Jesus In India — Page 117
CHAPTER FOUR 107 him. The statement of the above-mentioned book further rein- forces the conviction that for the guidance of those people God had created two appropriate circumstances: Firstly, by virtue of the title Asif, mentioned in Genesis 3:10,¹ which means 'one who gathers together a people, it was inevitable that Jesus, the Messiah, should visit the land to which the Jews had migrated and settled; secondly, in accordance with the prophecy of the Buddha, it was necessary that the followers of the Buddha should meet him and profit from him spiritually. Considering both these points together, it looks almost certain that Jesus, the Messiah, may peace be on him, must have visited Tibet. The fact that Christian teaching and ritual have so deeply influenced Tibetan Buddhism necessitates the belief that Jesus, the Messiah, must have met the Tibetan people also. Moreover, the fact that the zealous followers of Buddhism, as stated in Buddhist records, had always eagerly expected to meet him, cries out aloud that this desire on their part had become the prelude to the visit of Jesus, the Messiah, to this country. In the face of both these facts, an impartial person has no need to search through Buddhist records to discover for himself the statement that Jesus, the Messiah, did in fact come to Tibet. For, in accordance with the prophecy of the Buddha, the desire for the Buddha's second advent being so strong, the prophecy itself must have attracted Jesus, the Messiah, to Tibet. And it must be remembered that the word Metteyya which is so frequently mentioned in Buddhist books, undoubtedly means 'Messiah. On page 14 of the book, Tibet, Tartary, Mongolia, by H. T. Prinsep, it 1. The sense of the quotation is correct but it seems there is a misprint in the first edition. Please read 49:10 instead of 3:10. [Publisher]