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" (2) Both of these men are alleged to have voluntarily undergone an incarnation, that they might teach righteousness to the remotest corners of the earth. Both fasted ; but that was not strange, for fasting was then practiced in nearly all religions, and in some even yet. Moses, it is said, fasted for forty days and forty nights, without either bread or water. (3) He was then up there on Sinai, we are told, with the Lord, fixing up the ten commandments ; but why it was nec- (1) Vol. 10, Sacred Books of the East, p. 123, 2nd part. (2) Luke 4, v. 18, quotes Isaiah 61, 1. But whether Jesus quoted Isaiah is not certain; neither is it certain that Buddha used the words attributed to him in Fo Sho Varga, 26, section 1991. Both of these men were establishing new religions, and their followers made, and still make, great claims in their behalf. (3) The reasonable supposition about Moses' fast, is that he was there writing upon those two tables of stone; but why the writer of chap. 24, Exodus, v. 23, should state that he fatttd all that time, is hard to understand. 101 I02 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES essary f*r liiin U) fast for nearly six weeks has never yet been explained. The fasting of Jesus for forty clays was probably copied from Moses, but he did not in that matter, as in many others, copy from Buddha ; for Buddha, at the utmost, only fasted four weeks ; and some claim that his fast barely extended seven days. Nor did Jesus copy from Buddha the long and severe penance which the latter endured in the forest of Uravila. Here, for nearly six years, Buddha strove to repress every bodily passion; and with purity of heart gave himself up to meditating upon the great problems of life; the impermanency of all things, age, disease, death and, after the death of the body, Nirvana. He subsisted for a time, it is said, on a grain or two of hemp seed per day, and this he continued until his limbs became so w'eak and wasted that they could scarcely support his attenuated body. His fame as a persistent ascetic was, meanwhile, spreading far and W'ide. A Burmese writer says : "It was like the sound of a great bell hung in the canopy of the skies." On further consideration Buddha concluded that the withering of his body was not the true way of sal- vation. Another method must be tried. He would bathe his body, refresh it w^ith food, and by a composed mind seek that ecstasy which emaciation and mortifica- tion could never bring. At his feet flowed the Naran- gana river; and into this he plunged for a bath. On seeking to leave it, his exhausted strength gave way, and he fell back hopelessly into the stream. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 103 But just then when death seemed about to snatch him, an alleged miracle takes place. A heavenly spirit, we are told, is close at hand, and seeing Buddha's peril, reaches a branch to him, which he grasps, and is safely drawn from the water. (4) Then an angel (perhaps the same one) told Nanda, the daughter of a nearby herdsman, to bring Gotama some rice and milk, which, when brought, she bowed low at his feet and offered to him. This renewed him, but his critics were near; they were then, as now, always at one's elbows, ready to pull one down. In Buddha's case they were the five Bhikkhus who had lived with him in the forest. For this sensible act they said his religious zeal was flag- ging. And they deserted him and went back to Benares, Section 2. A sublime purpose of a great mind is never thwarted by small obstacles. Buddha was now, after six years of persevering penance, alone in a lonely forest, barefooted, poorly clad, nothing but an alms bowl in his possession, to call his own. Yet this man, thus situated, thus equipped, is ultimately to shake the whole Eastern world! Looking back now twenty-four centuries, we seem (4) This is the first miracle since the escape from the palace. I suppose the angel was some person who happened to be near. Angels from this on will be numerous. It may have been the same angel that helped Jesus later on. (Luke 22, v. 43; Fo Sho Hing, verse 1017.) Arthur Lillie, in his "Buddhism in Chris- tendom," tells us that Mara, the Hindu devil, appeared in the air at this moment and begged Buddha to return to his father ' palace; that if he would return, he would become a universal monarch in seven days. 104 A QUIiSTION OF MIRACLES lo sec that strange figure there on the banks of the Narangana river, wandering on until he finally sits down beneath that Bodhi tree. His whole capital in this world's goods consists simply in a sublime resolu- tion. If God ever rules in the affairs of men — and sometimes it looks as if he did; then again, it seems, to our short vision, as if he just let things go as best they may — he at least has not frowned either upon Buddha or his mission. For the followers of that man under that Bodhi tree, are greater in number than those of any other four religions on this earth today, combined. The time possibly may come in the distant future, vvhen the man of Galilee may surpass him; but as both religions teach a rigid morality, and that love only can conquer hate, it may be that they will yet flourish, and not clash, upon any part of the earth. "Love, kindness, patience, charity ; do no wrong to any one" is the keynote to both religions. Section 3. Both Buddha and Jesus had their temp- tations. Buddha's is now at hand. We are told that the heavenly Xagas (angels), or sinless beings, seeing Buddha firmly resolved to seek deliverance for the world, were filled with joy. Mara, the evil one, alone was dejected and sorrowing. This Hindu devil, we must notice, is very much like the one in Jerusalem five hundred years later. In both cases, they seek to thwart the good purposes of man. The Persians, like- wise, had a devil, and he was of the same piece of cloth. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 105 Moreover these devils are all great linguists. The one in Eden understood Adam's tongue completely; the Persian devil was well up in all the ancient Aryan texts, as his diatribes with Zoroaster plainly show ; and this Indian fiend could wax eloquent in the Pali dialect. (5) The devils of Palestine spoke Aramaic fluently, and were likewise masters in bribery, or graft, which is the same thing. The Hindu devil divined at once that Buddha's pur- pose was the overthrow of his kingdom, and forthwith he threatened him with all manner of vengeance. Not being able single-handed to move him, Mara sum- moned a great army of goblins to his assistance. The appearance of those monsters was enough to strike terror to the stoutest heart. Some, it is said, were lion-headed; some, as tigers, snarled at him; serpents hissed at him ; others filled the air with startling sounds. Hell itself seemed to have vomited forth all its furies. It was in this case exactly as it is even to this day. Withstand temptation, and help will come to you. Here, around Buddha, it is said, there were gathered a host of devils ; enough to shake heaven and earth. Yet he remained firm. Then, as a last resort, a win • (5) Gotama preached in the Pali tongue, one of the dialects of ancient India. It was spoken at Kapilavastu, where he was bora. Pali has long been a dead language. The Singhalese of Ceylon is, however, closely allied to it. It is said that the Genius of Buddha raised the standard of Pali to the rank of a classic. This Hindu devil, as we shall see, was a master of Pali also. io6 A QUESTION OF iMIR^VCLES some woman, in lustful garb, and sweet of speech, sought to entice him into devious paths. But she failed; and just as this last tempting bait was rejected we arc told that voices from invisible forms (6) in the air were heard praising the great Muni. (7) Paul de- scribed a Muni exactly when he said : "He that over- cometh evil," and Paul, as we shall see further on, heard a voice in the air calling to him. (8) We are told that Mara's army of goblins, hearing those voices and seeing no one, were filled with alarm and, throwing away their arms, fled in utter rout and confusion. Section 4. The statement about those Hindu voices, "voices from invisible forms," is not believed by Chris- tians to be true. In fact it is utterly and completely disbelieved, and by some laughed at and sneered at. On the other hand the Hindus do not believe that Brahma (God) saluted Jesus as he came up out of the water from his baptism, by saying: "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.