^119:1 This work has been recently reprinted, in the collection entitled Sheu-shan-ko-ts'ung-shu, at Sung-kiang, near Shanghai.

^120:1 Vide Professor Wilson's letter published by the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, at Hongkong.

The changes in orthography adopted by Hiuen-tsang, may be made use of to show, that it was from Sanscrit and not Pali originals, that the Chinese Buddhist hooks were translated. He spells tope or "pagoda," su-t'u-pa. In Pali the word is t'upa, and in Sanscrit st'upa. Before Hiuen-tsang's time, the initial s was not expressed, probably for brevity, or through the influence of a local Indian dialect. Other examples might also be adduced. There is another use that may be made of these orthographical changes. As compared with preceding transcriptions, they are an index to the alterations that were taking place in the Chinese language itself. For convenience the age of Buddhist translations may be divided into three periods: (1.) A.D. 66, when Buddhism entered China, and the "Sutra of Forty-two Sections" was translated; (2.) A.D. 405, the age of Kumarajiva; (3.) A. D. 646, the age of Hiuen-tsang. The Sanscrit syllable man had been written with the character for "literature," wen. Hiuen-tsang adopted a character now as then heard, man. He changed the name of the Ganges from Heng, "Constant," to Ch'ing-ch'ia (Gang-ga). Comparison with existing dialects shows, that the Sanscrit pronunciation may be assigned without hesitation to the characters chosen, as nearly the sound that then belonged to them in Northern China, and one example is an index to a multitude of other words, passing through the same change at the same time. The three periods here given will help to supply the chronology of these changes, extending through almost all the sounds in the language. Thus, with other aid, the age of the Mandarin language may be fixed with comparative certainty.

^123:1 A translation of a work by the same author, on the prophetic character of dreams, is also alluded to.

^124:1 Shanghai Almanac for 5853--"Jottings on the Science of the Chinese."

^125:1 Chief representative of the Tantra school in China, and author of the festival for hungry ghosts. He is also called Amogha Vajra, and his school is that called the Yogachara.(Eitel.)

^127:1 Liang Wu-ti was eighty-six years of age when he died. His adopted son, whom he had appointed to succeed him, withheld the supplies of food that the aged emperor needed, and he died in consequence.

^127:2 Watters, in Chinese Recorder, 1869, July, p. 40. The proverb T'ang Fo, "Buddha of the T'ang," means to be as devoted to Buddhism as was the T'ang dynasty.