42-1- 



LANGUAGES, Sic. OF THE 



aslvell as beginning of wisdom, than the establishment of any particular dogmas 

 of philosophy or religion : and from the evidence of this great work it would 

 appear, that the old Bauddha philosophers were rather sceptics than atheists. 



The Prajnd Parmita is a work of the same character as the Racha 

 Bhagavati, of which it is esteemed by some Bauddhas to be the etymon : 

 and by those persons it is said, that the Racha Bhagavati is only an expansion 

 of the principles and reasonings contained in the Prajnd Parmita. 



The nine Dharmas are as follows : 



1 Prajnd Parmita. 



2 Ganda Vyuha. 



3 Dasa Bhumeswara, 



4 Samddhi Raja. 



5 Lankdvatdra. 



6 Sat Dharma Pimdarika, 



7 Tathdgata GuhyaJca. 



8 Lalita Vistdra. 



9 Subarana Prabhd. 



Divine worship is constantly offered to these nine works, as the Nava 

 Dharma^ by the Bauddhas of Nepal, but why to them in particular, and not 

 to all the works of the Bauddhas I cannot ascertain. With the exception 

 of the first, they are chiefly of a narrative kind ; but interspersed with much 

 occasional speculative matter. One of them (the Lalita Vistdr) is the original 

 authority for all those versions of the history of Sakya Sinha, which have crept, 

 though various channels, into the notice of Europeans. I esteem myself for- 

 tunate in having been the first to discover and procure copies of these im- 

 portant works. To read and meditate them is not for me, but I venture to 

 hint, that by so doing, only can a knowledge of genuine Buddhism be acquired. 



