CURIOUS DISCOVERY IN TIBET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9497, 28 April 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

CURIOUS DISCOVERY IN TIBET.

i...,;. -~. - A "LIFE OF CHRIST." A new Life of Jesus? Christ has been discovered in' a monastery of Tibet by a Russian traveller, and has just been translated into French. This book of Jesus Christ is held in no less reverence by certain Buddhists than the Rig-Veda by the Brahmins. It is in the eyes of the Lamas a canonical book. M. Nicholas Notovitch, travelling in Tibet, heard in a monastery that the Buddhists knew and honoured the prophet Issa. Certain particulars of the life of Issa forced upon him the conviction that this prophet 'was Jesus Christ. He discovered that the book was in the convent of Hemis, and in vain tried to buy it. However, he broke his leg one day, was nursed at the convent, and M. Notovitch was enabled to make a translation of the book, which is in the Pali language. The followiug is a brief summary of r this translation:--" was born in Israel. His parents were poor people belonging by birth 'to a family of exalted piety which forgot its former greatness on earth to. magnify the Creator and thank Him for the misfortune with which Ho was pleased to try them.' From his childhood he preached the one God. On coming of age at thirteen, instead of marrying, according to custom, he flod from his father's house and went with merchants to Sindh. At fourteen he was living among the- Aryas. He visited Juggernaut, Rejagriha, and Benares, where he learnt to read and understand the Vedas. But one day he broke away from the Brahmins. He denied tho divine origin of the Vedas and the incarnation of Para Brahma. In Visma the white priests threatened his life. He took refuge with the.Govvtamides, learnt Pali, and in sis months was initiated into the mysteries of, pure Buddhism. Then he went westward, preaching against idols. In Persia he opposed the religion of Zoroaster, but he was persecuted by magicians and fled. He was twenty-nine years of age when he returned to Judea. He at once began to preach, but his popularity alarmed Pontius Pilate. The latter summoned priests and learned men to try Issa. This tribunal examined lasa, and pronounced him to ■be innocent. Issa continued to speak to the people, inculcating obedience to Caesar and respect for womankind, but spies which Pilate had set to watch him sent disquieting reports on the enthusiasm of the multitude, and the Governor, fearing a mutiny, caused Issa to be imprisoned, tortured, and tried before the Sanhedrin with two thieves. False witnesses were bribed this time. The Governor then called the witness! who at the bidding of his master Pilate had betrayed Issa. This man came, and, speaking to Issa, said, ' Did you not claim to be King of Israel when you said that the Lord of Heaven had sent you to prepare His people?' And Issa, having blessed. him, said, ' You shall be forgiven, because what you say does not come from your heart.' And turning to the Governor, Issa said: ' Why humble your pride and teach your inferiors to live in falsehood, since even without that you are able to condemn an innocent man ?' At these words the Governor fell into a rago, and ordered the death of Issa, while he discharged tho two thieves. The judges, having deliberated, said to Pilate, ' We will not take upon ourselves the great sin of condemning an innocent man and of absolving two thieves, a thing contrary to our laws. Do, therefore, as you please.' Having thus spoken, tho priests and wise men went out and washed their hands in a holy vessel, saying, ' We are innocent of the death of a just man.' Issa and the two thieves were crucified, but the third day Issa's sepulchre was found open and empty."