eeds, and that therefore the Karma, or the Essence of Deeds, may be
considered as the soul itself, rather than as something pertaining to
it. The Northern school holds that the soul, accompanied by its Karma,
reincarnates along the same lines as those taught by all the other
Hindu schools of Reincarnation and Karma. But the Southern school, on
the contrary, holds that it is not the soul-entity that re-incarnates
(for there is no such entity), but that instead it is the Karma, or
Essence of Deeds, that reincarnates from life to life, according to its
attractions, desires, and merits or demerits. In the last mentioned view
of the case, the rebirth is compared to the lighting of one lamp from
the flame of another, rather than in the transferring of the oil from
one lamp to another. But, really, these distinctions are quite
metaphysical, and when refined by analysis become hair-splitting. It is
said that the two schools of Buddhism are growing nearer together, and
their differences reconciled. The orthodox Hindus claim that Buddhism is
on the decline in India, being largely supplanted by the various forms
of the Vedanta. On the other hand, Buddhism has spread to China, Japan
and other countries, where it has taken on new forms, and has grown into
a religion of ritualism, creeds, and ceremonialism, with an
accompanying loss of the original philosophy and a corresponding
increase of detail of teaching, doctrine and disciple and general
"churchiness," including a belief in several thousand different kind of
hells. But even in the degenerated forms, Buddhism still holds to
Reincarnation as a fundamental doctrine.

In this consideration of the philosophies of India, we do not consider
it necessary to go into an explanation of the various forms of
religions, or church divisions, among the Hindus. In India, Religion is
an important matter, and there seems to be some form of religion adapted
to each one of that country's teeming millions. From the grossest form
of religious superstition, and crudest form of ceremony and worship, up
to the most refined idealism and beautiful symbolisms, runs the gamut of
the Hindu Religions. Many people are unable to conceive of an abstract,
ideal Universal Being, such as the Brahman of the Hindu Philosophy, and
consequently that Being has been personified as an Anthropomorphic
Deity, and human attributes bestowed upon him to suit the popular fancy.
In India, as in all other countries, the priesthood