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There is no life of Gótama Buddha, by any native author, yet discovered, that is free from the extravagant pretensions with which his history has been so largely invested; from which we may infer that the records now in existence were all prepared long after his appearance in this world. The Chinese work, of which the following is a translation, was written about the middle of the seventh century after Christ. We learn from “The History of the Sung Dynasty” that there was constant intercourse between China and Ceylon at this time, as well as in much earlier periods. The pilgrims from China were accustomed to take from the island relics, extracts from the sacred books, and models of the most celebrated images of Buddha. We are, therefore, prepared to discover a similarity between the mythical records of India and China, but could scarcely have expected that it would be so complete as is now proved by recent researches. The popular worship of the Queen of Heaven is one of the most striking innovations. Neither in the legends, nor hi the philosophical disquisitions of the Chinese, are there evidences of much originality, so far as their translated works on Buddhism enable us to judge. They seem here to be the same unimaginative copyists that they are in works of art and manufacture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]