At the same time that they transformed themselves into masters, the Buddhist religious constructed a complicated theology, full of fantastic figures.  They say there is an infinite number of worlds.  If one surrounded with a wall a space capable of holding 100,000 times ten millions of those worlds, if this wall were raised to heaven, and if the whole space were filled with grains of mustard, the number of the grains would not even then equal one-half the number of worlds which occupy but one division of heaven.  All these worlds are full of creatures, gods, men, beasts, demons, who are born and who die.  The universe itself is annihilated and another takes its place.  The duration of each universe is called kalpa; and this is the way we obtain an impression of a kalpa:  if there were a rock twelve miles in height, breadth, and length, and if once in a century it were only touched with a piece of the finest linen, this rock would be worn and reduced to the size of a kernel of mango before a quarter of a kalpa had elapsed.

=Buddha Transformed into a God.=—­It no longer satisfied the Buddhists to honor their founder as a perfect man; they made him a god, erecting idols to him, and offering him worship.  They adored also the saints, his disciples; pyramids and shrines were built to preserve their bones, their teeth, their cloaks.  From every quarter the faithful came to venerate the impression of the foot of Buddha.

=Mechanical Prayer.=—­Modern Buddhists regard prayer as a magical formula which acts of itself.  They spend the day reciting prayers as they walk or eat, often in a language which they do not understand.  They have invented prayer-machines; these are revolving cylinders and around these are pasted papers on which the prayer is written; every turn of the cylinder counts for the utterance of the prayer as many times as it is written on the papers.

=Amelioration of Manners.=—­And yet Buddhism remains a religion of peace and charity.  Wherever it reigns, kings refrain from war, and even from the chase; they establish hospitals, caravansaries, even asylums for animals.  Strangers, even Christian missionaries, are hospitably received; they permit the women to go out, and to walk without veiling themselves; they neither fight nor quarrel.  At Bangkok, a city of 400,000 souls, hardly more than one murder a year is known.

Buddhism has enfeebled the intelligence and sweetened the character.[27]

FOOTNOTES: 

[22] The process is as follows:  when a word (or rather a root) is found in several Aryan languages at once, it is admitted that this was in use before the dispersion occurred, and therefore the people knew the object designated by the word.

[23] The Punjab.—­ED.

[24] Prayer of the Mahabarata cited by Lenormant.

[25] A spirituous liquor made by the natives.—­ED.

[26] A high estimate.—­ED.