The Great Object Is The Attainment, In This Life, Of Complete Abstraction From All Worldly Affairs And Passions, And The Ultimate Result, Of Entire Annihilation.

Like the Hindoo, the Buddhist believes in transmigration of souls, and until utter annihilation is reached, he is doomed to shift his earthly tenement, from form to form, according to the deeds done in the flesh.

It is, therefore, the great object of all beings, who would be released from the sorrows of successive birth, to seek the destruction of the moral cause of continued existence, that is, the cleaving to existing objects or evil desire. It is only possible to accomplish this end by attending to a prescribed course of discipline, and by fixing the mind upon the perfections of Buddha. Those who after successive births have entirely destroyed all evil desires are called "Rahuts," and after death the Rahut attains "Nirwana," or ceases to exist. The actual meaning of the word "Rahut," is "Tranquillity," and it appears to be the same word which is used on a small scale, to express the soothing qualities of that far-famed Eastern sweetmeat, the Rahut-lukma, or "Morsels of tranquillity."

The Buddhas themselves are beings who appear after intervals of time inconceivably vast. Previous to their reception of the state, they pass through countless phases of being, at, one time appearing in human form, at another as a frog, or fish, &c., in each of which states they acquire a greater degree of merit.

In the birth in which they become Buddha, they are always of woman born, and pass through infancy and youth like ordinary mortals, until at the prescribed age they abandon the world and retire to the wilderness, where they receive the supernatural powers with which the office is endowed. Their highest glory is that they receive the wisdom by which they can direct sentient beings to the path that leads to the desired cessation of existence.

The Buddhism of Thibet appears to be an innovation on the original system of religion. It was introduced into the country about the seventh century of our era; and although Sakya mounee, who is supposed by the Thibetians to have lived one thousand years before Christ, is still believed to be the founder of the present system, the Delai Lama, at Lassa, is regarded as an incarnation of Buddha, and is the supreme infallible head of the whole Thibetian religious community.

The original tenets, too, have been modified, and the modern Scriptures have been adapted to three different capacities of mankind - viz. the lowest, mean (or middle), and the highest. The principles thus declared are as follows : -

"1. Men of vulgar capacity must believe that there is a God, a future life, and that they shall therein reap the fruits of their works in this life.

"2. Those that are in a middle degree of intellectual and moral capacity, besides admitting the former position, must know that every compound thing is perishable, that there is no reality in things, that every imperfection is pain, and that deliverance from pain or bodily existence is final happiness.

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