INTRODUCTION

1. _Influence of Indian Thought in Eastern Asia_


Probably the first thought which will occur to the reader who is
acquainted with the matters treated in this work will be that the
subject is too large. A history of Hinduism or Buddhism or even of both
within the frontiers of India may be a profitable though arduous task,
but to attempt a historical sketch of the two faiths in their whole
duration and extension over Eastern Asia is to choose a scene unsuited
to any canvas which can be prepared at the present day. Not only is the
breadth of the landscape enormous but in some places it is crowded with
details which cannot be omitted while in others the principal features
are hidden by a mist which obscures the unity and connection of the
whole composition. No one can feel these difficulties more than I do
myself or approach his work with more diffidence, yet I venture to think
that wide surveys may sometimes be useful and are needed in the present
state of oriental studies. For the reality of Indian influence in
Asia—from Japan to the frontiers of Persia, from Manchuria to Java, from
Burma to Mongolia—is undoubted and the influence is one. You cannot
separate Hinduism from Buddhism, for without it Hinduism could not have
assumed its medieval shape and some forms of Buddhism, such as Lamaism,
countenance Brahmanic deities and ceremonies, while in Java and Camboja
the two religions were avowedly combined and declared to be the same.
Neither is it convenient to separate the fortunes of Buddhism and
Hinduism outside India from their history within it, for although the
importance of Buddhism depends largely on its foreign conquests, the
forms which it assumed in its new territories can be understood only by
reference to the religious condition of India at the periods when