characters it is clear, that at that time the modern Fo was But; O-lo-han was A-la-han; ch'an, "contemplation," was dian or dan; Nie-p'an, "Nirvana," was Nit-ban or Nir-ban; Kia-she, the name of "Kashiapa" Buddha, was Ka-shap or Ka-shiap; P'u-t'i, the word Bodhi, "knowledge," was Bo-di. Sha-men, the "Shramana," was Sha-men, having about the same sound as now. Pi-k'ieu or Pi-ch'ieu, the "Bikshu," was Bi-k'u. Ch'iau-ch'en-ju, for "Godinia," was Go-din-nia. O-na-han, a certain grade in discipleship, was A-na-gam, agreeing with the Sanscrit "Anagama." Pi-chi, for the Sanscrit "Pratyeka," was P'ak-tie, the Pali being Patiekan. So it was probably not Pali that Kashiapmadanga spoke, though he was a native of Central India. Su-t'o-hwan, for "Srotapanna," another grade of discipleship, was So-da-ban or Su-da-wan. The last of these is the more likely, for the character is the same as that used in writing "Nirvana." The Pali is Sotapan; so that the translator did not speak Pali.

The greatest initiator of change in the choice of characters was Hiuen-tsang, about A.D. 645. He altered the characters according to his opinion of what the selected symbols ought to be. His selection of characters is a gauge of the pronunciation of his time. His translations, however, have not become popular. The older usage of words has kept its place.

The language in which the Buddhist sacred writings were first compiled may have been Pali; but that from which they were translated into Chinese was Sanscrit. The Pali books were a separate set of originals. The Sanscrit originals alone are known to the Chinese. The manuscripts, the inscriptions, the charms cut on copper mirrors, the lucky sentences under eaves and over doors in monasteries, are in Sanscrit; and in polyglot books printed at Peking, Sanscrit is the language employed.

Koeppen, page 186, in saying that the Chinese also have a number of Pali texts, has been misled by Gutzlaff.

[paragraph continues] This missionary had lived in Siam, where Pali is the sacred language, and was there accustomed to the idea that Pali was the original language of Buddhism. This view he brought with him to China, and when he saw Sanscrit inscriptions in the island of P'u-to, he took them to be Pali. From him the opinion spread, but it is an error. The Buddhists of Birmah, Siam, and Ceylon have never spread their religion in China or Japan, or introduced their sacred books into those countries.