Note 158 — LECTURE III. THE BUDDHA OF THE PITAKAS: THE CHRIST OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Let any one compare the prediction of the so-called Indian Simeon, the Nalaka Sutta, in vol. x. p. 125 of Sacred Books of the East, with Luke ii. 25; the account of the Temptation by Mara, in the Romantic Legend, pp. 204, 224, or in Hardy’s Manual of Buddhism, p. 183, with Matt. iv. 1; the so-called Transfiguration in Mahâparinibhâna, iv. 49, vol. xi. Sacred Books of the East, p. 81, with Matt. xvii. 1-8; the feast of the courtesan Ambopali, in Mahâparinibhâna Sutta, ii. 16. 25, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi. p. 30, with Christ’s treatment of the Magdalene in Luke vii. 36, and he will see at once how improbable and even absurd is the theory that the Evangelists borrowed from the Buddhist compilers. That we are dealing with quite an inferior order of facts is apparent when we compare one of the most touching coincidences, Buddha’s last discourse to the Beloved Ananda in Mahâparinibhâna Sutta, v. 34. 35, “Let not yourself be troubled,” with John xiv. 1-6. In some of the miracles accompanying the birth and temptations of Buddha, there are not only gross absurdities but positive indecencies, which by the simplicity and modesty and reticence of the Gospel narratives are powerfully condemned. See Lalita Vistara, chaps. vi. and vii., and Buddhist Birth-Stories, vol. i. pp. 58, 68.