Page:Barlaam and Josaphat. English lives of Buddha.djvu/75

Rh wisdom and modesty are the plough; my mind is the guiding rein; I lay hold of the handle of the law; earnestness is the goad I use; and exertion is my draught-ox. This ploughing is ploughed to destroy the weeds of illusion. The harvest it yields is the immortal life of Nirvâna, and thus all sorrow ends.'

"Then the Brahman poured rice-milk into a golden bowl and offered it to the Blessed One, saying, 'Let the teacher of mankind partake of the rice-milk, for the venerable Gautama ploughs a ploughing that bears the fruit of immortality.'"

Now at first sight this certainly seems a remarkable parallel to the Gospel parable, while its occasion is so natural that, if there is any question of derivation, the presumption is on the side of Buddha. But, examined more closely, the resemblance loses much of its force. For, while in the Buddhistic form stress is laid upon the sowing itself, in the Christian it is upon the nature of the soil to which attention is drawn. The moral of Buddha is—"Teaching is work;" the moral of Christ is-"The effect of teaching depends upon the character of the taught." Altogether,