________________
INTRODUCTION.
295
used in English in a spiritual sense, it is necessary to choose some other figure; and it is not easy to find one that is appropriate. "Sin' would be very misleading, the Christian idea of sin being inconsistent with Buddhist ethics. A fault' in the geological use of the word comes somewhat nearer. 'Imperfection is too long, and for 'stain' the Pali has a different word. In the Book of the Great Decease I have chosen 'evil;' here I leave the word untranslated.
i Rago. See the verses translated in
Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 164.
Digitized by Google
