"Some of the negroes of Africa have this belief, and when a child is born
they decide upon the ancestor whose soul has returned to the flesh in this
world. There are one hundred and thirty-six Buddhist hells, regularly
graded in the degree of suffering experienced and the length of time it
endures, the shortest term being ten million years. A good life secures an
elevated and happy life on earth, or as a blessed spirit in one of the many
heavens, where existence is continued for a bagatelle of ten billion years.
When the _karma_ is exhausted"--
"What in the world is that?" asked Mrs. Blossom, who was struggling to
understand the subject.
"It is the allotted term of existence, including the manner of living,
whether in bliss or misery. The person must be born again, and then become
a god, or the vilest creature that crawls the earth, according as he has
behaved himself. The Buddhists do not appear to have any idea of a personal
God; and they are practically atheists, though there are many good things
in their system. They recognize no omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful
Supreme Being, who presides over the universe and all that is in it. They
are pessimists, and believe that life, on the whole, is misery, a curse
rather than a blessing. I have given you only a faint outline of what
Buddhism is. It has points in which it resembles Christianity.
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