430 Remarks on Remusafs Review of Buddhism. [Sept. 



neuse etoit le principe de solidity, d'ou naquit la roue d'or qui soutient 

 et protege la terre." Prajna in the form of light (her pravrittika mani- 

 festation) was the principle of solidity, whence proceeded the wheel of 

 gold which sustains and protects the earth. Solidity, the diagnostic 

 quality of the element of earth, stands for that element ; and the wheel 

 of gold is mount Meru, the distinctive attribute of which is protecting 

 and sustaining power : this passage, therefore, simply announces the 

 evolution of the element of earth, with its mythological appendage, 

 mount Merii. But, according to all the authorities within my know- 

 ledge, earth is the last evolved of the material elements. Nor did I 

 ever meet with an instance, such as here occurs, of the direct inter- 

 vention of the first cause (Prajna) in the midst of this evolution of the 

 elements. " Le contact mutuel du vent et du metal produit le feu et 

 la lumiere, qui sont les principes des changemens." The mutual con- 

 tact of the elements of air and of earth produced fire and light, which 

 are the principles of change. This is intelligible, allowance being 

 made for palpable mistakes. I understand by it, merely the evolution 

 out of the element of air of that of fire, of which light is held to be a 

 modification. To the igneous element is ascribed the special pro- 

 perty of heat, which is assumed by our author as the principle of all 

 changes and transformations. Metal for earth is an obvious misappre- 

 hension of Remusat's. Nor less so is the false allocation of this ele- 

 ment (earth) in the general evolution of the five, and its introduction 

 here. 



" La lumiere precieuse engendre la liquidite qui bouillonne a la sur- 

 face de la lumiere ignee, d'on provient le tourbillon d'eau qui embrasse 

 les mondes." 



Prajna (in the form of light) produces the liquidity which boils on. 

 the surface of igneous light, whence proceeds the element of water 

 embracing the world. 



This figurative nonsense, when reduced to plain prose, merely an- 

 nounces the evolution of the element of water from that of fire. Our 

 terrestrial globe rests upon the waters like a boat, according to the 

 Buddhists ; and hence the allusion (embracing the world) of the text. 

 What is deserving of notice is the direct interference, a second time, 

 (and in respect to earth, a third time,) of the causa causans with the 

 procession of the elements, one from another. All my authorities are 

 silent in regard to any such repeated and direct agency ; which amounts 

 in fact, to creation properly so called — a tenet directly opposed to the 

 fundamental doctrine of all the Swobhavikas. Certain Buddhists hold 

 the opinion, that all material substances in the versatile world have no 

 existence independent of human perception. But that the Chinese 



