AMITABHA.

One evening when King Kanishka together with his friend Charaka enjoyed the company of Acvaghosha, the youthful ruler of Gandhara turned to the venerable philosopher with this request: "And now, worshipful master, tell us, do we worship in Buddha a god or a man?"

Replied Acvaghosha: "Buddha is neither a god nor a man; he is more than either, for he is perfection incarnate. We worship in Buddha wisdom and goodness, that is, the comprehension and application of the truth, which are the qualities that alone render the gods divine. Truth is eternal, but all actual beings, not even excluding the gods, are transient."

Charaka interposed: "We do not speak of the gods, but of God, which means divinity itself. What would the Buddha have taught about God?"

Kanishka added: "We mean God, not in the sense of Brahma, the principle of existence, nor of Ishvara, a personal Lord and manufacturer of universes, but God as goodness, as truth, as righteousness, as love? Does God in this sense exist or not? Is it a dream or a reality? What is it and how do we know of it?"

"You ask a question to answer which will take a book. But I shall be brief. Certainly, God in this sense is a reality. God, in this sense is the good law that shapes existence, leading life step by step onward and upward toward its highest goal--enlightenment. Recognition of this law gives us light on the conditions of our existence so as to render it possible for us to find the right path; and we call it Dharmakaya, the body of the good law, or Amitabha, the source of infinite light, or by some other name. It is the norm of all nature involving the bliss of goodness and the curse of wrong doing according to irrefragable causation."

"Accordingly, a man is not a Buddha by birth, but he can become a Buddha by attaining to Buddhahood," said the king inquiringly.

"Exactly so," replied Acvaghosha. "The highest truth is not a fabrication of the mind; the highest truth is eternal. Shakyamuni attained to Buddhahood, and there were many who saw him, yet they did not behold in him the Buddha; while now, after he has entered into Paranirvana, there are many who never saw him in the body, yet having attained faith may truly be said to behold the Buddha, for the Buddha can be recognised with the mind's eye alone."

"Then Amitabha is the principle of being as much as Brahma?" enquired Charaka.