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This is shewn in the following passage recording the resolve of 

 Maha Kassapa to hold a general Council immediately after the 

 death of the great Master. 



« Kassapa was thunderstruck at hearing such unbecoming language 

 from the mouth of the Rabat Supat [Subaddo, the first Buddhist heretic]. 

 He said to himself : If at this time, when there are but seven days since 

 Buddha entered Neibban, there are to be found people holding such a lan- 

 guage, what will happen hereafter. These persons will soon have followers 

 who will embrace the profession of Rahats ; and then the true religion 

 will be totally subverted, the excellent law shall be in the hands of such 

 persons, like a heap of unstrung flowers that are scattered by the wind. 

 The only remedy to such an impending misfortune, is to assemble a 

 Council composed of all the true disciples, who, by their decisions, shall 

 insure stability to religion, and fix the meaning of every portion of the 

 law, contained in the Vinaya, the Sutras, and the Abhidhamma. I am, as 

 it were, bound to watch over the religion of Buddha, because of the 

 peculiar predilection he has ever shewn to me. On one occasion I 

 walked wiih Buddha, the distance of three gauwas ; during that time he 

 preached to me, and at the end of the instruction, we made an exchange 

 of our tsiwarans, and I put on his own. He said ' Kassapa is like the 

 moon ; three times he has obtained the inheritance of the law. His affection 

 to my person, his zeal for my religion, has never been equalled. After 

 my demise it will behove him to stem the current of evil, to humble the 

 wicked, and condemn their false teachings as subversive of the genuine 

 doctrine. With such energetic means, my religion shall remain pure 

 and undented, and its tenets shall not be lost and drowned in the midst 

 of the raging waves of errors.' Therefore, said the great disciple, I will 

 hold an assembly of all the disciples, for the promotion and exaltation of 

 the holy religion." " As soon as the funerals of the most excellent Phra 

 (Buddha) shall have been performed with a becoming solemnity, I shall 

 congregate together the most zealous and learned members of the 

 assembly, and with their united efforts and energy, I will oppose the 

 spreading of false doctrines which obscure the true ones. I will put 

 down the newly invented erroneous disciplinary regulations, by setting 



