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294.3

P33
Twin Cities Campus
ER
SI
UNI TY

MINNE
E
F H
O T
O
F
OT S
RE

TA
BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY

FACE TO FACE ;

OR AN

ORAL DISCUSSION

BETWEEN THE

REV. MIGETTUWATTE, REV. D. SILVA,

A AND A

BUDDHIST PRIEST, WESLEYAN CLERGYMAN.

HELD AT PANTURA, CEYLON.

WITH AN

INTRODUCTION AND ANNOTATIONS

BY

J. M. PEEBLES, M.D. ,
Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, New Orleans, U.S.A.; Fellow of the
Anthropological Society, London ; Corresponding Member of the Psycho-
logical Society of Great Britain ; Corresponding Member of the Oriental
Society, India, &c.

LONDON :
PRINTED BY THE NATIONAL PRESS AGENCY, LIMITED,
106, SHOE LANE, E.C.

MINNESOTA
 294.3

P33

PREFACE.

WITH an admiration of the calmness that characterises the

Oriental mind, and a deep interest in the symbolisms that
underlie the Eastern religions, I had long desired to see these
religions, especially Buddhism, brought into the arena of
discussion face to face with the Christian religion, that each
system might be subjected to the test of controversy. This
was partially done awhile since at Pantura, Ceylon , where a
Buddhist priest met, in an oral debate, the Rev. Mr. Silva,
a Wesleyan minister.
The discussion continued two days, before an almost
breathless audience, numbering at times from five to seven
thousand in attendance. Each of the parties had their
sympathising friends, and both, as usual, claimed the victory.
So far as I heard expressions from what seemed to be
impartial minds, they were to the end that the Buddhist
priest, being the most graceful speaker, and adapting him-
self to the popular mind, carried the multitude with him.
It is certain that some of the Christians did not feel satisfied
with the result.
The debate was reported, and a few copies published by
John Capper, Esq., Editor of the Ceylon Times. " The
report," so he says, "has been revised by the respective
disputants, so that it may be taken as a correct account of
what passed. The Pali extracts were revised by Rev. C.
Alwis and a portion by Mr. L. de Zoysa, the Government
interpreter."
JUN
29
49

1260512
 INTRODUCTION.

ORIGIN AND PREVALENCE OF BUDDHISM.

" A pilgrim through eternity,

In countless births have I been born. "

" Mind is the root ; actions proceed from the mind. If any one
speak or act from a corrupt mind, suffering will follow, as the dust
follows the rolling wheel. '
BUDDHA.

ONLY think of it-there are estimated to be 500,000,000 of

Buddhists in Ceylon, China, Japan, Thibet, Burmah, Siam,
and other Eastern countries- something like one- third of the
whole human race !
The founder of this vast body of religionists was
Guatama Buddha, born at Kapilavastu , in Northern India,
about the year 556 B.C. , according to Max Müller, and the
best Hindu authority. He belonged by descent to the
Sakya clan— the proud Solar race of India. Passing by his
earlier years, given to meditation and reverie-passing by
the spiritual marvels that preceded his public teachings, it is
but the commonest justice to say that he hallowed the nation
that gave him birth, and that his practical teachings have
become largely the common heritage of humanity.

" On Himalaya's lonely steep

There lived of old a holy sage,
Of shrivelled form, and bent with age,
Inured to meditations deep.

He-when great Buddha had been born,

The glory of the Sakya race,
Endowed with every holy grace
To save the suffering world forlorn—
 6

Beheld strange portents, signs which taught

The wise, that that auspicious time
Had witnessed some event sublime,
With universal blessings fraught.

* * *

But once, 0 men, in many years ,

The fir-tree somewhere flowers, perhaps ;
So after countless ages lapse,
A Buddha once on earth appears !

The world of men and gods to bless,

The way of rest and peace to teach ,
A holy law this god did preach-
A law of stainless righteousness .

If, spurning worldly pomp as vain,

You choose to lead a tranquil life,
And wander forth from home and wife ,
You, too, a Buddha's rank shall gain. "

Great thinkers, great, self-sacrificing souls such as Buddha,

are the makers of history, and the standard-bearers of the
ages. They live immortal in books, and more so, if possible,
in the memories of admiring worshippers.
Guatama Buddha, drinking from the fountain of
inspiration, became, long before the Christian era, a central
and radiating sun, the light from which crystallised into
Buddhism, the one great religious institution of the Orient .
And now, after a lapse of over 2000 years, it is still afire
with energy and spiritual vitality. Its shrines multiply ;
converts flock to its standard ; and thoughtful minds in far-
away Europe and America are more and more attracted to
its catholic spirit and broad tolerant principles.
The editor of the oldest daily newspaper in the island of
Ceylon- the Ceylon Times-had a little while since the
following editorial touching the status and progress of Bud-
dhism in Ceylon :-

"There is no doubt that whilst we are congratulating

ourselves on the successful work of our missionary and
educational establishments , the Buddhists are stimulated by
the same success to fresh efforts in behalf of their own faith .
 7

Not only have one or two of the most educated men amongst
them, priests and laymen, put forward pamphlets and
periodicals in the vernacular, in defence and illustration of
their creed, but there is a greater activity generally amongst
the Buddhist priesthood, with the object of awakening in the
minds of the people a more lively feeling towards their faith.
Religious services are now being held every Sunday, as the
appointed day of rest amongst nearly all classes , whereas it
was the wont of the priesthood some few years ago to call
their congregations together only on the occasion of some
day memorable in their calendar for its sanctity. Temples
are in course of construction, and where such work is not
immediately practicable, temporary structures have been
erected in which the people may assemble, and seated on
benches listen to the recital of ' Bana,' and the exhortations
and illustrations of the ministering priest.

" One such structure of rather large size we entered on a

recent Sunday. The service was conducted by Sipkadua
Sumangalabhidana, High Priest of Adam's Peak, the most
accomplished Pali scholar in the island . He commenced by
the recital of ' Bana,' in the responses to which the assem-
bled congregation joined in a most proper and devout
manner. At the conclusion of the prayer, the High Priest,
always seated, and holding a small talipot fan in his hand,
commenced his address, which was intended as an intro-
duction to a course of lectures on Buddhism.
" The learned High Priest commenced enumerating
some of the most important Buddhist books, and briefly
explaining their contents, and the objects for which they
were written . He stated that Buddha's doctrines may be
divided into two parts-one the philosophical portion, con-
taining sublime truths which only the eminently learned can
understand, and the other, the plain discourses, embodying
great truths, but couched in homely language. The homely
language used, the priest went on to say, often conveyed
false ideas with it, but such language was made the medium
of conveying facts, with the view of adapting himself to the
capacities of the common people, and he would particularly
remind them that they were not to suppose that the ' Great
High Buddha ' meant to countenance the superficial meaning
which those words implied.
 8

" After speaking of the importance of works, of the

necessity of personal merit, he enlarged upon Sowan,
Sakradagami, Anagami, and Arhat, the four paths of virtue
prescribed by Buddha to obtain Nirwana (at the mention of
which all the assembled crowd cried Sadu) ; he concluded a
learned sermon of some two hours' duration by exhorting
the congregation to exercise patience, and to follow Buddha's
command of not even so much as thinking evil of those who
cruelly used and persecuted them .
" The priest had neither book nor any notes to refer to,
but the able manner in which he freely quoted from the
various Pali works, giving the title of every book in support
of his statements, the clear, logical manner in which he
reasoned, explaining each difficult term he used, giving even
the derivation of each word, and the able summing up, was,
to say the least, very remarkable.
" Attached to the temple, which is to be erected on the
ground now occupied by the temporary building, will be a
college for priests and laymen , in which Pali alone will be
taught to such students as may frequent it for secular
education only, and the High Priest stated how gladly he
would give instruction to29 any English gentleman desiring to
learn the Pali language . '

THE DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM- NIRVANA.

Buddhism has been charged with atheism. This is rank

injustice. It is true that Buddhists do not believe in a
personal, human-shaped God, the subject of limitations, and
even of such passions as anger and jealousy ; but they do
believe in a Supreme Power-the ineffable, the infinite
Presence. They further believe that this ever-present God
will not in some remote period judge the world, but that he
is incarnate in all worlds, and in the self- executive laws that
pertain to the physical and moral universe. Accordingly, to
the enlightened Buddhist, life is a sowing and a reaping—a
measureless series of causes and effects of sins and punish-
ments, until the attainment of Nirvana. Then it is soul- life,
in endless unfoldment.
There has been much useless, if not really idle talk as to
what Buddha meant, and what modern Buddhists still
mean, by entrance into Nirvana. What I have to say upon
this matter is not from prejudice ; nor is it gathered from
 9

the booked sayings and missionary fragments so often

referred to in current literature ; but rather from inquiries in
the homes, the temples, and the colleges of the priests. It
seems a little difficult for missionaries to see the bright and
beautiful side of what they denominate " heathenism." That
it has its excrescences and superstitions I freely admit ; and
may not the same be said of all the great religions of the
world. So far as missionaries teach the people of the East
the English language ; so far as they instruct them in the
arts and sciences, and encourage secular education generally,
they do great good ; but in matters of religion they have
nothing new to take the Oriëntals that is true.
I have talked personally with scores of learned Buddhist
priests in Ceylon, China, and other Eastern countries ; and
with a single exception, they assured me that entrance into
Nirvana was emancipation from pains, sorrows, and dis-
appointments, final release from re-births, and a sweet,
divine , yet conscious repose, that no language can fully
express. And this one priest who took a different view, did
not believe in the soul's absolute annihilation , but rather in
its subjective, unconscious existence -something akin to final
absorption into the unknowable !
It must be evident to every impartial student of the
Oriental religions that the aspirations of Buddhists, the
true construction of their ancient writings, and the present
testimony of their most learned priests, all go to shew that
Nirvana is not, in even a subordinate sense, extinction of
conscious existence ! And further, it is most distinctly
stated in the Buddhist Scriptures -scriptures that may be
traced to the age of Guatama Buddha himself—that Buddha
enjoyed Nirvana while yet in his mortal body ; and that he
appeared to his disciples in his glorified state after his
physical dissolution . To this end, Max Müller says : " If
we consider that Buddha himself, after he had already seen
Nirvana, still remains on earth until his body falls a prey to
death ; that in the legends Buddha appears to his disciples,
even after his death ; it seems to me that all these circum-
stances are hardly reconcilable with the orthodox meta-
physical doctrine of Nirvana." Again, he says : " Nirvana
 10

means the extinction of many things : of selfishness, desire,

and sin, without going so far as the extinction of conscious-
ness, and even existence."
In reviewing Max Müller's " Dhammapada," James
D'Alexis, F.R.A.S., and Member of the Parliamentary
Council of Ceylon, after admitting that Guatama Buddha
attained not only Buddahood, but a foretaste of Nirvana,
while yet in his body, through temperance, self-sacrifice,
prayer, and holy living, thus continues : " But the relative
happiness of the Buddhist Nirvana is one which is acquired
in this very life. He who reaches the end of births has
attained Nirvana. He who has received his last body, and
is yet alive, has attained Nirvana. These and numerous
other texts clearly shew that man attains Nirvana in this
very life." And so a similar class of texts in the New
Testament shew that Nirvana-eternal life, that 1S,
spiritual life—is to be attained in a degree and largely
enjoyed in this present world. Such is the import of theses
Biblical passages : “ And this is life eternal ; " " I am the
resurrection and the life ; " " Walk in the spirit ; " " Be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world ." That religious
body known in America as Shakers, and who in doctrines
and practices more nearly resemble the Buddhists than any
other class of religionists, denominate this Nirvana- life, the
resurrection-life. It is the calm, serene life of the soul,
uty

virtually lifted out of, and living above the plane of the
s

carnal nature and the earthly passions. It is spiritual

work fa

emancipation and victory!

Buddha, speaking of a Rahan named Thamula, said “ he
had conquered all his passions, and attained the state of
firs

Nirvana ."
When a Buddhist, through aspiration and effort, has
attained a very high degree of spirituality, he is considered a
Rahat. And these Rahats, by dieting, by fasting, and
prayer, become so spiritual, so ethereal that they can rise in
the air, control to some degree the elements, and can even
become invisible, or vanish from sight, as did Jesus when
walking upon earth so many days in his spiritually--
materialised body.
 11

Nagasena, a Buddhist missionary before the Christian

era, said : " Nirvana is the divine_rest ; the destroying of
the infinite sorrow of the world, the abode of abodes that
cannot be explained."
And Wong-Chin-Fu, a Chinese scholar and Buddhist,
who has been recently travelling in America, remarked
repeatedly : " By Nirvana we all understand a final re-
union with God, coincident with the perfection of the human
*
spirit by its ultimate disembarrassment of matter. It is the
very opposite of personal annihilation."
In the opinion of all thoughtful Buddhists, Nirvana is
to be obtained only through struggle, self-denial, renuncia-
tion of worldly pleasures, release from selfish entanglements,
abstemious living, holy aspiration, and a sweet trust in the
illimitable, ineffable Oversoul of the Universe. And it con-
sists in the fruition of all hopes, the realisation of all
enchanting dreams, the fulfilment of all divine prophecies,
the eternal becoming, the fadeless glory of a conscious
immortality !

THE SACRIFICIAL ATONEMENT.

The great system of Buddhism knows nothing of a

crucified Saviour - nothing of salvation through atoning
blood. Its basic foundation rests upon the immutable
principle of cause and effect. Sin and punishment, virtue
and happiness are inseparably connected, according to the
doctrines of Guatama Buddha. Listen :--
" Sin will come back upon the sinful, like fine dust thrown
against the wind."
" An evil deed does not turn suddenly like milk ; but smouldering ,
it follows the fool, like fire covered by ashes."
" Thyself is its own defence, its own refuge ; it atones for its own
sins ; none can purify another. "
" All we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man
speaks or acts with evil thoughts, pain follows, as the wheel the foot
of him who draws the carriage. ""
" The virtuous man rejoices in this world, and he will rejoice in .
the next ; in both worlds has he joy. He rejoices , he exults, seeing
the purity of his deed. "
" These wise people , meditative, steady, always possessed of
strong powers, attain to Nirvana, the highest felicity !"
 12

In the " Indian Saint ; or Buddha and Buddhism," a

most excellent volume by C. D. B. Mills, the author declares
that " There is no doctrine of commercial substitution here,
nor a shade of our Western dream of atonement by vicarious
blood." He further says that " Spence Hardy, a Wesleyan
missionary, many years resident in Ceylon, finds this one of
the most hopeless things in the prospect regarding the con-
version of the Buddhists ; they know nothing of the
salvation by blood ; it is so foreign to their entire system of
religion that there is found no place in the Oriental mind
wherein to graft such a conception. The Buddhist knows
nothing of an atonement." sepad on.sele

THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM .

The tone of morality is higher, and the practice of

charitable deeds far more prevalent in Buddhist than in
Christian countries. This will be conceded by every unpre-
judiced traveller, and by every candid and trustworthy
foreign resident of Ceylon, Siam, China, and the East.
Only last week a bull-fight was indulged in at Madrid, in
honour of the marriage festival of the King and Queen.
And Spain, remember, is a Christian country. Magnificent
cathedrals dot the great cities, and costly churches crown the
hill-tops. The cross is the dominant symbol, and Mass is
the solemn song, and the ever-recurring echo of the passing
years. And yet the nobility—the élite, even the ladies, of
the realm, assemble to witness a brutal bull- fight ; where
Christian men, dressed like savages, shake crimson rags at
bulls to madden them for the bloody fray ! And when
these poor animals' sides were pierced with flaming goads ;
when the hides of the horses were ripped and torn ; when
the men in the ring were bruised and wounded ; and when
pools of blood covered the ground, these ladies—the Christian
ladies of Roman Catholic Spain- cheered and waved their
handkerchiefs— so say the Spanish journals ! It is sad to
write, though true, that bull-fights, dog-fights, and men-
fights the latter under the name of war- indicate the
status of Christian morals in this evening-time of the nine-
teenth century .
 13

The columns of the English newspapers are often crowded.

with records of drunkenness, robberies, midnight fightings,
and high-handed murders. The London Times, treating of
a terrible murder that transpired a few days ago in the West
End, says :-

"The circumstances, as we have them set out palpably

before us, are a miserable revelation of the brutality of which
men and women living around us are capable. ”

In America, with its 60,000 clergymen, millions of

Bibles , and salaried revivalists, the state of morals is no
better. Of this the public journals offer abundant proof.
The editor of the Hornellsville Times declares that-

"The records of the past have never presented a more

fearful and corrupt state of society than now exists through-
out the United States. The newspapers from every quarter
are becoming more and more loaded with the records of
""
crime.'

The Scientific American says :—

" It is admitted by all parties that crimes of the most
outrageous and unprecedented character abound throughout
the country to a degree wholly unparalleled .”

Though I have travelled twice around the world,.

spending days in Buddhist temples, months in the homes of
Brahmans and Buddhists, and years in their countries, I
never saw a Buddhist in a state of intoxication. Murder is
comparatively unknown ; theft is uncommon ; and profanity
prevails only so far as Oriental people have mingled with the
Christian nations of the West. To this end, Wong-Chin-fu,
a Chinese orator and Buddhist, said, when lecturing in
Chicago, U.S.A.-

" I challenge any man to say that he ever heard a

Chinese man, woman, or child, take the name of Almighty
God in vain, unless it was in the English language after he
had become demoralised."

Bishop Bigandet testifies not only to the general kind-

heartedness, chastity, and morality of Buddhists, but to the
ameliorating influences of the system upon woman. Their
 14

religion ignores caste, and they naturally accept the theory

that we are all brothers. Their hearts seem full of tender-
ness . They carefully care for the sick and the aged.
Reverence and love for parents is proverbial in the East.

The following constitutes the ethical code, or the five

great commandments of the Buddhists :-
I. Thou shalt not kill.
II. Thou shalt not steal.
III. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
IV. Thou shalt not speak untruths.
V. Thou shalt not take any intoxicating drink.

This moral code has been amplified in some of the

Buddhist countries, the commandments being increased to
ten in number. Substantially embodying the five, and
adding others from their sacred canon, they stand thus :—
I. Thou shalt kill no animal whatever, from the
meanest insect up to man.
II. Thou shalt not steal.
III. Thou shalt not violate the wife of another.

IV. Thou shalt speak no word that is false.

V. Thou shalt not drink wine, nor anything that
may intoxicate.

VI. Thou shalt avoid all anger, hatred, and bitter

language.
VII. Thou shalt not indulge in idle and vain talk.
VIII. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods .

IX. Thou shalt not harbour envy, nor pride, nor

revenge, nor malice, nor the desire of thy
neighbour's death or misfortune.

X. Thou shalt not follow the doctrines of false gods.

Those who keep these commandments ; who subdue their

passions ; who strive to live up to their divinest ideal ; who
through struggle conquer their selfishness, and hold the
perfect mastery over the lower earthly self, are on the way
to Nirvana- the rest of Buddha.
 15

" The rest of Boodh ! The starry rest of Boodh !

The lore of old, and the ancestral feud,
Shall move no more, forgotten and forgiven,
In the repose of Heaven.
The stars may fall ; the sun be turned to blood ;
The earth be shrouded in a fiery flood ;
The heavens be rolled together as a scroll ;
The form and face of nature be renewed ;
Still shall abide the all-pervading Soul,
And still the calm of those who rest in Boodh. "

WHAT DO BUDDHISTS EAT ?-AND WHAT ARE THEIR

AIMS OF LIFE ?

The word Buddha signifies enlightened-divinely

illumined . Though Guatama Buddha sought to induce
others to become self- sacrificing and pure, that they might
also become Buddhas, he professed no infallible leadership.
On the contrary, choosing a peaceful life of self-denial , he
hid himself behind the doctrines and truths he uttered. And
this has ever been my aim, whether in my native country, or
afar in foreign lands. It has also been the noble aim of my
co-workers in this reconstructive era of angel ministrants.
Inspirational truths, moral conquests, and impersonal prin-
ciples are the true leaders that lead men up on to the
mountain tops of holiness and harmony. The truths
enunciated by that great Indian sage, Buddha, have led
millions in the way of the better life.
Rice is the great staple of food in all Buddhist countries ;
and the general teachings of Buddhist priests are in favour
of vegetables, grains, and fruits, as food. Though some of
these religionists are flesh-eating in a moderate way, their
strictest and holiest men, their consecrated ones, never touch
nor taste of animal food. The priests usually wear plain
yellow robes ; and, as they live upon alms, they are compelled
to take what is given them ; and this sometimes consists in
part of animal food . They eat it not from choice, but rather
from necessity. If the animal was killed especially for them
they would not taste it.
The whole spirit of Buddhism is against flesh-eating,
because all life is sacred, because of the pain produced in
 16

killing animals, and because eating animal food tends to

grossness of body and stupidity of mind. Buddhists use no
strong drinks or liquors. The priests generally eat but one
meal a day, and that in the forenoon . Should they eat two,
they would partake of them both before the sun had passed the
noon-day meridian. The afternoons and evenings they
devote to works of charity, to prayer, and meditation.

THE DEATH OF GUATAMA BUDDHA.

The general testimony of scholars, as well as the histories

of the Siamese, Birmese, and Singhalese, unite in the opinion
that Sakya-Muni Guatama Buddha died a natural death, at
the age of about eighty years, the event occurring during the
reign of Adzatathat. His body, on the eighth day after its
death, was burned, and during the time of the cremation
the "nats," exalted intelligences in the heavenly world, hover-
ing over the corpse, discoursed sweet music, and threw down
upon the assemblage delicious perfumes.
According to the books and the legends of the East,
Buddha not only wrought such marvellous works as healing
the sick by a single touch, controlling the elements, sailing
through the air attended by his Rahans, and visiting other
worlds, but he foresaw and prophetically announced his
approaching end . Accordingly, Bishop Bigandet, who fre-
quently speaks of Buddha's entering into a state of trance,
informs us that when the great sage, weary and worn, had
reached Weluwa
, he was taken with a painful sickness . But
says the Bishop, " knowing that this was not the place he
was to select for his last moments, he overcame the evil
influences of the illness, and entering soon into a state of
absolute trance, he remained there for awhile. Awakening
from this situation , he appeared anew with his usual state of
99*
strength." But the infirmities of age were upon him.
And though nominally in his body, he lived upon the verge
of Heaven. When sitting one day under the sala-trees to
give dying advice to Ananda, it was announced that

* Bigandet's Life of Buddha, p. 261.

 17

Thoubat wished to see him. He was admitted to Buddha's

presence to converse upon religion. After a few moments,
as was his custom, of quiet contemplation, Buddha said, " I
have spent fifty-one years following the ways of Ariahs, the
ways of self-denial and good works, observing the wheel of
the law. These lead to Nirvana. To follow the path is to
become a Buddha, and all may become Buddhas . For
twenty-nine years up to this moment I have striven to obtain
the supreme and perfect science. I have attained it. I am
at peace. 99 Approaching his closing hours and calling
Ananda and the Rahans, he said , " When I shall have dis-
appeared from this state of existence and be no longer with
you, do not believe that the Buddha has left you and ceased
to dwell among you...Do not think, therefore, nor believe
""
that the Buddha has disappeared, and is no more with you.
Ananda was Buddha's cousin, and their mutual love was
excelled only by that existing between John and Jesus. In
the true harmonial man, intellect and affections balance
Buddha's last hours were spent in preaching, and in counselling
his friends upon those great spiritual themes that had oc-
cupied the prime and the setting years of his life. He passed
away in the morning-a morning whose sun can know no
setting.

2
 18

THE BUDDHIST CONTROVERSY

AS HELD AT PANTURA, NEAR COLOMBO, CEYLON,

On Tuesday, 26th August, 1873.

THOSE who are acquainted with the every day village life in
Ceylon can form no idea of the appearance Pantura presented
on the occasion of the great controversy between the Protes-
tants and Buddhists. The time appointed for commencing the
discussion was eight o'clock in the morning, and long before
that hour thousands of natives were seen wending their way,
attired in their gayest holiday suits, into the large enclosure
in which stood the ample bungalow where the adversaries were
to meet. By seven the green was one sea of heads. Each
district had sent its quota of villagers, and Colombo was
represented by a few intellectual looking, silk-garbed young
Singhalese, determined to give up all for the great champion
of Buddhism- Migetiuwatte .
The Protestant party too was very strong . From
Monday, catechists and clergymen of every denomination ,
Baptist, Wesleyan and Church Missionary, flocked from
various parts of the Island into the large house prepared
for them, one of them, an Oriental scholar of some
note, leaving the itinerating work in the wilds of
Anoorajapoora , to take part in this important discussion, and
assist the Protestant spokesman - Rev. David Silva. The
temporary building, the scene of this polemical strife, was a
neat cadjan-roofed structure with a raised platform , and
parted off in the middle : one portion was occupied by the
Rev. David Silva and his party, and the other by the Rev.
Mohattiwatte Gunanda, commonly known as Migettu-
watte, and about 200 priests. An attempt had been made to
 19

ascertain the numerical strength of each faction, by parting

off the compound, by a fence put up in a line with the parti-
tion of the platform on which the reverend gentlemen sat,
but the increasing numbers prevented the arrangement being
carried out. The bungalow itself presented a very gay ap-
pearance ; the half of it occupied by the Protestant party was
decorated with ever-greens, and had a ceiling and cloths on
the table as white as snow. The Buddhists, however, went in
for more colour ; they had rich damask table covers , a ceiling
which reminded one of the tri-colour flag of the French, and
festoonings of variegated hues, in addition to the yellow silk
or satin robes of the priests themselves. These were not all.
A posse of the Ceylon Police were also there, officered by In-
spector Ekenayeke, who was in his uniform ; gloved , belted
and mounted on his noble steed, he was seen drilling a hand-
ful of police- some fourteen men- and performing all sorts
of evolutions amongst the crowds ; but the order and quiet-
ness which prevailed amongst the five or six thousand men
were not due to their presence, as was evidenced in more
than one instance during the meeting.
All this, the yellow robed priests, the sable attire of the
Protestant clergymen , the fantastic dresses of the immense
multitude, the Inspector stalking perfectly erect on the walk
lined on each side by children of all ages and complexions ,
the slow murmur of human voices rising at times like the
waves of the ocean, interspersed occasionally by the clear
voices of the ubiquitous sherbet- vendor, and the roasted gram
seller-the invariable concomitants of a Ceylon crowd- ren-
dered the scene perfectly picturesque. Larger crowds may
often be seen in very many places in Europe, but surely such
a motley gathering as that which congregated on this occa-
sion can only be seen in the East. Imagine them all seated
down and listening with wrapt attention to a yellow robed
priest, holding forth from the platform filled with Buddhist
priests, clergymen , and Singhalese clad in their national cos-
tume, and your readers can form some idea-a very faint one
indeed of the heterogeneous mass that revelled in a display
of Singhalese eloquence seldom heard in this country.
So much for the general appearance of the scene ; and
2-2
 20

now a few words concerning the speakers —at least concerning

one of them- the Buddhist priest, Migettuwatte- as he is
comparatively unknown to very many. He is a well-made
man of apparently forty-five or fifty years of age, rather short,
very intellectual looking, with eyes expressive of great dis-
trust, and a smile which may either mean profound
satisfaction or supreme contempt. Years ago, owing to some
differences with his confrères, he left the sect to which he be-
longed, and established a temple of his own at Cottanchina (in
close proximity to St. Thomas' College, Mutwal) , and com-
menced, with the aid of a well educated native, regularly
delivering a series of lectures, and publishing , in a printing
press established by himself, pamphlets against Christianity.
The Wesleyans, the only denomination who ever took the
trouble to come forward in defence of the religion of Christ,
held various meetings, and the addresses delivered by the
learned Pali scholar, Rev. Silva, the Rev. Perera and Mr.
John Perera at these gatherings, to the substance of whose
speeches permanence was subsequently given in the several
periodicals issued by this Society, terminated this quiet con-
troversy in about the year 1867. The desirability of personal
argument, however, occurred to the minds of the disputants
only a few years afterwards, and the Baddegame monster
meeting, in which the Church missionaries took a leading
part, was the first important assembly of the kind ; but as on
that occasion the discussion was entirely carried on in writing,
no opportunity was afforded to the general public of judging
of the comparative merits of the leading men of the two
parties. On the present occasion no such conditions hampered
the disputants. Each man was allowed one full hour to
speak, and either to expose the unsoundness of the opponent's
religion, or to reply to his adversary's strictures, or both.
As the Rev. David Silva was the first to make some state-
ments adverse to Buddhism, in one of a series of sermons
which he was then preaching in the Pantura Wesleyan
Chapel, to which Migettuwatte took exception , and denounced
as untrue, and the accuracy of which he called upon any
Christian to establish, he (Mr. Silva) was asked to open the
proceedings by stating his arguments against Buddhism.
 21

The proceedings commenced each day at 8 A.M. , and closed

at 10 ; they were again resumed at 3 in the afternoon, and
terminated at 5 o'clock ; and as only two days were fixed for
the controversy, each speaker thus had four hours. The
Buddhist priest, it will be seen, had by this arrangement the
privilege of having the last word, no mean privilege on
any occasion, and to such a consummate master of public
speaking as Migettuwatte the advantages of this position
were incalculable. The Christian advocate- Mr. Silva-is
a learned and fluent speaker : full of Pali and Sanscrit, he
addressed the audience as if each of his hearers was a James
Alwis, a Louis Zoysa, a Childers, or a Max Müller ; he was
never at a loss for words, but he forgot that the powers of
comprehension in his audience were limited, and that the
abstruse metaphysics of Buddha and the learned disquisitions
on The Skandhas, Ayatanas, and Patichasamuphada, in which
he seems to be quite at home, are not adapted to the capacities
of his hearers. It is doubtful whether there were even thirty
out of the five or six thousand who were present at this
controversy who even understood the ornate, though chaste
and classic language in which his explanations of these
almost incomprehensible subjects were couched, much less the
subjects themselves. His renderings of the Pali extracts
may be correct, but who was to judge of this ? Certainly
not the peasantry who hailed from the jungles of Raigam
and Pasdoom Corles. Even the Christian party was so
conscious of this error of judgment, if nothing more, that
they felt chagrined ; and several gave vent to their opinions
in rather forcible language at the apparent success of the
Buddhists on the first day. The Rev. Migettuwatte Gunanda
is just the reverse of this. He adapts himself to the
capabilities of his audience, and uses the plainest language
that the proper treatment of the subjects will allow.
Laughing at the idea of Mr. Silva, who in his opinion has
only a mere smattering of Pali, attempting to translate
difficult extracts from works in that language, he gets over
difficulties by arguments more plausible than sound . Of all
the weak points in Protestantism, he only touches upon those
which will excite the ridicule of the people and evoke a smile
 22

of derisive contempt, and winds up a very effective speech,

rendered the more attractive by motions made with con-
summate skill, with a brilliant peroration to which the
"great unwashed " listen with deep attention, and the accents
of which ring in their ears for some minutes after delivery.
Amongst those present in the bungalow we noticed the
Revs. S. Langdon, R. Tebb, S. Coles, C. Jayesinghe,
P. Rodrigo, Jos . Fernando, L. Nathanielsz, O. J. Gunasekara,
J. H. Abayasekara, H. Martensz, H. Silva, Juan de Silva,
D. Fonseka, S. Soysa Modliar, Dr. Staples, Proctors
Jayesinghe, Daniel, and Alwis, and a host of catechists.
and others. Supporting the Buddhist champion were the
learned High Priest of Adam's Peak, Sipkaduwe Sumangaa-
bhildhana, Bulatgama Dhammalankara Sri Sumanatissa,
Dhammalankara, Subhuti, Potuwilla Indajoti , Koggala
Sanghatissa, Amaramoli, Gunaratana, and Weligame Teru-
nanses, the ablest Oriental scholars amongst the Buddhist
priests of this Island .

REV. DAVID DE SILVA'S FIRST SPEECH .

Two minutes before the appointed hour, the Rev. C.

Jayesinghe (C.M.S. ) stepped forward, and in a very few
words, begged the audience to give that attention and quiet
hearing to what Rev. Mr. Silva had to say which the import-
ance of the matters he would touch upon deserved . In
behalf ofthe Buddhists, the aged priest " Bulatgame" followed
in the same strain ; and hoped that the speakers would not
forget to use temperate language during the discussion
Precisely as the clock struck eight, the Rev. David de
Silva rose to address the crowd. He stated that before
engaging in the controversy it was necessary to explain the
reasons for holding it. On the 12th of June last he delivered.
a lecture in the Wesleyan Chapel, Pantura, on the teachings.
of Buddha with reference to the human soul : on the 19th of
the same month it was taken exception to by the Buddhist
party, and denounced as untrue. The present occasion was,
therefore, appointed to shew what the doctrine of Buddhism
was with reference to the soul, and he hoped that the
Buddhist party would, if possible, meet his arguments.
 23

properly ; and that the assembly would judge for themselves

what statements were to be received as sound.
He stated that Buddhism taught that man had no soul,
and that the identical man received not the reward of his
good or bad actions.
According to Buddhism, the sattâ, sentient beings , are
constituted in the five khandhâs, namely rupák-hhandha,
the organised body, wedanák-hhandha, the sensations, sannak-
khandha, the perceptions, sankharak-khandha, the reasoning
powers, and winnanak-khandha, consciousness. In proof of this,
he quoted the following from Sanyouttanikaya, a section of
Buddha's sermons, and from the Sutrapitaka.
Panehime khikkhave khande desissami Panchupadanakkh ne
ca tain sunatha katameca bhikkhave pancakkhanda yam kinchi
bhikhhave rupam atitanagata pachcuppannam ajjhattain ia
bahiddha va olarikain va sukhumam va hinain va panitam va yam
dure va santike va ayam vuchehati rupekkhando.
Priests, I will declare the five Khandhas and the five Up-
adanakkhandas ; hear it, Priests, what are the five Khandhas?
Priests, the body, whether past, future, or present, whether
intrinsic or foreign, whether gross or minute, base or excellent,
remote or near, this is called Rupak-khandha, the material
form .
So of Wedana Ya kaci bhikkhave vedana
So of Sanna Ya kaci bhikkhave sanna
So of Sankhara Ya kaci bhikkhave sankhara
So of Winnana Yan bhikkhave vinnanan
The same is said of the Upadanakhanda , cleaving Khan-
dhas.
Katame ca bhikkhave pancupanakkhandha ? Yan kinci
bhikkhave rupan ahtanagata paccuppanan , etc., etc.
Priests, what are the five Upadanak-khandas ? Priests,
the rupa, whether past, future, or present, whether intrinsic or
extrinsic, whether gross or minute, base or excellent, remote
or near, that is called rupapadanak-khanda. So of Wedana,
Sanna, Sankhara, and Winnana.
Yehi keci bhikkhave Samana va Brahmana va aneke vihitan
attanan Samanupassamana Samanupassanti Sabbe'te pancupada-
nakkhandhe Sammanupassati.
 24

Priests, any priest or Brahmin looking to one's variegated

self sees anything , all that, are seen in the five cleaving
khandas .
Also from the following verse from Kawyasekara, the best
Elu poetical work extant.
Paskanda sa kelese
Duknam weya emese
Ru weyin sanrese.
Satara vinnena namin mepase .
The five defiled khandhas constitute sorrow ; they are, rupa,
wedana, sanna, sankhara, and winnana.
This same individual, it was declared , was comprised in
the twelve Ayatanas, organs, Chakkha-yatana, the eye, sota-
yatana, the ear, ghana-yatana, the nose, Jiwha-yatana, the
tongue, Kaya-yatana, the body, mana yatana, the mind with
their bahiddha-yatana, external aya-tanas, rupa, bodily form,
sadda, sound, gandha, odour, rasa, flavour, potthabba, touch,
and dhamma, events. The following extracts will bear out
this statement.
Kutamauca bhikkhave salayatanan, cakkhayatanan sotayata-
nam ghanayatanam jivhayatanam kayayatanam manayatanam.
Priests, what are the six ayatanas ? the ear, the nose, the
tongue, the body and the mind .
Sabham vo bhikkhave desissami, tam sunatha. Kimca bhik-
khave sabbam ? Cakkhunceva rupanca, sotanca, saddanea ,
ghananea, grandnea jivhaca rasaca, kayaca potthabbaca, manoca,
dhammaca; idam vuccati bhikkhave sabbam .
Priests, I will preach to you sabban, the whole ; hear ye,
priests, what is the whole ? the eye and the bodily form , the
ear and the sound, the nose and the odour, the tongue and
the flavour, the body and the touch, the mind and the events.
Priests, this is called the whole.
Again according to the following authorities, nama and
rupa constituted the whole man.
Katamauca bhikkhave nama rupan wedana sanna cetana
phasso manesikaro ; idam vuccati namam. Cattaroca maha
bhutaca catunnaca mahabhutanam upadaya rupam. Idain
vuccati rupam .
Priests, what are the nama rupa , wedana, sensation, sanná,
 25

perception, chetana , the faculty of reason , phasso, touch, and

manasikaro, mental objects ? this is called the nama. That
which is compounded of these four elements is called rupa.
Tattha katamam namam ? Wedanakkhandho, sannakkdandho,
sankharakkhandho Idam vuccatinamam .
What is nama ? sensation, perception , and discrimination .
Again, in the Milindaprasne it is stated .
Yam olarikain etam rupam, ye sukkuma citta cetacika
dhamma eatam namam .

Anything gross, that is rúpa, anything small, the mind

and thoughts, these are nama. Thus the first four Khandhas
evidently are mentioned as constituting nama rupa. But
from the following quotation it would appear that the fifth
khandha, consciousness, could not exist independently of the
four former.
Yo bhikkhave evam vadeyya aham anna rupeya annatha veda-
nayn annatha sannaya annatha sankharehi vinnanassa agatini va
gatini va cutini va appathne va vuddim va virulhim va vepulldin
va pannapessamiti n etam thanam vijjati.
Priests, if anyone say I will shew the arrival and the
departure, the death and the birth, the growth, the amplifica-
tion, and the full development of vinnana, consciousness in-
dependent of body or of sensation or of perception or of
discrimination , the cause is not as he states it, i.e., it is not
true, thus shewing that consciousness must be included with
the other four khandhas.
Again, fromthe following quotations from the comment of
Wibhanga it would appear that all the five khandhas come
into existence together and at the same time :—
Gabbha seyyaka sattanam hi patis patisandhikkhane pancak-
khandha apachcha apure ekato pàtubhavanti.
Beings conceived in the womb, at the moment of concep-
tion the five khandhas come into existence ; neither before
nor after, they come into existence together.
Evaeme gabbhaseyyaânan patisandhikkhandhane pancak-
khandha paripunna honti.
Thus, those that are conceived, at the moment of conception
the five khandhas are perfect.
 26

And also from the following verse from Kawyasekara.

Nam ru deka hera
Neta an pugul behera
Pevata deka nohera
Siyalu katayutu veya nitora
Besides, nama rupa there is nothing else that constitutes
the individual ; by these two in connection at all times every-
thing proper is performed.
Thus is proved that the whole individual is constituted
in the five khandhas, or in the twelve ayatanas or in nama
rupa.
Now from the following extracts it will be seen that
Buddha denies the existence of a soul either in the Khandhas
or Ayata na.
Rupam bhikkhave anattam, yadanattam n'etam mama n'eso
'hamasmin paneso attati.
Organised form , Priests, is not self, that which is not self
is not mind, I am not that, that is, not to me a soul.
So of Wedana, Sanna, Sankhara, and Winnana.
The same is said of rupa, present, past, and future, etc.
Yam kanci rupam atitanagata paccuppannam ajjhattam va
bahiddha va olarikam va sukhumam va hinam va panitam va yam
dûre va santike va sabbam rupam n'etam mama n'eso 'hamasmi
nameso attati evametam yathabutam sammappanaya datthabbam .
The body, whether past, future, or present, whether belong-
ing to the individual or to others, whether gross or minute,
base or excellent, remote or near, all that body is not mine,
is not myself, that is not my soul.
So of Wedana, Sanna, Sankhara, Winnana.
It is also stated, as will be seen from the following
extracts, that the very cause of the Khandhas was soulless and
that there was no soul to be found :--
Rupam bhikkhave anattamopi hetu yopi paccayo rûpassa
uppadaya sopi anattam anattasambhutam rupam kuto attam-
bhvissati.
Priests, the body is not a soul ; if there be any cause or
paccayo (that on account of which the thing is produced) for
the production of the body, that too is soulless ; when the
body is soulless whence can there be a soul ?
 27

So of Wedana, Sanna, Sankhara, Winnana.

The same is stated respecting the ayatanas ; they are soul-
less, and in them there was no soul to be found . The
following texts will bear out this statement.
Cakkhum bhikkhave anattam yopi hetu yopi paccaya cakhhussa
uppadaya sopi anattam anattasambhutam bikkhave cakkhum kuto
attam bhavissati.
Priests, the eye is not a soul ; if there be any cause or
sequence for the production of the eye, that too is soulless ;
when the eye is soulless whence can there be a soul ?
So of sota, ear, ghana, nose, jivha, tongue, kaya, figure,
mano, mind.
In defining death, it is stated-
Katamanca bhikkhave maranam ? Yam tesam tesam sattanam
tamha tamha satta nikaya cuti cavanta bhedo antaradhanam
maccu maranam kalakiriya khandhanam bhedo, kalebarassa
nikkhepo. Idam vuccati maranan.
Priests, what is death ? It is the cessation of existence in
each state, the breaking up of the frame, the vanishing of its
parts, the destruction of the body, decease, the breaking up
of the Khandhas, the throwing away of the lifeless frame-
this is death .
In the advice given by Buddha to the priests to cast away
all desire the following passage occurs : —
Yo bhikkhave rupasmin chandarago tam pajahatha, evam tam
rupam pahinam bhavissati ucchinna mulam talavatthu katam
anabhava katam ayatim anuppada dhammani.
Priests, put off attachment to the body ; thus that material
form will cease to be, will be cut up by the roots, be eradi-
cated, be reduced to non-existence, prevent future birth.
In the Mahapadhana suttam it is stated—
Yam kinci samudaya dhammam tam nirodha dhammam ; that
which comes into existence will cease to be.
From these authorities it is clear that Buddhism teaches
that everything which constitutes man will cease to be at
death, and that no immortal soul existed therein, and if then
man was only a brute what need had he of a religion ? can
he possess any moral principle ?
Thus ifthe Khandhas, Ayatanas, and Nama and Rupa con-
 28

stituted the whole of man, and if Buddha himself denied the

existence of Atma in either of these constituents, and dis-
tinctly declared that these would be completely broken up,
it followed that there was no Atma or soul, which survived
the body, but that the human being was on a par with the
frog, pig, or any other member of the brute creation. If this
were so, and nothing remained of the present man, any being
which would exist hereafter and suffer punishment or reap
the rewards for the actions committed in this world, which
the Buddhists say would be the case, must be a different
being, and could not by any possibility be the identical
person who committed those actions . And this led the
learned lecturer to the second point on which he proposed to
speak, but before entering it, he would quote a few authorities
from the Holy Scriptures to shew his hearers why the
Christians believed in the existence of a soul. The attempt
made by the Buddhists to controvert these distinct declara-
tions, contained in the Bible, with reference to the soul,
was as futile and silly as the attempt of a small child to
conceal the bright rays of the sun by the aid of a lighted
candle. He would now refer them to the following
passages from " God's Bible," which he likened unto the
noon-day sun .
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day
shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Luke xxiii. 43.
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord
lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this,
he fell asleep. Acts vii. 60.
For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit,
have judged already, as though I were present, concerning
him that hath so done this deed. 1 Cor. v. 3.
And now with reference to the second point, that it was
not the identical person who committed good or bad that
received the reward or suffered punishment, he would quote
the following passages from Samyutta nikaya.
Kinnukho bho Gotamá so karoti so patisamvediyatiiti so
karoti so patisanvedeyatiti Brahmana, ayam eko anto.
What Gotama (asks a Brahmin) does he who commits
the action reap its reward . Brahmin the thought that he
 29

who commits the action reaping its reward is one extreme

(i.e. , a mistake) .
Again, King Milinda asked Nagasena the following ques-
tion :--
Atthi koci satto imamha kaya annani sankamatiti ?
Is there any being who transmigrates from this body
to another body ? to which Priest Nagasena gave this
reply :-
Nahi maha raja, imena pana maha raja namarupena kam-
mam karoti sobhanam va papakam va ; tena kammena annam
namarupam patisandahatiti.
No, great King, by these nama and rupa good or evil
actions are performed, and in consequence of these actions
another nama and rupa is conceived.
Again, the following passages occurred in one of the
comments :--
Atita bhave kamma paccayena nibbatta te khandha tattheva
nruddha atita bhavato imam bhavam agato eka dhammampi
natthi.
Those Khandhas which came into existence in consequence
of actions in a previous state of existence, there itself they
ceased to be. There is not one thing which has come to
this state of existence from the past state.
Sattena kata kamma paccaya nubhavena anapac chinna kilesa
bala vinamitam annam namarupam patubhavati.
" In consequence of the power of actions performed by
beings bent by the influence of successive defilement a
different nama rupa comes into existence. ”
Again, defining what birth was, in various parts of
Buddhist literature there are statements such as the
following :-
Katamanca bhikkhava jati ! Yaca tesam tesam sattanam
tamhi tamhi satta nikaye sanjati okkanti abhinnibbatti khandha-
nam patubharo ayatananam patilabho ayam vuccati bhikkhave jati.
Priests, what is birth ? It is the production, the concep-
tion, coming into existence in such and such state, the
appearance of the Khandhas, and the development of
Ayatanas. Priests, this is called birth.
Speaking of Khandhas and Ayatanas, it is said : —
 30

Uppattikkhane patubhavanti - come into existence at the

very moment birth takes place.
He asked whether this, being the proper Buddhist doctrine.
as expounded in their books, it was likely that the actions of
any human being would be influenced by it. If the doctrine
were true, it was clear that those who performed meritorious
actions would not be benefited , for even supposing that there
were any rewards, the doer would not reap them but another.
Besides, was it at all to be expected that a man who believes
his end to be similar to that of a dog, or a frog, would care
what actions he committed ? Is not the greatest inducement
held out to the murderer, the thief, and the voluptuary to
carry on their unlawful pursuits ? What mattered it to them
how evil their actions were ? They would not be punished
in a future life ; some other beings would be ; but how did
that in any way affect them ? Within man there is a deep-
rooted conviction that he will have to suffer for his mis-deeds .
This conviction, or conscience, was not confined to a single
individual, or a particular race or class of men ; it was a
general feeling, and does not this doctrine of Buddha belie
the convictions implanted in the heart of every man ? nay,
in the heart of every Buddhist ? Besides, was it possible to
imagine a dogma more prolific of baneful influences or a
greater incentive to evil than this held by the Buddhists, not
to mention how iniquitous and contrary to all principles of
justice it was to punish one for the misconduct of another.
What villain will not exult in the idea that he is not to suffer
for what he does in this life ! He would challenge the
opposite party to adduce a single passage where this personal
punishment was even declared : if no authority existed where
this doctrine was plainly stated, he would, as an indulgence ,
allow them to point out any passage from which this most
salutary doctrine could even be inferred. He knew it was
impossible. In order to mislead the ignorant, the opposite
party might produce metaphors , but in a logical argument
metaphors are of no weight, and the metaphors when intro-
duced would, he was sure, be found to prove nothing. The
identical wrong-doer, according to the Buddhists, never
suffered for his misdeeds. They denied the existence of an
 31

Atma (soul) , and both these doctrines only shewed that no

religion ever held out greater inducements to the unrighteous
than Buddhism did . He then lastly implored the audience,
in the name of the Almighty, to carefully and without
prejudice weigh the replies that would be tendered , and to
hold fast, even at the risk of their lives, that which was true.
Before closing, he thanked the audience -fully 5,000 men—–
for the quiet and attentive manner in which they had listened
to him .

REV. MIGETTUWATTE'S FIRST SPEECH IN REPLY.

The Priest Migettuwatte (Mohattiwatte Gunanda) then

commenced his reply. He said that much penetration was
not needed to form a correct opinion of the Rev. Mr. Silva's
lecture to which they had all listened . It was a very desultory
and rambling speech, which he was certain nobody under-
stood. In his exposition of the Pali extracts, made from
Buddha's discourses, he was not more successful, because he
completely failed to convey to those present the correct
meaning in intelligible language. A very few of his audience,
however, doubtless perceived that the main argument of the
lecture was to shew that because at a human being's death
here, his Pancaskhandha is completely destroyed, therefore
the being who was produced from it in another world was a
wholly different being. This was not so . Though the being
was not the same, it was not a different one, as he would
presently shew. Atma (the soul, the living principle) was
not an easy subject to explain, but because it was so abstruse
it did not follow that its existence was denied. Of course
they did not agree with the Christians' view of the soul :
this declared that without any change man's soul goes to a
state of misery or bliss according to its deserts ; if so, it must
be the human soul with all its imperfections that goes to
heaven . For instance, when the Rev. Mr. Silva leaves
Pantura for Wellawatta he does not become a different
person ; it is the same clergyman, and he is known by the
same name ; and if the human Atma goes to heaven that Atma
must be human still, and the being who enjoys bliss-a man !
 32

And now it behoved him to explain this important doctrine

of Pancaskhandha, in the expounding of which the rev.
gentleman, owing to his superficial knowledge of Pali , had
made such mistakes.
In doing so, he would take good care not to use language
that seemed like Latin and Greek to the multitude ; and he
left to his learned coadjutors to judge of the correctness of
his interpretation of these doctrines. The great Buddha's
last discourse, in which man's nature was explained, was not
one that could be comprehended by every body, and much
less by a clergyman of Mr. Silva's linguistic attainments. It
was perfectly true, according to Buddhist doctrines, to say
that at man's death no portion of Pancaskhandha was trans-
ferred to another world ; yet the being who was produced at
death in consequence of existence here was not a different
being. This was not a new interpretation of the doctrine.
He could assure his hearers that this construction was
admitted to be the correct and proper one at several meetings ,
held hundreds of years ago for the very purpose, in which
the most erudite of the age took part, whose knowledge of
Pali, it was needless to say, was far superior to that of the
rev. gentleman who had just spoken. The whole of Buddha's
doctrines were written in Pali, and no person having an
imperfect knowledge of that language could be expected to
understand those abstruse sayings. He would now shew the
extent of the rev. gentleman's Pali attainments, and
fortunately for him, he had in his possession a little publication
which greatly facilitated this task. This brochure, entitled
Granthasekara, was published by Mr. Silva, and in it occurs a
short Pali verse of four lines giving the substance of a passage
in the New Testament, of which the first line even contains
several egregious blunders. For instance, in the sentence
commencing with " Tava namo paviththo hothu " it was quite
erroneous to use the aspirate paviththo. There was no such
word as paviththo in the Pali language ; it ought to have
been pavitto, and in Tava namo it was equally wrong to have
used the masculine termination. If the rev. gentleman was
not competent to connect two Pali words agreeably to
grammatical rules, but committed so many blunders in those
 33

few lines of Pali, his hearers would be able to judge of his

fitness to explain the great Buddha's abstruse metaphysics
found only in works written in that language. The assembled
multitude may not know whether his (the Priest's) criticism
of the rev. gentleman's grammatical constructions was
correct or not ; but if he were wrong, there was no doubt that
the priests well versed in Pali literature who surrounded him,
would correct him. To the learned it certainly was amusing
to hear the rev. gentleman, with such an imperfect knowledge
of Pali, attempting to explain the difficult doctrine of Pan-
caskhandha.
Pancaskhandha, then, consists of the five components, -
Rupaskhandha, the body. 2. Wedanaskhandha, sensation. 3.
Sannaskhandha, perception. 4. Sanskharaskhandha, discrimina-
tion ; and 5. Winnanaskhandha, external consciousness . It was
well known that at man's death Rupaskhandha, or the body,
was consigned to the grave, and that Wedanaskhandha, or
physical sensation, ceased to exist. So they may be quite
sure that no part of these two Skhandhas ever went to another
world to enjoy bliss or suffer punishment. In like manner,
the remaining three Skhandhas, too, ceased to exist at man's
death ; and neither did they suffer in a future existence
the consequences of acts done in this life . But yet the being
who is produced simultaneously with the extinction of
Pancaskhandha was not a different being. He would try to
make this doctrine yet clearer. The much revered Bible of
the Christians was not the original Bible written by Moses
and others, and in use amongst the primitive believers of
Christ ; and yet they could not say it was a different Bible.
The substance in both was the same, though it was not the
identical book : so it was with Atma. Though at one's death
all those constituents which make up the outward physical
man perish, and no portion of them is transferred to another
world, yet the conscious being, though produced in
consequence, is not a different one. Accordingly, it was as
incorrect to say that it was a different being who suffered for
the good or evil committed here, as to assert that it was the
identical doer with all his environments who thus suffered .
He (the Priest) hoped that his illustration of the Bible would
3
 34

have enabled his auditory to more fully comprehend this

abstruse doctrine. The following Pali extract from the
Kattawastu Prakarana of the Abhidharma Pitaka fully bore
out the assertion made at the outset of his lecture, that if
the human soul participated in a future existence, the conse-
quences of acts done in this life, the beings who dwelt in
heaven must be men, instead of glorified spirits.
So'êva puggalo sandhavati asma loka paran tokan, parasma
loka iman lokan ' ti amanta atthi koci manusso hutva devo hoti'ti
micca. Sace hi sandhavati sv'eva puggalo ito cuto param
lokam anannahevan maranan nahoti'ti panatipato'pinupalabbhati.
"If they say that the same person passes from this world
to the other world , or from the other world to this world ,
then some who having been men become gods, it is false. If
this very person passes it is the same man that having died
.
goes from here to the other world , not another, and there is
""
no death , and there will be no killing .'
Human beings had two deaths ; one was the complete
change sensations underwent every moment, which resulted
in the production of new emotions ; and the other was that
death which every body understood by the phrase of
" going to another world. " Sensations, they were well aware,
vary every moment : desires, power of thinking, passions, and
opinions change constantly. The body , too, which, according
to Buddhism, consisted of thirty-two parts, undergoes, though
imperceptibly, the same operation for instance, hair, which
was one of these thirty-two components, grew every day, and
its attaining an extraordinary length, when not cut, was only
prevented by its occasionally falling off. Accordingly, the
hair now on their heads was not the same as that they had
when they were infants. This change was not confined to
hair ; the remaining constituents of the body shared the same
fate-that of being produced and of perishing every moment.
Moreover, the various parts of Rupaskhandha (outward appear-
ance) were also subject to this momentary death to which
allusion was previously made. The proper meaning of the
second death, of which he had spoken, was the termination
of man's career in this life. Simultaneously with this death,
a change of existence, causing the production of a being to
 35

whom the quintessence of man's inmost desires was trans-

ferred, took place. It was not a new being that was thus
produced, as the rev. gentleman had attempted to shew ;
because the desire producing the being was not a new desire,
but only a result of those that preceded it. The origin of
the desires was the same, and there was a continuity in them,
the quintessence of which only took shape at death. If, as
Christians declared, the Atma which proceeded to another
world were undying, and was not a cleaving to existence, as
he had just explained, and which was the view held by the
Buddhists, what did the Christians mean by it ? Was it
matter ? had it any shape ? was it like an egg, a stick, or a
fruit? If it were some substance that they meant by Atma , surely
it would not be difficult to confine it by locking up a dying
man in an air- tight chest. Should the Christians fail to
explain the exact nature of this Atma, that itself would be
conclusive evidence to prove there was no Atma that travelled
to another world. The doctrine of the being that is produced
at death has been propounded to the Buddhists in the words
na ca so, na ca anno. By na ca so was meant that it was not
the same being, and na ca anno signified that it was not
another. He could give abundant authorities in support of
his positions, but he thought he had sufficiently clearly
explained to the assembly that though the conscious being
passing into another world was not the same human being
that walked this earth, yet it was not another ; and so it was
most incorrect to say that it was a different person that
suffered in a future existence for the misdeeds committed in
this, or that the existence of a living principle was denied by
them (the Buddhists) , as the rev. gentleman had attempted
to prove.
He (the Priest) would now bring this portion of his
argument to a close, as he was sure he had completely refuted
the arguments adduced against Buddhism to the entire
satisfaction of his auditory. He had much more to say,
however, in regard to the same subject, but he would defer
further remarks to the subsequent occasions during which he
would have the privilege of addressing them.
And with reference to Christianity, the Priest went on to
3-2
 36

say that the Christian was not a true religion, and by

embracing it no being can thereby hope to enjoy bliss in a
future life. Out of the many errors with which Christianity
teemed, he would point out a few, which would conclusively
shew that that religion was not worthy of credence.
In the first place, Christians, wherever they went, com-
menced propagating their religion by giving the object of
their worship the name of a being already held in veneration
by the nations amongst whom they intended preaching the
Gospel ; for instance, in Calcutta, Christ was called Son of
Iswara, which would be seen from the words, Iswaryna sute
Khriste, to occur in a Sanskrit stanza . This was done with
the view of enlisting the sympathies of the Hindus, who
held the god Iswara in great reverence. And in Ceylon ,
Jehovah went by the name of " Dewiyanwahanse," as this
term existed amongst the Singhalese to denote the gods in
whom they believed. It would thus be seen that the
Christians adapted themselves to different nations with the
view of deceiving them. Again in Exod. xx. 5, the words
used for " jealous God " did not express the meaning con-
veyed in the original. The word " jevalita '" which appeared
in the Singhalese Bible , meant glittering, or luminous, but
the English word " jealous " did not mean anything of the
kind ; the proper synonym for it would have been envious,
for what was jealousy but envy ? If the word " envy " had
been used by the translators, there would have been no chance
of deceiving the people, for who would have believed in an
envious God ? and that was the reason for giving such an
interpretation to the English word " jealous. " He could
assure his hearers that deceit was habitually practised by the
Christian teachers with the view of gaining converts, and in
hopes that even such a course would help their cause. They
were also in the habit of omitting portions of Scripture
whenever it suited their purpose ; for instance, in the edition
of the Scriptures published in 1840 by the very Society to
which the rev. gentleman belonged , the passage, " And they
shall no more offer their services unto devils after whom they
have gone a whoring," appeared in Lev. xvii . 6, but in the
later edition published by the same Society a gross deception
 37

had been practised by leaving those words out. Possibly

the Christians were ashamed that it should be known that
they had offered sacrifices to devils, and had omitted this
passage from the second edition. He was surprised at this
omission. Who had the right to omit or add a verse at
pleasure to a book for which a Divine origin was claimed ?
If such omissions were made in one portion, what was to
prevent garbled accounts appearing in other parts of the
Bible ? This habit of adding to, and omitting from, the
Bible was very common amongst Protestants, but he was
glad to say that it was not so with the Roman Catholics, to
whom great praise was due for never altering their Bibles .
Further, in Gen. vi . 6, speaking of Jehovah, the Creator, it
was declared, " And it repented the Lord that he had made
man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. " Who
usually commit actions for which they have cause to regret
afterwards ? Was it not ignorant, foolish man alone ? and
how supremely ridiculous was it for a Creator who was
declared to be omniscient to commit any actions for which it
was necessary to repent and grieve ? If he were omniscient ,
he ought surely to have seen the consequences of his creating
man, on account of which it is said he afterwards repented,
and his failing to foresee this result clearly proves that the
Christians' God does not possess any such foreknowing power
as is attributed to him. How improper was it, then, to believe
on such a frail, repenting and grieving being as the Christians'
omnipotent God and Creator ? Were not they convinced
that Jehovah was not omniscient ; and further, that he had
all the failings of man ?
It would also seem that God required some visible means
of identifying any required thing, or in other words, that
like a blind man he needs a guide ; for instance, before the
first born of Egypt were killed , it was ordered that blood
should be sprinkled on the door posts of the houses of the
Israelites, in order to distinguish their houses from those of
the Egyptians ; for according to Exod. xii. 23, " The Lord
will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he seeth
the blood upon the lentil and on the two side posts, the Lord
will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to
 38

come in unto your houses to smite you .""" This shewed that
it was impossible for Jehovah to distinguish the houses of
the Israelites without this outward and visible sign : if he
were omniscient, surely this was not necessary. What right,
then, had they to call this being an omniscient God ? He
(the Priest) knew that his friend the rev. gentleman would
attempt to explain this away by assigning the ridiculous
reason of its being a symbol of Christ's death ; but he would
not let him off with any such puerile reply.
In the command given to Moses in Exod. iv. 6, with refer-
ence to the miracles that he was to perform before the King of
Egypt, God's orders were to do a certain miracle , and if the
Israelites were not given up , to perform a second and so on ;
but what was the necessity for this conditional order if he were
omniscient ? He should have certainly known the effect
of those miracles if he really were what he was represented
to be. Was not imperfect human nature betrayed even in
this ? The line of conduct of a medical man was precisely
similar : if one medicine failed , another was prescribed ; this
was simply because the medical man was not omniscient, was
not certain of the effects of each medicine. What, then, did
this incident shew ? Simply what he asserted before, namely,
that the Creator was not omniscient.
There was another passage in the Bible which would give
them an idea of the nature of the God that the Christians
believed in ; and that was Exod . iv. 24. It was there stated—
"And it came to pass bythe way in the inn, that the Lord met
him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone,
and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and
said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him
go." They will here see that the means adopted by Zipporah,
when God sought to kill Moses whom he had once chosen as
a servant, were not quite unknown to some of them. Did
it not remind them of the sacrifices usually made to appease
the wrath of some other beings whom it was unnecessary to
name ? What was the procedure adopted by devil dancers
in this country when any body was afflicted with a disease
brought on by the influence of evil spirits ? Was it not to
shed the blood of a goat or a fowl, as the case might be, by
 39

cutting some part of the animal, and offering it to the Devil ?

The course pursued by Zipporah was just the same, and he
would leave them (the crowd) to judge of the nature of the
God of the Christians, whose wrath was appeased and Moses
saved by throwing the foreskin at his feet.
Again, it appeared from Judges i. 19 that " though the
Lord was with Judah when he drove out the inhabitants of
the mountain, yet he could not drive out the inhabitants of
the valley, because they had chariots of iron . " This incident
was further proof , and a very convincing one, that the God of
the Hebrews, whom the Christians adored, was not Almighty ;
it shewed that he feared iron ; and every one there present ,
the Priest said , knew who were afraid of iron ! It was usual
amongst the natives of this country to have a small piece of
iron when food was carried from one place to another, and
when decoctions were prepared it was customary to tie a
string with a piece of iron hanging from it round the pot in
which is the medicine. This was done to keep away devils
and sundry evil spirits ; and that was the meaning of the
God of the Hebrews fearing iron chariots ! It was needless
for him to further explain. These facts would greatly assist
his auditory to form a correct opinion as to whether the
Jehovah of the Christians was the true God or not. In
conclusion, the eloquent Priest said that he had explained
what the Buddhists meant by Atma , and he hoped the rev.
gentleman would tell them what Christians meant by a soul;
and unless Mr. Silva would produce authorities to support
his statement that Buddha had likened a human being to a
brute, he (the Priest) would consider him as having uttered
an untruth. The term Atma was used by him, he said, as it
was the only word in general use to express the subtle
principle or cleaving to existence of which he had been
speaking. He had three hours more before him to engage
in this controversy, during which he would conclusively
shew the truth of Buddhism, and adduce further arguments
to prove the falsity of Christianity. After thanking the
large audience for having so attentively listened to him, the
Priest closed his speech, and immediately the great crowd
dispersed.
 40

THE REV. MR. SILVA'S SECOND SPEECH .

At three o'clock- the hour appointed for resuming the con--

troversy-the crowd had increased three-fold ; the inhabitants
of the neighbouring villages, having heard of the two able-
and effective speeches of the eloquent disputants, flocked into
the green around the bungalow, and by the time the speakers
ascended the " rostrum," the din of the thousands of human
voices was so great that a severe fight between the two fac-
tions was apprehended , but when, in a sharp, but clear voice,
the Rev. David Silva commenced to reply, the confusion
ceased, and the multitude , at least as many of them as were
at a hearing distance, listened with deep attention to the
words that fell from the learned speaker.
Mr. Silva said that he would reply in as few words as
possible to the strictures made on Christianity, and pass on
to point out the very serious defects in the religion professed
by his opponent. With reference to the charge that he was
ignorant of the Pali language, and which was attempted to
be proved by pointing out a passage in a work published
by him, he said that if his opponent had taken the trouble
to understand the meaning of the title page even of the
Grantha sakera he would not have made such a miserable
exhibition of his ignorance. The misrepresentation of facts
by his opponent was either wilful, or done through ignorance ;
for the title page of the work distinctly stated that the
passages therein contained were selections made by him from
different works. Even if there was an ungrammatically
connected passage, he was not responsible. The two words.
on which so much stress had been laid by his opponent were
simply reprinted by him from the Burmese Testament, and
surely it was not his province, in a work like the one he was
engaged in, to correct the misreadings ; his object was to
make a few selections from some standard works, and nothing
more. So much for his opponent's charge of his ignorance
of Pali.
An attempt was also made by his opponent to impugn
the honesty of the translators of the Bible, by declaring that
a portion of a verse appearing in one edition of the Singha-
 41

lese Scriptures was wilfully and deliberately omitted in a

later one. A greater untruth had never been uttered. There
was not one in that assembly competent to question the
honesty of the learned transiators of the Singhalese Bible.
In fact, there was no omission at all, but in order to render
the translation as close to the original as possible, a transpo-
sition of verses had been made in the second edition different
to that in the first ; and that was the omission of which his
opponent had made so much. He would assure his hearers
that it was the love of truth that had actuated the translators,
and the charge of dishonesty laid against them would only
recoil on his opponent himself. And in regard to his oppo--
nent's question, whether it would not be possible to retain
what Christians called the soul by locking up a dying man in
a closed chest, as even air could be confined , the learned
lecturer said that illustration only betrayed the ignorance of
his opponent. It was his (the Priest's) impression that there
was nothing so fine as air ; but he little knew that electricity
was so much more subtle than air that it could pierce through
any substance, and certainly through an iron chest, in which
his opponent had proposed that a dying man should be
placed to prevent the soul from escaping from it. The
reason for styling Christ Son of Iswara, in Calcutta, was not
with the view of deceiving the people as his opponent had
declared ; but as " Iswara " meant in the original Sanskrit
a being endowed with great power and might, this word was
made use of to express these qualities in the great Father of
Christ. The meaning attached to the word Iswara at the
present day is not the one given to it in the Vedas, where the
term is used to express any being who was chief and lord .
With reference to the Singhalese word Dewyanwahanse, used
by the Christians here to signify the God whom they wor-
ship, it was not adopted by them to deceive the people of the
land, as his opponent most unjustly asserted, but simply
because the language did not afford any better word. He
considered it very improper that one so profoundly ignorant
of the different senses in which the same word could be used ,
as his opponent was, should engage in a controversy like the
present.
 42

In illustration of the fact that words have different

meanings he would quote the following passage from Vinaya
Pitaka :-
Pandako Bhikkhave anupasampanno, na upasampadetabbo,
upasampanno nasetabbo.
An eunuch who was unordained ought not to be ordained .
If ordained násétabbo .
The word nasétabbo may be translated " ought to be
killed ; " but Buddha, whose first precept was not to take
away life, would not say that the ordained eunuch was "to
be killed," or that his neck was to be cut off ; at least no
sane man will put that construction ; what Buddha really
said was to disrobe such an one, to excommunicate him ; so
it was with many words in Scripture. They had more than
one meaning . It was so in every language, and his opponent
himself whilst discoursing on the soul used the word Atma
throughout his speech, though he denied its existence.
altogether ; what did he mean by it ?
His opponent had also spoken of God's repentance . The
original Hebrew word translated " repentance " in the Sing-
halese Bible was " Nokam," which did not mean that God had
.66
regretted " for doing anything wrong : and to further eluci-
date this subject he would read an extract from an article in the
Singhalese periodical the Banner of Truth - See page 39 in
Vol . of 1861. (Vide Appendix A. ) As for God's order to
mark the door posts of the houses of the Israelites with blood,
the lecturer said that was simply a symbol of Christ's death.
The lecturer then passed on to point out the absurdities
and contradictions of Buddha's teaching in regard to the
origin of animal life, and quoted the following passage from
the Sanyutta nikâya :
Katame ca Bhikkhave paticcasamuppade ? Avijja paccaya,
Bhikkhave samkhara, samkhara paccaya vinnanam, vinnana
paccaya nama rupam, nama rupa paccaya salayatanam, Salaya-
tana paccaya phasso, phassa paccaya vedana, vedana paccaya
tanha, tanha paccaya upadanam. upadana paccaya bhavo, bhava
paccaya jati, jati paccaya jara maranam soka parideva dukkha
domanass upayasa sambhavanti. Evam etassa kevalassa dukkha
khandhassa samudayo hoti.
 43

Priests, what is paticca samuppâda ? On account of igno-

rance, Priests, sankhara, merit and demerit, are produced ; on
account of merit and demerit, consciousness, on account of
consciousness, nama rupa, on account of nama rupa, the six
sensitive organs, on account of the six sensitive organs,
contact, on account of contact, sensation, on account of sensa-
tion, desire, on account of desire, cleaving to existence, on
account of cleaving to existence, bhava, states of existence, on
account of bhava, birth, on account of birth, decay, death,
sorrow, crying, pain, disgust, and passionate discontent.
Thus is produced the complete body of sorrow.
Now avijja was dukkhe annanam dukkha samudaye annanam,
ignorance of sorrow, ignorance of the producing causes of
sorrow, etc., etc. But what is dukkha ? It is jati, jara,
maranam, -birth, decay, and death ; avijja, then, is ignorance of
that which did not exist, for jâti, birth, is the consequence of
bhava, existence.
In consequence of avijja, samkhára is produced . Samkhára
is the accumulation of punnabhisamkhara, merit, and apunnab-
hisamkhara, demerit ; he who had vijjá, clear preception, will
either accumulate merit or demerit, but the Buddhists are
told to perform kusal, merit, to accumulate merit ; but
according to Buddha's doctrine, the accumulation of merit
was the consequence of ignorance.
Because of samkhara vinnana, consciousness is produced.
Now what is vinnana ? It is cakkhu vinnanam, sota vinnanam,
ghana_vinnanam, jivha vinnanam, kaya vinnanam , mano
vinnanam, consciousness of the eye, ear, the nose, the tongue,
the body, the mind. But these organs are not yet produced ;
they are not in existence ; the cause of the ayatanas, organs,
being nama rupa. Besides it is clearly stated that the vinnana
cannot exist independent of nama rupa, that all the khandhas
must come into existence paripunna, perfect, and ekato,
together ; neither after nor before, apaccha apure.
In consequence of vinnana, nama rupa are produced,
although the first four khandas constitute nama rupa ; yet
Nam ru deka hera
Net an pugul behera
 44

besides the nama rupa, there is no other individual. The

whole individual is perfect in nama rupa.
In consequence of nama rupa the six organs salayatana
are produced, but vinnana was the consciousness of the-
eye, etc., and the nama rupa included the whole individual ;
but here the organs are the consequence of the perfect five-
khandhas.
In consequence of the six organs phassa, contact, is
produced, but phassa was included in the nama which was
the consequence of consciousness. Now it is the consequence
of the organs, and the nama was contact produced phassaja.
In consequence ofphassa, vedana, sensation, is produced ,
but what is vedana ? It is cakkhu samphassaja vedana, sensation
produced by the contact of the eye ; so of sotasamphassaja,
ghana, jivaha, kaya, mano.
But the redana is included in the nama which was .
produced before the organs were produced, and that as the
result of contact. Tattha katamam namam . What then is
nama ? vedanakkhandho, sensation , sannakkhandho, perception ,
samkharakkhandho, discrimination. If nama rupa were the-
result of vinnana, certainly vedana could not be the con-
sequence of phassa.
In consequence of vedana tanha, desire is produced , but
avijja was ignorance of dukkha samudaya, the producing cause
of sorrow, which is defined to be, ya yam tanha ponobhavika
nandiraga sahagata tandra tandaja nandini seyyathiidam, kama
tanha ; bhava tanha, vibhava tanha. It is the desire of
continued existence and delighting in the enjoyment of that
state they now occupy, i.e., desire of pleasure, of continued
transmigration, and of annihilation upon death ; so then this
tanha must exist before one could be ignorant of it.
Now to come to jati, the consequent of bhava; what is jati ?
It is the khandhanam patubhavo, the coming to existence of
the khandhas and the ayatanam patilabko, the development of
the organs. But vinnana produced nama rupa, which in their
turn produced the organs ; here bhava is said to be the
antecedent khandhas and the ayatanas. Hence the great
confusion of this so-called , the previously unknown
doctrine.
 45

The lecturer then wound up by saying : I divide this large

assembly into two classes, the learned and the unlearned, and
this subject being indeed a subject for the learned , I beg
them to consider whether this fundamental doctrine of
Buddha was not an absurdity, and a confusion of thought.
Is it not like saying the son is begotten by the father, and
the father is begotten by the son, and both have one origin,
ignorance ? How absurd is the theory !

THE REV. MIGETTUWATTE'S SECOND REJOINDER. *

The Rev. Migettuwatte, rising, begged of the people to

give him a patient hearing, and said that though previously
he had styled the gentleman who had just spoken the rev.
gentleman, yet he, in his reply, having called him (the
Priest) virudhakaraya, "the opponent," it was his intention
to use the same epithet towards him, and wished his hearers
to distinctly understand this . Though the two speakers,
belonging to two different religions, had come forward to
take part in the controversy, solely with the view of ascer-
taining which was the true religion , he said that there was
no personal enmity between them, which the word "opponent
or adversary " used by the opposite side would seem to imply,
but now that it had been used, he regretted to say he had no
other alternative but to do the same.
With regard to the last speech of the Christian party, he
would mention that no attempt had ever been made to explain
the reason for using the milder word jwalita in the Singhalese
Bible, thus deceiving the natives of this Island . The
word " envy," as he once assured them, was the true
meaning of the word " jealous " in the original ; neither did
his opponent mention or explain how this jealousy or envy

* The Buddhist Priest, Migettuwatte, though a noted Singhalese and

Pali scholar, was necessarily troubled at times in finding idiomatic words
to convey his meaning. Knowing his deficiency in understanding the
genius of the English language, and difficulty in the selection of terms, I
have made, by request, some changes. I hope, however, they are to the
benefit, rather than to the injury of the Buddhist's arguments.
 46

assigned to the Creator could be reconciled with his other

attributes. His opponent knew as well as himself that it
was impossible to give a satisfactory reply to these objections,
and that was the reason of his silence. His opponent's
shirking the responsibility of the work published in his name,
which contained several ungrammatical Pali passages, by
stating that he was only a compiler, was not satisfactory . If
he knew Pali correctly he would not have allowed such an
egregious blunder as he had pointed out to creep into his
work uncorrected : the passage may have been taken from
the Burmese Testament, as was alleged, but that did not the
less betray his opponent's ignorance of Pali : it was highly
improper that the incorrect passage should have been copied
without alteration. The accounting for the omission of a
passage in one edition of the Singhalese Old Testament,
which appeared in a previous one, by stating that there had
been a transposition of verses, was also unsatisfactory .
Clearly one or the other of the editions was wrong ! If the
placing a passage in a certain position correctly expressed the
meaning intended to be conveyed, by transposing it a
different and an incorrect meaning would be given . Which
construction were they to receive as the correct one ? And
so all his opponent's eulogium as to the honesty of the
translators went for nothing. Both sets of translators could
not have been either equally honest or learned ; if they were,
the arrangement of the verses in both the translations would
have been the same ; the fact was that the Christians altered
their Bibles whenever they pleased .
Styling Christ " Son of Isvara " was attempted to be
explained by proving that words had various meanings : but
they all knew that this was a very lame defence, and that
the true object of the Christians was to deceive, and ingratiate
themselves into the favour ofthe Hindus, who held Isvara in
reverence. Well, if the Christians' God was Isvara, had
Jehovah a wife as Isvara is said to have ? Umayan-
ganawa was the name of his wife ; what was the name of the
partner of the Christians' God ? Perhaps the Christians
themselves did not know. He would enlighten them on a
future occasion. What was the reply adduced by his
 47

opponent to the remarks made by him upon Gen. vi. 6,

wherein it was said that the Lord repented and grieved for
having made man on earth ? Absolutely nothing. It is
true that he had read an extract from an old number of the
Banner of Truth, a pamphlet published by the Christians
in connection with a controversy held on a previous occasion
by the same parties, but at that time he had utterly refuted
the teachings of the passage, and so what was the use in
again reiterating those hackneyed arguments ? It was highly
improper that that obsolete book should have been brought
forward before such an assembly as the present one, as it
was no reply at all to his objections. Further, how ridiculous.
was it to explain away the command to mark the door posts
of the houses of the children of Israel with blood, by calling
it a symbol of Christ's death. What marking of door posts
was there on that occasion, and what a silly reply was this to
his argument, that because the Christians' God required an
outward and visible sign to distinguish objects, that, there-
fore, he did not possess the power of knowing everything ?
Even he (the Priest) was ashamed that such a reply should
have been given before such a learned audience . The facts
recorded in the Scriptures were clear, that God, seeing the
blood, passed over the houses of the Jews ; this plainly shewed,
as was previously stated , that the Creator required some sign
whereby to identify any given thing, and what was the
inference to be drawn from this but that Jehovah was not
omniscient ?
Thus much with reference to those questions that had
been answered ; but what about the several commands.
given to Moses in regard to the miracles that he was to
perform before Pharaoh, namely, that if he did not succeed
with one, then he was to try another, which fact was also
mentioned by him to prove, as it plainly did, that God was
not omniscient ; and what was the reason of the armies of
Judah fleeing away from the chariots of iron ? How did
Christians get over the difficulty arising out of God's
injunction to circumcise Moses ' son, thereby betraying His
fondness for human blood in common with evil spirits having
similar tastes, about whom it was unnecessary to give a more
 48

detailed account to his auditory ? As he had sufficiently

clearly explained, on a previous occasion, the reason for the
Christians' God fearing iron and of his fondness for human
blood, he would not enlarge upon these subjects at present,
but the affair of Moses' son would clearly shew them, if any
further explanation were at all needed, the reason of this
fondness of the Christians' Jehovah for human blood.
And now, what about the soul of the Christians ? what was
it made of ? and what was it like, if it did not resemble
what the Buddhists meant by Atma ? None of these
questions had even been attempted to be explained : they all
knew what that signified .
Lastly, with reference to the Buddhist doctrine of Pan-
caskhandha and man's future, they were not subjects that were
intelligible to persons of limited knowledge : the being who
would hereafter suffer for actions committed in this life was
not the identical one that walked this earth, though it was
not a wholly different one, as he had previously shewn ; and
he would now quote a passage from the Buddhist Scriptures
which would more clearly explain to them this abstruse
subject. It was this :-
Maranantika vedana santattanam sannipatam asahantassa
itape khitta harita tala pattamiva kamena upa sussamane sarire
naruddhesu cakkhadisu indriyesu hadaya vatthu matte patitthite
kayindriya manindriya jivitindriyesu tam khanavasesa hadaya
vatthu sannissitam vinnana garu sama sevitasanna pubbakanam
annataram laddhavasesa paccaya sankhara sankhatam kamman
tadupatthapitam va kamma nimitta gatinimitta sankhatam visa-
yam arabbha parattati tadevam pavattamanam tanha vijjanam
appahinatta avijja paticchadit adinave tasmin visaye tanhanameti
sahajata sankhara khipanti santati vasena tanhanamiyamanam
sankharehi khippamanam orimatira rukkha vinibaddham rajjuma-
lambitva. Matikatikkamakeviya purimanca nissayaim jahati
aparanca kamma samutthapitam nissayam asadayamanam ana-
sadayamanam va arammanadihi eva paccayehi pavattati.
As the meaning of the death and regeneration of a being
was, in the extract, sought to be conveyed by a familiar
illustration, he would give them a free translation of its
meaning, and he had no doubt that his auditory would then
 49

be able to better comprehend this difficult doctrine. As the

newly plucked talipot leaf, when put in the sun, loses its
green colour by degrees and assumes a whiteness, so at his
death the sentient being gradually loses the use of his
physical senses, such as those of seeing and hearing, owing to
the pains of death.
While this process of the loss of the use of these
senses is going on, three of the senses enter the body and
remain attached to the heart. These three are, the sense of
feeling, of understanding, and that of life. The sense of
feeling is that by which one is enabled to perceive when any
object touches the body, the sense of understanding is the
power of distinguishing any object, and what is called the
inner sense of life is the state of undying existence . At the
death of the being with whose heart was associated these
three senses , he sees, as if in a dream, that he is engaged in
the same actions, whether sinful or righteous, to which he
was greatly addicted in this life ; for instance, if he had been
given up to murder and other heinous crimes all his life
through, at his last moments he feels as if he is again com-
mitting them, but if his career on earth was a righteous one,
as if he had been practising meritorious actions, such as giving
alms and observing " sila," he perceives at death that he is
going through such a holy life over again. If, at one's dying
moments, this last scene presents itself, his future state is
sure to be a happy one. And it is equally certain that the
being who fancies at his death that he is committing immoral
actions will be born into a state of misery. The presentment
of the nature of the life that the being is in a future state to
enjoy, also resembles a dream, that is, he sees the state in
which he is to be re-born as if it were in a dream. And as
this state, whether happy or miserable, appears in an enchanted
form , man, who is full of desires, naturally cleaves to it, and
in consequence, immediately after death, realisation takes
place in that state of which he had the presentiment. Thus
they would see that death and the re-birth of the being are
simultaneous. In short, man's actions and desires here
affected and regulated his future career, and this cleaving to
existence believed in by them (the Buddhists) was according
4
 50

to the desires indulged by the man in his existence on earth.

Further, no part of man proceeded to another world to be
born again, but simply this cleaving to existence took place
at death, according to the nature of the desires that existed
in him, and therefore to say that the being who suffered
hereafter for actions committed in this world was not the
same but another, was absurd. If any of his auditory had.
been present at the bedside of a dying man, they could have
no doubt as to the fact that at the man's death there was
always a presentiment of the future misery or bliss that he
was going to partake of. This found expression , they would.
remember, either in hideous groanings or delightful raptures.
For the being who is to be born into a happy state always.
sees such pleasant and delightful objects as heavenly
mansions, etc. , but he whose future will be misery only sees.
the terrors of torments, and his exclamations often clearly
shew to the bystander whether it is a state of misery or bliss
that the man is going to inherit.
The Buddhist doctrine concerning man was " anamataggo
yam Bhikkhave samsaro pubba koti na pannayati," etc., that is,
that immortal man had neither a beginning nor an end ; and
the Christian Bible, rightly interpreted, supported this view.
Consider the Scriptural account of the creation of man, as con-
tained in Gen. ii. 7: "The Lord God formed man ofthe dust of
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ;
and man became a living soul." There could be no doubt
acording to this account, then, that the spirit breathed into
Adam was a portion of the spirit of God, who was eternal :
thus Adam, or the Adamic form, was made the receptacle of
spirit, was made eternal ; and if Adam were the father of the
human race, as is alleged , then all men are eternal, and this
was precisely the Buddhist doctrine, according to which, as
previously said, man had not either a beginning or an end..
The only means of terminating this continual round of
existence was by entering Nirvana, and which exceptional
consummation -exceptional because eternal existence was
the rule, and man is by nature said to move about in the
anamatagga samsara, or in the immense or unborn and infinite
metempsychosis -was only to be attained by undergoing
 51

great pains, and acting according to, and realising the several
results of, the four sublime paths of virtue prescribed by
Buddha, namely, Sovan, Sakradagami, Anagami, and Arhat.
A being who walks thus will be saved.
The eloquent Priest, again reverting to Christianity , said
that he could cite another instance which shewed that the
God whom the Christians worshipped was fond of human
sacrifices namely, the case of Jephthah's daughter, who was,
it was declared, sacrificed according to Jephthah's vow.*
Though the Protestants tried to make out that it was not
literally carried out, yet he would refer to a note against that
passage appearing in the Douay Bible, which stated that the
sacrifice was made ; and here he could not but pass a high

* Bishop Colenso, of Natal, an eminent scholar and theologian in the

English Church, says (in his Natal Sermons, page 359) that " It was a
common practice among the Jews in the times of Jeremiah and Ezekiel
to offer human sacrifices." And he quotes the following, among other
Biblical passages, to prove it :—
" And they built the high places of Baal , which are in the valley of the
Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through
the fire unto Moloch ; which I commanded them not."-Jer. xxxii . 35.
"Then he took his elċ est son, that should have reigned in his stead , and
offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. "-II. Kings iii. 27.
" For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord ;
they have set their abomination, in the house which is called by My name,
to pollute it ; and they have built the high places of Tephet, which is in the
valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters
in the fire, which I commanded them not. ”—Jer. vii. 30-31 .
"They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with
fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not.” —Jer. xix. 5.
" The Israelites were mingled among the heathen, and learned their
works ; and they served their idols, which were a snare unto them... For
they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils ; aud shed
innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughter ,
whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan. " -Ps. cvi. 35-36-37.
" Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou
hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be
devoured."-Ez. xvi. 20.
" And have also caused their sons, whom they bear unto me, to pass
for them through the fire to devour them... . For when they had slain
their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My
sanctuary to profane it."-Ex. xxii. 37-39.
66 Jephthah vowed to the Lord ... and offered up for a burnt-offering,
or sacrifice, his own daughter. "-Judges xi. 29-40.
4-2
 52

compliment on the integrity of the Roman Catholics in

contradistinction to Protestants, who were always in the
habit of altering their Bibles whenever it suited their
purposes.
In Matthew xii. 40 it was declared that Christ would
be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, but
did not the event falsify this prediction ? Did Christ remain
three days and three nights in the tomb ? He died on Friday,
and rose on the Sunday ; by what extended interpretation
could that be made to mean three days and three nights ?
Even Dr. Claughton had failed to explain this away, when in
a recent controversy with a Secularist the latter put him
this question, and it was not to be expected that his opponent
would be more successful. He knew that his opponent's
party would attempt some sort of answer, but they might be
sure that he would receive the answer for what it was
worth.
It was well known amongst Oriental nations that good
omens were invariably the harbingers of propitious events, and
that ill omens sufficiently indicated the nature of the events that
would follow. He could adduce various instances to prove
the truth of this statement from several ancient books, but
one would suffice. It was said of the wife of the Emperor
Bimbisara that when she had conceived the longing she had
was to drink the blood of her husband. When this was
satisfied, she gave birth to a prince, who in time killed his
father, the Emperor, and obtained the Crown. This shewed
that an ill omen prefigured an unpropitious event. And what
were the omens about the time of the birth of the being who
came to save the world ? Why, a massacre of thousands of
little innocents . Did not this incident indicate that Christ
was a pretender who came to the world with the view of
casting men into perdition ? Let them, therefore, remember
that no salvation in a future state could reasonably be
expected by believing in such a being. It was also quite
clear that Christ did not rise again , and that his disciples
made away with his body at night, as it was feared that they
would do. To this part of the subject he would recur on the
next day.
 53

Now what were the signs that preceded Buddha's ministry

on earth ? He would refer to a few of the thirty-two good
and cheerful omens and wonders that are mentioned in the
books as having appeared on the day that he was conceived
of King Sudhodhana in the womb of the Queen Mahamaya, on
the day of his birth, and of his attaining Buddahood,
namely, receiving the use of eyes, ears, and legs by those
who had been blind, deaf, and cripple from their birth , the
mitigation of the pains in the several hells , the allaying of the
pangs of hunger and thirst of those evil spirits that had been
condemned to roam about in the universe, and the curing of
all hitherto incurable diseases. Were not these signs
sufficient to shew that the object of Buddha's ministry was
to bring happiness and true bliss to this world, and to
introduce into it a true religion ? How unlike were these to
those hideous omens relating to Christ's birth, which it
was not even possible to mention without a shudder and
doing violence to one's kindly feelings. If his opponents
are in a position to shew that even an ant had died in
consequence of Buddha's birth , he would give them his word,
-he was not speaking for his confrères -that he would re-
nounce Buddhism as speedily as possible. This unusually
stirring speech was brought to a close by the Priest in these
words : " Christ is not our authority, neither is Buddha.
Weigh without prejudice the arguments that have been
adduced on either side : consider which party has failed to
answer the questions put to it, and hold fast the faith of the
reasonable party. I may have introduced some warmth into
the discussion of the subjects : why was that ? why have I
been so earnest ? Simply because I so love the truth and
see such an immense multitude, to whom I have to offer my
best thanks for their patient attention."
 54

CONTINUATION OF THE BUDDHIST CONTRO-

VERSY AT PANTURA.

THE REV. F. S. SIRIMANNE'S SPEECH .

During the preceding day, Wednesday, it having been

decided at a meeting held by the several clergymen assembled
in Pantura, that a more fluent speaker, and one whose
language " will be understanded of the common people,"
should address the multitude, the task of opening the
proceedings of the second or the last day fell on Mr. F. S.
Sirimanne, a catechist of the Church Missionary Society, as
he was considered, next to Rev. C. Jayesinghe, who is not at
all controversially inclined, the best popular speaker in the
Singhalese ranks of the Christians. Unknown to the other
intelligent natives of this Island , this follower of the Church
Missionaries has, since the termination of his connection with
the Buddhist priests of Galpata wihare, been working in
comparative seclusion amongst the lower classes of Colombo,
holding forth against Buddhism and expounding the Bible
doctrine of salvation to the hundreds who flock around to
hear the loud stentorian tones of this bland speaker, whenever
he addresses them at the different places appointed for " open
air " preaching .
Mr. Sirimanne commenced by stating that in the same
manner as fever patients had a dislike for food be it ever so
wholesome, the Priest, who was suffering with the fever of
ignorance, could not appreciate the value of the precious
doctrines of the Bible ; and had raised several objections
against Christianity because the truth appeared to him false.
But he would assure them that not a single argument had
been adduced against this pure religion that could not be
 55

met by a boy attending any Christian school. However, as

he was addressing a number of persons who were totally
unacquainted with Christianity, he would try and answer the
Priest as fully as he possibly could within the hour in which
he had to speak. But before proceeding further, he had to
make a few remarks in regard to the replies given by the
Priest to the objections the Christian party had raised against
Buddhism. They (the Christians) had stated that Buddha
had distinctly denied the existence of a soul, and quoted the
words that Gautama had made use of when speaking on this
subject, namely, that man had no soul, that nothing remained
after death, and that nothing went to another state of exist-
ence. But what were the replies of the rev. Priest to this ?
These only served the purpose of confirming their objections,
and proving plainly that there was a soul. Buddhists
command the performance of meritorious actions, but how
did these avail if there were no soul that goes to another
world ? The Priest also asked them to state the nature of the
soul, the existence of which the Christians did not deny. The
soul is an immaterial and invisible substance and has no
form ; therefore to ask its form to be shewn is to require
that which was not possible. Has the Priest forgotten that
according to Buddhism even that such invisible and unnatu-
ral beings exist, and that Arupa Brahma loka is said to be
wholly peopled with such spirits. If the whole of what
constituted man perished here and there were no Atma that
proceeded to another world, there would be no necessity for
a religion, and it was because there was such a state of
existence hereafter that they required to believe on the true
God, with the view of attaining eternal happiness.
And now with reference to the arguments raised against
the holy Christian religion by the Priest. Because God was
called a jealous God in the Bible, it did not follow that he
was envious : he was a perfectly holy and righteous being.
The word " jealous " as applied to God in the Bible only
signified that he will not give his glory to another person or
thing. A great deal was also made, by the Priest, of God's
command to Moses to perform certain miracles before Pharaoh ,
and if these had not the desired effect of letting the children
 56

of Israel go, to perform others ; such orders were given:

simply because Pharaoh was exceedingly haughty and ques--
tioned who Jehovah was, when Moses first took his message-
to the King of Egypt : God then assured Moses that he
would take out his people with a mighty hand with the view
of shewing both Pharaoh and the Israelites who he was..
Till the infliction of the tenth plague, God well knew what
the effect of each previous plague would be, but he ordered
Moses to work these different miracles and send the various
plagues to shew his might to Pharaoh, and to all succeeding-
generations. That God was not ignorant of Pharaoh's
purposes is clear from Exod . iii . 19 , wherein it is said, " And
I am sure that the King of Eygpt will not let you go, no,
not by a mighty hand."
To prove that God was fond of human blood, allu-
sion had also been made by the Priest to the circum-
cision of Moses ' son by Zipporah, but the Priest has,
either through ignorance or deliberately, distorted facts.
Zipporah did not, as was alleged, cast the foreskin of her son
at God's feet, but at Moses' . Her exclamation, " Surely a
bloody husband art thou to me, " clearly shews this, even if
the use of the non-honorific third personal pronoun in
speaking of the person at whose feet the skin was thrown in
the Singhalese Bible did not remove all doubt on this point.
With reference to the incident mentioned in Judges 1. 19,
that the Lord could not drive out the inhabitants of the
valley because they had chariots of iron, the Priest made out
the reason of this to be that Jehovah feared iron chariots .
But it was not so, for did not the Lord subdue a host of 900
iron chariots only very shortly after ; and completely destroy
Pharaoh and his iron chariots when the children of Israel
were brought out of Egypt ? it was not because the Lord.
feared iron chariots that Judah did not meet with success in
this instance, but simply because he lacked faith in God.
He was able to defeat the enemy only when he trusted in
God ; but no sooner did he lose faith and fear iron chariots,
than he was discomfited . All the events mentioned in the
Bible, besides being historically true, were so ordered by the
omniscient God with the view of revealing spiritual lessons
 57

to future generations ; and this incident was recorded in

order to prove the power and importance of faith.
In attempting to compare the Buddhist doctrine of the
eternity of man with the Bible account of the creation, the
Priest, with the view of misleading the ignorant, had stated
some ridiculous absurdities. His argument was that because
God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, therefore
it was a portion of God's soul that was thus breathed ; and as
God was everlasting, that man , who only became a living
soul after this infusion of the breath of life , was also without
beginning or end. What a ridiculous inference ! The
passage referred to only meant that God gave life to man
and deposited the soul in him . There was nothing at all
there to shew that God parted with a portion of his own
soul. What man there present would attach the meaning
sought to be put upon this verse by the Priest to the homely
Singhalese words, " blow some oil into his ear ?" Who will
asso iate the idea of blowing a portion of one's living princi-
ple with this injunction to infuse a little oil into another's ear ?
The meaning of the expression in the Bible, " breathing into
his nostrils the breath of life," was also the same.
Now as regards the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter,
this is a subject that has been frequently brought forward
by the rev. Priest, and on every occasion the reply that
she was not killed and sacrificed was given ; and yet
the Priest does not seem to be satisfied . But suppo-
ing even that she had been sacrificed , no blame attaches
to God, because he was no party to Jephthah's rash vow..
Human sacrifices were explicitly prohibited in the Holy
Scriptures ; and provision was made in the Jewish code to
meet the case of a person making such a rash Vow, which
was to pay a sum of money as a ransom, and thus save
the life of the fellow being . It is nowhere stated in the Bible
that Jephthah's daughter was killed, but what appeared there
was that she bewailed two months for her virginity, not for
her death. And it was also said that her father did unto
her according to his vow, and she knew no man, and that the
daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of
Jephthah, four days in a year. This ceremony was gone
 58

through two months before the accomplishment of the vow

and was periodically repeated . So it is quite clear that from
that day she only lived a virgin ; and therefore to say that
Jephthah's daughter was sacrificed by cutting off her neck was
a falsehood .
Another argument raised by the Priest against Chris-
tianity was that Christ's prediction that he would be in the
heart of the earth three days and three nights was falsified
by his having remained in the grave only from Friday till
Sunday morning. But anyone acquainted with the Jewish
modes of calculation will see that there is no discrepancy at all
between the prediction and its fulfilment. The phrase " three
days and three nights" was used by the Jews to denote what
is generally understood as three days . It was so used in Gen.
vii. 12, where it is said that " the rain was upon the earth forty
days and forty nights :" which was the same as the expression in
17 v. that the flood was forty days upon the earth . In the
same manner, if it had been said that Christ remained in the
heart of the earth three days, which is the same, according
to Jewish idiom , as saying three days and three nights,
there would have been no difficulty at all, for surely the
Priest will not deny that Christ remained in the grave on
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. True, he was not in the
tomb either the whole of Friday or Sunday, but according
to Jewish phraseology any portion of a day was spoken of
as a whole day, and numerous instances can be cited from
ancient writers in support of such an usage. And so much
for the vaunted objection which was alleged to have been
adduced by an able European, and with which the Priest
intended to make short work of Christianity.
In order to shew that Christ's birth was anything but bene-
ficial to mankind, the Priest mentioned the massacre of the
innocents as an ill omen, which indicated that something the
reverse of good would result by his birth. The Priest was how-
ever mistaken : no ill omen attended the birth of Christ ; and it
was nowhere said that thousands of children were killed at
his birth. The Priest said so either with the view of deceiving
those who were present orbeing ignorant of the facts. Two years
after Christ's birth, it was perfectly true that the wicked King
 59

Herod, having heard from the magicians that Christ would

become a mighty King, caused many infants of two years
old to be massacred, apprehending some danger to his crown ;
but by this massacre no injury resulted to the infants,
because as there is no doubt that their souls went to heaven,
it only expedited their enjoyment of eternal bliss ; and
as for the parents, why it may have been the means of
bringing them to repentance, and thereby to everlasting
happiness.
These were all the remarks he (the Catechist) had
to make in regard to the objections raised against Christianity ;
but he now saw a very short way of ending this contro-
versy, and would tell his hearers what it was. The rev .
Priest had in his last lecture said if it could be shewn
that even an ant had been killed at Buddha's birth, that he
would renounce Buddhism. He (the Catechist) was in a
position to shew that greater beings than ants had been
deprived of their lives in consequence of Buddha's birth, and
if the Priest were a man of his word he ought at once to
renounce Buddhism : then would this controversy be
satisfactorily ended , and their object accomplished .
He would now enumerate some of the many instances in
which death ensued on account of, or by means of, Buddha,
and would beg of the Buddhist portion of his audience
particularly to lend him a patient hearing, as they had heard
what their champion had said- that he would forsake Bud-
dhism if it could be proved that even an ant had been killed
at Buddha's birth . In the first place, Buddha's own mother
died seven days after giving birth to this extraordinary baby,
who is said to have been able to walk and speak very plainly .
at the moment of his birth . The wonder is that the mother
of such a gigantic monster should have lived even for seven
days. Thus they will see that the death of the queen of the
highest emperor of India was caused at the instance of
Buddha, and was not her death of greater consequence than
that of an ant ? Secondly, it appears in the sacred books of
the Buddhists that men and even beasts died by the roaring
of lions : these lions exist even at the present day in the
Himalaya Mountains, situated to the north of India, though
 60

we in Ceylon cannot even hear their roaring ; if it were so

and the ancients did die by hearing these poor lions roar, how
many millions of creatures would have perished at hearing
the roaring of the lion Gautama, whose exclamation
66
Aggo 'ham asmi lokassa jettho ham asmi lokassa settho
'ham asmi lokassa," just after his birth, is said to have been
heard by the gods of the uppermost Brahma world . Numer-
ous other instances of the deaths of men and beasts caused on
account of Buddha could be cited, but he thought those he
had just mentioned were sufficient for the present . They
had all heard the construction put upon the so- called good
and evil omens attendant on the birth of Christ and Buddha
by the Priest. He did not agree with it ; and before arriving
at any conclusion, he would entreat his hearers to hear the
Christians' interpretation of these signs. Christ came into
the world to destroy the power of sin, and to set up the
kingdom of righteousness. The subjects of the kingdom
of sin opposed the Saviour by bad omens, as this
Priest terms them, and did their best to retain those
sinful pleasures in which they revelled . It was only natural
that this should be so. They could not possibly expect a
different reception, and that was the reason for the so-called
.
bad omens . But in the case of Buddha it was different.
He was a sinner, as other men were, and came to this world
to encourage vice, and enlarge its kingdom, and no wonder
that this sinful world welcomed him with good omens, just
as drunkards would receive with open arms one of their own
number, but spurn a teetotaller.
And now, with reference to Buddhism. Before em-
bracing any religion, it is the duty of each one to examine
whether the books on which that religion rests are au-
thentic or not. Buddhism that prevails in this Island
has for its authority only the Three Pitakas, and it
was, therefore, incumbent on them to find out what these.
books were, when they were written, and whether they did.
contain the doctrines of Buddha as propounded by him ; in
short, whether there is any testimony for their authenticity.
He will tell them, however, that these Pitakas were committed
to writing not in the land where Buddha is said to have lived,.
 61

not by those who heard him preach, and not during his life-
time, or that of those who were his contemporaries ; but,
according to Mahawansa and Sarasangraha, four hundred and
fifty years after Buddha's death, at a convocation of priests
in Aluwihare of Matella in this very Island. Up to that day
Buddha's sayings were transmitted orally, and what weight
could be attached , the Catechist imploringly asked of his
audience, to such documents, which simply stated that some
four or five hundred years ago there lived a sage in a distant
land called Dambhadiva, etc.; and he is said to have ex-
pounded such and such doctrines ? Would a last will, with
such meagre evidence, be considered genuine in a Court of
Justice ? If not, how are they to receive as true documents
which concern matters of such great moment as the
salvation of men's souls ? It is also stated in Buddhist
books that Gautama attained Buddahood by the observance
of the ten Paramita (or sacrifices) ; and so it will be well to
see whether those rites or offerings could have the effect
which they are said to have had. The first Paramita or
observance they read of as having been performed by Buddha
with the view of accumulating merit, and attaining the Budda-
hood, is Dana paranita, or almsgiving, which, besides others,
consisted of the extraordinary offering of his eyes, head, flesh,
blood, wives and children .
Many of those present knew with what love, care,
and attention a daughter is brought up by the parents ;
how at her proper age, whatever their affection to
each other may be, when she is given in marriage
to an utter stranger, the attachment to her parents gives
place to love for her newly found husband, and how the wife
looks solely to her husband for her comfort and sustenance.
They were also not unacquainted with the fact that the birth
of children only tended to strengthen this bond of union, and
form a happy family. And what will they think of a father,
living in such happiness, giving up his children without any
hesitation or sorrow to a wandering hermit, amidst the cries
and lamentations of his wife and the children themselves,
without any inquiry as to what he was going to do with
them, simply because he came to the door of this happy abode,
 62

and said—may be with some base motive of selling them as

slaves or otherwise maltreating them- Give me your two
children as an alms offering, and you will attain Budda-
hood ? Not satisfied with this, if even the wife be thus
sacrificed, what would they think of such a husband ? Were
these meritorious acts ? Was it meritorious to break the
hearts of wives and children, and bring desolation and misery
to a happy home ? If it were, what actions will they
enumerate under the head of demerits or sins ? But yet
Gautama did all this, and this was the means he adopted to
attain Buddahood . How often did he so give up his wives
and children ? Was it a hundred times ? No! A thousand
times ? Oh no ! As the science of figures cannot sufficiently ex-
press the number of wives and children so sacrificed , in order to
convey to the mind of the reader an approximate idea of the
number offered, it is said in Buddhist works that if the ropes.
and strings with which the wives and children of Buddha who
were sacrificed by him were tied with, were collected into
a heap, its height would be a million times greater than that
of Mahameru which he (the Catechist) would remind them
was 84,000 yoduns high-and 16 miles went to make up one
yoduna. This will give them a tolerably good idea of the
number of wives and children sacrificed . Did his hearers
believe that any happy state could be attained by the com-
mission of such barbarous and cruel actions ? There would
be an end to all social happiness, and to even the continuance
of the world, if everybody set about perpetrating such
horrible crimes as those which Buddha is said to have done
to attain Buddahood. But these were not all the offerings
he made to gain this end . It is said that the number of his
eyes he sacrificed was more than the stars of the sky, the
quantity of blood he gave was more than the water in the
ocean, and the quantity of flesh was greater than the sub-
stance of this earth, and that of his heads was more than the
height of Mahameru. What a mass of men must have been
killed to offer so many eyes, hands and heads ! Even if, as is
declared, it was Gautama's own eyes and hands which were
offered, self-destruction was quite as bad as killing a third
person, and so the heinousness of the crime was the same,
 63

and what do they think of a being who committed such

villainy to attain a state of bliss ?
Buddha is also said to have been omniscient : but they
will find from instances he will presently mention that his
omniscience was of a peculiar nature, and that it represented
dead people as living , and those who were actually living as
being dead. For instance, in Mahawage it is said that Buddha,
at the commencement of his ministry, did not consider it
worth while to preach Bana, as it was his impression that
there was not a single being on earth who could understand
his doctrines and be edified by them ; but shortly after it is
stated that he was the means of sending twenty-four Asanka
souls to Nirwana. Was it not plain from this that Buddha
did not possess any omniscient power. If he had he would
.
not have failed to see even one of these twenty- four Asanka
beings who were edified by Buddha discourses. Then
again after Maha Brahma convinced Gautama of the falsity
of this idea he cherished, that there was no human being on
earth competent enough to understand his doctrines, he
decided on preaching his Dhamma to Alarakalama as being
the most intelligent man alive. But did he carry out his
wishes ? No ; the All- wise Buddha found on inquiry that
Alarakalama had been dead some days, and there was no
possibibility of preaching to him. His second choice then
fell on Uddakarama, but the object of this selection also shared
the same fate. On making inquiry for this sage, he found.
that he too had been dead some time. If they believed this
helpless being, who committed so many and terrible mistakes,
and who often had to be corrected by third parties, to be
all- wise, who would not be omniscient ? Lastly, Buddhists
pray to, or take refuge in, Buddha, Dharma, -that is, in his
doctrines contained in the Three Pitakas- and in the priest-
hood, in the words which his Buddhist friends often.
repeat : —
Buddhan saranam gaccami,
Dhamman saranam gaccami,
Sangham saranam gaccami.
But what was the use in taking refuge, or sarana, in either
of these ? Was there any protection to be gained by it ?
 64

In the first place, as there is no sun-light when there is not

sun, so they could not expect any protection from a being
who was non-existent. Buddha is said to have attained the
state of annihilation , and how could he become any refuge ?
It was plain, therefore, that this first sarana, or refuge, was
of no avail. The second-the refuge in Dhamma or Bana
books - was no better ; how could a man take refuge in books ?
It is rather that the books are under the care and protection
of men, who get them transcribed into olas, and keep them
bound up safely in an almirah, or chest, to prevent their
being destroyed. Was it not clear that this refuge, or
sarana, too was of no avail ? And as regards the third
sarana-or the refuge in priests-he need not say much.
Between the two sects of the Buddhist priesthood- the
Amerapura and Siam-a controversy has been raging for
some time, each trying to prove that the other has
no Upasampada, ordination, sarana, or Sila, or many other
observances -in short, that they were no priests . First, then,
they had to decide as to whether they were priests , about which
even amongst themselves there were such great disputes ; and
even if they could come to a decision , what availed it ? The
immorality of the priests was well known ; and was it not
like the blind leading the blind for the Buddhist priests,
men full of lust, envy, and ignorance as they were, to attempt
to guide the people who foolishly took refuge in the Sangha,
or the priesthood ? Now in conclusion , he would remind his
auditory that not a word had been said by the reverend
priest to explain the confusing and absurd doctrine of Patic-
casamuppada, nor as to the Buddhist Atma, and would entreat
of them to consider, without prejudice, all that he said, seek
the truth so that it may be found, and after proving all
things, hold fast that which was good .
THE BUDDHIST'S REPLY.

THE REV. MIGETTUWATTE'S THIRD SPEECH.

The Priest Migettuwatte, here rising, said that he had

invited the several learned priests there present to the con-
troversy, believing that some able opponent would appear on
the Christian side, and that their assistance would be required
 65

to refute the arguments that might be adduced, but having

been surprisingly disappointed in this, he did not think it
necessary to give his friends further trouble by detaining
them longer. Before, however, making any comments on
the lecture of his friend the Catechist, he would say a few
words in regard to some remarks that fell from his opponent
on a previous occasion . He (the Rev. Silva) stated that
Buddhism was not worthy of credence as it likened man
unto a frog, serpent, or a dog. By making this assertion
his opponent not only damaged his own cause, but betrayed
his ignorance of the Christian Bible, of which he professed to
be a preacher. For on turning to Ecclesiastes iii. 19, they
would find it stated , " For that which befalleth the sons of
men befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them , as the
one dieth so dieth the other, yea they have all one breath ; so
that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast for all is
vanity." And now he would like to know where in Bud-
dhist scriptures a single passage occurred likening man unto
a beast.
His opponent, in arguing that Buddhism was not a
proper religion to embrace because human beings were
likened unto beasts, was only arguing against Christianity,
and he was thankful for the assistance from this unexpected
quarter. He must say, however, that he was sure this
ignorance of the Bible would have cost him his place if the
Principal of the Society to which his opponent belonged
had been present on the occasion. And if the ignorance of
his opponent was so great in matters pertaining to his own
religion, the audience would be able to form an idea of the
extent of his knowledge of Buddhism, against which he
would take this opportunity of mentioning that not
a single tenable argument had been raised by his
opponent.
An attempt was made by him on the previous Tuesday to
depreciate Buddhism, by declaring that the doctrine of
Paticcasamuppada was an absurdity and a confusion of thought.
He would now, as promised on that day, try to make this sub-
ject a little clearer. Even the sage Buddhaghosa was so

5
 66

conscious of the difficulty of rightly explaining this abstruse

doctrine that he expressed himself thus in his work
Visuddhimarga :-
Vattu kamo aham ajja
Paccayakara vannanam
Patittham na adhigaccami
Ajjagutho na sagaran :-
the literal meaning of which is, " that as there is no support
to one who has fallen into the ocean, I who am fallen into
the sea of Paticcasamuppada doctrine have no support ; "" but
the idea sought to be conveyed by this stanza is that it was
only those wise men who have attained the arihat that were
able to fully comprehend this theory, and that others, not so
fortunate, could not easily understand it. And the attempt
made by his opponent, who professed to fully understand it,
to carp at Paticcasamuppada, of which even the great and
learned commentator, well-versed in the Three Pitakas, spoke
in such terms as those he had above quoted, can only be
compared to the barking of a dog envious at the splendour of
the moon . That his opponent had not the remotest idea of
this doctrine of causation was plainly shewn by the example
of the father begetting the son, and the son begetting the
father he adduced in illustration of it. True, there was an
instance of such a circumlocutory genesis in the Christian
Scriptures which he would advert to on a future occasion.
He would now, however, endeavour to explain to the best of
his ability what this doctrine of Paticcasamuppada is, and
would beg of the multitude to give him an attentive
hearing.
The doctrine of causation is enunciated in the following
passage :-Avijja paccaya samkhara, samkhara paccaya vin-
nanam, vinnana paccaya nama rupam, nama rupa paccaya
salayatanam , salayatana paccaya phasso, phassa paccaya vedana,
vedana paccaya tanha, tanha paccaya upadanam , upadana paccaya
bhavo, bhava paccaya jati, jati paccaya jaramaranam soka,
parideva dukkha domanass upayasa sambhavanti.
The gist of which is that in consequence of, or from
 67

avijja, samkharas are produced, in consequence of, or from

samkharas, vinana is produced, in consequence of, or from
vinnana, nama rupa is produced, etc. In short, what Buddha
evidently meant to say was that in regular succession all
these are produced causatively one from the other, but this of
course his opponent could not understand, which was the
reason for his stating the ridiculous nonsense they heard,
that samkhara was produced from a thing called avijja which
existed independent of a sentient being, and that vinnana
was produced from samkhara. To shew the incorrectness of
his opponent's views, and the further elucidation of this
subject, he would give them a short example. Though ,
when it is said curd is made of milk, butter from curd, and
ghee from butter, and each of these is different from the
other, yet there can be no possible doubt that all these, curd,
milk, butter and ghee, existed together. In like manner,
there never existed avijja alone without a sentient being, nor
samkhara alone, independent of, or without avijja, nor the
two nama rupa by themselves, independent of, or without
samkhara. That all these exist together is certain . * And
there was no doubt that his opponent put a different con-
struction altogether on the words that Buddha uttered to
shew the manner of the transmigratory movements of a
sentient being through Samsara or metempsychosis . All his
opponent's utterances on this subject reminded him of the
babbling of a madman. The Patthanapprakarana of Ab-
hidarma also has the following in regard to the doctrine of
Paticcasamuppada :-
Moham paticcasampayuttaka khanda patisandhikkhane pat-
tum patticca sahetuka khandhanam, etc.
And it signifies that the skhandhas connected with the
ignorance (ie. , of the present existence) and skhandhas con-
nected with the form of the object (which he sees at the
point of death) are born.

* The most learned Buddhist with whom I conversed in the East

denied utterly the existence of matter. It was only an appearance, a
shadow. The only two realities in the universe were causation and
spiritual substance.
5-2
 68

In order to shew that samkharas never come to ex-

istence alone, the
the work entitled Visudhimarga says
thus :--
Samkhara kamma paccayena ca upanissaya paccayena ca
paccaya honti, etc.
That is, samkharas become sources of rinnana from
the source of kamma (or deed) , or from source and
association .
The following passage will also shew that rinnana does not
come into existence before nama rupa, but simultaneously
with them :--
Vipaka vinnana sahajati anna manna nissaya sampayutta
vipaka ahara indriya atthi avigata paccaychi navadha paccaya
honti.
The purport of this is that the productive rinnana is
produced from nine different sources of coeval birth , mutual ,
causal, associating, joined to each other, productive, objective,
existing in perception and separated . If one thus under-
stands and can comprehend this abstruse doctrine aright, it
will be impossible for him to come to the conclusion that
nama rupa came into existence after vinnana, and the en-
deavour of his opponent, with such a limited knowledge, to
fathom this mysterious doctrine of Paticcasamuppada was
like the roaming of a blind elephant in a thick jungle.
He would here remind those present that no explanation had
been given by his opponent of what his party understood by
Atma, if it was not the cleaving to existence of which he had
already spoken. He would again impress on them that the
being who according to them (the Buddhists) suffered here-
after was not a different one. Each continued his indi-
viduality. All knew themselves in the future life . Why
the Christians put the construction that they did on the
Buddhist doctrine, viz., that it was a different being that
suffered in a future state for actions committed in this
life, was owing to their incapability to understand this
subject properly.
And now before proceeding to meet the objections of his
friend the Catechist, he would make another remark in refer-
ence to Christianity. In I. Corinthians xv. 22-28 , it was
 69

said, " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive ❞ —which statement clearly shewed -and it is the
belief of these Christians-that by believing on Christ
every one shall escape the punishment of eternal hell-fire and
obtain everlasting happiness. But there was another passage
in the Bible which had quite a different meaning , and he
would like to know how the Christians reconciled two such
diametrically contradictory declarations. He referred to
Matt. xxv. 41-46, wherein appeared the words " Then
shall he say also unto them on the left hand , Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the
devil and his angels : For I was an hungered , and ye gave
me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : I
was a stranger, and ye took me not in ; naked , and ye
clothed me not ; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not .
Then shall they also answer him saying, Lord, when saw we
thee an hungered , or athirst, or a stranger, or in prison , and
did not minister to thee ? Then shall he answer them
saying, Verily I say unto you , inasmuch as ye did it not to
one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these
shall go away into everlasting punishment ; but the
righteous unto life eternal. " If words have any meaning,
this clearly shews that men's salvation does not depend upon
belief in Christ alone ; but to attain happiness hereafter it
was necessary to perform righteous or good actions. Then
what did Christians mean by declaring that all who
believe on Christ's name would be saved ? If one portion
of the Bible so hopelessly contradicts' another portion , which
one were they to accept as true ? It was certain that both
statements could not be true, and which was the false one ?
What right had they then to believe in a Bible which con-
tained so many contradictions ? and were they not justified
in coming to the conclusion that a religion based upon
*
such a book, was false ?

* Among discrepancies, contradictions , and irreconcilable passages in

the Bible, the following were selected by the Rev. M. Wollaston , an
English clergyman , of Melbourne , Australia :—
 70

Now with reference to the remarks made by his friend,

the Catechist. A more desultory and unscholar-like speech
he had never heard, and it would be usele s to even touch on
those parts of his discourse which were quite irrelevant to the
issue, as the curing of a fever patient, etc. It had been said
by the Catechist that the Buddhist party had only confirmed
the objections raised against Pancaskhandha by the
Christians, but this was totally untrue ; they had completely
refuted all arguments raised against this abstruse doctrine by

2nd Sam. , xxiv. v. 1 .-"And the I. Chron., xxi. v. 1.—' , And Satan
Lord moved David " to number the stood up, and provoked David tɔ
children of Israel. number Israel."
9.-" Job gave up the number 5.-" And Joab gave the sum of
of the people unto the king, and the number of the people to David.
there were in Israel, 800,000 men And all they of Israel were
that drew the sword , and the men 1,100,000 men that drew the sword ;
of Judah w re 500,000 men ! " or and Judah was 470,000 men that
a total of 1,300,000. drew the sword ," or a total of
1,570,000.
13.-" So Gad came to David and 11.-" So Gad came to David and
said unto him , Shall seven years of said unto him, Choose thee either
famine come unto thee in thy three years of famine," etc.
land ? " etc.
24.-" So David bought the 25.-" So David gave to Ornan
threshing-floor and the oxen for for the place, six hundred shekels
fifty shekels of silver ; " equal tó of gold," equal to £ 1,050 of our
£5 of our money, at two shillings money, at £ 1 15s. per shekel.
the shekel.
For I have seen God face to face. No man hath seen God at any
—Gen . xxxii. 30. time.-John i. 18.
And they saw the God of Israel. Whom no man hath seen nor can
-Ex. xxiv. 19. see.-I. Tim. vi. 16.
The Creator *
*
He rested and was refreshed.- fainteth not,
Ex. xxi. 19. neither is weary.—Is. xl . 28.
I am weary with repenting.-Jer.
XV. 6.
The eyes of the Lord are in every And the Lord came down to see
place.-Prov. xv. 3. the city and the tower.-Gen. xi 5.
Is there anything too hard for And the Lord was with Julah
me ?-Jer. xxxi. 27. * * but could not drive out the
With God all things are possible. inhabitants of the valley, because
-Mat . xix. 26. they had chariots of iron.-Judges
i. 19.
God is not a man * * that he And God repented of the evil he
should repent.-Num. xxiii. 19. had said.-Jonah iii. 10.
Those that seek me early shall They shall seek me early, but
find me.- Prov. viii. 17. shall not find me.-Prov. i. 28.
To undo the heavy burdens, and Of the children of the strangers
to let the oppressed go free, and that do sojourna*among you, of them
that ye break every yoke.-Is. shall ye buy. * They shall be
lviii. 6. your bondmen for ever.-Lev. xxv.
45, 46.
 71

the Christians, and this all those who were present would
remember. He (the Priest) had never denied the existence
of a future state, but what he required was simply that the
opposite party should explain to him the nature of what they
meant by Atma. He had most plainly shewn them what
they (the Buddhists) understood by the idea of cleaving to
existence which took shape at death. The Catechist men-
tioned something about the dwellers of the Arupa Brahma
loka in explanation of Atma , but if his friend had correctly
understood what was said in regard to Arupa Brahma loka,
he was sure he would not have brought it forward as an
illustration .
Some nonsense was also uttered by the Catechist
in reply to the remarks made by him (the Priest ) ,
with reference to God's command to Moses to perform a
series of miracles before Pharaoh, according to the effect that
each one produced , thereby shewing that God was not
omniscient ; to meet this objection his friend declared that
the plagues had been inflicted on Egypt to punish Pharaoh
for his haughtiness ; but what had that to do with the com-
mand " do this and if that won't induce him to let the
people go, do the other , etc. " Those of the assembly who
had any common sense would be able to judge of the in-
appropriateness of this reply to the objection he raised.
The reply his friend made to his remarks on the circumci-
sion of Moses' son was not more happy. It was plainly declared
in the Bible that when Zipporah, Moses' wife, knew that God
was angry with Moses and sought to kill him, she circum-
cised their son and cast the foreskin at his feet, and this was
instanced by him to shew the fondness of the Christians'
God for human blood as a sacrifice, in common with devils
and other evil spirits ; the course adopted to appease whom,
he would again remind them, was the same as that pursued
by Zipporah in the passage he had just cited . The Cate-
chist could not have possibly understood his (the Priest's)
meaning ; if he did he would not certainly have adduced
such a ridiculous reply as he had done. He contented him-
self by saying that the foreskin was cast at Moses' feet.
Apart from the absurdity of endeavouring to convince them
 72

that the sacrifice with which God's wrath was sought to be

appeased was thrown at Moses' feet ! -what a feeble reply it
was to his remark that God was fond of human sacrifices . It
was God that sought to kill Moses and yet his friend declares.
that the bloody offering was thrown at Moses ' feet. How
absurd !
The incident with reference to the armies of Judah
fleeing from iron chariots, though the Lord was with
them , was also mentioned by him (the Priest) to
shew that, like other evil spirits, the Jewish God
feared iron . If he did not fear iron, why was not
Judah, with whom the Lord was, more successful ? The
Catechist, in his reply, declared that the discomfiture of
the armies of Judah was not owing to any fear of iron , but
for lack of Judah's faith . If then Judah had no faith, why
did the Christians ' God , whom they declared to be
omniscient, abide with him? When he joined him, if he
were omniscient, he would have known that Judah did not
possess faith ; and would have foreseen these disastrous
consequences ; and yet he remains with him till the last,
and only flees when the iron chariots appeared ! Did not
this clearly shew that either God was not omniscient or that
he feared iron ? Howwill his friend get out of this dilemma ?
He would here warn him (the Catechist) not to venture on
such answers in future, which precipitated him into new
difficulties.
To shew that Jehovah did not breathe a portion of his
own soul into Adam (which was the inference to be drawn
from the passage, 66 The Lord God formed man of the dust
of the ground , and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life, and man became a living soul " ) , his friend instanced
the case of blowing oil into a man's ear, and asked whether
that ever meant blowing a portion of a man's life with the
oil. What silly talk was this ! In saying that oil was
blown into one's ear would it be inferred that " the breath of
life was blown into him ? "—which was the expression made
use of in the passage, and which, therefore, warranted his
saying that it was a portion of the spirit of God that was
breathed, or infused , into Adam.
 73

The Catechist also attempted to shew that Jephthah's

daughter was not killed and sacrificed , by stating that she was
ransomed by paying a certain sum of money to Jehovah, but it
was distinctly said in the Bible that Jephthah did unto her
according to his vow, which was, they will remember, to offer up
unto the Lord as a burnt offering whatever came forth of the
doors of his house to meet him when he returns in peace from
the children of Ammon . Well , what was the doing unto her
according to his vow if it were not offering his daughter, who
came to meet him, as a burnt offering to Jehovah ? If they
were not satisfied with this, there was the Douay Bible,
which he would be happy to hand to his opponents for their
delectation, which would conclusively shew that the neck of
Jephthah's daughter was really cut off, and offered to Jehovah.
He (the Priest) regretted very much that he was under the
necessity of engaging in controversies with those who even
attempted to deny facts, which were supported by such
incontrovertible testimony .
With reference to his statement that on account of Christ's
birth several helpless innocents had been killed , the Catechist
had the audacity to declare that he (the Priest) said that the
innocents were slain at Christ's birth, or on the day of his.
birth, and proceeded to demolish that imaginary objection .
He never mentioned that the innocents were killed at Christ's
birth, but only that, on account of Christ's birth , many
had been killed by Herod . If the Catechist had any regard
for truth, he would not have uttered such a falsehood before
an assembly of the kind before him, and who would remem-
ber what he actually said . Being unable to deny this whole-
sale massacre of little children on account of the coming of
Christ, the Catechist sought to cast obloquy of a similar kind
on Buddha, by alleging that Buddha's mother died seven
days after his birth . But the death of Buddha's mother,
however, was not in consequence of Buddha's birth . It is
clearly seen from Buddhist books that before a Bhodisat
(or Buddha) leaves the abode of the gods to be born in this
world he foresees five things, one of these five being the dura-
tion of his mother's life ; and in this instance it appears that he
was incarnated in his mother's womb just ten months and
 74

seven days before the day on which he foresaw she would

terminate her existence on earth. He was born in ten
months, and as pre-ordained she died at the expiration of the
remaining seven days. How unreasonable then was it to
attribute to Buddha the death of his mother, who had only
paid her debt to nature at the appointed time. How could a
controversy be carried on with a party who misrepresented
the statements so clearly made in Buddhist scriptures ?
No misrepresentation nor concealment of facts, however,
would help them to give a fairer complexion to the
slaying of helpless innocents on account of Christ's
birth, than the circumstance actually bears and which he
explained to them on a previous occasion. To clear Christ
from the imputation that he was to be blamed for this act,
the Catechist declared that Christ was an enemy of sin, and
that therefore the omen ofthe sinful massacring of innocents
was presented at his birth. This answer, however, was
extremely stupid. The appearance of sinful signs would
indicate that he was rather a friend than an enemy of sin. At
the birth of one who is to bring happiness to this world, a
good omen must present itself, and as the slaughter of chil-
dren was not a good sign, there was no doubt that it only
portended the introduction of a false religion on earth and
consequent evil to man.
The truth or otherwise of omens is one that can be
experienced by anyone, for even the success of a journey
is often prefigured by the omens that shew themselves at
starting. It was not necessary, however, to enlarge on
this subject as he had fully treated of it before. The
only advantage which the Catechist derived by this, his
explanation of the omens, was that the audience were enabled
to form a correct opinion of his intelligence. But even this
did not betray his friend's stupidity and ignorance so much
as did the construction he had put upon the beautiful simile
used in Buddhist books to convey an idea of the power and
excellence of Buddha's speech . The expression made use of
in the books is that at Gautama's birth he made an abhita
kesara sinha nadaya, which his friend interpreted literally as
the roaring of an undaunted lion of the kesara or maned
 75

kind, and declared that owing to this roaring of Buddha,

which rent the ears of all creatures, several animals had died.
It would be impossible for the intelligent portion of his
audience to repress their laughter at this silly and stupid
explanation, and as Buddhism could not in any way suffer
from such feeble attacks, they could well afford to treat it
with contempt . According to his friend's interpretation
Rajasingha signified a " lion king," instead of a valiant
king, which was its proper meaning. Would his friend,
however, be good enough to cite a single authority for his
statement that anyone suffered any injury at this " lion-like "
roaring of Buddha.
His friend also declared that the Tripitaka, which comprises
all Buddhist doctrines, were only consigned to writing 450
years after Buddha's death, and that, as up to that time, his
teachings were transmitted orally, the doctrines must have been
put in writing according to the fancy of the priests who lived
at the time, who it was not to be supposed would be able to
retain correctly in their memories all they had heard . This,
however, was all untrue ! It was certain that fifty-three
years after Buddha's attaining Nirvana, during the reign of
Walagambahu, that the preaching of Buddha was consigned
to writing in this Island, and even during Buddha's lifetime
it is recorded that Buddha's sermons were engraved on gold
leaves.The authenticity of our Sacred Books cannot be
doubted by any truly learned man !
In this Island the Buddhist scriptures were written by
Rahats, who were holy and sinless beings, possessed of
celestial knowledge, devoid of all passions, and only inferior
to Buddha, and hence had no difficulty whatever in retaining
anything in their memory for any length of time and
correctly consigning all they had heard to writing, without
adding to, or detracting one iota from what Buddha really
uttered. The case of the Christian Bible was, however,
different. It was not written by such holy personages as
those whom he had just mentio ned , but by sinful and
despicable men, such as Moses, who had committed murders
and fled the country. Besides, it was recorded that the
Bible thus written was once completely burnt, but that one
 76

of Jehovah's Kapuralas (devil's priest) re-wrote it, evidently as

suited his purposes, and somehow managed to impose it upon
the king as a genuine work.
Speaking of Moses, he could not but mention what
occurred to him in regard to the miracles he is said to have
performed in Egypt. It was said that the magicians of
Egypt performed the miracles that Moses did. It was his

opinion that Moses also was a magician, and to say, then,

that the power of Almighty God was with him was absurd !
If it were so, the magicians too , must have had this divine
power.
The Catechist also made some remarks in regard to the
offerings made by Gautama to attain Buddahood, and in par-
ticular made mention of his offering his children , as King
Wessantara, to a hermit named Jutaka Bamuna ; but the
Catechist evidently said this, forgetting that before attaining
Buddahood, the most supreme state in the universe, it was
essential for the aspirant to conquer all passions, and particu-
larly the love of worldly possessions ; and if, when he was
asked to sacrifice his wife and children, King Wessantara, who
was in hopes of becoming Buddha, had refused to do so , it
would have shewn him unfit for this high mission on account
of his desire to possess wives and children , and therefore it
was that King Wessantara offered his children . Besides
aged women who have heard the story of King Wessantara
and his offerings will remember that no evil befell his
children, but happiness was the result of their being given
away .
And again, the queen of King Wessantara was not, as
alleged by the Catechist, given away to be another man's
wife. The fact was that Sakkra, the celestial king of the two
god worlds, in order to enable King Wessantara to accom-
plish his dana paramita (the offerings) necessary to attain
Buddahood in the highest degree, assumed a human form
and presenting himself before King Wessantara obtained
his queen as an offering and immediately returned her to
the king. Thus the king's last sacrifice was made. It was
therefore untrue to say that Buddha gave away his wives to
other men in the sense that the Catechist used the expression .
 77

The Catechist's remarks touching the height of the

strings with which Buddha's wives were tied if collected into
a heap, and so on, were all to no purpose, as these figures
were simply made use of in the books to express the number
and the self-denying nature of the offerings made by Buddha.
Symbols and figures were the methods of speech in Buddha's
time. Of course it was not to be expected that his friend
(the Catechist) would understand the pleonasm .
With reference to the reply made by the Catechist to his
(the Priest's) remarks touching Christ not remaining three
days and three nights in the grave, as was declared in the
Scriptures, he could only ejaculate novasanavan (miserable).
The Catechist said that the expression in the Bible " three
days and three nights was meant for three days. Even
supposing it were so, Christ having risen on Saturday night,
or according to the Catechist's interpretation, before Sunday
commenced, he only remained two days in the grave, the
Friday and the Saturday, and how can that be made to
signify three days and three nights ? It was needless for
him to say anything more touching the Catechist's feeble re-
marks As the hour allotted to him was nearly over, he
would now conclude, promising to still more completely prove
the falsity of Christianity during the last hour of the con-
troversy. He had not yet shewn the comparative excellence
of Jehovah, Christ, and Buddha ; this he would thoroughly
do in the afternoon . Meanwhile, he would beg of the multi-
tude to keep in mind what had been said and sift the
truth from falsehood. Heartily thanking the assembly
for the great order which prevailed among them, the Priest
brought his discourse to a close.

THE DISCUSSION CONTINUed .

REV. MR. SILVA'S THIRD SPEECH .

Rev. Mr. de Silva rose, and said that as that was the
last speech he had to make in that discussion, he asked the
assembly to pay due attention.
Referring to the Priest's charge against him for using the
term wiruddha karaya, opponent, he said that the term was
 78

not an improper one for an opponent . He then quoted the

following gatha (stanza) , and shewed that the word was
unobjectionable.
Apannakam thanam eke dutiya ahut akkika eladannaya
medhavi tam ganheyyad apannakam. Here the words apanna-
kam thanam are translated in the jatakas aviruddhakaranayak ;
the word virruddha, therefore, meant a subject about which
there was a difference of opinion . Viruddhakaraya was,
therefore, neither offensive nor improper.
The passage from Eccl. iii. 19 , quoted by theopponent
to shew that the Bible taught that man was only a beast, is
refuted by Eccl . iii . 7. In the former, animal life and the
mortality of the body are only meant ; but the latter shewed
that there was a spirit besides, which went to God who
gave it.
The opponent said that Buddhaghosa, attempting to ex-
plain Paticcasamuppada, found himself in unsurmountable
difficulty, as one who fell into the deep ocean ; but the
opponent promises to explain it. Is he more competent
than Buddhaghosa ? Mr. de Silva next reviewed the Patic-
casamuppadaya, and shewed its absurdity, as in his second
speech.
The opponent , explaining the Catussatya, appealed to the
people, and asked whether jati, birth, was not sorrow. But
Buddha said : Pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu cakkhum udapadi
nanam udapadi panna udapadi vijja udapadi aloko udapadi ; viz. ,
for the attainment of these previously unknown doctrines ,.
the eye, the knowledge, the wisdom, the clear perception, the
lights were developed within me (Buddha) . What every
man was expected to know, Buddha only knew after he had
attained to Buddahood .
Respecting the opponent's objection to men being in
heaven if the present soul went there, Mr. Silva said human
souls were human souls even in heaven. Men on earth were
subject to decay and death ; but in heaven they were glorious
immortal beings.
Next, the absurdity of the opponent quoting I. Cor. xv. 22,
to shew that it contradicted the passages in Matt . xxv. 41-47
and Matt. vii. 13-14, were shewn. In the first passage the
 79

opponent confounded the meaning of the words jivat-

wanulabanawaeta, made alive, with galavanulabanawaeta, being
saved. Being made alive and being saved are different
things . All were made alive through Christ ; but from
John v. 28 and 29 it would appear that " all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have
done good into the resurrection of life, and they that have
done evil into the resurrection of damnation." The opponent
evidently did not know the meaning of even the Singhalese
words jivatvanulabanawa and galawanulabanawa. Hence the
confusion.
The opponent said that the arupa worlds and their
inhabitants were subjects very abstruse, and not easy to
explain ; but wished to know whether the Atma, the soul,
was like an egg or a ball . How absurd a question !
The opponent said that even at the time of Buddha the
Dharma was written on leaves of gold ; but the books said
Satthakatham sabbam Buddha vacanam tathagatassa parinibba-
nato yava panasadhikani cattari vassa satani tava mati sampanna
bhikkhu mukha pathena anesum ; that is, Buddha's words ,
with the comments, were brought down orally by intelligent
priests during 450 years after Buddha's death .
The opponent objected to Moses and his writings because
he (Moses) at one time killed an Egyptian . Moses cer-
tainly did save the life of an innocent Hebrew by killing an
Egyptian, who was going to kill the Hebrew. Moses ' act
was perfectly justifiable and laudable. Even if it were
otherwise, if he were a culprit, he was so before he
was called of God. There was nothing to prevent him
from obeying God, repenting, and being reformed. Be-
sides, the Christians did not take refuge in Moses.
But see the character of some of those in whom the
Buddhists take refuge. Angulimala, the finger-chained,
was a robber and a murderer who killed 999 human beings.
He was at once ordained by Buddha and attained , it is said ,
rahatship. The Buddhists take refuge in him. Angulimala
pirita is recited by the Buddhists at the present time for
protection. Harantika was also a robber. He also attained
rahatship. The Buddhists take refuge in him. The Demon.
 80

Aloka for twelve years consecutively murdered and ate a

human being every day. He is said to have attained sowan.
The Buddhists take refuge in him. Having these things before
our opponent, how ridiculous was it to charge Moses of
murder, and blaspheme God for calling him to his service.
The opponent denied that Bodhisat ever gave away his
wife and children for improper uses. The opponent was
either ignorant or cared not to utter falsehood even before
such an assembly. In Kudugotsangi it is stated that Bud-
dha's wife Yasodhara, taking leave of him to enter nibbanam,
addressing Buddha himself, said :-
Neka koti sahassani gocaratthaya dayi mam na tattha vimana
homi tuyh atthaya maha mune- Great sage, many thousands of
koti times thou gavest me away as prey to lions, etc., yet I
was not displeased with thee neka koti sahassani bhariya ' tthaya
dayi mam many thousands of koti times thou gavest me away
as wife, etc. , neka koti sahassani upakar atthaya dayi mam,
many thousands of koti times thou gavest me away in order
to obtain favour, etc.
Again it is said in the comment agat agatanam yacakanam
alankata patiyattam sisam kantitva gala lohitam niharitva
anjitani kkhini uppate va kula vansa padipikam putta manapa
carinim bhariyamdenena namaya adinnamdanam nama nathi.
There is nothing that I refused to give away to those that
came to me begging . I cut off my ornamented head , I sacri-
ficed the blood of my neck, I plucked off my beautiful eyes,
I gave away my promising children, and my beloved wife .
The opponent's assertion was therefore palpable error or
monstrous falsehood .
Mr. de Silva next pointed out the character of Bodhisat
after he had the assurance of becoming Buddha. He was
then Buddhankura, a germ of Buddahood growing up to attain
that stage. A plant of any kind retained its nature when it
grew.
In the Parantapajataka Bodhisat was heir apparent to the
throne. Enemies having come to attack the city, the prince
was asked by the king to drive them away. The prince, for
fear of being killed, as was foretold by a she jackal, refused
to go to battle. The king repeated his command , but
 81

Bodhisat having for some time repeatedly refused to go , at

last consented . But instead of protecting the city and the
royal parent, he acted the part of an enemy. The royal
parent, with the family priest and a servant called Parantapa,
had to flee into the jungle for life. There the queen,
Bodhisat's mother, fell in love with Parantapa and lived
immorally with him, by whom the poor king was at last
massacred ; and in return the second prince, who was born
in the jungle, when he grew up massacred Parantapa for
seducing his mother the queen. All these things followed
the treacherous conduct of Bodhisat, who acted the part of an
enemy to his father, to his king, and to the kingdom. No
civilised nation could countenance such misconduct and
treachery.
In another birth, Sussondiya Jataka, Bodhisat was
gurula. He was a famous gambler. He went to Benares to
gamble with the king Thambatanda and at last seduced the
queen and ran away with her. This was the conduct of
young Buddha.
In Matangajataka Bodhisat committed a similar act.
Are these the examples set on record for those who would
aspire to Buddhaship ?
Now to inquire into Buddha's teachings.
In the Satta Suriyuggana Suttani of the Anguttara
Nikaya, Buddha says :-
Sineru bhikkhave pabbata rajá caturasiti yojana sahassani
ayamena caturasiti yojana sahassani vittharena caturasiti yojana
sahassani maha samudde ajjhogalho caturasiti yojana sahassani
maha samudáá accuggato.
Priests, the king of mountains is in length 84,000 yojanas,
in breadth 84,000 yojanas, beneath the great ocean 84,000
yojanas and above the sea 84,000 yojanas. In the same
suttam the order in which the world is destroyed is
stated.
Hoti kho so bhikkhave samayo bahuni vassa satani bahuni
vassa sahassani bahuni vassa sata sahassani devo na vassati ;
devo kho pana bhikkhave avassante ye keci bijagama bhutagama
osadhi vana tina vanaspatayo te ussussanti vissussanti na
bhavanti.
6
 82

Priests, a time will come when for many hundreds, thou-

sands, and hundred thousands of years there will be no rain.
Priests, there being no rain, all plants, herbs, medicinal roots,
forests, grass, and trees will become completely dried and
burnt up .
When the second sun appears, the little rivers ,
ponds, and lakes will become dried up and disappear. When
the third sun appears, the large rivers, etc. , will be dried up ;
when the fourth sun appears, the large lakes will be dried
up. When the fifth sun appears, the seas will be dried up.
When the sixth sun appears (ayan ca maha pathari sineru ca
pabbata raja adippanti pajjalanti) this great earth and
Mahameru will burn continually ; thus this great earth and
Mahameru, as well as everything else, are mentioned, and the
order of their destruction. Where, then, is this great
mountain which is 84,000 yojanas in length, 84,000 yojanas
in breadth, and 84,000 yojanas above the sea, situated ?
How is it possible that it could not be seen to the eyes of
men ? this globe represents the earth. (Here the globe was
shewn.) In this the shape of the earth, its dimensions, the
great rivers and seas, and the positions of the countries, etc. ,
are all represented. Now, the circumference of the earth is
25,000 miles. This is admitted by all the civilised nations
of the world . This fact is proved by every day's experience .
Therefore, a mountain with such dimensions could not exist
on this earth. Wherever it existed it must be seen, as this
globe which now stands on this little inkstand must be seen
by all who are on the four sides of it . So likewise if there
were a mountain of that kind it could not but be seen by all
the inhabitants of the four quarters . Besides, man can
know to a certainty within a few weeks whether there be
such a mountain or not. Men at no period ever saw such a
mountain, nor have they known by science that there could
be such a mountain. One who had said that there was such
a mountain cannot be supposed to have been a wise man, nor
one who spoke the truth . That saying is a falsehood, it is
an ignorant saying. It is moreover said that Sahampati
made an offering of the size of Mahameru : that the re-
sidence of Sakkraya was on the top of Mahameru, and that
Buddha frequently went there ; it is also said that Ab-
 83

hidharma was preached from its top. Many statements of

this kind in connection with Mahameru are to be found
scattered in the sacred books of Buddhism.
If it be asked why speak about Mahameru, the reply
would be that if so great a falsehood could be uttered
respecting a thing in this world , about which men can remove
their doubts by seeing with their own eyes, how could any
statement made touching heavenly and Brahma worlds,
which we cannot see and examine, be believed ? Is this
person to be believed who speaks that which could easily be
proved as false, and declares a thing not existing as if it
existed ? Certainly not. Besides, everything that is stated
in Buddhism is connected with Mahameru.* The Chaturma-
harajika, heavenly worlds, are connected with Mahameru.
The Tawatinsa, heavenly world, is on the top of it. The
other heavenly worlds gradually rise above it. The
Brahma worlds are above those. The Arupa worlds are
above the rest. Thus, if Mahameru did not exist where then
could all those worlds exist ? They must all tumble down, as
a house whose foundation is rotten. Besides, if there is no
Mahameru what advantage is there in almsgiving or perform-
ing meritorious actions ? They are done with a view to be
born in those worlds. What is the use of observing Sil,
precepts ? They are observed to be born in the heavenly
worlds. If those worlds do not exist all that is useless.
What is the use of observing Jhána, abstruse meditations,
as some priests at Matura observed until they got mad ? All
those things are useless . Mahameru, of 84,000 yojanas inin .
length and breadth and height, must be placed on the earth ;

* This reference on the part of the Rev. Mr. Silva to Meru (or Maha-
meru)-termed in Hindu Mythology, " the navel of the earth,"-was, in our
opinion, ill-timed and out of place in a discussion relating to Buddhism ;
and for the reason that it is Hinduism, rather than Buddhism , that
has to do with Meru. This mountain, reputed so high and so broad, is
traceable to Hindu legends, originating long before Buddha's time.
The same mountain was referred to by Cleanthes and Anaximenes, shew-
ing an interchange of thought between India and Greece. Buddhism bore
something the same relation to Hinduism that Luther's Reformation
bore to Roman Catholicism.
6-2
 84

if not, Buddhism must be rejected at once. There is no

advantage to be derived in believing in Buddhism.
Next, if Buddha had the power of knowing anything , even
by meditation, it was proper for him to have given precepts,
having in view how those precepts would be understood by
his disciples ; for because of the precept that his priests
should not have carnal connection , one priest had connection
with a female monkey, another priest with his own mother,
and another with his own sister. How strange it is that one
who professed to have the power of knowing everything
should have given a precept which he ought to have foreseen
would be misconstrued . Is there any other instance in the
world where a teacher had brought up disciples in this way ?
Could not this omniscient one lay down the precept so as to
prevent all these misunderstandings ? If he had the power
and did not use it, he was the cause of all these mischiefs.
These are not the only instances mentioned in the Parajika
book, but it contains a whole host of such filth .
Again, Buddha encouraged the practice of the most
heinous crimes . A priest committed the foulest sin, the par-
ticulars of which cannot be given. The punishment
Buddha inflicted upon the priest who so acted, was a minor
punishment. The punishment was thullacca. He had simply
to confess his fault before the priests, when he was retained
in the priesthood . He was not even excommunicated .
Another priest was guilty of a horrible crime of the
same kind . This crime was called by Buddha dukkata- very
minor offence. The priest was retained in his priesthood,
and associated with.
Another priest committed a similar offence : it was also
called dukkata, a very minor offence.
Another instance of causing a miscarriage was pronounced
thullacca ; namely, the offence was very minute. Many
other instances of this kind may be quoted from the Parajika.
Were there instances of this kind recorded among the dis-
ciples of any other teacher ? From the punishments given
to such inhuman offenders, was it not clear that this teacher
encouraged vice ? Such offences would meet with the
highest condemnation among men, but Buddha, by slighting ,
 85

encouraged them . It is no use to say that the priests in

Buddha's time were good men, because these instances shew
the contrary .
With re.erence to Buddha's death, Buddha accepted the
invitation of Chunda, the blacksmith. A young pig was
prepared with rice. Buddha prevented the pork being served
to any of his attending priests. He enjoyed it to satisfac-
tion and it caused dysentery. The invitation was at Pawa.
He had to go to Kusina from thence. Because of the
dysentery, he suffered excruciating pains. He had to lie
down twenty-five times on the way. He fainted several
times. He called for water to quench his thirst. He
managed to reach a little river, drank cold water, bathed in
the river, but of this dysentery he never recovered. He died.
These things are recorded in the Mahaparinibhana Suttan.
His object in bringing these circumstances connected
with his death was to shew that everything recorded
about his birth, the gods and Brahmas attending
on him, paying him glorious adorations, and Buddha's
own miracles which he performed when required,
were only statements which no one ought to credit.
Here was the crisis in which all super-human attendance and
comfort was necessary, and his own power needed to be
manifested . Nothing of the kind was at hand. He got
sick, he suffered pains, he walked from one place to another,
fainting and lying down on the road, and at last died as any
other miserable man would die. These things prove that the
statements recorded about Buddha's super-human power
were as fabulous as those related to lull children.
He then stated that, according to Christianity, man had
an immortal soul as well as a body, which precious immortal
soul must go from hence to the other world. In order to
save this soul and take it to heaven, " God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son." This Jesus Christ ,
the Saviour of men, offered himself and died on the cross as
a sacrifice for sin, by which a way is now opened to those
who would be saved. He that believeth on him shall be
saved. There is no other name given under heaven for man's
salvation except this one name. Therefore it was the duty
 86'

of all that were present to take refuge in that only Saviour

and be saved from the miseries of hell . This he implored of
all who were present to attend to.
Now, he said, no satisfactory answer was given to the
objections brought forward against Buddhism, and every
objection raised against Christianity was satisfactorily
answered. This he begged the audience to bear in mind.

THE BUDDHIST'S CLOSING SPEECH ,

OR
THE REV. MIGETTUWATTE'S FOURTH REPLY.

The Priest Migettuwatte, commencing his reply, said that

this being the last hour of the controversy, it was the only
opportunity he should have of addressing the assembly, and
begged of them to listen to him patiently, and in as orderly
a manner as during the previous occasions.
They would remember that the rev. gentleman on the
first day of this controversy declared that Buddhism likened
man unto beasts ; in his morning lecture he most completely
shewed that it was not Buddhism but Christianity that had
done so ; but as he now saw before him several who were not
present on that occasion he would, to prevent any mis-
conception, again read the passage appearing in the Bible in
reference to this matter. It was Ecclesiastes iii. 19, and
the words were , " For that which befalleth the sons of men
befalleth beasts ; even one thing befalleth them as the one-
dieth, so dieth the other ; so that a man hath no pre-eminence
above a beast for all is vanity." What clearer proof did
they require to establish the fact that it was Christianity that
likened man unto beasts and not Buddhism, as the rev.
gentleman had improperly asserted .
With reference to his brief explanation of Paticca-
samuphada, the rev. gentleman sneeringly asked whether
he (the Priest) was more competent to understand this
abstruse subject than Buddhaghosa , whose saying that
one attempting to explain this doctrine was like a man
who fell into the deep ocean he had cited . It was true
that he had quoted this passage to illustrate the difficulty
 87

of properly comprehending this doctrine, but his explaining

the subject to the utmost of his ability did not make him (the
Priest) cleverer than Buddhaghosa. He could only attribute
these stupid remarks touching his speech to the rev.
gentleman's envious feeling towards him.
The rev. gentleman , in explaining Paticcasamuphada,
uttered some arrant nonsense, and declared that this doctrine
of causation was as confused and senseless as the statement
that the father was begotten of the son, and the son was
begotten of the father. This far-fetched illustration, he was
sure, would not have been adduced by the rev. gentleman
if he had the least idea of the correct meaning of Paticca-
samuphada. He was in no manner justified in attributing to
Buddhism the advocacy of such a circumlocutory genesis as
his illustration implied . Buddhism did not contain any such
doctrine, but it was in Christianity that mention was made of
an extraordinary roundabout causation as instanced by the
rev. gentleman.
He would crave their most careful attention while
he partially explained what it was. As Mary, the
Mother of Christ, was created by Jehovah, Jehovah was
her father, and Mary his daughter ; but because the Holy
Ghost was conceived in Mary's womb Jehovah becomes her son,
and Mary, Jehovah's mother ; and as Christ is-Jehovah's son,
Jehovah becomes Mary's husband, and Mary his wife . So
according to the Scriptures the same Mary becomes in
.
one case Jehovah's daughter, in another Jehovah's
mother, again Jehovah's wife, and truly if the term
" roundabout " or " circumlocutory genesis " could be applied
to any proceeding, it was to the Trinity notion con-
nected with the birth of Christ, and not to the reasonable
doctrine of Paticcasamuphada. He hoped that now they were
satisfied that it was in Christianity and not in Buddhism
that a father is said to be born of a son and son of a father.
The rev. gentleman also remarked , like his friend the
Catechist, that the Buddhist doctrines could not be relied on
as they were consigned to writing about 450 years after
Buddha's attaining Nirvana ; in reply to this he need only
repeat what he previously asserted, that there was abundant
 88

proof to shew that even during Buddha's lifetime, perma-

nency was given to his doctrines in writing . And the
Buddhist scriptures, he would assure them, did not share the
same fate as a portion of the original Christian Bible, which
was once completely burnt, but subsequently cooked up by a
Kapua (devil's priest) of a temple and palmed off as a
true copy of the original document.
The charge of murder raised by the rev. gentleman
against Angulimala Terunanse was totally untrue ? It
never appeared in any Buddhist works that even an
ant had been killed by him, much less a man. The

name Angulimala was given to this personage after

his ordination and the attainment of the Rahat state ;
and it was to this Rahat that offerings and oblations were
made by Buddhists, and so even if Angulimala Thero were
guilty of the alleged crime (which he was not, and which
his opponent could not substantiate) while he was a layman,
possessed of carnal desires and sinful passions, no blame
attaches to him after his becoming a Rahat ; and it could not
be brought forward now as a slur on him, after he had
attained that state, having made full expiation for all short-
comings. The same remarks will apply to the rev. gentleman's
strictures on Harantika and Alawaka as well.
The rev. gentleman sought to attach blame on the holy
Rahats, Angulimala, Harantika, and Alawaka, who wrote
the Buddhist scriptures, and said that the Bible, however,
was pure, though written in part by the murderer Moses ,
who fled the country, and subsequently joined Jehovah.
My opponent talked something about " filth " in Buddhist
books . The charge is false and untrue ! But if there were
more filthy things in print than might be found in some
parts of the Christian's Bible, he had not seen them .
The rev. gentleman can never prove from the Bible
that Moses was free from sin even after he joined
Jehovah. He was a man as are others, full of lustful
desires and passions, and is even said to have slain
thousands after this event. Surely they would not call such
a man holy, and what credence can be placed on a work
emanating from such a despicable source ? But it was not
 89

so with the writers of the Buddhist scriptures, who were all

Rahats, freed from all passions and lust, and whose sins had
been completely expiated . And the attempt of the rev.
gentleman to asperse their holy character by mentioning
some of the shortcomings they may have been guilty of in a
previous state of existence, was as unsuccessful as disgraceful.
By such a course, Moses' crimes could not be extenuated ;
and to hope to gain future happiness by believing in the
doctrines of such cruel and sinful men as Moses could only
be likened to an attempt to extract oil from sand !
To shew that Buddha gave away his wife to others,
the rev. gentleman read some Pali stanzas, and declared
them to be quotations from Buddhist scriptures. His
opponent knew better. Nothing of the sort could be
established from the stanzas quoted from the Terapada-
naya ; and as for the other stanzas beginning Ayatagala-
nani such a passage as the rev. gentleman alleged never
appears amongst Buddha's sayings ! He regretted much
for being under the necessity of having to argue in matters
of religion with one who did not hesitate to speak such
untruths, with the view of deceiving the ignorant. This ,
however, would help those present to form a correct estimate
of the character of the rev. gentleman.
He also disparaged the character of Buddha by
quoting from Parantapajataka and Sussandyajataka ; but
he would again tell them, as in the case of Angulimala,
that Holy Buddha was not to be blamed for sins com-
mitted in a previous birth, or even in a Bhodisat state,
which meant the state in which a being aspires to be a
Buddha. In both those states mortal beings are not devoid
of passions, but are liable to err. It was not correct to say
that Buddhists take refuge in such as these. Bhodisats are
neither worshipped nor resorted to for refuge, because they
do not pretend to possess the virtues of the Buddhas. The
interpretation given to Budhankara as being a growing
Buddha, is false and only shews the lamentable ignorance
of the rev. gentleman ! So much for his unsuccessful
attempt to bring Buddha into contempt for offences com-
mitted in a Bhodisat state.
 90

After shewing from Surryotgamansatra that Buddha

had declared the existence of Mahameru, the rev. gentleman
stated that even a schoolboy could satisfactorily disprove his
statement. The rev. gentleman no doubt alluded to Sir Isaac
Newton's theory when he made that remark, according to
which day and night were caused by the earth revolving
round its axis, and not by the sun being hidden behind
Mahameru. The little globe which the rev. gentleman pro-
duced was one made on Newton's principle ; but even
amongst Englishmen there were serious doubts and differ-
ences of opinion as to whether Newton's theory was correct
or not. Among others, Mr. Morrison, a learned gentleman ,
had published a book refuting Newton's arguments, and he
would be happy to allow the Christian party a sight of this
book, which was in his possession . (Here he produced and
handed around the " New Principia," by R. J. Morrison,
F.A.S.L., published in London. )
How unjust, then, to attempt to demolish the great
Buddha's sayings by quoting as authority an immature
system of astronomy, the correctness of which is not yet
accepted. Besides, even according to Christianity, the
rev. gentleman's statements are incorrect. For in Ec-
clesiastes i . 5, appeared the words : " The sun also
ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his
place where he arose," which was biblically conclusive as to
the sun moving, and the earth being stationary. There was
a similar statement made in Buddhist books. The rev.
gentleman's attempt to deny the existence of Mahameru
with the aid of this little globe and Newton's theory, has
only given the lie to his own religion.
The mariner's compass was the best proof he could give
them of the existence of Mahameru. Keep it where you.
may, the attraction of the magnetic needle is always towards
the North. This demonstrated that there was a huge
mass in that direction which attracted the needle towards it,
and according to the Buddhist books, Mahameru , the
grandest and most stupendous rock on the face of the earth ,
was situated in the North. Were they not now satisfied that
their Mahameru did exist in the North, as is declared ? If
 91

not, can the Christian party adduce a single reason why

there should be this attraction in the needle towards the
North more than to the East, West, or South ? This was
impossible. The mariner's compass was the most conclusive
argument for the existence of the famed Mahameru. The
passage through the northern zone of ice into the open Polar
Sea, where are lands, rocks, and mountains, may de-
monstrate this beyond a doubt. * The rev. gentleman has
asked how a rock 84,000 yojanas above the sea could exist
on the earth, the circumference of which was only 25,000,
miles. But this has been questioned as it is based on
Newton's theory, and besides, it was not possible to draw
any correct comparisons between the figures, because even at
the present day the true length of a yodun is a controverted
point among the savants in India. Has the rev. gentleman
discovered the true measure ? He would not argue further
on the point, as he hoped that he had, to the complete satis-
faction of the assembly, proved the existence of Mahameru,
and demolished what the rev. gentleman had urged against
its existence.
The rev. gentleman, amongst other matters brought
against Buddhism, stated that a certain priest of Matara
had gone mad by over-meditation ; that was not strange,
considering that meditation pure and simple, unaccom-
panied by philanthropic works and true piety, is said
in Buddhist books to beget madness . Further, what had a
man's madness or sickness to do with the truth or falsity of
a religion ?
The very mention of the horrible crimes for which
punishments had been provided in the Vinaya, the
Buddhist code of morals, demonstrated the purity of Bud--

* Some of the Buddhist priests are thoroughly versed in the works of

modern scientists. Spending part of a day at the Widyodaga College of
Buddhist professors and priests, near Colombo, Ceylon, and conversing
with them upon the nature of soul, its attributes and its forces, Professor
H. Sumangala, sending to his library, called my attention to a passage in
Dr. Louis Buchner's work on " Matter and Force." Some of the books of
Bishop Colenso have been translated into the Singhalese of Ceylon, by the-
Buddhists.
 92

dhism, since it shewed that remedies had been provided for

every emergency. Of course, he (the Priest) was not to
blame for declaring these heinous crimes before this assembly ;
the rev. gentleman was responsible for it, and his ignorance
of what he was speaking about was more than once shewn
in the interpretation he had given to some of the passages
appearing in Vinaya. It did not, of course, appear that those
priests who committed offences before the promulgation of
these rules were punished with rigour, and what lawgiver
would punish a man for an offence, though it may have been
one per se, before the enactment of the ordinance ? Let
him assure them once for all that no blame could be
attached to Buddhism, or any other religion, because of the
immorality of some of its preachers . Who would dream of
adducing the argument that Christianity was false because
the wife of a well-known Protestant clergyman, when she got
ill went awhile since to a distant village, and with the con-
nivance of her husband, performed a devil ceremony, though
he well knew of such an instance ? Missionaries coming to
this country have not always proved themselves either
saintly or moral. How will the rev. gentleman get over the
innumerable immoralities mentioned in the Bible, for instance,
that affair of Lot and his daughter, the incest committed by
the sons and daughters of Eve, and a host of others ?
The pork and the rice did not cause Buddha's death, as
alleged by the rev. gentleman, but the incident was variously
recorded to shew the nature of food partaken of by Buddha
before his death . He would have died at the appointed day
even if he had not tasted it. Buddha and Buddhist priests
partake of what is put before them . They depend upon
alms. They take neither scrip nor purse. They hold all life
sacred. Some will not taste of animal food . And yet, after
all, what was there so very unclean in pork ? was it not better
than the locusts made mention of in the Bible that were eaten
by John the Baptist ?
He had now to answer some objections raised by the
Catechist in his speech, and he would do so briefly. His
friend, the Catechist, had said that the taking refuge in
Buddha, in the Dhamma or doctrines , and in the priesthood
 93

was all in vain, because in the first instance Buddha is dead

and gone, and there could be no help from him ; but if the
Catechist understood what was written on this subject aright,
he would not have uttered such astonishing folly. Buddha's
death, it is recorded , consisted of three stages, the death of the
passions, of the Skhandas, which he had previously explained ,
and of his relics . The death of his passions took place at the
foot of the Bo-tree on his attaining Buddahood, that of the
Skhandas was at the Sal-grove of King Mallava , and the last
stage, that of the complete destruction of relics, is to take
place 5,000 years after Buddha's attaining Nirvana, that is,
about 2,500 years from the present time, when all Buddha's
relics will be brought together near the Jayamaha Bo-tree in
India, assume the form of a living Buddha, and after preach-
ing for a short time will to the external cease to exist . Up to
such time, the effect of Buddha's attaining Nirvana is not
complete, and much merit can be gained by those who with
faith make oblations and reverence these relics as Buddha
himself. Buddha is yet connected with all that he ever
touched, and all that he ever did on earth. Therefore to say
that Buddha's influence does not exist at the present time is
extremely false.
The Sarana in Buddhist Dharma did not mean taking
refuge in Bana books, but in his doctrines, which if
one believed aright, he would be saved in a future
state ; and that in the priesthood did not apply to sinful
priests, but to those devoid of sin and passions.
As to the Upassampada controversy which the Catechist
said was being carried on by the sects of Amerapura and Siam,
he could assure them that not a single priest of any position
of either party took any part in this controversy. It was
simply a controversy carried on anonymously by two in
terested parties in the columns of The Lakrivikirana.
With reference to the charge that Buddha was not
omniscient, and if he were that he ought to have
known whether Alarakalama and others to whom he
decided to preach, were alive or not, he (the Priest)
said that this matter was brought forward at every
controversy the Christians had with the Buddhists ; and
 94

as it was on every occasion satisfactorily answered, his

present explanation would be brief. It was true that Buddha
was omniscient, but his omniscience was not of such an
unpleasant nature as that ascribed to Jehovah, who it is
declared sees and knows everything without directing his
attention to it. What a filthy vista must be ever open to him, if
without any effort of his, all the misery, filth, sin, unclean-
ness, and pollution of this world is continually seen by him !
How could anyone be happy if compelled to witness all the
misery and dirt of this earth ? Did they not consider that
Jehovah suffered more misery thus than in hell if, being in
heaven, he necessarily witnessed all this ? Buddha's omnis-
cience was, however, far different ; he only discovered and saw
what he wanted to by directing his power to it. True, from his
past experience of Alarakalama and another, he determined
upon preaching his doctrines to them as being men who were
capable of understanding them ; but as speedily as this
determination was made a god intimated to him that those
personages had died ; and then it is said that he exercised
his power of omniscience, and saw even the state in which
Alarakalama had been born after death. He hoped the assem-
bly now understood the pleasant and rational nature of
Buddha's omniscience ; and for the Christian party to say
that he did not possess this power, simply because he did not
exercise it, was like saying that a man who had full power
of vision was blind because he did not turn his eyes to a
certain object. So much for Buddha's omniscience .
Now a word touching Christianity. His (the Priest's)
object in engaging in this controversy was simply the
ascertainment of truth. He knew that Buddhism was true,
and he had come to defend it ; but he was not so prejudiced
in its favour as not to be open to conviction, and even to
embrace Christianity, if they were able to prove it to be true ;
but what was there in it to be believed ?
Why should the Christians lay so much stress on
the death of Christ, who had been killed by the authori-
ties for attempting to rise in rebellion against the
"" do to a
Roman Empire ? What else could the "' powers
man who had openly advised his followers to sell even their
 95

clothes and provide themselves with swords ! and whose

crime, according to the inscription placed on the cross, was
that of styling himself the King of the Jews ! —a nation
then under the Roman Empire.
Besides, how unsatisfactory was the evidence as
to his bodily resurrection. The first witness they
had to testify to this all-important event, according
to Mark xvi. 9, was Mary Magdalene, who, they would
remember, was a woman who had at one time been
possessed of seven devils ! What weight could be attached
to the evidence of such a mad woman ? The fact was that
Christ's body was removed from the tomb by his disciples on
the night when there were no guards, and how significant
were the words in the Scriptures that even at that time it was
rumoured that his body had been " stolen " away ? Well,
if they were satisfied with this resurrection of Christ, they
should believe it by all means !
The Christians declare that God's spirit will be with
those who believe on him . He (the Priest) did
not deny belief in a Creator, but admitted that he
owed his existence to one ; but why should man be allowed
to become the enemy of the Creator which, according to the
Bible, he now was ? The Christians' theory of a Creator was
false, and he would presently explain to them who the true
Creator was, in whom he believed, and what he had to say
would be borne out even by the Scripture account of the
creation . He must say that this part of the Bible was most
prudently written by one who was in no way ignorant. It
was there said that the spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters, and why should this fact have been mentioned if
not to shew that the acting of this spirit on the water was
the cause of all animal and vegetable life ? This was
certainly so. The action of air on water always produced
animal life ; if a cocoanut, which usually remains on the tree
without rotting for nine or ten months, be pierced through
and air be allowed to enter into it, the water inside was
sure to breed worms ; and so long as air could be excluded
from water, there was no generation of any insect. Like-
wise in this instance, " the spirit of God," as it was
 96

called, acted upon the face of the waters, and it produced

animal life.
The origin of all species was then, even according to the
Bible, "breath," or air, with which was associated heat and
water. To these three, air, heat, and water, by whatever name
known, whether Brahma, Vishnu, and Iswara, or God, Son, and
Holy Ghost, were attributable the origin of species . These,
so far as would be comprehended, were their only creator ;
and him he would reverence ; and as neither air, nor water,
nor heat could produce alone without the aid of the other,
but were co-existent, and so closely associated with each
other that they could not be said to have separate existences,
the Christians were justified in saying that though there are
three beings, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, yet they
were not three Gods, but one God. These, however, were
not beings, but states. There is one Absolute Spirit in and
over all.
It was also declared in the Bible that Satan tempted
Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. Here
he was certain that " Satan " meant lust, and " eating the
forbidden fruit " signified carnal knowledge, which produced
child -birth and all the other baneful consequences mentioned
66
in the Bible. Eating the forbidden fruit " could mean
nothing else, for if sorrow in child- bearing was the punish-
ment for actually eating the fruit, in the literal sense of the
words, how could they account for the agony that many mem-
bers of the brute creation suffer when giving birth to their
young ? For instance, the travail the Polongas suffer is so
great that they sometimes burst whilst giving birth to their
young. Had they also eaten of the forbidden fruit ? Such
was Christianity ! It was full of irrational and unreasonable
notions.
But as for Buddhism, the most eminent had in all ages.
given their testimony in favour of it . The great doctors of the
science of medicine, of the efficacy of which there can be only
one opinion, the originators of ethics, the propounders of that
important and wonderful science, astrology, by which even
the date of the death of a man could be accurately foretold,
not to mention details, and the names of learned men, always
 97

invoked the aid of Buddha and extolled the praises of him

and of his religion , in every one of their works.
Buddhism inculcated the purest morality and urged the
necessity of self-denial, self- sacrifice, and charity. It encou-
raged peace. It tolerated all religions in its midst. It had
nothing to fear. It pleaded of men to follow the example of
Holy Buddha,and pointed the sick and the sorrowing to the
blissful state of Nirvana. Quantities of books could be adduced
in proof of these teachings, but it was needless to so do, as he
had , he hoped, to the complete satisfaction of his auditory,
proved the truth of Buddhism and the falsity of Christianity.
He also trusted that they had not forgotten the nature of the
answers adduced by the opposite side, to meet the objections
raised by him ; and lastly, he would now earnestly beg of
them to bear these things in mind, and always take refuge in
Holy Buddha .
Scarcely had the last words of the above lecture been
uttered, when cries of " Sadu " ascended from the thousands
who were present. Endeavours were made by the handful
of police to keep order, but nothing induced them to cease
their vociferous cries until, at the request of the learned
High Priest of Adam's Peak, the Priest Migettuwatte
again rose, and with a wave of his hand, beckoned to the
men to be quiet, when all was still."

REMARKS .

Thus ends a very spirited discussion, in which a Buddhist

priest- called a " heathen," -appealing to various Bibles, to
reason, and to the common sense of the gathered thousands,
bravely met a Christian minister in a square face-to- face con-
troversy. The reading deeply interested me ; the more so, per-
haps, from perusing it in Ceylon, near the spot where it trans-
pired. The only thing that seriously mars the flow of thought
while turning over the pages is the bitterness, and even
offensive personalities, occasionally indulged in by the other-
wise eloquent disputants. Even if the Christians -as I was
7
 98

credibly informed-were the aggressive party in commencing

the caustic, brow-beating style of argument, the Buddhist
་
Priest was hardly justifiable in following the example. It
was a bad one. Peace, calmness, and contemplation con-
stitute practically the very genius of Buddhism. And in all
religions it is the better way to return good for evil, and kind
for bitter words . The Quaker poet of America wrote these
telling lines :-
" The truth's worst foe is he who claims
To act as God's avenger,
And dreams, beyond his sentry beat,
The crystal walls in danger.

Who sets for heresy his traps

Of verbal quirk and quibble,
And weeds the garden of the Lord
With Satan's borrowed dibble."

Both Gautama Buddha and Jesus not only taught, or laid

down, the principle of returning blessing for cursing , but
they beautifully exemplified their teachings in lives of
tenderest charity and forgiveness .
“ Before and during the Vedic era," writes the scholarly
Sir M. Coomara Swamy, " it was the shedding of blood ,
the sacrifice of man or beast, the oblations of butter and milk,
the worship of fire and the warring of elements, which
marked the awakening of the supernatural sentiment in the
Hindu breast. But anon a change came over the land.
Peace, gentleness, and all the mild virtues gained the ascend-
ant. True sacrifice, it was taught, was self-sacrifice. The
preparation for heaven consisted in the destruction of all evil
passions. And the greatest happiness, it was inculcated,
consisted in a life of philosophic trust and quiet. "
As a sample of Gautama Buddha's sermonising, I select
the following from the Khappavisána Sutta, and the com-
mentaries. The discourse was delivered by this Indian sage,
so it seems, at the request of Ananda, a disciple of
considerable distinction.
"Seek first for the true path, and when finding,
diligently follow in it. The true hero, abandoning the
vanity of life, and forsaking the foolish ways of the world ,
 99

flings off the bands of the household like a kovilara tree its
leaves, and walks alone . He who has houses, and fields, and
cattle, and children grieves ; but he who is content, who has
no object of selfish desires, does not grieve. The greatest is
he who, desiring the least, gives the most. Humility is
better than honour. • I learned a lesson from one who
sat calm and happy by the way- side, asking alms of the rich
that he might bestow them upon the poor. . . The Brah-
mans, protected by virtue, were not injured by others.
They were invincible. None ever stopped them at the doors
of their houses. Formerly they practised celibacy from
their youth up to their forty-eighth year. The more con-
secrated continued pure unto the end of life. He who frees
himself from lasciviousness, refuses to recount worthless
stories, abandons inordinate laughter, and yields not to
greediness, worldliness, and hypocrisy, becomes established
in peace, and knows what constitutes the true essence of
wisdom and peacefulness. . . . Good friends may be ad-
mitted into one's company ; but not obtaining such friends,
let one subsist upon pure food, engage in prayer, and walk
alone. I lived for a night on the banks of the Mahi ;
the house was roofless, the fire was extinguished by the rain,
and yet I was happy, because free from anger, free from
stubbornness , free from passions." " Like an ox that has
broken its bindings, like an elephant that has broken the
galucchi creeper, I have broken the chain of worldly attach-
ment. I shall not return for re-birth. I shall enter Nir-
vana. "" · " My mind is free from passions, is released from
the follies of the world, has long been under training, is
under thorough control ; there is no sin whatever in me. I
have obtained the victory."
Thus spake Buddha to Ananda, and other disciples.

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NOR Biliousness or Sick Headache, Giddiness, Depression of Spirits,
Skin Eruptions, Sea Sickness, &c., ENO'S FRUIT SALT is the simplest and best remedy yet
introduced. It removes, by a natural means, effete matter or poison from the blood, thereby
preventing and curing boils, carbuncles, fevers, feverish skin, and all epidemics, and counteracts any
errors of Eating and Drinking, or any sudden affliction or mental strain, and prevents Diarrhoea. It
is a pleasant beverage, which supplies the want of ripe fruit, may be taken as an invigorating and
cooling draught under any circumstances, from infancy to old age, and may be continued for any
length of time, and looked upon as being a simple product of fruit. By its use many disastrous
results may be entirely prevented.
UT OF A LARGE NUMBER OF TESTIMONIALS WE SELECT
OUT the following :-
ENO'S FRUIT SALT.-" I feel a pleasure in stating that I have sold your FRUIT SALT for
nearly five years, and during that time it has had a very large sale. I have found, when once
introduced, it is constantly kept, and universally liked, on account of its unvarying effect in producing
and securing perfect health.-W. POLL, Chemist, 68, High- street, Dumfries, Jan. 26, 1878."
" ALL our Customers for ENO'S FRUIT SALT would not be without it upon any consideration-
they have received so much benefit from it. -WOODS BROTHERS, Chemists, Jersey, 1878 "
SEA SICKNESS. -A gentleman sends us this :-" I have great faith in your FRUIT SALT ;
it has done me a deal of good. The first time I tried it was last summer. 1 went to the Isle of Man;
we had a very rough passage ; it made me very bad ; I was not sick, but very ill that day and the next ;
until a friend of mine from Manchester, who was staying in the same house, gave me a dose of your
FRUIT SALT ; it put me all right almost directly. I have never been without it since. Wishing
you every success."
ACIDITY OF STOMACH, BILIOUSNESS, FEVERS.-" Though unasked by Mr. Eno, or anyone
nterested in the manufacture of FRUIT SALT, or rather the Crystallised Salts of various fruits,
nevertheless take great pleasure in saying that I have personally used this remedy and know it to
, not alone excellent but really invaluable. Especially must this be the case in the hot countries
of the East, where Acidity of the Stomach, Biliousness and Fevers are so common.- J. M.
PEBLES, M.D."
LSO GOUTY or RHEUMATIC POISONS from the BLOOD, the neglect
ofwhich often results in appolexy, heart disease, and sudden death.
USE
It is essential to the healthy action of the
ENO'S FRUIT SALT. It is essential On that account no bed-room or
travelling-trunk ought to be without it in readiness for any emergency.
S A HEALTH-GIVING, Refreshing, Cooling, and Invigorating
AS summer BEVERAGE, or for any season, as a Gentle Laxative and Tonic in the various forms
of indigestion. (Guaranteed to be prepared from sound Ripe Fruit.)
The Fruit Salt is one of Nature's own products. It contains all the valuable saline constituents
of Ripe Fruit in a portable, agreeable, and simple form, and is in every respect as harmless as the
juices of fruits from which it is obtained. In Pimples and Blotches on the Face, Sallowness of the Skin,
and Depression of Spirits, it is most useful , for not the least of its recommendations is its resemblance
to fruit inthe natural way in which it relieves the system of effete or poisonous matter, which, if
retained, poisons the blood, and its advantage over fruit is that it can be always at hand when
required. Its preparation has been truly styled one of the triumphs of modern chemistry. In hot
or foreign climates it is invaluable. It allays nervous excitement, and restores the nervous
system to its proper condition (by natural means) . In the nursery it is beyond praise.
ORTHY of NOTICE . -PALPITATION of the heart caused by Liver
Wo Derangement and Indigestion, frequently called (or mistaken for) HEART DISEASE : " On
the 14th of Apr 1 I purchased a bottle of your FRUIT SALT, not feeling very well at the time, and
it had an effect that I never anticipated when I bought it. I had suffered more or less since the
year 1841 from Palpitation of the Heart, but very badly during the last few years. The least thing
would produce it during the day, and at night my sleep was very much disturbed . Strange to say,
after the first dose of FRUIT SALT Palpitations suddenly ceased, and have not since returned. Out
of gratitude for the benefit which I have received I have recommended it to all my friends both in
London and Yarmouth ; at the same time, I feel it a duty to state the above facts, of which you can
make whatever use you please. I am, dear Sir, yours respectfully,
August 30, 1877. "W. B. BECKETT.
" 10, York-square, Commercial-road, London, E."
BY ALL CHEMISTS , Price 2s . 9d . and 4s. 6d .
SOLD
AUTION . —Examine each Bottle , and see the Capsule is marked
CAUENO'S FRUIT SALT.' Without it you have been imposed on by a worthless imitation.
 WORKS OF J. M. PEEBLES, M.D.
Travels around the World ;
OR, WHAT I SAW IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS, CHINA, INDIA,
ARABIA, EGYPT, AND PALESTINE.
This intensely interesting volume of over four hundred pages, fresh with the gleaning
something like two years' travel in Europe and Oriental Lands, is now ready for delivery.
As a work embodying personal experiences, descriptions of Asiatic countries, and obser-
vations relating to the manners, customs, laws, religions, and spiritual instincts of diffe:en
nations, this, in some respects, is the most important and stirring book that has appeared
from the author's pen. Price 10s. 6d.
Seers of the Ages.
SEVENTH EDITION. -This work, treating of ancient Seers and Sages ; of Spiritualism in
India, Egypt, China, Persia, Syria, Greece, and Rome ; of the modern manifestations, with
the doctrines of Spiritualists concerning God, Jesus, Inspiration, Faith, Judgment, Heaven,
Hell, Evil Spirits, Love, the Resurrection, and Immortality, has become a standard work
this and other countries. Price 2 dols. 32 cents ; or 5s.
The Conflict between Spiritualism and Darwinianism.
A fearless and vigorously written Pamphlet of about 40 pages, treating of the origin of
man: the early appearance of the foetus ; the unity of the human species : the Price line 20
of
demarcation between monkeys and men ; the immortality of insects, anals, &c.
cents or Is.
Christ the Corner-stone of Spiritualism.
This Pamphlet treats of the spiritual marvels of Jesus Christ, the philosophy of
salvation through Christ, the belief of Spiritualists, and the Church of the future. Price 6d.
Jesus-Myth, Man, or God ? (Reprinting.)
Did Jesus Christ exist? What are the proofs? Was he man, begotten like other men?
What Julian and Celsus said of him. The Moral Influence of Christianity and Heathenism
compared. These and other subjects are critically discussed. Price 50 cents, postage 4 cents ;
or 15. 6d., cloth 2s. 6d.
Buddhism and Christianity Face to Face ;
OR, THE GREAT CEYLON DISCUSSION BETWEEN THE BUDDHISTS
AND CHRISTIANS ;
With an introduction and comments by J. M. Peebles. Price is.
Spiritual Harp.
A fine collection of vocal music for the choir, congregation, and social circle ; is
especially adapted for use at Grove Meetings, Picnics, &c. By J. M. Peebles and
J. O. Barrett. E. H. Bailey, Musical Editor. Price 8s.
Spiritualism Defined and Defended.
Being an Introductory Lecture delivered in Temperance Hall, Melbourne, Australia.
Price 15 cents, postage 1 cent ; or 6d.
The Spiritual Teacher and Songster.
Designed for congregational singing, lyceums and circles ; as well as giving a general
definition of Spiritualism. Price 25 cents ; or Is.
Witch-Poison ;
OK, THE REV. DR. BALDWIN'S SERMON RELATING TO WITCHES,
HELL, AND THE DEVIL, REVIEWED.
This is one of the most severe and caustic things published against the orthodox system
of religion. Price 35 cents, postage 4 cents ; or 2s.
The Gadarene.
THE OBSESSIONAL INFLUENCES OF UNDEVELOPED AND EVIL
SPIRITS, AND HOW TO DISPOSSESS THEM.
By J. M. Peebles and J. O. Barrett. Price 1 dol. 25 cents ; or, 45. 6d.
The Conflict between Sectarists and Scientists ;
OR, THE MORAL INFLUENCES OF BUDDHISM, MOHAMMEDANISM, AND
CHRISTIANITY COMPARED.
Our Homes and our Employments in the Future World.
The Radical Doctrines of Spiritualists, Shakers and Quakers.
These last three works ready for the press.
These books are for sale bythe writer; or for sale wholesale and retail by the publishers,
COLBY & RICH, at No. 9, Montgomery Place, corner of Province Street (lower floor),
Boston, Mass., and JAMES BURNS, 15, Southampton Row, London.
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

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