Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 85

[295:4] See Matt. xxiv; Mark, viii. 31; Luke, ix. 18.

[295:5] Mark, xxviii. 18-20.

Buddha at one time said to his disciples: "Go ye now, and preach the most excellent law, expounding every point thereof, and unfolding it with care and attention in all its bearings and particulars. Explain the beginning, the middle, and the end of the law, to all men without exception; let everything respecting it be made publicly known and brought to the broad daylight." (Rhys David's Buddhism, p. 55, 56.)

When Buddha, just before his death, took his last formal farewell of his a.s.sembled followers, he said unto them: "Oh mendicants, thoroughly learn, and practice, and perfect, and spread abroad the law thought out and revealed by me, in order that this religion of mine may last long, and be perpetuated for the good and happiness of the great mult.i.tudes, out of pity for the world, to the advantage and prosperity of G.o.ds and men." (Ibid. p. 172.)

[295:6] Muller: Science of Religion, p. 244.

[295:7] Matt. xix. 16-21.

[295:8] Matt. vi. 19, 20.

[296:1] Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. x, _note_.

[296:2] Matt. iv. 17.

[296:3] _i. e._, to establish the dominion of religion. (See Beal: p.

244, _note_.)

[296:4] The Jerusalem, the Rome, or the Mecca of India.

This celebrated city of Benares, which has a population of 200,000, out of which at least 25,000 are Brahmans, was probably one of the first to acquire a fame for sanct.i.ty, and it has always maintained its reputation as the most sacred spot in all India. Here, in this fortress of Hindooism, Brahmanism displays itself in all its plent.i.tude and power.

Here the degrading effect of idolatry is visibly demonstrated as it is nowhere else except in the extreme south of India. Here, temples, idols, and symbols, sacred wells, springs, and pools, are multiplied beyond all calculation. Here every particle of ground is believed to be hallowed, and the very air holy. The number of temples is at least two thousand, not counting innumerable smaller shrines. In the princ.i.p.al temple of Siva, called Visvesvara, are collected in one spot several thousand idols and symbols, the whole number scattered throughout the city, being, it is thought, at least half a million.

Benares, indeed, must always be regarded as the Hindoo's Jerusalem. The desire of a pious man's life is to accomplish at least one pilgrimage to what he regards as a portion of heaven let down upon earth; and if he can die within the holy circuit of the Pancakosi stretching with a radius of ten miles around the city--nay, if any human being die there, be he Asiatic or European--no previously incurred guilt, however heinous, can prevent his attainment of celestial bliss.

[296:5] Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 245.

[296:6] Matt. iv. 13-17.

[296:7] Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 11.

[296:8] John, i. 17.

[296:9] Luke, xxi. 32, 33.

[296:10] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 228.

[296:11] Matt. v. 27, 28.

On one occasion Buddha preached a sermon on the five senses and the heart (which he regarded as a sixth organ of sense), which pertained to guarding against the pa.s.sion of l.u.s.t. Rhys Davids, who, in speaking of this sermon, says: "One may pause and wonder at finding such a sermon preached so early in the history of the world--more than 400 years before the rise of Christianity--and among a people who have long been thought peculiarly idolatrous and sensual." (Buddhism, p. 60.)

[297:1] Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 138.

[297:2] I. Corinth. vii. 1-7.

[297:3] Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 103.

[297:4] John, ix. 1, 2.

This is the doctrine of transmigration clearly taught. If this man was born blind, as punishment for some sin committed by him, this sin must have been committed in _some former birth_.

[297:5] Hardy: Buddhist Legends, p. 181.

[297:6] See the story of his conversation with the woman of Samaria.

(John, iv. 1.) And with the woman who was cured of the "b.l.o.o.d.y issue."

(Matt. ix. 20.)

[297:7] Muller: Science of Religion, p. 245.

[297:8] Matt. v. 29.

[297:9] Hardy: Buddhist Legends, p. 134.

[297:10] Matt. xxi. 1-9.

_Bacchus_ rode in a triumphal procession, on approaching the city of _Thebes_. "Pantheus, the king, who had no respect for the new worship (inst.i.tuted by Bacchus) forbade its rites to be performed. But when it was known that Bacchus was advancing, men and women, but chiefly the latter, young and old, poured forth to meet him and to join his triumphal march. . . . It was in vain Pantheus remonstrated, commanded and threatened. 'Go,' said he to his attendants, 'seize this vagabond leader of the rout and bring him to me. I will soon make him confess his false claim of heavenly parentage and renounce his counterfeit worship.'" (Bulfinch: Age of Fable, p. 222. Compare with Matt. xxvi.; Luke, xxii.; John xviii.)

[297:11] "There are few names among the men of the West that stand forth as saliently as Gotama Buddha, in the annals of the East. In little more than two centuries from his decease the system he established had spread throughout the whole of India, overcoming opposition the most formidable, and binding together the most discordant elements; and at the present moment Buddhism is the prevailing religion, under various modifications, of Tibet, Nepal, Siam, Burma, j.a.pan, and South Ceylon; and in China it has a position of at least equal prominence with its two great rivals, Confucianism and Taouism. A long time its influence extended throughout nearly three-fourths of Asia; from the steppes of Tartary to the palm groves of Ceylon, and from the vale of Cashmere to the isles of j.a.pan." (R. Spence Hardy: Buddhist Leg. p. xi.)

[298:1] "Gautama was _very early_ regarded as omniscient, and absolutely sinless. His perfect wisdom is declared by the ancient epithet of _Samma-sambuddha_, 'the Completely Enlightened One;' found at the commencement of every Pali text; and at the present day, in Ceylon, the usual way in which Gautama is styled is _Sarwajnan-wahanse_,' the Venerable Omniscient One.' From his perfect wisdom, according to Buddhist belief, _his sinlessness would follow as a matter of course_.

He was the first and the greatest of the Arahats. _As a consequence of this doctrine_ the belief soon sprang up that he could not have been, that he was not, born as ordinary men are; that he had no earthly father; that he descended of his own accord into his mother's womb from his throne in heaven; and that he gave unmistakable signs, immediately after his birth of his high character and of his future greatness."

(Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 162.)

[299:1] Gautama Buddha left behind him no written works, but the Buddhists believe that he composed works which his immediate disciples learned by heart in his life-time, and which were handed down by memory in their original state until they were committed to writing. This is not impossible: it is known that the _Vedas_ were handed down in this manner for many hundreds of years, and none would now dispute the enormous powers of memory to which Indian priests and monks attained, when written books were not invented, or only used as helps to memory.

Even though they are well acquainted with writing, the monks in Ceylon do not use books in their religions services, but, repeat, for instance, the whole of the _Patimokkha_ on Uposatha (Sabbath) days by heart. (See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, pp. 9, 10.)

[299:2] Compare this with the names, t.i.tles, and characters given to Jesus. He is called the "Deliverer," (Acts, vii. 35); the "First Begotten" (Rev. i. 5); "G.o.d blessed forever" (Rom. ix. 5); the "Holy One" (Luke, iv. 34; Acts, iii. 14); the "King Everlasting" (Luke, i.

33); "King of Kings" (Rev. xvii. 14); "Lamb of G.o.d" (John, i. 29, 36); "Lord of Glory" (I. Cor. ii. 8); "Lord of Lords" (Rev. xvii. 14); "Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. v. 5); "Maker and Preserver of all things"

(John, i. 3, 10; I. Cor. viii. 6; Col. i. 16); "Prince of Peace" (Isai.

ix. 6); "Redeemer," "Saviour," "Mediator," "Word," &c., &c.

[300:1] Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 41.

[300:2] "He joined to his gifts as a thinker a prophetic ardor and missionary zeal which prompted him to popularize his doctrine, and to preach to all without exception, men and women, high and low, ignorant and learned alike." (Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 53.)

[300:3] Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 45.

[300:4] Ibid. p. 46.

[300:5] "The success of Buddhism was in great part due to the reverence the Buddha inspired by his own personal character. He practiced honestly what he preached enthusiastically. He was sincere, energetic, earnest, self-sacrificing, and devout. Adherents gathered in thousands around the person of the consistent preacher, and the Buddha himself became the real centre of Buddhism." (Williams' Hinduism, p. 102.)

[300:6] "It may be said to be the prevailing religion of the world. Its adherents are estimated at _four hundred millions_, more than a third of the human race." (Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Buddhism." See also, Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 251.)

[301:1] It should be understood that the Buddha of this chapter, and in fact, the Buddha of _this_ work, is _Gautama_ Buddha, the Sakya Prince.

According to Buddhist belief there have been many different Buddhas on earth. _The names_ of _twenty-four_ of the Buddhas who appeared previous to Gautama have been handed down to us. The _Buddhavansa_ or "History of the Buddhas," gives the lives of all the previous Buddhas before commencing the account of Gautama himself. (See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, pp. 179, 180.)

[301:2] "The date usually fixed for Buddha's death is 543 B. C. Whether this precise year for one of the greatest epochs in the religious history of the human race can be accepted is doubtful, but it is tolerably certain that Buddhism arose in Behar and Eastern Hindustan about five centuries B. C.; and that it spread with great rapidity, _not by force of arms, or coercion of any kind_, like Muhammedanism, but by the sheer persuasiveness of its doctrine." (Monier Williams' Hinduism, p. 72.)