Life and works of Alexander Csoma de Körös : $b A biography compiled chiefly from hitherto unpublished dataDuka, Tivadar
History
Life and works of Alexander Csoma de Körös : $b A biography compiled chiefly from hitherto unpublished data
Duka, Tivadar
Kőrösi Csoma, Sándor, 1784-1842
7. “The Lama proceeded afterwards on the Second Person of the
Trinity, which is called the ‘Chief of Morality,’ and gave me
thirty names of the moral doctrine, upon which there are many
treatises in the sacred volumes.
8. “The Third Person of the Trinity is called ‘the Chief Collector
or Promoter of Virtue’ (the Holy Ghost, agreeably to our faith);
such promoters of virtue are all the teachers of moral doctrine or
religion. Among these the most perfect are styled in Tibetan
‘Byang-chhub Sems-d’pah’; in Sanskrit, Bodhisatva, a saint. They
are represented to be of ten different degrees of perfection; to be
immortal; free from passive metempsychosis; and to possess great
powers or faculties of mind for the promotion of universal
happiness in the world. There are many appellative or common names,
as also proper or peculiar ones, to express such imagined or
supposed beings, which all have the signification of excellent
qualities or virtues. There is also a list of other saints of
inferior abilities.
9. “After these follows a full register of all the gods, goddesses,
and their families, heroes, good and bad spirits in the upper and
lower regions, with names of their habitations, of their offices,
&c. There are many appellative names for the expression of a god or
angel; also many attributes or names of every peculiar divinity in
their mythology. The Brahma of the Indians (Uranos, Cœlum of the
Greeks and Romans) in the Tibetan has more than twenty names.
Vishnoo (Chronos, Saturn), twenty-five, among which is Narayana,
the most beloved son; Titan, his brother, has ten. For Iswar or
Iswara (Zeus, Jupiter), thirty; and so on for Indra and the other
imagined guardians of the ten corners of the world. For the Rirap
(Sumeru, Olympus) and the whole system of the ancient mythology
there are hundreds of names; also for the phenomena or meteors in
the atmosphere; among the planets, the sun has more than one
hundred and twenty names or attributes; and so on; the others also
have many appellations, which in poetical works and astronomy are
often introduced. There is also an exact description of the twelve
zodiacal signs, of twenty-eight constellations, and of everything
belonging to astronomy. Further—
10. “He has given a complete account of the human body, specifying
every member, articulation, fluid substances and distempers
thereof, so fully as it is required for an intelligent physician to
know the structure of our body. There is a full enumeration of all
the good qualities, as also of all the defects and diseases.
Afterwards follow the faculties or powers of our mind, with their
opposite defects; then are classified the virtues and vices. There
is also a very copious enumeration of everything relating to our
dresses, furniture, victuals, family, parentage, &c., &c.
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