, 1873-07-20

Ast@o uH4 NV kA131 V1 IIGt 81EDut AQ.
atraot onos, indicating tho general tenor Of
tho lilo to DO lod by hia disciples. Tho elaborate
eyascm Of canonioal Lawn by which evory aot In
tho daily lfo Of Buddh1ns las boen regulated
for nonrly 2,000 ycara WA constructed 1,y lia
followers IN tho 1rnt few conturios nftor hin
loatll.
In tho preface to Mr.. Doal's book It In statod
that tho Buddhist canon In ChtneHe, aB arranged
and elaborated botweon tho yoars OF aud 1886
A. D., Includes l ,440 distinct worhs, comprising
5,686 bools; but ovon these comprise only a
fractional part of tho Buddhist literature In
China. These aro only tho established te1t.
books and standard works on Buddhist doctrine,
Tho rest aro OF character too diversified to bo
oassod except as Buddhiat.
Tho whole Of tho Duadhiat canon, translated
into Chinese, as roviaod and authorized by coun-
ellis of pricsta under throe dlToront Chinoae En-
perors,-ono in 1410, ono In 1890, and another in
17o3.-wou1d, If printed iu tho ordinary form and
typo OF English books, amount to about roo
times tho Eizo Of tho New Testament. A book
tho slzo Of Afr. Beala " Cateua " could not. Of
couree, contain moro thrn a synopsis Of tho lead
ing 'anonical books, and OF many othora only
brio. slnncc.
Tho Buddhist Koamos, as it oxiets in China at
'HAS H4oooas stA4o AZ u huAA Hllkk6u DH q tnlnGB4
priest jim Ch'au and publishedi in 1878. This pro-
fesaos to TO an orderly account Of tho creation Of
tho Universe of Nature, or matter as distinct
from Hpirit. Though published at SO
4ato date, ills in fact only revised compilation
OF logonds and theories that grow up in tho
aEes botwcen tho death OF Dutldha and tho dato
OF It's publication. Contrary to tho modern popu-
lar notion that al Buddhism teaches tho doctrine
n }rsYt 1,{u 1,nf. 4.s..
both mattor and spirit. Contrary even to the
tendency Of Home modern speculationB In tho d.
reotion Of Nihilism by tho inforonco that thought
aud mind aro morely tho transient eject Of tho
evolutions Of matter, the limo Of candle, q
phenomenon TINT Is totally annihilatod in tho
individual ct death, the Buddhist Scriptures
say: "To conclude that there aro, independent Of
Supreme Mind, objeotB Of knowledge Which arc
able, In connection with mind, to net as concur
ront occasions for tho production of thought all
this Is but tho exercise Of mind itself, and NAV
bcconsldorod as one Of the manifestations Of It's
substantial existence"
The Supreme Mind ia held to bo universally
difuaod and Belf~o1isting essence, and tue innu-
morab!e forms Of matter in objects and in living
organisms to DO morely tho varied manifossa-
tioas Of Supreme Mind In extor1aal phenomena.
Based on thcso principloe, the book OF jim
Ch'au proceeds to givo IN account Of tho ma-
terial uniYerao. First, thoro is d "droat
Chillocoam," or collection Of worlds,
corresponding to our solar eyatom, and,
though tho description Of this "collec-
tion OF worlds iB often confused with tho de-
scription OF this particular world no may eliml-
nato from tho maBa Of Oriental extravaganza
and tlgurative speech tho fact that, ages ngo,
tho conceptions Of Garth, atmosphere, the ether,
aud tho revolving planets, Is thoy existed IN tho
miuls Of the early Duddhiata, wero not loas grand
than modorn ones,
It is assumed in tho Kosmos tint tho moyo-
mont Of tho worlds In tho Great Chiliocosm is
on one plane; thus the work OF jim Ch'au says:
"With regard to tho measurement Of this Bys-
tem, tho highest point Of all, whore Form no
longer exiBte iB called : tho limit of that which
il !; laterally no numbers will adequately oxprcsn
its dimonaonH." Around this domain thoro Ia
an oncirclfng range Of iron mountains, beyond
which is the unfathomablo void OF space. Below
tho mountain range is the oarth-circle, below tho
Garth is gold, bolow tho gold is Wator, below the
wntor is wind. This wind has mysterious con-
siateney which renders it harder than diamond.
It holds tho world so that it can never be moved.
Beyond this region Of wind il ether"
Tho mystoriouBly ly-constitutad wind thus spoken
Of can certainly rofor to nothing but tho law OF
grayitation. Tho Buddhist priest, jim Ch'au,-
writing over hundred years before Newton
announced his groat discovery described
then, in language mado suitable to tho compro-
houaion Of unoducated religious converts, como
thing that must havo existed In moro purely
abstract form in the minds Of the originatorB Of
the idea. "Law Of grayitation' ~ ia only uamo
for our ignorance. We can moasuro it, but no
cannot do6no 1t any better than jim Ch'au.
II 1t be true that the primitive Buddhist sagcs
had IN Intelligent comprehension Of tho law Of
gravitation over two thousand years ago, no
havo, in the form, tho language in which tho idoa
Is handod down and finally stated in the work
Of jim C4'au, TN instance Of the progress from
tho abstract to tho concrete, from tho
gonoral to tho particular, from. tho great
to tho ntto, from tho liberal to tho dog1natio, to
which all groat truths aro eubjoct when trans-
mi&ted to posterity through tho narrow channels
Of church polity and prieBtly learning.
Tho Kosmoa ia too yoluninouH for us to givo
within tho limits Of tho present article even a
synopsis Of tho vast mass Of ita detailed dcscrip
ton, not only Of the Chiioeosm, or collection Of
worlds, Of which this earth ia ono but Of other
similar and independent onoB outside Of it. It
is sufficient to say that, in accordance with the
Buddhist canon, each OF these worlds ia inhab-
itod by spirits, eome good and some
evil. Between tho AsuraB. or evil
spirits, and tho Doyas, or good spirits,
thcro wns once o mighty conflict, which
in come particulars seema only another version
Of the characteristic doctrine of tho Pareees in
regard to tue CONTEXT between Ormuzd and
Ahrilnan, but In another respect moro nearly