rapture. In China, God depicted as an Infant is as popular as Bala Krishna in India, or the Virgin and Child in Italy. But on this occasion, in the Stainless Garden, those who believed in the efficacy of trinkets and tawdry finery received a rebuke. Suddenly a majestic spirit made half of its divine form visible, and sang in the clouds :

"Cast off this tawdry show !

The streams of earth wash down their shining gold;
Men gather it for their bedizenments,

But in that far-off river, on whose banks

The sweet rose-apple1 clusters o'er the pool,
There is an ore that mocks all earthly sheen—
The gold of blameless deeds."

The third incident was the ploughing festival, the great Spring festival of India. This attracted countless crowds to see the labourers contest for the prize. The king ploughed with a plough ornamented with gold. The nobles ploughed with ploughs ornamented with silver. All who have been in Rome will remember St. Anthony's Day, and the Pope blessing the cattle. The Pongal, the Spring festival, still takes place in modern India. Cows, decorated with flowers and cakes and tinsel, are driven in for a solemn ceremonial. If the cakes drop off during the transit, the poor may scramble for them.

Near the fields where all this was going on, was a

wood in which grew a fine specimen of the holy roseapple (jambu). To this wood the infant prince, vexed at seeing the poor oxen sweat and bleed, chanced to stray. Seeing the rose-apple, he sat under its shade, crossing his legs, and adopting the attitude of a Buddha in his mystic trance. Whilst he was meditating, five holy Rishis, or prophets, came past the wood, flying through the air by means of their magical powers. But suddenly these powers ceased, and they were forced to alight. They gazed with astonishment on the young boy.

"Who is this?" they asked. "Is it Vaiśravaṇa, or Rudra, or the God of Love, or Krishna?" The goddess of that holy grove answered that it was the son of King Suddhodana who had arrested their flight.

The Rishis then began to repeat the following gâthâs.

The first Rishi said :—

"In a world devoured by the fire of sin

This lake hath appeared;

In him is the Law

Which brings happiness to all flesh!"

The second Rishi said :

"In the darkness of the world

A light has appeared,

To lighten all who are in ignorance!"

The third Rishi said :

Upon the tossing ocean

A bark has approached

To save us from the perils of the deep!"

The fourth Rishi said :

"To all who are bound in the chains of corruption,

This great Saviour has come :

In him is the Law

That will deliver all!"

The fifth Rishi said :—

"In a world vexed by sickness and old age

A great Physician has appeared,

To provide a Law

To put an end to both."

Soon the king appeared searching for his son, when, lo! this marvel was visible. The shadows of all the other trees had turned, but the jambu-tree still screened the young boy with its shade.

The Rishis having saluted the feet of Buddha, flew off through the air.

The Lalita Vistara professes to "reveal" the secrets of the Buddhas. It professes to show a mortal how to obtain mastery over his bad passions, how to gain calmness, purity, the "divine vision," supernatural powers, the mystic "lion throne," the mystic "carpet of the Zodiacal King," the mystic "carpet of Indra," the mystic "carpet of Brahma,” etc.1

1 See p. 7; also pp. 401 et seq.

To quite understand this passage, it must be pointed out that Brahminism had

1. A hierarchy of gods in heaven.

2. A hierarchy of priests, who represented these gods on earth.

3. A hierarchy of upright monoliths in the open-air temples, that represented the same gods.

4. These gods also symbolized the gradation of spiritual states, the "condition of Yaksha, or demon,” the "condition of Indra, or conqueror," etc., passed through by the mystic before he reached the "carpet of the Supreme Brahma." And the rites of the Brahmins had also a mystic side. They exhibited the same passage from the lower to the higher life. In the rudest enclosure of monoliths a veil parted that portion of the open-air temple which represented heaven, from that which represented the seen world. The main rite was a dramatic exhibition of the birth of the Siśur Jâtah (new-born child). “The clarified butter is the milk of the woman," says the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa; "the husked rice grains belong to the male." This eternal marriage of matter and spirit, Aditî the Mother and Varuṇa the Father, was the one meaning of almost every rite. Exoterically was produced the amṛita, or immortal food. Esoterically was produced the mystic “man,”

1 Vol. ii. p. 5.

The officiating

the prophet, the Voice of Brahma. priests masqueraded as Prajâpati, Indra, Brahmâ, etc., and the leading one was supposed to engender a spiritual duplicate of himself, who was able to visit heaven and obtain wealth and cattle for the worshippers.

Dr. Neale's "Liturgies of the Greek Church" 1 show that similar ideas existed in the Eastern Church. The Bishop coming down from his throne in the cathedral represents the condescension of God the Son in coming down from heaven. The stole means putting on mortal flesh. The deacons standing round typify apostles and also holy angels. The priest in the great entrance is supposed to be Christ coming in, borne by angels. The solemn hymn, chanted forth by angel voices, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, for the King of Glory to come in!" preludes his entrance into the Holy of Holies, or heaven. The incense rising near the altar means the advent of the Holy Spirit. The grand procession with lamps and holy vessels, "readers, deacons, and priests," represents the last advent. The fans that the priests held in their hands in the early Church, like modern Buddhists, represent angels' wings. In a word, a complete service represented the birth, life, passion, and triumph of the mystic Christos.

1 Preface.