"THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO A MERCHANT-MAN SEEKING GOODLY PEARLS, WHO, WHEN HE HAD FOUND ONE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, WENT AND SOLD ALL THAT HE HAD AND BOUGHT IT." (Matt. xiii. 45.) The most sacred emblem of Buddhism is called the mani (pearl), and in the Chinese biography, a merchant-man seeking goodly pearls finds it, and unfortunately drops it into the sea. Rather than lose it he tries to drain the sea dry. ("Rom. Hist.," p. 228.) THE VOICE FROM THE SKY. This sounds often in the Buddhist narratives. (_See_ Beal, "Rom. Hist.," p. 105.) FAITH. "Faith is the first gate of the Law." ("Lalita Vistara," p. 39.) "All who have faith in me obtain a mighty joy." (_Ibid._ p. 188.) "THOU ART NOT YET FIFTY YEARS OLD, AND HAST THOU SEEN ABRAHAM?" In the "White Lotus of Dharma" (ch. xiv.) Buddha is asked how it is that having sat under the bo tree only forty years ago he has been able, according to his boast, to see many Buddhas and saints who died hundreds of years previously. He answers that he has lived many hundred thousand myriads of Kotis, and that though in the form of a Buddha, he is in reality Swayambhu, the Self-Existent, the Father of the million worlds. In proof of this statement, he causes two Buddhas of the Past, Prabhûtaratna and Gadgadesvara, to appear in the sky. The first pronounces loudly these words: "It is well! It is well!" These Buddhas appear with their sepulchral canopies (stupas) of diamonds, red pearls, emeralds, etc. Peter, at the scene of the Transfiguration, said to Christ:-- "Let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias." Why should Peter want to adopt a Buddhist custom and build tabernacles for the dead Moses and the dead Elias? Why, also, should Moses come from the tomb to support a teacher who had torn his covenant with Yahve to shreds? "HE WAS TRANSFIGURED BEFORE THEM." Buddha, leaving Maudgalyâyana and another disciple to represent him, went off through the air to the Devaloca, to the Heaven Tus´ita, to preach to the spirits in prison and to convert his mother. When he came down from the mountain (Mienmo), a staircase of glittering diamonds, seen by all, helped his descent. His appearance was blinding. The "six glories" glittered on his person. Mortals and spirits hymned the benign Being who emptied the hells. (Bigandet, p. 209.) In the Gospel according to the Hebrews is a curious passage, which Baur and Hilgenfeld hold to be the earliest version of the Transfiguration narrative. "Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me by one of my hairs and bore me up on to the great mountain of Tabor." This is curious. Buddha and Jesus reach the Mount of Transfiguration, each through the influence of his mother. But perhaps the Jewish writer did not like the universalism inculcated in the Buddhist narrative. "HE BEGAN TO WASH THE DISCIPLES' FEET." (John xiii. 5.)