﻿AND THE DOCTRINES OF BPIOODDHA. 35 



hoft of Gods inferior to him, and their attendants, 

 have neither flefn or bones, nor bodies poflefling 

 any degree of confiftency, though apparently with 

 hair on their heads, and teeth in their rriouths : and 

 their fkins are impregnated with the mod luminous 

 and brilliant qualities. — They aflert a firlt Caufe, how- 

 ever, under the vague denomination oi Nature. 



In fupport of their denial of a Supreme Power, 

 who created heaven and earth, they urge, " that if 

 there exifted fuch a creator, the world would not 

 perifh, and be annihilated; on the contrary, he w^ould 

 be careful to guard it in fafety, and preferve it from 

 corruptibility." In the firft inflance, Bhooddiia 

 interferes in the government of the world; next to 

 him, Sahampattee Maha Brachma; and afterwards 

 the refpective Gods, as thev are, by their relative 

 , qualifications, empowered. 



The world, fay they, perifhed frequently in for- 

 mer times, and was produced a-new by the opera- 

 tions of the above >power : Gods and men from the 

 fame fource. The latter, on dying, afcend the fix 

 Inferior Heavens, or Deveh Loke ; are judged ac- 

 cording to their merits, by one of the moft inferior 

 Gods, name Yammeh Raja, in the lower heaven, 

 Pavenirm Mitehwajjeh warteyeh^ -and regenerate of 

 themfelves, on the earth, either ^s men or brutes ; 

 •which regeneration continues until they arrive at the 

 Brachmah Loke, or the Heavens of the Superior 

 Gods; and fo on, by degrees, at the Triumphant 

 Heavens, until they at length reach the Supreme 

 Heaven, or Arroopeh Loke. Properly fpeaking, tranf- 

 migration takes place with thofe only who afcend the 

 Deveh Loke. 



In the manifefled Do6trine of Bhooddha, there 

 is no mention of created fouls. The learned treat 

 but of a breath of life in man, which they com- 

 pare to a leech, that firft attaches itfelf to a body 



C 2 with 



