flames of the royal sandalwood pyre.[1] The relics, which were like a heap of pearls, shed around sweet perfume. Afterwards came gorgeous retinues of the princes carrying golden vessels for the relics, each emulous to raise precious chaityas over the remains.
The personal influence of Buddha while he lived, the enthusiasm for humanity with which he inspired his followers, the attractive beauty of character which he bequeathed "a rich legacy" to mankind, place him as the central figure of his religion. The result has been that he has been idealized until he is regarded as divine, and omniscient, and free from all sin. "There is no deity above him; he stands out alone, unrivalled, unequalled, and unapproachable."[2] Prayers are addressed to him, flowers and incense offered, and his relics are enshrined in stupas. Nevertheless, Gautama stands but as one in a long chain of Buddhas who have preceded him, and who will follow. His teaching was higher and nobler than the teaching of those who came before him; the teaching of the Buddhas who will in the course of the ages follow will be greater and more divine than was his. Therefore he bade men look forward to and hail their advent.[3] The next Buddha will be Maitreya, the Buddha of charity.[4]
It is difficult to fix the exact date of Buddha's death; it may have been as early as 477,[5] or as late as 412 b.c.[6] lf Upon his death, Kasyapa claimed to be leader of the assembly, because Buddha had said to him, "Thou shalt wear my hempen robes." Therefore Kasyapa, fearing lest the words of Buddha should be forgotten, summoned an assembly of five hundred disciples; and the young Ananda, Buddha's beloved disciple, recited aloud the sutras. Missionaries carried the words abroad to all lands; the religion spread over India, and King Asoka made it the state religion of his dominions about the year 250 B.c. He promulgated decrees which remain to this day inscribed on stone pillars and cut in the living rock, enjoining morality and toleration, and justice and charity, on his subjects; commanding the foundation of hospitals;[7] appointing a minister of religion, who should preserve the purity of the faith and protect the aborigines and subject nations, and a minister of education, who should promote the instruction of the women in the harems and elsewhere in the principles of the religion of Buddha. The son and daughter of Asoka introduced it into Ceylon, where it still retains its purity. Missionaries carried it into Kashmir in the first century, a.d., and into Burmah in the fifth century, and thence into Siam in the seventh century. In the golden age of India, the state religion was Buddhist. We catch glimpses of its influence in the travels of the Chinese pilgrims Fa-hian in 400 a.d., of Sung-yun, in 518, and of Hiouen-thsang in 629-648 a.d.[8] For a thousand years it maintained its supremacy. In the eighth or ninth century a.d., there seems to have been a reaction against it in favor of Brahmanism, and a persecution to have taken place, which was so thorough that there is now scarcely a Buddhist in India. In this it resembles the history of Christianity; the Aryan race from whose bosom it sprang cast it forth, and it became the religion of a race entirely different, the Turanian.
VII. Christians of all shades of opinion have spoken with reverence of Buddha. The Venetian Marco Polo said, "Indeed had he been a Christian, he would have been a great saint of our Lord Jesus Christ, so good and pure was the life he led;" and he tells us how pilgrims came to Adam's Peak in Ceylon "from very long distances with great devotion, just as Christians go to the shrine of Messer Saint James in Gallicia."[9] M. St. Hilaire says, "Je n'hésite pas à ajouter que, sauf le Christ tout seul, il n'est point, parmi les fondateurs de religion, de figure plus pure ni plus touchante que celle de Bouddha. Sa vie n'a point de tache. Son constant héroïsme égale sa conviction; et si la théorie qu'il préconise est fausse, les exemples personnels qu'il donne sont irréprochables. Il est le modèle achevé de toutes les vertus qu'il prêcha."[10] An Anglican clergyman, Mr. Baring Gould, bears witness that "the ethic code of Buddha can hardly be ranked lower than that of Christianity; and it is immeasurably superior to every heathen system that the world has ever seen." [11]
- ↑ So Apollo sends a miraculous rain to preserve the body of Crœsus. Herod., i. 84.
- ↑ "Analysis of Religious Belief," Lord Amberley, ii. 146.
- ↑ Cf. Phædo, 78; Alcibiades, ii.
- ↑ Maitreya, possessed of love, (root maitra, love or charity). Fa-hian, p. 20 n.
- ↑ Max Müller, "Chips," i. 311.
- ↑ Rhys Davids' "Ancient Coins and Measures of Ceylon."
- ↑ Westminster Review, New Series, civ., p. 435
- ↑ "Mémoires sur les Contrées Occidentales," by Hiouen-thsang, a.d. 648, St. Julien. Paris, 1857.
- ↑ Yule's ed., ii. 258. "He only is a pilgrim who goeth towards or frowards the house of St. James, … who journey unto the holy house of Gallicia." —Dante, "Vita Nuova."
- ↑ Le Bouddha et sa Religion, introd. v.
- ↑ Development of Christianity, i. 357.
