378 Analysis of the Kah-gyur. [Sept. 



Of the great dogma of Buddhism, the determination of Sunyatd, emp- 

 tiness or unreality, eighteen varieties are enumerated. 



The specification of these varieties however does not furnish a very 

 precise notion of what is meant, and it is not easy to understand what 

 is intended by the doctrine that " nothing is," especially when associated 

 with the eternity of matter, and even of an eternal first cause. In 

 one point of view, it is a mere logical subtlety. All things are liable 

 to change, the only state of which eternal identity can be predica- 

 ted, is non-existence — nothingness. That which never is can never 

 perish, and is therefore the only one enduring invariable principle in 

 creation. 



Sunyatd may also be regarded in a figurative sense, as the illusory 

 nature of all corporeal and mundane existence. 



These and the other speculations contained in these volumes are 

 said to have been taught by Sakya in his 53rd year, 16 years 

 after he had attained the degree of a Buddha, when he resided on the 

 mountain of Gridhra-kuta, near Raja Griha. In some cases he de- 

 livers his instruction direct ; in others he replies to questions put to him 

 by propositions, which his disciples discuss, and thus elicit the answer 

 for themselves. 



The first compiler of the Prajnd Pdramitd was Kasyapa, the suc- 

 cessor of Sakya in the hierarchy. The work was translated in the ninth 

 century by the Indian pundits Jinamitra and Surenora Bodhi, and 

 the Tibetan interpreter Ye-shes-de. As I had occasion to notice, on 

 a former occasion, the Society is in possession of the Sanscrit original 

 of the Sata Sahasrikd, or work in 1 00,000 stanzas ; one entire 

 copy and three sections of a second in the Lan-ja character ; and one 

 entire set in Devanagari, in five large volumes. 



III. — Phal-ch'hen. 



The third division of the Kah-gyur is called in Tibetan Sangs- 

 gyas phdl po ctthe, or by contraction Phdl ch'hen. In Sanscrit Bud- 

 dha avatansakay the crest or diadem of the Buddhas. 



In the general account of the Kah-gyur, the terra is given Bud- 

 dhavata-Sanga, association of Buddhas, but the present is probably the 

 correcter reading. 



It is of much less extent than either of the preceding portions, con- 

 taining only six volumes of a connected series, which detail in 45 sec- 

 tions legends relating to different Tathdgatas and Bodhisatwas, and a 

 description of the different regions of the universe, agreeably to Bud- 

 dha cosmology, interspersed with recommendations of the moral practices 

 of the system. These legends and lessons are narrated chiefly by 



