Part 5 (1/2)
(2) The discovery of places and the remains of buildings mentioned in the narrative of his time.
(3) The rock-inscriptions, pillars and dagobas made in memory of him by sovereigns who were near enough to his time to be able to verify the story of his life.
(4) The unbroken existence of the Sangha which he founded, and their possession of the facts of his life transmitted from generation to generation from the beginning.
(5) The fact that in the very year of his death and at various times subsequently, conventions and councils of the Sangha were held, for the verification of the actual teachings of the Founder, and the handing down of those verified teachings from teacher to pupil, to the present day.
(6) After his cremation his relics were divided among eight kings and a stupa was erected over each portion. The portion given to King Ajatashatru, and by him covered with a stupa at Rajagrha, was taken, less than two centuries later, by the Emperor Asoka and distributed throughout his Empire. He, of course, had ample means of knowing whether the relics were those of the Buddha or not, since they had been in charge of the royal house of Patna from the beginning.
(7) Many of the Buddha's disciples, being Arhats and thus having control over their vital powers, must have lived to great ages, and there was nothing to have prevented two or three of them, in succession to each other, to have covered the whole period between the death of the Buddha and the reign of Asoka, and thus to have enabled the latter to get from his contemporary every desired attestation of the fact of the Buddha's life.[8]
(8) The ”Mahavansa,” the best authenticated ancient history known to us, records the events of Sinhalese history to the reign of King Vijaya, 543 B.C.--almost the time of the Buddha--and gives most particulars of his life, as well as those of the Emperor Asoka and all other sovereigns related to Buddhistic history.
103. Q. _By what names of respect is the Buddha called?_
A. Sakyamuni (the Sakya Sage); Sakya-Simha (the Sakyan Lion); Sugata (the Happy One); Satthta (the Teacher); Jina (the Conqueror), Bhagavat (the Blessed One); Lokanatha (the Lord of the World); Sarvajna (the Omniscient One); Dharmaraja (the King of Truth); Tathagata (the Great Being), etc.
[1] See the definition of _deva_ given later.
[2] For an admirable account of this interview consult Dr. Paul Carus'
_Gospel of Buddha_, page 20, _et seq._
[3] The term Hindu, once a contemptuous term, used by the Musalmans to designate the people of Sindh, whom they conquered, is now used in an ecclesiastical sense.
[4] No reason is given in the canonical books for the choice of this side of the tree, though an explanation is to be found in the popular legends upon which the books of Bishop Bigandet and other European commentators are based. There are always certain influences coming upon us from the different quarters of the sky. Sometimes the influence from one quarter will be best, sometimes that from another quarter. But the Buddha thought that the perfected man is superior to all extraneous influences.
[5] The ancient story is that the G.o.d Brahma himself implored him not to withhold the glorious truth.
[6] Brahmanism not being offered to non-Hindus, Buddhism is consequently, the oldest missionary religion in the world. The early missionaries endured every hards.h.i.+p, cruelty, and persecution, with unfaltering courage.
[7] At the Second Council there were two pupils of Ananda, consequently centenarians, while in Asoka's Council there were pupils of those pupils.
PART II
THE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE
106. Q. _What is the meaning of the word Buddha?_
A. The enlightened, or he who has the perfect wisdom.
107. Q. _You have said that there were other Buddhas before this one?_
A. Yes; our belief is that, under the operation of eternal causation, a Buddha takes birth at intervals, when mankind have become plunged into misery through ignorance, and need the wisdom which it is the function of a Buddha to teach. (See also Q. 11.)
108. Q. _How is a Buddha developed?_
A. A person, hearing and seeing one of the Buddhas on earth, becomes seized with the determination so to live that at some future time, when he shall become fitted for it, he also will be a Buddha for the guiding of mankind out of the cycle of rebirth.