The word "Essenes," according to some learned philologists, means the "Bathers," or "Baptisers," baptism having been their initiatory rite. Josephus tells us that this baptism was not administered until the aspirant had remained a whole year outside the community, but "subjected to their rule of life."
I will here give the rite of Buddhist baptism (abhisheka) when a novice is about to become a monk. It consists of many washings, borrowed plainly by the early Buddhists from the Brahmins, and brings to mind the frequent use of water attributed to the Hemero Baptists or disciples of John. It may be mentioned that in some Buddhist countries—Nepal, for instance—the various monkish vows are now taken only for form sake. This makes the letter, retained after the spirit has departed, all the more valuable.
The neophyte having made an offer of scents and unguents (betel-nut, paun, etc.) to his spiritual guide (guru), the latter, after certain formalities, draws four circles in the form of a cross, in honour of the Tri Ratna (trinity), on the ground, and the neophyte, seated in a prescribed position, recites the following text: "I salute Lord Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and entreat them to bestow on me the Pravrajya Vrata." The first and second days of the ceremonial are consumed in prayers and formalities carried on by the guide and his pupil alone. On the second day another mystical cross is drawn on the ground, the Swastica. A pot containing water and other mystic ingredients, a gold lotus, and certain confections and charms, figure in these early rites. At last it is poured on the neophyte's head. This is the baptism.
Previous to this there is a confession of sins and much catechising. The catechumen's name is changed at the baptism, and his head is shaved. A light is lit which reminds one of the φωτισμός [Greek: phôtismos] of the early Christians. Besides their baptism, the Essenes and Therapeuts had a mystery (sacramentum), an oblation of bread. Part of this was placed upon the bloodless altar, and part eaten. The Buddhists with their wheat and rice do exactly the same thing.
Two other points remain, the most important of all.
The Buddhists have a Trinity, Buddha or Swayambhu, the Self-Existent, Dharma or Prajnâ, which is the same word as Philo's Sophia Wisdom. From these two the Father and the Mother have been produced. Sangha, literally Union, the union of matter and spirit, like St. Paul's Christ, Humanity—ideal Humanity.
That a nation so "stiff-necked" as the Jews in the matter of their one God, should have accepted a Trinity, shows certainly a foreign influence.
The second point is stronger still. The Buddhist teachers in Persia and Egypt in days before Christ; in Japan, in Islâm, during the Middle Ages; in Europe now,—have had and have one method of procedure. They say practically, "Religion as we conceive it has only one lesson—knowledge of God. This is to be acquired not externally through creeds and priests, but internally by the education and purification of the soul. Keep your Bibles if the weaker brethren insist on them, but explain that they are symbols, not history. Keep your prophets, your Moses, your Mahomet, your Zoroaster, and fasten our teaching on him. Keep your hob-goblins and folklore, but give up your bloody altar."
Now, in the view of the Jew, God had made a covenant with Israel, which was to last as long as the sun, the moon, and the stars. In return for the "offerings of the Lord made by fire" (Levit. xxiv. 9) on the temple altar of Jerusalem, Israel was to triumph over its foes and receive every temporal blessing. The advice of the Buddhist was practically that the Jewish half of the bargain was to be broken, but that the Bible, the document containing the contract, was to be retained. A priori could any one have guessed that advice of this sort could be taken?
And yet we see the Essenes "allegorize" the bloody altar out of their Bible, but cling to the document more fondly than ever. The early Christians and Justin and Irenæus do the same. Scripture for the early Church was the Old Testament.