A Record Of Buddhistic Kingdoms - Being An Account By The Chinese Monk Fa-hien Of His Travels In India And Ceylon (a.d. 399-414) By James Legge
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It Is Difficult To Say To What Religion A Man
Belongs, As The Same Person May Profess Two Or Three.
The emperor
himself, after sacrificing according to the ritual of Confucius,
visits a Tao-sse temple, and afterwards bows before an image of Fo in
a Buddhist chapel.
('Melanges Asiatiques de St. Petersbourg,' vol. ii.
p. 374.)"
iii. Both these estimates are exceeded by Dr. T. W. Rhys Davids
(intimating also the uncertainty of the statements, and that numbers
are no evidence of truth) in the introduction to his "Manual of
Buddhism." The Buddhists there appear as amounting in all to 500
millions: - 30 millions of Southern Buddhists, in Ceylon, Burma, Siam,
Anam, and India (Jains); and 470 millions of North Buddhists, of whom
nearly 33 millions are assigned to Japan, and 414,686,974 to the
eighteen provinces of China proper. According to him, Christians
amount to about 26 per cent of mankind, Hindus to about 13,
Mohammedans to about 12 1/2, Buddhists to about 40, and Jews to about
1/2.
In regard to all these estimates, it will be observed that the immense
numbers assigned to Buddhism are made out by the multitude of Chinese
with which it is credited. Subtract Cunningham's 170 millions of
Chinese from his total of 222, and there remains only 52 millions of
Buddhists. Subtract Davids' (say) 414 1/2 millions of Chinese from his
total of 500, and there remain only 85 1/2 millions for Buddhism. Of
the numbers assigned to other countries, as well as of their whole
populations, I am in considerable doubt, excepting in the cases of
Ceylon and India; but the greatness of the estimates turns upon the
immense multitudes said to be in China.
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