Jesus In India — Page 90
90 J e s u s i n I n d i a and 9, states: ‘Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,’ so did the Buddha command his disciples. 38 Just as the Gospels encourage celibacy, so does the teaching of the Buddha. Just as there was an earthquake after Jesus was put on the cross, so it is recorded, there was an earthquake at the death of the Buddha. 39 All these points of resemblance arise from the basic fact of Jesus’ visit to India. It was indeed a blessing for the followers of the Buddhist faith that he stayed among them for quite some time and they came to have a good knowledge of the facts of his life and of his noble teaching. It was, therefore, inevitable that a great part of his teaching and ceremonial rites should find way into Buddhist records because Jesus was held in great esteem by the Buddhists who had even pronounced him to be the Buddha. That is why they recorded his sayings in their books and ascribed them to Gautama Buddha. Strangely enough, the Buddha, quite like Jesus, taught his disciples in parables, especially the ones contained in the Gospels. In one of these parables the Buddha says, “As the peasant sows the seed but cannot say the grain shall swell today or germinate tomorrow, so also is it with the disciple. He can’t tell if he will germinate well or will be like the grain which is sown in rocky soil and dries up. ” This, it will be noted, is the same parable which is still there in the Gospels. The Buddha, again, employed the parable: When a herd of deer prospers in a forest a man comes who opens for them a false path which leads to their death, 38 See Appendix, extract 2. (Translator) Buddhists also have a tradition similar to the Lord's Supper of the Christians. (Author) 39 See Appendix, extract 1,2,3,4. (Translator)