XXII An Eastern Apologue
The following was read by me during sleep, in an old book printed in archaic type. As with many other things similarly read by me, I do not know whether it is to be found in any book:—
“After Buddha had been ten years in retirement, certain sages sent their disciples to him, asking him,—‘What dost thou claim to be, Gotama?’
“Buddha answered them, ‘I claim to be nothing.’
“Ten years afterwards they sent again to him, asking the same question, and again Buddha answered:—‘I claim to be nothing.’
“Then after yet another ten years had passed, they sent a third time, asking, ‘What dost thou claim to be, Gotama?’
“And Buddha replied, ‘I claim to be the utterance of the most high God.’
“Then they said to him: ‘How is this, that hitherto thou hast proclaimed thyself to be nothing, and now thou declarest thyself to be the very utterance of God?’
“Buddha answered: ‘Either I am nothing, or I am the very utterance of God, for between these two all is silence.”’
—Atcham, March 5, 1885