Note 2 — Chapter X

The few particulars that have been gathered respecting the mode that Buddha followed in disseminating his doctrines, exhibit him in the light of a zealous and indefatigable preacher. We see him passing from one place to another with the sole purpose of instructing the ignorant and pointing out to them the way leading to the deliverance. Bebar and Oude appear to have been the seat of his labours, and the scene on which he acted in behalf of all, without any distinction of condition, caste, or sex. Individuals in the humblest walks of life, men engaged in wicked practices, women of an abandoned character, were all, to an equal degree, the object of his tender solicitude. They were all summoned to come to his feet and partake in the blessings that he had in store for them. Gaudama was to an eminent degree an earnest and fervent propagandist. This is a striking feature in his character, which distinguishes him not only from all his contemporaries, but also from all the philosophers that have appeared throughout the Indian peninsula. All these sages aimed at becoming the heads of schools, but none of them thought of promulgating a code of morals intended for the whole human race. Gaudama has the honour of being the first who, with enlarged views, looked upon his fellow-men as equally entitled to the benefit of his instructions. His love of all men prompted him to undergo all sorts of fatigue, to procure for them what he imagined to be a great boon. In making this statement we have no intention to pass an opinion on the doctrines of the founder of Buddhism; we merely bring forward to the notice of the reader a peculiar characteristic of that sage, which, in our humble opinion, helps to account for the extraordinary spread of Buddhism from the banks of the Oxus to the Japanese archipelago. The tenets of that creed have become popular, because they were intended for all. False though they be, particularly in what has a reference to dogmas, they were accepted by the masses, because there were no other proffered to them. The disciples of Gaudama must have been well received in the various places they went to, for they showed a disposition of mind quite unknown in those days, viz., a lively interest in the welfare of all. This zeal, which appeared so conspicuously in Gaudama and during the first ages of Buddhism, has become all but totally extinct. There is no desire on the part of those who in our days follow that creed to propagate its tenets among other nations or tribes.