An edition of The Dhamma Of Gotama The Buddha And The Gospel Of Jesus The Christ
(1900)
The Dhamma Of Gotama The Buddha And The Gospel Of Jesus The Christ
a critical inquiry into the alleged relations of Buddhism with primitive Christianity
by Aiken, Charles Francis, 1863-1925
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The Dhamma Of Gotama The Buddha And The Gospel Of Jesus The Christ: A Critical Inquiry Into The Alleged Relations Of Buddhism With Primitive Christianity
July 25, 2007, Kessinger Publishing, LLC
Hardcover
in English
0548113238 9780548113233
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The Dhamma Of Gotama The Buddha And The Gospel Of Jesus The Christ: A Critical Inquiry Into The Alleged Relations Of Buddhism With Primitive Christianity
May 26, 2006, Kessinger Publishing, LLC
Paperback
in English
1428621970 9781428621978
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Book Details
Published in
Boston, USA
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I.— THE ANTECEDENTS OFBUDDHISM — BRAHMANISM
CHAPTER I
Vedic and Brahman Rites 3
The Aryan invaders of India — Their gods chiefly nature-deities — Monotheistic tendencies — The sacrifices — Worship of the pitris — Rude superstitions — Transition to Brahmanism — Elaborate liturgy — Sacredness of the sacrifice — The Agni-hotra — The sacred Vedas — Sacred formulae — Purificatory rites — Retribution of good and evil deeds, transmigration, karma — Brahman religion more than an empty formalism.
CHAPTER II
Social and Religious Institutions 16
The caste-system — Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras — Brahmans first in dignity — Unequal distribution of privileges — Rigid caste-rules — Sudras excluded from the Vedic rites — Studentship of the three upper castes — Ceremony of initiation — Ascetic life of the student — Marriage — Rigid caste-rule for the choice of the first wife — Polygamy allowed — Low estimate of woman — Duties of the wife — The religious duties of the house-holder — Sraddha feasts in honor of the dead — Ascetics — Their rule of life — Their incredible mortifications — The practice of Yoga — Vows of the ascetic.
CHAPTER III
Rules of Conduct
Multiplicity of Brahman restrictions — Arbitrary and absurd rules — Food-restrictions, especially as to flesh-meat and spirituous liquors — Penalty for drinking sura — Contempt for manual labor — Occupations held to be degrading and impure — Precautions observed in drinking and walking out of regard for insect life — High standard of ethics — Insistence on forgiveness of injuries — Moral significance of thoughts clearly recognized — Choice examples of Brahman wisdom.
CHAPTER IV
Pantheistic Speculations
The development towards monotheism : Prajapati-Brahman — The rise of pantheistic speculations — The Upanishads — Brahman-Atman-Purusha identified with all things — The incomprehensibility of Brahman — Maya — Rebirth and misery due to maya — Brahman pessimism — Recognition of man's identity with Brahman the only means of salvation — Absorption into Brahman the true end of man — Pantheism subversive of traditional Brahmanism, though nominally in harmony with it.
PART II. — BUDDHISM
CHAPTER I
The Founder, Buddha 63 Brahman pantheism popular with the caste of warriors — It gives rise to rival sects, one of which is Buddhism — Of Buddha but little known for certain — His father not a king but a petty raja — His birthplace — His various names — His education and marriage — His abandonment of home for the ascetic life — His long period of missionary activity — The Buddha-Legend — Miraculous conception and birth — Asita — Life in the palace of pleasure — The flight from home — Mortifications — The Bodhi-tree — Mara's temptations — Supreme enlightenment — First preaching at Benares — Conversions — Devadatta — The fatal meal with Chunda — The painful journey to Kusinara — Under the Sala-trees — Subhadda — Buddha's last words — Obsequies — Division of relics — Estimate of Buddha's character.
CHAPTER II
The Law, Dhamma 87
Deliverance from suffering the aim of Buddhism — The Four Great Truths — (1) The truth of suffering — Buddhist pessimism — (2) The cause of suffering: desire and ignorance — Karma and rebirth — (3) The extinction of suffering through the extinction of desire — Nirvana, of the living, of the dead — The Buddhist view of the soul — The joyful element in Buddhism — Nirvana supplemented by the Brahman paradise, swarga — The latter the more popular conception — (4) The eightfold path to Nirvana — Comparison of the Buddhist with the Brahman standard of ethics — The five great duties — Attitude of Buddhism towards suicide — Gentleness and forgiveness of injuries — Examples of Buddhist wisdom.
CHAPTER III
The Buddhist Order, Sangha 108
Celibacy exacted of Buddha's followers — Severe attitude towards marriage — Poverty and asceticism also requisite — Excessive austerities avoided — Alms the means of subsistence : hence the name Bhikkhus — Neither manual labor nor works of charity in harmony with Buddhist discipline — Distinctions of birth ignored — Buddha not asocial reformer — The Novitiate — Rite of initiation — Rule of life — Clothing and food — Avoidance of luxuries and worldly amusements — Cleanliness exacted — Precautions to be observed in traversing the village and in the presence of women — The rite of confession, the Patimokkha — The retreat during the rainy season, Vassa — Med- itation — Grades of perfection — Bhikkhunis — The lay element in Buddhism.
CHAPTER IV
The History of Buddhism 129
Religious Developments — The existence of the Brahman gods recognized in primitive Buddhism, but man's dependence on them denied — Hence no rites of worship — Devotion to the gods tolerated in the Buddhist layman — Rise of religious rites after Buddha's death — Veneration of his relics, stupas, and statues : pilgrimages, processions, and festivals — Worship of the Buddha to come, Metteyya — Divinization of Gotama Buddha as the Adi-Buddha — The Bodhisattvas — Mahayana and Hinayana — The Growth of Buddhism — The dubious councils of Rajagriha and Vaisali — Asoka — His rock-inscriptions — His zeal for Buddhism — Unreliable traditions, especially concerning Mahinda and the council of Patna — The introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon — The evangelization of Kashmir, Gandhara, and Bactria — King Menander — King Kanishka — The council of Kashmir — The introduction of Buddhism into China — Chinese pilgrims: Fa Hien and Hiouen Thsang — The character of Chinese Buddhism — Mito and Fousa Kwanyin — The introduction of Buddhism into Tibet — The character of Lamaism — Resemblances to certain features of Catholicism — The spread of Buddhism over Southern Asia — The decline of Buddhism in India — The number of Buddhists greatly exaggerated.
CHAPTER V
The Buddhist Sacred Books 153
The twofold Buddhist canon, the Northern (Sanskrit) and the Southern (Pali) — The character of the Southern canon — The Vinaya-pitaka , Sutta-pitaka , and Abhidhamma-pitaka , constituting the Ti-pitaka — Extra-canonical works: the Dipavansa, Mahavansa, Commentaries of Buddhaghosa y Milittda Panha — Works peculiar to the Northern canon: the Buddha Charita, Lalita Vistara, Abhinishkramana Sutra , Saddharma-pundarika — Translations — Age of the Ti-pitaka greatly exaggerated — The view that it was fixed for good in the time of Asoka unwarranted — The Legendary Biographies of Buddha — Critical examination of the age of the Buddha Charita — Critical examination of the age of the Lalita Vistara — Date of the chief Chinese biography — Other Chinese versions — Tibetan versions — Dates of the chief biographies of the Southern school : the Nidana Katha and the Commentary on the Buddhavansa — More recent forms of the Buddha-legend.
PART III. — THE ALLEGED RELATIONS OF BUDDHISM WITH CHRISTIANITY EXAMINED
CHAPTER I
Survey of the Chief Works Written to Show the Presence of Buddhist Thought in the Gospels 173
The theory that primitive Christianity was influenced by Buddhism not held by the majority of scholars — The three chief advocates of the theory — (1) Ernst von Bunsen — Outline of his argument — Critical view of his defects — (2) Prof. Rudolf Seydel — Outline of his argument — Critical view of his defects — (3) Arthur Lillie — The untrustworthy character of his works — Outline of his argument — Critical view of his defects — Jesus not an Essene — Neither Essenes nor Therapeuts Buddhists — Futility of the attempt to make John and Paul out to be Gnostics.
CHAPTER II
Exaggerated Resemblances 198
Spurious evidence used to impugn the originality of the Gospels classified under three heads : exaggerations, anachronisms, fictions — Exaggerations — The pre-existence of Jesus in heaven contrasted with that ascribed to Buddha — Divergent circumstances of birth — Simeon versus Asita — The fast of Jesus compared with that of Buddha — Unfair attempts to exaggerate the resemblances between the temptation of Jesus and that of Buddha — The transfiguration of Jesus without a close counterpart in the Buddha-legend.
CHAPTER III
Anachronisms 211
Resemblances drawn from Buddhist sources plainly pre-christian, alone legitimate in the present comparison — Kanishka's conquest of Northern India in 78 a. d. the probable cause of separation of the Buddhists of the North from those of the South : hence Buddhist parallels not known to both Northern and Southern schools are of doubtful prechristian origin — Further means of control afforded by the different early versions of the Buddha-legend — Anachronisms — The genealogy of Buddha — The presentation of the infant Buddha in the temple — The corresponding Gospel story not out of harmony with Jewish custom — The school-scene — The gift of tongues — The augmenting of food at the marriage-feast — Lamentation of women over Buddha's corpse — The Chinese variant — Buddha's descent into hell — The Buddhist parable of the lost son — Parallels to John> viii. 57, and to Matthew , v. 28 — Sadhu — Lamaistic resemblances to certain features of Catholicism — The Kwanyin liturgy — The swastika.
CHAPTER IV
Fictions 234
Vain attempts to find a Buddhist parallel to the Holy Ghost — Maya not a virgin — Spurious parallels to the angelic announcements to Mary and to Joseph — The star in the East — Buddha not bom on Christmas -day — Pretended counterparts to the offerings of the Magi — Bimbisara not the prototype of Herod — Habba not synonymous with Tathagata — Lack of resemblance between the story of the lost child Jesus and the Jambu-tree incident — Pretended baptism of Buddha — Untenableness of the statement that Buddha and Christ began to preach at the same age — The Bodhi-tree incident not the source of the story of Nathaniel and the fig-tree — The Gospel incident of the man born blind independent of the Buddhist notion of karma — Yasa not the prototype of Nicodemus — Lack of resemblance between Buddha's entry into Rajagnha and Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem — The Last Supper of Jesus wholly unlike the final meal of Buddha — Unwarranted ascription to Buddha of words spoken by Christ — Spurious Buddhist parallels to the abandonment of Jesus by His disciples, to the thief on the cross, to the parting of Christ's garments, to the resurrection, to Matthew , v. 29, and xiii. 45.
CHAPTER V
Resemblances not Implying Dependence 258 Abuse of the principle that resemblance means dependence — Resemblances often of independent origin — Examples from comparative ethnology and religion — Explained by similarity of conditions and by the uniformity of the laws of thought — Further instances — Enumeration of the Buddhist parallels wrongly taken to indicate the influence of Buddhism on Christianity.
CHAPTER VI
Arguments for the Independent Origin of the Gospels 269
The apostolic origin of the Gospels of Matthew and of Luke incompatible with the adoption of mythical elements, and especially of features of the Buddha-legend — The alleged presence of Buddhist lore in Palestine and Greece an unwarranted assumption — The second Girnar Edict not an indication of Buddhist activity in the western possessions of Antiochus — The meaning of Yavana (Yona), and of Yavana( Yona)-loka — The thirteenth edict not conclusive evidence of the existence of Buddhism in the Greek-speaking world — The latter disproved by the silence of Greek literature and the total absence of Buddhist remains — Inconsistent also with the silence of the Buddhist Chronicles — Alasadda, capital of the Yona country, not Alexandria of Egypt — Zarmanochegas not a Buddhist.
CHAPTER VII
The Possible Influence of Christianity on Buddhism 288
Parthian Jews converted by Peter — Reliability of the tradition that the apostle Thomas preached to the people of Parthia, Bactria, and Northwest India — Gondophares — The early mission of Pantaenus in India — The testimony of Cosmas — The ancient episcopal sees of Merv, Herat, and Sistan — Christian influence in Panjab in the fifth century shown by the Jamalgiri sculptures — The spread of Nestorianism over the East in the fifth and following centuries — The Nestorian monument of Singan-fu — Likelihood that some of the incidents related of Christ have been incorporated into the Buddha-legend — Is the Asita-story one of these?
CHAPTER VIII
Buddhism Viewed in the Light of Christianity 304
The miracles of Christ above comparison with those ascribed to Buddha : the latter unvouched by contemporary witnesses and tainted by absurdities — Examples — Buddhism a religion not of enlightenment, but of superstition and error — Karma and its implied transmigration a false assumption — The failure of Buddhism to recognize man's dependence on the supreme God — Buddhism lacking in the powerful Christian motives to right conduct — Buddhist morality utilitarian — Nirvana not an appeal to unselfishness — Buddhist pessimism a crime against nature — Its injustice to the individual, to the family, to society — Buddhist propagandism far inferior to the Christian — Alliance of Buddhism with local superstitions — Buddhist benevolence greatly surpassed by Christian works of charity — The impotence of Buddhism to elevate the people of Asia — Sad state of morals in Buddhist lands — Slavery and polygamy untouched by Buddhism — The degenerate condition of the Buddhist order — The transcendent excellence of Christianity.
Bibliography 325
Index 345
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