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 participation and advantages to the whole family of mankind, the humblest member of which is sustained by the assurance 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 worship 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 worship 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 illustration 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 principal of a government seminary at Colombo, desirous to place his son as a pupil of the institution, 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 worship and prayer; accounting for his ready acquiescence by an assurance that he entertained an equal respect for the doctrines of Buddhism and Christianity.  “But how can you,” said the principal, “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 pushing 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.”]