{The ocean of Birth and Death, transiency, worldliness, SAMSĀRA {the restlessness of a worldly life, the agitation of {selfishness, the vanity fair of life. (Paul Carus.) MAHĀYĀNA The great vehicle--viz., of salvation. HINĀYĀNA The little vehicle--viz., of salvation. KARMA Action, work, the law of action, retribution, results of deeds previously done, and the destiny resulting therefrom. (Paul Carus.) ERRATUM. For Professor Oldenberg's _Buddhism_ read everywhere Professor Oldenberg's _Buddha: His Life, His Doctrine, His Order_. CHRISTIANITY AND BUDDHISM. CHAPTER I. JESUS AND GOTAMA. "For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?"--BIBLE. In any attempt to appreciate the relationship of Christianity to Buddhism it is important to bear in mind, not only the differences which have characterized the process of their evolution, but also to recognize that the two religions are, in their origin, distinct as to time and _locale_; that they developed on different soils, and have borne fruit of very different kinds; and that the races which subsequently appropriated them as religious systems were in many respects dissimilar, and lived under widely divergent conditions. Only by regarding these religions as growing apart, and in no manner connected in this sense, can we ultimately arrive at a just and logical estimate of the character of the founders. It is not by confounding their sources at the start, or by attempting to prove that the one system is a product of the other, that we can in the end draw closer the bonds which seem to unite them. A consideration of almost equal weight is that of the dual nature of the great personalities of Jesus and Gotama. We must not confuse the significance of the term "God" with the man Jesus, nor the mystical principle embodied in the title "Buddha" with the personal and human Gotama. Both Jesus as God and Gotama as Buddha are dual personalities, and combine in themselves tangible and intangible realities. The former is to be regarded as man and God, the latter as Gotama and Buddha. But, while wishing to emphasize the fact of the independent origin of Christianity and Buddhism, I have no intention of combating the fact that a spurious Buddhism had, in the garb of Essenism, established a footing in Palestine at a date anterior to the Christian era, and that, under the influence of St. John the Baptist, the recognized leader of the Essenes, a way was prepared and made ready for the great light which was to shine forth afresh in the majestic humanity of Jesus. The presence of Essene Buddhists in Palestine at that date is a matter of history, and has been clearly established by prominent Oriental scholars. Moreover, the Church of England itself has, through the medium of some of its most reliable authorities, openly acquiesced in the fact.