Chapter XII. speaks of the translation of the Sanskrit books into Tibetan, as also of Thumi Sambhota's mission to India, and of the alphabet he had formed from the Devanagari.

The Mani Kambum has been translated into Mongolian and into Dsungarian. The latter version was executed, at the command of Dalai Khan, in the seventeenth century, by a Dsungarian Lama who had resided for several years in Lhássa, and was distinguished, on account of his translation, by the honourable title of Pandit.

The Dhyani Bodhisattva Padmapani, or Avalōkitēsvara, who is the subject of this work, is, of all the gods, the one most frequently implored, on account of his being the representative of Sakyamuni and the guardian and propagator of his faith until the appearance of the future Buddha Maitreya, as well as on account of his particular protection of Tíbet.

In order to show the Tibetans the path to ultimate happiness, he has been pleased, they say, to manifest himself, from age to age, in human shape. They believe that his descent and incarnation in the Dalai Lama takes place by the emission of a beam of light, and that he shall be finally born as most perfect Buddha in Tíbet, instead of in India, where his predecessors had appeared.

Padmapani has in the sacred books a great many of names, and is represented under various figures. Most frequently he is addressed by the name of Chen

NAMES AND REPRESENTATIONS OF PADMAPĀNI.

89

resi, or more fully Chenresi vanchug, "the powerful,

Sanskrit Avalōkitēsvara. that of Phagpa Chenresi,

looking with the eyes," in To this name, as well as to in Sanskrit Aryavalōkita, or Chugchig zhal, "elevenfaced," correspond the representations of him with eleven faces and eight hands. The eleven faces form a pyramid, and are ranged in four rows. Each series of heads has a particular complexion; the three faces which base upon the neck are white, the three following yellow, the next three red, the tenth is blue and the eleventh (the face of Amitabha) is red. Such is the arrangement in all the Tibetan and Mongolian images I had occasion to examine; but in the Japanese images presented in the Nippon Pantheon the eleven faces are much smaller, and are arranged similar to a crown; its centre is formed by two entire figures: the lower one is sitting, the other is standing above it; and ten smaller heads are combined with these two figures in a kind of radial arrangment; six are resting immediately on the forehead, the four other, form the second row above them.

Like Chagtong Khorlo, "the thousand-handed circle," or as Thugje chenpo chugchig zhal, "the great pitier with eleven faces," he has likewise eleven faces, but the number of his hands amounts to a thousand. As Chag zhipa, "four-armed," he is represented with one head and four arms; two are folded, the third holds a lotus-flower, the fourth a rosary or a snare. As Chakna padma karpo (in Sanskrit Padmapāni), "holding in the hand a white lotus," he has two arms, one of which supports

each

a lotus. He is called Chantong, "with a thousand eyes," on account of having "the eye of wisdom" upon 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 Mēru (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. Accordingly 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 sec 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,