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                               TRUeBNER'S
                            ORIENTAL SERIES.


                           THE LIFE OR LEGEND
                                   OF

                                 GAUDAMA
                       _THE BUDDHA OF THE BURMES_

                            With Annotations.

                 THE WAYS TO NEIBBAN, AND NOTICE ON THE
                       PHONGYIES OR BURMESE MONKS.


                                 BY THE
                       RIGHT REVEREND P. BIGANDET,
                           BISHOP OF RAMATHA,
                     VICAR APOSTOLIC OF AVA AND PEGU


                            _IN TWO VOLUMES._


                                 VOL. I.

                             Fourth Edition.


                                 LONDON:
                KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUeBNER & CO. LTD.
                    DRYDEN HOUSE, GERRARD STREET, W.
                                  1911.



      _The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._


                   Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
                   At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh




ADVERTISEMENT TO THIRD EDITION.


The origin of the present work dates back to the years 1852, 1853, 1854,
and 1855, when portions of it appeared in the "Journal of the Indian
Archipelago and Eastern Asia," edited by J. R. Logan of Penang (vols.
vi., vii., viii., and ix.). The first complete edition was printed at
Rangoon in Burmah in 1858, and a second, much enlarged, at the same
place in 1866.

Very few copies of either of these editions reached Europe, and both are
entirely out of print. The present third edition--a faithful reprint of
the second--issued, with Bishop Bigandet's sanction, for the benefit of
European and American scholars and readers, will, therefore, it is
hoped, be gladly received.

Buddhism and Gautama, the faith and its founder, whose followers are
between four and five hundred millions of the human race, were
comparatively unknown in Europe but a generation ago, and yet this great
faith had continued for four and twenty centuries to spread over the
vast lands of the East, taking deep and enduring root in all, from
Bhotan, Nepaul, and Ceylon, over Further India to China Proper,
Mongolia, Mantchooria, Tibet, and Japan.

Buddhism, as it is found in Burmah, has a particular claim to the
attention of a diligent and attentive observer. We there have that
religious creed or system as pure from adulteration as it can be after a
lapse of so many centuries. Philosophy never flourished in Burmah, and,
therefore, never modified the religious systems of the country. Hinduism
never exercised any influence on the banks of the Irrawaddy. Chinese and
Burmese have often met on battlefields, but the influence of the Middle
Kingdom has never established itself in Burmah. In other words, Chinese
Buddhism has never been able to penetrate into the customs and manners
of the people, and has not attempted to communicate its own religion to
its southern neighbours. It would seem that the true form of Buddhism is
to be found in Burmah, and that a knowledge of that system can only be
arrived at by the study of the religious books of Burmah, and by
attentively observing the religious practices and ceremonies of the
people. This is what Bishop Bigandet has endeavoured to do throughout
his work.

Mr. Alabaster, the author of a very popular work on Siamese Buddhism,
testifies to the great value of the Bishop's work, which, he remarks, is
in one sense complete, for whereas the Siamese manuscript concludes with
the attainment of omniscience, the Bishop had materials which enabled
him to continue the story to the death of Nirwana (Neibban in the
Burmese Pali form). He might have added that the work modestly entitled
"Life of Gaudama" is a complete exposition of the great system of
Eastern Asia. The metaphysical part, which is the very essence of the
system, has received a due consideration, and the body of religious has
been fully described. Moreover, the foot-notes help the ordinary reader
in understanding clearly the text of the Legend.

Professor Albrecht Weber speaks also of the Bishop's work in terms of
high commendation (see "Literarisches Centralblatt," 1870, No. 29,
reprinted in "Indische Streifen," vol. iii.), whilst a still further
testimony is accorded to its importance in the recent appearance of a
French translation by Lieutenant Victor Gauvain.

  LONDON, _December_ 1879.




PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.


Whether Buddhism be viewed in its extent and diffusion, or in the
complex nature of its doctrines, it claims the serious attention of
every inquiring mind.

In our own days it is, under different forms, the creed prevailing in
Nepaul, Thibet, Mongolia, Corea, China, the Japanese Archipelago, Anam,
Cambodia, Siam, the Shan States, Burmah, Arracan, and Ceylon. Its sway
extends over nearly one-fourth of the human race.

Though based upon capital and revolting errors, Buddhism teaches a
surprising number of the finest precepts and purest moral truths. From
the abyss of its almost unfathomable darkness it sends forth rays of the
brightest hue.

To the reflecting mind, the study of this religious system becomes the
study of the history of one of the greatest religious enterprises that
has ever been undertaken to elevate our nature above its low level, by
uprooting the passions of the heart and dispelling the errors of the
mind. A serious observer sees at a glance the dark and humiliating
picture of the sad and barren results of the greatest and mightiest
efforts of human wisdom, in its endeavours to find out the real cause of
all human miseries, and to provide the remedies to