Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/787

* MAHAVIBA. 699 MAHDI. of a deity to obtain inmiortality as a saint, and was incarnate toward the close uf the fourth age, when seventj'-five years and eight and one-half months of it remained. After he was thirty years of age he renounced worldly pursuits, and departed to practice austerities. Finally, he became an Arhat or Jina : and at the age of seventy-two years, the period of his liberation having arrived, 'he resigned his breath,' and his body was burned b}' Indra and other deities, who divided among them such parts as were not destroyed bj- the flames. The ashes of the pile were distributed among the assistants ; the gods erected a splendid monument on the spot, and then returned to their respective heavens, MAHAYANA, ma'ha-yii'na (Skt., Great Ve- hicle). The development of Buddhism (q.v.) which in the course of a few centuries after the death of Buddha became the dominant system in Northern India as well as in Kashmir and Nepal, and later still spread into China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, ilongolia. etc. Hence it is sometimes spoken of as Northern Buddhism or the 'North- ern School,' as distinct from the 'Southern School' of Ceylon, Siam, and Burma, where the primitive system formulated by Gautama is still the prevailing form. The system of the Northern School is called MahCiyana, 'the Great Vehicle or Conveyance,' because it is supposed to afford the means of salvation tn a much larger number than can find places in the Rinayana, or 'Little Vehicle,' as the southern system is disparagingly designated by the followers of the Slahayana School. Under the influence of contemporary Hinduism and the Shamanistic notions and prac- tices of the northern barbarians among whom Buddhism had begim to spread, animistic beliefs and views concerning the supernatural were in- troduced; Shivaitic gods and practices were adopted, the attainment of magic powers by means of occult formulas and phrases was eager- ly sought, and objects of worship were multi- plied. A thousand new Ruddhas were invented, among them the Adi-Buddha (q.v.), who came to be worshiped in Nepal as the self-existent Su- preme Being. By spontaneous acts of contem- plation and wisdom each of these Buddhas pro- jected from his own essence other intelligences, called Bodhisattva, or spiritual sons, who are represented as having reached such a stage of saintship that but one more birth was necessary for them to become Buddhas. but who had de- cided to forego Buddhahood. and become the guardians of the Buddhist community on earth, and to help mankind, between the death of one earthly Buddha and the appearance of the next. Each of the five earthly Buddhas of the present Kalpa or age has his spiritual counterpart, who exists in formless worlds of meditation, as a Dhyani-Buddha (q.v.), and has his reflex Bo- dhisattva. Three correspond to the three Buddhas who preceded Gautama, one to llaitreya, the com- ing Buddha (expected SoOO years hence), and one, Amitabha, represents the historical Buddha, His spiritual son is Avalokiteshvara of Padma- pani, better known in China as Kwan-yin (q.v.) and in Japan as Kwan-non. It is thus evident that northern Buddhism has diverged most re- markably from the primitive system evolved by Sakyamuni. In Tibet and Mongolia, where it is known as Laniaism (q.v.), it has lieeome the contrary of Gautama's system, and so far has Vol. XII.— 45. celibacy been discarded that in certain Japanese sects the priests may marry. MAHDI, ma'de (Ar. al-Muhdi, the ftuided One). The name given to the messenger of Allah, who is expected by certain sections of the Moham- medan world to complete the Prophet's work by converting or exterminating the infidels and by equitably dividing the world's goods. It is sup- posed that he will be a second Mohammed in name and in appearance; and, since the time of the Abbassides, that he will carry the black flag of the Prophet. He is to meet .Tesus in Damas- cus and Jerusalem, and to reign seven, eight, or nine years, filling the earth with justice, Tlie idea is not contained in the Koran ; but later tradition puts the following words into Moham- med's mouth: "Even though time shall have but one more day to last, God will call up a man of my family who will fill the earth with justice, as it is now filled with iniquity." The ilahdi idea arose in the eastern part of the new Arab empire, nourished by .lewish ideas of the coming of the Messiah, and Christian ideas of the .second coming of Jesus; more especially in Persia, where the idea of a Saoshyant (q.v.) or Redeemer was part of the popular tradi- tion and the trend to mysticism" and deifica- tion part of the national character. Its first manifestation was due to the anti-Arab feeling of the Persian Mohammedans who, as legitimists, gathered around Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet, and resented his neglect in favor of the Ommiads, the bitterest opponents of the Prophet, Even during his lifetime Ali was deified, though against his will, by the Jew Abd Allah ibn Saba ; and his violent death strengthened the be- lief that he would be awakened at the end of time and would conquer the world. By others Ali was considered simply to be the tcasi or vicar of the Prophet; and in the circles which regarded him as the legitimate Imam (leader) he was confounded sometimes with the Messiah, sometimes with Elijah. The subject became one of fierce dispute between the Shiites and the Sun- nites. In the course of time the idea was used as a political weapon by numerous pretenders, and the Mahdi led the Holy War (jihad) against iloslems as well as against unbelievers. The first Mahdi was Mohammed ibn al-Hanafiyyah, son of Ali. though not of Fatima, who was proclaimed by one Mukhtar in the reign of Abd al-Malik (084-087) after the uuu'der of Ali's son Hosein. When Mohammed died the Persians refused to believe him dead, but asserted that he would re- turn after seventy years. The idea spread, and since then Mahdis have arisen very often among Persians, Egyptians, and the Arabs of the Sudan. One of the most famous of these was the veiled prophet .l-iIokanna (see H.kim ibx Allah), the subject of Moore's poem, who came to be re- garded as divine and was worshiped for cen- turies, A large number of Shiites believe that there have existed only twelve Imams, ^^'hen the twelfth died at Saniarra (041), a child of twelve years, it was held that from that time on the Imam would remain concealed, though he may arise as Mahdi at any moment. Of the Egyptian JIahdis, the mad Hakim (000) is most notorious. He also disappeared, but that he will appear again is the firm conviction of the Druses (q,v,) in the Lebanon Mountains and the Hauran. Of the sects that have sprung from this idea, the Is-