As the
Buddhist scriptures were more fully examined, there were disclosed
interesting anticipations of statements in later sacred books. The
miraculous conception of Buddha and his virgin birth, like that of
Horus in Egypt and of Krishna in India; the previous annunciation
to his mother Maja; his birth during a journey by her; the star
appearing in the east, and the angels chanting in the heavens at
his birth; his temptation--all these and a multitude of other
statements were full of suggestions to larger thought regarding the
development of sacred literature in general. Even the eminent Roman
Catholic missionary Bishop Bigandet was obliged to confess, in his
scholarly life of Buddha, these striking similarities between the
Buddhist scriptures and those which it was his mission to expound,
though by this honest statement his own further promotion was
rendered impossible. Fausboll also found the story of the judgment
of Solomon imbedded in Buddhist folklore; and Sir Edwin Arnold, by
his poem, _The Light of Asia_, spread far and wide a knowledge of the
anticipation in Buddhism of some ideas which down to a recent
period were considered distinctively Christian.
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