Asoka and probe his opinions on the subject of God and the immortality of the soul. Rock inscriptions constitute a literature that cannot be tampered with. 4. Finally, I shall examine the ritual of Buddhism, for ritual is always of the highest importance in judging the earlier form of a creed. If it can be shown that even in Southern Buddhism the saints or Buddhas of the past are fed and worshipped daily, and Buddha invoked to forgive sin, it may safely be inferred not only that the agnosticism is an innovation, but that the broad line sought to be drawn between Northern and Southern Buddhism is mostly illusory. As it is everywhere asserted that gnostic Buddhism was derived from Christianity, it will be necessary to test this theory likewise. There was a higher Christianity and a higher Judaism both very like Buddhism, for transcendental wisdom must always be one. There was a lower Judaism, founded chiefly on the lower Parsism, and also a lower Christianity. And in spite of the fact that the chief rites of Christianity are those of the higher Judaism, and that the speeches of Christ in all the Gospels always allude to the lower Judaism in terms of unvarying condemnation, it is popularly supposed that the Founder of the Christian religion favoured the lower form of creed. This seems to me quite impossible; but I must premise that the origin of Christianity is a subject too vast for the present inquiry. What innovations Christ introduced into the higher Judaism will probably be the great problem of Christology when Buddhism has been more thoroughly studied. It must be remembered that the Buddhism of the date of the Christian era was already a corrupt form of Buddhism. And when Buddhist influences are admitted, another prominent inquiry of Christology will lie in the direction of the dates and nature of these successive waves of Buddhist influence. As this work is going through the press my attention has been drawn to the Jamalgiri remains and other sculptures brought to light by General Cunningham near Peshawur. It is stated that a complete set of illustrations of the New Testament might be made from these sculptures, such as Mary laying her child in a manger, near which stands a mare with its foal; the young Christ disputing with the doctors in the Temple; the Saviour healing the man with a withered limb; the woman taken in adultery kneeling before Christ, whilst in the background men hold up stones menacingly. Mr. Fergusson fixes the date of the Jamalgiri monastery as somewhere between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D.1 I think this proves that the old Buddhists believed the higher Buddhism and the higher Christianity to be the same religion, an idea which seems also to have been held by St. Paul, for he talks of a gospel as having already been "preached to every creature under heaven" 2 at a time when, outside Jerusalem, a small Romish congregation comprised almost all the Gentile converts of the historical apostles. It must be noted that the builders of the Jamalgiri Vihâra were pure Buddhists, and that in the whole range of Buddhism is no trace of the later Christian cross, the use of wine in the bloodless oblation, no indication of any belief in the efficacy of a blood-sacrifice. I may mention that for the attitude of the Buddha of the frontispiece I am indebted to a Buddha of the Jamalgiri sculptures. It is an attitude well known to Freemasons and mystics; and all the Therapeuts, male and female, stood in this attitude during divine worship. The Jamalgiri Buddha, however, has not got his right hand covered up. 1 Cave Temples of India, p. 139. 2 Col. i. 3. CONTENTS. Two religions in the Rig-Veda. The religion of the prophet and the religion of the priest. Importance of the word “umbrella." Symbol of the cosmos. Same idea typified in the tumulus and holy tree. Gnosticism of the Vedas. The Vedic triad. The serpent. Draco of the sky. Aditi the mother. Avatâras of the Vedic Logos or The Buddhist Trinity. Amitâbha. "The Merciful Father" of China, The tope an apparatus to baffle evil spirits. The rail of the tope a talis- The five heavens still Cosmology of Ceylon. Nirvanapura a place. Paramount importance of the Asoka inscriptions. Asoka on God. Asoka The legendary life. Sanskrit v. Pâli. Cingalese biography an abbrevia- tion of an older book. Suspicious nature of the Buddhaghosa story. The Lalita Vistara our best authority. More in harmony with the Buddhist symbols, inscriptions, monuments, &c. Importance of Buddha's descent as an elephant. Importance of the appearance of the two serpents in the sky. Importance of Buddha as the golden germ. Importance of the Jinas and Buddhas of the past. They act as guardian spirits of the young prince. The flight from the palace. The great renunciation. Buddha as a Brahmachârin. Repairs to Gaya. Seven years of training as a Rishi. The tree of knowledge. The milken rice of Sujata. Baptism. Temptation by the Wicked One. Buddha converts the daughters of sin. Buddha converts the Wicked One. Turns the wheel of the law. Zodiacal nature of the legendary life. Disposes of Senart's theory that Buddha was non- Analysis of the legendary Life. Three schools of Buddhism traceable. Buddha as a man. Buddha as God. The worship of the everlasting Suspicious nature of the early historical books. Importance of the tree and the Wicked One. The Dhammapada; received by the Buddhists as the authentic version of Buddha's sayings. Buddha on God. Buddha on prayer. Buddha on heaven. Saint-worship. Parables. Forgiveness of injuries. The atheist. Kisogotami. Prince Kunâla. Marriage feast. The girl Bhadrâ. King Wessantara. King Bambadat. The hungry dog. The peacemaker. The prodigal son. The man who was born blind. The woman at the well. Vâsavadatta. Blazing man- Numerous points of contact between the Buddhists and Roman Catholics. The Therapeuts; believed to be Christian converts by Catholics, ancient and modern. Believed to be due to Buddhist propagandism by Dean Mansel, Dean Milman, Hilgenfeld, &c. A Therapeut monastery compared with a Buddhist garden of the saints. senes and Buddhists. Important testimony of Philo. Testimony Es- |