he read the christian mystics (Tauler, Meister eckhart, Madame Guyon, etc), bible, analysed and found the core spirit of Christianity to be the same as that of hinduism and buddhism.
For Sufism, Tholuck's translation of the mystic poets rumi and hafiz.
For Hinduism he read the Upanishads which is the core doctrine of the vedas
For Taosim he read Stanislas Julien's translation.
Some of the works he read about Buddhism:
For the benefit of those who wish to acquire a fuller knowledge of Buddhism, I here note down those works belonging to its literature, and written in European languages, which I can really recommend, for I possess them and know them well; the omission of a few others, for instance of
Hodgson's and
A. Rémusat's books, is intentional.
(1.)
Dsanglun, or the Sage and the Fool [Dsanglun oder der Weise und der Thor; Aus dem Tibetanischen übersetzt und mit dem Originaltexte herausgegeben. Th. 1: Der Tibetanische Text nebst der Vorrede; Th. 2: Die Übersetzung, St. Petersburg, Leipzig 1843], in Tibetan and German, by
I. J. Schmidt, Petersburg, 1843, 2 vols. in 4to, contains in the preface to vol. i. (i.e. the Tibetan volume), from pp. xxxi to xxxviii, a very brief, but excellent, sketch of the whole doctrine, admirably calculated for a first introduction to the knowledge of it: the whole book even, as a part of the
Kandshur [Kagyur or bka' 'gyur] (Tibetan canonical books), may be recommended.
(2.) In the Memoranda of the Academy of St. Petersburg are to be found several lectures by the same excellent author (I. J. Schmidt), which were delivered in German in that Academy in 1829-1832. As they are of very great value for the knowledge of this religion, it is to be hoped that they will be collected and published all together in Germany.
(3.) By the same writer:
Forschungen über die Tibeter und Mongolen. St. Petersburg 1824. (Investigations concerning the Tibetans and Mongols).
(4.) By the same writer:
Über die Verwandtschaft der gnostisch-theosophischen Lehren mit den Religions-Systemen des Orients, vorzüglich des Buddhaismus, Leipzig 1828 (On the relation between the Gnostic-Theosophic Doctrines of Oriental systems of Religion, especially Buddhism.)
(5.) By the same:
Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen, St. Petersburg, 1829, in 4to. (History of the Eastern Mongols.) [This is very instructive, especially the explanations and appendix, which give long extracts from writings on Religion, in which many passages clearly show the deep meaning and breathe the genuine spirit of Buddhism. Add. to 3rd ed.]
(6.) Two treatises by
Schiefner in German, in the
Mélanges Asiatiques tirés du Bulletin Historico-Philologique de l'Académie de St. Pétersburg [Asian Miscellanies drawn from the Historico-Philological Bulletin of the Imperial Academy at St. Petersburg], Tome 1, 1851.
(7.) [Captain] Samuel Turner's
Journey to the Court of the Teshoo-Lama [1], (at the end), 1801.
(8.) [Johann Jakob] Bochinger,
La Vie ascétique chez les Indous et les Bouddhistes [The ascetic, contemplative, and monastic life of the Hindus and of the Buddhist People],
[2] Strasbourg, 1831.
(9.) In the 7th vol. of the
Journal Asiatique, 1825, an extremely beautiful biography of Buddha by [Michel-Ange André-Le Roux] Deshauterayes.
[3]
(10.)
Burnouf,
Introduction to the History of Buddhism [4], vol. i. in 4to, 1844.
(11.)
Rgya Tsher Rolpa, traduit du Tibétain, par
Foucaux, 1848, in 4to. This is the
Lalita Vistara, i.e. life of Buddha, the gospel of the Buddhists.
(12.)
Foe Koue Ki, relation des royaumes Bouddhiques [Account of the Buddhist Kingdoms], traduit du Chinois par
Abel Rémusat, 1836, in 4to. [
Foé Koué Ki; ou, Relations des royaumes bouddhiques: voyage dans la Tartarie, dans l'Afghanistan et dans l'Inde, exécuté, à la fin du IVe siècle, par Chy Fa Hian. Traduit du Chinois et Commenté par M. Abel Rémusat. Ouvrage Posthume. Revu, Complété, et Augmenté d'Éclaircissements Nouveaux Par MM. Klaproth et Landresse. Paris, l'Imprimerie Royale, 1836.]
(13.)
Déscription du Tibet, traduit du Chinois en Russe par [P. Hyacinthe] Bitchourin, et du Russe en Francais par
Klaproth, 1831.
(14.)
Klaproth,
Fragments Bouddhiques, printed separately from the
Nouveau Journal Asiatiques, Mars, 1831.
(15.)
Spiegel,
De officiis sacerdotum Buddhicorum [Kammavakya; Kammavācā; Kammavâkyam: Buddhist Ritual or Rules for the Ordination of Monks],
Palice et
Latine, [Bonn], 1841.
(16.) The same author's
Anecdota Palica [Anecdotes in the Pāli Language], [Leipzig], 1845.
(17.)
Dhammapadam, palice edidet et latine vertit [edited in Pāli and transcribed into Latin],
Fausböll, Hovniae [Copenhagen], 1855. [Add. to 3rd ed.]
(18.)
Asiatic Researches, vol. vi.
Buchanan,
On the Religion of the Burmas, and vol. xx. (Calcutta, 1839), Part 2, contains three important articles by
Csoma Körösi, including Analyses of the Books of the
Kandshur.
(19.) [Father Vincent] Sangermano,
Description of the The Burmese Empire,
[5], Rome, 1833.
(20.) [George] Turnour (translator),
The Mahawansa, Ceylon, 1836. [The Mahawanso in Roman Characters with the Translation Subjoined, and an Introductory Essay on Pali Buddhistical Literature. Vol. I containing the first thirty eight Chapters. Cotto 1837.]
(21.) [Edward] Upham,
The Mahavansi,Raja Ratnacari et Rajavali, 3 vols. 1833. [The Mahavansi, the Raja-ratnacari, and the Raja-vali: forming the sacred and historical books of Ceylon; also, a collection of tracts illustrative of the doctrines and literature of Buddhism: translated from the Singhalese. London: Parbury, Allen, and Co. 1833 (3 vol.).]
(22.) Ejusdem [of the same],
Doctrine of Buddhism, 1839 [History and Doctrine of Buddhism Popularly Illustrated, with Notices of Demon Worship and of the Planetary Incantations of Ceylon, with forty-three lithographic prints from original Singalese designs, London: R. Ackerman, 1829].
(23.) [Robert] Spence Hardy,
Eastern Monachism, 1850
[6].
(24.) Ejusdem [of the same],
Manual of Buddhism, 1853.
[7] The two last books, written after a twenty years stay in Ceylon and from oral information supplied by the priests there, have given me a deeper insight into the essence of the Buddhist dogma than any other work. They deserve to be translated into German, but without abridgement, for otherwise the best part might be left out.
(25.)
The Life of Buddha, from the Chinese of [O.] Palladji, in the
Archiv für wissenschaftliche Kunde von Rußland, edited by
Erman, vol. xv. Heft 1, 1856. [Add. to 3rd ed.]
(26.) C. F. Koppen [Karl Friedrich Köppen],
Die Religion des Buddha [and its Origin], 1857, a complete compendium of Buddhism, compiled not only with great erudition and serious industry but also with intelligence and insight from all the other works I have mentioned above and from many more besides, which contains all that is essential on the subject.
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