With a somewhat different object in view, the Burmese work has been translated into a European language. The translation has been accompanied with notes intended to explain the text, which would otherwise prove, in many parts, almost unintelligible to the generality of readers. The principles of Buddhism, such as they are held and professed by Buddhists in general, but in particular by those inhabiting Burmah, have received a certain degree of attention, and have been examined as carefully as possible from a Buddhistic point of view. That great religious system has been considered, as it is in itself, without any regard to its intrinsic merits or demerits. The notes are not designed to be an apology or a confutation of Buddhism, but an exposition of its doctrines, such as they are found in the best writings and believed by its votaries. When certain tenets or practices were to be accounted for, recourse has always been had to the general principles of Buddhism and to the notions certainly prevailing at various periods in Buddhist countries. It is needless to add that the notes, having been hurriedly written in the midst of almost uninterrupted and time-absorbing occupations, are destitute of pretension either to deep research or scientific merit. In former years, the writer bestowed a certain amount of time and efforts on the study of Buddhism in Burmah, where it has been for centuries the only religious creed. A portion of the knowledge thus acquired has been embodied in the foregoing notes, with the intention of compressing within a narrow compass the elementary principles and general notions of Buddhism, affording thereby to the readers, who cannot have access to the voluminous writings of the French and German Orientalist _savans_, on the great religious system of Eastern Asia, comparatively easy means to obtain some information on a religion, which, false as it is, deserves to be known and understood, since in point of antiquity it is second to none except to Brahminism, and as regards diffusion extends its sway over probably one-fifth of the human race. [45] The distinction alluded to by our author is a most important one. What does he mean when he states that all things in this world obey the principle of mutability, and are liable to perpetual changes and modifications, and that they have a cause? One would be tempted to believe that the Buddhists admit of a first cause. But such is not the case. To understand such a language coming from a Buddhist’s mouth, we must bear in mind the theory of the twelve Nidanas, or causes and effects. Each of the Nidanas is an effect relatively to the preceding one, and a cause to the following one. All existing beings are, relatively to each other, effects and causes. All undergo the irresistible influence of mutability and change. The beings that reside in the seats of Brahma are not beyond the reach of that influence, not even those who dwell in the four immaterial seats.