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BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.
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of the Pitaka as have been translated are, however, essentially the same as the Sanskrit Sútras, whilst the Atthakathas, or the commentaries, take a more discursive range, and are of a less authentic character; being in fact the compositions of Buddhaghosa, taken, as he himself states, not translated, from the Singhalese Afthakatha, which are no longer extant. How much therefore is his own, cannot be now determinated.
Of the three classes of works constituting the Tripitaka, that of the Sútras is historically the most important. A Sútra is properly a brief aphorism or precept, conveying a position or dogma in a few concise, and not unfrequently obscure, terms. The Buddhist Sútras are not exactly of this nature. They are supposed to be the ipsissima verba of Śákya himself, the Buddha-vachana, repeated by Ánanda as he had heard them; and they all begin, whether in Sanskrit or in Páli, with the expression: "This has been heard by me.-Etan-mayá śrutam, Evam mayá suttam." They are in the form of a dialogue, in which the disciple asks questions and Śákya explains; illustrating his explanation by parables and legendary tales of various extent. M. Burnouf has shewn, however, that the Sútras are of two different descriptions. In one class, no doubt the oldest, the style is much more simple, and is wholly prose; and the legends are less extravagant. They are called by M. Burnouf the simple Sútras. In the other, which the Buddhists themselves term Vaipulya Sútras, "expanded or developed Sútras", the style is more diffuse, and is
