§ 1.-It is with considerable hesitation, that I set out on this inquiry into the subject of Buddhism. But the reason of this hesitation is not that I, after having given years of study to this particular religion, failed to make myself familiar with its general characteristics and minute details. It is the magnitude and importance of the subject that appals me and in view of which I naturally feel distrustful of my own power to deal with that subject in a satisfactory and yet attractive manner.Buddhism, I repeat, is a system of vast magnitude, for it combines the earliest gropings after science throughout those various branches of knowledge which our Western nations have long been accustomed to divide for separate study. It embodies in one living structure grand and peculiar views of physical science, refined and subtle theorems on abstract metaphysics, an edifice of fanciful mysticism, a most elaborate and fur-reaching system ofTable of Contents § 1 Magnitude of the Buddhist system 1; § 2 Importance of Buddhism2; § 3 Division of Subject Matter3; § 4 Historical Origin of Buddhism4; § 5 History of Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha 6; § 6 Legendary Origin of Buddhism7; § 7 Legendary Accounts of Buddha's Life 7 § 8 Incidents resembling the Life of Christ 14; § 9 Origin of the Buddhist Canon16; § 10 Origin of the Buddhist Church19; § 11 Origin of Buddhist Missions21; § 12 Division of Southern and Northern Buddhism 22 §13 Introduction of Buddhism in China 23 § 14 Completion of the Bnddhist Canon * 26 § 15 Extension of Southern Buddhism 27 § 16 Extension of Northern Buddhism 29; §17 Church and State in China36; § 18 Church and State in Tibet45; § 19 Hiitorio Value of Buddhism * 51; § 20 The Doctrines of Buddhism52; § 21 Development of the Buddhist Dogma 53; § 22 Summary of the Buddhist Dogma « 58; § 23 Peculiarities of Buddhist Dogmatics 59; § 24 The Buddhist Theory of Physics 64; § 25 The Buddhist Theory of Met