CEYLON BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 13 



ON BUDHISM. 



(BY THE REV. D. J. GOGEELY.) 



Read Feb. 4, 1846. 



The paper I have the honor to submit to the Society is 

 a translation of the first sermon in the series of discourses 

 attributed to Groutama Budha, and I have made the selec- 

 tion for two reasons ; the first of which is, that a comparison 

 may be instituted between the sacred books of the Budhists 

 as they exist in Ceylon, and as they exist in Nepal. The 

 necessity for this comparison being instituted is, that writers 

 of high character have represented the Budhism of Nepal 

 to be a theistical system ; that is, acknowledging one Su- 

 preme Being, the intelligent and powerful Creator of all 

 things : which doctrine, if I am not mistaken, is opposed in 

 the second section of the fourth division of this discourse, 

 which treats of the opinion, that some beings exist for ever 

 in an unchangeable state, while others are liable to trans- 

 migration. Budha affirms, that no other reasons than those 

 he has mentioned can be adduced in favor of the four opi- 

 nions held on this subject: it is the first of these opinions 

 alone which refers to one being as the Creator ; the other 

 three appearing to be that matter and spirit, including the 

 entire order of sentient beings, have existed from eternity, 

 and will exist throughout eternity, although some beings 

 are mutable and others immutable. The first opinion, how- 

 ever, expressly maintains the doctrine that all things, at 

 least all sentient beings, were made by one, himself unmade. 

 Budha declares this opinion to be incorrect, and affirms that 

 the being, supposed to be the Creator of all, the source of 

 existence, is himself in reality in the course of transmi- 

 gration, and that he is by no means the highest in the class 

 of transmigrating beings, inasmuch as he transmigrated 

 from the Abassara Brahma Loka, which is only the sixth in 

 the series. That series he has explained in the Wibangap- 

 prakarana of the Abhidamma ; he states that there are six- 

 teen Brahma Lokas, or worlds, an existence in which may 

 be obtained by the course of profound meditation named 

 Jhana ; the course consisting of four divisions, called the 

 first, second, third, and fourth jhanas, a pre-requisite to 

 each of them being a freedom from immorality and the pos- 

 session of internal purity. Each jhana is also divided into 

 three sections, namely, parittan or inferior, madjhiman or 



