The History of Buddhist Thought c27.42

c27.42

In the transference of merit a parallel to the doctrine of grace can be seen. Such transference is not peculiar to Mahāyāna. There is a Jātaka story (No. 190) of a sea-spirit (nāga) who saved a shipwrecked disciple, but who refused to save his companion until the disciple allowed him to share in the merit of his having kept the commandments. But not even in Mahāyāna did this develop into a general scheme of salvation, though it is likely enough that the worshippers of Avalokiteśvara and Amitābha may have not looked beyond the Happy Land promised to them. There is a stricter resemblance to the doctrine of grace when we find the bodhisattvas uttering enlightened truth through being inspired by Buddha’s power, but here, too, the doctrine never became a general scheme.