The Religions of India c19.11

c19.11

The Çākyas’ land extended along the southern border of Nepāl and the northeast part of Oude (Oudh), between the Irāvatī (Rapti) river on the west and south, and the Rohinī on the east; the district which lies around the present Gorakhpur, about one hundred miles north-northeast of Benares. The personal history of the later Buddha is interwoven with legend from which it is not always easy to disentangle the threads of truth. In the accounts preserved in regard to the Master, one has first to distinguish the Pāli records of the Southern Buddhists from the Sanskrit tales of the Northerners; and again, it is necessary to discriminate between the earlier and later traditions of the Southerners, who have kept in general the older history as compared with the extravagant tradition preserved in the Lalita Vistara, the Lotus of the Law, and the other works of the North. What little seems to be authentic history is easily told; nor are, for our present purpose, of much value the legends, which mangonize the life of Buddha. They will be found in every book that treats of the subject, and some of the more famous are translated in the article on Buddha in the Encyclopædia Britannica. We content ourselves with the simplest and oldest account, giving such facts as help to explain the religious significance of Buddha’s life and work among his countrymen. Several of these facts, Buddha’s place in society, and the geographical centre of Buddhistic activity, are essential to a true understanding of the relations between Buddhism and Brahmanism.