Result of German Rationalism
It is stated that there are about 250,000 Buddhists in Germany alone, and that the majority of them belong to the so-called cultured classes. The Reformation, a German magazine, says: "In Leipsic is a Buddhistic missionary institute with eleven itinerant 'preachers.' In Munich a circle of members of the nobility gather on the evening of every Sunday to engage in the heathen worship of Buddha. The gospel of self-atonement is being proclaimed, and captivated a prominent theologian of the modern school so that he set the crumbs of Indian philosophy before his congregation during eleven years. Francis Hartman, a German savant, who has spent eleven years in Buddhistic cloisters in India, cries out, 'Holy Buddha, we are at thy feet in Germany also.' It is a terrible fact. Among the noble and cultured this heathenism has its zealous followers, who spend immense sums for its spread. In Paris a German baron gave $125,000 for Buddhistic missionary work."—Detroit News Tribune.