Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 132
BUDDHISM prophets of God, who appeared in different parts of the world. There is a universality about the character and style of prophets which can also be discerned in the life of. Buddha. . Coming to the issue of the fundamental beliefs of. Buddhism, the problems begin with different interpretations of what he is known to have said or done. We disagree with the commonly held view that Buddha was an atheist. We maintain that Buddhism was a Divinely revealed religion. . We emphasize the fact that the founder of Buddhism was certainly not an atheist, but was a man commissioned by. God Himself, to deliver His message in the style that all other messengers were raised. . Most scholars who write about Buddhism are out of their depth in trying to justify the placing of Buddhism among the great religions of the world. To do that they have to change the universally accepted definition of religion so that it also accommodates Godless philosophies and religions. Why should a code of conduct which starts its journey with a denial of God be admitted into the comity of religions, is the question. As far as our view is concerned, no such objection can be raised on this count. We on our part reject the premise that Buddhism had no Divine origin. . To support our contention we shall have recourse to the same well-established sources as the Buddhists themselves rely on and demonstrate that our interpretations have a stronger basis for acceptance. We repeat that Buddhism is no oddity among religions; on the contrary, its fundamental characters are at one with the rest of the Divinely revealed faiths. . The erroneous popular belief in the Godless origin of. Buddhism was spread largely by the Western scholars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Their knowledge of. Buddhism was largely based on the translations of Buddhist 132