[47] Buddhists lay the greatest stress on the belief in the three precious things. It is the foundation on which rests the whole spiritual edifice. But it is somewhat extraordinary to see that the superstition of believing in lucky and unlucky days, in good and bad luck, is openly condemned, and entails upon him who is addicted to it the severest penalty. Though such childish belief is so exceedingly common in Burmah that it influences man in his daily and hourly affairs, yet we must admit that it is opposed to the tenets of strict Buddhism. There can never be any good or bad luck in the opinion of him who has faith in the influence of merits and demerits. There is no other agent in this world but that one; it is it alone that brings in and regulates all the accidents which attend the life of man. Such is indeed the theory of the true Buddhist. But how widely differs the practice from the theory? He who has lived for some time in a Buddhist country, and made himself acquainted with the intimate habits of the people, will soon discover that superstitious ideas, and, as a necessary consequence, superstitious practices, are the spring and prime mover of all actions from morning to night. In this respect, Buddhist monks differ not from the laity; nay, they are often seen as the leaders of the people in the performance of rites at variance with the tenets of their creed. [48] This is a consequence of the axiom established by our author, viz., that the principle of mutability pervades all the beings which reside in the thirty-one seats allotted to them. It cannot be supposed for a moment, according to Buddhists, that a being, whatever may be the amount of his merits and demerits, can ever be placed without the pale of the influence of his good or bad deeds. It accompanies him in all positions, and causes the vicissitudes that attend his existence. It works upon him in hell, as well as on earth, and in the seats of Nats and Brahmas. Fixity is to be found nowhere except in going out of the circle of existences, that is to say, in Neibban. When we speak of existence in a Buddhistic sense, we mean _a state of being_ in any conceivable form or situation or place. Fixity in the enjoyment of reward or in the undergoing of punishment is a contradiction with the first principle of Buddhism. The awarder of reward or punishment is the above-named influence, which proceeds from the actions performed, and in its turn allots good or evil in exact proportion with the cause that has created it.