"
As an instance of his unreliability they refer to his account of the
Buddhism of Khoten, whereas it is well-known, they say, that the
Khoteners from ancient times till now have been Mohammedans;--as if they
could have been so one hundred and seventy years before Mohammed was
born, and two hundred twenty-two years before the year of the Hegira!
And this is criticism in China. The catalogue was ordered by the
K'ien-lung emperor in 1722. Between three and four hundred of the "Great
Scholars" of the empire were engaged on it in various departments, and
thus egregiously ignorant did they show themselves of all beyond the
limits of their own country, and even of the literature of that country
itself.
Much of what Fa-hien tells his readers of Buddhist miracles and legends
is indeed unreliable and grotesque; but we have from him the truth as to
what he saw and heard.
In concluding this introduction I wish to call attention to some
estimates of the number of Buddhists in the world which have become
current, believing, as I do, that the smallest of them is much above
what is correct.
In a note on the first page of his work on the Bhilsa Topes (1854),
General Cunningham says: "The Christians number about two hundred and
seventy millions; the Buddhists about two hundred and twenty-two
millions, who are distributed as follows: China one hundred and seventy
millions, Japan twenty-five millions, Anam fourteen millions, Siam three
millions, Ava eight millions, Nepal one million, and Ceylon one
million.
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