I think there can be no difficulty in finding here the Maia in the Mo-ya, nor the Om-e-to in the Am-i-da and Am-i-ta. Nor, in the first syllable of the three last, the letters A, U, M, coalescing and forming the word Om. The Μητις is well known to mean divine wisdom, and we have seen above, that it is πρωτος γενετωρ or first mother of all.[1] The first of the Æons of all nations was wisdom. Is Am-i-da, די di ה e עם om?
The followers of Buddha teach that he descended from a celestial mansion into the womb of Maha-Maya, spouse of Soutadanna, king of Megaddha on the north of Hindostan, and member of the family of Sakya Sa-kia,[2] the most illustrious of the caste of Brahmins. His mother, who had conceived him, (by a ray of light, according to De Guignes,) sans souillure, without defilement, that is, the conception was immaculate, brought him into the world after ten months without pain. He was born at the foot of a tree, and he did not touch the earth, Brahma having sought him to receive him in a vase of gold, and Gods, or kings the incarnations of Gods, assisted at his birth. The Mounis[3] and Pundits (prophets and wise men) recognized in this marvellous infant all the characters of the divinity, and he had scarcely seen the day before he was hailed Devata-Deva, God of Gods. Buddha, before he was called by the name Buddha or wisdom, very early made incredible progress in the sciences. His beauty, as well as his wisdom, was more than human; and when he went abroad, crowds assembled to admire him. After a certain time he left the palace of his father, and retired into the desert, where he commenced his divine mission. There he ordained himself priest, and shaved his head with his own hands, i. e. adopted the tonsure. He there changed his name to Guatama.
After various trials, he came out of them all triumphant; and after certain temptations or penitences, to which he submitted in the desert, were finished, he declared to his disciples that the time was come to announce to the world the light of the true faith, the Gods themselves descending from heaven to invite him to propagate his doctrines. He is described by his followers as a God of pity, the guardian or saviour of mankind, the anchor of salvation, and he was charged to prepare the world for the day of judgment.
Amara thus addresses him: “Thou art the Lord of all things, the Deity who overcomest the sins of the Cali-Yug, the guardian of the universe, the emblem of mercy towards those who serve thee—Om: the possessor of all things in vital form. Thou art Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa: thou art the Lord of the universe: thou art the proper form of all things, moveable and immoveable, the possessor of the whole, and thus I adore thee. Reverence be unto thee, the bestower of salvation.— . . . . I adore thee, who art celebrated by a thousand names, and under various forms, in the shape of Buddha the God of mercy. Be propitious, O most high God.”[4]
Buddha was often said not only to have been born of a virgin, but to have been born, as some of the heretics maintained Jesus Christ was born, from the side of his mother.[5] He was also said to have had no father. This evidently alludes to his being the son of the androgynous
- ↑ Jupiter took Μητις Metis, to wife: and as soon as he found her pregnant, he devoured her: in consequence of which he became pregnant, and out of his head was born Pallas or Minerva. Now μητις means divine wisdom. That this is an allegory closely connected with the doctrine of Buddha (wisdom), and of the ראשית rasit, or wisdom of Genesis, the first emanation of the Jews, I think no one will doubt, though it may be difficult to explain its details.
- ↑ If we look back to Section 2, we shall see that Mr. Faber states Sa-kia to be a name of Buddha. This Xaca or Saka is the origin, as I shall shew, of the name of our Saxon ancestors.
- ↑ Mounis are nothing but Menus or wise men, like the Minoses of Crete, &c., Rashees of India, and Sophis of Persia.
- ↑ Moore’s Pantheon, pp. 23, 33, 39.
- ↑ And as Mani was said to be born.
