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' From these, (taking these gdthd for his text) and consulting the Pitakattaya, together with the At- thakathd, and condensing them into an abridged form, he com- posed the commentary called the Wisuddhimaggan (Sing. Wisudhimargga). Thereupon having assembled the priesthood, who had acquired a thorough knowledge of the doctrine of Buddho, at the b6-tree, he commenced to read out (the work he had composed). The d^wat&s, in order that they might make his (Buddhaghdsd's) gifts of wisdom celebrated among men, rendered that book invisible. He, however, for the second and third time recomposed it. When he was in the act of repro- ducing his book for the third time, for the purpose of propound- ing it, the d6wat^ returned the other two copies also. The assembled priests then read out the three books simultaneously. In those three versions, neither in a signification, nor in a single misplacement by transposition ; nay, even in the th^ro contro- versies, and in the text (of the Pitakattaya) was there in the measure of a verse, or in the letter of a word, the slightest varia- tion. Thereupon the priesthood rejoicing, again and again fer- vently shouted forth, saying, ' Most assuredly this is Mett6yyo (Buddho) himself ' ; and made over to him the books in which the Pitakattaya were recorded, together with the Atthakathd. Taking up his residence in the secluded Ganthakaro wihdro at AnuT^hapura, he translated, according to the grammatical rule of the Magadhas, which is the root of all languages, the whole of the Singhalese Atthakatha (into Pdli). This proved an achieve- ment of the utmost importance to all languages spoken by the human race. All the th^ros and ^charayos held this compilation in the same estimation as the text of the Pitakattaya. There- after the objects of his mission having been fulfilled, he returned to Jambudipo, to worship at the bd-tree (at Uruwelaya, in Ma- gadha)."* The character and contents of the Wisudhi-margga have been thus described by the lamented individual to whom we are indebted for the translation from the Mahawanso : — " The Wi- suddhimaggo, a compendium formed by Buddhagh<5s6i presents an abstract of the doctrinal and metaphysical parts of the Budhistical creed, which, as being the work of the last com- mentator on the Budhistical scriptures, acquires an authority and authenticity which no compendium exclusively formed by any orientalist of a different faith, and more modem times, can * Mahawanso, cap. xxxrii. ' 2 H 2 532 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. have any claim to .... . In the Attliakathd, by Bnddlift- gli6s6, called Sumangala WiMsini, is the following sentence, giving an acconnt of the contents of the Wisuddhimaggo : — The nature of the silakathi, dhtitadamm^, kammath^n^ni, together with all the chariydwidh^ni, jhan&ni, the whole scope of the sam^patti, the whole of abhinndno, the exposition of the panna, the khand^, the dhatn, the ayatandni, indriydni, the four arjini-sacchani, the pachchaydldLra, the pure and comprehensive nayd, and the in- dispensable magg^, and wiphassanabh^wana — all these having, on a former occasion, been set forth by me in the Wisuddhi- maggo, I shall not here examine into them in detail."* The Bnrmans ascribe a new era in their religion to the time that Badhaghdsa arrived in that country from Ceylon; and even among them the Wisudhi-margga is celebrated, though their idea of its contents, as expressed by Ward, is not correct. •* They believe that 650 years after Budha's death, in the reign of Muha-munee, Bouddhu-goshn, a brahman, was deputed to Ceylon to copy the work Vishoddhimargu, which includes all the Jutus, or histories of the incarnation of Budha ; and it is fabled that the iron stile with which he copied this work was given him by a heavenly messenger, "f The word wisudhi means "pure," and margga, "path;" hence the title would be, the Path of the Pure, or, the Path by which Puritv may be obtained. The sann^ was written by Prdkrama Bahu. There are several kings of this name, and I cannot discover from the work itself which of them is to be understood, but it was most probably Pandita Pdtkrama Bdhn, who reigned a.d. 1471. It is a work of great importance ; but the repetitions are so numerous, the explanations of words are carried out to so great a length, and the details, both of doctrine and discipline, are divided and subdivided into so many sections, that the reading of it is extremely tedious. I may mention as a mark of the respect in which it is held, that one of the most learned priests with whom I am acquainted, who happened to come into my study one day when I was reading it, said that any one who read through this work would be able to fulfil the office of sanga rdja, or supreme ruler of the priesthood. But not- withstanding the high estimation in which it is held, T must confess that I have been somewhat disappointed in it, as it is rather an assistance to the understanding of other works, than in itself a body of information. It contains, upon the same scale as the Jatakas (page 101), rather more than 1200 pages. 3. Milinda'prasna, — This work, though the incidents that grave rise to it occurred in a period much more recent than the time of Budha, is one of the most popular in Ceylon ; and it is almost the only one that in the maoner of its origin, independent of its con- • Tumour, Joum. Bengal As. Soc. July, 1837. t Ward's Hindoos : see also, Crawford's Embassy to Ara. APPENDIX. 533 tents, is of general interest. The word Milinda designates a king of that name, and prasna means '* questions," so that the title of the work is, The questions of Milinda. These questions were asked by Milinda, king of S^al, and were answered by N^ga- s^na, a Budhistical sage, whose history is naiTated in the intro- duction to the work. In the time of Kasyapa Budha there was a noted wihara, near a certain river, in which resided many associations of priests. These priests, when they arose in the morning, took their brooms to sweep the sacred enclosure. One day a priest told one of the saman^ra novices to throw away the dirt that he had collected ; but the novice went away as if nothing had been said; and though the command was repeated a second and a third time, he still paid no attention. The priest then struck him with the handle of the broom ; upon which he went and did as he was directed, at the same time expressing the following wish: — " May I arrive at nirwdna for having thrown away this dirt ; and in the mean time, in my various births, may my glory be resplen- dent as that of the meridian sun.'' After this he went to the river to bathe, and as he saw the roaring waves following each other in rapid succession, he expressed &e wish that he might ever receive wisdom suitable to the situation in which he was bom. This wish was overheard by the priest, who concluded that his own reward would be proportionately greater, and said within himself, *'From this time to the reception of nirwdna, may I ever receive the wisdom necessary to enable me to xmravel and clear up the questions this novice may ask me !*' A few years previous to the commencement of our era, as had been foretold by G6tama Budha, the novice was bom in the world of men, and became Milinda, king of Sdgal, in the country called Yon. This king was wise, a ready speaker, and learned in aU the sciences. One day, when he had reviewed his troops, he said to his nobles that there was yet much time before the setting of the sun ; and enquired if there was any sramana priest or brahman who could explain to him the manner of the rahats or of the Budhas. The names of six persons were men- tioned, who all professed to be Budhas ; and to each of them the king went, but they all proved to be deceivers ; and as they were unable to answer sati^actorily the questions put to them by the monarch, he exclaimed, *' AU Jambudwipa is empty!'' For the space of twelve years, whenever he heard of any learned person, of whatever caste, he went to him that his doubts might be satisfied ; but in vain, sus there was no one who was able to answer his arguments ; and though many, in other places, were regarded as wise, they were silent when they came to Sdgal. Ttas was perceived by the priest Assagutta, who resided with his fraternity at the rock Rakkhita ; and as he lamented the evil consequences that it produced, he assembled, upon the Yugandhara rocks, many thousands of rahats and a hundred 534 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM.