d night, when he attained the triple science, which was to
rescue mankind from its woes. Twelve hundred years after the death of the
Buddha, a Chinese pilgrim was shown what then passed for the sacred tree.
It was surrounded by high brick walls, with an opening to the east, and
near it stood many topes and monasteries. In the opinion of M.
Saint-Hilaire, these ruins, and the locality of the tree, may yet be
rediscovered. The spot deserves to be sought for, since there began a
movement which has, on the whole, been a source of happiness and
improvement to immense multitudes of human beings, during twenty-four
centuries.

Having attained this inward certainty of vision, he decided to teach the
world his truth. He knew well what it would bring him,--what opposition,
insult, neglect, scorn. But he thought of three classes of men: those who
were already on the way to the truth, and did not need him; those who were
fixed in error, and whom he could not help; and the poor doubters,
uncertain of their way. It was to help these last, the doubters, that the
Buddha went forth to preach. On his way to the holy city of India,
Benares, a serious difficulty arrested him at the Ganges, namely, his
having no money to pay the boatman for his passage. At Benares he made his
first converts, "turning the wheel of the law" for the first time. His
discourses are contained in the sacred books of the Buddhists. He
converted great numbers, his father among the rest, but met with fierce
opposition from the Hindoo Scribes and Pharisees, the leading Brahmans. So
he lived and taught, and died at the age of eighty years.

Naturally, as soon as the prophet was dead he became very precious in all
eyes. His body was burned with much pomp, and great contention arose for
the unconsumed fragments of bone. At last they were divided into eight
parts, and a tope was erected, by each of the eight fortunate possessors,
over such relics as had fallen to him. The ancient books of the North and
South agree as to the places where the topes were built, and no Roman
Catholic relics are so well authenticated. The Buddha, who believed with
Jesus that "the flesh profiteth nothing," and that "the word is spirit and
life," would probably have been the first to condemn this idolatry. But
fetich-worship lingers in the purest religions.

The time of the death of Sakya-muni, like most Oriental dates, is
uncertain. The Northern Buddhists, in Thibet, Nepaul, etc., vary greatly