ItTfeRATURE OF THE BURSAS. sS^ 



** to take away the life of any animal, fhould it be 

 *' even the fmalleft infefti The Rahan, who taketh 

 " away the life of the vilell infe8, fliall no longer be a 

 " pricft, or of the divine order. To what thing can 

 *' he be compared ? He is like a great rock rent in 

 " two parts : as it is impoflible that the rock fliould 

 " ever again be united, fo it can never happen, that 

 " he fliould again be reckoned a prieft, or of the di - 

 *' vine orderw Wherefore you, O newly ordained 

 priert, ought to take care, during the whole courfe 

 of your life, not to commit any fuch murder* 

 The newly ordained prieft anfwers as before. 

 " The reader o{ Kommua then fays. Whoever is ad- 

 mitted into the priefthood, can by no means be per- 

 mitted to extol himfelfasafainti,asaperfon endowed 

 with any preternatural gifts; fuch as the gifts called 

 " Meipo or Zian : Neither is it for him lawful to de- 

 *' clare himfelf a hermit, or a perfonthat loves folitude*. 

 *' The prieft who, prompted by ambition, falfely and 

 " impudently pretends to have obtained the extraor- 

 *' dinary gifts of Zian or Meipo^ or to have arrived 

 *' at Nieban*^ is no longer a prieft of the divine 

 order. To what can he be compared ? In the 

 fame manner as a palm-tree cut through the middle 

 can never be rejoined, fo as to live; in fuch man- 

 ner fliall this ambitious prieft be unworthy of being 

 ** efteemed as belonging to the facred order. Where- 

 " fore, O young prieft, during the whole of your life 

 " avoid fuch criminal excefs. The young prieft 

 *' fhall anfvver. Verily my lord I have heard all, that 

 *' even till now vou have faid." 



END OF THE BOOK KAMMUA. 



The month ot N'a?niau7ig, the fecond of the Burma 



year, is the feafon in which young men are admitted 



VOL. VI. U into 



* Wk have already explained tie meaning of Zian and Niebart» 

 Meipo is faid to mean thofe prerogatives, whicli are exercifed by fuch as, 

 quite free from worldly thoughts, employ dieir time entirely in fublime 

 meditations. What a wide difference is here between the prieUs of the 

 £urmas and of the Hindus f 



