Doctrines of the Buddhist Faith. i,^^ 



virtue he attains to happiness. The complete fulfilment of all 

 his duties confers on him here on earth the dignity of a 

 Buddha, or sage, and after death consigns him to the beatific 

 repose of non-existence* (^Nirivnna). Condemned souls are 

 born again in the forms of wild animals. According to 

 Gautama*s teaching a fresh Buddha always appears at certain 

 epochs, whose existence is manifested by his extraordinary 

 spiritual powers, by his deeds, and by his prophecies, selected 

 by destiny for the purpose of enlightening the world as to the 

 decrees of the Supreme Being, and to restore religion to her 

 pristine purity. The death of a Buddha is also the com- 

 mencement of a new reckoning of time. Gautama, who died 

 about B.C. 542, or some 2400 years since, was the forty-fifth 

 and last Buddha that appeared to the Cingalese ; his doctrine 

 must continue to operate for 5000 years, when, according 

 to the Cingalese traditions, the next Buddha, or Purifier, 

 will appear. Gautama's belief, bequeathed by him to his 

 disciple, the Brahmin Mahakaja, was immediately translated 

 into Sanscrit, and speedily spread. Several hundred temples 

 and monuments dedicated to him are scattered in various parts 

 of the island, and remain to this day an evidence of the extent 

 and influence of Buddhism. 



On the day of our arrival we at once set ofi" to visit one of 



* The ten precepts of the moral code of Buddhism are as follows: — Kail no 

 living creatm-e — do not steal — follow no unclean occupation — tell no lies or 

 untruths — drink no fermented liquors — live exclusively on vegetables — anoint 

 neither the head nor the body — ^go to no singing parties or spectacles — do not sleep 

 on a raised nor on a wide bed — eat but once a day, and before noon. 



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