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 SACRED BOOKS OF THE WORLD. 211 pels and epistles a peculiar literature, but that, as a body of rich and varied literature, these writings are surpassed by the scriptures of the Old Testament. Rev. Z. Ashitsu, in an eleventh-day paper on Buddha, said that after Buddha's departure from this world, two disciples collected the dictations of his teaching. The Buddha's book, which thus appeared, was entitled, " The Three Stores of Hinayana," which means three different classes of doctrine, Kyo, or Principle, Ritsu, or Law, and Ron, or Argument. Kyo (Sanscrit, Sutra) means permanent, and designates the principle which is the origin of the law of the Buddhist. Ritsu (Sanscrit, Vini), means a law or commandment, and designates the commandments founded by Buddha to stop human evils. Ron (Sanscrit, Abidarma) means argument or discussion, and designates the arguments or discussions written by his disciples or followers. The essay on the Zoroastrian or Parsee religion, written for the Parliament by E. S. D. Bharucha, of Bombay, gave an accurate, authoritative account of the Zoroastrian Holy Scriptures now extant. They are called the Avesta, or Text — commonly the Zend-Avesta, Zend meaning commentary. The language in which they were written is very nearly akin to the Vedic Sanskrit. The work seems to be a col- lection of writings composed by several hands at different times, in more than one dialect of the language, and to have been arranged in their present form in later times, chiefly for liturgical purposes. Two distinct groups of writ- ings are clearly discernible, (i) a group of *'Gathas," songs or psalms, composed by Zoroaster himself, and embodying his sayings, teachings, notes of sermons or of experiences ; and (2) all the rest of the collection. The theory long held was that all parts of the Avesta were from Heaven through the Prophet, or were at least all alike composed by him. Research has made clear that the five Gathas only are genuine compo- sitions of Zoroaster, and that all the rest are compositions of other high priests in more or less later times after the death of the Prophet. As it has come to us the Avesta is divided