Buddha also established a new religion... The beliefs and
rites of the Buddhists… have not continued in accordance with their fundamental
teachings. The founder of Buddhism was a wonderful soul. He established the
Oneness of God, but later the original principles of His doctrines gradually
disappeared, and ignorant customs and ceremonials arose and increased until
they finally ended in the worship of statues and images. So it is with
religions; through the passing of time they change from their original
foundation, the truth of the Religion of God entirely departs, and the spirit
of it does not stay; heresies appear, and it becomes a body without a soul.
That is why it is renewed. The meaning is that the Buddhists… and now worship
images and statues. They are entirely heedless of the Oneness of God and
believe in imaginary gods like the ancient Greeks. But in the beginning it was
not so; there were different principles and other ordinances.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Some Answered Questions’; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. I, Buddha,
Krishna, Zoroaster and Related Subjects)
