Here's another Acharya hit the mark on with Buddha. I'm not sure if I should start another thread or not, since it is a new subject, but contrary to my son's opinion, the
Buddhacarita or Acts of the Buddha, does have the Bodhisattva (prior to becoming Buddha) as a Sun god. It is written in metaphorical terms, but he is referred to as the sun in "Birth of the Holy One" verse 69:
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For he will give up the kingdom in his indifference to worldly pleasures, and, through bitter struggles grasping the final truth, he will shine forth as a sun of knowledge in the world to dispel the darkness of delusion.
Prior to that in verse 11-13:
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When in due course he had issued from the womb, he appeared as if he had descended from the sky, for he did not come into the world through the portal of life; and since he had purified his being through many aeons, he was born not ignorant but fully conscious.
With his lustre and steadfastness he appeared like the young sun come down to earth, and despite this his dazzling brilliance, when gazed at, he held all eyes like the moon.
For with the glowing radiance of his limbs he eclipsed, like the sun, the radiance of the lamps, and, beauteous with the hue of precious gold, he illlumined all the quarters of space.
Seven next becomes a the next focal point in verse 14 and in 15 the number 4, and also notice the word lion, sometimes used as metaphor for the sun in some stories:
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He who was like the constellation of the Seven Seers walked seven steps with such firmness that the feet were lifted up unwavering and straight and that the strides were long and set down firmly.
And looking to the four quarters with the bearing of a lion, he uttered a speech proclaiming the truth: "I am born for Enlightenment for the good of the world; this is my last birth in the world of phenomena."
I'm guessing that this would be his mother breast feeding him in verse 16 (mind you, she dies 5 days later):
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Two streams of water, clear as the rays of the moon and having the virtue, one of heat, one of cold, poured forth from the sky and fell on his gracious head to give his body refreshment by their contact.
Verse 18 is a dead give away (the dwellers are the other lower gods giving the future Buddha revernce, confirmed by the prof of the class):
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The dwellers in heaven, themselves remaining invisible, help up in the sky a white umbrella, and, bowing their heads in obeisance before his majesty, muttered the highest blessings that he might obtain Enlightenment.
Definitely talking about his mother in verse 29:
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The queen was filled with fear and joy, like a stream of hot and cold water mixed, because the power of her son was other than human on the one hand, and because she had a mother's natural weakness on the other.
Mind you, before all of this, she conceived in a dream (just as Acharya said in S of G p 303) where an elephant entered her side with no pain. Maya was (end of verse 5)
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being in her purity free from weariness, sorrow, and illusion, she set her mind on the sin-free forest.
Obviously a virgin.
Need I continue? So his mother was not only a virgin, had a virgin birth, but she was also the moon (from what I can tell) and Buddha the sun and all the gods were constellation celebrating the birth. Everything she said is all there in the first chapter of The Acts of Buddha.
Seems to me, Acharya hit the nail on the head again.
Any questions?
We could almost make this a sticky in case anyone wanted to dispute the point.
I didn't have to try very had to find this one.
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) is hilarious 