Into this world, poised between the Vedic past and a new high-water mark of Indian culture, the Buddha was born. Like Jesus, it may be said, he came not to destroy tradition but to fulfill its meaning. And as Jesus rose out of the tradition of the prophets and yet transcends all traditions and breaks all molds, the Buddha, though he broke with the rituals and authority of the Vedas, stands squarely in the tradition of the Upanishads.
