Page Text
________________
MYTHICAL DETAILS.
219 returned in A.D. 67, with two Buddhist monks, together with various books, pictures, and relics. The emperor listened to them readily, and had a temple built for them in his capital Loyang (now Honan-fu). The narrative of these events includes various miracles worked by the Buddhists in proof of their religion.
The short life of Buddha which these priests introduced and translated into Chinese is of special interest, for, as we have seen, no separate life of Buddha exists Chinese life in the southern canon. In the Chinese life he of Buddha. is generally termed Sakyamuni, the Sakya sage, and his proper name, Gautama, is scarcely mentioned. This title, Sakyamuni, seems to have been more acceptable to the northern Buddhists, because of the belief that the name Sakya was like that of a prominent Central Asian people, the Sacæ or Scythians; and this name has been adopted as the title of the Chinese Buddhists (Shih-kian or Shih-tsen).
It would be most interesting, if we had space, to give an account of the life of Buddha as depicted in Chinese books. Previous Buddhas, appearing through Mythical enormously long ages, are named; and the details. Buddha of the present age (Sakyamuni) is said to have gone through a number of stages of elevation in previous ages. At last, in the age immediately before the present one, Sakya became a Bodhi-satva, was born in the Tushita heaven, and finally descended to earth on a white elephant with six tusks. The narratives which follow, while explicable as consistent with the life we have already given, are. overlaid with much exaggeration and myth. The life is arranged so as to explain the origin and scenes of the very numerous books of the northern canon. Thus at one time Sakya is instructing the Bodhi-satvas; at another he is in the heavens of the Hindu gods, teaching Indra, Yama, etc. All this serves as a scene for the development of the Bodhi-satva mythology. After long abstinence and meditation, and severe temptation by the king of the Maras, Sakyamuni became a perfect Buddha (i.e., in Chinese phrase, from being Pu-sa became Fo). In order to convey the truth to men simply, and as they
| SR No. | 007305 |
| Book Title | Great Indian Religion |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | G T Bettany |
| Publisher | Ward Lock Bowden and Co |
| Publication Year | 1892 |
| Total Pages | 312 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 42 MB |