tlTERATURE OF THE BUttMAS. t79 



OF BEINGS LIVING IN THE UNIVERSE, OF 



THEIR HAPPINESS AND MISERY, AND 



OF THE DURATION OF THEIR LIVES. 



" VI. The Burma writings divide all living 

 *' beings into three kinds: 1st, Chama, or generat- 

 *' ing beings ; 2d, Rupa, or beings which are mate- 

 " rial, but do not generate; and 3d, Arupa^ or 

 *' immaterial beings or spirits. These three kinds 

 *' are again subdivided into thirty-one species, each 

 *' of which has its proper bon or habitation. The 

 " first kind, or the Chama, contains eleven species, 

 " bon, or states of existence: seven of which are 

 *' states of happiness, and four of misely, which 

 • ' last are called Ape. The first state of happy ex- 

 " istence contains men: the other six happy states 

 " are composed of Nat, or superior beings. The 

 *' four Ape are infernal states, in which beings are 

 " punished for former crimes. The second kind of 

 " beings, the Rupa, have sixteen bon or habitations : 

 " and four belong to the Arupa, or beings desti- 

 " tute of body." 



" VIL Before I proceed to give a topographi- 

 "■ cal description of these habitations, with an ac- 

 " count of the beings which they contain, it will 

 " be necessary to explain some collateral circum- 

 *' stances. 



" 1*^, It is well known that the Burma writings 

 *' admit of transmigration ; but the notions con- 

 " tained in them on this subject differ from those 

 " commonly received ; for it is the usual opinion^ 

 *' that the souls, which animate bodies, after the 

 *' death of these bodies pass into others: On the 

 " contrary, the Burma writings alledge, that in 

 * ' death, whether of man, beast, or of any living 

 " being, (for they believe all living beings to pos- 

 " sess souls,) the soul perishes with the body, and 

 *' they alledge, that after this dissolution, out of 

 *' the same materials another being arises, which, 

 ' ' accordino- to the grood or bad actions of the former 

 *' lite, becomes either a man or an animal, or a Nat, 



M 2 " or 



