[1089] Similarly the neo-Confucianism of the Sung dynasty was influenced by Mahâyânist Buddhism. Chu-hsi and his disciples condemned Buddhism, but the new problems and new solutions which they brought forward would not have been heard of but for Buddhism.
[1090] The idea of the second birth is found in the Majjhima Nikâya, where in Sutta 86 the converted brigand Angulimala speaks of his regenerate life as Yato aham ariyâya jâtiyâ jâto, "Since I was born by this noble (or holy) birth." Brahmanic parallels are numerous, e.g. Manu, 2. 146.
[1091] It is said, however, that the celebration of the Prasâd by the Kabirpanthis bears an extraordinary resemblance to the Holy Communion of Christians. This may be so, but, as already mentioned, this late and admittedly composite sect is not typical of Hinduism as a whole.
[1092] Krishṇajanmâshṭamî, Memoirs of Academy of Berlin, 1867.
[1093] In spite of making enquiry I have never seen or heard of these representations of a stable myself. As Senart points out (Légende, p. 336) all the personages who play a part in Krishna's early life are shown in these tableaux in one group, but this does not imply that shepherds and their flocks are supposed to be present at his birth.
[1094] Though the ordinary legend does not say that Krishna was born in a stable yet it does associate him with cattle.
[1095] Pargiter, Dynasties of the Kali age, p. xviii.
[1096] Commentary on Pânini, 2. 3. 36, 3. 1. 36 and 3. 2. 111. It seems probable that Pâtanjali knew the story of Krishna and Kamsa substantially as it is recounted in the Harivaṃsa.
[1097] Section 337. A journey to Śvetadvîpa is also related in the Kathâsarit sâgara, LIV.
[1098] The most accessible statement of the geographical fancies here referred to is in Vishnu Purâna, Book II, chap. IV. The Sea of Milk is the sixth of the seven concentric seas which surround Jambudvîpa and Mt. Meru. It divides the sixth of the concentric continents or Śâkadvîpa from the seventh or Pushkara-dvîpa. The inhabitants of Śâkadvîpa worship Vishnu as the Sun and have this much reality that at any rate, according to the Vishnu and Bhavishya Purânas, they are clearly Iranian Sun-worshippers whose priests are called Magas or Mṛigas. Pushkara-dvîpa is a terrestrial paradise: the inhabitants live a thousand years, are of the same nature as the gods and free from sorrow and sin. "The three Vedas, the Purânas, Ethics and Polity are unknown" among them and "there are no distinctions of caste or order: there are no fixed institutes." The turn of fancy which located this non-Brahmanic Utopia in the north seems akin to that which led the Greeks to talk of Hyperboreans. Fairly early in the history of India it must have been discovered that the western, southern, and eastern coasts were washed by the sea so that the earthly paradise was naturally placed in the north. Thus we hear of an abode of the blessed called the country of the holy Uttara Kurus or northern Kurus. Here nothing can be perceived with human senses (Mahâbh. Sabhâ, 1045), and it is mentioned in the same breath as Heaven and the city of Indra (ib. Anusâs. 2841).