been drawn to the Jamalgiri remains and other sculptures brought to light by General Cunningham near Peshawur. It is stated that a complete set of illustrations of the New Testament might be made from these sculptures, such as Mary laying her child in a manger, near which stands a mare with its foal; the young Christ disputing with the doctors in the Temple; the Saviour healing the man with a withered limb; the woman taken in adultery kneeling before Christ, whilst in the background men hold up stones menacingly. Mr. Fergusson fixes the date of the Jamalgiri monastery as somewhere between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D.1
I think this proves that the old Buddhists believed the higher Buddhism and the higher Christianity to be the same religion, an idea which seems also to have been held by St. Paul, for he talks of a gospel as having already been "preached to every creature under heaven”2 at a time when, outside Jerusalem, a small Romish congregation comprised almost all the Gentile converts of the historical apostles. It must be noted that the builders of the Jamalgiri Vihâra were pure Buddhists, and that in the whole range of Buddhism is no trace of the later Christian cross, the use of wine in the bloodless oblation, no indication of any belief in the efficacy of a blood-sacrifice.
I may mention that for the attitude of the Buddha of the frontispiece I am indebted to a Buddha of the Jamalgiri sculptures. It is an attitude well known to Freemasons and mystics; and all the Therapeuts, male and female, stood in this attitude during divine worship. The Jamalgiri Buddha, however, has not got his right hand covered up.
1 Cave Temples of India, p. 139.
THE RELIGION OF THE RISHI,
Two religions in the Rig-Veda. The religion of the prophet and the
religion of the priest. Importance of the word "umbrella." Symbol
of the cosmos. Same idea typified in the tumulus and holy tree.
Gnosticism of the Vedas. The Vedic triad. The serpent. Draco
of the sky. Aditi the mother. Avatâras of the Vedic Logos or
solar God-man.
The Buddhist Trinity. Amitâbha. "The Merciful Father" of China,
Japan, Nepal, and Tibet. Liturgy of Ceylon, "May Buddha for-
give me my sin." Priests of Ceylon repudiate the charge of atheism
when questioned by the Dutch. Serpent, tree, and sun. The
Triratna. The Mani. The solar God-man. His symbols, the
elephant, the sun, the "golden germ." Similarity of the Alexan-
drian symbolism and that of the Buddhists. Importance of the
elephant in the gnostic talismans.
Ritual the test of an early creed. The Buddhas of the past. Still in-
voked and fed. Tomb and saint worship. The key of early Bud-
dhism. Ancestor-worship in all Buddhist countries. Burnouf
denies the antiquity of the Buddhist saint-worship. Confuted by
the Bharhut stúpa. Saint-worship derived from Vedism.
Pp. 36-48
The tope an apparatus to baffle evil spirits. The rail of the tope a talis-
manic safeguard. Importance attached to the corpse and its relics
in tope-worship. Recorded apparitions of Buddha inconsistent with
modern nihilism. Modern temple. "The six supernatural gifts.”
Other recorded powers of an adept. Magic powers through the
help of dead saints inconsistent with the agnostic theory.
Cosmology of Ceylon. Nirvaṇapura a place.
inhabited by the Buddhas of the past. Confutes modern agnos-
ticism. Antiquity of the five heavens of the Ceylon cosmology
confirmed by the Chinese. Evidence of the metaphysic of Buddha.
Idealism not dualism. Barthélemy St. Hilaire. His charge of
atheism based on the dualism of Buddha refuted. Buddhist baptism.
Paramount importance of the Asoka inscriptions. Asoka on God. Asoka
on a future life. His paradise the Vedic Swarga. His evidence
decisive against the agnostic school.
![[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]](https://books.google.at/books/content?id=EDAYAAAAYAAJ&hl=de&output=html_text&pg=PR12&img=1&zoom=3&q=%2522Together+with+some+account+of+the+Life+and+Acts+of+the+Author,+of+his+Ancestors,+and+of+his+Descendants.+Illustrated%2522&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U3umLjos9xGVL6WysYcF3-H1XO79Q&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=119,958,782,85)
The legendary life. Sanskrit v. Pâli. Cingalese biography an abbrevia-
tion of an older book. Suspicious nature of the Buddhaghosa story.
The Lalita Vistara our best authority. More in harmony with the
Buddhist symbols, inscriptions, monuments, &c. Importance of
Buddha's descent as an elephant. Importance of the appearance of
the two serpents in the sky. Importance of Buddha as the golden
germ. Importance of the Jinas and Buddhas of the past. They act
as guardian spirits of the young prince. The flight from the palace.
The great renunciation. Buddha as a Brahmachârin. Repairs to
Gayâ. Seven years of training as a Rishi. The tree of knowledge.
The milken rice of Sujata. Baptism. Temptation by the Wicked
One. Buddha converts the daughters of sin. Buddha converts the
Wicked One. Turns the wheel of the law. Zodiacal nature of the
legendary life. Disposes of Senart's theory that Buddha was non-
existent.
AN ANALYSIS OF THE LALITA VISTARA, .
Analysis of the legendary Life. Three schools of Buddhism traceable.
Buddha as a man. Buddha as God. The worship of the everlasting
nothing. The true meaning of Nirvâna and Nirvâṇapura. The
city that cannot be disturbed by the breath of the spirit.
Suspicious nature of the early historical books. Importance of the tree
in early Buddhism. The "mob of beggars." Secrecy, Buddha's
great weapon of attack. Buddhist Freemasonry. Mystic societies.
Triad society of China. Masonic initiation of the Rishi. Buddha
A veiled account most probably of these
initiations. Singular points of contact between early Buddhism
and modern Masonry. Buddha's sublime teaching.
The Dhammapada; received by the Buddhists as the authentic version of
Buddha's sayings. Buddha on God. Buddha on prayer. Buddha
on heaven. Saint-worship. Parables. Forgiveness of injuries.
The atheist. Kisogotami. Prince Kunâla. Marriage feast. The
girl Bhadrâ. King Wessantara. King Bambadat. The hungry
dog. The peacemaker. The prodigal son. The man who was
born blind. The woman at the well. Vâsavadatta. Blazing man-
sion. The admonition to Râhula respecting falsehood.
Numerous points of contact between the Buddhists and Roman Catholics.
The Therapeuts; believed to be Christian converts by Catholics,
ancient and modern. Believed to be due to Buddhist propagandism
by Dean Mansel, Dean Milman, Hilgenfeld, &c. A Therapeut
monastery compared with a Buddhist garden of the saints. Es-
senes and Buddhists. Important testimony of Philo. Testimony
of Asoka.
THE HIGHER CHRISTIANITY, .
Influence of Baur on modern thought. His Christology. Early Chris-
tianity the lower Judaism. Theory examined. The Clementines.
Circumcision an Essene rite. Antagonism of the gnosis idea and
the sacrificial idea. The New Testament on the Essenism of the
early Christians. The higher Christianity.
BUDDHISM IN THE CATACOMBS,
Saint and tomb worship. Efforts made at a martyrdom to obtain relics,
blood, &c. The Lord's Supper at funerals; administered to the
corpse. Symbols in the Catacombs. Jonah. The dove. Important
representation of the infant Jesus. The descending dove in
Buddhism. Sophia. The serpent symbol. The Christ monogram.
The seven loaves.
The "Day of Buddha," the "Day of Woden." Is Woden Buddha?
Conflicting testimony. Professor Holmboe. Traces de Buddhisme
en Norvège. The tope and the haug; curious points of similarity.
Brochs, standing stones, tanks, the Mani. Chinese influence.
Mythology-Woden, Frigga, Balder.
Did Columbus discover the New World? Changed views on the sub-
ject. The black man, the white man, the yellow man. Geographical
facilities for communication between the Old World and the New.
Fou-Sang; Chinese evidence. Xaca, Sâkya Muni. The Mexican
Buddha. Buddhism at Palenqué. The Norsemen in America.
Conclusion.
|