Page:Gospel of Buddha.djvu/300

 Brahma "Brahman," and karma "karman." But usus est tyrannus. In a popular book it is not wise to swim against the stream.

Following the common English usage of saying "Christ," not "the Christ," we say in the title "Buddha," not "the Buddha."]

Abhi´ññā, p., Abhi´jña, skt., supernatural talent. There are six abhinññās which Buddha acquired when attaining perfect enlightenment:—(1) the celestial eye, or an intuitive insight of the nature of any object in any universe; (2) the celestial ear, or the ability to understand any sound produced in any universe; (3) the power of assuming any shape or form; (4) knowledge of all forms of pre-existence of one's self and others; (5) intuitive knowledge of the minds of all beings; and (6) knowledge of the finality of the stream of life.—175, 176.

Acira´vatī, p. and skt., a river.—96.

Agni, p. and skt., a god of the Brahmans, the god of fire.—49.

Ajātasa´ttu, p., Ajātaśa´tru, skt., the son of king Bimbisāra and his successor to the throne of Magadha.—110—112, 219.

Alā´ra, p., Ārā´da, skt., a prominent Brahman philosopher. His full name is Ālāra Kālāma.—29, 239.

Ambapā´lī, the courtesan, called "Lady Amra" in Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King. It is difficult for us to form a proper conception of the social position of courtesans at Buddha's time in India. This much is sure, that they were not common prostitutes, but ladies of wealth, possessing great influence. Their education was similar to the hetairæ in Greece, where Aspasia played so prominent a part. Their rank must sometimes have been like that of Madame Pompadour in France at the court of Louis XIV. They rose to prominence, not by birth, but by beauty, education, refinement, and other purely personal accomplishments, and many of them were installed by royal favor. The first paragraphs of Khandhaka VIII of the Mahāvagga [S. B., Vol. XVII, pp. 171—172] gives a fair idea of the important rôle of courtesans in those days. They were not necessarily venal daughters of lust, but, often women of distinction and repute, worldly, but not disrespectable.—227, 228, 231, 232.

Amitā´bha, p. and skt. endowed with boundless light, from amita, infinite, immeasurable, and ābhā, ray of light, splendor, the bliss of enlightenment. It is a term of later Buddhism and has been personified as Amitābha Buddha, or Amita. The invocation of the all-saving name of Amitābha Buddha is a favorite tenet of the Lotus or Pure Land sect, so popular in China and Japan. Their poetical conception of a paradise in the West is referred to in Chapter LX. Southern Buddhism knows nothing of a personified Amitābha, and the Chinese travellers 272