Yet this philosopher, like Lao-tsè, "honors his nursing Mother;" he moves in a sphere of thought where men of the world cannot follow him, and where they in their turn are lost (Theætetus, 174-176). Just such a character as that drawn by Plato, Lao-tsè seems to have been. Living in retirement, and devoted to philosophy, he appeared to his contemporaries an eccentric and incompetent person. Yet he says that they called him great (Ch. lxvii), which seems to imply that his reputation was already founded in his life-time.
One other reference to himself must not be omitted, for it evinces the sense he had of the nature of his work in the world. "My words," so he writes in his paradoxical manner, "are very easy to understand, very easy to follow,—no one in the world is able to understand them, no one is able to follow them. The words have an author, the works have one who enjoins them; but he is not understood, therefore I am not understood" (Ch. lxx). On this Stanislas Julien observes, "There is not a word of Lao-tsè's that has not a solid foundation. In fact, they have for their origin and basis Tao and Virtue" (L. V. V. p. 269, n. 2). These expressions, then, suffice to show that Lao-tsè was not destitute of that sense of inspiration of which other great prophets have been so profoundly conscious.
Section III.—Gautama Buddha.[1]
Subdivision 1. The Historical Buddha.
Were we to write the history of the Buddha according to the fashion of Buddhist historians, we should have to begin our story several ages before his birth. For the theory of his disciples is, that during many millions of years, through an almost innumerable series of different lives, he had been preparing himself for the great office of the savior of humanity which he at length assumed. Only by the practice of incredible
- ↑ The following works may be advantageously consulted with reference to the Buddha Sakyamuni:—Notices on the Life of Shakya, by C oma Korosi; Asiatic Researches, vol. xx. part ii. p. 285: the Rgya Tch'er Rol Pa, par Ph, Ed. Foucaux; Hardy's Manual of Buddhism; Bigandet's Life or Legend of Gautama, the Buddha of the Burmese; Alabaster's Wheel of the Law; and Koeppen's Religion des Buddha, vol. i. p. 71, ff. Some information will also be found in my article on "Recent Publications on Buddhism, in the Theological Review for July, 1872.
