The element in Buddhism which more than any other, perhaps, gave it an advantage over all sur rounding religions, and led to its surprising ex tension. was the spirit of universal charity and sympathy that it breathed, as contrasted with the exclusiveness of caste. In this respect, it held much the same relation to Brahmanism that Christianity did to Judaism. It was. in fact. a reaction again-I the exclusiveness and formalism of Brahmanism—an attempt to render it more catholic, and to throw off its intolerable burden of ceremonies. Buddhism did not expressly abol ish caste. but only declared that all followers of the Buddha Who embraced the religious life were thereby released from its restrictions; in the bosom of a community who had all equally re nounced the world, high and low, the twice-bo•n Brahman and the outcast were brethren. This was the very way that Christianity dealt with the slavery of the ancient world. This opening of its ranks to all classes and to both sexes—for women were admitted to equal hopes and privi leges with men, and one of Gautama's early female disciples is to be the supreme Buddha of a intore cycle—no doubt gave Buddhism one great advantage over Brahmanism. The Buddha, says Max Miller, "addressed himself to castes and outcasts. 1-le promised salvation to all: and he commanded his disciples to preach his doctrine in all places and to all men. A sense of duty, extending from the narrow limits of the house, the village, and the country. to the widest circle
of mankind, a feeling of sympathy and brother hood toward all amen, the idea, in fact, of human ity, were first pronounced by Buddha." This led to that remarkable missionary movement, already adverted to, which, beginning B.C. 300, sent forth a succession of devoted men, who spent their lives in spreading the faith of Buddha over all parts of Asia, 1900). For Siamese: Alabaster. The ll'hcc/ of the Lair (London, 18711. Among the transla tions of or compilations from original works in Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Siamese. the follow ing are noteworthy: Burnout, Le Lotus de in bonne loi (Paris, 1852 ) : Hardy. Eastern Monaehism (London, I860), Legends and The ories of the Buddhists (i1).,1S(;61. and .1 Manna/ of Baddhism (ib., 18801; Faucaux, Ilistoire du Bouddha, translated from the Tibetan (Paris. 1868 ; Schiefner, Lebenbesehreibung Sakja munis (Saint Petersburg, 1849) and Tdrandtha's Gescbiehte des Buddhismus 1869) : Rogers, Buddhaghosha's Parables (London, 187(f) : Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories (Vol. L. London. 1880 ; Vol. I I., 1899) ; Warren, Buddhism in Translations (Cambridge, :\lass., 1806) ; La lita Vistara, by Rajendra Lal Mira and Lef mann ; Dhammapada, by Fausbiill, Beal, Waddell, Weber, and Altiller; parts of the canon in Sacred Books of the East. Vols. X.. XL, XIII., XVII., XIX.. XX1., XXVI., XXXV.. and LIX.; and the publications of the Pali Text Society, edited by Rhys-Davids.