Chief of all, appointing to each his place, the Ancient of days, the
Father of all that are and are to be." "But," said the monk, "I did not
ask you, friend, whether you were indeed all you now say, but I ask you
where the four elements cease and leave no trace." Then the Great Brahma
took him by the arm and led him aside and said, "These gods think I know
and understand everything. Therefore I gave no answer in their presence.
But I do not know the answer to your question and you had better go and
ask the Buddha." Even more curiously ironical is the account given of
the origin of Brahma[720]. There comes a time when this world system
passes away and then certain beings are reborn in the World of Radiance
and remain there a long time. Sooner or later, the world system begins
to evolve again and the palace of Brahma appears, but it is empty. Then
some being whose time is up falls from the World of Radiance and comes
to life in the palace and remains there alone. At last he wishes for
company, and it so happens that other beings whose time is up fall from
the World of Radiance and join him. And the first being thinks that he
is Great Brahma, the Creator, because when he felt lonely and wished for
companions other beings appeared. And the other beings accept this view.
And at last one of Brahma's retinue falls from that state and is born in
the human world and, if he can remember his previous birth, he reflects
that he is transitory but that Brahma still remains and from this he
draws the erroneous conclusion that Brahma is eternal.

He who dared to represent Brahma (for which name we might substitute
Allah or Jehovah) as a pompous deluded individual worried by the
difficulty of keeping up his position had more than the usual share of
scepticism and irony. The compilers of such discourses regarded the gods
as mere embellishments, as gargoyles and quaint figures in the cathedral
porch, not as saints above the altar. The mythology and cosmology
associated with early Buddhism are really extraneous. The Buddha's
teaching is simply the four truths and some kindred ethical and
psychological matter. It grew up in an atmosphere of animism which
peopled the trees and streams and mountains with spirits. It accepted
and played with the idea, just as it might have accepted and played with
the idea of radio-activity. But such notions do not affect the essence
of the Dharma and it might be preached in severe isolation. Yet in Asia
it har