Madame Blavatsky Defends Buddhism in Ceylon

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky · Blavatsky Speaks Series · 18 pages

A correspondent of the Ceylon Observer had tried to trace the Kotahena riot between Buddhists and Roman Catholics back to Colonel Olcott and Theosophy, and this is the reply. Her counter-argument locates the root cause instead in the attitude of the Christian missionaries and their supporters toward the Buddhist religion, and in a legal position where the spirit of the law is easily avoided while its dead letter serves as weapon and pretext.

The principle she puts against it is stated as a maxim — honour your own faith, and do not slander that of others — followed by the comparative claim that Buddhism is the least aggressive of all religions and Christianity the most. The later pages report the official investigation into the riot, and the continued treatment of the Singhalese Buddhists by the Ceylon Observer. One passage stands out for its bleakness: the devil who, to thwart the ends of justice, sows on earth the seeds of a thousand and one conflicting religious sects, which sprout into weeds that will stifle mankind unless destroyed. A compiler's note explains that Buddism here should have been spelled Buddaism, and points the reader to the Confusing Words series for the reason.

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