DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0192
Buddha & the Gospel of Buddhism
supposed the attempt would be made. These 20,000
men from all parts of the country come and go annually
without a single policeman being here; and, as the
Magistrate of the district, I can only say that any to
surpass their decorum and sobriety of conduct it is
impossible to conceive. Such a thing as a row
is unheard of.”—Report of the Government Agent,
Anuradhapura, Ceylon, 1870.
To this we may add the testimony of Knox, who was
a prisoner in the interior of Ceylon late in the seventeenth
century. He says that the proverb, Take a ploughman
from the plough, andwash off his dirt, and he is fit to rule
a kingdom, “was spoken of the people of Cande Uda . . .
because of the civility, understanding, and gravity of the
poorest among them.” Their ordinary ploughmen, he
adds, and husbandmen, “ do speak elegantly, and are full
of complement. And there is no difference between the
ability and speech of a Countryman and a Courtier.”
But perhaps the best idea of the ethical consequences of
Buddhist modes of thought will be gathered from the
following Japanese criticism of Western Industrialism,
originally published in the Japan Daily Mail (1890) by
Viscount Torio, who was deeply versed in Buddhist
philosophy, and also held high rank in the Japanese army:
“Order or disorder in a nation does not depend upon
something that falls from the sky or rises from the earth.
It is determined by the disposition of the people. The
pivot on which the public disposition turns is the point
where public and private motives separate. If the people
be influenced chiefly by public considerations, order is
assured; if by private, disorder is inevitable. Public
considerations are those that prompt the proper observ-
ance of duties. . . . Private considerations are those
134
supposed the attempt would be made. These 20,000
men from all parts of the country come and go annually
without a single policeman being here; and, as the
Magistrate of the district, I can only say that any to
surpass their decorum and sobriety of conduct it is
impossible to conceive. Such a thing as a row
is unheard of.”—Report of the Government Agent,
Anuradhapura, Ceylon, 1870.
To this we may add the testimony of Knox, who was
a prisoner in the interior of Ceylon late in the seventeenth
century. He says that the proverb, Take a ploughman
from the plough, andwash off his dirt, and he is fit to rule
a kingdom, “was spoken of the people of Cande Uda . . .
because of the civility, understanding, and gravity of the
poorest among them.” Their ordinary ploughmen, he
adds, and husbandmen, “ do speak elegantly, and are full
of complement. And there is no difference between the
ability and speech of a Countryman and a Courtier.”
But perhaps the best idea of the ethical consequences of
Buddhist modes of thought will be gathered from the
following Japanese criticism of Western Industrialism,
originally published in the Japan Daily Mail (1890) by
Viscount Torio, who was deeply versed in Buddhist
philosophy, and also held high rank in the Japanese army:
“Order or disorder in a nation does not depend upon
something that falls from the sky or rises from the earth.
It is determined by the disposition of the people. The
pivot on which the public disposition turns is the point
where public and private motives separate. If the people
be influenced chiefly by public considerations, order is
assured; if by private, disorder is inevitable. Public
considerations are those that prompt the proper observ-
ance of duties. . . . Private considerations are those
134