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CEYLON BEANCII — EOYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



the paths in which it must be attained. He appears not to 

 have depended on miracles or family influence for success, 

 but relied solely on his own powers as a teacher; not com- 

 missioned by another, but being the head and chief of all, 

 through his holiness and knowledge ; having neither superior 

 nor equal. 



It has been asked if Braminism preceded Budhisin, and 

 this has sometimes been answered in the negative : but the 

 extracts I have made shew, that the Bramins were in exist- 

 ence prior to Goutama professing to be Budha, and that they 

 claimed respect from all classes. The form of Braminism 

 then existing is not so clear, but probably the Yedahs were 

 in existence for the term e^^^ocg wedantagu, may either 

 mean being learned in the Yedas, or being well acquainted 

 with learning generally, and offerings to Agni, the god of 

 fire, are frequently referred to. They also had the direction 

 of sacrifices, for in several discourses the family Bramin is 

 represented as directing the ceremonies. 



It has also been doubted whether Goutama really taught 

 that Nirwana was a complete extinction of being, as some 

 authors write of his being with the preceding Budhas in the 

 hall of glory, free from farther transmigration. Unless these 

 writers had access to sacred books of the Budhists, unknown 

 in Ceylon, this statement can only have arisen from a mis- 

 understanding of the terms used. In the discourse translated, 

 Goutama's last words are epcs@<es3<§3@35£<8 s^sSSe,^} g<*nft3 

 q)^©d ayamantima jati, natthidani punabbawo. This is the 

 last jati, not, is now, another Bawo; The term signifies 

 the commencement of a form of existence in any state of 

 being whether by birth as among men, or by instantaneously 

 appearing in a perfect form (called ©oeo^asa) opapatica, as 

 in the Brahma worlds and other places. So that when he 

 says this is my last jati, or birth, no other meaning can be 

 attached to it by the Budliist than this : That he was to 



