Jesus In India — Page 127
CHAPTER FOUR 117 of the Buddha's birth. Also there is the story of Solomon order- ing the cutting of the child in two halves and giving each half to the two women; an exactly similar episode is to be found in the Buddha's Jataka. ¹ From all this it can be understood that in addi- tion to showing that Jesus, the Messiah, did come to this country, the Jews who had also migrated to this land had also established close ties with Buddhism. And the account of the Creation of the world written in the books of Buddhism is also very similar to the one given in the Torah. And just as it appears from the Torah that man enjoys a degree of superiority over woman, so is a male devotee in the religion of the Buddha considered superior to a female devotee. The Buddha did, however, believe in the transmigration of souls, but his view of transmigration is not opposed to the teaching of the Gospels. According to the Buddha, transmigration is of three kinds: (1) First being that, the resolute courage and conduct of a dying man demand, as an outcome, that another body be born. (2) Second is the category which the Tibetans believe in their own Lamas, that is to say, that some part of the spirit of some Buddha or Buddhsattva transmigrates into the present day Lamas, mean- ing that his power, disposition and spiritual qualities are trans- ferred into the present day Lama and his spirit begins to animate the recipient. (3) The third category of transmigration is that in this very life man goes through various types of births until on account of his personal qualities he becomes an authentic human 1. Stories of the Buddha's former births found in Buddhist literature. [Publisher]