Selected  FOOTNOTES  with Text -  from:
A  MARTIAN  EXAMINES  CHRISTIANITY
Chapter  XI
The Martian Inquires As To Miracles

   [More references at bottom of this page.]
Page  80
said the Priest, . . .
“ we are more concerned with the
miracles of the New Testament,  . . .
our Saviour was really God.  . . .
His birth was a miracle,  since He was born of a virgin.”

said the Martian,
“ the records in your libraries tell of many others who were looked upon as gods because they were born of a virgin.”

“ I find an account of a god called Buddha  who was born of a virgin mother named Maya.  It is said that his birth was brought about by the descent of the divine power called the Holy Ghost  upon the Virgin Maya.” 9
9 Doane,  Bible Myths and their Parallels
   in other Religions,  7th ed.,  pp. 116 et seq.

Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions
(Page)  116          CHAPTER XII.
       THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS.

     M. l’Abbé Huc,  a French Missionary,  in speaking of Buddha, says:

     “ In the eyes of the Buddhists,  this personage is sometimes a man  and sometimes a god,  or rather both one and the other  a divine incarnation,  a man-god;  who came into the world to enlighten men,  to redeem them,  and to indicate to them  the way of safety.
     “ This idea of redemption by  a divine incarnation is so general and popular among the Buddhists,  that during our travels in Upper Asia,  we everywhere found it expressed in a neat formula.  If we addressed to a Mongol or a Thibetan  the question,  ‘Who is Buddha?’  he would immediately reply:  ‘The Saviour of Men’ ” a
a Huc’s Travels, vol. i. pp. 326, 327.
     He further says:

     “ The miraculous birth of Buddha,  his life and Instructions,  contain a great number of the moral and dogmatic truths professed in Christianity.” b
b Ibid. p. 327.
     This Angel-Messiah was regarded as the divinely chosen and incarnate messenger,  the vicar of God.  He is addressed as  “God of Gods,”  “Father of the World,”  “Almighty and All-knowing Ruler,”  and  “Redeemer of All.” c  He is called also  “The Holy One,”  “The Author of Happiness,”  “The Lord,”  “The Possessor of All,”  “He  who is Omnipotent  and Everlastingly to be Contemplated,”  “The Supreme Being,  the Eternal One,”  “The Divinity  worthy to be Adored by the most praiseworthy of Mankind.” d  He is addressed by Amora— one of his followers— thus:

     “ Reverence be unto thee in the form of Buddha!  Reverence be unto thee,  the Lord of the Earth!  Reverence be unto thee,  an incarnation of the Deity!  Of the Eternal One!  Reverence be unto thee,  0 God,  in the form of the God of Mercy;  the dispeller of pain and trouble,  the Lord of all things,  the deity,  the guardian of the universe,  the emblem of mercy.” e
c Oriental Religions, p. 604.
d See Bunsen’s  Angel-Messiah.
e Asiatic Researches, vol. ii p. 309,  and King’s  Gnostics, p. 167.
     The incarnation of Gautama Buddha is recorded to have been brought about by the descent of the divine power called The  “Holy Ghost ”  upon the Virgin  Maya. f  This  Holy Ghost,  or Spirit,  descended in the form of a  White Elephant.  The  Tikas  explain this as indicating power and wisdom. g
f See Bunsen’s  Angel-Messiah, pp. 10, 25 and 44.
g See Beal:  Hist. Buddha, p. 36,  note. Ganesa,  the Indian God of Wisdom,  is either represented as an elephant,  or a man with an elephant’s head.  (See Moore’s  Hindu Pantheon,  and vol. i. of Asiatic Researches.)

THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS.  117

     The incarnation of the angel  destined to become Buddha  took place in a spiritual manner.  The Elephant is the symbol of power and wisdom;  and Buddha was considered the organ of divine power and wisdom,  as he is called in the Tikas.  For these reasons  Buddha is described by Bnddhistic legends  as having descended from heaven  in the form of an Elephant  to the place where the Virgin Maya was.  But according to Chinese Buddhistic writings,  it was the  Holy Ghost,  or  Shing-Shin,  who descended on the Virgin Maya. h
     The  Fo-pen-hing  says:
“ If a mother,  in her dream,  behold
A white elephant  enter her right side,
That mother,  when she bears a son,
Shall bear one  chief of all the world  (Buddha);
Able to profit all flesh;
Equally poised between preference and dislike;
Able to save  and deliver the world  and men
From the deep sea of misery and grief.” i

h Bunsen:  The Angel-Messiah, p. 33.
i Beal:  Hist. Buddha, pp. 38, 39.
     In Prof. Fergusson’s  “Tree and Serpent Worship”  may be seen  (Plate xxxiii.)  a representation of Maya,  the mother of Buddha,  asleep,  and dreaming that  a white elephant appeared to her,  and entered her womb.
     This dream being interpreted by the Brahmans  learned in the  Rig- Veda,  was considered as  announcing the incarnation of him  who was to be  in future  the deliverer of mankind  from pain and sorrow,  It is,  in fact,  the form  which the Annunciation took  in Buddhist legends. j
j Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 131.

                                           “ — Awaked,
Bliss beyond mortal mother’s  filled her breast,
And over half the earth  a lovely light
Forewent the morn.  The strong hills shook;  the waves
Sank lulled;  all flowers that blow by day  came forth
As  ‘twere high noon;  down to the farthest hells
Passed the Queen’s joy,  as when warm sunshine thrills
Wood-glooms  to gold,  and into all the deeps
A tender whisper pierced.  ‘Oh ye,’  it said,
The dead that are to live,  the live  who die,
Uprise,  and hear,  and hope!  Buddha is come !’
Whereat  in Limbos numberless  much peace
Spread,  and the world’s heart  throbbed,
     and a wind blew
With unknown freshness  over land and seas.

(Page)  118       BIBLE MYTHS.
And when the morning dawned,  and this was told,
The grey dream-readers said,  ‘The dream is good!
The Crab is in conjunction with the Sun;
The Queen shall bear a boy,  a holy child
Of wondrous wisdom,  profiting all flesh,
Who shall deliver men from ignorance,
Or rule the world.  if he will deign to rule.’
In this wise  was the holy Buddha  born.”
     In Fig. 4,  Plate xci.,  the same subject is also illustrated.  Prof. Fergusson,  referring to it,  says:

“ In Fig. 4,  is another edition of a legend  more frequently repeated  than almost any other in Buddhist Scriptures.  It was,  with their artists,  as great a favorite  as the Annunciation and Nativity were  with Christian painters.” k
k Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 212.
     When Buddha  avatar  descended from the regions of the souls,  and entered the body of the Virgin Maya,  her womb suddenly assumed the appearance of clear,  transparent crystal,  in which Buddha appeared,  beautiful as a flower,  kneeling and reclining on his hands. l
l King:  The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 168,  and  Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 485.  R. Spence Hardy says:  “ The body of the Queen was transparent,  and the child could be distinctly seen,  like a priest  seated upon a throne  in the act of saying bana,  or like a golden image  enclosed in a vase of crystal;  so that it could be known  how much he grew  every succeeding day.”  (Hardy  Manual of Buddhism, p. 144.)  The same thing was said of Mary,  the mother of Jesus.  Early art  represented the infant  distinctly visible in her womb.  (See Inman’s  Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism,  and chap. xxix.  this work.)
     Buddha’s representative on earth  is the  Dalai Lama,  or  Grand Lama,  the High Priest of the Tartars.  He is regarded as the vicegerent of God,  with power to dispense divine blessings on whomsoever he will,  and is considered among the Buddhists  to be a sort of divine being.  He is the Pope of Buddhism. m
m See Bell’s Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 34.
     The  Siamese  had a Virgin-born God and Saviour  whom they called  Codom.  His mother,  a beautiful young virgin,  being in spired from heaven,  quitted the society of men  and wandered into the most unfrequented parts of a great forest,  there to await the coming of a god  which had long been announced to mankind.  While she was one day prostrate in prayer,  she was  impregnated by the sunbeams.  She thereupon retired to the borders of a lake,  between Siam and Cambodia,  where she was delivered of a  “heavenly boy,”  which she placed within the folds of a lotus,  that opened to receive him.  When the boy grew up,  he became a prodigy of wisdom,  performed miracles, &c. n
n Squire:  Serpent Symbol, p. 185.  See also  Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 162 and 308.

THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS.  119

     The first Europeans who visited Cape Comorin,  the most southerly extremity of the peninsula of Hindostan,  were surprised to find the inhabitants worshiping a Lord and Saviour  whom they called  Salivahana.  They related that  his father’s name was Taishaca,  but that he was  a divine child  born of a Virgin,  in fact,  an incarnation of the Supreme Vishnu. o
o See  Asiastic Res., vol. x.,  and  Anac., vol. i. p. 662.
     The belief in a virgin-born  god-man  is found in the religions of China.  As Sir John Francis Davis remarks, p  “ China has her mythology  in common with all other nations,  and under this head  we must range the persons  styled  Fo-hi  (or Fuh-he),  Shin-noong,  Hoang-ty  and their immediate successors,  who,  like the demi-gods and heroes of Grecian fable,  rescued mankind  by their ability or enterprise  from the most primitive barbarism,  and have since  been invested with superhuman attributes.  The most extravagant prodigies are related  of these persons,  and the most incongruous qualities attributed to them.”
p Davis:  Hist. China, vol. i. p. 161.
     Dean Milman,  in his  “ History of Christianity”  (Vol. i. p. 97),  refers to the tradition,  found among the Chinese,  that  Fo-hi was born of a virgin;  and remarks that,  the first Jesuit missionaries who went to China  were appalled at finding,  in the mythology of that country,  a counterpart of the story of the virgin of Judea.
     Fo-hi  is said to have been born  3468 years B.C.,  and,  according to some Chinese writers,  with him  begins the historical era  and the foundation of the empire.  When his mother conceived him in her womb,  a rainbow was seen to surround her. q
q Thornton:  Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 21, 22.
     The Chinese traditions concerning the birth of Fo-hi are,  some of them,  highly poetical.  That which has received the widest acceptance is as follows:

     Three nymphs came down from heaven  to wash themselves in a river;  but scarce had they got there  before the herb  lotus  appeared on one of their garments,  with its coral fruit upon it.  They could not imagine whence it proceeded,  and one was tempted to taste It,  whereby she became pregnant  and was delivered of a boy,  who afterwards became a great man,  a founder of religion,  a conqueror,  and legislator.” r
r Squire:  Serpent Symbol, p. 184.
     The sect of  Xaca,  which is evidently a corruption of Buddhism,  claim that their master was also of supernatural origin.  Alvarez Semedo,  speaking of them,  says:

     “ The third religious sect among the Chinese Is from India,  from the parts of Hindostan,  which sect they call  Xaca,  from the founder of it,  concerning whom  they fable— that he was conceived by his mother Maya,  from a white elephant,  which she saw in her sleep,  and for more purity  she brought him from one of her sides.” s
s Semedo:  Hist. China, p. 89,  in  Anac., vol. ii. p. 227.

Doane,  Bible Myths and their Parallels
in other Religions,  7th ed.,  pp. 120 et seq.

Doane,  Bible Myths  pp. 112 et seq.

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