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Some Glimpses of Occultism; Ancient and Modern
Some Glimpses of Occultism Ancient and Modern Author:Charles Webster Leadbeater General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1919 Original Publisher: Theosophical Pub. House Subjects: Occultism Theosophy Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial... more » access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER IV. BUDDHISM. It is obviously impossible to put before an audience in a lecture of an hour an adequate presentation of one of the great world-religions, which is probably entirely new to many of those who are present. I do not propose therefore to give you the mere formal detail or framework of the subject, which those who wish for it can obtain from any encyclopaedia. My wish is rather to endeavor to put before you something of the life of the religion -- less to quote from its books than to tell you how it acts and works as a living force today upon those who hold it as their creed. In connection with the The- osophical Society I have worked for years among the Buddhists of Ceylon and of Burma, and I was myself admitted into the Southern Buddhist Church by its Chief Abbott Hikkaduwe Sumangala. Though I must quote occasionally I will do so as little as possible, but shall try rather to give you my own impression of this great religion. I must say a few words first as to the life of the Founder of Buddhism; then secondly I will outline its broad principles; and thirdly I will say something of its practical working. The Life of the Founder. The story of the life of the Founder is one of the most beautiful that has ever been told, but I can give only a slight sketch of it now. Those who wish to read it, told as it should be told, in glowing melodious poetry, should read The Light of Asia, by Sir Edwin Arnold. Indeed, grandly poetical though it be, there is no statement so beautiful of the principles of this great re...« less