Note 1 — Chapter IX · SOO-HO-TO. LEGEND OF BUDDHA.

(1) Buddhism stands for the two Chinese characters {.} {.}, “the Law of Buddha,” and to that rendering of the phrase, which is of frequent occurrence, I will in general adhere. Buddhism is not an adequate rendering of them any more than Christianity would be of {to euaggelion Xristou}. The Fa or Law is the equivalent of dharma comprehending all in the first Basket of the Buddhist teaching,—as Dr. Davids says (Hibbert Lectures, p. 44), “its ethics and philosophy, and its system of self-culture;” with the theory of karma, it seems to me, especially underlying it. It has been pointed out (Cunningham’s “Bhilsa Topes,” p. 102) that dharma is the keystone of all king Priyadarsi or Asoka’s edicts. The whole of them are dedicated to the attainment of one object, “the advancement of dharma, or of the Law of Buddha.” His native Chinese afforded no better character than {.} or Law, by which our author could express concisely his idea of the Buddhistic system, as “a law of life,” a directory or system of Rules, by which men could attain to the consummation of their being.