correct to say that it is brought about, not that it is not brought about.

Whereas the wise who cultivate

The wisdom which doth make a saint
Are they who reach this holy trance-
This trance by saints at all times prized,
And ever by them held to be
Nirvana in the present life-
Therefore the faculty to reach

This state of trance which is conferred

By wisdom in the holy paths

A blessing of those paths is called.

HC XLV (9)

A

THE ATTAINMENT OF

NIRVANA

Translated from the Visuddhi-Magga (chap. xxiii.)

|CQUISITION of honor etc.:-The blessings to be derived from the realization of this transcendent wisdom include not only the ability to enter the trance of cessation, but also the acquisition of honor etc. For the individual who has developed his wisdom by the development of the fourfold wisdom of the paths is worthy of the worship, the veneration, the votive offerings, and the reverence of all the world of gods and men, and is an unsurpassed source of merit for the world.

To particularize:

He who, being of weak faculties, develops the wisdom of the first path with a dull insight is reborn seven times at most; after seven rebirths in states of bliss he will make an end of misery: he who develops it with medium faculties and insight is a roamer; after two or three rebirths he will make an end of misery: he who develops it with keen faculties and insight takes root but once, only one human birth will he pass through and make an end of misery.

He who develops the wisdom of the second path returns once; once more will he return to this world and then make an end of misery.

He who develops the wisdom of the third path never returns. His destiny is fivefold, as follows: In the descending order of the worth of his faculties he passes into Nirvana in the midst, at the end, without instigation, with instigation, or passes up current to the Sublime Gods.

Here the one who passes into Nirvana in the midst is reborn in some one of the Pure Abodes and passes into Nirvana before attaining half the normal length of life of that heaven; he who passes into Nirvana at the end passes into

Nirvana after attaining half the normal length of life; he who passes into Nirvana without instigation achieves the fourth path without instigation or urging; he who passes into Nirvana with instigation achieves the higher path with instigation or urging; and he who passes up current to the Sublime Gods starts from the particular heaven in which he may be reborn, and ascends as far as to the Sublime Gods and there passes into Nirvana.

Of those who develop the wisdom of the fourth path, one is freed by faith, another is freed by wisdom, another is doubly freed, another possesses the threefold knowledge, another the Six High Powers, but the greatest of all is he who has mastered the four analytical sciences and has lost all depravity. Concerning this last it has been said:

66

At the time he is in the paths he is disentangling the snarl, at the time he is in the fruits he has disentangled the snarl, and there is in all the world of gods and men none more worthy of votive gifts."

Since, then, such blessings manifold
From noble wisdom take their rise,
Therefore the understanding man

Should place therein his heart's delight.

The above constitutes the explanation of the development of wisdom and of its blessings in the Way of Purity as taught in the stanza,

"What man his conduct guardeth, and hath wisdom,

And thoughts and wisdom traineth well,

The strenuous and the able priest,

He disentangles all this snarl."

BUDDHIST WRITINGS

III. THE ORDER

THE ADMISSION AND ORDINATION CEREMONIES Reprinted from a paper by J. F. Dickson, B. A., in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1874

I

N MAY, 1872, I was invited by my learned friend and pandit Kewitiyāgala Unnānsē, of the Malwatte Mon

astery in Kandy, to be present at an ordination service, held, according to custom, on the full-moon day of Wesak, (May, June), being the anniversary of the day on which Gautama Buddha attained Nirvāna, B. c. 543. I gladly availed myself of this opportunity of witnessing the celebration of a rite of which Englishmen have but little knowledge, and which has rarely, if ever, been witnessed by any European in Ceylon.

Nothing could be more impressive than the order and solemnity of the proceedings. It was impossible not to feel that the ceremony was being conducted precisely as it was more than two thousand years ago.

The chapter house (Sinhalese, Poya-ge) is an oblong hall, with rows of pillars forming an inner space and leaving broad aisles at the sides. At the top of this inner space sat the aged Abbot (Sinhalese, Maha Nayaka), as president of the chapter; on either side of him sat the elder priests, and down the sides sat the other priests in number between thirty and forty. The chapter or assembly thus formed three sides of an oblong. The president sat on cushions and a carpet; the other priests sat on mats covered with white calico. They all sat cross-legged. On the fourth side, at the foot, stood the candidates, behind the pillars on the right stood the deacons, the left was given up to the visitors, and behind the candidates at the bottom was a crowd of Buddhist laymen.

To form a chapter for this purpose not less than ten duly ordained priests are required, and the president must be not less than ten years' standing from his Upasampada ordination. The priests attending the chapter are required to give their undivided, unremitting, and devout attention throughout the service. Every priest is instructed to join heart and mind in the exhortations, responses, formulas, etc., and to correct every error, lest the oversight of a single mistake should vitiate the efficacy of the rite. Previously to the ordination the candidates are subjected to a strict and searching examination as to their knowledge of the discourses of Buddha, the duties of a priest, etc. An examination and ordination is held on the full-moon day in Wesak, and on the three succeeding Poya days, or days of quarters of the moon.

After witnessing the celebration of this rite, I read the Upasampada-Kammavācā or book setting forth the form and manner of ordering of priests and deacons, and I was subsequently induced to translate it. This manual was translated into Italian in 1776, by Padre Maria Percoto (missionary in Ava and Pegu), under the title of "Kammuva, ossia trattato della ordinazione dei Talapoini del secondo ordine detti Pinzi,” and a portion of it was edited in 1841, in Pāli and Latin, by Professor Spiegel. Clough translated it in 1834, and Hardy has given an interesting summary of it in his Eastern Monarchism; but neither the text nor any complete translation is readily accessible, and I have therefore thought that this edition might possibly be acceptable to those who desire information respecting the practice of Buddhism in Ceylon, where, as is well pointed out by Mr. Childers, in his Pāli Dictionary, (s.v. Nibbānam, p. 272, note), "Buddhism retains almost its pristine purity."

With regard to the transliteration, I have used the system adopted (after Fausböll) by Mr. Childers in his Dictionary. In the translation I have placed in italics the rubrical directions in the text, and all explanations and amplifications of the text I have placed in square brackets. I have thus endeavoured to give a translation of the text as it stands, and, at the same time, to set out the ordination service fully