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As the world is at four bars within the circular apsis of the sistruxn represented the agitation of the four elements within the compass of the world, by which all things are continually destroyed and reproduced. The Gnostics of the Alexandrian school taught that as the G-odhead can never have been unemployed, an endless series of worlds must have preceded the present, and an endless series of words will follow it. — Giesler, Text-Book of Eccles. Hist. Similar opinions were entertained by the Druids and Mexicans. — Faber's Origin of Pagan Idolatry, vol. i. cap. ii : " Concerning the Pagan Doctrine of a Suc- cession of similar Worlds." But by the Peripatetics and others a different doctrine was taught They were of opinion that the world had never been created and cauld never be destroyed ; as they could trace in the universe no seminal principles, they believed it to be " fatherless and eternal, destitute of origin, and beyond the influence of fate." " Violent corruptions and muta- tions take place in the parts of the earth ; at one time, indeed, the sea over- flowing into another part of the earth ; but at another, the earth itself becoming dilated and divulsed, through wind or water latently entering into it. But an entire corruption of an arrangement of the whole earth never did happen, nor ever will." — Taylor's Ocellus Lucanus. It was the doctrine of Budha, that there are not only alternate destruc- tions and renovations of the world, but that each successive world lb homo- geneous in its constituteut parts, having the four continents of the same si^e, with the same cities, under difierent names ; but though the general features are the same, and in many instances the same individual actors are introduced, this resemblance does not extend to an identity of events, as was taught by some of the Ghreeks. It was affirmed by many of the Stoics that from the beginning to the end of the world, all things are dispensed by a regular law, so that not only as to the successive conflagrations and inundations, but also as to all other occurrences, there is a repetition of the same events ; that which now takes place has taken place in previous ages, times innumerable, and will again take place times infinite. About the time of the commence- ment of Christianity this idea appears to have been very generally prevalent, and to have produced the most pernicious consequences. It was thought to be unnecessary to address the Divinity in prayer, inasmuch as " everything revolves with unchanging laws in one eternal circle." As all the worlds below the tenth brahma-l<5ka are occasionally destroyed, the totality of the destruction being expressed in the strongest terms, it is not right to say, as has sometimes been assumed, that the eternity of matter is one of the dogmas of Budha. Relative to the superior worlds that are beyond the reach of all the revolutions that affect the earth, I have seen no positive statement, their existence may be eternal ; but the general principles of Budhism by no means agree with the doctrine of Empedocles, and others of the same school, that " idl existences are but a mingling, and then a sepa- ration of the mingled." The opinion that the destruction of the world is at one time acoompUshed by the agency of fire, and at another time by that of water, agrees, to some extent, with sacred writ. Heraclitus taught that as fire is the first principle of all things, all things shall at last be redissolved into this element ; Epicu- rus supposed that as fire is the most active of the elements, it will in the end overcome the others, and destroy them ; and it was the doctrine of Zeno that the world will perish by fire, a principle everywhere diffused, which will in time resolve all things into itself, and will afterwards, as it is the seed of all things, diffuse itself again through the vacuity it has caused, thus producing a new world. D 2 36 A MANUAL OF BXJDHISM. firsfc produced by the power of the united merit, punya-bala., of all the variouB orders of being in existence, so its destraction is caused by the power of their demerit, pdpa-bala. The notions entertained by Q-dtama that there are innumerable worlds, that the earth has nothing beneath it but the circumambient air; that the interior of the earth is incandescent ; and that the world will be destroyed by the agency of fire ; may so far be correct ; — and a small portion of his other cosmical speculations may agree with ancient philosophy or modem science ; — but they are mixed up with so many other statements which hare no foundation whateyer in truth, that they seem like the meteors of the morass, a dim light where there are dangers numberless, or like insulated rocks that are no protection to the mariner, as they are covered by every wave that rushes near them in the storm. The whole of his cosmogony, and of his astronomical revelations, is erroneous; and there are statements in nearly every deliverance attributed to him upon these subjects which prove that his mind was beclouded by like ignorances with other men ; consequently, he cannot be, as he is designated by his disciples, ** a sure guide to the city of peace." 11. THE VARIOUS ORDERS OF SENTIENT EXISTENCE. I. THE PASE-BUDHAB. — II. THB BAHATS. — III. THE DtWAS. — IT. THBBBAHMAS. — ^T. THB aANBHABWAS. — VI. THE OARUKDAS. — VII. THE KAOAB. — Tm. THB TAkAb. — ^IX. THB KHITHbXndAB. — X. THE ABVBS. — XI. THB BAKBHA8. — XII. THB FB^TAB. — ^XIII. THB INHABITANTS OP THB NASA- KA9, OB PLACEB OP BUPPEBING. As all the systems of worlds are homogeneous, so are the orders of being by whom they are inhabited ; the various distinctions that are now presented being only of temporary duration. With the exception of those beings who have entered into one of the four paths leading to nirwana, there may be an interchange of condition between the highest and lowest He who is now the most degraded of the demons, may one day rule the highest of the heavens ; he who is at present seated upon the most honourable of the celestial thrones may one day writhe amidst the agonies of a place of torment; and the worm that we crush under our feet may, in the course of ages, become a supreme Budha. When any of the four paths are entered, there is the certainty that in a definite period, more or less remote, nirwdna wiU be obtained ; and they who have entered into the paths are regarded as the noblest of aU the intelligences in the universe. Hence our earth, in the time of a supreme Budha, or when the sacred dhannma is rightly understood and faithfully observed, is the most favoured of all worlds ; the priests, or those who observe the precepts, assume a higher rank than any other order of being whatever ; and there is an immeasurable dis- tance between even the most exalted of the d^was or brahmas and " the teacher of the three worlds," who is supreme. 38 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. Exclusive of the supreme Budbas, the various orders of intelligence include — 1. Pas6-Budhas. 2. Bahats. 3. D^was. 4. Brahmas. 5. Gandharwas. 6. Garundas. 7. Nagas. 8. Yakds. 9. Khumbandas. 10. Asiirs. 11. Rakshas. 12. Pretas, and other monsters. 13. The inhabitants of the Narakas : in addition to the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fish of the waters, and beings engendered from filth and excrement. The three superior classes are d^was, brahmas, and men. Among men appear sidhas, who can perform wonders by the aid of herbs and other medicinal substances and preparations ; widyadharas, who can exercise the same powers by the aid of mantras, or channs; and rishis, who can exercise the same powers through the prac- tice of certain rites and austerities. These orders are divided into five gati, or conditions : — 1. D^wa, divine. 2. Manusya, human. 3. Pr^ta, monstrous. 4. Tirisan, brute. 5. Niraya, infernal. I. The Pas^-Budhas are sages of wondrous power, who never appear at the same time as a supreme Budha ; yet in the kalpa in which there is no supreme Budha there is no Pas^-Budha (1). They attain to their high state of privilege by their own unaided powers. Their knowledge is limited ; but they never fall into any error that would involve the transgression of the precepts. In the five gradations of being enumerated by Ndgas^na, the Pas^-Budhas are placed between the rahat and the supreme Budha.