Metaphysical Aspects of Buddhism

When the first Hindu missionaries arrived at the capital of China and were admitted to see the emperor, it was, the Buddhist tell us, in the last month of the year A.D. 68, and the 30th day of that month. By imperial command they were entertained in a building called Pe-ma Si, "office of the white horses so named because they had ridden on white horses on their way from Cabul. The two Brahmans enjoyed the imperial favor. Thirteen years before these men reached China, the first Christian missionaries crossed the Jegean Sea and entered Euorope. Instead of being received, however, with the smiles of those in power and enjoying imperial hospitality, they were publicly whipped and imprisoned by the magistrates of a Roman colony, and ignominiously dismissed.