A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c32.137

v2.c32.137

These Dhāraṇīs may be looked upon as the precursors of the Tantras and they fully support the views that when they were composed Buddhism had turned a new leaf. The repeating of certain magic formulas along with the names of Buddha Amitábha, etc., was to secure salvation, in other words, "instead of the old doctrine [of Karman]—as a man soweth, so he shall reap—a new and easier way of salvation is here preached, viz., as a man prayeth, so he shall be saved. It is what is known to us as salvation by faith rather than by works. . . . . . . It would almost seem as if this popular and easy doctrine had secured to itself the name of Maháyána, as meaning the Broad Way, in opposition to the Narrow Way, the Hínayána.∗"