684 Note on the language of the Buddhist Scriptures. [Aug. 



principles without which the vulgar creed would be (for us), mere lea- 

 ther and prunella ! Nor is this opinion in the least opposed to your 

 notion (mine too) that the practical system of belief, deduced from those 

 principles, was spread among the people of the spot as well as propa- 

 gated to remoter spots by means of the vernacular. 



It is admitted that Buddhism was long taught in Ceylon without the 

 aid of books : and that the first book reached that island nearly 30O 

 years after the introduction of the creed. 



Here is a distinct admission of what I long since inferred from the 

 general character of the religion of Sa'kya in that island, viz. the pro- 

 tracted total want, and ultimate imperfect supply, of those standard 

 written authorities of the sect which regulated belief and practice in 

 Magadha, Kosala and Rajagriha, — in a word, in the Metropolis of 

 Buddhism. From this metropolis the authorities in question were 

 transferred directly and immediately to the proximate hills of Nepal, 

 where and where only, I believe, they are now to be found. If not 

 translations, the books of Ceylon have all the appearance of being 

 ritual collectanea, legendary hearsays, and loose comments on received 

 t ex ts — all which would naturally be written in the vulgar tongue*. 

 To these, however, we must add some very important historical annals, 

 detailing the spread and diffusion of Buddhism. Similar annals are 

 yet found in Tibet, but, as far as I know not in Nepdl, for what rea- 

 son it is difficult to divine. 



But these annals, however valuable to us, for historical uses, are 

 not the original written standard of faith ; and until I see the 

 Prajnd Pdramita and the nine Dharmasf produced from Ceylon, I must 

 continue of the opinion that the Buddhists of that island drew their 

 faith from secondary, not primary sources ; and that whilst the for- 

 mer were in Ceylon as elsewhere, vernacular ; the latter were in Ma- 

 gadha and Kosala, as they are still in Nepal, classical or Sanskrit ! 



Certainly Buddhism, considered in the practical view of a religious 

 system, always appealed to the common sense and interest of the 

 many, inscribing its most sacred texts (Sanskrit and Prakrit) on tem- 

 ple walls and on pillars, placed in market, high-road and cross-road. 



* Such works written in the vulgar tongue are common in Nepdl and frequently 

 we have a Sanskrit text with a vernacular running commentary. 



t They have one of the 9, viz., the Lallita Vistara ,• but M. Burnouf 

 assures me, in a miserably corrupted state. Now, as this work is forthcoming 

 in a faultless state in Sanskrit, I say the Pali version must be a translation. 

 (Await Mr. Turnour's extracts and translations before pronouncing judg- 

 ment. — Ed.) 



