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Moreover, the nearest fixed star is twenty billions of miles distant. And for such stars to fall to the earth, at the rate of twenty thousand miles a day, it would take so long that a child born when they began to fall, would be a graybeard long before they reached the earth. CHAPTER VIII Buddha Rejects a Kingdom. Section i. After leaving the ministers, Buddha took up his march for Vulture Peak, about i8o miles dis- tant from his father's palace at Kapilavastu, On en- tering the village at the Peak, the people were so struck with the exceeding comeliness of his person that they swarmed after him, and some hastened to pass him, that they might turn back and gaze upon his hand- some features. We have already passed by many such incidents, and, as we shall encounter them again, I shall here briefly describe Buddha, as well as possible, from the many pen pictures found in the Indian books. The old Rishi (prophet) at Buddha's birth, observed that he was a most excellently endowed child. "His eyes," he said, "are bright and expanding; the iris a clear blue; his face surpassingly beautiful, and so formed as to give promise of superiority in the world." Gotami, his aunt, who nursed him when a child, men- tions his dark, glossy locks ( i ) ; his broad shoulders (1) Of course, as a recluse, these were shorn off. 95 96 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES and his lion step ; broad between eyes deep and pierc- ing, as if they would look through all the worlds. Others have described him with a well moulded and capacious head ; a body straight as an arrow ; his whole make-up at once commanding and attractive. He was probably a little more than six feet tall, and of athletic build ; but with a disposition mild, gentle, winning. Such a person, among any people, becomes at once a leader, without his seeking. It was soon noised about that this majestic looking person was none other than a prince of the Sakya race, now a recluse. Whereupon Binbasara Raga (king) order- ed his royal equipage to pay him a visit ; and on see- ing him could not understand why the descendant of an illustrious family should leave a palace, where at- tendants waited upon him, and where perfumed gar- ments and anointings were his portion. Just how he could put all these aside, and wander in the woods, houseless, in the coarse garb of an ascetic, the king could not understand. "Your hand," said the king, "instead of taking its little stint of food, ought to grasp the reins of em- pire." Binbasara then entered into a long argument to convince Buddha that his course was wrong, and, as an inducement to change it, offered to divide his em- pire with him. "You are young and lusty," added the king; "now is the time to enjoy yourself. When age wrinkles your brow, and desire fails, then seek the solitudes and perform your religious duties, as have A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 97 the kings who have gone before and are now receiving their reward in heaven." Section 2. The prince respectfully replied that the king's liberality and kindness were known to the farth- est limit. "You, O King, would have me go back to the wealth of a kingdom, or take a part of yours. But I seek neither the kingdoms nor the riches of this world. What, at best, is wealth? It is no more to a wise man than a chip, a feather or a stone. It is trash." Yet, how painfully do men toil and scheme after it! This world has gone stark mad in pursuit of it. O, covetousness ! how many crimes hast thou committed. Thou hast robbed the unsuspecting, and plundered the innocent. (2) And there is lust, its wicked brother. Those two wretched outlaws ride triumphantly through the world, robbing innocence of its portion, and purity of its charm. "You, O King! have asked me to share with you the dignity of your realm. In return, I beseech you to go with me in search of that which will put an end to birth, disease and death." "We have been taught to offer sacrifices, to appease the Gods ; but why destroy life to gain religious merit ? Does pure religion require that we must wade through slaughter to obtain it ? Will the slaying of that which lives, open the portals of heaven to us? There are those who, with great austerity, practice those rites; yet they neglect the rules of moral conduct. How can it be that by killing an animal and burning it, some fu- (2) Varga 11, verse 867 and following, Fo-Sho-Hing. 98 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES ture or present good shall come to us? This world is draped in sorrow, and there has been in the past much wasting of life to banish it. Yet it pursues us unceas- ingly. I seek a mode of escape as yet untried. Slaugh- ter and religion are opposites. They are enemies. They cannot go hand in hand. I pray thee, O king, put an end to slaughter." These words of the prince so filled the king with new emotions, that he at once, with great reverence, re- plied : "Go seek that of which you are in quest ; it is worthy of all endeavor. If you obtain it, then quickly re- turn, and in mercy let me become an early partaker of it." (3) Section 3. In Gotama's severe denunciation of bloody sacrifices, his vision must have reached beyond the con- fines of India, for the Indians, long before he came upon the stage, had abolished it. That senseless and wicked abomination, the Hebrews seem to have clung to and followed with greater pertinacity than any other people. Less than four hundred years before Buddha came, the King of Moab offered his eldest son upon the walls of a city as a burnt offering to his god, that he might win a victory over Israel and Judah. (4) And only about two hundred years before Buddha and Binbasara held their conference, Ahaz, the king of Judah, sacrificed his own children by burning them (3) Sacred Books of the East, vol. 19. (4) 2nd Kings, ch. 3, v. 27. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 99 in the valley of Hinnon. (5) Those kings may have copied Abraham, who bound Isaac upon the fagots, and would have offered him up had not a ram just then became tangled in the bushes. (6) However that may be, we are certain that centuries before Moab and Ahaz burned their children, the Hindus, being less given to blood and more to contemplation than the He- brews, invented a much easier method. They substi- tuted a horse ; later on, an ox ; then, a sheep, and finally, a goat. The sacrificial essence, passing on down, at last slipped from the goat and entered the ground, from which rice and barley sprung up. (7) Thence- forth they offered rice cakes, milk and clarified butter. Even when Jesus was presented to the Lord in the temple at Jerusalem, they sacrificed two young pig- eons. (8) Thus while rice cakes were being offered as a sac- rifice in India, the Hebrews were using divinations and enchantments in Palestine, and were worshiping (5) Second Chron., ch. 28, v. 3. (6) Max Miiller, Anc. Sanskrit Lit., 419, says: "Human Bacrifiees are not incompatible with a high stage of civilization; especially by a people who never doubted the immortality of the soul." How any sensible man can make such a reprehensible statement, is at least astonishing. Human sacrifices had their origin among barbarous tribes. The Hebrews, nowhere in the Pentateuch, nor in Kings or Chronicles, teach the immortality of the soul. Moreover, no people in a high stage of civilization will permit human sacrifices. The Hindus offered up a mock-man (Kimpurusha). Some say Kimpurusha was a monkey; others that Kimpurusha means a wicked man. (7) See pages 47 to 52, vol. 12, Sacred Books of the East; also section 5 of chapter 2, part second, Whitney's Zoroas- ter, p. 216, on Brahmanism and the Mosaic religion compared. (8) Luke 2, v. 24. loo A QUESTION OF MIRACLES idols, and causing their sons and their rlaiighters to pass through consuming flames, (9) The logic of these sacrifices, as blind old Homer tells us, was that the gods zccrc persuaded by gifts. Think of it ! that Almighty God could, or can, be moved by burning a man. or a bull or goat, or rice cakes and butter! Yet we continue to publish tiiose old heathenish records as a part of our Holy Bible. (9) Second Kings, ch. 17, v. 12 to 17. CHAPTER IX The Fastings and Temptations of Buddha and Jesus. Section i. Did Jesus and Buddlia, as asserted by their followers, come down from heaven to bring salva- tion to the race? Of Buddha, it is said he was born for the good and blessing of the world. ( i ) Jesus said, "The Lord hath anointed me, to preach the gospel to the poor.