1836.] with DeM-ndgari Inscriptions at Tagoung. 159 



among Buddhists. Before giving the Burmese explanation of these 

 two lines, I must premise, that according to their system of belief, 

 there are four Theettsa, fundamental truths, or moral laws in the uni- 

 verse, a knowledge of which Gaudama attained intuitively at day- 

 break of the morning on which he was perfected into a Buddha under 

 the pipal-tree at Gaya, and therefore, one of his titles is Thamma 

 tham-bouddhattha, said to mean, he who intuitively acquired a know- 

 ledge of the four Theettsa. These four Theettsa are called Doukkha 

 Theettsa, Thamoudaya Theettsa, Niraudha Theettsa, and Megga Theettsa. 



1 . Doukkha Theettsa means the law of suffering and being, to which 

 all sentient beings are certainly subject whilst revolving, according to 

 the destiny of their good or evil conduct, in the three different states 

 of existence, whether as a Nat or inferior celestial being, a man, or a 

 brute. 



2. Thamoudaya Theettsa is the law of evil desires and passions, by 

 which all sentient beings are certainly affected. 



3. Niraudha Theettsa is the termination of or emancipation from 

 the operation of the two preceding laws. Not being subject to age, 

 sickness, death, or misery, and being in a state of ease, quiescence and 

 duration uninterrupted. This is Neibban. 



4. Megga Theettsa is the cause or the way of reaching the last, and 

 is explained by some to be the Meggen Sheet ba, or the eight good 

 ways, which, as translated by Mr. Judson, are right opinion, right 

 intention, right words, right actions, right way of supporting life, 

 rightly directed intelligence, caution, and serenity. Others explain it 

 to be the Meg le dan, four grand ways, or four grand orders of Ariya, 

 each subdivided into two classes, and an Ariya is a man who has 

 extinguished evil desires and passions, and attained proficiency in 

 certain virtues and miraculous powers. 



Now the Burmese say, that Gaudama's doctrine shows, that the 

 first of the above Theettsas is the effect, and the second the cause, 

 and that the third only can emancipate us from the eternal thraldom 

 and suffering of the two first, and that this third is to be obtained 

 only by means of the fourth. The lines are thus literally translated : 



"The law (of suffering and being) proceeds from a cause, which 

 cause (the law of evil desires and passions) the Tathagata preaches, 

 and Niraudha, the means of overcoming or terminating those (two 

 laws). These are the opinions of Maha Thamana, or the great Yahan. 



Dhamma, according to the Burmese, is not " human actions," or 

 " all sentient existences" only, but the law which governs or affects 

 them, the fundamental law of the moral world. 



All that the Burmese know of the emigration from Central India, 



