is left
foot, at the ankle; for the third, his left hand; for the fourth, his
right foot; and if he continue to offend, he shall be scourged at the
discretion of the judge.]

[Footnote 88: This is to be understood of fish that live altogether in
the sea, and not of those that live in the sea and on land both, as
crabs. The Turks, who are Hanifites, never eat this sort of fish; but
the sect of Malec Ebn Ans, and perhaps some others, make no scruple of
it.]

[Footnote 89: These were the names given by the pagan Arabs to certain
camels or sheep which were turned loose to feed, and exempted from
common services, in some particular cases; having their ears slit, or
some other mark, that they might be known; and this they did in honor of
their gods. Which superstitions are here declared to be no ordinances of
God, but the inventions of foolish men.]

[Footnote 90: This miracle is thus related by the commentators: Jesus
having, at the request of his followers, asked it of God, a red table
immediately descended, in their sight, between two clouds, and was set
before them; whereupon he rose up, and having made the ablution, prayed,
and then took off the cloth which covered the table, saying, "In the
name of God, the best provider of food."]

LIFE OF BUDDHA

BY ASVAGHOSHA BODHISATTVA

Translated from Sanscrit into Chinese by Dharmaraksha,
A.D. 420; from Chinese into English by Samuel Beal

INTRODUCTION

Buddha is undoubtedly the most potent name as a religious teacher, in
the whole of Asia. The propaganda of the Buddhistic faith passed from
the valley of the Indus to the valley of the Ganges, and from Ceylon to
the Himalayas; thence it traversed China, and its conquests seem to have
been permanent. The religion of Buddha is so far different from that of
Confucius, and so far resembles Christianity, that it combines mysticism
with asceticism--a practical rule of personal conduct with a consistent
transcendentalism. It has, moreover, the great advantage of possessing a
highly fascinating and romantic gospel, or biography, of its founder.
Gautama, as the hero of Arnold's "Light of Asia," is very well known to
English readers, and, although Sir Edwin Arnold is not by any means a
poet of the first order, he has done a great deal to familiarize the
Anglo-Saxon mind with Oriental life and thought. A far more faithful
life of Buddha is that written some time in the first century of our era
by the twelfth Buddhist p