Buddhism, then, battled for leave to do the world good in its own way,
though the intolerance of Islam too soon effaced its footprints. There
is still some chance, however, that Sufism may be a record of its
activity; in fact, this great religious upgrowth may be of Indian
rather than of Neoplatonic origin, so that the only question is
whether Sufism developed out of the Vedanta or out of the religious
philosophy of Buddhism. That, however, is too complex a question to
be discussed here.

All honour to Buddhism for its noble effort. In some undiscoverable
way Buddhists acted as pioneers for the destined Deliverer. Let us,
then, consider what precious spiritual jewels its sons and daughters
can bring to the new Fraternity. There are many most inadequate
statements about Buddhism. Personally, I wish that such expressions as
'the cold metaphysic of Buddhism' might be abandoned; surely
metaphysicians, too, have religious needs and may have warm hearts.
At the same time I will not deny that I prefer the northern variety of
Buddhism, because I seem to myself to detect in the southern Buddhism
a touch of a highly-refined egoism. Self-culture may or may not be
combined with self-sacrifice. In the case of the Buddha it was no
doubt so combined, as the following passage, indited by him, shows--

'All the means that can be used as bases for doing right are not worth
one sixteenth part of the emancipation of the heart through love. That
takes all those up into itself, outshining them in radiance and in
glory.' [Footnote: Mrs. Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, p. 229.]

What, then, are the jewels of the Buddhist which he would fain see in
the world's spiritual treasury?