176 Bibliographical Notice. [No. 2. 



can be made to express properly the many sounds of the Indian 

 alphabet, and at the same time bear in mind that the Chinese transla- 

 tions of Sanskrit words frequently offer no clue to the selection of one 

 of several Sanskrit synonyms in translating the word back into San- 

 skrit. This uncertainty of choice is augmented by the circumstance 

 that Buddhists when writing Sanskrit now and then use words in a 

 sense differing from that attaching to them in the classical idiom. 

 In order to find the word which and which only would correspond 

 with that of the Chinese text, examples required to be collected 

 which admitted of no doubt, and which would serve afterwards to 

 decide the meaning in doubtful cases. These examples occurring in 

 Chinese-Buddhistical works must have become very numerous, for 

 since the end of the second century A. D., when the translation 

 of Indian books into the language of the celestial empire first 

 commenced, five classes of Indian words had become fixed by unalter- 

 able rules, and, for various reasons, could not be translated into 

 Chinese, but only admitted of being transcribed in Chinese charac- 

 ters. Stanislas Julien has given a detailed notice (Pref. p. xvii.) 

 of his labours to secure a sure guide for the restoration of the two 

 different kinds of Sanskrit words. The means which Chinese liter- 

 ature afforded to him were two-fold ; Syllabaria, in which Indian 

 words are transcribed in Chinese characters, which however berns 

 incomplete were but of little assistance : and Vocabularies, in 

 which Buddhist expressions are explained, and which were of course 

 most useful. Besides a very imperfect vocabulary available in Paris, 

 Stanislas Julien made use of two rare MSS. of this kind belonging 

 to the Arabic Department of the St. Petersburgh library. One of 

 them contains an almost complete collection of the sounds and their 

 meanings of such Sanskrit words as occur in the sacred writings of 

 the Thang Dynasty era and is the compilation of Juen-sing (about 

 649 A. D.) who was employed as a translator by the convent of Great 

 Beneficence and was a fellow-labourer with Hiouen Thsang. The 

 second vocabulary furnished a collection of Indian names translated 

 into Chinese, and is the work of a monk of the convent King-te-the 

 between the years 1 143—1157. By comparing the numerous San- 

 scrit words and notes explanatory of them, contained in the above 

 two MSS. Stanislas Julien collected a considerable stock of such 



