Jainism Early Faith of Ashoka

Author(s): Edward Thomas
Publisher: Trubner and Company London

Page 53

THE EARLY FAITH OF ASOKA.
de Jou-laï (du Tathâgata); elle n'en diffère que par le costume; ses signes de beauté (mahápouroucha lakchanáni) sout absolument les mêmes."-Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales, Paris, 1857, vol. i. p. 163.
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In this conflict of periods, the pretensions of the Northern Buddhists may be reduced, by the internal testimony of their own books, to severely approximate proportions; and here Mr. Brian Hodgson's preliminary researches present themselves, with an authority hitherto denied them; perchance, because they were so definitively in advance of the ordinary knowledge of Buddhism, as derived from extra-national sources. In this case Mr. Hodgson was able to appeal to data, contributed from the very nidus of Buddhism in Magadha-whose passage, into the ready refuge of the Valley of Nipál, would prima facie have secured an adulterated version of the ancient formula, and have supplied a crucial test for the comparison of the southern developments, as contrasted with the northern expansions and assimilations of the Faith. Mr. Hodgson observes :
un
"I can trace something very like Buddhism into far ages and realms but I am sure that that Buddhism which has come down to us, in the Sanskrit, Pálí, and Tibetan books of the sect, and which only we do or can know, is neither old nor exotic."-J.A.S.B. 1837, p. 685.2
1 One of Hiouen Theang's contributions to the place and position of the Jainas in reference to the Buddhists proper, upon whom he has been supposed exclusively to rely, is exhibited in his faith in a native magician of the former creed, the truth of whose predictions he frankly acknowledges in the following terms:-"Avant l'arrivée du messager du roi Kumára, il y eut un hérétique nu (Ni-kien-Nirgrantha), nommé Fa-che-lo (Vadjra), qui entra tout à coup dans sa chambre. Le Maître de la loi, qui avait entendu dire, depuis longtemps, que les Ni-kien excellaient à tirer l'horoscope, le pria aussitôt de s'asseoir et l'interrogea ainsi, afin d'éclaircir ses dontes: Moi Hiouen-Thsang, religieux du royaume de Tchi-na, je suis venu dans ce pays, il y a bien des années, pour me livrer à l'étude et à de pieuses recherches. Maintenant, je désire m'en retourner dans ma patrie; j'ignore si j'y parviendrai ou non.'" He then goes on to relate: "Le Ni-kien prit un morceau de craie, traça des lignes sur la terre, tira les sorts et lui répondit en ces termes."-Hiouen-Thsang,. vol. i. (Voyages), p. 228. See also vol. i. p. 224; and (Memoires) vol. i. (ii.), pp. 42, 93, 354; vol. ii. (iii.), P. 406.
2 In the same sense, another distinguished writer on Buddhism remarks: "There is no life of Gotama Buddha, by any native author, yet discovered, that is free from the extravagant pretensions with which his history has been so largely invested; from which we may infer that the records now in existence were all prepared long after his appearance in the world."-Spence Hardy, J.R.A.S. Vol. XX. p. 135.