PREFATORY NOTETHE present volume contains the seventh course of lecturesoffered by New York University upon the foundation knownas the Charles F. Deems Lectureship of Philosophy. TheUniversity contracted April 15, 1895, with the AmericanInstitute of Christian Philosophy, a corporation charteredDecember 1, 1891, that the University would maintain saidlectureship for at least twenty years by securing bienniallya Lecturer, eminent in Science and Philosophy, who shouldtreat in not less than six lectures some one of the most importantquestions of Science and Philosophy, with a specialreference to its relation to the revealed truths of the HolyScriptures and to the fundamental principles of TheisticPhilosophy.The Lecturer ,,'as to be chosen by the University's COI11-mittee upon the Charles F. Deems Lectureship, "'hich wasto consist of the Chancellor of the University, two membersof the Faculty of Arts and Science and two members of theUniversity CounciTable of Contents CONTENTS; IXTRODUCTION; The rival claims of four religions - Religious bewilderment; - Religious syncretism - Old or new possess; the field - Buddhism still strong - Importance of studying; old religions - ·What is Buddhism '/ - Great divisions; and definitions; PAGE; 1; CHAPTER I BUDDHIST ORIGIXS 13; A Gantama's Environment 14; India's pre-Buddhist history - Its religious literature; - Varied stages of thought - Pre-Buddhist God-idea,; soul-theory, transmigration and Karma - General social; and religious condition - Signs of a better day; B The Buddha's Life and Teaching 22; Place and time of birth - His family and trainingHis; great quest- General philosophic presuppositions; of his teachings, or the Three Conceptions - Four Noble; Truths - Noble Eightfold Path - Gautama --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.