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_Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa_




THE

BUDDHIST CATECHISM


BY

HENRY S. OLCOTT


PRESIDENT-FOUNDER OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY



_Approved and recommended for use in Buddhist schools by H. Sumangala,
Pradhana Nayaka Sthavira, High Priest of Sripada and the Western
Province and Principal of the Vidyodaya Parivena_



FORTY-FOURTH EDITION. (Corrected)



Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras


LONDON AND BENARES: THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY


1915




DEDICATION

In token of respect and affection I dedicate to my counsellor and
friend of many years, Hikkaduwe Sumangala, Pradhana Nayaka
Sthavira and High Priest of Adam's Peak (Sripada) and the Western
Province, THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM, in its revised form.

H. S. OLCOTT

_Adyar_, 1903.




CONTENTS


THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA

THE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE

THE SANGHA

THE RISE AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

BUDDHISM AND SCIENCE

APPENDIX--The Fourteen Propositions accepted by the Northern and
  Southern Buddhists as a Platform of Unity




CERTIFICATE TO THE FIRST EDITION

VIDYODAYA COLLEGE,

_Colombo_, 7_th July_, 1881.

I hereby certify that I have carefully examined the Sinhalese version
of the Catechism prepared by Colonel H. S. Olcott, and that the same is
in agreement with the Canon of the Southern Buddhist Church.  I
recommend the work to teachers in Buddhist schools, mid to all others
who may wish to impart information to beginners about the essential
features of our religion.

H. SUMANGALA,

_High Priest of Sripada and Galle, and Principal of the Vidyodaya
Parivena._




VIDYODAYA COLLEGE,

_April_ 7, 1897.

I have gone over the thirty-third (English) edition of the Catechism,
with the help of interpreters, and confirm my recommendation for its
use in Buddhist schools.

H. SUMANGALA.




PREFACE

TO THE THIRTY-THIRD EDITION

In the working out of my original plan, I have added more questions and
answers in the text of each new English edition of the Catechism,
leaving it to its translators to render them into whichever of the
other vernaculars they may be working in.  The unpretending aim in view
is to give so succinct and yet comprehensive a digest of Buddhistic
history, ethics and philosophy as to enable beginners to understand and
appreciate the noble ideal taught by the Buddha, and thus make it
easier for them to follow out the Dharma in its details.  In the
present edition a great many new questions and answers have been
introduced, while the matter has been grouped within five categories,
_viz._: (1) The Life of the Buddha; (2) the Doctrine; (3) the Sangha,
or monastic order; (4) a brief history of Buddhism, its Councils and
propaganda; (5) some reconciliation of Buddhism with science.  This, it
is believed, will largely increase the value of the little book, and
make it even more suitable for use in Buddhist schools, of which, in
Ceylon, over one hundred have already been opened by the Sinhalese
people under the general supervision of the Theosophical Society.  In
preparing this edition I have received valuable help from some of my
oldest and best qualified Sinhalese colleagues.  The original edition
was gone over with me word by word, by that eminent scholar and
bhikkhu, H. Sumangala, Pradhana Nayaka, and the Assistant
Principal of his Pali College at Colombo, Hyeyantuduve Anunayaka
Terunnanse; and the High Priest has also kindly scrutinised the present
revision and given me invaluable points to embody.  It has the merit,
therefore, of being a fair presentation of the Buddhism of the
"Southern Church," chiefly derived from first-hand sources.  The
Catechism has been published in twenty languages, mainly by Buddhists,
for Buddhists.

H. S. O.

ADYAR, 17_th May_, 1897.




PREFACE

TO THE THIRTY-SIXTH EDITION

The popularity of this little work seems undiminished, edition after
edition being called for.  While the present one was in the press a
second German edition, re-translated by the learned Dr. Erich Bischoff,
was published at Leipzig, by the Griebens Co., and a third translation
into French, by my old friend and colleague, Commandant D. A. Courmes,
was being got ready at Paris.  A fresh version in Sinhalese is also
preparing at Colombo.  It is very gratifying to a declared Buddhist
like myself to read what so ripe a scholar as Mr. G. R. S. Mead, author
of _Fragments of of a Faith Forgotten_, _Pistis Sophia_, and many other
works on Christian origins, thinks of the value of the compilation.  He
writes in the _Theosophical Review_: "It has been translated into no
less