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Buddhism: An Introduction and Guide (Pelican) by Christmas Humphreys
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Published January 1, 1811
About the author
Christmas Humphreys
113 books23 followersTravers Christmas Humphreys, QC was an English barrister who prosecuted several controversial cases in the 1940s and 1950s, and later became a judge at the Old Bailey. He also wrote a number of works on Mahayana Buddhism and in his day was the best-known British convert to Buddhism.
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December 9, 2025
A HISTORY OF BUDDHISM AND ITS MANY SCHOOLS, ETC.
Travers Christmas Humphreys (1901-1983) was a British barrister, who founded the London Buddhist Society, and wrote other books such as ‘The Wisdom of Buddhism,’ ‘A Western Approach to Zen,’ ‘Zen Buddhism,’ ‘Buddhist Way of Life,’ ‘Walk On,’ etc.
He wrote in the Preface of this 1951 book, “The ideal author of this work would have a considerable knowledge of each part of the subject, be impartial in respect of all of them, and be able to … present the vast system as an integrated whole. No such person exists… My own qualifications are few. I… rely upon translations, yet as I belong to no one School of Buddhism, I can study the whole dispassionately.. Of Buddhism in the world today I know more than most, having been the active President of the Buddhist Society… from its foundation in 1924.”
He continues in the Introduction, “What is Buddhism? In one sense it is man’s understanding of the Teaching of Gautama, the Buddha; in another it is the religion-philosophy which has grown about that Teaching… Buddhism is in fact a family of religions and philosophies, but which of its parts is ‘right’ or ‘original’ is opinion added to objective fact. The Buddha himself wrote nothing, and none of his Teaching was written down for at least four hundred years after his death. We therefore do not know what the Buddha taught, any more than we know what Jesus taught… as [Buddhism] gently flowed into country after country, whether or a higher or lower culture than its own, it tended to adopt, or failed to contest the rival claims of, the indigenous beliefs, however crude. In this way the most diverse and debased beliefs were added to the corpus of ‘Buddhism,’ and embarrass the student today.” (Pg. 11-13)
He recounts, “It was not only men that came to [the Buddha]. Women claimed to be admitted to a female branch of the Order… Again and again the Buddha refused, and it was only through the insistence of Ananda [Buddha’s cousin and chief disciple] that they finally gained admission. Even then the female order … was founded only under strict and humiliating rules…” (Pg. 38)
He notes, “Buddhism, from its outset fatally tolerant of all other teachings, even when antithetical to its own, made little effort to stem the process, and soon a number of sects were exhibiting Brahman doctrines which were unknown in the earlier Teaching. This process was undoubtedly one of the formative influences in the rise of the Mahayana or Northern School of Buddhism… much of the teaching found today in the Mahayana schools is, on the face of it, the exact antithesis of the Message as recorded in the Pali Canon.” (Pg. 47-48)
He reports, “The Buddha’s first disciples became the founding members of the Sangha [monastic community], and most of the teaching recorded in the Pali Canon was given to men, and later women, who had abandoned the life of home and family. Clad in the robes made of rags taken from the refuse heap, owning nothing but a few essentials, with shaven heads they passed their days… entirely devoted to the practice of the Dhamma. The Canon as we have it today is therefore a monkish compilation, and the Message appears through the eyes of men who had forsworn the world… It is largely cast in negative form.” (Pg. 78)
He asserts, “Buddhism is, therefore, to some extent a philosophy of suffering. If life is filled with suffering, and if suffering is the means by which we learn to put an end to suffering… should we suffer willingly the consequences of our thoughts and acts in order that we may be free. If the doctrine of suffering is stressed in Buddhism, there is good reason for this emphasis… it provided, when considered in conjunction with the complementary doctrine of deliverance, a philosophy all-sufficient for the immediate needs of men.” (Pg. 84)
He argues, “It is often asked why we do not remember our past lives. The answer is clear. Because physical memory needs a physical brain, and the brain which remembers incidents of this life is different from that which registered the deeds of the one before. But in fact… Students claim to have trained their memories to go back … until they arrive at an accurate memory of their previous life or lives… and the Buddhist Scriptures show examples of this interesting but unprofitable exercise.” (Pg. 106)
He acknowledges, “The West, which learned of Buddhism first through Theravada eyes, still tends to consider the earlier school as ‘Buddhism,’ and the Northern School as a heterogeneous mixture of later additions and developments. To what extent this view is the result of genuine comparison, and how much it is due to the fact that the Theravada Canon is tidy and complete, while the Mahayana equivalent appears in four languages and is immensely complex, it is difficult to say.” (Pg. 143)
He observes, “So far the two Schools do not really clash… But now the summit of the pass is reached… Beyond, the ground falls steeply into a doctrine which, though now the basis of the ‘Pure Land’ Schools of Buddhism, is clearly anathema to the original Teaching. How easily the argument ran down in Chinese and Japanese hands into the comfortable doctrine of vicarious salvation! If a great Bodhisattva turns his merit over to mankind, all men are blessed with a mighty store of merit which they have not… earned. Magnify the merit available, and how soon will the lazy human permit this Mighty One to provide him with the merit which he had not the energy to earn…” (Pg. 160)
He recounts, “in the course of 2,500 years, a great many men have reached the stage of Arhat in the spiritual ladder of progress. These do not die in the normal sense, for their consciousness continues from life to life in successive bodies… Not all, of course, are Buddhists, but… the task of the Brothers is the same, to guide and influence the more enlightened leaders of mankind into the paths of spiritual advancement for all. Two of these Masters tried to teach A.P. Sinnett… an outline of these principles, and the result appeared in 1883 as ‘Esoteric Buddhism.’ Later, the same Masters caused their pupil H.P. Blavatsky, whom they had trained in Tibet, to give a far fuller version in ‘The Secret Doctrine ‘ (1888). In 1924 their letters to A.P. Sinnett were published as ‘The Mahatma Letters’… and only those who have carefully compared the teachings contained in this great body of literature with that of the scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism can testify to the brilliant light which the former throws on the latter…” (Pg. 196)
He notes,”Western travelers delight in scorning the existence of ‘Living Buddhas,’ and if what they expct to find is men of the rank of the Buddha living as such they will continue to search in vain. But the Chutuktus (Tibetan) and Khubilkans (Mongolian) are cosmic forces of great power, and they overshadow and work through human entities… Lamas of the day are thus used by these spiritual yet human forces. Thus the Dalai Lama is, to this extend, an incarnation…” (Pg. 199)
Later, he asserts, “The Tibetan Canon consists of … [more than 300] volumes… According to the esoteric tradition, however, there is much more to the Tibetan Scriptures than even these great collections of material. The authors of the ‘Mahatma Letters’ … refer again and again to the ‘Book of Kiu-ti. According to H.P. Blavatsky, who was trained in Tibet… It is from the text of this work that the material for much of her greatest work, ‘The Secret Doctrine,’ has been drawn. If this be so, it explains how a work written by a Western woman contains knowledge to be corroborated only by the most careful analysis of hints and phrases scattered throughout the more esoteric (because unpublished) scriptures of the religions of the world. Tibetan Buddhism, then, is a unique blend of the noblest Buddhist principles and debased sorcery, of the highest and the lowest of man’s mind.” (Pg. 202)
He recalls, “at the age of 17… I formed a Buddhist Centre in the Theosophical Society, of which I was then a member… Thus was [later] born the Buddhist Lodge, which in 1943 became the Buddhist Society, London, with affiliated organizations and correspondents in most corners of the world.” (Pg. 225)
This a generally fine work of history, etc., but Humphreys’ uncritical endorsement of Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society taints much of this book, for me.
Travers Christmas Humphreys (1901-1983) was a British barrister, who founded the London Buddhist Society, and wrote other books such as ‘The Wisdom of Buddhism,’ ‘A Western Approach to Zen,’ ‘Zen Buddhism,’ ‘Buddhist Way of Life,’ ‘Walk On,’ etc.
He wrote in the Preface of this 1951 book, “The ideal author of this work would have a considerable knowledge of each part of the subject, be impartial in respect of all of them, and be able to … present the vast system as an integrated whole. No such person exists… My own qualifications are few. I… rely upon translations, yet as I belong to no one School of Buddhism, I can study the whole dispassionately.. Of Buddhism in the world today I know more than most, having been the active President of the Buddhist Society… from its foundation in 1924.”
He continues in the Introduction, “What is Buddhism? In one sense it is man’s understanding of the Teaching of Gautama, the Buddha; in another it is the religion-philosophy which has grown about that Teaching… Buddhism is in fact a family of religions and philosophies, but which of its parts is ‘right’ or ‘original’ is opinion added to objective fact. The Buddha himself wrote nothing, and none of his Teaching was written down for at least four hundred years after his death. We therefore do not know what the Buddha taught, any more than we know what Jesus taught… as [Buddhism] gently flowed into country after country, whether or a higher or lower culture than its own, it tended to adopt, or failed to contest the rival claims of, the indigenous beliefs, however crude. In this way the most diverse and debased beliefs were added to the corpus of ‘Buddhism,’ and embarrass the student today.” (Pg. 11-13)
He recounts, “It was not only men that came to [the Buddha]. Women claimed to be admitted to a female branch of the Order… Again and again the Buddha refused, and it was only through the insistence of Ananda [Buddha’s cousin and chief disciple] that they finally gained admission. Even then the female order … was founded only under strict and humiliating rules…” (Pg. 38)
He notes, “Buddhism, from its outset fatally tolerant of all other teachings, even when antithetical to its own, made little effort to stem the process, and soon a number of sects were exhibiting Brahman doctrines which were unknown in the earlier Teaching. This process was undoubtedly one of the formative influences in the rise of the Mahayana or Northern School of Buddhism… much of the teaching found today in the Mahayana schools is, on the face of it, the exact antithesis of the Message as recorded in the Pali Canon.” (Pg. 47-48)
He reports, “The Buddha’s first disciples became the founding members of the Sangha [monastic community], and most of the teaching recorded in the Pali Canon was given to men, and later women, who had abandoned the life of home and family. Clad in the robes made of rags taken from the refuse heap, owning nothing but a few essentials, with shaven heads they passed their days… entirely devoted to the practice of the Dhamma. The Canon as we have it today is therefore a monkish compilation, and the Message appears through the eyes of men who had forsworn the world… It is largely cast in negative form.” (Pg. 78)
He asserts, “Buddhism is, therefore, to some extent a philosophy of suffering. If life is filled with suffering, and if suffering is the means by which we learn to put an end to suffering… should we suffer willingly the consequences of our thoughts and acts in order that we may be free. If the doctrine of suffering is stressed in Buddhism, there is good reason for this emphasis… it provided, when considered in conjunction with the complementary doctrine of deliverance, a philosophy all-sufficient for the immediate needs of men.” (Pg. 84)
He argues, “It is often asked why we do not remember our past lives. The answer is clear. Because physical memory needs a physical brain, and the brain which remembers incidents of this life is different from that which registered the deeds of the one before. But in fact… Students claim to have trained their memories to go back … until they arrive at an accurate memory of their previous life or lives… and the Buddhist Scriptures show examples of this interesting but unprofitable exercise.” (Pg. 106)
He acknowledges, “The West, which learned of Buddhism first through Theravada eyes, still tends to consider the earlier school as ‘Buddhism,’ and the Northern School as a heterogeneous mixture of later additions and developments. To what extent this view is the result of genuine comparison, and how much it is due to the fact that the Theravada Canon is tidy and complete, while the Mahayana equivalent appears in four languages and is immensely complex, it is difficult to say.” (Pg. 143)
He observes, “So far the two Schools do not really clash… But now the summit of the pass is reached… Beyond, the ground falls steeply into a doctrine which, though now the basis of the ‘Pure Land’ Schools of Buddhism, is clearly anathema to the original Teaching. How easily the argument ran down in Chinese and Japanese hands into the comfortable doctrine of vicarious salvation! If a great Bodhisattva turns his merit over to mankind, all men are blessed with a mighty store of merit which they have not… earned. Magnify the merit available, and how soon will the lazy human permit this Mighty One to provide him with the merit which he had not the energy to earn…” (Pg. 160)
He recounts, “in the course of 2,500 years, a great many men have reached the stage of Arhat in the spiritual ladder of progress. These do not die in the normal sense, for their consciousness continues from life to life in successive bodies… Not all, of course, are Buddhists, but… the task of the Brothers is the same, to guide and influence the more enlightened leaders of mankind into the paths of spiritual advancement for all. Two of these Masters tried to teach A.P. Sinnett… an outline of these principles, and the result appeared in 1883 as ‘Esoteric Buddhism.’ Later, the same Masters caused their pupil H.P. Blavatsky, whom they had trained in Tibet, to give a far fuller version in ‘The Secret Doctrine ‘ (1888). In 1924 their letters to A.P. Sinnett were published as ‘The Mahatma Letters’… and only those who have carefully compared the teachings contained in this great body of literature with that of the scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism can testify to the brilliant light which the former throws on the latter…” (Pg. 196)
He notes,”Western travelers delight in scorning the existence of ‘Living Buddhas,’ and if what they expct to find is men of the rank of the Buddha living as such they will continue to search in vain. But the Chutuktus (Tibetan) and Khubilkans (Mongolian) are cosmic forces of great power, and they overshadow and work through human entities… Lamas of the day are thus used by these spiritual yet human forces. Thus the Dalai Lama is, to this extend, an incarnation…” (Pg. 199)
Later, he asserts, “The Tibetan Canon consists of … [more than 300] volumes… According to the esoteric tradition, however, there is much more to the Tibetan Scriptures than even these great collections of material. The authors of the ‘Mahatma Letters’ … refer again and again to the ‘Book of Kiu-ti. According to H.P. Blavatsky, who was trained in Tibet… It is from the text of this work that the material for much of her greatest work, ‘The Secret Doctrine,’ has been drawn. If this be so, it explains how a work written by a Western woman contains knowledge to be corroborated only by the most careful analysis of hints and phrases scattered throughout the more esoteric (because unpublished) scriptures of the religions of the world. Tibetan Buddhism, then, is a unique blend of the noblest Buddhist principles and debased sorcery, of the highest and the lowest of man’s mind.” (Pg. 202)
He recalls, “at the age of 17… I formed a Buddhist Centre in the Theosophical Society, of which I was then a member… Thus was [later] born the Buddhist Lodge, which in 1943 became the Buddhist Society, London, with affiliated organizations and correspondents in most corners of the world.” (Pg. 225)
This a generally fine work of history, etc., but Humphreys’ uncritical endorsement of Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society taints much of this book, for me.
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