ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.--A Review.

By Lucius H. Buckingham, Ph.D.


Those who have read Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism will probably agree on
one point, namely: that, whether the statements of the book be true or
false, the book, as a whole, is a great stimulant of thought. The
European world has looked upon Indian philosophy as mere dreams, idle
speculations, built only on a foundation of metaphysical subtleties.
Here comes a book which, going down to the root of the whole matter,
claims that, instead of resting on mere imaginations, this whole
structure of Buddhistic philosophy has, as its cornerstone, certain
facts which have been preserved from the wrecks of a time earlier than
that which our grandfathers ascribe to the creation of the world, and
handed down without interruption from eras of civilization of which the
earth at present does not retain even the ruins. Such a claim of
antiquity rouses an interest in our minds, were it only for its
stupendous contempt of common belief.

There is one direction in which the book so harmonizes with one's
speculations that it makes upon us a very peculiar impression. It
carries out the theory of human development, physical and metaphysical.
Darwin's idea of the origin of the human animal, in connection with the
doctrine of the survival of the fittest, might, if one had the time to
make it all out, be shown to be the sufficient basis for a belief in,