that "without
cause and unknown is the life of man in this world," and he recognized
no higher being to whom he owed reverence. "The Buddhist Catechism," by
Subhadra, shows that modern Buddhism has no recognition of God.

It says (page 58): "Buddhism teaches the reign of perfect goodness and
wisdom _without a personal God_, continuance of individuality _without
an immortal soul_, eternal happiness without a local heaven, the way of
salvation without a vicarious saviour, redemption worked out by each one
himself without any prayers, sacrifices, and penances, without the
ministry of ordained priests, without the intercession of saints,
_without divine mercy_." And then, by way of authentication, it adds:
"These, and many others which have become the fundamental doctrines of
the Buddhist religion, were recognized by the Buddha in the night of his
enlightenment under the Boddhi-tree." And yet we are told that this is
the system which Christ and his followers copied. Compare this passage
with the Lord's Prayer, or with the discourse upon the lilies, and its
lesson of trust in God the Father of all! I appeal not merely to
Christian men, but to _any_ man who has brains and common-sense, was
there ever so preposterous an attempt to establish an identity of
doctrines?

But what is the evidence found in the legends themselves? Several
leading Oriental scholars, and men not at all biased in favor of
Christianity, have carefully examined the subject, and have decided that
there is no connection whatever. Professor Seydel, of Leipsic, who has
given the most scientific plea for the so-called coincidences, of which
he claims there are fifty-one, has classified them as: 1, Those which
may have been merely accidental, having arisen from similar causes, and
not necessarily implying any borrowing on either side; 2, those which
seem to have been borrowed from the one narrative or the other; and 3,
those which he thinks were clearly copied by the Christian writers. In
this last class he names but five out of fifty-one.

Kuenen, who has little bias in favor of Christianity, and who has made a
very thorough examination of Seydel's parallels, has completely refuted
these five.[95] And speaking of the whole question he says: "I think we
may safely affirm that we must abstain from assigning to Buddhism the
smallest direct influence on the origin of Christianity." He also says
of similar theories of de Bunsen: "A single instance is enough to te