J 002 Dr. Heifer's Third Report [Dec. 



ney, depositing them in certain reputed places in the jungles, and 

 sometimes under small sheds, near their houses. The Burmese have 

 a strictly observed ceremonial, external worship, celebrated in tem- 

 ples, pagodas, &c, &c. 



If it is true that morals cannot exist without a positive religion, 

 and that morals cannot be maintained without the notion of a future 

 state of rewards and punishments, the people of this portion of the 

 world cannot be in our sense moral, for the Seelongs and Kareans 

 have no established religion, and the religious creed of the Burmese 

 even excludes a continued active state after death. 



Buddhism. — The leading features of Buddhism are predestination, 

 metempsychosis, and final annihilation or absorption. 



The principal moral precepts of Buddhism are the following, — 



1. Eschewing every kind of evil. 



2. Fulfilling of good. 



3. Purifying or cleansing of the heart ; which latter again is ob- 

 tained by Neggen sheet ba, or the eight good ways, which are, i. Cau- 

 tion, ii. Security, iii. Rightly directed intelligence, iv. Right actions. 

 v. Right words, vi. Right opinions, vii. Right intentions, viii. Right 

 way of supporting life. According with the destiny of their good or 

 evil actions all men pass after death into certain forms, become nats, 

 or a lower degree of spiritual beings, or they continue to be men, or 

 they turn into brutes. The highest degree of perfection to which any 

 being can or will come, after passing through numerous grades of nat 

 existence, is Neibban, or annihilation, or following the translation of 

 others, an existence in a perfect state of quiescence. This is the essence 

 of Buddhism, a religion generally diffused over a great portion of Asia ; 

 probably, counting no less disciples than Mahometanism or Chris- 

 tianity. Most of the people are satisfied with performing the rites 

 of their religion, without attempting to understand its theology, and 

 even among the priests few are able to expound their religious tenets, 

 because there are few who can read and write Pali, in which lan- 

 guage their religious system is written. 



They content themselves with the recitation of certain prayers, in- 

 vocations, &c. and, the priests as well as the mass of the people, find it 

 much easier to perform external ceremonies. The Buddhist adherents 

 do not try to make converts, at least not in this country, and they are 

 equally tolerant to all sects ; they do not affirm that their creed is the 

 best or alone true, but say it is that religion fitted best to their coun- 

 try, state, and individuality, and they adhere strictly to this faith. 



Conversions to Christianity in Tenasserim, — Few Burmese turn 



