y.

"The name Issa is very much respected among the Buddhists," he replied,
"but he is only known by the chief lamas, who have read the scrolls
relating to his life. There have existed an infinite number of buddhas
like Issa, and the 84,000 scrolls existing are filled brim full of
details concerning each one of them. But very few persons have read the
one-hundredth part of those memoirs. In conformity with established
custom, every disciple or lama who visits Lhassa makes a gift of one or
several copies, from the scrolls there, to the convent to which he
belongs. Our gonpa, among others, possesses already a great number,
which I read in my leisure hours. Among them are the memoirs of the life
and acts of the Buddha Issa, who preached the same doctrine in India and
among the sons of Israel, and who was put to death by the Pagans, whose
descendants, later on, adopted the beliefs he spread,--and those beliefs
are yours.

"The great Buddha, the soul of the Universe, is the incarnation of
Brahma. He, almost always, remains immobile, containing in himself all
things, being in himself the origin of all and his breath vivifying the
world. He has left man to the control of his own forces, but, at certain
epochs, lays aside his inaction and puts on a human form that he may, as
their teacher and guide, rescue his creatures from impending
destruction. In the course of his terrestrial existence in the
similitude of man, Buddha creates a new world in the hearts of erring
men; then he leaves the earth, to become once more an invisible being
and resume his condition of perfect bliss. Three thousand years ago,
Buddha incarnated in the celebrated Prince Sakya-Muni, reaffirming and
propagating the doctrines taught by him in his twenty preceding
incarnations. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Great Soul of the World
incarnated anew in Gautama, laying the foundation of a new world in
Burmah, Siam and different islands. Soon afterward, Buddhism began to
penetrate China, through the persevering efforts of the sages, who
devoted themselves to the propagation of the sacred doctrine, and under
Ming-Ti, of the Honi dynasty, nearly 2,050 years ago, the teachings of
Sakya-Muni were adopted by the people of that country. Simultaneously
with the appearance of Buddhism in China, the same doctrines began to
spread among the Israelites. It is about 2,000 years ago that the
perfect Being, awaking once more for a short time from his inaction,
incarnate