Jesus In India — Page 121
CHAPTER FOUR III word seems to be an abbreviation of the word Yasu. As Jesus, the Messiah, may peace be on him, was born five hundred years after the death of the Buddha, sometime in the sixth century, he was called the sixth disciple. It should be noted that Professor Max Muller, on page 517 of the October 1894 issue of his periodical The Nineteenth Century, supports the aforesaid statement and says that established and renowned writers have pointed out many a time that Jesus, the Messiah, was influenced by the princi- ples of Buddhism and that attempts are being made even today to discover some historical route along which the principles of the Buddha's faith could be proved to have reached Palestine in the days of Jesus, the Messiah. ¹ This observation by Max Muller cor- roborates the Buddhist records in which it is claimed in as many words that Yasa was the disciple of the Buddha. When Christians of such repute as Professor Max Muller admit that the princi- ples of Buddhism had certainly influenced Jesus, the Messiah, it would not be far wrong to say that this would amount to his being a disciple of the Buddha. Nevertheless, we consider the use of such a title in respect of Jesus, the Messiah, disrespectful and impertinent. The statement found in the Buddhist literature that Yasu was the disciple of the Buddha, is only an example of the age-old habit of Buddhist priests to designate a great personage appearing at a later date as if he were the disciple of his prototype. Apart from this, as has been pointed out, there being great resem- blance between the teachings of Jesus, the Messiah, and those of the Buddha, it would not be wrong to speak of their relationship as that of the master and the disciple, though such thinking is 1. See Appendix, extract 8. [Publisher]