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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



would be of no general interest to detail. The following 

 account, it is hoped, will be thought sufficient : — 



1. Charity, or giving. — There are two danas, dmisaddnam 

 and dhammaddnam, the gift of temporal and the gift of 

 spiritual blessings. The former is giving any of the four 

 priestly-requisites : clothing, food, dwelling-place, medicine, 

 and the like. It includes, for example, building places of 

 shelter for pilgrims and travellers ; maintaining hospitals 

 for the sick ; offering robes, beds, chairs, carpets, palan- 

 quins, &c, to the priests ; offering flowers, whether made 

 into garlands or not, camphor, sandal-wood, &c, before the 

 image of Buddha. The latter is the recital of the sayings of 

 Buddha. A layman is said to perform it either by preaching 

 himself, or by getting a priest or priests to preach, and 

 incurring all the necessary expenses, or by receiving into 

 his heart the words of Buddha when preached by the priests. 

 The priesthood perform it by teaching and preachiDg the 

 doctrines of Buddha. 



2. Piety, or observance of the commandments of 

 Buddha. — The laity are bound always to keep the panca 

 sil, or five chief commandments : not to kill, nor steal, nor 

 commit adultery, nor lie, nor drink fermented liquor ; this 

 is the ordinary mode of performing this act of merit. The 

 pious, however, frequently keep the ata sil, or eight com- 

 mandments, for the space of twenty-four hours on the four 

 days of the quarters of the moon. The eight commandments 

 are the above five and the next four (which are reckoned, 

 for this purpose, as three), namely, not to take solid food 

 after mid-day; not to go to places of amusement, with 

 which is joined the command to abstain from the use of 

 unguents and gay clothes ; and not to use a high or large 

 couch, by which apparently is meant to mortify the flesh 

 by sleeping on the floor or on a hard bed, or the like. And 

 for the time that the ata sil are observed, a man does not 

 sleep with his wife, nor a woman with her husband. On 

 these days they wear only white clothes, and leave their 

 right shoulder bare. Deacons perform this act by keeping 

 the ten commandments ; priests perform it by keeping all 



