_The Four Presaging Tokens._
Soothsayers were consulted by King Suddhodana. They pronounced the
following:--
"The young boy will, without doubt, be either a king of kings, or a
great Buddha. If he is destined to be a great Buddha, four presaging
tokens will make his mission plain. He will see--
"1. An old man.
"2. A sick man.
"3. A corpse.
"4. A holy recluse.
"If he fails to see these four presaging tokens of an avatâra, he will
be simply a Chakravartin" (king of earthly kings).
King Suddhodana, who was a trifle worldly, was very much comforted by
the last prediction of the soothsayers. He thought in his heart, It
will be an easy thing to keep these four presaging tokens from the
young prince. So he gave orders that three magnificent palaces should
at once be built--the Palace of Spring, the Palace of Summer, the
Palace of Winter. These palaces, as we learn from the "Lalita Vistara,"
were the most beautiful palaces ever conceived on earth. Indeed, they
were quite able to cope in splendour with Vaijayanta, the immortal
palace of Indra himself. Costly pavilions were built out in all
directions, with ornamented porticoes and burnished doors. Turrets and
pinnacles soared into the sky. Dainty little windows gave light to the
rich apartments. Galleries, balustrades, and delicate trellis-work were
abundant everywhere. A thousand bells tinkled on each roof. We seem to
have the lacquered Chinese edifices of the pattern which architects
believe to have flourished in early India. The gardens of these fine
palaces rivalled the chess-board in the rectangular exactitude of their
parterres and trellis-work bowers. Cool lakes nursed on their calm
bosoms storks and cranes, wild geese and tame swans; ducks, also, as
parti-coloured as the white, red, and blue lotuses amongst which they
swam. Bending to these lakes were bowery trees--the champak, the acacia
serisha, and the beautiful asoka tree with its orange-scarlet flowers.
Above rustled the mimosa, the fan-palm, and the feathery pippala,
Buddha's tree. The air was heavy with the strong scent of the tuberose
and the Arabian jasmine.
It must be mentioned that strong ramparts were prepared round the
palaces of Kapilavastu, to keep out all old men, sick men, and
recluses, and, I must add, to keep in the prince.
And a more potent safeguard still was designed. When the prince was
old enough to marry, his palace was deluged with beautiful women. He
revelled in the "five dusts," as the Chinese version puts it. But a
shock was preparing for King Suddhodana.
This is how the matter came about. The king had prepared a garden even
more beautiful than the garden of the Palace of Summer. A soothsayer
had told him that if he could succeed in showing the prince this
garden, the prince would be content to remain in it with his wives for
ever. No task seemed easier than this, so it was arranged that on a
certain day the prince should be driven thither in his chariot. But,
of course, immense precautions had to be taken to keep all old men and
sick men and corpses from his sight. Quite an army of soldiers were
told off for this duty, and the city was decked with flags. The path of
the prince was strewn with flowers and scents, and adorned with vases
of the rich kadali plant. Above were costly hangings and garlands, and
pagodas of bells.
But, lo and behold! as the prince was driving along, plump under the
wheels of his chariot, and before the very noses of the silken nobles
and the warriors with javelins and shields, he saw an unusual sight.
This was an old man, very decrepit and very broken. The veins and
nerves of his body were swollen and prominent; his teeth chattered;
he was wrinkled, bald, and his few remaining hairs were of dazzling
whiteness; he was bent very nearly double, and tottered feebly along,
supported by a stick.
"What is this, O coachman?" said the prince. "A man with his blood all
dried up, and his muscles glued to his body! His head is white; his
teeth knock together; he is scarcely able to move along, even with the
aid of that stick!"
"Prince," said the coachman, "this is Old Age. This man's senses are
dulled; suffering has destroyed his spirit; he is contemned by his
neighbours. Unable to help himself, he has been abandoned in this
forest."
"Is this a peculiarity of his family?" demanded the prince, "or is it
the law of the world? Tell me quickly."
"Prince," said the coachman, "it is neither a law of his family, nor a
law of the kingdom. In every being youth is conquered by age. Your own
father and mother and all your relations will end in old age. There is
no other issue to humanity."
"Then youth is blind and ignorant," said the prince, "and sees not the
future. If this body is to be the abode of old age, what have I to do
with pleasure and its intoxications? Turn round the chariot, and drive
me back to the palace!"
Consternation was in the minds of all the courtiers at this untoward
occurrence; but the odd circumstance of all was that no one was ever
able to bring to condign punishment the miserable author of the
mischief. The old man could never be found.
King Suddhodana was at first quite beside himself with tribulation.
Soldiers were summoned from the distant provinces, and a cordon of
detachments thrown out to a distance of four miles in each direction,
to keep the other presaging tokens from the prince. By and by the king
became a little more quieted. A ridiculous accident had interfered with
his plans: "If my son could see the Garden of Happiness he never would
become a hermit." The king determined that another attempt should be
made. But this time the precautions were doubled.
On the first occasion the prince left the Palace of Summer by the
eastern gate. The second expedition was through the southern gate.
But another untoward event occurred. As the prince was driving along
in his chariot, suddenly he saw close to him a man emaciated, ill,
loathsome, burning with fever. Companionless, uncared for, he tottered
along, breathing with extreme difficulty.
"Coachman," said the prince, "what is this man, livid and loathsome
in body, whose senses are dulled, and whose limbs are withered? His
stomach is oppressing him; he is covered with filth. Scarcely can he
draw the breath of life!"
"Prince," said the coachman, "this is Sickness. This poor man is
attacked with a grievous malady. Strength and comfort have shunned him.
He is friendless, hopeless, without a country, without an asylum. The
fear of death is before his eyes."
"If the health of man," said Buddha, "is but the sport of a dream, and
the fear of coming evils can put on so loathsome a shape, how can the
wise man, who has seen what life really means, indulge in its vain
delights? Turn back, coachman, and drive me to the palace!"
The angry king, when he heard what had occurred, gave orders that the
sick man should be seized and punished, but although a price was placed
on his head, and he was searched for far and wide, he could never
be caught. A clue to this is furnished by a passage in the "Lalita
Vistara." The sick man was in reality one of the Spirits of the Pure
Abode, masquerading in sores and spasms. These Spirits of the Pure
Abode are also called the Buddhas of the Past, in many passages. The
answers of the coachman were due to their inspiration.
It would almost seem as if some influence, malefic or otherwise, was
stirring the good King Suddhodana. Unmoved by failure, he urged the
prince to a third effort. The chariot this time was to set out by the
western gate. Greater precautions than ever were adopted. The chain of
guards was posted at least twelve miles off from the Palace of Summer.
But the Buddhas of the Past again arrested the prince. His chariot was
suddenly crossed by a phantom funeral procession. A phantom corpse,
smeared with the orthodox mud, and spread with a sheet, was carried on
a bier. Phantom women wailed, and phantom musicians played on the drum
and the Indian flute. No doubt also, phantom Brahmins chanted hymns to
Jatavedas, to bear away the immortal part of the dead man to the home
of the Pitris.
"What is this?" said the prince. "Why do these women beat their breast
and tear their hair? Why do these good folks cover their heads with the
dust of the ground? And that strange form upon its litter, wherefore is
it so rigid?"
"Prince," said the charioteer, "this is Death! Yon form, pale and
stiffened, can never again walk and move. Its owner has gone to the
unknown caverns of Yama. His father, his mother, his child, his wife
cry out to him, but he cannot hear."
Buddha was sad.
"Woe be to youth, which is the sport of age! Woe be to health, which
is the sport of many maladies! Woe be to life, which is as a breath!
Woe be to the idle pleasures which debauch humanity! But for the 'five
aggregations' there would be no age, sickness, nor death. Go back to
the city. I must compass the deliverance."
A fourth time the prince was urged by his father to visit the Garden of
Happiness. The chain of guards this time was sixteen miles away. The
exit was by the northern gate. But suddenly a calm man of gentle mien,
wearing an ochre-red cowl, was seen in the roadway.
"Who is this," said the prince, "rapt, gentle, peaceful in mien? He
looks as if his mind were far away elsewhere. He carries a bowl in his
hand."
"Prince, this is the New Life," said the charioteer. "That man is of
those whose thoughts are fixed on the eternal Brahma [Brahmacharin].
He seeks the divine voice. He seeks the divine vision. He carries the
alms-bowl of the holy beggar [bhikshu]. His mind is calm, because the
gross lures of the lower life can vex it no more."
"Such a life I covet," said the prince. "The lusts of man are like the
sea-water--they mock man's thirst instead of quenching it. I will seek
the divine vision, and give immortality to man!"
King Suddhodana was beside himself. He placed five hundred corseleted
Sakyas at every gate of the Palace of Summer. Chains of sentries were
round the walls, which were raised and strengthened. A phalanx of
loving wives, armed with javelins, was posted round the prince's bed
to "narrowly watch" him. The king ordered also all the allurements of
sense to be constantly presented to the prince.
"Let the women of the zenana cease not for an instant their concerts
and mirth and sports. Let them shine in silks and sparkle in diamonds
and emeralds."
The allegory is in reality a great battle between two camps--the
denizens of the Kâmaloca, or the Domains of Appetite, and the denizens
of the Brahmaloca, the Domains of Pure Spirit. The latter are unseen,
but not unfelt.
For one day, when the prince reclined on a silken couch listening to
the sweet crooning of four or five brown-skinned, large-eyed Indian
girls, his eyes suddenly assumed a dazed and absorbed look, and the
rich hangings and garlands and intricate trellis-work of the golden
apartment were still present, but dim to his mind. And music and
voices, more sweet than he had ever listened to, seemed faintly to
reach him. I will write down some of the verses.
"Mighty prop of humanity
March in the pathway of the Rishis of old,
Go forth from this city!
Upon this desolate earth,
When thou hast acquired the priceless knowledge of the Jinas,
When thou hast become a perfect Buddha,
Give to all flesh the baptism (river) of the kingdom of Righteousness,
Thou who once didst sacrifice thy feet, thy hands, thy precious
body, and all thy riches for the world,
Thou whose life is pure, save flesh from its miseries!
In the presence of reviling be patient, O conqueror of self!
Lord of those who possess two feet, go forth on thy mission!
Conquer the evil one and his army."
In the end the Buddhas of the Past triumph. They persuade Buddha to
flee away from his cloying pleasures and become a Yogi.
"THEN WAS JESUS LED UP BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS, TO BE TEMPTED
OF THE DEVIL."
Comfortable dowagers driving to church three times on Sunday would
be astonished to learn that the essence of Christianity is in this
passage. Its meaning has quite passed away from Protestantism, almost
from Christendom. The "Lalita Vistara" fully shows what that meaning
is. Without Buddhism it would be lost. Jesus was an Essene, and the
Essene, like the Indian Yogi, sought to obtain divine union and the
"gifts of the Spirit" by solitary reverie in retired spots. In what is
called the "Monastery of our Lord" on the Quarantania, a cell is shown
with rude frescoes of Jesus and Satan. There, according to tradition,
the demoniac hauntings that all mystics speak of occurred.
"I HAVE NEED TO BE BAPTISED OF THEE."
A novice in Yoga has a guru, or teacher. Buddha, in riding away from
the palace by and by reached a jungle near Vaisalî. He at once put
himself under a Brahmin Yogi named Arâta Kâlâma, but his spiritual
insight developed so rapidly that in a short time the Yogi offered to
Buddha, the arghya, the offering of rice, flowers, sesamun, etc., that
the humble novice usually presents to his instructor, and asked him to
teach instead of learning. (Foucaux, "Lalita Vistara," p. 228.)
THIRTY YEARS OF AGE.
M. Ernest de Bunsen, in his work, "The Angel Messiah," says that
Buddha, like Christ, commenced preaching at thirty years of age. He
certainly must have preached at Vaisalî, for five young men became
his disciples there, and exhorted him to go on with his teaching.
("Lalita Vistara," p. 236.) He was twenty-nine when he left the palace,
therefore he might well have preached at thirty. He did not turn the
wheel of the law until after a six years' meditation under the Tree of
Knowledge.
BAPTISM.
The Buddhist rite of baptism finds its sanction in two incidents in the
Buddhist scriptures. In the first, Buddha bathes in the holy river,
and Mâra, the evil spirit, tries to prevent him from emerging. In the
second, angels administer the holy rite (Abhisheka).
"AND WHEN HE HAD FASTED FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS."
Buddha, immediately previous to his great encounter with Mâra, the
tempter, fasted forty-nine days and nights. ("Chinese Life," by Wung
Puh.)
"COMMAND THAT THESE STONES BE MADE BREAD."
The first temptation of Buddha, when Mâra assailed him under the bo
tree, is precisely similar to that of Jesus. His long fast had very
nearly killed him. "Sweet creature, you are at the point of death.
Sacrifice food." This meant, eat a portion to save your life.
"AGAIN THE DEVIL TAKETH HIM UP INTO AN EXCEEDING HIGH MOUNTAIN," ETC.
The second temptation of Mâra is also like one of Satan's. The tempter,
by a miracle, shows Buddha the glorious city of Kapilavastu, twisting
the earth round like the "wheel of a potter" to do this. He offers
to make him a mighty king of kings (Chakravartin) in seven days.
(Bigandet, p. 65.)
THE THIRD TEMPTATION.
Jewish prudery has quite marred the third temptation. From the days of
Krishna and the phantom naked woman, Kotavî, to the days of St. Anthony
and St. Jerome, or even to the days of mediæval monasteries with their
incubi and succubi, sex temptations have been a prominent feature of
the fasting ascetic's visions. The daughters of Mâra, the tempter, in
exquisite forms, now come round Buddha. In the end he converts these
pretty ladies, and converts and baptises Mâra himself.
"AND ANGELS CAME AND MINISTERED UNTO HIM."
After his conflict with Mâra, angels come to greet him.
"GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY."
Buddha, on vanquishing Mâra, left Buddha Gaya for the deer forest of
Benares. There he began to preach. His doctrine is called Subha Shita
(glad tidings). (_See_ Rajendra L. Mitra "N. Buddhist Lit.," p. 29.)
"BEHOLD A GLUTTONOUS PERSON!"
Five disciples who left him when he gave over the rigid fasts of the
Brahmins, called out on seeing him in the deer forest, "Behold a
gluttonous person!" (_relaché et gourmand_).
"FOLLOW ME."
Almost his first converts were thirty profligate young men, whom he met
sporting with lemans in the Kappasya jungle. "He received them," says
Professor Rhys Davids, "into the order, with the formula, 'Follow Me.'"
("Birth Stories," p. 114.)
THE TWELVE GREAT DISCIPLES.
"Except in my religion, the twelve great disciples are not to be
found." (Bigandet, p. 301.)
"THE DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED."
One disciple was called Upatishya (the beloved disciple). In a former
existence, he and Maudgalyâyana had prayed that they might sit, the
one on the right hand and the other on the left. Buddha granted this
prayer. The other disciples murmured much. (Bigandet, p. 153.)
"GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD."
From Benares Buddha sent forth the sixty-one disciples. "Go ye forth,"
he said, "and preach Dharma, no two disciples going the same way."
(Bigandet, p. 126.)
"THE SAME CAME TO JESUS BY NIGHT."
Professor Rhys Davids points out that Yâsas, a young rich man, came to
Buddha by night for fear of his rich relations.
PAX VOBISCUM.
On one point I have been a little puzzled. The password of the Buddhist
Wanderers was Sadhu! which does not seem to correspond with the "Pax
Vobiscum!" (Matt. x. 13) of Christ's disciples. But I have just come
across a passage in Renan ("Les Apôtres," p. 22) which shows that
the Hebrew word was Schalom! (_bonheur!_) This is almost a literal
translation of Sadhu!
Burnouf says that by preaching and miracle Buddha's religion was
established. In point of fact it was the first universal religion. He
invented the preacher and the missionary.
"A NEW COMMANDMENT GIVE I YOU, THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER."
"By love alone can we conquer wrath. By good alone can we conquer
evil. The whole world dreads violence. All men tremble in the presence
of death. Do to others that which ye would have them do to you. Kill
not. Cause no death." ("Sûtra of Forty-two Sections," v. 129.)
"Say no harsh words to thy neighbour. He will reply to thee in the same
tone." (_Ibid._ v. 133.)
"'I am injured and provoked, I have been beaten and plundered!' They
who speak thus will never cease to hate." (_Ibid._ v. 4, 5.)
"That which can cause hate to cease in the world is not hate, but the
absence of hate."
"If, like a trumpet trodden on in battle, thou complainest not, thou
has attained Nirvâna."
"Silently shall I endure abuse, as the war-elephant receives the shaft
of the bowman."
"The awakened man goes not on revenge, but rewards with kindness the
very being who has injured him, as the sandal tree scents the axe of
the woodman who fells it."
THE BEATITUDES.
The Buddhists, like the Christians, have got their Beatitudes. They
are plainly arranged for chant and response in the temples. It is to
be noted that the Christian Beatitudes were a portion of the early
Christian ritual.
"_An Angel._
"1 Many angels and men
Have held various things blessings.
When they were yearning for the inner wisdom.
Do thou declare to us the chief good.
"_Buddha._
"2 Not to serve the foolish,
But to serve the spiritual;
To honour those worthy of honour,--
This is the greatest blessing.
"3 To dwell in a spot that befits one's condition,
To think of the effect of one's deeds,
To guide the behaviour aright,--
This is the greatest blessing.
"4 Much insight and education,
Self-control and pleasant speech,
And whatever word be well spoken,--
This is the greatest blessing.
"5 To support father and mother,
To cherish wife and child,
To _follow a peaceful calling_,--
This is the greatest blessing.
"6 To _bestow alms_ and _live righteously_
To give help to kindred,
Deeds which cannot be blamed,--
These are the greatest blessing.
"7 To _abhor and cease from sin_,
Abstinence from strong drink,
_Not to be weary in well-doing_,--
These are the greatest blessing.
"8 _Reverence_ and lowliness,
Contentment and gratitude,
The hearing of Dharma at due seasons,--
This is the greatest blessing.
"9 To be _long-suffering_ and _meek_,
To associate with the tranquil,
Religious talk at due seasons,--
This is the greatest blessing.
"10 _Self-restraint and purity_,
The knowledge of noble truths,
The attainment of Nirvâna,--
This is the greatest blessing."
THE ONE THING NEEDFUL.
Certain subtle questions were proposed to Buddha, such as: What will
best conquer the evil passions of man? What is the most savoury gift
for the alms-bowl of the mendicant? Where is true happiness to be
found? Buddha replied to them all with one word, _Dharma_ (the heavenly
life). (Bigandet, p. 225.)
"WHOSOEVER SHALL SMITE THEE ON THY RIGHT CHEEK OFFER HIM THE OTHER
ALSO."
A merchant from Sûnaparanta having joined Buddha's society, was
desirous of preaching to his relations, and is said to have asked the
permission of the master so to do.
"The people of Sûnaparanta," said Buddha, "are exceedingly violent; if
they revile you what will you do?"
"I will make no reply," said the mendicant.
"And if they strike you?"
"I will not strike in return," said the mendicant.
"And if they kill you?"
"Death," said the missionary, "is no evil in itself. Many even desire
it to escape from the vanities of life." (Bigandet, p. 216.)
BUDDHA'S THIRD COMMANDMENT.
"Commit no adultery." Commentary by Buddha: "This law is broken by even
looking at the wife of another with a lustful mind." (Buddhaghosa's
"Parables," by Max Müller and Rogers, p. 153.)
THE SOWER.
It is recorded that Buddha once stood beside the ploughman
Kasibhâradvaja, who reproved him for his idleness. Buddha answered
thus:--"I, too, plough and sow, and from my ploughing and sowing I reap
immortal fruit. My field is religion. The weeds that I pluck up are
the passions of cleaving to this life. My plough is wisdom, my seed
purity." ("Hardy Manual," p. 215.)
On another occasion he described almsgiving as being like "good seed
sown on a good soil that yields an abundance of fruits. But alms given
to those who are yet under the tyrannical yoke of the passions, are
like a seed deposited in a bad soil. The passions of the receiver of
the alms, choke, as it were, the growth of merits." (Bigandet, p. 211.)
"NOT THAT WHICH GOETH INTO THE MOUTH DEFILETH A MAN."
In the "Sutta Nipâta," chap. ii., is a discourse on the food that
defiles a man (Âmaghanda). Therein it is explained at some length that
the food that is eaten cannot defile a man, but "destroying living
beings, killing, cutting, binding, stealing, falsehood, adultery, evil
thoughts, murder,"--this defiles a man, not the eating of flesh.
"WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS."
"A man," says Buddha, "buries a treasure in a deep pit, which lying
concealed therein day after day profits him nothing, but there is a
treasure of charity, piety, temperance, soberness, a treasure secure,
impregnable, that cannot pass away, a treasure that no thief can steal.
Let the wise man practise Dharma. This is a treasure that follows him
after death." ("Khuddaka Pâtha," p. 13.)
THE HOUSE ON THE SAND.
"It [the seen world] is like a city of sand. Its foundation cannot
endure." ("Lalita Vistara," p. 172.)
BLIND GUIDES.
"Who is not freed cannot free others. The blind cannot guide in the
way." (_Ibid._ p. 179.)
"AS YE SOW, SO SHALL YE REAP."
"As men sow, thus shall they reap." ("Ta-chwang-yan-king-lun," sermon
57.)
"A CUP OF COLD WATER TO ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES."
"Whosoever piously bestows a little water shall receive an ocean in
return." ("Ta-chwang-yan-king-lun," sermon 20).
"BE NOT WEARY IN WELL-DOING."
"Not to be weary in well-doing." ("Mahâmangala Sutta," ver. 7.)
"GIVE TO HIM THAT ASKETH."
"Give to him that asketh, even though it be but a little."
("Udânavarga," ch. xx. ver. 15.)
"DO UNTO OTHERS," ETC.
"With pure thoughts and fulness of love I will do towards others what I
do for myself." ("Lalita Vistara," ch. v.)
"PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD!"
"Buddha's triumphant entry into Râjagriha (the "City of the King") has
been compared to Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Both, probably, never
occurred, and only symbolise the advent of a divine Being to earth.
It is recorded in the Buddhist scriptures that on these occasions a
"Precursor of Buddha" always appears. (Bigandet, p. 147.)
"WHO DID SIN, THIS MAN OR HIS PARENTS, THAT HE WAS BORN BLIND?" (John
ix. 3.)
Professor Kellogg, in his work entitled "The Light of Asia and the
Light of the World," condemns Buddhism in nearly all its tenets. But he
is especially emphatic in the matter of the metempsychosis. The poor
and hopeless Buddhist has to begin again and again "the weary round of
birth and death," whilst the righteous Christians go at once into life
eternal.
Now it seems to me that this is an example of the danger of contrasting
two historical characters when we have a strong sympathy for the
one and a strong prejudice against the other. Professor Kellogg has
conjured up a Jesus with nineteenth century ideas, and a Buddha who is
made responsible for all the fancies that were in the world B.C. 500.
Professor Kellogg is a professor of an American university, and as
such must know that the doctrine of the _gilgal_ (the Jewish name for
the metempsychosis) was as universal in Palestine A.D. 30, as it was
in Râjagriha B.C. 500. An able writer in the _Church Quarterly Review_
of October, 1885, maintains that the Jews brought it from Babylon.
Dr. Ginsburg, in his work on the "Kabbalah," shows that the doctrine
continued to be held by Jews as late as the ninth century of our era.
He shows, too, that St. Jerome has recorded that it was "propounded
amongst the early Christians as an esoteric and traditional doctrine."
The author of the article in the _Church Quarterly Review_, in proof
of its existence, adduces the question put by the disciples of Christ
in reference to the man that was born blind. And if it was considered
that a man could be born blind as a punishment for sin, that sin must
have been plainly committed before his birth. Oddly enough, in the
"White Lotus of Dharma" there is an account of the healing of a blind
man, "Because of the sinful conduct of the man [in a former birth] this
malady has risen."
But a still more striking instance is given in the case of the man sick
with the palsy. (Luke v. 18.) The Jews believed, with modern Orientals,
that grave diseases like paralysis were due, not to physical causes in
this life, but to moral causes in previous lives. And if the account
of the cure of the paralytic is to be considered historical, it is
quite clear that this was Christ's idea when He cured the man, for He
distinctly announced that the cure was affected not by any physical
processes, but by annulling the "sins" which were the cause of his
malady.
Traces of the metempsychosis idea still exist in Catholic
Christianity. The doctrine of original sin is said by some writers
to be a modification of it. Certainly the fancy that the works of
supererogation of their saints can be transferred to others is the
Buddhist idea of good karma, which is transferable in a similar manner.
"IF THE BLIND LEAD THE BLIND, BOTH SHALL FALL INTO THE DITCH." (Matt.
xv. 14.)
"As when a string of blind men are clinging one to the other, neither
can the foremost see, nor the middle one see, nor the hindmost see.
Just so, methinks, Vâsittha is the talk of the Brahmins versed in the
Three Vedas." (Buddha, in the "Tevigga Sutta," i. 15.)
"EUNUCHS FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN'S SAKE."
In the days of St. Thomas à Kempis the worshipper was modelled on the
Christ. In our days, the Christ seems modelled on the worshipper. The
Bodleian professor of Sanscrit writes thus: "Christianity teaches that
in the highest form of life love is intensified. Buddhism teaches that
in the highest state of existence all love is extinguished. According
to Christianity--Go and earn your own bread and support yourself and
your family. Marriage, it says, is honourable and undefiled, and
married life a field where holiness can grow."
But history is history; and a French writer has recently attacked
Christ for attempting to bring into Europe the celibacy and pessimism
of Buddhism. This author in his work, "Jésus Bouddha," cites Luke xiv.
26:--
"If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
_wife_, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life
also, he cannot be My disciple."
He adduces also:--
"Let the dead bury their dead."
"Think not that I have come to send peace on earth: I come not to send
peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his
father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own
household." (Matt. x. 34-36.)
"And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father
the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and
cause them to be put to death." (_Ibid._ ver. 21.)
"So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he
hath, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke xiv. 33).
The author says that all this is pure nihilism, and Essene communism.
"The most sacred family ties are to be renounced, and man to lose
his individuality and become a unit in a vast scheme to overturn the
institutions of his country."
"Qu' importe au fanatisme la ruine de la societé humaine."
"The anticosmic tendency of the Christian doctrine," says Mr. Felix
Oswald ("Secret of the East," p. 27), "distinguishes it from all
religions except Buddhism. In the language of the New Testament the
'world' is everywhere a synonym of evil and sin, the flesh everywhere
the enemy of the spirit.... The Gospel of Buddha, though a pernicious,
is, however, a perfectly consistent doctrine. Birth, life, and
re-birth is an eternal round of sorrow and disappointment. The present
and the future are but the upper and lower tire of an ever-rolling
wheel of woe. The only salvation from the wheel of life is an escape
to the peace of Nirvâna. The attempt to graft this doctrine upon
the optimistic theism of Palestine has made the Christian ethics
inconsistent and contradictory. A paternal Jehovah who yet eternally
and horribly tortures a vast plurality of his children. An earth the
perfect work of a benevolent God, yet a vale of tears not made to be
enjoyed, but only to be despised and renounced. An omnipotent heaven,
and yet unable to prevent the intrigues and constant victories of hell.
Christianity is evidently not a homogeneous but a composite, a hybrid
religion; and considered in connection with the indications of history,
and the evidence of the above-named ethical and traditional analogies,
these facts leave no reasonable doubt that the founder of the Galilean
Church was a disciple of Buddha Sakyamuni." (p. 139.)
All this is very well if the Buddhists by "salvation" meant escape from
life, and not from sin. A "pessimist" Buddhist kingdom, according to
this, ought to present the universal sad faces of the "Camelot" of a
modern school of artists, and yet the Burmese are pronounced by all to
be the merriest and happiest of God's creatures. We know, too, that
India never was so prosperous as in the days of Buddhist rule. The
monks carried agriculture to high perfection; and Indian fabrics were
famous everywhere. A convent meant less a career than an education in
spiritual knowledge. Like the Essene, the Buddhist monk was not forced
to remain for life. Catholicism introduced that change.
"THEN ALL HIS DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM AND FLED."
It is recorded that on one occasion when a "must" elephant charged
furiously, "all the disciples deserted Buddha. Ananda alone remained."
("Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king," iv. 21.)
"IF THY RIGHT EYE OFFEND THEE."
Mr. Felix Oswald ("The Secret of the East," p. 134) announces, without
however giving a more detailed reference, that according to Max
Muller's translation of the "Ocean of Worlds," a young monk meets a
rich woman who pities his hard lot.
"Blessed is the woman who looks into thy lovely eyes!"
"Lovely!" replied the monk. "Look here!" And plucking out one of his
eyes he held it up, bleeding and ghastly, and asked her to correct her
opinion.
WALKING ON THE WATER.
Certain villagers, hard of belief, were listening to Buddha on the
shore of a mighty river. Suddenly by a miracle the great teacher caused
a man to appear walking on the water from the other side, without
immersing his feet. ("Chinese Dhammapada," p. 51.)
"AND LO! THERE WAS A GREAT CALM."
Pûrna, one of Buddha's disciples, had a brother in danger of shipwreck
in a "black storm." But the guardian spirits of Pûrna informed him of
this. He at once transported himself through the air from the distant
inland town to the deck of the ship. "Immediately the black tempest
ceased as if Sumeru had arrested it." (Burnouf, Introd., p. 229.)
A BUDDHA MULTIPLYING FOOD.
Buddha once narrated a story of a former Buddha, who visited King
Sudarsana in his city of Jambunada (Fu-pen-hing-tsi-king).
Now in that city was a man who was the next day to be married, and he
much wished the Buddha to come to the feast. Buddha, passing by, read
his silent wish, and consented to come. The bridegroom was overjoyed,
and scattered many flowers over his house and sprinkled it with
perfumes.
The next day Buddha with his alms-bowl in his hand and with a retinue
of many followers arrived; and when they had taken their seats in due
order, the host distributed every kind of exquisite food, saying, "Eat,
my lord, and all the congregation, according to your desire."
But now a marvel presented itself to the astonished mind of the host.
Although all these holy men ate very heartily, the meats and the drinks
remained positively quite undiminished; whereupon he argued in his
mind, "If I could only invite all my kinsmen to come, the banquet would
be sufficient for them likewise."
And now another marvel was presented. Buddha read the good man's
thought, and all the relatives without invitation streamed in at the
door. They, also, fed heartily on the miraculous food.
"WHY EATETH YOUR MASTER WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS?" (Matt. ix. 10.)
The Courtesan Amrapalî invited Buddha and his disciples to a banquet
in the mango grove at Vaisalî. Buddha accepted. Some rich princes,
sparkling in emeralds, came and gave him a similar invitation. He
refused. They were very angry to see him sit at meat with Amrapalî. He
explained to his disciples that the harlot might enter the kingdom of
Dharma more easily than the prince. (Bigandet, p. 251.)
THE PENITENT THIEF.
Buddha confronts a terrible bandit in his mountain retreat and converts
him. ("Chinese Dhammapada," p. 98.)
"THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN."
Professor Beal, in his "Catena of Buddhist Scriptures" (p. 52), tells
us that, in the "Saddharma Prâkasa Sasana Sûtra," a great war in
heaven is described. In it the "wicked dragons" assault the legions of
heaven. After a terrific conflict they are driven down by Indra and the
heavenly hosts.
"THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO A MERCHANT-MAN SEEKING GOODLY
PEARLS, WHO, WHEN HE HAD FOUND ONE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, WENT AND SOLD
ALL THAT HE HAD AND BOUGHT IT." (Matt. xiii. 45.)
The most sacred emblem of Buddhism is called the mani (pearl), and in
the Chinese biography, a merchant-man seeking goodly pearls finds it,
and unfortunately drops it into the sea. Rather than lose it he tries
to drain the sea dry. ("Rom. Hist.," p. 228.)
THE VOICE FROM THE SKY.
This sounds often in the Buddhist narratives. (_See_ Beal, "Rom.
Hist.," p. 105.)
FAITH.
"Faith is the first gate of the Law." ("Lalita Vistara," p. 39.)
"All who have faith in me obtain a mighty joy." (_Ibid._ p. 188.)
"THOU ART NOT YET FIFTY YEARS OLD, AND HAST THOU SEEN ABRAHAM?"
In the "White Lotus of Dharma" (ch. xiv.) Buddha is asked how it is
that having sat under the bo tree only forty years ago he has been
able, according to his boast, to see many Buddhas and saints who died
hundreds of years previously. He answers that he has lived many hundred
thousand myriads of Kotis, and that though in the form of a Buddha, he
is in reality Swayambhu, the Self-Existent, the Father of the million
worlds. In proof of this statement, he causes two Buddhas of the
Past, Prabhûtaratna and Gadgadesvara, to appear in the sky. The first
pronounces loudly these words: "It is well! It is well!" These Buddhas
appear with their sepulchral canopies (stupas) of diamonds, red pearls,
emeralds, etc. Peter, at the scene of the Transfiguration, said to
Christ:--
"Let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and
one for Elias." Why should Peter want to adopt a Buddhist custom and
build tabernacles for the dead Moses and the dead Elias? Why, also,
should Moses come from the tomb to support a teacher who had torn his
covenant with Yahve to shreds?
"HE WAS TRANSFIGURED BEFORE THEM."
Buddha, leaving Maudgalyâyana and another disciple to represent him,
went off through the air to the Devaloca, to the Heaven Tus´ita, to
preach to the spirits in prison and to convert his mother. When he came
down from the mountain (Mienmo), a staircase of glittering diamonds,
seen by all, helped his descent. His appearance was blinding. The "six
glories" glittered on his person. Mortals and spirits hymned the benign
Being who emptied the hells. (Bigandet, p. 209.)
In the Gospel according to the Hebrews is a curious passage, which Baur
and Hilgenfeld hold to be the earliest version of the Transfiguration
narrative.
"Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me by one of my hairs and
bore me up on to the great mountain of Tabor."
This is curious. Buddha and Jesus reach the Mount of Transfiguration,
each through the influence of his mother. But perhaps the Jewish writer
did not like the universalism inculcated in the Buddhist narrative.
"HE BEGAN TO WASH THE DISCIPLES' FEET." (John xiii. 5.)
In a vihâra at Gandhâra was a monk so loathsome and stinking, on
account of his maladies, that none of his brother disciples dare go
near him. The great Teacher came and tended him lovingly and washed his
feet. ("Chinese Dhammapada," p. 94.)
THE GREAT BANQUET OF BUDDHA.
In the "Lalita Vistara" (p. 51) it is stated that those who have faith
will become "sons of Buddha," and partake of the "food of the kingdom."
Four things draw disciples to his banquet,--gifts, soft words,
production of benefits, conformity of benefits.
BAPTISM.
In a Chinese life of Buddha by Wung Puh (_see_ Beal, "Journ. As. Soc.,"
vol. xx. p. 172), it is announced that Buddha at Vaisalî delivered a
Sûtra, entitled, "The baptism that rescues from life and death and
confers salvation."
"AND NONE OF THEM IS LOST BUT THE SON OF PERDITION."
Buddha had also a treacherous disciple, Devadatta. He schemed with a
wicked prince, who sent men armed with bows and swords to slaughter
Buddha. Devadatta tried other infamous stratagems. His end was
appalling. Coming in a palanquin to arrest Buddha, he got out to
stretch himself. Suddenly fierce flames burst out and he was carried
down to the hell Avichi (the Rayless Place). There, in a red-hot
cauldron, impaled by one red bar and pierced by two others, he will
stay for a whole Kalpa. Then he will be forgiven. (Bigandet, p. 244.)
THE LAST SUPPER.
Buddha had his last supper or repast with his disciples. A treacherous
disciple changed his alms-bowl, and apparently he was poisoned. (_See_
Rockhill's "Buddha," p. 133.) Fierce pains seized him as he journeyed
afterwards. He was forced to rest. He sent a message to his host,
Kunda, the son of the jeweller, to feel no remorse although the feast
had been his death. Under two trees he now died.
It will be remembered that during the last supper of Jesus a
treacherous disciple "dipped into his dish," but as Jesus was not
poisoned, the event had no sequence.
"NOW FROM THE SIXTH HOUR THERE WAS DARKNESS OVER ALL THE LAND UNTIL THE
NINTH HOUR."
The critical school base much of their contention that the gospels do
not record real history on this particular passage. They urge that such
an astounding event could not have escaped Josephus and Tacitus. When
Buddha died, the "sun and moon withdrew their shining," and dust and
ashes fell like rain. "The great earth quaked throughout. The crash
of the thunder shook the heavens and the earth, rolling along the
mountains and valleys." ("Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king," v. 26.) The Buddhist
account is certainly not impossible, for the chronicler takes advantage
of the phenomena of an Indian dust-storm to produce his dark picture.
At Lucknow, before the siege, I remember a storm so dense at midday
that some ladies with my regiment thought the Day of Judgment had
arrived.
"AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS WHICH SLEPT AROSE."
When Buddha died at Kus'inagara, Ananda and another disciple saw
many denizens of the unseen world in the city, by the river Yigdan.
(Rockhill's "Life of the Buddha," p. 133.)
"TO ANOINT MY BODY TO THE BURYING." (Mark xiv. 8.)
The newly discovered fragments of the Gospel of Peter give striking
evidence of the haphazard way in which extracts from the Buddhist
books seem to have been sprinkled among the gospels. It records that
Mary Magdalene, "taking with her her friends," went to the sepulchre
of Jesus to "place themselves beside him and perform the rites" of
wailing, beating breasts, etc. Amrapalî and other courtesans did the
same rites to Buddha, and the disciples were afterwards indignant
that impure women should have "washed his dead body with their tears."
(Rockhill, "Thibetan Life," p. 153.)
In the Christian records are three passages, all due, I think, to the
Buddhist narrative. In one, "a woman" anoints Jesus; in John (xii. 7),
"Mary" anoints him; in Luke, a "sinner," who kisses and washes his feet
with her hair. Plainly these last passages are quite irrational. No
woman could have performed the washing and other burial rites on a man
alive and in health.
"THEY PARTED MY GARMENTS."
The Abbé Huc tells us ("Voyages," ii. p. 278) that on the death of the
Bokté Lama his garments are cut into little strips and prized immensely.
"HE APPEARED UNTO MANY."
Buddha prophesied that he would appear after his death. ("Lotus," p.
144.) In a Chinese version quoted by Eitel ("Three Lectures," p. 57),
Buddha to soothe his mother, who had come down weeping from the skies,
opens his coffin lid and appears to her. In the temple sculptures he
is constantly depicted coming down to the altar during worship. (_See_
illustrations to my "Buddhism in Christendom.")
THE "GREAT WHITE THRONE."
Mr. Upham, in his "History of Buddhism" (pp. 56, 57), gives a
description of the Buddhist heaven. There is a "high mountain," and a
city "four square" with gates of gold and silver, adorned with precious
stones. Seven moats surround the city. Beyond the last one is a row of
marble pillars studded with jewels. The great throne of the god stands
in the centre of a great hall, and is surmounted by a white canopy.
Round the great throne are seated heavenly ministers, who record men's
actions in a "golden book." A mighty tree is conspicuous in the garden.
In the Chinese heaven is the "Gem Lake," by which stands the peach tree
whose fruit gives immortality.
THE ATONEMENT.
The idea of transferred good Karma, the merits of the former lives of
an individual being passed on to another individual, is of course quite
foreign to the lower Judaism, which believed in no after life at all.
In the view of the higher Buddhism, Sakya Muni saved the world by his
teaching, but to the lower, the Buddhism of offerings and temples and
monks, this doctrine of Karma was the life-blood. It was proclaimed
that Buddha had a vast stock of superfluous Karma, and that offerings
at a temple might cause the worshipper in his next life to be a prince
instead of a pig or a coolie. In the "Lalita Vistara" (Chinese version,
p. 225) it is announced that when Buddha overcame Mâra all flesh
rejoiced, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the dumb spake, the hells were
cleared, and all by reason of Buddha's Karma in previous lives.
In Romans (v. 18), St. Paul writes thus:--
"As by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life.
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
Here plainly all the world is saved by the Karma of Christ.
Now Dr. Kuenen, whose main proposition is that Christianity emerged
from Judaism alone, should tell us how Paul got this idea. The priests
and the Levites were the sole interpreters of the law, and they had
settled that a certain Hebrew had so broken that law that it was
necessary to execute him. And now another Hebrew proclaims that the
righteousness of this man is so great that he can bestow the "free gift
of life" to "all men." Would not Caiaphas have called the second Hebrew
out of his mind.
But St. Paul was a Pharisee, and as a Pharisee he knew that the
Pharisees that he tried to convert believed that nothing but blood
could wipe out sin. In the person of Christ he mixed up the two ideas.
"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His
blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God." (Rom. iii. 25.)
But according to our first quotation, Christ had already saved "all
men" by his righteousness alone. Plainly St. Paul, who viewed the Old
Testament as "allegory," "carnal ordinances," "beggarly elements," and
so on, never meant his trope about Adam's sin to be taken too literally.
PARABLES.
Buddha taught in parables. I will give one or two. The reader is
referred to my "Popular Life of Buddha" for some very beautiful ones.
THE PRODIGAL SON.
A certain man had a son who went away into a far country. There he
became miserably poor. The father, however, grew rich, and accumulated
much gold and treasure, and many storehouses and elephants. But he
tenderly loved his lost son, and secretly lamented that he had no one
to whom to leave his palaces and suvernas at his death.
After many years the poor man, in search of food and clothing, happened
to come to the country where his father had great possessions. And when
he was afar off his father saw him, and reflected thus in his mind: "If
I at once acknowledge my son and give to him my gold and my treasures,
I shall do him a great injury. He is ignorant and undisciplined; he is
poor and brutalised. With one of such miserable inclinations 'twere
better to educate the mind little by little. I will make him one of my
hired servants."
Then the son, famished and in rags, arrived at the door of his father's
house; and seeing a great throne upraised, and many followers doing
homage to him who sat upon it, was awed by the pomp and the wealth
around. Instantly he fled once more to the highway. "This," he
thought, "is the house of the poor man. If I stay at the palace of the
king perhaps I shall be thrown into prison."
Then the father sent messengers after his son; who was caught and
brought back in spite of his cries and lamentations. When he reached
his father's house he fell down fainting with fear, not recognising
his father, and believing that he was about to suffer some cruel
punishment. The father ordered his servants to deal tenderly with the
poor man, and sent two labourers of his own rank of life to engage him
as a servant on the estate. They gave him a broom and a basket, and
engaged him to clean up the dung-heap at a double wage.
From the window of his palace the rich man watched his son at his work:
and disguising himself one day as a poor man, and covering his limbs
with dust and dirt, he approached his son and said, "Stay here, good
man, and I will provide you with food and clothing. You are honest, you
are industrious. Look upon me as your father."
After many years the father felt his end approaching, and he summoned
his son and the officers of the king, and announced to them the secret
that he had so long kept. The poor man was his son, who in early days
had wandered away from him; and now that he was conscious of his former
debased condition, and was able to appreciate and retain vast wealth,
he was determined to hand over to him his entire treasure. The poor
man was astonished at this sudden change of fortune, and overjoyed at
meeting his father once more.
The parables of Buddha are reported in the Lotus of the Perfect Law to
be veiled from the ignorant by means of an enigmatic form of language.
The rich man of this parable, with his throne adorned by flowers and
garlands of jewels, is announced to be Tathagata (God), who dearly
loves all his children, and has prepared for them vast spiritual
treasures. But each son of Tathagata has miserable inclinations. He
prefers the dung-heap to the pearl mani. To teach such a man, Tathagata
is obliged to employ inferior agents, the monk and the ascetic, and to
wean him by degrees from the lower objects of desire. When he speaks
himself, he is forced to veil much of his thought, as it would not be
understood. His sons feel no joy on hearing spiritual things. Little by
little must their minds be trained and disciplined for higher truths.
PARABLE OF THE WOMAN AT THE WELL.
Ananda, a favourite disciple of Buddha, was once athirst, having
travelled far. At a well he encountered a girl named Matanga, and asked
her to give him some water to drink. But she being a woman of low
caste, was afraid of contaminating a holy Brahmana, and refused humbly.
"I ask not for caste, but for water!" said Ananda. His condescension
won the heart of the girl Matanga.
It happened that she had a mother cunning in love philtres and weird
arts, and when this woman heard how much her daughter was in love, she
threw her magic spells round the disciple and brought him to her cave.
Helpless, he prayed to Buddha, who forthwith appeared and cast out the
wicked demons.
But the girl Matanga was still in wretched plight. At last she
determined to repair to Buddha himself and appeal to him.
The Great Physician, reading the poor girl's thought questioned her
gently:--
"Supposing that you marry my disciple, can you follow him everywhere?"
"Everywhere!" said the girl.
"Could you wear his clothes, sleep under the same roof?" said Buddha,
alluding to the nakedness and beggary of the "houseless one."
By slow degrees the girl began to take in his meaning, and at last she
took refuge in the Three Great Jewels.
* * * * *
A common objection to Buddhism is that it fails to proclaim the
fatherhood of God.
"The loving Father of all that lives." (Tsing-tu-wan.)
"Our loving Father and Father of all that breathes." ("Imit. Buddha,"
p. 67.) (" Daily Manual of the Shaman," cited by Mr. Bowden.)
"I am the Heavenly Father (loka pita Swayambhu), the Healer, the
Protector of all creatures." (Kern, "Lotus," p. 310.)
I will give a pretty parable that pictures Buddha as a Father.
PARABLE OF THE BLAZING MANSION.
Once there was an old man, broken, decrepit, but very rich. He
possessed much land and many gold pieces. Moreover, he possessed a
large rambling mansion which also showed plain proofs of Time's decay.
Its rafters were worm-eaten; its pillars were rotten; its galleries
were tumbling down; the thatch on its roof was dry and combustible.
Inside this mansion were several hundreds of the old man's servants and
retainers, so extensive was the collection of rambling old buildings.
Unfortunately, this mansion possessed only one door.
The old man was also the father of many children--five, ten, twenty,
let us say. One day there was a smell of burning, and he ran out by
the solitary door. To his horror he saw the thatch in a mass of flame,
the rotten old pillars were catching fire one by one, the rafters were
blazing like tinder. Inside, his children, whom he loved most tenderly,
were romping and amusing themselves with their toys.
The distracted father said to himself, "I will run in and save my
children. I will seize them in my strong arms. I will bear them
harmless through the falling rafters and the blazing beams!" Then the
sad thought seized him that his children were romping and ignorant. "If
I tell them that the house is on fire they will not understand me. If I
try to seize them they will romp about and try to escape. Alas! not a
moment is to be lost!"
Suddenly a bright thought flashed across the old man's mind. "My
children are ignorant," he mentally said, "but they love toys and
glittering playthings. I will promise them some playthings of
unheard-of beauty. Then they will listen to me!"
So the old man shouted out with a loud voice, "Children, children,
come out of the house and see these beautiful toys. Chariots with
white oxen, all gold and tinsel. See these exquisite little antelopes!
Whoever saw such goats as these! Children, children, come quickly or
they will all be gone!"
Forth from the blazing ruin came the children in hot haste. The word
"playthings" was almost the only word that they could understand. Then
the fond father, in his great joy at seeing his offspring freed from
peril, procured for them some of the most beautiful chariots ever
seen. Each chariot had a canopy like a pagoda. It had tiny rails and
balustrades, and rows of jingling bells. It was formed of the seven
precious substances. Chaplets of glittering pearls were hung aloft upon
it; standards and wreaths of the most lovely flowers. Milk-white oxen
drew these chariots. The children were astonished when they were placed
inside.
The meaning of this parable is thus rendered in the "White Lotus
of Dharma." The old man is Tathagata, and his children the blind,
suffering children of sin and passion. Tathagata fondly loves them,
and would save them from their unhappiness. The old rambling mansion,
unsightly, rotten, perilous, is the Domain of Karma, the Domain of
Appetite. This old mansion is ablaze with the fire of mortal passions,
and hates, and lusts. Tathagata in his "immense compassion" would
lead all his beloved children away from this great peril, but they do
not understand his language. Their only thought is of tinsel toys and
childish pastimes. If he speaks to them of the great inner quickening
which makes man conquer human pain, they cannot understand him. If he
talks to them of wondrous supernatural gifts accorded to mortals, they
turn a deaf ear to him. The tinsel chariots provided for the children
of Tathagata are the "Vehicles" of the Buddhist teaching.