living being, succeed each other at each generation, but in such a way that the second generation partakes or retains nothing of the _khandas_ of the first. But the causes producing them—such as Kan and Wibek—never change; they ever remain the same. Let us suppose lamps lighted up. If they burn always, it is owing to the action of individuals that supply them with oil, and light them as soon as they are extinguished. Such is the condition of the _khandas_. Those which belong to one existence have no more in common with those of the following one than the fire of the lamp just lighted anew has with that of the fire of the lamp that has just died away. As to the way beings are reproduced, we say that when a man is dying, the last _tseit_ having appeared and soon disappeared, it is succeeded forthwith by the _patti_ tseit or the tseit of the new existence; the interval between both is so short that it can scarcely be appreciated. This first _tseit_ has nothing in common with the last one. It is, let it be well remembered, the production of _kan_, or of the influence of merits and demerits, as well as the _khandas_ above alluded to.” This article is by far the most important of all. The latter part, in particular, elucidates in a distinct manner the genuine opinions of Buddhism on points of the greatest concern. We may sum up the whole as follows:— 1. There is a first cause that has acted in bringing into being all that exists; but that first cause is unknown, nor can we ever come to the knowledge of it. 2. The immediate causes of all the modifications of beings, or states of being, are ignorance and _kan_. 3. All beings are but compounds of the four elements. The intellectual operations are carried on by the instrumentality of the heart, in the same manner as vision is obtained by the means of the eye and of an object to act upon. 4. Each succeeding existence is brought on and modified by the action of Kan, or the influence of merits and demerits. 5. The component parts of a new being are in no way connected with those of the previous being. This is the key to the difficulty many persons find in accounting, in a Buddhistic sense, for the process of metempsychosis. A new term ought to be coined to express that doctrine. 6. The question respecting Neibban may be theoretically resolved without difficulty, by application of the principles contained in this and the preceding article. There is no doubt that the solution forced upon the mind from what has been above stated is that the end of the perfected being is annihilation. Horrifying as this conclusion is, it is not, after all, worse than that which is the terminus of the theories of some modern schools. What an abyss is the poor human mind liable to fall into when it ceases to be guided by Revelation! ARTICLE V. OF THE TRUE MEGGAS OR WAYS TO PERFECTION.