ANALYSIS OF THE MBO. 413 



of several individuals, with allusions to the sixty or sixty-four arts, to me- 

 dicine, astronomy, and astrology. There are many stories to exemplify 

 the consequences of actions in former transmigrations ; descriptions of ortho- 

 dox and heterodox theories ; moral and civil laws ; the six kinds of ani- 

 mal beings ; the places of their habitations, and the causes of their being born 

 there ; cosmogony and cosmography, according to the Budclhistic notions ; 

 the provinces of several Buddhas ; exemplary conduct of life of any Bod- 

 Jiisatwa or saint; and, in general, all the 12 kinds of the Buddhistic scriptures 

 are to be found here. There are, likewise, many treatises that were delivered 

 on the special request of some real or fictitious individuals. This is the ge- 

 neral mode employed for illustrating and confirming any established dogma, 

 customs, or manners, among the Buddhists. 



The contents, in the order of the 30 volumes, are as follow : — 



Ka, or fiest volume. 



This has for its title " ^skal-hzatig" the good or happy age ; or, more 

 fully, in Tib. lipliags-pa-hs]ml-pa-h%ang-po-2W-'^hh-hya-va-fheg-pa-chlie7i- 

 pohi-mdo." In Sans. " A^rya bhadra kalpiJea ndma mahd ydna sutrar " The 

 very venerable sutra, entitled, ' of the excellent happy age'." There are 

 two images on the first x^age, representing Sha'kya and Maitreya. The 

 salutation is thus — Reverence to all Buddhas and Bodhisatwas" (in Tib. 

 Sa7igs-xgyas-dmig-hyang-chliuh-sems-dpah4liams-chad-la-pliyag-h^ 



This si'dra was delivered by ^CHOM-iDAN-z/DAS (Shakya) in a place 

 called in Tibetan, " "Yslial-chlien-por " the great grove," on his way from 

 Shravdsti (Mnyan-yod, in Tibetan) to Vaishdli (" Yangs-pa-chan"' in Tibetan, 

 or the modern AllaJiabad,) on the request of a Bodhisatwa (called in Tibetan, 

 J^CH'HOG-DU-z)GAH-VAHi-i?GYAL-Po). His hcarcrs were immense numbers 

 of religious and secular persons of both sexes, Bodhisativas, and several classes 

 of gods and demons. 



T 2 



