The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 269
The Messiah and his Second Coming 269 them as follows: "Go forth and wander everywhere, out of compassion for the world and for the welfare of gods and men. Go forth, one by one, in different directions. . Proclaim a life of perfect restraint, chastity and celibacy. " He added: "I will go also to preach this doctrine. ". He went to Benares and there he performed many miracles. He delivered a very moving sermon on a hill just as. Jesus did on the mount. It is also recorded in the same book that the Buddha often taught in parables and used to discuss spiritual matters in terms of physical phenomena. . . . . The exact adoption by Buddha of this method of preaching through parables, especially those recorded in the. Gospels, is indeed most surprising. . . . . Buddhist records also show that Gautama Buddha had prophesied the coming of a second Buddha whom he named Metteyya. This prophecy is contained in Lagavati. Satta, a Buddhist record to which reference is made on page 142 of Oldenberg's book. It reads as follows: 198. He will be the leader of a band of disciples numbering hundreds of thousands, as I am now the leader of bands of disciples, numbering hundreds. . It should be remembered that the Pali name 'Metteyya' is the same as 'Mashiha' in Hebrew . . . . The future Metteyya prophesied by Buddha is none other than the Messiah himself. One strong evidence in support of this is that the Buddha himself prophesied that the faith he had founded would not endure on earth for more than five hundred years, and that at the time of the decline of the 198 This seems to be a misprint in the original Urdu text. The correct name should be Cakkavatti Suttanta. [Publisher]