Chapter XXII: Baptists and Buddhism

There are twelve million Burmese here in Burma. I told you in my last letter how thoroughly Buddha had, 2500 years ago, captured the Burmese with his doctrines.

For 2400 years Buddha practically had it all his own way. If in that time any other competing religions sought a foothold in Burma, they became discouraged and moved out.

Burma was solid for Buddha.

Buddha had a monopoly and held it against all comers for 2400 years. One hundred and one years ago the Baptists came to contest the field.

They didn't come with a blare of trumpets. One man, a Rev. Adoniram Judson, and his wife started out from Salem, Massachusetts, came to Burma and settled here in Rangoon, to wrest from Buddha his adherents, and add them to the Baptist Church. They worked six years without winning a convert. After one hundred and one years the results are:

Baptists 66,000
Buddhists 10,000,000

from which figures one must agree with me that Buddha ploughed deep and planted thoroughly. The other Christian denominations have about 66,000 members between them.

There are of baptized Baptists in Burma 66,000, all other Christians about the same number. The Christians claim an adherent, or nominal Christian, for every church member; so baptized and nominal Christians in Burma number 264,000.

This makes 10,264,000 Buddhists and Christians. The balance of the 12,000,000 in Burma are non-Christians or non-Buddhists, and are composed of various peoples, and tribes: the Karens, Chins, Kachins, Musos, etc.

But the Baptists admit that the great majority of their converts were not made from Buddhists, but from the Karens, Chins, Kachins, and Musos, chiefly from the Karens.

To quote from the minutes of the Judson Centennial held here in Rangoon in 1913:

"But what of the Buddhist population, which is so greatly in the
majority that out of a total of 12,115,217 dwellers in the land,
10,384,579 are returned as Buddhists? From among the Buddhists
only 3,197 are members of our own Baptist churches, and a
correspondingly small number are members of other communions. It
is thus readily seen that, while the success of our missions in
Burma has been very great, those who have professed belief in
Christ have come very largely from the non-Buddhist population.

"Of the ten million Buddhists, eight million are Burmans, and of
Burman Baptist Christians we find but 2,700. Please bear that
fact in mind--2,700 Burmans in our churches and eight million
Buddhist Burmans. To each Burman Baptist church member there are
3,000 Burman Buddhists looking us in the face as we turn to our
task for the coming century."

The Baptists here are hotly contesting the field; bombarding it with a thoroughly up-to-date publishing plant; with a college, schools, and missionaries. For the first twenty years of work we find them with 2,000 converts to their credit.

After half a century of labor we find them with 12,000 converts, while for the full century we find them with 66,000.

A significant fact stands out clear and forceful: They gained in the last decade of work 20,000 converts, nearly one-third as many as they won in ninety years of struggle.

But still Buddhism stands, and Buddha, its founder, after 2500 years, looks with peaceful, quiet eyes from innumerable images set in temples throughout the land--to me more impressive than the Sphinx with the secrets of the centuries locked in its impassive gaze.

Buddha held back no secrets--with burning zeal he preached what he believed was truth. Today one image of the Sphinx, with its riddle--but countless images of Buddha, many of heroic size.

The most impressive one I've ever seen is the Daibutsu in Kamakura in Japan. A temple built in the form of Buddha of solid bronze and silver, with eyes of gold.

This temple was built centuries ago, to keep alive the name and teachings of a man who taught and wrought a score of centuries before this wonderful temple was built--the mystic past steals over you as you look, and you turn and walk away--wondering, wondering, wondering.