evil. Both
announced a second advent. Both were transfigured. Both died in the
open air. At the death of each there was an earthquake. Both healed
the sick. Both were the light of a world which both said would cease
to be.

According to _Luke_, a courtesan visited Jesus and had her sins
remitted. According to the _Mahavaggo_, Gotama was visited by a harlot
whom he instructed in things divine.[1] In _Matthew_, Jesus is
depicted as a glutton and a wine-bibber. In the _Mahavaggo_, the
picture of Gotama is the same.[2] In _Matthew_ it is written; "Lay not
up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth consume
and where thieves break through and steal." The _Khuddakapatho_ says:
"Righteousness is a treasure which no man can steal. It is a treasure
that abideth alway."[3] In _Luke_ it is written: "As ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye also unto them." The _Dhammaphada_ say: "Put
yourself in the place of others, do as you would be done by."[4]

[Footnote 1: Luke vii. 37-50. Sacred Books of the East, xi. 30.]

[Footnote 2: Matthew xi, 19. S. B. E. xiii. 92.]

[Footnote 3: Matthew vi. 19. S. B. E. x. 191.]

[Footnote 4: Luke vi. 31. S. B. E. x. 36.]

The miracle of walking on the water, that of the money-bearing fish,
the story of the Woman at the Well, the proclamation of an
unpardonable sin, even the mediaeval myth of the Wandering Jew, may
have originated in Buddhist legend.[5]

[Footnote 5: _Cf._ Edmunds: Buddhist and Christian Gospels.]

Pious minds have been disturbed by these similitudes. The resemblance
between Maya and Maria has perplexed. The perhaps uncertain likeness
of Gotama to Jesus has occasioned irreverent doubts. But the
parallelisms may be fortuitous. Probably they are. Even otherwise they
but enhance the sororal beauties of faiths which if cognate are quite
distinct. Then too the penetrating charm of the parables and sermons
of the Buddha fades before the perfection of the sermons and parables
of the Christ. The birth, ministry, transfiguration, and passing of
Gotama are marvels which, however exquisite, the wholly spiritual
apparitions of the Lord efface.

Other similarities, such as they are, may without impropriety,
perhaps, be attributed to the ideals progressus. Hindu and Chaldean
beliefs constitute the two primal inspirational faiths. From the one,
Buddhism and Zoroasterism developed. From the other the creed of
Israel and possibly that of Egypt came. Religions that f