism, though in their adoption they have rejected the grosser incidents of its ritual, and replaced them with others less cruel, but by no means less revolting. The Capuas, who perform ceremonies in honour of these strange G.o.ds, are of a higher rank than the Kattadias, who conduct the incantations to the Yakkas, and they are more or less connected with the Dewales and temples of Hinduism. The spirits in whose honour these ceremonies are performed, are all foreign to Ceylon. Some, such as Kattregam and Pattine, are borrowed from the mythology of the Brahmans; some are the genii of fire and other elements of the universe, and others are deified heroes; but the majority are dreaded as the inflictors of pestilence and famine, and propitiated by rites to avert the visitations of their malignity.

The ascendancy of these superst.i.tions, and the anomaly of their a.s.sociation with the religion of Buddha, which has taken for its deity the perfection of wisdom and benevolence, present one of the most signal difficulties with which Christianity has had, at all times, to contend in the effort to extend its influences throughout Ceylon. The Portuguese priesthood discovered that, however the Singhalese might be induced to profess the wors.h.i.+p of Christ, they adhered with timid tenacity to their ancient demonology. The Dutch clergy, in their reiterated lamentations over the failure of their efforts for conversion, have repeatedly recorded the fact, that however readily the native population might be brought to abjure their belief in the doctrines of Buddha, no arguments or expedients had proved effectual to overcome their terror of the demons, or check their propensity to resort on every emergency to the ceremonies of the Capuas, the dismal rites of the devil-dancers.[1] The Wesleyans, the Baptists, and other missionaries, who in later times have made the hamlets and secluded districts of Ceylon the scene of their unwearied labours, have found, with equal disappointment, that to the present hour the villagers and the peasantry are as powerfully attracted as ever by this strong superst.i.tion, bearing on their person the charms calculated to protect them from the evil eye of the demon, consulting the astrologers and the Capuas on every domestic emergency, solemnizing their marriages under their auspices, and requiring their presence at the birth of their children, who, together with their mother, are not unfrequently dedicated to the evil spirits, whom they dread.[2]

[Footnote 1: HOUGH, _Hist. Christ. in India,_ vol. iv. b. xii. ch. v.]

[Footnote 2: HARVARD'S _History of the Wesleyan Mission in Ceylon_, Introd., p. iii.]

As regards Buddhism itself, whilst there is that in the tenets and genius of Brahmanism which proclaims an active resistance to any other form of religion, Christianity in the southern expanse of Ceylon has to encounter an obstacle still more embarra.s.sing in the habitual apathy and listless indifference of the Buddhists. Brahmanism in its const.i.tution and spirit is essentially exclusive and fanatical, jealous of all conflicting faiths, and strongly disposed to persecution. Buddhism, on the other hand, in the strength of its self-righteousness, extends a lat.i.tudinarian liberality to every other belief, and exhibits a Laodicean indifference towards its own. Whilst Brahmanism is a science confided only to an initiated priesthood; and the Vedas and the Shastras in which its precepts are embodied are kept with jealousy from the profane eye of the people, Buddhism, rejoicing in its universality, aspires to be the religion of the mult.i.tude, throws open its sacred pages without restriction, and encourages their perusal as a meritorious act of devotion. The despotic ministers of Brahma affect to be versed only in arcana and mystery, and to issue their dicta from oracular authority; but the priesthood of Buddha a.s.sume no higher functions than those of teachers of ethics, and claim no loftier t.i.tle than that of "the clergy of reason."[1]

[Footnote 1: The sect of the _Lao Tsen_, or "Doctors of Reason," whom LANDRESSE regards as a development of Buddhism, prevailed in Thibet and the countries lying between China and India in the fifth and sixth centuries; and FA HIAN always refers to them as the "_Clergy of Reason_."--_Fo[)e] Kou[)e] Ki_, chap. x.x.xviii.]

In the character of the Singhalese people there is to be traced much of the genius of their religion. The same pa.s.siveness and love of ease which restrain from active exertion in the labours of life, find a counterpart in the adjustment by which virtue is limited to abstinence, and wors.h.i.+p to contemplation; with only so much of actual ceremonial as may render visible to the eye what would be otherwise inaccessible to the mind. The same love of repose which renders sleep and insensibility the richest blessings of this life, antic.i.p.ates torpor, akin to extinction, as the supremest felicity of the next. In common with all other nations they deem some form of religious wors.h.i.+p indispensable, but, contrary to the usage of most, they are singularly indifferent as to what that particular form is to be; leaving it pa.s.sively to be determined by the conjunction of circ.u.mstances, the accident of locality, and the influence of friends or worldly prospects of gain.

Still, in the hands of the Christian missionary, they are by no means the plastic substance which such a description would suggest--capable of being moulded into any form, or retaining permanently any casual impression--but rather a yielding fluid which adapts its shape to that of the vessel into which it may happen to be poured, without any change in its quality or any modification of its character.

From this unexcitable temperament of the people, combined with the exalted morals which form the articles of their belief, result phenomena which for upwards of three hundred years have more or less baffled the exertions of all who have laboured for the overthrow of their national superst.i.tion and the elevation of Christianity in its stead. The precepts of the latter, when offered to the natives apart from the divinity of their origin, present something in appearance so nearly akin to their own tenets that they were slow to discern the superiority. If Christianity requires purity and truth, temperance, honesty and benevolence, these are already discovered to be enjoined with at least equal impressiveness in the precepts of Buddha. The Scripture commandment forbidding murder is supposed to be a.n.a.logous to the Buddhist prohibition to kill[1]; and where the law and the Gospel alike enforce the love of one's neighbour as the love of one's self, Buddhism insists upon charity as the basis of wors.h.i.+p, and calls on its own followers "to appease anger by gentleness, and overcome evil by good."[2]

[Footnote 1: The order of Buddha not to take away life is imperative and unqualified as regards the priesthood; but to mankind in general it forms one of his "_Sikshupada_," or _advices_, and admits of modification under certain contingencies. A priest who should take away the life of an animal, or even an insect, under any circ.u.mstances, would be guilty of the offence denominated _Pachittvya_, and subject to penal discipline; but to take away human life, to be accessory to murder, or to encourage to suicide, amounts to the sin of _Parajika_, and is visited with permanent expulsion from the order. As regards the laity, the use of animal food is not forbidden, provided the individual has not himself been an agent in depriving it of life. The doctrine of prohibition, however, although thus regulated, like many others of the Buddhists, by subtleties and sophistry, has proved an obstacle in the way of the Missionaries; and, coupled with the permission in the Scriptures "to slay and eat," it has not failed to operate prejudicially to the spread of Christianity.]