Note 114 — Chapter VII · BUDDHIST JAVA

Here another quotation may be permitted from Dr. L. A. Waddell’s article, Evolution of the Buddhist Cult, its Gods, Images and Art (The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, January, 1912): And notwithstanding that the Mahayana was primarily a nihilistic mysticism, with a polytheism only in the background, the latter soon came to the front and has contributed more than anything else to the materialising and popularity of Buddhism.