Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907)

BUDDHIST CATECHISM

PREFACE

TO THE THIRTY-THIRD EDITION

IN the working out of my original plan, I have added
more questions and answers in the text of each nevw
English edition of the Catechism, leaving it to its
translators to render them into whichever of the other
vernaculars they may be working in. The unpretending
aim in view is to give so succinct and yet
comprehensive a digest of Buddhistic history, ethics
and philosophy as to enable beginners to understand
and appreciate the noble ideal taught by the Buddha,
and thus make it easier for them to follow out the
Pharma in its details. In the present edition a great
many new questions and answers have been introduced,
while the matter has been grouped within five
categories, viz.: (1) The Life of tha Buddha; (2) the
Doctrine; (3) the Sangha, or monastic order; (4) a
brief history of Buddhism, its Councils and
propaganda ; (5) some reconciliation of Buddhism with
science. This, it is believed, will largely increase the
value of the little book, and make it even more
suitable for use in Buddhist schools, of which, in
Ceylon, over one hundred have already been opened
by the Sinhalese people under the general supervision
of the Theosophical Society. In preparing this edition
I have received valuable help from some of my oldest
and best qualified Sinhalese colleaguos. The original
edition was gone over with me word by word, by that
eminent scholar and bhikkhu, H. Sumangala,
Pradhana Nayaka, and the Assistant Principal of his
Pali College at Colombo, Hyeyantuduve Anunayaka
Terunnanse; and the High Priest has also kindly
sorutinised the present revision and given me invaluable
points to embody. It has the merit, therefore, of
being a fair presentation of the Buddhism of the
"Southern Church," chiefly derived froin first-hand
sources. The Catechism has been published in twenty
languages, mainly by Buddhists, for Budahists.… (mehr)

OLD DIARY LEAVES

INTRODUCTION

THE Diary from which the present series of chapters
has been compiled was opened in January, 1878,
three years after the formation of the Theosophical
Society at New York, by the late Madame Blavatsky
myself, and a few others, and has been systematically
kept up ever since. Under the title, " Old
Diary Leaves: The True History of the Theosophical
Society," a volume, with illustrations, was
published in the year 1895, by Messrs. G. P. Putnam
& Sons (London and New York), which has had a
wide circulation. It covered the period from the
first meeting of my great colleague and myself in
the year 1874, down to the sailing of our party from
New York for Bombay in December, 1878. The
thread of our narrative, now taken up, leads us
from that point onward to the autumn of 1883,
embracing the novel and exciting incidents of the
establishment of our movement in India and Ceylon
from which such momentous results have followed.

No important event has been omitted, no falsification
of the record resorted to. Other volumes will
be issued from time to time should there be a...… (mehr)

OLD DIARY LEAVES : THE HISTORY OF THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY APRIL 1896 SEPTEMBER 1898 : VOLUME VI

CHAPTER I

INSPECTING SCHOOLS IN CEYLON
(1896)

ALL good things must come to an end and the
grand Rajput wedding at Varal was no exception.
On the 19th of April Prince Liluba, the Heir
Apparent of Morvi, left and the bride's presents and
dowry were displayed in a large temporary structure.
The presents alone were worth thirty thousand
rupees and made a splendid display, as may be
imagined from what I said in the preceding chapter.
The wedding guests and hangers-on having departed,
Harisinhji and I were left alone.

He had a somewhat
extensive library and I took advantage of the
occasion to read, among other things, Max Nordau's
Degeneracy, which gave me the impression that the
author was fully persuaded in his own mind that he
was the only person in the world who could not be
classified as a degenerate. Still, his book is full of
sage deductions from observed facts and should be
read along with the books of the great hypnotists of...… (mehr)