Priority of Buddhism to Christianity. Strange assumptions.
When was India first known to Christians? Thomas the
Apostle, When Asceticism was introduced into Christianity.
Results of inquiry into the introduction of Christianity
into India. Tarshish and Ceylon. Peacocks known as the
Persian birds to the Greeks, temp. Aristophanes. Indian
elephants in army of Darius. Roman traffic with India, b.c.
30. Buddhist missionaries. The gift of tongues. Rise of
Asceticism in Western Asia. Essenes again. Collection of
Buddhist writings, 450 b.c. Degeneracy of original Faith.
Missionaries from China to Hindostan in search of Buddhist
works and knowledge. Travels of Fah Hian, their experience
and remarks. Quotations from their writings. Footprints of
Buddha and Peter. Immaculate conception of Sakya. Old
Simeon--a repetition. Wise men from the East. St. Ursula.
Three Buddhist councils to compile scriptures. Buddhism
lapsed into image-worship and processions. Progress of the
pilgrims. Return by sea. Deductions. Developments of
Christianity and Asceticism. Observations about travelling.
Conclusions.
With the usual pertinacity of Englishmen, there are many devout
individuals who, on finding that Buddhism and Christianity very closely
resemble each other, asseverate, with all the vehemence of an assumed
orthodoxy, that the first has proceeded from the second. Nor can the
absurdity of attempting to prove that the future must precede the past
deter them from declaring that Buddhism was promulgated originally
by Christian missionaries from Judea, and then became deteriorated by
Brahminical and other fancies! It is really difficult, sometimes, to
discover what are the real tenets of the obstinate orthodox to whom
we refer; but, so far as we can learn from the character of their
opposition, it would appear that they do not deny the existence of such
a man as Sakya Muni, to whom his followers gave the name of Buddha. Just
in the same way, we may add, as his followers gave the name of Jesus
Christ to Ben Panther. Whilst allowing that Siddartha founded a new
religion, the orthodox assert that all its bad parts are human, whilst
all its good parts consist of doctrines tacked on to the original, after
Christianity had been introduced into India, by one or more of Jesus'
apostles or disciples.
If, for the sake of argument, we accord to such cavillers the position
of reasonable beings, and ask them to give us some proof of the
assertion, that early Christian people went to Hindostan and preached
the gospel there; or even to point out, in history, valid proofs that
India was known to a single apostle, we find that they have nothing to
say beyond the vaguest gossip.
What the testimony is we may find by turning to the article Thomas,
in Kitto's _Cyclopoedia of Biblical Literature_, which was written by
a learned professor of Gottingen. Therein we see, and the statement
is amply vouched by quotation from authorities, that the Apostle in
question is said to have preached the gospel in Parthia and in Persia,
and to have been buried in Edessa; and that, according to a later
tradition, Thomas went to India, and suffered martyrdom there. Then
follows a statement that this account has been assailed, &c. Similar
traditions are mentioned by Dean Stanley in Smith's "_Dictionary of the
Bible_" with the addition that it is now believed that the Thomas of
Malabar Christian fame was a Nestorian missionary.
Eusebius writes, book v., ch. 10, speaking of Pantaenus, about
a.d. 190--"He is said to have displayed such ardour... that he was
constituted a herald of the gospel of Christ to the nations of the East,
and advanced even as far as India; and the report is, that he there
found his own arrival anticipated by some who were acquainted with
the gospel of Matthew, to whom Bartholomew, one of the Apostles, had
preached, and had left them the gospel of Matthew in the Hebrew, which
was also preserved unto this time. Pantaenus became finally the head of
the Alexandrian school." Such a piece of gossip no historian can trust
for a moment.
Socrates, in his _Ecclesiastical History_, about a.d. 420, writes,
"We must now mention by what means the profession of Christianity
was extended in Constantine's reign, for it was in his time that the
nations, both of the Indians in the interior, and the Iberians, first
embraced the Christian faith. But it may be needful briefly to explain
why the expression in the interior is appended. When the apostles went
forth by lot amongst the nations, Thomas received the apostleship of the
Parthians. Matthew was allotted Ethiopia, and Bartholomew the part of
India contiguous to that country; but the interior of India, which was
inhabited by many barbarous nations, using different languages, was not
enlightened by Christian doctrine before the time of Constantine," about
320 A.D. Then follows a story of a Tynan philosopher, who, with two
youths, took ship, and arrived somewhere in India, just after the
violation of a treaty between that country and the Romans. Everyone in
the ship was killed but the two lads, who, being young, were sent as a
present to the Indian king. One became a cupbearer, the other the royal
recorder. The king died, freeing the youths, and the queen, left with a
young son, made the strangers his tutors, or regents. One, who was the
highest, then began to inquire whether, amongst the Roman merchants
trafficking with that country, there were any Christians to be found.
Having discovered some, he induced them to select a place for worship,
and he subsequently built a church, into which he admitted some Indians,
after previous instruction. The other youth comes back to Tyre, and then
the regent comes to Alexandria, talks to Athanasius, and begs him to
send a bishop and clergy to the place he has left, to which no name is
given. To the latter youth Frumentius, ordination is given, and he
returns to India to preach, to perform miracles, and build oratories,
[--Greek--]. The historian, adds Rufinus, assures us that he heard these
facts from the former king's cupbearer, Edesius, who was afterwards
inducted into the sacred office at Tyre.
We may next quote the _Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History of
Philostorgius_ (who wrote about A.D. 425), compiled by Photius,
Patriarch of Constantinople. Therein we may observe how completely the
first contradicts Socrates as before quoted, and may also infer
the reason why. In book ii., ch. 6, the words run, "The impious
Philostorgius relates, that the Christians in Central India, who were
converted to the faith of Christ by the preaching of St. Bartholomew,
believe that the son is not of the same substance with the father." He
adds that "Theophilus, the Indian who had embraced this opinion, came to
them and delivered it to them as a doctrine; and also that these Indians
are now called Homeritae, instead of their old name, Sabaeans, which they
received from the city of Saba, the chief city of the whole nation."
This leads me to doubt very strongly whether the ecclesiastical writers
in early days did not group, under the name of India, the southern parts
of Arabia, Persia, and Beloochistan.
Sozomen, writing about the period of 325 A.D., says, book ii, ch. 24,
"We have heard that about this period some of the most distant of the
nations that we call Indian, to whom the preaching of Bartholomew was
unknown, were converted to Christianity by Frumentius, a priest." Then
follows an enlarged edition of the legend told by Socrates, and the
words, "it is said that Frumentius discharged his priestly functions so
admirably that he became an object of universal admiration." Theodoret,
writing about 420 A.D., places the conversion of the Indians about 328
A.D., and gives substantially the same account as the preceding writers
whom we have quoted.
We will not, however, content ourselves with this short notice, but
will first inquire whether, if the accounts of the earlier reporters,
Eusebius, Socrates, Clement, and Rufinus, who wrote about a.d. 320,
390, 190, and 370, are not to be trusted, we can believe the stories of
Gregory Nazianzen, Ambrose, Jerome, Nicephorus, and Abdias, who wrote
about a.d. 380, 380, 400, 815, and 910 respectively. If we believe one
set of Christian "fathers," that Thomas the apostle died in Syria, we
cannot credit a set of Christian "sons," who affirm that he was martyred
in India. But--and the point is an important one--we can see reason why
the children should invent an account of which the parents saw not the
necessity. About the period of Gregory Nazianzen arose that asceticism
which sent Simeon Stylites upon the top of his pillar in a.d. 394, and
kept him there for the rest of his life, and that peopled the Thebaid
with hermits of the most approved Buddhist order--celibates shunning
luxury, and cultivating filthiness of the outer to cleanse the inner
man. The way in which the original faith, preached by Jesus and modified
by Paul, was distorted during the first few centuries in Egypt can only
be rationally accounted for by a spread of Buddhist doctrines by Indian
missionaries, or promulgated by Christian merchants, who had travelled
to the Indies, and modified their original faith by what they saw and
heard from the followers of the great Sramana; and it was natural for
the Alexandrian Christians to adopt the modifications referred to, and
to stamp the innovations with the assertion that they were
apostolic reflections--rays of divine light falling from "the sun of
righteousness" upon the mind of the blessed Saint Somebody, Thomas, for
this purpose, being a name which answered as well as any other. There is
positively no evidence whatever--except some apocryphal Jesuit stories
about certain disciples of Jesus, found by Papal missionaries at
Malabar--that any disciple of Mary's son ever proceeded to Hindostan to
preach the gospel during the first centuries of our era. Those who
know the history of the "Decretals," and of Prester John, can readily
estimate the value of tales told by Jesuits in India, where there was
not at the time anyone to test their veracity.
Being myself desirous of ascertaining what evidence really exists--or
existed in the times of ancient authors, whose works have come down to
us--of the knowledge of India by Europeans in days gone by, I instituted
an inquiry, with the determination to be impartial. The results obtained
were the following:--
The only reason for believing that Hindostan and Ceylon were known to
the Phoenicians is a short passage in the Biblical History of Solomon,
in which we are told that after a three years' absence, Hiram's Tyrian
sailors returned from Tarshish, bringing what our translators call
ivory, apes, and peacocks. The words in the Hebrew original are said
by Tennant to be all but identical with those in use in Ceylon at
the present date. For a full account of the probable identity of the
Tarshish in the passage alluded to and Galle, see Emerson Tennant's
_History of Ceylon_.
Yet, if we grant that the Tyrian shipmen traded to India, we are bound
to confess that the knowledge which they acquired died with them;
nor did their successors, the Greeks, know anything distinctly about
Hindostan prior to the time of Alexander the Great. In the Biblical
story of Esther we are told, i. 1, viii. 9, that a Persian king reigned
from India to Ethiopia, the Hebrew word for the former being _Hodoo_,
supposed to be a form of _handoo_, or _hindoo_; Pehlevi, _hendo_; Zend,
_heando_; Sanscrit, _Sindhu_ (Fuerst, s.v.), equivalent to the Greek
_Indikee_, or the country of the Indus. We find reason to believe that
the India of Artaxerxes was a portion of Hindostan--first, because the
Persian monarch had Indian soldiers in his army, and elephants, when
he fought with Alexander; and secondly, because the peacock, a bird of
Ceylon, was known to the Greeks, in the time of Aristophanes, as "the
Persian bird." That the Persians traded with Northern India we infer,
from the account which Appian gives us of the advance eastward of
Alexander, after his victory at Arbela. But the whole story of the
Grecian warrior's advance into the Punjaub and down the Indus, contains,
in itself, tolerably clear proof that Hindostan was very little known to
the Greeks. Of a subsequent invasion of India by Alexander's successor,
Seleucus Nicator; of the mission of Megasthenes to Sandracottus, the
grandfather of Asoka, the Buddhist Constantine; of the navigation of the
Grecian ship down the Indus, and the subsequent traffic by land and
sea between the Greeks and the Hindoos, we need not say more than that
Augustus, b.c. 30, regulated the trade to Hindostan, _via_ Alexandria,
and that, at the time of Pliny the elder, about A.D. _60_, voyages were
being made to India every year, companies of archers being carried on
board the vessels to protect them from pirates. We learn also that a
twelvemonth did not elapse without a drain upon the Roman Empire of
about one million and a-half sterling for India, in exchange for Hindoo
wares (book vi., ch. 26).
At the period Pliny refers to, and for a long time previously, there
can be no pretence that any of Jesus' apostles accompanied traders to
Hindostan, for every one of them were employed nearer home. On the other
hand, we may inquire into the possibility and the reasonableness of
Buddhist missionaries travelling westward in the course of Alexandrian
traffic, or of the caravans which, we have grounds for believing, came
through Persia to the Roman Empire.
On turning to Oriental literature, we find that the often-mentioned King
Asoka adopted Buddhism as the religion of his empire about b.c. 250, and
that, in his time, missionaries carried that faith successfully to the
uttermost parts of Hindostan--to Burmah, to Ceylon, to Japan, to Thibet,
and to China. The envoys carried with them, in some instances, written
books, in others, their guide was oral tradition. Wherever they went
they bore a biography of Sakya--or Buddha--accounts of miracles that he
had performed, and a summary, more or less extended, of his preaching or
doctrines. This dispersion of Hindoo envoys was about fifty years later
than the mission of the Greek Megasthenes to the court of Asoka's
grandfather, and it is quite as probable that Buddhist preachers went to
enlighten what they imagined to be the benighted, and what they knew
to be the then defeated Grecians, as that they went over frightful
mountains and stormy seas to Thibet, China, and Japan.
We may profitably pause for a moment here, to contemplate that which
I at one time believed to be the most wonderful of all the miracles
recorded in the New Testament, viz., "the gift of tongues." The
references to this which we meet with in the epistles of the apostle
Paul might lead to the supposition, that some who had this "gift" spoke
mere gibberish--something which was not, either in intention or in
reality, an utterance in a foreign language; but the story of the
original imparting of power to speak in a previously unknown tongue
involves the idea, that the disciples had, on the occasion referred
to, a faculty given to them, by which they knew the languages used
by various nationalities, without the trouble of learning them. Many
divines have held that such ability was absolutely necessary to those
who had to go forth to teach all nations the doctrines of the gospel I
am quite aware that, however earnest I might be to propagate truth,
I could not go, with advantage, to preach in Russia, because I know
nothing of its language.
Doubt in the reality of the miracle recorded in Acts ii. was not born
until I found that Buddhist missionaries went out into distant lands,
where their own tongue was unknown, and yet made converts. When once I
felt dubious as regards the veracity of the historian, I began to notice
what the apostles generally did when they went to a new country or town.
Their practice seems to have been to have visited synagogues of the Jews
living on the spot--and able, if they chose, to be interpreters--or,
where there were such establishments, "the schools" were visited, where
the students and the masters understood Greek. In the time of Paul the
language of the Hellenes was spoken by Romans of high position, much as
French was spoken at the court of Frederic the Great of Prussia, and
as German is at St. Petersburg. The Apostle seems to have spoken Greek
readily, and when he could use that tongue or the Hebrew he was fluent.
I have sought in vain for evidence that either Paul or any of the
Apostles ever addressed a foreign mob, whose language was neither Greek
nor Hebrew. A study of the nineteenth chapter of the Acts will show
this--especially, we must notice the end of the tenth verse, where we
are told "that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both
_Jews and Greeks_." When disturbance occurred in the theatre, Paul was
not the orator put forward to appease the people--he probably could not
speak their patois. Yet he tells us, 1 Cor. xiv. 18, that he spoke with
tongues more than his fellows.*
* There is much difference amongst ecclesiastical writers
respecting what is called the "gift of tongues." The
difficulty arises mainly from the desire to reconcile "the
true" with "the absurd." Starting from the point that all
"scripture" is written by "inspiration of God," the orthodox
are obliged to receive the account narrated in Acts ii. as
being literally correct.
In plain language, the story runs thus:--The Apostles, twelve in number,
were sitting in a room. Whilst there, a noise was heard, and something
like fiery tongues, more or less split, appeared, and one settled upon
each of the company. These all, at once, began to speak in languages
which were strange to all.
From the noise made, neighbours had their attention called, and from one
mouth to another the tidings of the ranting ran, until it reached the
ears of devout men, who, from every nation under heaven, were then
assembled in Jerusalem. Whether these foreigners were Hebrews, or
whether they, being strangers, had the gift of understanding the reports
couched in Aramaic, we do not know. But it is narrated that, in the
course of a few minutes--possibly an hour or two--the devout strangers
came to listen to the Apostles, either speaking singly or at once.
As these foreigners noticed what was said, they recognized words
in their own respective dialects, and then the Parthian said to the
Mede--the Elamite to the Mesopotamian--the Phrygian to the Pamphyliaji,
&c., "What does all this mean?" So to interchange a question involves
that the interlocutors, like the Apostles, had suddenly received the
gift of speaking, and understanding, other tongues than their own. When
the listeners had convinced themselves about the marvel, each began to
talk in his own language, and the Jews understood them to say, "What
meaneth this?" the Hebrews, like the rest, having also the gift of
knowing what was said in a strange language.
Some, however, had not this power of interpretation, and remarked, "the
fellows are drunk!" For a moment we pause to inquire how many people
there were in one room of one house. The Apostles were twelve;
then there were, at least three, Parthians, Medes, &c., in all about
forty-five more, and in addition, there were "the mockers." To all
these Peter preached, and the wonders of the day were crowned by the
conversion of three thousand people!
It seems, therefore, to be clear, from the account of this extraordinary
miracle, that the Apostles then gathered together acquired the power of
expressing their thoughts in languages which they had never learned, the
judges of the feat being those whose dialects were spoken.
If we now proceed in biblical order to examine into the ideas connected
with this strange faculty, we find, in Acts x. 44-46, that the
circumcised Jews alone were satisfied, in the plenitude of their own
ignorance, that Cornelius and his company could "speak with tongues."
Again, in Acts xix. 6, we learn that certain Ephesians, after baptism,
and imposition of hands, "spake with tongues "--no judge of the fact
being quoted.
In 1 Cor. xii. 10, we discover that amongst the gifts of the Holy Spirit
are "kinds of tongues," and the interpretation thereof which will,
probably, remind the lover of Shakespeare of Act iv. Scenes 1 and 3,
in "All's well that ends well," wherein there is a nonsensical jargon
spoken by one person which another interprets to the satisfaction of the
silly Parolles. In vv 28, 30, we see strong indications that the gift
of tongues and interpretation may be compared to some things now heard
of in spiritualistic or other conjuring seances.
This notion of "speaking with other tongues" reaches its climax,
apparently, in 1 Cor. xiii. 1, wherein Paul indicates, but does not
positively assert, that he can "speak with the tongues of men and
angels," a boast which 2 Cor. xii. 4 leads us to take literally. But how
any one on earth could test the reality of assertion it is difficult to
conceive.
In 1 Cor. xiv. we see indications that "speaking with tongues" is little
more or less than a sort of hysterical utterance of gibberish, which
we may compare to the once celebrated chorus of
Lilli-bullero-lero-lero-Lillibullero bullen a la.
One may now ask, "Why did people think that it was part of the
Christian's privileges or powers to speak with tongues?" The only answer
which I can discover is indicated in Acts ii. 18, wherein we find it
given as the opinion of Peter, that a certain vaticination in Joel
applied to the followers of Jesus. The philosopher may wonder at the
ignorance--possibly at the knowledge--which confounded "prophesying"
with the utterance of unintelligible rubbish; but the philologist should
be led to investigate more strictly the real signification of words,
and to inquire into the theories which are traceable to false
interpretations.
Considerations such as these, which might be multiplied indefinitely,
I have come to the belief that the Apostles of Jesus were no better, as
regards their knowledge of foreign tongues, than their predecessors,
the missionaries sent by Asoka, or than the modern envoys sent out by a
London Society.
What renders it probable that Buddhist ascetics found their way,
probably amongst the camp followers of Antiochus the Great, and
endeavoured to promulgate their doctrines in western Asia, is the fact
that a sect sprang up amongst the Jews after the Grecian conquest of
Palestine--called "The Essenes," to which we have before referred,
amongst whose tenets Buddhism and Judaism were closely mingled The
asceticism practised by this sect was, so far as we know, different to
anything known at that time in Greece or Western Asia, and as it came
into fashion at the same time in Palestine as Indian elephants and
Hindoo Mahouts, there is some reason for the belief that it was brought
by disciples of Siddartha. Without dwelling upon this again, we return
to the well ascertained fact that Buddhism was promulgated most widely
in Eastern and Northern Asia about 250 b.c., that a collection of
religious books was made about two hundred years prior to that date, and
that these were revised again during Asoka's reign. But, however earnest
were the teachers and the taught, the scriptures which they respected
were so voluminous and the facilities for multiplying them were so
small, that it happened, as it did amongst early Christians, that many a
church had no written book of the law. As a consequence of this, one
part or another of Sakya's doctrines became exalted unduly in one
locality, whilst in another a portion was left out of sight. Stories,
also, of miracles became varied, just as we find that they have been by
the writers in the New Testament, the tendency being, as in the history
of the blind man near Jericho, to exaggerate the wonder--for example,
Mark and Luke, chap. x. and xviii, give an account of one man being
cured of blindness, whilst Matthew, chap, xx., tells us that there were
two. The narrators under such circumstances act as if they thought that
it is as easy for a divinity to heal two or two thousand as to cure one,
and we who tolerate the practice in a Christian evangelist must not
ridicule it in Buddhist disciples.
When we contemplate the confusion that existed in the Christian
church--the gradual deterioration of the faith taught by Jesus, and more
especially by Paul, and the steady absorption of Pagan rites into the
worship inaugurated by Peter and the other apostles, we can readily
understand that in the course of six or seven hundred years there would
be reason in countries distant from the home of Siddartha to deplore
the gradual decadence of Buddhism, and a desire amongst the devout for
tuition at the fountain-head. In modern times we have read of hierarchs
coming from the uttermost parts of the earth to consult the Roman
Pontiff upon points of discipline affecting the church, and we therefore
see without surprise that, about A.D. 400, six hundred years after it
had been planted, the congregation of Buddhists in China had within
it men who determined to go to India, and bring back to their
fellow-worshippers what they hoped would be a purer doctrine than that
which they were accustomed to, and, if possible, to secure authentic
books. Pilgrimage, with this object, cannot be regarded as being so
absurd as that which has in modern days taken numbers of Christians to
Lourdes, in the Pyrenees, or to St. Paray-le-Monial.
Ere we describe this Chinese search after truth, let us imagine a
Christian from Central Russia determining to seek for enlightenment at
Antioch about a.d. 640, and subsequently at the seven churches named
in the Apocalypse--and afterwards writing his experience. We should be
certain to find him bewailing the fall of Christianity and the rise
of Islam. We may indeed affirm that if such a history was now to be
discovered undated, we should regard it as having been written before
or after the date named, according as "the churches" were described as
being the seat of Mahommedism or of Christianity. Still further, if in
every place which this traveller visited, he found a general belief in
the stories told of Jesus and in the efficacy of his doctrine, we should
consider this as proof that the people remained faithful to their early
teaching. If, on the other hand, the wanderer found himself proscribed
in any locality as a benighted heathen, without knowledge of the way
of salvation--he would naturally think that a teacher had given to its
inhabitants instruction different from that which was familiar to him.
I do not exaggerate when I say that a genuine account of the travels in
search of sound Christian doctrine through every part of Europe in the
fifth century of our era, would be invaluable as an indication of the
tenure of certain doctrines, not only in various localities, but as
to the existence or the reverse of dogmas now regarded as of supreme
importance.
Such a manuscript, which, however, relates to Buddhism and not to
Christianity, exists in China, and it has lately been translated into
English _Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims from China
to India_, 400 a.d. and 518 a.d., translated from the Chinese by Samuel
Bea. (Truebner & Co., London, 1869.) It tells us, in a singularly terse
style, how a large portion of China was traversed by these pilgrims;--of
the terrible journey over the mountains to the north of Hindustan; of a
visit to the birth-place of Siddartha; to Benares, to Calcutta, and to
Ceylon;--with an account of the return voyage in a good-sized ship back
again to China. Everywhere, with one single exception, they find the law
of Buddha prevailing. The place referred to as exceptional is Yopoti,
Java, of which it is said: "In this country, heretics and Brahmins
flourish; but the law of Buddha is not much known" (p. 168). In every
other spot which they visit the Chinese wanderers speak applaudingly of
the hold which the religion of Siddartha has upon the people, and the
exemplary conduct of the faithful. From the beginning of the journey
to the end, the enquirers appear always to have found the same form of
faith which had been preached in their own country six hundred years
before. The most careful investigator fails to find a shadow of those
doctrines in which the teaching of Jesus differs from that of Sakya.
There is not any allusion made to an impending dissolution of the world,
to baptism, or to any sacrament; every remark relates to the essentials
of Buddhism as known in each place where Europeans have been able to
peruse the authorized Buddhist scriptures.
We may now quote some passages bearing on important points. About the
sources of the Indus: "All the priests asked Fah-Hian what he knew as
to the time when the law of Buddha began to spread eastward from their
country." Hian replied, "On enquiry, men of those lands agreed in saying
that, according to an ancient tradition, Shamans from India began to
carry the sacred books of Buddha beyond the river, from the time when
the image of Maitreya Bodhisatwa was set up." This image was set up
three hundred years or so after the Nirvana of Buddha (about B.C.
243--or, according to some estimates, B.C. 177), which corresponds with
the time of Pingwang of the Chan family (b.c. 770--the Chinese date of
Buddha's Nirvana being different from that which is usually received in
India.) Hence it may be said that the diffusion of the great doctrine
can be attributed to the influence of this image. For, apart from the
power of the divine teacher Mait-reya, who followed in the footsteps
of Sakya, who would have been sufficient to cause the knowledge of the
three precious ones to be spread so far, that even men on the outskirts
of the world acquired that knowledge? We may conclude, therefore, with
certainty, that the origin of this diffusion of the law of Buddha was no
human work, but sprung from the same cause as the dream of Ming Ti
(pp. 23-25). The three precious ones above referred to, are the Buddhist
trinity, everywhere acknowledged, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha--or, as
some say, Buddha--the law and the church. The dream of Ming Ti resembles
that which we know as the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, and foretells
the coming of "the Saviour," one of the names given to Siddartha. The
vision of a divine being, 70 feet high, with a body like gold, and
his head glorious as the sun--one who is fanciful may here discern a
likeness to the individual described in Rev. i. 13, seq.--induced the
king to send to India to seek after the law of Fo, or Buddha. Some one
speaking of two great towers adorned with all the precious substances,
which had been erected at a certain town--the Taxila of the Greeks--to
commemorate episodes in the life of Buddha, makes the remark "The kings,
ministers, and people of all the surrounding countries vie with each
other in making religious offerings at these places, in scattering
flowers and burning incense continually" (p. 33).
"In the city of Hilo is the Vitiara containing the relic of the
skull-bone of Buddha. This Vitiara is entirely covered with plates of
gold, and decorated with the seven precious substances (gold, silver,
lapis lazuli, crystal, cornelian, coral, and ruby.) The king of the
country reverences in a high degree this sacred relic." As this example
shows well the Buddhist veneration for memorials of the dead, I will not
quote more. It is clear that old bones were regarded with religious
awe in Hindostan before they were enshrined in Christendom. In the case
above recorded, "extraordinary pains are taken to preserve the relic
from theft or substitution, and the king offers flowers and incense
in front of it daily, then bends his head to the ground before it
in adoration, and departs." In another place Buddha's robe is kept,
although we may fairly doubt whether he ever possessed one, but
doubtless it is quite as authentic as "the holy coat" of Treves, or the
Virgin Mary's milk. There is another relic of Sakya not yet copied by
Christian pagans, viz., the shadow of the great teacher--which lives
in a cave, and can only be seen by the faithful (p. 45, 46). We commend
this to thaumaturgical Gallican divines, such as those who describe how
certain it is that Mary of Judea came to show herself at Lourdes, and to
talk French.
On arriving at the Punjaub the record states, "The law of Buddha is
prosperous and flourishing here..." On seeing disciples from China
coming among them they were much affected, and spoke thus: "How
wonderful to think that men from the ends of the earth should know the
character of this religion, and should come thus far to seek the law
of Buddha. We received from them all that we required, and were treated
according to the provisions of the law" (p. 51,52). "All the kingdoms
beyond the sandy deserts are spoken of as belonging to Western India.
The kings of all these countries firmly believe in the law of Buddha"
(pp. 53, 54).
In the following, we may see the prototype of monasteries, "From the
time of Buddha's Nirvana, the kings and nobles of all these countries
began to erect viharas for the priesthood, and to endow them with lands,
gardens, houses, and also men and oxen to cultivate them. The records
of these endowments being engraved on sheets of copper, have been handed
down from one king to another, so that no one has dared to deprive
them of possession, and they continue to this day to enjoy their proper
revenues. All the resident priests have chambers, beds, coverlets, food,
drink, and clothes provided for them without stint or reserve. Thus it
is in all places. The priests, on the other hand, continually employ
themselves in reciting their scriptures, in works of benevolence, or in
profound meditation" (pp. 55, 56).
It is very important that we should notice, although it is unnecessary
to dwell upon the fact, that the pilgrims visited the spot whence Buddha
went up to heaven to preach his law to his mother Maya, who died when
her child was seven days old, and, consequently, long before he became
"the Saviour." The son remained with his parent three months (p. 62.)
Jesus, it will be remembered, only preached to the spirits in prison
during a day and a-half--which, by common consent, passes amongst
Christians for three days. I may also notice that there is mentioned (p.
66), an idea that three Buddhas existed before the advent of Sakya Muni,
and that the following are their precepts, translated from the
Chinese copy of a Buddhist book:--1. The heart carefully avoiding idle
dissipation, diligently applying itself to religion, forsaking all lust
and consequent disappointment, fixed and immovable, attains Nirvana
(rest.) 2. Practising no vice, advancing in the exercise of virtue, and
purifying the mind from evil; this is the doctrine of all the Buddhas.
3. To keep one's tongue, to cleanse one's mind, to do no ill--this
is the way to purify oneself throughout, and to attain this state of
discipline is the doctrine of all the great sages (p. 66).
The Buddhists also preserve impressions of Siddartha's feet and show
them to pilgrims, just as certain papal priests show the impressions of
St. Peter's feet at a church a little outside Rome, on the Appian
way. The pilgrims "visit Kapilavastu, now a desert, but once the royal
residence of Suddhodana. There are here a congregation of priests and
ten families of lay people. In the ruined palace there is a picture of
the Prince Apparent and his mother (supposed to be) taken at the time
of his miraculous conception. The prince is represented as descending
towards his mother riding on a white elephant." This elephant came from
the Tusita heaven surrounded by light like the sun, and entered the
left side of the mother. As the elephant is the strongest of known
terrestrial animals, it certainly represented "The power of the Highest"
(see Luke i. 35), and we may draw one of two inferences--either that the
sons of Maya and Mary were conceived equally miraculously, or that the
story of one is just as true or as incredible as that of the other.
Certainly the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was known in India
long before it was enunciated by a Christian Pope in Rome. Perhaps, had
Pio Nono known that he was copying a Buddhistic story, he would have
wavered long before he assimilated his religion to that of Siddartha.
At the same locality a tower is raised to mark the spot where the Rishi
(Saint or Prophet) Asita calculated the horoscope of Sakya, and declared
that he would become a supreme Buddha--a legend which is very similar
to that told of old Simeon and the infant Jesus (Luke ii. 25, seq.). The
pilgrims were also shown the garden--not a stable--in which Maya brought
forth her son, and wherein immediately afterwards the infant walked. Two
dragon kings--perhaps wise men from the East--washed the infant's body,
and this spot afterwards became a sacred well (p. 88).
We must pass by an account of a miracle, to the full as wonderful and
quite as incredible as that of Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand
virgins, who left their bones at Cologne because it has no distinct
reference to Buddha. (P. 97)--But I may mention that the Chinese writer
states after the end of the story, that a certain violation of the law
occurred one hundred years after Sakya's death, and upon this record Mr
Beal has the following important note--"This refers to the second great
council of the Buddhist church. According to Singhalese authorities
(Mahawanso) there were three great convocations or councils--1st,
immediately after Buddha's death to compile the authorised scriptures;
2d, to refute certain errors that had crept into the church; 3d, under
the great Asoka," (p. 99). We may doubt the value of the Mahawanso, but
at the same time we may express a wish that early Christians had even a
tradition of a council to compile authorised scriptures about the son
of Mary ere time sufficient had elapsed to allow "the marvellous" to
develop itself into "the incredible."
In like manner I must omit the description of a procession of images,
amongst which that of Buddha is conspicuous; the fete is held at Patna,
supposed to be the ancient Palimbothra where Asoka reigned. It resembles
in almost all its details the grand processions of the Papists on
certain occasions,--lamps, lights, games, riot, and religious offerings
are mingled together for the healthy and for the sick, and wonderful
cures are provided as far as possible. To this account is to be
appended a very significant, perhaps I might say satirical, note by the
translator of the pilgrims' manuscript. "From the whole of this account
(of the procession of images), it would seem that the Buddhist worship
had already begun to degenerate from its primitive simplicity and
severity. Plays and music and concerts, are strictly forbidden by the
rules of the order; we can begin to see how Buddhism lapsed into Sivite
worship, and sank finally into the horrors of Jaganath" (p. 107). To
the thoughtful reader of our christian history, this note upon Buddhist
processions of images is painfully pregnant. It reminds us that the
followers of Maya's son and Mary's alike lapsed into paganism, and
almost by the same stages. We cannot accuse the Hindoos of copying the
orgies of the Christian saturnalia or carnival, nor do we think that the
Europeans cared to imitate the Hindoos; but what we do believe is that
both parties have fallen lower and lower from their pristine purity in
consequence of the gradually increasing feeling that the generality of
human beings can only be brought under priestly power by an appeal to
their animal propensities.
Some affirm, with great show of argumentation, that it is man's bestial
propensities which lead his race to hell. It may be so, but then, on the
other hand, it is certain that ecclesiastics endeavour to chain us to
their chariots by pandering to, managing, exciting, or otherwise playing
upon those propensities, which man has in common with the sheep, the ox,
the tiger, the serpent, and the elephant. Every form of religion, yet
promulgated, that appeals to sound sense, thought, and reason, has
failed from the want of followers capable of dominating their passions.
Than a pure religion based upon thoughts such as Sakya Muni and the son
of Mary gave utterance to, nothing seems grander, but such is its nature
that it can only be fully embraced by a few. If all are poor, none can
live upon alms--if all sell their worldly goods to purchase Heaven,
no buyers will be found in the market. The Buddhist and the Christian
anchorite may, for a time, live on charity, yet each succeeding
generation of ascetics will more and more dislike the plan of winning
food by misery. We have seen how kings made grand provision for the
comfort of the priestly followers of the son of Maya; and in later
times, we have seen how the followers of the son of Mary have, by
artfulness, provided many similar homes for themselves. Yet, with all
this, there are both Buddhists and Christians who have protested,
by their actions, against religious luxury of every kind. Each of my
readers may judge of what spirit he is, by asking himself whether he
regards such individuals as wise or foolish.
The pilgrims pass on to the place where five hundred saints assembled
after Sakya's death to arrange the collection of sacred books (p.
118)--thence to the spot where Siddartha bathed, and the Deva or Angel
held out the branch of a tree to assist him in coming out of the water
(p. 121)--thence to the spot where Buddha was tempted by three daughters
of Maka as courtesans, a more severe temptation than befel the Christian
Anthony--and by Mara himself with a vast army; but all uselessly, for
Sakya was as impregnable as Jesus. And we find that in the same spot he
subsequently underwent mortification, not for forty days only, but for
six years. All of these localities are marked by towers, which must,
according to ecclesiastical reasoning, demonstrate the truth of the
legends.
After a very long search--for the purpose of Fah Hian was to seek for
copies of the _Vinaya Pitaka_--he found his exertions to find a copy of
the sacred work were useless, because, throughout the whole of Northern
India, the various masters trusted to tradition only for their knowledge
of the precepts, and had no written codes. The pilgrims, however, when
they arrived in Middle India, found a copy, "which was that used by the
first great assembly of priests convened during Buddha's lifetime" (p.
142); this appears to have been generally regarded as the most correct
and complete (p. 144). Fah Hian also obtained "one copy of Precepts, in
manuscript, comprising about 7000 gathas (verses or stanzas). This
was the same as that generally used in China. In this place also an
imperfect copy of the Abhidharma was obtained, containing 6000 gathas;
also, an abreviated form of Sutras, or Precepts, containing 2500 verses
in an abreviated form; also, another expanded Sutra, with 5000 verses,
and a second copy of the Abhidharma," according to the school of the
Maha Sanghihas (the greater vehicle). "On this account Fah Hian abode in
the place (Patma, the ancient Palibothra) for the space of three years,
engaged in learning to read the Sanscrit books, to converse in that
language, and to copy the Precepts. Here his companion, To Ching,
remained; but Fah Hian, desiring with his whole heart to spread the
knowledge of the Precepts throughout China, returned alone" (p. 146).
This pilgrim then goes to the kingdom of Champa, where he stopped two
years, to copy out sacred Sutras, and to take impressions of the figures
used in worship. Here the law of Buddha was generally respected. He
then sailed in a great merchant vessel for Ceylon (p. 148). From this
expression we presume that he entered a seaport, and, as such, one
likely to have been reached by some Christian missionary, if any had
ever visited India, as Paul attained Asia Minor, Italy, &c. All that we
learn about it, however, is in a translator's note, which tells us that
the place was mentioned by another China man, Hiouen Thsang, who spoke
of the number of heretical sects who were mixed together here--Buddhism
being here corrupted at an early period by local superstitions. In
Ceylon Fah Hian remained two years, and, continuing his search for the
sacred books, obtained a copy of the Vinaya Pitaka, of the great Agama,
and the miscellaneous Agama (books of elementary doctrine), also a
volume of miscellaneous collections from the Pitakas, all of which were
hitherto entirely unknown in China. Having obtained these works in the
original language (Pali), he forthwith shipped himself on board a great
merchant vessel, which carried about 200 men, and started for his native
land (p. 166). "After Fah Hian left home, he was five years in arriving
at Mid India. He resided there during six years, and was three more ere
he arrived again in China. He had successively passed through thirty
different countries." In all the countries of India, after passing the
sandy desert (of Gobi), the dignified carriage of the priesthood, and
the surprising influence of religion (amongst the people), cannot be
adequately described... "Having been preserved by Divine power (by
the influences of the Three honourable Ones), and brought through all
dangers safely, he was induced to commit to writing the record of his
travels, desirous that the virtuous of all ages may be informed of them
as well as himself" (p. 173).
After reading this account, we think that no thoughtful man can
reasonably assert that Christianity was taught in India at an early
period, was widely adopted, and became the parent of Buddhism. If, in
rejoinder, we are told that no writers have asserted that there were
Christians in India in olden times, except in Malabar, the answer is,
that these were described by those who first met with their successors
as totally distinct from the Hindoos, and, consequently, neither
Buddhists nor Brahmins. Moreover, we are told that they were regarded
by the Holy Inquisition of Europe as heretics, and were, consequently,
persecuted by the Christians (see Gibbon's _Roman Empire_, vol. viii,
355).
Rosse, in his book of dates (London, 1858), speaks of an Indian embassy
to Constantine the Great, a.d. 334, and another sent to Constantius the
Second, but received by Julian, A.D. 362. I cannot, however, as yet,
find his authority. But Socrates, in his _Ecclesiastical History_,
book i, ch. 19, about A.D. 331, speaks of a treaty which had been in
existence a short time before, between the Romans and the Indians, but
which had been recently violated. He also, in the same chapter, states
that there were Christians amongst the Roman merchants in India--no
town or locality being given, however, so that we cannot test his
assertion--but that they did not then unite to worship. We find also,
from the same chapter, that up to that period there were no Christian
Indians known.
Coupling the foregoing fragments of history together, we may safely
assert that India, generally, was Buddhist in A.D. 400, and that,
according to Pliny, the Romans, or, rather, the Alexandrians, had been
in yearly communication with the country, for at least three centuries,
at the time of Constantine. As it appears that there were Roman
merchants in India, so we presume that there were Hindoo traders
resident in Egypt. The presumption is, that these were Buddhists, and
that they were attended, or followed, by missionary Buddhist priests.
Absolute proof of this there is none.
We now turn to Gibbon's history, and inquire into the period when
monastic asceticism first began to prevail in Egypt, the necessary
residence of our presumed Hindoo traffickers. We find (see _Decline and
Fall_, chapter 37) that Anthony, an Egyptian, and unable to write in
Greek, living in the lower parts of Thebais, distributed his patrimony,
deserted his family and native home, lived amongst tombs, or in a ruined
tower, then in the desert, and then in some lonely spot, near the Red
Sea, where he found shade and water. It certainly seems clear that he
took the son of Maya, rather than the child of Mary, as his exemplar.
At and after this time, the rage for asceticism spread amongst the
inhabitants of Eastern Africa as conspicuously as it had done in
Oriental Asia at the time of Asoka. It is difficult to read the chapter
of Gibbon's history to which we refer, and a history of Buddhism,
without regarding Egypt, and her miserable ascetics, in the same light
as we look upon the folks of Hindustan and Thibet. If Jesus of Nazareth
had dictated such a life, surely his early followers would have been
more conspicuous in their habitual mortifications than their later
disciples were. The son of man--the child of Mary--"came eating and
drinking," and was called "a gluttonous man and a wine bibber, a friend
of publicans and sinners" (Luke vii. 34; Matt, xi. 19). Not so the
son of Maya. The Apostles of Jesus had power to lead about a wife or a
sister, and they did so. Neither Paul nor Peter shunned woman's society,
nor did they practise poverty; nay, they worked with their own hands,
lest they should have to live on alms (2 Thess. iii. 8), and they
collected money for poor saints from the wealthier brethren. There was
no asceticism here, nor can we find, in any part of the New Testament, a
text upon which a system of austerity can be founded.
We might, perhaps, think comparatively little of the parallel which we
have drawn between Buddhism, and Christianity, did we not recognize the
fact, that almost everyone of the later developments of the latter had,
for centuries before, found a place in the former, even including, as we
have mentioned, the dogma of the immaculate conception.
To the preceding considerations we may add another, which, as Ivanhoe
said of himself, "is of lesser renown and lower rank, and assumed into
the honourable company less to aid their enterprise than to make up
their number." Standing alone it may have small power, but as a link
in a chain it is important. We refer to the abundant testimony which
we possess of the strength of Grecian influence upon the tenets of
Christianity. Without laying any stress upon the fact that the whole
of the New Testament extant is written in Greek, we may advert to the
current belief amongst thoughtful scholars, that the so-called Gospel of
St. John was written by some Alexandrian Greek about 150 A.D., or by one
who was imbued with the philosophy of Plato. Sharpe has distinctly shown
that the doctrine of the trinity was held in Ancient Egypt, and first
adopted, then promulgated, by the Egyptian or Alexandrian divines. The
influence of Greek ideas upon Philo Judaeus is very conspicuous.
We may now turn our attention to one statement about the Athenians,
viz., "that they and the strangers which were there spent their time
in nothing else than to tell and to hear some new thing," and that they
were so particular--in this respect resembling the Ancient Peruvians--in
adopting foreign gods, that they had an altar to the Unknown Deity (Acts
xvii). To this we must add what Sozomen says of them (_Ecclesiastical
History_, book ii. chap. 24)--that the most celebrated philosophers
amongst the Greeks took pleasure in exploring unknown cities and
regions. Plato, the friend of Socrates, dwelt for a time amongst the
Egyptians, in order to acquaint himself with their manners and customs.
He likewise sailed to Sicily, to examine its craters.... These craters
were likewise explored by Empedocles. Democritus of Coos relates that he
visited many cities, and countries, and nations, and that eighty years
of his life were spent in travelling in foreign lands. Besides these
philosophers, thousands of wise men amongst the Greeks, ancient and
modern, habituated themselves to travel. Solon, it is well known,
travelled to the court of Croesus, and it is affirmed that Pythagoras
visited India. Sozomen makes the above statement to explain how it was
that Merope of Tyre, with two young relatives, visited India, the two
latter becoming its first two bishops.
Nothing is more probable than that Greeks, who had resided for a time
in India, on their return, believing that as they had recognized
in Hindostan an earnest form of Christianity, differing from the
Alexandrian standard only in a few minor points, thought it right to
introduce into western religion Buddhist practices--first into Egypt,
_via_ Alexandria, and thence into Europe. We certainly cannot prove
that they did it, but there is a very good reason for believing so.
The doctrines of Jesus emanated, we believe, from some early Asoka's
missionaries; whilst the doctrines of the Alexandrians and the Ascetics,
came from subsequent Buddhists, who placed their stamp on Christianity
once more.
Thus we have been led, by a strict inquiry into every extant testimony
known, to believe that the faith taught by Siddartha, was held for at
least 250--and most probably, 500 years, before our era. Still further,
we have been led to believe, from the extraordinary energy and success
of Buddhist missionaries in the three centuries before Christ--a success
before which all Christian missionary enterprise pales--that emissaries
from Asoka's colleges of priests, penetrated westward with the Greeks as
far as the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and forced some devout
Jews to modify their belief. But, though it is probable that the Hindoo
teachers introduced the morality inculcated by Sakya Muni, it seems
certain that they could not induce their Hebrew disciples to abandon
their implicit trust in those writings which they had been induced
to think were absolutely inspired or written by direct command of
the Almighty--consequently, Christianity must be regarded not as pure
Buddhism, but a form of it modified by Jewish traditions. But when those
who embraced the religion of Jesus, had learned to distrust the literal
truth of the Old Testament, and had the certainty that the prophesies
about the immediate destruction of the world were false, they came again
into contact with Buddhist teaching, and were content to forego
Judaism. They did not, however, give up Jesus as the Saviour. Instead of
believing with Sakya, that man suffered for his own sin, they clung to
the legend of Adam and Eve, and affirmed that suffering was introduced
into the whole world by this very original couple. Instead of Nirvana,
their heaven was Ouranos--the sky above them. Instead of an abode where
all the senses were at rest, they adopted the idea of a golden city,
with a river of crystal running through it; brilliant with jewels, and
guarded by gates and walls in which all the good should spend their time
in singing and music. The Christians adopted all the Asceticism, dirt,
and love of vermin, that the disciples of Sakya, and even Siddartha
himself, delighted in--but they nevertheless clung to the idea that the
world was sure to be destroyed, and that Jesus would come again. It
is indeed, difficult to reconcile the belief, that he who washed his
disciples' feet, and praised a woman for cleaning and anointing his own,
sanctioned an idea which, throughout centuries, urged religionists to be
filthy; yet we must do so if we are orthodox. We have, indeed, similar
anomalies now. Devout Christians tell us that this world ought to be
made a preparation for another; and that the main joy of heaven will
be an indefinite increase of knowledge. Yet these same people
affirm, sometimes in distinct terms, that an extension of scientific
attainments, and a constant inquiry into the will of God, as expressed
in the works of His hands, are snares of the Devil, and so to be avoided
by all good people. The Orthodox as a rule believe--though few venture
to affirm it, that Jehovah loves the fools the best, and that ignorance
is godliness.