Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Being...

[289:1] Maya, and Mary, as we have already seen, are one and the same name.

[289:2] See chap. xii. Buddha is considered to be an incarnation of Vishnu, although he preached against the doctrines of the Brahmans. The adoption of Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu was really owning to the desire of the Brahmans to effect a compromise with Buddhism. (See Williams' Hinduism, pp. 82 and 108.)

"Buddha was brought forth not from the matrix, but from the right side, of a virgin." (De Guignes: Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 224.)

"Some of the (Christian) heretics maintained that Christ was born from the side of his mother." (Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 157.)

"In the eyes of the Buddhists, this personage is sometimes a man and sometimes a god, or rather both one and the other, a divine incarnation, a man-god; who came into the world to enlighten men, to redeem them, and to indicate to them the way of safety. This idea of redemption by a divine incarnation is so general and popular among the Buddhists, that during our travels in Upper Asia, we everywhere found it expressed in a neat formula. If we addressed to a Mongol or Thibetan the question, 'Who is Buddha?' he would immediately reply, 'The Saviour of Men.'" (M. L'Abbé Huc: Travels, vol. i. p. 326.)

"The miraculous birth of Buddha, his life and instructions, contain a great number of the moral and dogmatic truths professed in Christianity." (Ibid. p. 327.)

"He in mercy left paradise, and came down to earth because he was filled with compassion for the sins and misery of mankind. He sought to lead them into better paths, and took their sufferings upon himself, that he might expiate their crimes, and mitigate the punishment they must otherwise inevitably undergo." (L. Maria Child.)

[289:3] Matt. ch. i.

[289:4] See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 10, 25 and 44. Also, ch. xiii. this work.

[290:1] "As a spirit in the fourth heaven he resolves to give up all that glory in order to be born in the world for the purpose of rescuing all men from their misery and every future consequence of it: he vows to deliver all men who are left as it were without a Saviour." (Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 20.)

[290:2] See King's Gnostics, p. 168, and Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 144.

[290:3] See chap. xii. note 2, page 117.

"On a painted glass of the sixteenth century, found in the church of Jouy, a little village in France, the Virgin is represented standing, her hands clasped in prayer, and the naked body of the child in the same attitude appears upon her stomach, apparently supposed to be seen through the garments and body of the mother. M. Drydon saw at Lyons a Salutation painted on shutters, in which the two infants (Jesus and John) likewise depicted on their mothers' stomachs, were also saluting each other. This precisely corresponds to Buddhist accounts of the Boddhisattvas ante-natal proceedings." (Viscount Amberly: Analysis of Relig. Belief, p. 224, note.)

[290:4] See chap. xiii.

[290:5] Matt. ii. 1, 2.

[290:6] Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. x.

[290:7] We show, in our chapter on "The Birth-Day of Christ Jesus," that this was not the case. This day was adopted by his followers long after his death.

[290:8] "Devas," i. e., angels.

[290:9] See chap. xiv.

[290:10] Luke, ii. 13, 14.

[290:11] See chap. xv.

[290:12] Matt. ii. 1-11.

[290:13] See chap. xi.

[290:14] Matt. ii. 11.

[290:15] See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, pp. 145, 146.

[290:16] Gospel of Infancy, Apoc., i. 3. No sooner was Apollo born than he spoke to his virgin-mother, declaring that he should teach to men the councils of his heavenly father Zeus. (See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 22.) Hermes spoke to his mother as soon as he was born, and, according to Jewish tradition, so did Moses. (See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 145.)

[291:1] See Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 103, 104.

[291:2] See Matt. ii. 1.

[291:3] That is, provided he was the expected Messiah, who was to be a mighty prince and warrior, and who was to rule his people Israel.

[291:4] See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism; Bunsen's Angel-Messiah; Beal's Hist. Buddha, and other works on Buddhism.

This was a common myth. For instance: A Brahman called Dashthaka, a "heaven descended mortal," after his birth, without any human instruction whatever, was able thoroughly to explain the four Vedas, the collective body of the sacred writings of the Hindoos, which were considered as directly revealed by Brahma. (See Beal's Hist. Buddha, p. 48.)

Confucius, the miraculous-born Chinese sage, was a wonderful child. At the age of seven he went to a public school, the superior of which was a person of eminent wisdom and piety. The faculty with which Confucius imbibed the lessons of his master, the ascendency which he acquired amongst his fellow pupils, and the superiority of his genius and capacity, raised universal admiration. He appeared to acquire knowledge intuitively, and his mother found it superfluous to teach him what "heaven had already engraven upon his heart." (See Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. p. 153.)

[291:5] See Infancy, Apoc., xx. 11, and Luke, ii. 46, 47.

[291:6] See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 37, and Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 67-69.

[291:7] See Infancy, Apoc., xxi. 1, 2, and Luke, ii. 41-48.

[291:8] See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 37, and Beal: Hist. Bud. 67-69.

[291:9] Nicodemus, Apoc., ch. i. 20.

[292:1] R. Spence Hardy, in Manual of Buddhism.

[292:2] See chap. xvii.

[292:3] "Mara" is the "Author of Evil," the "King of Death," the "God of the World of Pleasure," &c., i. e., the Devil. (See Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 36.)