BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 441 



This second appellation is derived from the Sanscrit name for that abstracted 

 musing which has found more or less favour with almost all the Asiatic reli- 

 gionists, but which is peculiarly and pre-eminently characteristic of Buddhism^ 



The epithet I)]iydni, however, as applied to a class of Buddhas, is obvious- 

 ly capable of an atheistic interpretation, indeed hardly less so than the Md- 

 niishi, to which it is opposed : and what therefore I desire to observe is, that 

 the Aislvuoarikas (beyond the bounds of Nepal too) ascribe this creative 

 Dhydn to a self-existent, infinite, and omniscient " Adi Buddha,'* one of 

 whose attributes is the partial possession of five sorts of wisdom. Hence he 

 is called " Pdnchajnyana Atmikd ;" and it was by virtue of these five sorts of 

 wisdom, that he, by five successive acts of Dhydn, created from the begin- 

 ning, and in the duration of the present world, the Pancha Buddha DhydnL'" 



The names and graduation of these Jnydns, Dhydns, and Buddhas are thus : 



Jnydnas. Dhydnas. Buddhas. 



1. Suvisuddha Dharma Dhdtu, The Z)%aM of creation is called I. Vairochana. 



2. Adarshana. by one generic name Loha 2. Akshohhya. 



3. Prativekshana. Sansarjana, and by five re- 3. Retnasambhava, 



4. Santa. petitions of this, the five 4. Amitdbha, 



5. Kritydnushthun. Buddhas veere created. 5. Amoghasiddha^ 



It might be expected, that the supreme Buddha having created these five 

 celestials, would have devolved on them the active cares of the creation and 

 government of the world ; not so, however ; the genius of genuine Buddhism 

 is eminently quiescent, and hence these most exalted aeons are relieved from 

 the degradation of action. Each of them receives, together with his existence, 

 the virtues of that Jnydn and Dhydn, to the exertion of which, by Adi Buddha^ 

 he owed his existence, and by a similar exertion of both, he again produces a 

 Dhydni Bodhisatwa. The Dhydni Bodhisafwas are, one by one, in succession. 



