Note (return) — Chapter VI · - THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA
Reading edition
Does the name of Gautama, the Buddha, stand for a sun-myth or for a historic personage? One set of scholars and writers, represented by Professor Kern,1 of Leyden, thinks the Buddha a mythical personage. Another school, represented by Professor T. Rhys Davids,2 declares that he lived in human flesh and breathed the air of earth. We accept the historical view as best explaining the facts.