Part 85 (1/2)

[295:4] See Matt. xxiv; Mark, viii. 31; Luke, ix. 18.

[295:5] Mark, xxviii. 18-20.

Buddha at one time said to his disciples: ”Go ye now, and preach the most excellent law, expounding every point thereof, and unfolding it with care and attention in all its bearings and particulars. Explain the beginning, the middle, and the end of the law, to all men without exception; let everything respecting it be made publicly known and brought to the broad daylight.” (Rhys David's Buddhism, p. 55, 56.)

When Buddha, just before his death, took his last formal farewell of his a.s.sembled followers, he said unto them: ”Oh mendicants, thoroughly learn, and practice, and perfect, and spread abroad the law thought out and revealed by me, in order that this religion of mine may last long, and be perpetuated for the good and happiness of the great mult.i.tudes, out of pity for the world, to the advantage and prosperity of G.o.ds and men.” (Ibid. p. 172.)

[295:6] Muller: Science of Religion, p. 244.

[295:7] Matt. xix. 16-21.

[295:8] Matt. vi. 19, 20.

[296:1] Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. x, _note_.

[296:2] Matt. iv. 17.

[296:3] _i. e._, to establish the dominion of religion. (See Beal: p.

244, _note_.)

[296:4] The Jerusalem, the Rome, or the Mecca of India.

This celebrated city of Benares, which has a population of 200,000, out of which at least 25,000 are Brahmans, was probably one of the first to acquire a fame for sanct.i.ty, and it has always maintained its reputation as the most sacred spot in all India. Here, in this fortress of Hindooism, Brahmanism displays itself in all its plent.i.tude and power.

Here the degrading effect of idolatry is visibly demonstrated as it is nowhere else except in the extreme south of India. Here, temples, idols, and symbols, sacred wells, springs, and pools, are multiplied beyond all calculation. Here every particle of ground is believed to be hallowed, and the very air holy. The number of temples is at least two thousand, not counting innumerable smaller shrines. In the princ.i.p.al temple of Siva, called Visvesvara, are collected in one spot several thousand idols and symbols, the whole number scattered throughout the city, being, it is thought, at least half a million.

Benares, indeed, must always be regarded as the Hindoo's Jerusalem. The desire of a pious man's life is to accomplish at least one pilgrimage to what he regards as a portion of heaven let down upon earth; and if he can die within the holy circuit of the Pancakosi stretching with a radius of ten miles around the city--nay, if any human being die there, be he Asiatic or European--no previously incurred guilt, however heinous, can prevent his attainment of celestial bliss.

[296:5] Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 245.

[296:6] Matt. iv. 13-17.

[296:7] Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 11.

[296:8] John, i. 17.

[296:9] Luke, xxi. 32, 33.

[296:10] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 228.

[296:11] Matt. v. 27, 28.

On one occasion Buddha preached a sermon on the five senses and the heart (which he regarded as a sixth organ of sense), which pertained to guarding against the pa.s.sion of l.u.s.t. Rhys Davids, who, in speaking of this sermon, says: ”One may pause and wonder at finding such a sermon preached so early in the history of the world--more than 400 years before the rise of Christianity--and among a people who have long been thought peculiarly idolatrous and sensual.” (Buddhism, p. 60.)

[297:1] Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 138.

[297:2] I. Corinth. vii. 1-7.

[297:3] Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 103.

[297:4] John, ix. 1, 2.

This is the doctrine of transmigration clearly taught. If this man was born blind, as punishment for some sin committed by him, this sin must have been committed in _some former birth_.

[297:5] Hardy: Buddhist Legends, p. 181.