The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-05-01
Buddhism in Relation to Chris
tianity.

At the last meeting held in Feb
ruary by the Victoria (Philosophi.
cal J Institute, z, Adelphi Terrace,
London, a paper was read by the
Rev. R. c. Collins, MA, on Bud
hism in relation to Christianity
Referring to the parallels between
the persons and characters of Budd-
ha and Jesus Christ, he said: =
Take,as a preemminent instance, the
birth stories. / need not here give
details, which are to be found in
any modern work on Buddhism.
The supposed miraculous concep-
ton; the bringing down of Budhs
from the Tusita heaven; the Devas
acknowledging his supremacy; the
presentation in the temple, VIII en-
the images Of India and the other
gods threw themselves at his feet;
the temptation by Mara-which le-
gends are sembellished by modern
writers have already quoted, un-
der such phrases as Conceived by
the Holy Ghost" "Born of the Vir-
gin Mary" "Song of the heavenly
host" Presentation in the temple
and temptation in the Wilderness"
none of these is found in the early
Parli texts. The simple story of
the ancient Buddhist is thai an as
cetic, whose family name was eau
tama preached a new doctrine Of
human suffering and a new way of
deliverance from it. There is NO
thought in the early Buddhism, of
which we read in the Pail texts, of
deliverance at the hands of a god:
but the man Gautama Buddha
stands alone in his striving after
the true emancipation from sorrow
and ignorance. The accounts of
his descending from, and being
conceived in the world ofmen, when
a preternatual light shone over the
worlds, the blind received sight,
the dumb sang, the lame danced,
the sick were cured, together with
all such embellishments, are GER
tainly added by later hands; and
if here we recognize some rather
remarkable likenesses in thought
or expression to things familiar to
US in our bibles we need not only
be astonished, when we reflect how
great must have been the influence,
as 1 have before limited, of the
christian story in India in the ear
ly centuries of the christian era,
and perhaps, long subsequently.
This is a point which has been
much overlooked; but it is abun-
dainty evident from, among other
proofs, the story of the good Krish
ma, which is q manifest parody of
the history of Christ. The BhagaS
rat-Gita, theosophical poem put
into the mouth of Krishnasis some
thing unique among the produc-
tions of the east, containing many
gems of what we should call chris
tian truth wrested from their prop
er setting, to adorn this creation Of
the Brahman poet and indicating
as plainly their origin as do the
stories of his life in the Maha Bha-
rata; so that it has not unreasona-
bly, been concluded that the story
of Krishma was inserted in the
Maha-Bharata to furnish a divine
sanction to the Bhagavat- Gita. If,
then, as there is the strongest rea-
son to believe, the christian story,
somewhere between the first and
and tenth centuries of the chris
tian era, forced itself into the
great Hindu epic, and was at the
foundation of the most remarkable
poem that ever saw the light in In
dia. can we be surprised if we find
similarly borrowed and initiated Gin
the later Buddhist.stories also?. Sew
eral Home and Colonial applica-
tions to join the institute as guinea
subscribers were received, and it's
object being to investigate all phil
osophical and scientific questions,
especially any said to. initiate
against the truth of the bible-a
discussion ensued in which Mr..
Hormuzd Rassam, Professor Lett
ner, from Lahore, Mr.. Coles, an
earnest student of the question
during % years residence in Cey-
lon, Professor Rhys Davids, and
others took part. All agreeing in
and confirming the statements Of
Mr.. Collins paper. DIR. Leitner
brought a large number of photo
graphs of early Indian and Tartar
sculptors, showing the first intro
duction of the christian story into
those monuments between about
the second and tenth centuries, and
he pointed out the value of such ad-
ditional confirmation Of Mr. Collins
statements.