They also reject the distinction of castes, and prohibit all
bloody sacrifices, and allow animal food. Their priests are chosen
from all classes; they are expected to procure their maintenance
by perambulation and begging, and among other things it is their
duty to endeavor to turn to some use things thrown aside as
useless by others, and to discover the medicinal power of plants.
But in Ceylon three orders of priests are recognized; those of the
highest order are usually men of high birth and learning, and are
supported at the principal temples, most of which have been richly
endowed by the former monarchs of the country.
For several centuries after the appearance of Buddha, his sect
seems to have been tolerated by the Brahmans, and Buddhism appears
to have penetrated the peninsula of Hindustan in every direction,
and to have been carried to Ceylon, and to the eastern peninsula.
But afterwards it had to endure in India a long-continued
persecution, which ultimately had the effect of entirely
abolishing it in the country where it had originated, but to
scatter it widely over adjacent countries. Buddhism appears to
have been introduced into China about the year 65 of our era. From
China it was subsequently extended to Corea, Japan, and Java.
THE GRAND LAMA
It is a doctrine alike of the Brahminical Hindus and of the
Buddhist sect that the confinement of the human soul, an emanation
of the divine spirit, in a human body, is a state of misery, and
the consequence of frailties and sins committed during former
existences.
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