CEYLON BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



45 



publicly makes them known. Of these he may speak who 

 correctly declares the real excellencies of the Tatagato. 



Priests, there are some Samanas and Bramins who hold 

 that existence is not the result of a previously existing cause, 

 and for two reasons teach that the soul and the world are 

 not the results of causation, (a) 



Upon what principle and upon what account do these 

 Samanas and Bramins hold that existence is not the result 

 of a previous existing cause, and for two reasons teach that 

 the soul and the world are not the results of previous cau- 

 sation. There are, Priests, some Gods who have no consci- 

 ousness of existence: (b) when the period arrives that cons- 

 ciousness is produced they cease to exist in that state. It 

 then, Priests, happens that some one of them ceasing to ex- 

 ist in that state is born in this world, and afterwards re- 

 nouncing the world he becomes a recluse : being thus a 

 houseless priest he subjects his passions, is constant and 

 persevering in the practice of virtue, and by profound and 



(a) ^c3&) esgdoeritSsM By ^c3&) ssgdasi^o birth or produc- 

 tion without a cause, is understood becoming existent without 

 any previously existing reason for that existence. Budha holds 

 g69 ss|jdasDS3o existence from a cause, but that cause is a 

 moral one, as explained in my last paper : He says ^E)dd5 c§B 

 fiSo£)3<3) &c. i. e. on account of ignorance of the doctrines taught 

 by him eaoSbd) zno©6xOo Ba^as^-^oo &c. up to birth ddo 



decay and ©<5<^ death are produced. The epc3s) ee§}e£3sf*9«)3 

 teach that man's existence is a new existence, without any pre- 

 vious cause, and without a Creator. Budha acknowledges that 

 man's existence is a new existence, he acknowledges that man is 

 not created, but he affirms that the moral qualities of a pre- 

 viously existing being is the seed of present existence. This 

 present tree of existence grows from the seed of actions pre- 

 viously performed, as the tree now existent grows from seed 

 taken from a previously existing tree : it is not the tree from 

 which the seed was taken, but it could not have existed if the 

 previous tree had not existed and borne fruit : that fruit is £o:>- 

 «5,S3 attachment to existing objects whether corporeal or mental. 

 A Rah at is a tree : but he is free from (^03<^«) and therefore 

 bears no fruit, in consequence of which no future tree will exist. 

 The series terminates at his death :. there is a cessation from ex- 

 istence. This is Nirwana. 



(6) epea.^.^ ee&5)3 the 13th of the Brahma worlds, the dura- 

 tion of existence is 500 kalpas, according to the Abhidarma di- 

 vision of the sacred Books : they have 0^o-2jS)sis>S)3 a body : 

 and d?£>*§£d§c3o life, but no feeling, no perception, no thought, 

 no consciousness ; and have no sustenance of any kind, 



