What would Gotama have done had he lived some hundreds or thousands of years later?
In doing this and in collecting round him a band of disciples who had a common mode of life Gotama created nothing new.
The former is to be regarded as man and God, the latter as Gotama and Buddha.
It is in avoiding these trammels that the superior religious instinct of Gotama shows itself.
Akin to this contrast is another—that between the tolerance of Gotama and the persecuting spirit of Islam.
