Note 362 — LECTURE VI. THE TWO RELIGIONS IN HISTORY.

Though strong affinities exist between Gnosticism and Buddhism, which may indicate later connection, in their origin they appear to have been quite distinct. The methods, aims, and terminology of Gnosticism, all betoken derivation from purely Western sources. It is quite possible that Gnosticism may have given Adi-Buddha to the East, but the question of their relations is still undetermined. See Weber, Hist. Ind. Lit. p. 309; Obry’s Nirvana, etc., p. 161; Bishop Lightfoot, Essay on the Essenes (Epistle to Colossians), p. 157; Home and Foreign Review, vol. iii. pp. 143 seq. (1863).