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Now, certainly, there are parts of this Bauddha doctrine, which would not be incre- dible in themselves, if the authority which guaranteed them to us were sufficient; as for instance, that more than one agent may co-exist in the same Divine Being, and again, that one who lived in the weakness of humanity, sin only excepted, may now be exalted so as to be our representative of Deity, and a proper object of worship. Then, again, as to miracles, or acts of preternatural power, if they were also acts of goodness and beneficence, I see no objection to admitting them as divine credentials; and, again, that religious doctrines may be ex- pressed in writing, or even important fects recorded in books, by men under the influence of a divine teaching, so that they may hand down after death the truths with which they were inspired, appears to me highly credible, and indeed only a result, such as spiritual feeling, which we ascribe, like you, to heavenly grace, would naturally produce, when once brought in contact with the practical understanding of mankind, which we also ascribe to divine providence. If the words of any living teachers were worth listening to, their writings after death will be about equally so. Then, again, it must be fully allowed, that the spread of the Bauddha faith by the innocent means of missions and preaching, may stand for one of the most remarkable facts in the history of the world. DIFFICULTIES OP BUDDHISM. 161 " When, however, we ask, what was the authority of Gdtaina, very great difficulties arise in the way of proving it satisfactorily^ In the first place, if we examine the miracles you have alluded to, I certainly have read extraordinary things in the Mahiwansa, but they are of a kind which repels rather than persuades me. For instance, Mahinda, as the missionary of Ceylon, is said to have travelled through the air ; and something similar is related of his predecessor G6tama. Certain demons, or Yakkas, are represented as shivering around the Bauddha teacher, and as being alternately terrified and pitied by him. Then there are certain alliances of a strange kind. There is a king, for ex- ample, married to a female Yakka ; I mean Vigaya ; and per- haps one ought not to wonder at his marriage being strange, since his descent was extraordinary; for he is made the grand- son, I think, of a lion. Then, probably, you remember strange stories about serpents; and how a king, called Susunaga, ob- tained his name from a serpent's watching over him, and being frightened {8u, Su) by the people of the city. You may, in- deed, object, that I am quoting from a Ceylonese book, of some- what less authority than your Nepaulese Sutras, or the three Pitakas. But so far as I have seen the Sutras, they also abound in stories of a marvellous kind ; or at least the legends of Soya's birth and life, of his contest at Sravasti, and general career, are different from ordinary history; but this is implied in your own appeal to miracles. " Now, of all such narratives we may say generally, that if they are brought within the range of that Sinkhya philosophy which you praise, their credibility will be in danger. For men moving through the air, and sitting on fiery cushions in the midst of demons, and princesses marrying lions, are effects which would not be contained in any cause with which we are acquainted. You do not find such things happen now-ar-days, because in fact there are no causes in nature likely to produce them. Why then should they ever have happened? If a sapematural power introduces a new cause we may expect an M.P. 11 162 UNSATISFACTORY MIRACLES. extraordinary effect ; and you have ingeniously remarked, that there is no reason why the Deity should not teach mankind often. But first, this argument from supposition of the Divine interference is somewhat less open to you, venerable Muni, than to people in general ; since you are not strongly convinced of there being a Deity, and if there be, you think he suffers Nature to take care of herself. The more then you fall back upon mere nature, the more imperatively are you boimd, by the Sdnkhya wisdom which you praise, to make all your assertions of results consistent with the most regular operation of causes clearly inhe- rent in nature. " But secondly, if the Deity works wonders in order to teach, we cannot doubt that such wonderfiil lessons will be instructive ; they will have something in them calculated to teach men. Whereas, except so far as some of the stories in the Pitakas may tend to magnify the personal renown of G6tama, the wonders I have alluded to in your books have in general no moral meaning ; they do not set forth the connexion of human suffer- ing with moral disorder, or shew the Divine mercy healing pain in proportion as it removes sin, or, in short, do anything but strike ns as something extraordinary. Then why should our scrupulous friend Sad4nanda here believe effects to have arisen of which he finds no causes in nature ? you say, because they are written in your books. Then, excepting only from my next remark those moral precepts which many believe to have made up the original Sutras, as containing the doctrine of Sdkya, and supposing all those, so far as they were arranged at your first council, to be genuine, I must take a great objection to mere records of won- derful incidents in books written confessedly some hundreds of years after the date of the supposed event. Such an interval of time is allowed in the case of the Cingalese Mahdwansa, though I do not know how far in respect of some of the continental Pitakas. " You will see how great a difficulty such a fact involves, if you consider the tendency of all stories to grow (especially if TRADITION AND INSPIRATION. 163 thej are wonderfiil) in passing almost from one mouth to another. Mere oral tradition thus constantly expands itself even in a few hours, and in the course of a few years may do so indefinitely. How much more then in the interval of a century or two, when a whole generation has both caught firom its father's lips all the expansions of their fancy, and had time to superadd those of its own? Nor does your answer satisfy me, that your sacred books, although in some cases removed firom the date of the events, were still written in the age of inspiration. For although we believe firmly that the Holy Spirit of God enlightens the mind of man, we yet observe such enlightenment to have its most proper sphere as regards heavenly things, or spiritual doctrines, rather than the record of earthly events ; and so far as it acts even upon this latter order of things, it does so by an extension of its purifying influence through the legitimate faculties of the understanding, rather than by setting them arbitrarily aside. For example, it would deepen a sacred writer's perception of the Divine dealings as shewn in earthly events, and by awaken- ing in him a more reverential attention would also fortify his powers of memory, and perhaps might act in other ways of this kind. But as to any dream, that events which have happened in former generations of men are first suffered to be forgotten, and then revealed over again in circumstantial particularity in order to be recorded in writing, 1 have as yet found no clear instance of such a revelation in the history of mankind any- where, and shall never admit it except upon very clear proof. For, hitherto, in proportion as any one has preferred on behalf of sacred books claims of this latter kind, either error or impos- ture has been found to prevail. Pardon me if I point out to yourself what a learned man (Mr Tumour) has shewn in refer- ence to the Mahdwansa. He there finds a prediction by G6tama of the conversion of Ceylon to the Bauddha faith. This book was written for Ceylon. But on referring to the continental Pitakas the whole passage containing that prediction does not occur. If it does, you can shew it me now. But if it does not, the 11—2 164 THE ODYSSEY IN CEYLON. inference becomes too clear, that the prophecy was one inserted after the event, not having been in the original books. Con- sider also that very curious story of Vigaya marrying the female Takka. His companions have been bewitched by her. He by wisdom and firmness resists her blandishments, until with drawn sword he has both compelled their deliverance, and extorted from her a sacred oath of true alliance.