Buddhist Psychology: An Inquiry into the Analysis and Theory of Mind in Pali Literature

Habits of Thought

There are some to-day who say that enough is known of ‘Buddhism,’ by the portions of its literature translated into English and German, to enable any one to form correct judgments concerning the data and conclusions grouped under that term, without further acquaintance with that literature at second hand, let alone at first hand.

This is a fairly tenable view if by Buddhism be meant just a certain ethical reform movement, a gospel set on foot to save souls and roll back the murk of sin and superstition, a new creed with a revived moral code. But when we gain a wider perspective of Buddhism,’ and look more deeply into what is involved by the term, we may feel less confident. Buddhism really covers the thought and culture of a great part of India for some centuries, as well as that of Further India {jpace China and Japan), up till the present. And the reader of translations from its literature, be he superficial or thoughtful, is bound to come across strange things in the point of view, the values, the logic, which should make him realize that the Semitic and Hellenic stock on which his own religious and philosophic principles are grafted, does not coincide with that from which the traditional notions revealed in Buddhism have sprung.