Page:Gospel of Buddha.djvu/180

 LIII.

IDENTITY AND NON-IDENTITY.

Kūtadanta, the head of the Brahmans in the village of Dānamatī having approached the Blessed One respectfully, greeted him and said: "I am told, O samana, that thou art the Buddha, the Holy One, the Allknowing, the Lord of the world. But if thou wert the Buddha, wouldst thou not come like a king in all thy glory and power?"

Said the Blessed One: "Thine eyes are holden. If the eye of thy mind were undimmed thou couldst see the glory and the power of truth."

Said Kūtadanta: "Show me the truth and I shall see it. But thy doctrine is without consistency. If it were con- sistent, it would stand; but as it is not, it will pass away." The Blessed One replied: "The truth will never pass away." Kūtadanta said: "I am told that thou teachest the law, yet thou tearest down religion. Thy disciples despise rites and abandon immolation, but reverence for the gods can be shown only by sacrifices. The very nature of religion consists in worship and sacrifice." Said the Buddha: "Greater than the immolation of "bullocks is the sacrifice of self. He who offers to the gods his evil desires will see the uselessness of slaughtering animals at the altar. Blood has no cleansing power, but the eradication of lust will make the heart pure. Better than worshiping gods is obedience to the laws of righteousness."

Kūtadanta, being of a religious? disposition and anxious about his fate after death, had sacrificed countless victims. Now he saw the folly of atonement by blood. Not yet satisfied, however with the teachings of the Tathāgata, Kūtadanta compiled: "Thou believest, O Master, that beings 152