Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/339

327 RELIGION OF BUDDHA. 327 god — who came into the world to enlighten men, to redeem them, and indicate to them the way of safety. This idea of redemption by a divine incarnation, is so general and popular amongst the Buddhists, that during our travels in Upper Asia we everywhere found it expressed in a neat formula. If we addressed to a Mongol or a Thibetan the question " Who is Buddha ? " he would immediately reply, " The Saviour of men." The miraculous birth of Buddha, his life and his instructions, contain a great number of the moral and dogmatic truths professed in Christianity, and Avhicli we need not be surprised to find thus in other religions, since these truths are traditional, and have always been the property of the Avhole human race. There must be amongst a pagan people more or less of Christian truth, as they have been more or less faithful in preserving the deposit of primitive tradition. By the concordance of the Indian, Chinese, Thibetan, Mongol, and Cingalese books, the birth of Buddha may be placed as far back as about the year 960 b.c. He was of the house of Chakia, which reigned in India over the powerful empire of Mogadha, in the southern Bahar ; and the legend concerning him is full of the most extravagant prodigies and wonders. After many years passed in solitude and contemplation, he went to Be- nares, where he assumed the name of Chakia- Mouni, the Penitent of Chakia ; and having assembled around him a multitude of auditors of all classes, he unfolded his doctrines. His teachings are contained in a collec- tion of a hundred and eight large volumes, known under the generic name of Gajidjour, or Verbal Instruc- tions ; and turning exclusively on the metaphysics of creation, and the frail and perishable nature of man. Y 4