________________
SUMMARY In reading the preceding story of the life of Issa (Jesus Christ) we are on the one hand struck by the resemblance between some of its principal passages and the biblical and evangelical story and on the other hand by the contradictions equally remarkable which often differentiate the Buddhist version from the Old and New Testaments.
To explain this singularity it is necessary to take into account the times when thcsc facts were consigned to.writing.
We have been taught, it is true, since our childhood that the Pentateuch was written by Moses, but the careful investigation of contemporary scholars have showni conclusively that in the days of Moscs and even long after him there existed ro writing in those countrics whose shores were washed by the Mediterranean, except the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuniform inscriptions which are still land in die ruins of Babyloni. But we know, on the contrary, that the alphabet and parchment were known in China and India long before Moscs. Of this we have sufficient proofs.
The sacred books of " The Religion of Savants" teach us that the alphabct was invented in China in 2800 B. C., by Fou-si, who was the first emperor of China to adopt this rcligion; it was lie who arranged its ritual and external ceremonics. Yao, the fourth of the Chinese cinperors who belonged to this faith, publisher llic moral and civil laws and in 2228 1. C. lie framed it penal code. The fifth emperor, Soune, proclaimed in
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
