hsang, has been admirably treated by
M. L. Vivien de Saint-Martin, in his 'Memoire Analytique sur la Carte
de l'Asie Centrale et de l'Inde,' in the third volume of M. Stanislas
Julien's 'Pelerins Bouddhistes.']

Buddha first went to Vai_s_ali, and became the pupil of a famous
Brahman, who had gathered round him 300 disciples. Having learnt all
that the Brahman could teach him, Buddha went away disappointed. He
had not found the road to salvation. He then tried another Brahman at
Ra_g_ag_r_iha, the capital of Magadha or Behar, who had 700
disciples, and there too he looked in vain for the means of
deliverance. He left him, followed by five of his fellow-students, and
for six years retired into solitude, near a village named Uruvilva,
subjecting himself to the most severe penances, previous to his
appearing in the world as a teacher. At the end of this period,
however, he arrived at the conviction that asceticism, far from giving
peace of mind and preparing the way to salvation, was a snare and a
stumbling-block in the way of truth. He gave up his exercises, and was
at once deserted as an apostate by his five disciples. Left to himself
he now began to elaborate his own system. He had learnt that neither
the doctrines nor the austerities of the Brahmans were of any avail
for accomplishing the deliverance of man, and freeing him from the
fear of old age, disease, and death. After long meditations, and
ecstatic visions, he at last imagined that he had arrived at that true
knowledge which discloses the cause, and thereby destroys the fear, of
all the changes inherent in life. It was from the moment when he
arrived at this knowledge, that he claimed the name of Buddha, the
Enlightened. At that moment we may truly say that the fate of millions
of millions of human beings trembled in the balance. Buddha hesitated
for a time whether he should keep his knowledge to himself, or
communicate it to the world. Compassion for the sufferings of man
prevailed, and the young prince became the founder of a religion
which, after more than 2000 years, is still professed by 455,000,000
of human beings.[60]

[Footnote 60: Though truth is not settled by majorities, it would be
interesting to know which religion, counts at the present moment the
largest numbers of believers. Berghaus, in his 'Physical Atlas,' gives
the following division of the human race according to religion:

Buddhists 31.2 per cent.
Christians 30.7