Buddhism

According to the best Oriental scholars, Siddhartha, the son of Suddhodana, King of a large territory on the confines of Oude and Nepaul, was born about the beginning of the sixth century B.C. Up to the age of thirty he lived pretty much as described above; then, escaping from his father's kingdom, he became a religious mendicant, and diligently studied the lore of the Brahmans. Finding this unsatisfactory, he took refuge in rigid asceticism, and for many years occupied himself in endeavoring to discover the causes of things. Having at last, as he thought, succeeded, he devoted the rest of his life to preaching the new gospel, whereby the world was to be led to a knowledge of the truth. His converts were many and influential, several royal families becoming earnest and devoted propagandists.

He is supposed to have died at Kusinagara, in Oude, at the age of eighty, in the year 543 B.C. Buddhism, which has now existed for 2,400 years, must be regarded as the prevailing religion of the world. Though almost extinct in Hindustan, the land of its birth, it holds undivided sway in Ceylon, and over the whole Eastern Peninsula. It divides the adherence of the Chinese with the systems of Confucius and Lao-tse, claiming perhaps two-thirds of the population. It also prevails to a large extent in Japan and in Central Asia, reaching to the extreme north of Siberia, and even into Swedish Lapland.

According to Hassel, the numerical value of the various important religions of the world may be estimated thus: Christians of all denominations, 100,000,000; Jews, nearly 4,000,000; Mohammedans, 252,000,000; followers of the Brahman religion, 111,000,000; Buddhists, 315,000,000. — Belgravia.