Page:Barlaam and Josaphat. English lives of Buddha.djvu/76

lxx therefore, notwithstanding the striking resemblance, there is no need to discuss the possibilities of direct derivation.

But the resemblance is close enough to suggest that the Christian form of the parable was introduced instead of the Buddhistic one after "Barlaam" had left India; in other words, in the lost Pehlevi version.

3. Man in Well.—This parable, as will be seen from the references in App. II., was one of the most popular morals of mediæval sermonisers. Indeed, it puts in a most vivid form the most central practical doctrine of both Christian and Buddhistic Ethics, The supreme attraction of the pleasures of the senses amidst all the dangers of life and the perpetual threat of death has never been more vividly expressed. Of its specifically Indian character there can be no doubt. Dr. Kuhn, in an admirable monograph on the parable which he contributed to the complimentary volume presented to Professor von Böhtlingk on the Jubilee of his Doctor's degree (Festgruss, pp. 68-76), has given several instances outside the parable in which the ficus indica religiosa is made a symbol of life, notably in the Bhagavad gita (xv. i.),