the reward that will be received by him who pays a proper regard to one single póya-day. This reward may be divided into sixteen parts, and one of these sixteen parts may be subdivided into sixteen parts again, and the same method of division may be carried on sixteen times; but the last sixteenth will be more than that which has been declared.

When persons are sick they send for a priest to read the bana, who is brought with much ceremony, and treated with great respect. The priest continues to recite the sacred word, until the invalid either recovers or dies. The tones in which it is chaunted produce a mournful impression, and by this means a spirit of thoughtfulness may be encouraged; but further than this there is no benefit, as the meaning of the words is not understood.

There is a ceremony called Pirit, or in Pali Páritta, which consists in reading certain portions of the bana. As it is thought by the Singhalese, that nearly all the afflictions that men suffer proceed from the malice of the demons called yakás, they have numerous ceremonies by which they suppose that their anger can be appeased, or their enmity rendered inoxious; but the only one that professes to be sanctioned by Gótama is the reading of the Pirit. I was present on one of these occasions, in 1828, at a village near Matura. The discourses constituting the Pirit have been translated by the Rev. D. J. Gogerly; and from the description of the ceremony given by that gentleman, to which some of my own personal recollections are added, the following account is compiled.

About sunset numbers of persons arrived from different quarters, the greater proportion of whom were women, bringing with them cocoanut shells and oil, to be presented as offerings. As darkness came on, the shells were placed in niches in the wall of the court by which the wihára is surrounded; and by the aid of the oil and a little cotton they were soon converted into lamps. The wall around the bó-tree was similarly illuminated; and as many of the people had brought torches, composed of cotton and resinous substances, the whole of the sacred enclosure was in a blaze of light. The gay attire and merry countenances of the various groups that were seen in every direction gave evidence, that however solemn the professed object for which they were assembled together, it was regarded by all as a time of relaxation and festivity. Indeed the grand cause of the popularity of this and similar gatherings is, that they are the

* Ceylon Friend, April, 1839.

only occasion, marriage festivals excepted, upon which the young people can see and be seen, or upon which they can throw off the reserve and restraint it is their custom to observe in the ordinary routine of social intercourse.

The service continues during seven days, a preparatory ceremony being held on the evening of the first day. The edifice in which it is conducted is the same as that in which the bana is read upon other occasions. A relic of Budha, enclosed in a casket, is placed upon a platform erected for the purpose; and the presence of this relic is supposed to give the same efficacy to the proceedings as though the great sage were personally there. For the priests who are to officiate another platform is prepared; and at the conclusion of the preparatory service a sacred thread called the pirit núla is fastened round the interior of the building, the end of which, after being fastened to the reading platform, is placed near the relic. At such times as the whole of the priests who are present engage in chaunting in chorus, the cord is untwined, and each priest takes hold of it, thus making the communication complete between each of the officiating priests, the relic, and the interior walls of the building.

From the commencement of the service on the morning of the second day, until its conclusion on the evening of the seventh day, the reading platform is never to be vacated day or night. For this reason, when the two officiating priests are to be relieved by others, one continues sitting and reading whilst the other gives his seat to his successor, and the second priest does not effect his exchange until the new one has commenced reading. In the same way, from the morning of the second day till the morning of the seventh day, the reading is continued day and night, without intermission. Not fewer than twelve, and in general twenty-four, priests are in attendance, two of whom are constantly officiating. As they are relieved every two hours, each priest has to officiate two hours out of the twenty-four. In addition to this, all the priests engaged in the ceremony are collected three times in each day : viz. at sunrise, at midday, and at sunset, when they chaunt in chorus the three principal discourses of the Pirit, called respectively Mangala, Ratana, and Karaniya, with a short selection of verses from other sources. After this the reading is continued till the series of discourses has been read through, when they are begun again, no other than those

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in the first series being read until the sixth day, when a new series is commenced.

On the morning of the seventh day a grand procession is formed of armed and unarmed men, and a person is appointed to officiate as the déwadútayá, or messenger of the gods. This company, with a few of the priests, proceeds to some place where the gods are supposed to reside, inviting them to attend prior to the conclusion of the service, that they may partake in its benefits. Until the messenger and his associates return, the officiating priests remain seated, but the reading is suspended.

At the festival I attended the messenger was introduced with great state, and sulphur was burnt before him to make his appearance the more supernatural. One of the priests having proclaimed that the various orders of gods and demons were invited to be present, the messenger replied that he had been deputed by such and such deities, repeating their names, to say that they would attend. The threefold protective formulary, which forms part of the recitation, was spoken by all present, in grand chorus. In the midst of much that is superstitious in practice or utterly erronious in doctrine, there are some advices repeated of an excellent tendency; but the whole ceremony being conducted in a language that the people do not understand, no beneficial result can be produced by its performance.

The folly of the priests in confining their public ministrations to the simple reading of the bana, or to the offering of expositions that are equally unintelligible, has caused the class of persons called upasakas, in some districts, and especially in the neighbourhood of Matura, to go about from house to house, after the manner of the Scripture readers, reading works on religion that are written in the vernacular Singhalese, accompanied with familiar expositions. It is by this means that Budhism is in many places principally supported. It would appear that in Nepaul there has been a similar transfer of the duty of teaching from the priest to the laic, as the Vajra Acharayas, who are there the most active ministers, are married; and the extract from Mrs. Judson's Memoir, inserted above, would seem to intimate that in Burma also there is the manifestation of equal negligence on the part of the sramanas.

XX. MEDITATION.

As the priests of Budha who lived according to the rules of the original institute were much in solitude, it was necessary that regulations should be laid down for their guidance when in this position. Accordingly, the Pitakas, as well as their other works, abound with advices that are only applicable to the circumstances of the recluse. The general character of these instructions may be learnt from the following translations, taken principally from the Wisudhi Margga Sanné.

There are five principal modes of bháwaná, or meditation:1. Maitrí. 2. Mudita. 3. Karuná. 4. Upekshá. 5. Asubha.

No one can enter aright upon the exercise of meditation who has not previously kept the precepts. But if there be any one who is thus prepared, let him, at the close of the day, or at the dawn, seek a place where he will be free from interruption, and with the body in a suitable posture, let him meditate on the glory of the Budhas, the excellence of the bana, and the virtues of the priesthood.

1. Maitri-bháwaná.-When the priest has arrived at a convenient spot, and placed himself in a proper position, let him exercise this wish: "May all the superior orders of being be happy; may they all be free from sorrow, disease, and evil desire; may all men, whether they be priests or laics, all the déwas, all who are suffering the pains of hell, be happy; may they be free from sorrow, disease, and evil desire." Then the same wish must be exercised relative to all sentient beings in the four cardinal points, all in the four half-points, all above and all below, taking each of these ten directions separately and in order; or if they cannot be taken separately, it will suffice if this wish be exercised: "May all beings be happy; may they all be free from sorrow, disease, and pain." This is maitríbháwaná, or the meditation of kindness. Maitrí is the same as snéha, affection, and, according to the grammarians, snéha is the opposite of kródha, hatred. Maitrí and kródha cannot exist together. It is not the affection of trishná, or mere passion; of this kind of snéha, móha or ignorance is the cause, which leads to evil desire. In the snéha of maitrí there is no evil desire; it is that which one friend feels for another.

In the exercise of this mode of bháwaná, the thoughts must not at first be fixed upon one whom the priest dislikes; nor on any particular friend; nor on any one that is indifferent to him, neither

liked nor disliked; nor on any enemy (as by thinking of any person who is known, the mind will be more or less disturbed.) The thoughts must not at this time be fixed upon any individual in particular, nor on any one that is dead. There was a young priest who exercised maitrí-bháwaná upon his preceptor, but he did not arrive at nimitta (the interior illumination for the acquiring of which he entered upon the exercise.) He therefore went to another priest, and asked him how it was that he could not arrive at nimitta. The priest replied that he must first ascertain whether the person upon whom he meditated was alive or dead, as no nimitta could be received when maitrí-bháwaná was exercised for the dead.

The first meditation of the priest must be on himself; *"may I be free from sorrow, anger, and evil desire;" thus he must think. But by this exercise alone no one can arrive at samádhi, or perfect tranquillity of mind, even if practised a hundred years. He must therefore go on to desire that what he has wished to receive himself may be granted to all sentient beings; and that what he has wished to be warded from himself may be warded from all sentient beings. After this he may endeavour to exercise maitrí-bháwaná upon his enemies.

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in this way.

The man that is your enemy thinks of If you are of a disagreeable person, sick or sorrowful, poor, mean, and friendless, he rejoices. He is again delighted if in the other world you are not in a place of happiness; and he does all he can to injure you. Enmity is like a shed in a place of sepulture, on fire at both ends, and in the middle filled with the dung of dogs and jackalls; such a place is utterly worthless; people do not approach it to take either fire or fuel. He who indulges in enmity cannot practise the precepts, and that which he wishes for others will recoil upon himself.

When the priest finds it difficult to exercise the meditation of kindness upon his enemy, he must think that when the words are bad, the actions are sometimes good; that when the words and actions are bad, the mind is sometimes good; and that when the mind and actions are bad, the words are sometimes good. Again, if his enemy have only a few things about him that are good, and many that are bad, he must think of the good alone, and forget the

It is said in the Angótra-atuwawa that the first exercise of the priest must be upon his enemy, then upon a person in misfortune, afterwards upon a friend, and lastly upon himself; but it is said in the Wisudhi-MarggaSanné that this is contrary to the Pali text, and cannot therefore be correct.