ENQ. What is the difference between Buddhism, the religion founded by the Prince of Kapilavastu, and _Budhism_, the “Wisdomism” which you say is synonymous with Theosophy?
THEO. Just the same difference as there is between the secret teachings of Christ, which are called “the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven,” and the later ritualism and dogmatic theology of the Churches and Sects. _Buddha_ means the “Enlightened” by _Bodha_, or understanding, Wisdom. This has passed root and branch into the _esoteric_ teachings that Gautama imparted to his chosen _Arhats_ only.
ENQ. But some Orientalists deny that Buddha ever taught any esoteric doctrine at all?
THEO. They may as well deny that Nature has any hidden secrets for the men of science. Further on I will prove it by Buddha’s conversation with his disciple Ananda. His esoteric teachings were simply the _Gupta Vidya_ (secret knowledge) of the ancient Brahmins, the key to which their modern successors have, with few exceptions, completely lost. And this _Vidya_ has passed into what is now known as the _inner_ teachings of the _Mahayana_ school of Northern Buddhism. Those who deny it are simply ignorant pretenders to Orientalism. I advise you to read the Rev. Mr. Edkins’ _Chinese Buddhism_—especially the chapters on the Exoteric and _Esoteric_ schools and teachings—and then compare the testimony of the whole ancient world upon the subject.
ENQ. But are not the ethics of Theosophy identical with those taught by Buddha?
THEO. Certainly, because these ethics are the soul of the Wisdom-Religion, and were once the common property of the initiates of all nations. But Buddha was the first to embody these lofty ethics in his public teachings, and to make them the foundation and the very essence of his public system. It is herein that lies the immense difference between exoteric Buddhism and every other religion. For while in other religions ritualism and dogma hold the first and most important place, in Buddhism it is the ethics which have always been the most insisted upon. This accounts for the resemblance, amounting almost to identity, between the ethics of Theosophy and those of the religion of Buddha.
ENQ. Are there any great points of difference?