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APPENDIX III.
Beligious Liberty and Toleration as held by the early Buddhists,
In support of the allegation in the note to p. 4, I annex here some
passages which illustrate the views on respect for the opinions of
others held generally by Buddhists about two thousand years before
religions liberty was advocated by isolated thinkers in Europe.
1. Brahma-jala Sutta.
The following words are placed, at the commencement of the
Sutta, in the mouth of Gotama. The Sutta is the first in the
Digha Nikaya, and is probably one of the very oldest statements of
the Buddhist Dhamma, or Doctrine, now extant. It ia still much
read, and very popular among the orthodox Buddhists.
" Should those who are not with us, O Bhikkhus, speak in dis-
" praise of me, or of the Dhamma, or of the Saqgha, you are not on
"that account to give way to anger, heartburning or discontent.
" Should those who are not with us, O Bhikkhus, speak in dispraise
" of me, or of the Dhamma, or of the Sarjgha, if you were on that
" account to be either enraged or displeased, it is you (not they)
" upon whom the danger would fall; for would you then be able to
"discriminate whether what they had spoken was right or wrong?'
" Not soj Lord 1" was the reply.
" Should people so speak, 0 Bhikkhns, you should explain any-
" thing incorrect in what is said as being incorrect, and should say
"' This is not correct: this is not so : this exists not among us, is
'"not found in us f" |
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