a lotus. He is called Chantong, "with a thousand eyes,' on account of having "the eye of wisdom" upon each palm of his thousand hands. The name Jigten Gonpo (in Sanskrit Lokapati, or Lokanatha), "lord of the world, protector, saviour," is an allusion to his causing deliverance from sins and protecting against all kinds of evil.

CHAPTER IX.

VIEWS ON METEMPSYCHOSIS.

RE-BIRTHS.-MEANS OF DELIVERANCE FROM RE-BIRTH.-SUKHAVATI, THE ABODE OF THE BLessed.

Re-births.

WHEN treating the developement of Buddhism, I had repeated occasion to allude to metempsychosis, or the migration of the souls of animated beings, as one of the established laws of Buddhism, according to which man's soul migrates as long as the causes of re-birth have not been taken away from it. The forms under which any living being may be re-born, are sixfold:

1. The highest class are the Lha, "spirits, highest beings, gods," Sanskr. Deva; they rank next to the Buddhas, and inhabit the six celestial regions (Sanskr. Devalōkas). Two of these regions belong to the earth; but the four others, which are considered as superior mansions, lie in the atmosphere, far beyond the earth.

2. The second class is formed by men, called Mi.
3. The third class are the Lhamayin, "the evil spirits'

literally, not a god (in Sanskrit Asuras). They are
the adversaries of the Devas, and the most powerful
of the evil spirits; they dwell in the regions below
the mountain Meru (Tib. Lhungpo).

4. The fourth class are the brutes (beasts), Dudo,
or Jolsong.

5. The fifth class is formed by the Yidags, imaginary
monsters representing the state of a wretched
being (Sanskrit Prēta). They do not receive food
or water, though greatly in want of both. Ac-
cordingly they ever remain in a state of extreme
hunger and thirst; their mouth has the size of
a needle's eye, but their bodies are twelve miles
in height.

6. The sixth and lowest class of beings is composed
of the wretched inhabitants of the hell, Myalba
(Sanskrit Naraka), a place of dreadful punishment
for the wicked, who are tormented there most
cruelly.

Of the six classes, those of gods and men are styled the good grades, the four others being called the bad conditions. 1

1 Respecting these six orders of sentient existence see Burnouf, "Lotus de la Bonne Loi," p. 309; Pallas "Mongol. Völkerschaften," Vol. II., p. 95; Schmidt, "Ueber die dritte Welt der Buddhisten," Mém. de l'Acad. des sciences, Vol. II., pp. 21-39. The Mongolian authorities place the Lhamayin before man, degrading the latter to the third class; but the works consulted by Burnouf, Rémusat, Hardy, &c., classify them in the order given in our text. In many sacred books, however, only five classes are enumerated, the Singhalese, for instance, omitting the class of Asuras. Hardy's Manual,

The class in which any animated being is to be reborn depends upon the actions, or works, "Las," which he has performed, either in the present life, or in a previous existence; they are the destiny (in Tibetan Kalba) of the Buddhists, good works involving re-birth in one of the superior classes, evil conduct in the bad states. of existence. The valuation of the works, viz. the determination of the moment in which the present existence has to end, and of the class in which man has to be reborn, is the particular business of Shinje, "the Lord of the dead," also called Choigyal (in Sanskrit Dharma raja), "the king of the law." Shinje possesses a wonderful mirror, which shows him all the good and bad actions of men; with a balance he weighs both the good and he bad, and, if in this manner he finds that the present existence of an individual has to cease, he orders one of his servants, who are also styled Shinjes, to seize the soul and bring it before him, in order that its future may be announced. It not unfrequently happens, that the messenger seizes a wrong soul by mistake, or in some instances by design, being bought off by offerings. The Lord of death, after revealing by his mirror that the soul brought before him is the wrong one, then dismisses it, and threatens his servant with severe punishment in the event of the mistake proving an intentional one. At the same time, he orders another servant, to bring him the right soul, which, pending the discovery,

p. 37; Burnouf, p. 377. For the description and divisions of hell see Foe koue ki, Engl. Transl., p. 133; Hardy's Manual, pp. 2, 27; Pallas, Vol. II., p. 53.

has remained undisturbed in the body. Hence it appears that the life of a being can be lenghtened by propitiating the servant of the Lord of death.1

Means of deliverance from re-birth.

Re-birth is to be regarded in the light of an expiation of sins. The pains to be endured through being subjected to migration are, however, considered so terrible, that the Buddhist faith has offered its votaries the means of atoning, even during their lifetime, for a portion at least of the evil they have committed. Emancipation may be obtained by subduing evil desires, by the assiduous practise of virtues, of Dhāranīs, and Tantras, and by confession. Already in the early history of Buddhism we find confession of sins enjoined by authority. Thus the novices had to perform this rite before they were received into the congregation of the faithful; the predominant character of public worship, also, when performed according to the prescriptions of the book Pratimoksha, is decidedly that of a solemn confession (Poshadha) before the assembly of priests. This renewal of priestly vows was, in fact, the original purport

1 Shinje answers to the god Yama of the Hindus, about whom compare Coleman, "Mythology of the Hindus," p. 112. The Mongolians call him Erlik Khan, or Yamantāka; Pallas, "Mongol. Völker." Vol. II., pp. 95, 61. "Voyages," Vol. I., p. 553. Pallas was told that the good and had actions are recorded by two spirits, the one favourable, the other ill-natured. These, by order of Shinje, bring the soul before him and mark the number of its good and had actions by white and black pebbles, a proceeding which Shinje controls by the book Bealtan Tooli, in which the deeds of every individual are registered.