on has yet been found mentioning the four truths, the chain of
causation and other familiar formulae. Doubtless Asoka duly studied these
questions, but it was not theology nor metaphysics which drew him
towards religion. In the gallery of pious Emperors--a collection of
dubious moral and intellectual value--he stands isolated as perhaps the
one man whose only passion was for a sane, kindly and humane life,
neither too curious of great mysteries nor preoccupied with his own soul
but simply the friend of man and beast.

For the history of doctrine the inscription at Rummindei is particularly
important. It merely states that the King did honour or reverence to the
birthplace of the Buddha, who receives no titles except Sakyamuni and
Bhagavan here or elsewhere in the inscriptions. It is a simple record of
respect paid to a great human teacher who is not in any way deified nor
does Asoka's language show any trace of the doctrines afterwards known
under the name of Mahayana. He does not mention nirvana or even
transmigration, though doubtless what he says about paradise and rewards
hereafter should be read in the light of Indian doctrines about karma
and samsara.

CHAPTER XIII

THE CANON

1

There are extant in several languages large collections of Buddhist
scriptures described by some European writers as the Canon. The name is
convenient and not incorrect, but the various canons are not altogether
similar and the standard for the inclusion or exclusion of particular
works is not always clear. We know something of four or five canons.

(1) The Pali Canon, accepted by the Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma and Siam,
and rendered accessible to European students by the Pali Text Society.
It professes to contain the works recognized as canonical by the Council
of Asoka and it is reasonably homogeneous, that is to say, although some
ingenuity may be needed to harmonize the different strata of which it
consists, it does not include works composed by several schools.

(2) The Sanskrit Canon or Canons.

_(a)_ Nepalese scriptures. These do not correspond with any Pali texts
and all belong to the Mahayana. There appears to be no standard for
fixing the canonical character of Mahayanist works. Like the Upanishads
they are held to be revealed from time to time.

_(b)_ Buddhist texts discovered in Central Asia. Hitherto these have
been merely fragments, but the number of manuscripts found and not yet
published permits the hope