The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism

INERODUCTORY.

IBET, the mystic fi Land of the Grand

Lima, jomt God and King of many millions, is still the most impenetrable country in the world. Behind its icy barriers, reared round it by Nature herself, and almost unsurmountable, its priests guard its passes jealously against foreigners. Few Europeans have ever

entered Tibet; and none for half a century have reached the B

Betow Tang-KaAr Pass,

2 INTRODUCTORY.

sacred city. Of the travellers of later times who have dared to enter this dark land, after sealing its frontiers and piercing

View inro SW. Tiner (from Tang-kar La Pass, 16,600 ft.).

its passes, and thrusting themselves into its snow-swept deserts, even the most intrepid have failed to penetrate farther than the outskirts of its central province.) And the information, thus perilously gained, has, with the exception of Mr. Rockhill’s, been

l'The few Buropeans who have penetrated Central Tibet lave mostly been Roman Inissionaries, ‘The first Huropean to reach Lhasa seems te have been Friar Oderic, of Pordenne, about 1330 ap. on his return from Cathay (Col, Yunr’s Cathe and the Roul Thither, i. VAG, wd C. Marninu’s 2b, Alvi. ‘Phe eapital city of Tibet referred to by him with its thas or Pope is believed to have been Lhasa. In 1601 the Jesuits Albert Dorville and Johann Graher visited Lhasa on their way from China to Tndia, In 1700 the Capuchine fathers Josepha de Asculi and Praneiseo Marie de Toun pene: trated te Lhdsa from Benegal In lie the Jesuit Desidert reached it from WKaslimir ane Ladak. Indy tla Capuchine iissien ander Horacio de la Penna alse succeeded in ertting there, amd the Lirge ameunt of information collected by them supplied Father AL Giergi with the muterial bor his M/pdadetene Pihetaiam, published at Rome in 1762, The triendly reception accorded Chis party created hopes of Lhasa becoming a contre for Rotaan Missionaries > and a Veen apostolins for Lhasa is still nominated and Appears tthe doer lo portidero” Though of course he cannet reside within Tibet, Tn sd) Dhaest was reached by Vicnning. a triend ef Charles Lamb,and the only Englishret Whe seers ewer te dave get there: for most autherties are agreed that) Menor. erett, despite the story told te Mo Thae, newer reached at, Tait Manning unfortunately lett only a whitmsiea! diary, searecdy even deseriptive of his fascinating adventures. The subsequent, and the last, Buropeans te reach Lhasa were the Lagerist miissionaries, Hue amd Gabet, in TS. Thies entertaining aweeeunt of dis journey is well known. be was seen expelled, and sinee then China las aided Tibet in oppesing fortign imgress ly strengthening its political and military barriers, as recent explorers Prejivalsky, Rewhhill, Benwalet, Bewer, Miss Taylor ete. have found te their cost > theogh some wre sumiuie that the Sthlinm Trade Convention of this year eT St is probably the thin edge et the wedge to open up the countey, and that ate distant date ‘Tibet will te prevailed on te relax its jeahous exclusiveness, se that, “ere 1000, even Cook's tourists mas visit the Linnwist Vietiewn,

LAND OF THE SUPERNATURAL, 3

almost entirely geographical, leaving the customs of this forbidden land still a field for fiction and romance.

Thus we are told that, amidst the solitudes of this ‘* Land of the

• Supernatural” repose the spirits of “ The Masters,” the Mahdtmas,

CAPTAIN OF GUARD OF Dono-xyaA Pass. (S.-Western Tibet.)

whose astral bodies slumber in unbroken peace, save when they condescend to work some petty miracle in the world below. In presenting here the actualities of the cults and customs of

Tibet ; and lifting higher than before the veil which still hides its Bee

4 INTRODUCTORY.

mysteries from European eyes, the subject may be viewed under the following sections :—

a. Historical. ‘The changes in primitive Buddhism leading to Laimaism, and the origins of Limaism and its sects.

bh. DocrrinaL. The metaphysical sources of the doctrine. The doctrine and its morality and literature.

ce. Monastic. The Limaist order. Its curriculum, daily life, dress, ete., discipline, hierarchy and inearnate-deities and reembodied saints.

d, Burtpinas. Monasteries, temples, monuments, and shrines.

e. Pantugon AND MyTHOLOGY, including saints, images, fetishes, and other sacred objects and symbols,

f. RipuaL AND SORCERY, comprising sacerdotal services for the laity, astrology, oracles and divination, charms and necromancy.

y. FESTIVALS AND SACRED PLays, with the mystic plays and masquerades.

h. Porvubak AND Domestic LAMAISM in every-day life, customs, and folk-lore.

Such an exposition will afford us a fairly full and complete survey of one of the most active, and least known, forms of existing Buddhism ; and will present incidentally numerous other topics of wide and varied human interest.

For Lamaism is, indeed, a microcosm of the growth of religion wid myth among primitive people; and in large degree an object - lesson of their advance from barbarism towards civilization, And i} preserves for us much of the old-world lore and petrified beliefs of our Aryan aucestors.

indo]

rT,

CHANGES IN PRIMITIVE BUDDHISM LEADING TO

LAMAISM.

** Ah! Constantine, of how mueh ill was cause, Not thy conversion, bat those rich domains That the first wealthy Pope received of thee,” 2

of primitive Buddhism, and glance at its growth, to see the points at which the strange creeds and cults crept in, and the gradual crystallization of these into a religion differing widely from the parent system, and opposed in so many ways to the teaching of Buddha.

No one now doubts the historic character of Siddharta Gautama, or Sikya Muni, the founder of Buddhism ; though it is clear the canonical accounts regarding him are overlaid with legend, the fabulous addition of after days.2_ Divested of its embellishment, the simple narrative of the Buddha’s life is strikingly noble and human.

Some time before the epoch of Alexander the Great, between the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ, Prince

“We LN SAkya Mvun1,

Siddharta appeared in India as an original thinker and teacher, deeply conscious of the degrading thraldom of caste and the

1 DANTE, Paradiso, Xx. (Milton’s trans.)

2 See Chapter v. for details of the gradual growth of the legends.

• See Chronological Table, Appendix i.

6 CHANGES IN PRIMITIVE BUDDHISM.

priestly tyranny of the Brilimans,! and profoundly impressed with the pathos and struggle of Life, and earnest in the search of some method of escaping from existence which was clearly involved with sorrow.

His touching renunciation of his high estate,? of his beloved wife, and child, and home, to become an ascetic, in order to master the secrets of deliverance from sorrow; his unsatisfying search for truth amongst the teachers of his time; his subsequent austerities and severe penance, a much-vaunted means of gaining spiritual insight; his retirement into solitude and self-communion 3 his last struggle and final trinmph-—latterly represented as a real material combat, the so-called © Temptation of Buddha” :—

TEMPIATION Of SAKYA Mtn (froma sixth contury Ajanta treseo, alter Raj. Mitra).

“Infernal ehosts and hellish furies round Environ d thee ; sone howl d, Sonne yell’d, some shriek‘, Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou Satst unappalld in ealm and sinless peaee ” ; 7

PT treatises on Vedie ritual, called the Brabois. had existed for abent three Centiries previews te Buddha's cpech, wecording te Max Muller's Chronology ehhert Levteres, SOV, pp DS the initia) dates there given ar Rig Veda, tenth eentury me, Brabmanes, eighth century neo: Sitra sixth, and Bucddhisne fitth Century Be,

• The researches of Vasiliev, etc., render it probable that Siddharta’s father was only a petty Jord er chiet cet, alse Onopsimiw’s Jif, Appendix +, ard thet swkya's pessimistic view of Jife may lnve been forced upen him hy the less of his territories throweh conquest by a neighbouring hing,

• MILTON S Pirpndie Despre, Wook iv

BUDDHA'S LIFE AND DEATH. ri

his reappearance, confident that he had discovered the secrets of deliverance; his carrying the good tidings of the truth from town to town ; his effective protest against the cruel sacrifices of the Brahmans, and his relief of much of the suffering inflicted upon helpless animals and often human beings, in the name of religion ; his death, full of years and honours, and the subsequent

Wa aay:

Buppua’s Deatru (from a Tibetan picture, after Griinwedel),

burial of his relics,—all these episodes in Buddha’s life are familiar to English readers in the pages of Sir Edwin Arnold’s Light of Asia, and other works.

His system, which arose as a revolt against the one-sided development of contemporary religion and ethics, the caste-debase- ment of man and the materializing of God, took the form, as we shall see, of an agnostic idealism, which threw away ritual and sacerdotalism altogether.

Its tolerant creed of universal henevolence, quickened by the bright example of a pure and noble life, appealed to the feelings

8 CHANGES IN PRIMITIVE BUDDHISM. of the people with irresistible force and directness, and soon gained for the new religion many converts in the Ganges Valley.

And it gradually gathered a brotherhood of monks, which after Buddha’s death became subject to a succession of “ Patriarchs,”' who, however, possessed little or no centralized hierarchal power, nor, had at least the earlier of them, any fixed abode.

About 250 B.c. it was vigorously propagated by the great Emperor Asoka, the Constantine of Buddhism, who, adopting it ax his State-religion, zealously spread it throughout his own vast empire, and sent many missionaries into the adjoining lands to diffuse the faith. Thus was it transported to Burma,? Siam, Geylon, and other islands on the south, to Nepal? and the countries to the north of India, Kashmir, Bactria, Afghanistan, ete.

In 61 a.b. it spread to China,* and through China, to Corea, and,

i ‘The greatest of all Buddha's disciples, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana, who frem their prominence in the system seem to have contributed materially to its success, having died before their master, the first of the patriarchs was the senior surviving disciple, Mahakasyapa. As several of these Patriarchs are intimately associated with the Lamaist developments, T subjoin a list of their names, taken from the Tibetan canon and Taranatha’s history, supplemented by some dates from modern sources, After Nagarjuna, the thirteenth (or according to some the fourteenth) patriarch, the succession is uncertain.

List oF THE PATRIARCHS.

1. Mahakisyapa, Buddha's — senior 12. Masipala (Kapimala).

disciple. 13. Nagarjuna, core 150 ap. 2. Ananda, Buddha’s cousin and 14. Deva or Kanadeva, favourite attendant. 15. Rahulata (?). 3. Sandivesu. | 16, Sanghanandi. 4. Upagupta, the spiritua) adviser 17. Sankhayaseta (7) of Asoka, 250 B.c. 18. Kumarada. 4. Dhritaka. 19. Jayata. 6. Micchaka or Bibhakala. 20. Vasubandliu, evrea 400 A.D, 7. Buddhananda. 21. Manura. 8. Buddhamitra (=? Vasumitra, re- 22. Haklenayasas. ferred to as president of Ivan- 23. Sinhalaputra, Ishka's Couneil, 24. Vasasuta, 9, Piirsva, contemporary of Kanishka, 25. Punyamitra, eered TS AD. 26, Prajnatara. 10, Sunasata oc? or Punyayasas), 27. Bodhidharma, who visited China 11. Asvaghosha, also contemporary of . by sea in 626 A.p,

Kanishka, ever 100 acp. 2 By Sosa and Crraro (Medereanse, p71). SeCTIANAN-TDatteron (deet of Nepel, p. 190) gives date of intreduction as acp. 33 ; probably this was its re-introduction, ' Doring the reign of the Kinperor Ming Ti. Bear i Beetd. di China, p83) gives

71 A.D.

BUDDHAS RELIGION AND ITS SPREAD. 9

in the sixth century a.D.,to Japan, taking strong hold on allof the people of these countries, though they were very different from those among whom it arose, and exerting on all the wilder tribes among them a very sensible civilizing influence. It is believed to have established itself at Alexandria.! And it penetrated to Europe, where the early Christians had to pay tribute to the Tartar Buddhist Lords of the Golden Horde; and to the present day it still survives in European Russia among the Kalmaks on the Volga, who are professed Buddhists of the Liimaist order.

Tibet, at the beginning of the seventh century, though now surrounded by Buddhist countries, knew nothing of that religion, and was still buried in barbaric darkness. Not until about the year 640 a.p. did it first receive its Buddhism, and through it some beginnings of civilization among its people.

But here it is necessary to refer to the changes in Form which Buddhism meanwhile had undergone in India.

Buddha, as the central figure of the system, soon became invested with supernatural and legendary attributes. And as the religion extended its range and influence, and enjoyed princely patronage and ease, it became more metaphysical and ritualistic, so that heresies and discords constantly cropped up, tending to schisms, for the suppression of which it was found necessary to hold great councils.

Of these councils the one held at Jalandhar, in Northern India, towards the end of the first century 4.D., under the auspices of the Scythian King Kanishka, of Northern India, was epoch-making, for it established a permanent schism into what European writers have termed the “Northern” and “Southern” Schools: the Southern being now represented by Ceylon, Burma, and Siam ; and the Northern by Tibet, Sikhim, Bhotan, Nepal, Ladik, China, Mongolia, Tartary, and Japan. This division, however, it must be remembered, is unknown to the Buddhists themselves, and is only useful to denote in a rough sort of way the relatively primitive as distinguished from the developed or mixed forms of the faith, with especial reference to their present-day distribution.

1 The Muhdcanso (Turnovur’s ed., p. 171) notes that 30,000 Bhikshus, or Buddhist monks, came from “ Alasadda,” considered to be Alexandria.

10 CHANGES IN PRIMITIVE BUDDHISM.

The point of divergence of these so-called “Northern” and “Southern” Schools was the theistie Mahdydna doctrine, which substituted for the agnostic idealism and simple morality of Buddha, a speculative theistic system with a mysticism of sophistic nihilism in the background. Primitive Buddhism practically confined its salvation to a select few; but the Mahiyina extended salvation to the entire universe. Thus, from its large capacity as a ® Vehicle ” for easy, speedy, and certain attainment of the state of a Bodhisat or potential Buddha, and conveyance across the sea of life (samsdra) to Nirvina, the haven of the Buddhists, its adherents called it “The Great Vehicle” or Mahayana ;' while they contemptuously called the system of the otlhers—the Primitive Buddhists, who did not join this innovation—* The Little, or Imperfect. Vehicle,” the I/inaydna,’ which could carry so few to Nirvina, and which they alleged was only fit for low intellects.

This doctrinal division into the Mahiyaina and Ifinayina, however, does not quite coincide with the distinction into the so-called Northern and Southern Schools; for the Southern School shows a considerable leavening with Mahiiyina prineiples,? and Indian Buddhism during its most popular period was very largely of the Mahiyiina type.

Who the real author of the Mahiayina was is not yet known. The doctrine seems to have developed within the Mahi-sanghika or “(Creat Congregation “—a heretical sect which arose among the monks of Vaisili, one hundred years after Buddha’s death, and at the council named after that place.* Asvaghosha, who appears to have lived about the latter end of the first century a.p., ix eredited with the authorship of a work entitled On reising Faith in the Mahdydua.® But its chief expounder and developer was Nigirjuna, who was probably a pupil of Asvaghosha, as he

1'The word Vier (Tib, Teg-per chen-po) or “Vehicle” is parallel to the Platonic bxyuna, we neted by Brat in Cutene, p. 124.

© Vib, Pay-jee came pus.

» CP Hives Tsrvwa's Sie Ae cBean’s). ii. p. 1388, Eiven, po 90, DitarmMarara in Moaleleth: Jowr,, S92, Taw Sein Ko, Lael. bated, June, 1882,

i The orthedox members of this council formed the seet called Sth res or “elders,”

© He alse wrote a biography of Buddha, entitled Beeddhe-Corda Nace, translated by Cowrti, in SBE. Tt closely resembles the Lalita: Vistara, and a similar epie wae brought te China as carly as TO Alp. CBRAT S Ch cies Buddhism, pp. 901, The is also credited with the authorship of a clever confutation of Bralmanisin, which was latterly entitled Weyer Saver cof. Howes., 27/7,, 127).

THE MAHAYANA AND NAGARJUNA. 1

followed the successor of the latter in the patriarchate. He could not, however, have taken any active part in Kanishka’s Council, as the Limas believe. Indeed, it is doubtful even whether he had then been born.!

Nagarjuna claimed and secured orthodoxy for the Mahiyina doctrine by producing an apocalyptic treatise which he attributed to Sikya Muni, entitled the Prajna-piramita, or “the means of arriving at the other side of wisdom,” a treatise which he alleged the Buddha had himself composed, and had hid away in the custody of the Niga demigods until men were sufficiently enlightened to comprehend so ab- struse a system. And, as lis method claims to be a compromise between the extreme REQ H 23: a Da views then held on the nature 5 9 of Nirvana, it was named the Madhyamika, or the system “ of the Middle Path.” 2

This Mahayana doctrine was essentially a sophistic nihilism ; and under it the goal Nirvana, or rather Pari-Nirvina, while ceasing to be extinction of Life, was considered a mystical state which admitted of no definition. By developing the supernatural side of Buddhism and its objective symbolism, by rendering its

NAGARJUNA.

1 Nagarjuna (T., kLu-grub.) appears to belong to the second century a.p. He wasa native of Vidarbha (Berar) and a monk of Nalanda, the headquarters of several of the later patriarchs. He is credited by the Lamas (./..1.8.2., 1882, 115) with having erected the stone railing round the great Gandhola Temple of * Budh Gaya,” though the style of the lithic inscriptions on these rails would place their date carlicy. For a biographical note from the Tibetan by I]. Wenzrr, see J. Pull Tert Sov., 1886, p. 1, also by Sarat, J18.B., 51, pp. 1 and 115. The vernacular history of Kashmir (Rajatarangini) makes him a contemporary and chief monk of Kanishka’s successor, King Abhimanyu (cf. also Erret, p. 103; Scux., 21, 301-3; Korp., ii, 14; O.M., 107, 2; Csoma, G@r., xii., 182),

2 It seems to have been a common practice for sectaries to call their own system by this title, implying that it only was the true or reasonable belief. Sakya Muni also called his system “the Middle Path” (Davips, p. 47), claiming in his defence of truth to avoid the two extremes of superstition on the one side, and worldliness or infidelity on the other. Comp. the Mie media of the Anglican Oxford movement,

12 CHANGES IN PRIMITIVE BUDDITISM.

salvation more accessible and universal, and by substituting good words for the good deeds of the earlier Buddhists, the Mahayina appealed more powerfully to the multitude and secured ready popularity.

About the end of the first century of our era, then, Kanishka’s Council affirmed the superiority of the Mahifyiina system, and published in the Sanskrit language inflated versions of the Buddhist Canon, from sources for the most part. independent of the Pali versions of the southern Buddhists, though exluibiting a remarkable agreement with them.!

And this new doctrine supported by Kanishka, who almost rivalled Asoka in his Buddhist) zeal and munificence, became a dominant form of Buddhism throughout the greater part of India; and it was the form which first penetrated, it would seem, to China and Northern Asia.

Its idealization of Buddha and his attributes led to the creation of metaphysical Buddhas and celestial Bodhisats, actively willing and able to save, and to the introduction of innumerable demons and deities as objects of worship, with their attendant idolatry and sacerdotalism, both of which departures Buddha had expressly condemned. The gradual growth of myth and legend, and of the various theistic developments which now set in, are sketched in detail in another chapter.

As early as about the first century A.D., Buddha is made to be existent from all eternity and without beginning

And one of the earliest forms given to the greatest of these metaphysical

,

=< —t\ : . CY 1, rt

MaSae sv (the Bodhisat-God, holding the Book of Wisdom Buddhas—Amitibha, the

and wielding the Sword of Know loved grep. Buddhaof Boundless Light

V Several of the Chinese and Japenese Seriptures are translated from the Pati Beats Madd. co Cheme, po Sy and alse a tew Tibetan cet, Clap. vil},

THEISM AND I[MAGE-WORSITIP. 13

—evidently incorporated a Sun-myth, as was indeed to be expected where the chief patrons of this early Mahayana Buddhism, the Seythians and Indo-Persians, were a race of Sun-worshippers.

The worship of Buddha’s own imaye seems to date from this period, the first century of our era, and about four or five centuries after Buddha’s death ;! and it was followed by a variety of polytheistic forms, the creation of which was probably facilitatel by the Grecian Art influences then prevalent in Northern India? Different forms of Buddha's image, originally intended to represent different epochs in his life, were afterwards idealized into various Celestial Buddhas, from whom the hu- man Buddhas were held to be derived as material retlexes.

About 500 A.p.° arose the next great development in Indian Buddhism with the importation into it of the pantheistic cult of Yoga, or the ecstatic union of the individual with the Universal Spirit, a cult which had been introduced into Hinduism

VAIWA-PANT by Patanjali about 150 B.c, (the Wielder of the Thunderbolt,

Buddha himself had attached much importance to the practice of

1Cf. statue of Buddha found at Sravasti, CUNNINGHAM 'S Stupa of Berhaut, p. vil. So alsoin Christianity. Archdeacon Farrar, in his recent lecture on “Phe Development of Christian Art,” states that for three centuries there were no pictures of Christ, but only symbols, such as the fish, the lamb, the dove. The catacombs of St, Callistus contained the first picture of Christ, the date being 313, Not even a cross existed in the carly catacombs, and stillless a erucitix. The eighth century saw the first picture of the dead Christ. Rabulas in 586 first depicted the crucifixion in a Syriac Gospel,

2 Surru’s Greco-Roman infl.on Civilization of Anctent India, JAN D., 58 et seq., 1889, and GRUNWEDEL S Budd), Kornst.

3The date of the author of this innovation, Asanga, the brother of Vasubandhu,

14 CITANGES LEADING TO LAM AISM.

abstract meditation amongst his followers; and such practices under the mystical and later theistic developments of jis system, readily led to the adoption of the Brahmanical cult’ of Yoga, Which was grafted on to the theistic Mahiiyina by Asatiga, a suddhist monk of Gandhari (Peshawar), in Northern India. Those who mastered this system were called Yogdedrya Buddhists.

The Yogicirya mysticism seems to have leavened the mass of the Mahayana followers, and even some also of the Hinayiina; for

ee distinct traces of Yoga are to be as i “4 ~~ found in modern Burmese and o's “4. Sy a re

1 * Ceylonese Buddhism. And this

Yoya parasite, containing within itself the germs of Tantrism, seized strong hold of its host and soon developed its monster outgrowths, which crushed and cankered most of the little life of purely Buddhist stock yet left in the Mahayana.

About the end of the sixth century A.D., Tantirism or Sivaic mysticism, with its worship of female energies, spouses of the Hindi god Siva, began to tinge both Buddhism and Hindiiism, Consorts were allotted to the several Celestial Bodhisats and most of the other gods and demons, and mest of them were given forms wild and terrible, and often monstrous, according to the supposed moods of each divinity at different times. And

SAMANTACHAOA TESA ta Celestial Boudbrigatt ». as these goddesses and fiendesses

the twentieth patriarch, has mot wet been freed with any precision It seems to be somewhere bemwwrnm dO) vp. dod Aig h—C. Vasu. 2. p. 18s SORTRENIIES 7a, p. 126; Jen's stone de la tie de Mian Paling, SA, 08,07, 106, 114.

TANTRIK BUDDITISM. 15

were bestowers of supernatural power, and were especially malignant, they were especially worshipped.

By the middle of the seventh century a.p., India contained many Images of Divine Buddhas and Bodhisats with their female energies and other Buddhist gods and demons, as we know from Hiuen Tsiang’s narrative and the lithic remains in India; and the growth of myth and ceremony had invested the dominant form of Indian Buddhism with organised litanies and full ritual.

Such was the distorted form of Buddhism introduced into Tibet. about 640 a.p.; and during the three or four succeeding centuries Indian Buddhism became still more debased. Its mysticism became a silly mummery of unmeaning jargon and ‘ imagic circles,” dignified by the title of Muntruyina or “The Spell- Vehicle”; and this so-called ‘esoteric,’ but properly “ exoteric,” eult was given a respectable antiquity by alleging that its real founder was Niagirjuna, who had received it from the Celestial Buddha Vairocana through the divine Bodhisat Vajrasattva at “the iron tower ” in Southern India.

In the tenth century A.p.,? the Tantrik phase developed in Northern India, Kashmir, and Nepal, into the monstrous and polydemonist doctrine, the Kalacaikra,® with its de- moniacal Buddhas, which incorporated the Mantrayana_ practices, and called itself the Vajra-yana, or “The Thunderbolt-Vehicle,” and its followers were named Vajracarya, or * Followers of the Thunderbolt.”

[%

ZF —— ~~ = 2 ‘aD 4 ——— ‘er a hs ee 3: dhe :

T

\ \a

ELEVEN-HEADED AVALOKITA.

1See my article on Uren, J..1.8.B., 1891, and on Indian Buddhist Cult, ete., in J RAS, 1804, p. 51 et seq.

2 About 965 A.p. (Csoma, G'r., p. 192).

3 'Tib., Dus-Kui- For-lo, or Cvrele of Tine, see Chap. vi. It is aseribed to the fabulous country of Sambhala (T., De-jun) to the North of India, a mythical country prob- ably founded upon the Northern land of St. Padma-senhaca, to wit Udyana.

16 CHANGES LEADING TO LAMATSAM.

In these declining days of Indian Buddhism, when its spiritual and regenerating influences were almost dead, the Muhammadan invasion swept over India, in the latter end of the twelfth century. A.D., and effectually stamped Buddhism out of the country. The fanatical idel-hating Afghan soldiery! especially attacked the Buddhist monasteries, with their teeming idols, and they mas-

Rip FLA’ ee

NARO fan Indian Buddhist Vajracirya Monk of the Eleventh Century 4.p.).

sacred the monks wholesale ;* and as the Buddhist religion, unlike the more domestic Brihmanism, is dependent on its priests and monks for its vitality, it soon disappeared in the absence of these latter. It lingered only for a short time longer in the more remote parts of the peninsula, to which the fiercely fanatical Muhammadans could not readily penetrate.®

But it has now been extinet in India for several centuries, leaving, however, all over that country, a legacy of gorgeous architectural remains and monuments of decorative art, and its

MSee articleby me in JAS BB. Iwi, 1802, p. 20-ef sey, Hlustrating this fanaticism and massacre with reference to Magadha and Asam.

2 Tabaqat-i- Nasivi, ELvior’s trans., ii, 306, ete.

»Tarandtha says it still existed in Bengal till the middle of the fitteenth century a.n., under the © Chagiala ” Raja, whose kingdonrextended to Delhi and who was converted to Buddhism by his wife. He died in 1448 4.p.. and Prof, Bendall finds (Cat, Buddh. Sit. MSS, ort. po ivy that Buddhist MSS. were copied in Bengal up to the middle of the fifteenth century, namely to 1446, Ch also his note in. AS, New Ser, xx.,952, and mine in JAS, (Proc. February, 1593.

ITSS FORA IN TIBET. 17

living~effect upon its apparent offshoot Jainism, and upon Brihmanism, which it profoundly influenced for good.

Although the form of Buddhism prevalent in Tibet, and which has been called after its priests “‘ Lamaism,” is mainly that of the mystical type, the Vajra-yina, curiously incorporated with Tibetan mythology and spirit-worship, still it preserves there, as we shall see, much of the loftier philosophy and ethics of the system taught by Buddha himself. And the Limas have the keys to unlock the meaning of much of Buddha’s doctrine, which has been almost inacessible to Europeans.

LAMA-WorsuIP.

SomME LAMA-PRLIESTS.

ET.

RISK, DEVELOPMENT, AND SPREAD OF LAMATSM.

ABET emerges from barbaric darkness only with the j dawn of its Buddhism, in the seventh century of our era.

Tibetan luistory, such as there is—and there is none at all before its Buddhist era, nor little worthy of the name till about the eleventh century a.p.—is fairly clear on the

1 Fre a photograph by Mr. TofYmann,

PRE-LAMAIST TIBET. Mg

point that previous to King Sron Tsan Gampo’s marriage in 638-641 a.p., Buddhism was quite unknown in Tibet.!. And it is also fairly clear on the point that Limaism did not arise till a century later than this epoch.

Up till the seventh century Tibet was inaccessible even to the Chinese. The Tibetans of this prehistoric period are seen, from the few glimpses that we have of them in Chinese history about the end of the sixth century,? to have been rapacious savages and reputed cannibals, without a written language,’ and followers of an animistic and devil-dancing or Shamanist religion, the Bon, resembling in many ways the Taoism of China.

Early in the seventh century, when Muhammad (“ Mahomet. ”)

’ The historians so-called of Tibet wrote mostly inflated bombast, almost valueless for historical purposes. As the current accounts of the rise of Buddhism in Tibet are so overloaded with legend, and often inconsistent, [ have endeavoured to sift out the more positive data from the mass of less trustworthy materials. I have looked into the more disputed historical points in the ‘Tibetan originals, and, assisted by the living traditions of the Lamas, and the translations provided by Rockhill and Bushell especially, but also hy Schlagintweit, Sarat, and others, I feel tolerably confident that as regards the questions of the mode and date of the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet, and the founding of Lamaism, the opinions now expressed are in the main correct.

The accounts of the alleged Buddhist events in prehistoric Tibet given in the Mani-Kah-bum, Gual-rabs, and other legendary Looks, are clearly clumsy fictions. Following the example of Burma and other Buddhist nations (cf. Hiuen Tsiang, Julien’s trans., i., 179 ; ii, 107, ete.) who claim for their King an ancestry from the Sakya stock, we find the Lamas foisting upon their King a similar descent. A mythical exiled prince, named gNeh-Kri-bTsan-po, alleged to be the son of King Prasenjit, Buddha's first royal patron, and a member of the Licchavi branch of the Sakya tribe, is made to enter Tibet in the fifth century B.c. as the progenitor of a millennium of Sroh Tsan Gampo's ancestors; and an absurd story is invented to account for the etymology of his name, which means “the back chair”: while the Tibetan people are given as progenitors a monkey (“ Hilumandju,” evidently intended for Hanumanji, the Hindu monkey god, cf. Rock., LL., 355) sent by Avalo- kiteswara anda rukshasi fiendess. Again, in the year 331 a.p., there fell from heaven several sacred objects (conf. Rocx., B., p. 210), including the Om wani formula, which in reality was not invented till many hundred (probably a thousand) years later. And similarly the subsequent appearance of five foreigners before a King, said to have been named T’o-t’ori Nyan-tsan, in order to declare the sacred nature of the above symbols, without, however, erpluining them, so that the people continued in ignorance of their meaning. And it only tends still further to obscure the points at issue to import into the question, as Lassen does (Ind. Alt., ii., 1072), the alleged erection on Mt. Kailas, in 137 p.c., of a temporary Buddhist monastery, for such a monastery must have belonged to Kashmir Buddhism, and could have nothing to do with Tibet.

2 BUSHELT.,.Joc. cit., p. 435.

They used knotched wood and knotted cords (REMusat's Researches, p. BS4). c2

20 RISE OF LARFATS®.

was founding his religion in Arabia, there arose in Tibet a warlike king, who established his authority over the other wild clans of central Tibet, and latterly his son, Sron Tsan Gampo,! harassed the western borders of China; so that the Chinese Emperor T’aitsung, of the T’ang Dynasty, was glad to come to terms with this young prince, known to the Chinese as Ch’itsung-luntsan, and gave him in 641 A.D.? the Princess? Wench’eng, of the imperial house, in marriage.*

Two years previously Sroi Tsan Gampo had married Bhrikuti, a daughter of the Nepal King, Amsuvarman;° and both of these wives being bigoted Buddhists, they speedily effected the conversion of their young husband, who was then, according

1 Called also, prior to his accession (says RocKui.y, Life, p. 211) Khri-ldan Sronbtsan (in Chinese, Ki-tsung lun-tsan). His father, g’Nam-ri Sron-tsan, and his an- cestors had their headquarters at Yar-lun, or “the Upper Valley,” below the Yar- Jha sam-po, a mountain on the southern confines of Tibet, near the Bhotan frontier. The Yar-lun river fiows northwards into the Tsang-po, below Lhasa and near Samye. This Yar-lun is to be distinguished from that of the same name in the Kham province, east of Bathang, and a tributary of the Yangtse Kiang. The chronology by Bu-ton (tam-e’'ad K’an-po) is considered the most reliable, and Sum-pa K’an-po accepted it in preference to the Baidyur Kar-po, composed by the Dalai Lama’s orders, by De-Srid San-gyas Gya-mts’o, in 1686. According to Bu-ton, the date of Sron Tsan (rampo's birth was 617 a.p. (which agrees with that given by the Mongol historian, Sasnang Sctzen), and he built the palace Pho-dan-Marpo on the Lhasa hill when aged nineteen, and the Lhasa Temple when aged twenty-three. He married the Chinese princess when he was aged nineteen, and he died aged eighty-two. The Chinese records, translated by Bushell, make him die early. Csoma’s date of 627 (Gvanmar, p. 183) for his birth appears to be a clerical error for 617. His first mission to China was in 634 (BusHEett, J.R.A.S., New Ser., xil., p. 440).

• According to Chinese annals (BUSsHELL, 435), the Tibetan date for,the marriage is 639 (C., @., p. 188), that is, two years after his marriage with the Nepalese princess.

3 Kong-jo = “ princess” in Chinese.

4 The Tibetan tradition has it that there were three other suitors for this princess's hand, namely, the three greatest kings they knew of outside China, the Kings of Magadha, of Persia (sTag-cig), and of the Hor (Zurky) tribes. See also Hopuson’s dss. and RockHILe's B., 213; Csoma’s Gv., 1965 Bodhinnr, 338,

5 Amsuvarman, or “Glowing Armour,” is mentioned by THiuen Tsiang (Brats Ed. Si-yo-ki, ii, p. 81) as reigning about 637,and he appears as a grantee in FLEET s Corpus Znsern, Tad, (iii, p. 190) in several inscriptions ranging from 635 to G40 a.D., from which it appears that he was of the Thakur? dynasty and a feudatory of King of Harshavardhana of Kanauj, and on the death of the latter seems to have become independent. The inseriptions show that deed was a title of his royal ladies, and his 635 A.D. inscription recording a gift to his nephew, a sedan (an officer), renders it probable that he had then an adult daughter. One of his inscriptions relates to Sivaist Vingas, bat none are expressedly Buddhist. ‘The inscription of 685 was discovered by C. Bexnpartyand published in Jad. Ait, for 1885, and in his Jowred, pp. 18 and 73. CF. also Lad. Ant, ix., 170, and his description of coms in Zcitekr, der Dentach,

INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM. 21

to Tibetan annals, only about sixteen years of age,’ and who, under their advice, sent to India, Nepal, and China for Buddhist books and teachers.?

It seems a perversion of the real order of events to state, as is usually done in European books, that Sron Tsan Gampo first adopted Buddhism, and then married two Buddhist wives, Even the vernacular chronicle,? which presents the subject in its most flattering form, puts into the mouth of Sron Tsan Gampo, when he sues for the hand of his first wife, the N epalese princess, the following words : “I, the King of barbarous! Tibet, do not practise the ten virtues, but should you be pleased to bestow on me your daughter, and wish me to have the Law,° I shall practise the ten virtues with a five-thousand-fold body . . , though I have notthearts . . . ifyousodesire . . . Ishall build 5,000 temples.” Again, the more reliable Chinese history records that the princess said “there is no religion in Tibet ”; and the glimpse got of Sron Tsan in Chinese history shows him actively engaged throughout his life in the very un-Buddhist pursuit of bloody wars with neighbouring states.

The messenger sent by this Tibetan king to India, at the instance of his wives, to bring Buddhist books was called Thonmi Sam-bhota.° The exact date of his departure and return are un- certain,’ and although his Indian visit seems to have been within the period covered by Hiuen Tsiang’s account, this history makes no mention even of the country of Tibet. After a stay in India & of several years, during which Sam-bhota studied under the

1 The Gyul-rabs Sel-wai Melon states that S. was aged sixteen on his marriage with the Nepalese princess, who was then aged eighteen, and three years later he built his Pho-dan-Marpo Palace on the Red Hill at Lhasa.

2 The monks who came to Tibet during Sroii Tsan Gampo’s reign were Kusara (? Kumara) and Sankara Brahmana, from India; Sila Manju, from Nepal; Hwashang Maha-ts’e, from China, and (E. ScHLAGT., Gyal-rabs, p. 49) Tabuta and Ganuta, from Kashmir.

3 Mirror of Royal pedigree, Gyal-rabs Sel-wai Melon.

4 mT’ah-’k’ob.

5 K’rims.

® Sambhota is the Sanskrit title for “ The good Bhotiya or Tibetan.” His proper name is Thon-mi, son of Anu.

7 632 A.D. is sometimes stated as date of departure, and 650 as the return; but on this latter date Sronh Tsan Gampo died according to the Chinese accounts, although he should survive for many (48) years longer, according to the conflicting Tibetan records.

• “Southern India” (Bodhimur, p. 327).

22 RISE OF LAMAISM.

Brahman Livikara or Lipidatta! and the pandit Devavid Sinha (or Sinha Ghosha), he returned to Tibet, bringing several Buddhist books and the so-called “Tibetan” alphabet, by means of which he now reduced the Tibetan language to writing and composed for this purpose a grammar.”

This so-called “Tibetan” character, however, was merely a somewhat fantastic reproduction of the north Indian alphabet eurrent in India at the time of Sam-bhota’s visit. It exaggerates the flourishing curves of the * Nutila,” which was then coming into vogue in India, and it very slightly modified a few letters to adapt them to the peculiarities of Tibetan phoneties.2 Thonmi translated into this new character several small Buddhist texts,‘ but he does not appear to have hecome a monk or to have attempted any religious teaching.

Sron Tsan Gampo, being one of the greatest kings of Tibet and the first patron of learning and civilization in that country, and having with the aid of bis wives first planted the germs of Buddhism in Tibetan soil, he is justly the most famous and pepular king of the country, and latterly he was canonized as an incarnation of the most popular of the celestial Bodhisats, Avalokita ; and in keeping with this legend he is figured with his hair dressed up into a high conical chignon after the fashion of the Indian images of this Buddhist god, “ The Looking-down-Lord.”

His two wives were canonized as incarnations of Avalokita’s consort, Tira, “the Saviouress,” or Goddess of Mercy ; and the fact that they bore him no children is pointed to as evidence of their divine nature.® The Chinese princess Wench’eng was deified

1 Li-byin = Li + “ to give.”

2 sQipihd Vata elCos sem ch uspa,

3°‘The cerebrals and aspirates not being needed for Tibetan sounds were rejected, And when afterwards the full expression of Sanskrit) names in Tibetan demanded these letters, the five ecrebrals were formed by reversing the dentalsand the aspirates obtained by suffixing an A, while the palato-sibilants és, sh, and ds were formed hy adding a surmounting crest to the palatals ed, cht and j. It is customary to say that: the cursive style, the headless or Ce! (as distinguished from the full form with the head the (-el’r) was adapted from the so-called * Wartu™ form of Devanagri— Honuson, vis, Res, xvi, 420; Scumipr, Mem, dele. de [4et., gli; Conair, 20M), Sarat, J.A.S.B., 1888, 42.

4 The first book translated seems te have been the Narandla-cauha sutra, a favourite in Nepal ; and a few other translations still extant in the Tan-gyur are ascribed to him (Csoma, .1., and Roex., 2., mle.

Plis issue proceeded from two or four Tibetan wives,

ROYAL PATRONS OF BUDDITISM. 23

as “ The white Tira,”' as in the annexed figure; while the Nepalese princess “Bri- bsun,” said to be a corruption of Bhri-kuti, was apotheosised as the green Bhri-kuti Tira? as figured in the chapter on the pantheon. But he was not the saintly person the grateful Limas picture, for he is seen from reliable Chinese history to have been engaged all his life in bloody wars, and more at home in the battlefield than thetemple. And hecer- = tainly did little in the Pig way of Buddhist propa- ( ‘aay. ganda, beyond perhaps 24>‘ eeepc on translating a few tracts >>— ~e\\ aa into Tibetan, and build- RESNSRG. ing a few temples to Ba LCL shrine the images re= TARA, THE WHITE.

ceived by him in dower.2 The Deified Chinese Princess Wench’eng.* $ and others which he constructed. He built no monasteries.

1 E, Schlagintweit (p. 66) transposes the forms of the two princesses, and most subsequent writers repeat his confusion.

2 She is represented to have been of a fiery temper, and the cause of frequent brawls on account of the precedence given to the Chinese princess.

3 He received as dower with the Nepalese princess, according to the (yal-rabs, the images of Akshobhya Buddha, Maitreya and a sandal-wood image of Tara; and from his Chinese wife a figure of Sakya Muni as a young prince. To shrine the images of Akshobhya and the Chinese Sdkya he built respectively the temples of Ramoch’e and another at Risa, now occupied by the Jo-wo Kan at Lhasa(scee Chaps, xii. and xiii.). The latter temple was called Rasa-’y’rul snan gi gtsug-lha-K ai, and was built in his twenty-third year, and four years after the arrival of the Chinese princess (in 644 a.p., BusHELL). The name of its site, Ra-sa, is said to have suggested the name by which it latterly became more widely known, namely, as Lha-sa, or “ God's place.” The one hundred and eight temples accredited to him in the Mani-Kah-boin are of course legendary, and not even their sites are known to the Lamas themselves,

4 After Pandey.

24 RISE OF LAMAISM.

After Sron Tsan Gampo’s death, about 650 a.p.,1 Buddhism made little headway against the prevailing Shamanist superstitions, and seems to have been resisted by the people until about a century later in the reign of his powerful descendant Thi-Sron Detsan,2 who extended his rule over the greater part of Yunnan and Si-Chuen, and even took Changan, the then capital of China.

This king was the son of a Chinese princess,’ and inherited through his mother a strong prejudice in favour of Buddhism. a He succeeded to the throne when only (esau thirteen years old, and a few years later* he sent to India for a celebrated Buddhist priest to establish an order in Tibet; and he was advised, it is said, by his family priest, the Indian monk Santarakshita, to secure if possible the services of his brother-in- law,® Guru Padma-sambhava, a clever member of the then popular Tantrik Yogacirya school, and at that time, it is said, a resident of the great college of Nilanda, the Oxford of Buddhist India.

This Buddhist wizard, Guru Padma-sambhava, promptly responded to the invitation of the Tibetan king, and accompanied the messengers back to Tibet in 747 a.p.°

As Guru Padma-sambhava was the founder of Limaism, and s now deified and as celebrated in Limaism as Buddha himself, than whom, indeed, he receives among several sects more worship, he demands detailed notice.

The founder of Limaism, Saint Padma-sambhava or “‘the Lotus-

“5 Ay

)

na

i)

{¢ oa!

ber

CVE é SS yer STE OAC ee ais 7 FONG

WH

Wa)

Ste

| zs

Kine Tu1-Sron DETSAN.

1 He was succeeded in 650 by his grandson Mang-Sron-Mang-tsan under the regency of Sron Tsan’s Buddhist minister, Gar (mk’ar), known to the Chinese as Chiishih (BUSHELL, Joc. cit., 446).

2 Kri-Sron ldeu-btsan. (Cf. KOpr., ii., 67-72; ScHLaG., 67; J ANeSB., WS), p. B24.) Rock., B. quotes p. 221 contemporary record inbsTun-gynr (xciv., £.387-391), proving that in ThieSron Detsan’s reign in the middle of the eighth century, Tibet was hardly recognized as a Buddhist country.

3 Named Chin cheng (Tib., Kyim Shan), adopted daughter of the Emperor Tchang tsong (BUSHELL, 456).

4 In 747 (Csoma, G@r., 183) ; but the Chinese date would give 755 (BUSHEL).

5 The legendary life of the Guru states that he married the Princess Mandarava, a sister of Santa-rakshita.

6 Another account makes the Guru arrive in Tibet in anticipation of the king’s wishes.

= = Wd P

EN

THE FOUNDER oF LAmaisM, St. PADMA-SAMBHAVA,

in his Eight Forms.

26 RISE OF LAMATSM.

born one,”! is usually called by the Tibetans Guru Rin-po-ch’e, or “the precious Guru”; or simply Lé-pdn,’ the Tibetan equivalent of the Sanskrit “ Gurw” or “teacher.” He is also called “ Ugyan” or “ Urgyan,” as he was a native of Udyina or Urgyan, correspond-

ing to the country about Ghazni? to the north-west of Kashmir. Udyiina, his native land, was famed for the proficiency of its priests in sorcery, exorcism, and magic. Hiuen Tsiang, writing a century previously, says regarding Udyina: ‘The people are in disposition somewhat sly and crafty. They practise the art of using charms. The employment of magical sentences is with them an art and a study.”4 And in regard to the adjoining country of Kashmir also intimately related to Limaism, Marco Polo a few centuries later says: “ Keshimur is a province inhabited by people who are idolaters (4.¢., Buddhists). . . . They have an astonishing acquaintance with the devilries of enchantment, insomuch as they can make their idols speak. They can also by their sorceries bring on changes of weather, and produce darkness, and do a number of | things so extraordinary that no one ee without seeing them would believe iO Be them. Indeed, this country is the

Ee / I g gee vai sg Fe ‘ y original source from which

Ne Son idolatry has spread abroad.” ®

es aye Pel The Tibetans, steeped in supereae TES: stition which beset them on every AB Cpriegibiaieapediby ©. Padiias side by malignant devils, warmly welcomed the Guru as he brought them deliverance from their terrible tormentors. satel cni Tibet.

AY" we

1 For legend of his birth from a lotus see p. 380. 2 sLob- ain

3-The Tibetans state that it is now named Ghazni, but Sir H. Yule, the great geographer, Writes (MARCO P., i.,155) : “ Uduedina lay to the north of Peshawar, on the Swat river, but from the extent assigned te it by Hwen Thsang, the name probably covered a large part of the whole hill region south of the Hindu Kush, from Chitral to the Indus, as indeed it is represented in the Map of Vivien de St. Martin (Pdlerins Bouddhistes, ii)” It is regarded by Fallian as the most northerly Province of India, and in his time the food and clothing of the people were similar to these of Gangetic India.

1 Bes Sie wehw, i.,120. 5 Marto P., i., 155.

ITS FOUNDER AND HIS SORCERY. 27

in 747 A.D., he vanquished all the chief devils of the land, sparing most of them on their consenting to become defenders of his religion, while he on his part guaranteed that in return for such services they would be duly worshipped and fed. Thus, just as the Buddhists in India, in order to secure the support of the semiaborigines of Bengal admitted into their system the bloody Durga and other aboriginal demons, so on extending their doctrines throughout Asia they pandered to the popular taste by admitting within the pale of Buddhism the pantheon of those new nations they sought to convert. And similarly in Japan, where Buddhism was introduced in the sixth cen- Dury A.D., it made little progress till the ninth century, when Kobo Daishi incorporated it with the local Shintoism, by alleging that the Shinto deities were em- bodiments of the Buddhist. The Guru’s most powerful weapons in

warring with — the demons THE TWELVE TAN-MA SHE-DEVILS. Subjected by St. Padma.

were the Vajra (Tibetan, dor-je), symbolic of the thunderbolt of Indra (J upiter), and spells extracted from the Mahiyina gospels, by which he shattered his supernatural adversaries.

28 RISE OF LAMAISM.

As the leading events of his march through Tibet and_ his subjugation of the local devils are of some interest, as indicating the original habitats of several of the pre-Limaist demons, I have given a condensed account of these in the chapter on the pantheon at page 382.

Under the zealous patronage of King Thi-Sron Detsan he built at Sam-yiis in 749 4.p. the first Tibetan monastery. The orthodox account of the miraculous creation of that building is referred to in our description of that monastery.

On the building of Siim-yiis,! said to be modelled after the Indian Odantapura of Magadha, the Guru, assisted by the Indian monk . Sinta-rakshita, instituted there the order of the Lamas. Sinta-rakshita was made the first abbot and laboured there for thirteen years. He now is entitled Acairya Bodhisat.*

La-ma?* is a Tibetan word meaning the “ Superior One,” and corresponds to the Sanskrit Uttara. It was restricted to the head of the monastery, and still is strictly applicable

i ra only to abbots and the highest

aia se ne’ monks; though out of courtesy the title is now given to

SANTACRAKSHITA, almost all Limaist monks and

i priests. The Limas have no

special term for their form of Buddhism. They simply call it “ Zhe religion” or ‘“ Buddha's religion”; and its professors are “Insiders,” or “ within the fold” (nan-pa), mM contradistinction to the non-Buddhists or “ Out-

1 The title of the temple is Zan-yad Mi-gyur Lhun-gyi dub-pahi tsug-Iha-Ksan, orthe “Self-sprung immovable shrine,” and it is believed to be based on immovable foundations of adamantine laid by the Guru.

2 And is said to have been of the Svatantra school, fullowing Sariputra, Ananda, Naearjuna, Subhankara, Sri Gupta, and Jnana-garbha (ef. Seu.., 67; Kopr., ii, 68; AAR B., VSI, p>. 220; “PAN Ds, NO. Jw.

3 DbLa-ma. The Uighurs (? Hor) call their Lamas “tin " (Yuur's, Cathan, p. 241, wotr),

=

ST. PADMAS SORCERY. 29

siders” (chi-pa or pyt-"lii), the so-called pe-ling ” or foreigners of English writers. And the European term “ Liamaism ” finds no counterpart in Tibetan.

The first Lama may be said to be Pal-bans, who succeeded the Indian abbot Santa-rakshita; though the first ordained member of this Tibetan order of monks was Bya-Khri-gzigs.1. The most learned of these young Lamas was Vairocana, who translated many Sanskrit works into Tibetan, though his usefulness was interrupted for a while by the Tibetan wife of Thi-Sron Detsan ; who in her bitter opposition to the King’s reforms, and instigated by the Bénpa priests, secured the banishment of Vairocana to the eastern province of Kham by a scheme similar to that practised by Potiphar’s wife. But, on her being forthwith afflicted with leprosy, she relented, and the young “ Bairo-tsana” was recalled and effected her cure. She is still, however, handed down to history as the “ Red Rahula she-devil,”? while Vairocana is made an incarnation of Buddha’s faithful attendant and cousin Ananda; and on account of his having translated many orthodox scriptures, he is credited with the composition or translation and hiding away of many of the fictitious scriptures of the unreformed Lamas, which were afterwards “ discovered” as revelations.

It is not easy now to ascertain the exact details of the creed— the primitive Limaism—taught by the Guru, for all the extant works attributed to him “were composed several centuries later by followers of his twenty-five Tibetan disciples. But judging from the intimate association of his name with the esseutials of Limaist sorceries, and the special creeds of the old unreformed section of the Limas—the Nin-ma-pa—who profess and are acknowledged to be his immediate followers, and whose older scrip- tures date hack to within two centuries of the Guru's time, it is evident that his teaching was of that extremely Tantrik and magical type of Mahiyina Buddhisin which was then prevalent in his native country of Udyin and Kashmiv. And to this highly impure form of Buddhism, already covered by so many foreign accretions and saturated with so much demonolatry, was added a

ee 1 The first seven novices (Sud-mi mi) who formed the nucleus of the order were ABuk dpal Abas, vésurs-devendra and Branka Mutik, “A‘on Nagendra, Sagor Vairocana, ru Aedrye rin-ch en mehoy, gLan-Ka Tanana, of whom the first three Were elderly.

• gZa-mar gyal. The legend is given in the Tan-yik Ser-t’en.

30 RISE OF LAMAISM.

portion of the ritual and most of the demons of the indigenous Bon-pa religion, and each of the demons was assigned its proper place in the Lamaist pantheon.

Primitive Limaisi may therefore be defined as a priestly mixture of Nivaite mysticism, magic, and Indo-Tibetan demonolatry, overlaid by a thin varnish of Mahayina Buddhism. And to the present day Limaism still retains this character.

In this form, as shaped by the Guru, Buddhism proved more attractive to the people, and soon became popular. Its doctrine of Karma, or ethical retribution, appealed to the fatalism which the Tibetans share with most eastern races. And the zealous King, Thi-Sron Detsan, founded other monasteries freely and initiated a period of great literary activity by procuring many talented Indian and Kashiniri scholars for the work of translating the Indian canonical works and commentaries into Tibetan."

e a =

The new religion was actively opposed by the priests of the native religion, called Bon,® and these were supported by one of the most powerful ministers.’

hThe chief trensliters employed at this time were the Indian monks, Vimala Mitra, Buddha Guhya, Santigarbha, Visuddhi Sitha, the Tantrik Acharya Dharma-kirti (who translated (ie Vajradh itn Voge works). The Kashmiri monks, Jina-Mitra, Dana-Sila and Ananda, assisted by the Tibetan novices, chief of whom was Vairocana, No translations -or works ascribed to Padma-sambhava himself occur in the Tibetan Tripitaka canon,

2 After Giorgi.

2 The word is derived by Gen, Cunningham (Marco P.,1., 287) from Pema, one of the names of the Seastitas or worshippers of the mystic fly-foot cross, called in Tibetan avi drain, though Peaae is simply a holy many and seems original of the Burmese tithe for monk, Poery?, The Bon religion resembles the ‘Taoism of China (see Yubr, lee, Mr, ; Rao, AF, QMG at sey. atte bits Lredowe pie BUT Wie, cain oF ll Crag, Soe, Mity, IsS9h). Ft is especially associated with the worship of dragons, ov mdgids, wnd its reputed founder is gsen-rahs Meebo. As new prvetised, is deeply impregnated by Buddhism, Tora list of some of its deities see Sarat, Jour. Indian Buddhist Text Soc., Vol. i.

Namecl Nam VaeShanroni-passkyves. ‘Phe ministers whe aided the King were Go Shenk, wind Da-guabetson,

OPPOSED BY INDIGENOUS PRIESTS. 31

Some of the so-called devils which are traditionally alleged to have been overcome by the Guru were probably such human adversaries. It is also stated that the Bon-pa were now prohibited making human and other bloody sacrifice as was their wont; and hence is said to have arisen the practice of offering images of

men and animals made of dough. Limaism was also opposed by some Chinese Buddhists, one of

• whom, entitled the Mahayana Hwa-shang,' protested against the kind of Buddhism which Santa-rakshita and Padma-sambhava were teaching.? But he is reported to have been defeated in argument and expelled from the country by the Indian monk Kamala- sila? who, like Santa-rakshita, is alleged to be of the Sva-tantra Méadhyamika school, and the author of many treatises still extant in the great commentary (Tiin-gyur). The excellent Sanskrit- Tibetan dictionaries (Vyitpattc) date from this literary epoch. Padma-sambhava had twenty-five disciples, each of whom is credited with magical power, mostly of a grotesque character.!

1A Chinese term for a Buddhist monk corresponding to Skt. Cpddhydga or “master,” (See EpKIN’s Dict. and Mayer’s Hdhé:.)

Two works by Hrea-shany zub-mo are found in the Tan-gyur QnDo, Xxx., XxNiii. (RoemHIEtiseBayp: 220). $ Kamala-silv was author of an Indian work (Zarka) expounding the various philosophic systems of India, (Prof. G. Burner, J. Buddhist Teast Sov. af Ladia, i., DY es p. X.)

41. Nam-k’a nin-po mounted the sunbeams.
42. San-gyé-ye-se drove iron bolts into rocks.
43. Gyal-wa-ch’og-yan changed his head into a horse s, and neighed thrice. 4, K’ar-ch’en Ch’o-gyal revived the slain. 5, Pal-ki-ye-se overcame three fiendesses. 6, Pal-ki-Sen-ge enslaved demons, nymphs, and genii.
44. Vairocana obtained the five heavenly eyes of knowledge.
45. Nah-dag-gyalpo attained Samadhi. 9, Yu-drun-Nin-po acquired divine knowledge.
46. Jnana-kumara worked miracles.
47. Dorje-Dun Jem travelled invisibly as the wind.
48. Ye-se-Nan visited the fairy world.
49. Sog-pu-Lha-pal (a Mongol) ensnared ferocious beasts. 14, Na-nam-yese soared in the sky.
50. Pal-ki-Wan-p’yug killed his enemies by signs.
51. Den-ma-tse-Wan had perfect memory.
52. Ka-Wa-pal-tseg perceived the thoughts of others.
53. Shu-bu-pal-sen made water run upwards.
54. Khe-hu-c’ug-lo caught flying birds.
55. Gyal-Wai-Lodoi raised ghosts and converted the corpse into gold.
56. Ten-pai-nam-k’a tamed wild yaks of the northern desert.
57. ’Odan-Wan-p’yug dived into water like a fish.

32 RISE OF LAMAISM.

And these disciples he instructed in the way of making magic circles for coercing the demons and for exorcism.

The Guru’s departure from Tibet was as miraculous in character as his life, and in keeping with the divine attributes with which he has been invested as “ Saviour of a suffering world.” !

23. Ma-t’og rin-ch’en crushed adamant to powder and ate it like meal.

24, Pal-kyi Dor-je passed through rocks and mountains.

25. Lan-dod Kon-ch’og wielded and repelled thunderbolts.

And a twenty-sixth is added : Gyal-wai-Cl’an cub sat. cross-legged in the air,

1 After residing in Tibet for about fifty years (say the chronicles, though it is probable he only remained a few years), and founding Lamaism securely, the Guru, in S02 a.p., much to the grief of the Tibetans, announced his approaching departure for fresh religious triumphs in other lands. Addressing the King, he said: “In Jambudvip are five Raksha countries with 500 towns apiece. The Central Raksha country is named San-do-pal-ri- (zatis-mdog-dpal-ri), the king of which is named Langka of the ten necks (? the ten-headed Ravan), To its east lies Lankapuri, to its south dGa-bu-c’an, or “ The happy ” (Skt., Sukhavati or Nandavati), to its west Ko-sha tang-dmar-gling, to its north is Byan-lag fort, to its south-east is Bam-ril-t’od-pamk’ar, tu its north-west is Ma-la-gnam-lchags-rtse, to its north-east is Nal-byih cemetery, and in the south-east is the lake of Phuri. These Raksha countries are crowded with men-cating devils, who if not conquered will depopulate the whole world of Jambudvip, and except me none other can subdue them. I therefore must go to the stronghold of the Raksha at San-do-pal-ri in the country of rNayab-glin or ‘The Yak-tail continent,’ which lies to the south-west of Tibet. hither must I now go.”

Then, accompanied by the King and nobles and his two fairy wives (the Tibetan one of which, named Yes’e-ts’o-gyal was to be left behind), he went to the Gungthang La in Mang-yul on the northern confines of Tibet, and there, after giving farewell advice to the king, priests, and the assembled multitude to keep the doctrine he had taught them, and the revelations he had hidden in caves throughout the land, he was enveloped ina glorious rainbow-halo, within which appeared the four great heroes (dPa-bo) of the world, who assisted him in mounting the celestial horse-ear cnamed © bafaha* or Chang-saly in which he was now borne away through the sky in a south-westerly direction, attended by the four heroes and a hest of fairies amid heavenly music and showers of flowers. On his departure the assembled multitude were distracted with grief and remained transfixed as if dead. Ultimately they retired below the pass to Srang-/dah-sho-ytsang-dor and the plain Thang-dpal-modpal-thang, where they remained for twenty-five days and nights, and were able to see the Guru's celestial party, like a shooting star, sailing away through the sky towards the horizon till lost to sight. After much prayer and worship they sadly departed on King Thi-Sron Detsan telling them of the Guru's safe arrival at Sando-pal-ri, Which event he (the king) was able to see through the magical insight he had acquired from the Guru. It appeared that the Guru reached Singala after about two days’ journey, and penetrating the iron palace, he entered the body of the Raksha king named “He of the Skull rosary,” and preached the doctrine to the thousand daughters of the Raksha and the folk of that country. A few days afterwards he departed for Na-yab-glin, and reached the eapital Sati-de-pal-ri, where instantly abstracting the life of the demon-king named Yaksha Me-wal, and entering his body, the Guru reigns there supreme over the Rakshas, even up till the present day. and in perpetual vouth is preaching there the doctrine of Lamaism in a paradise which rivals that of Amitabha’s western heaven of Nudliivaté,

ITS DEVELOPMENT AND SPREAD. 33

And notwithstanding his grotesque charlatanism and uncelibate life, he is deified and worshipped as the “second Buddha,” and his image under “The eight worshipful Forms”! is found in every Tibetan temple of the old sect, as figured at page 25.

Thus established, and lavishly endowed, Limaism made steady progress, and was actively patronized by Thi-Sron Detsan’s successors for two generations.”

The eras of Limaism may be divided into (1) primitive or “ Augustine” (from King Thi-Sron Detsan’s reign to the persecution), (2) medizval, including the reformation, (3) modern Limaism, from the priest-kingship of the Dalai Lima in the seventeenth century.

An interesting glimpse into the professed religion of the earlier period is given in the bilingual edict pillars “ d6-ring,” erected at Lhasa in 822 a.p.,3 in treaty with the Chinese. In the text of these edicts, which has been translated by Dr. Bushell,! occurs the following sentence: “They [? the Fan (Tibetan) and the Han (Chinese) ] have looked up to the three precious ones, to all the holy saints, to the sun, moon, stars, and planets, and begged them to be their witnesses.”

In the latter half of the ninth century ® under king Ralpachan, the grandson of Thi-Sron Detsan, the work of the translation of scriptures and the commentaries of Nigirjuna, Aryadeva, Vasubandhu, etc., was actively prosecuted. Among the Indian trans- lators employed by him were Jina Mitra, Silendrabodhi," Surendrabodhi, Prajiia-varman, Dina-sila, and Bodhimitra, assisted by the Tibetans Pal-brtsegs, Ye-s’e-sde, Ch’os-kyi-Gyal-ts’an, and at least half of the two collections as we know them is the work

2 Guru ts’an gye. For description of these see p. 379.

2 Thi-Sron Detsan died in 786 (Csoma, Gr., 183), and was succeeded by his son, Mu-thi tsan-po, who, on being poisoned by his mother soon after his accession, was succeeded by his brother (Sad-na-legs) under the same name (RocKHILL, L/7+, 222), and he induced Kamalasila to return to Tibet and permanently reside in that country. This latter was succeeded by his son Ralpachan.

’ These monoliths are assigned by Tibetan tradition (astranslated by Sanat., 71S B., 1881, p. 228) to Thi-Sron Detsan’s grandson, Ralpachan.

2 Opmat., 521.

5 According to Tibetan chronology ; but the Chinese make Ralpachan’s aceession 816 a.D. (ROcKHILL's B., 223).

6 These two were pupils of Sthiramati (Vastuiev, Térandtha, 320)

D

34 SPREAD OF LAMAISM.

of their hands.! And he endowed most of the monasteries with state-lands and the right to collect tithes and taxes. He seems to have been the first Tibetan sovereign who started a regular record of the annals of his country, for which purpose he adopted the Chinese system of chronology.

His devotion to Buddhism appears to have led to his murder about 899,” at the instigation of his younger brother Lan Darma, —the so-called Julian of Lamaism—who then ascended the throne, and at once commenced to persecute the Lamas and did his .tmost? to uproot the religion. He desecrated the temples and several monasteries, burned many of their books, and treated the Limas with the grossest indignity, forcing many to become butchers.

But Lan Darma’s persecution w&s very mild for a religious one, and very short-lived. He was assassinated in the third year of his reign by a Lima of Lhalun named Pal-dorje, who has since been canonized by his grateful church, and this murderous incident forms a part of the modern Limaist masquerade.’ This Lama, to effect his purpose, assumed the guise of a strolling black-hat devildancer, ana hid in his ample sleeves a bow and arrow. His dancing below the king’s palace, which stood near the north end of the present cathedral of Lhisa,° attracted the attention of the king, who summoned the dancer to his ss hits Ti en => presence, where the disguised —— = Lima seized an opportunity while

near the king to shoot him with the arrow, which proved almost immediately fatal. In the re-

BLaAcK-HAT DEVIL-DANCER.

1 Rocx., B., 225.

? The date is variously given, ranging from 838 (BusHeLL, 439 and 522) to 899 A.D. (Csoma, Gr,, 193); (2 (SANANG SETSEN, 49); G14 (KOPPEN, i1., 72).

• Actively aided by_his minister, sBas-sfay-snus.

4 See Chap. xx.

5 And not on the Red Hill latterly named © Potala.”

ITS PERSECUTION AND REVIVAL. 35

sulting tumult the Lima sped away on a black horse, which was tethered near at hand, and riding on, plunged through the Kyi river on the outskirts of Lhasa, whence his horse emerged in its natural white colour, as it had been merely blackened by soot, and he himself turned outside the white lining of his coat, anl by this stratagem escaped his pursuers.' The dying words of the king were: “Oh, why was I not killed three years ago to save me committing so much sin, or three years hence, that I might have rooted Buddhism out of the land ?”

On the assassination of Lan Darma the Lamas were not long in regaining their lost ground.” Their party assumed the regency during the minority of Lan Darma’s sons, and although Tibet now became divided into petty principalities, the persecution seems to have imparted fresh vigour to the movement, for from this time forth the Limaist church steadily grew in size and influence until it reached its present vast dimensions, culminating in the priest-kings at Lhasa.

By the beginning of the eleventh century a.p., numerous Indian and Kashmiri monks were again frequenting Tibet.” And in 1038 A.D. arrived Atisa, the great reformer of Lamaism,* whose biography is sketched in outline below, as he figures conspicuously in Limaism, and especially in its sects.

1 He hid in a cave near the monastery of Brag-Yal-pa, about one day's journey east of Lhasa. *S

2 Sanang Setsen says (p. 51) that Lan Darma’s son reigned without the Law.

3 Among whom were Smriti, who wrote a Tibetan vocabulary named * The Weapon of Speech”; Dharmapala, who arrived in 1013 a.p., accompanied by Siddhapala, Grunapala, and Prajiia-pala from Eastern India; and Subhuti Sri Santi, who translated some of the Prajna-paramita.

• His legendary biography, attributed to his pupil Brom-ton, but apparently of later date (and probably written by the Dalai in the sixteenth century, as it credits Brom-ton with being Avalokita’s incarnation), has been translated by Sarar in Jour. Ind. Budd. Text Soc., 1893. I have also consulted the original. (Cf. also TARa. 241, 248; Kopp.,ii., 78, 79, 117,127, 295; Scun., 69, 186; Panp., No. 29.) Atisa’s proper Indian name is Dipankara Sri-jiana, but he is usually called by the Lamas Jo-vorje-dpal-ldan Atisa, or “The Illustrious Noble Lord Atisha.” And _ he is held to be an incarnation of Mafijusri, the Celestial Bodhisat of Wisdom; though this seems merely a pious way of stating that Atisa was the Mahjusri of Tibet, or the most learned in scholastic and astrological lore of all the monks who had previously visited Tibet; as India, Nepal, and China already possessed their especial apotheosized wise man as a Mafijusri incarnation. He was born in 980 A.p. (according to his Tibetan chronicles), of the royal family of Gaur at Vikramanipur (?), in Bengal, his father being named Kalyana-sri, and his mother Prabhavati, and was ordained at

Dez

36 SPREAD OF LAMAISM

Atisa was nearly sixty years of age when he visited Tibet.! He at once started a movement which may be called the Limaist Reformation, and he wrote many treatises.”

His chief disciple was Domton,* the first hierarch of the new reformed sect, the Kadam-pa, which, three-and-ahalf centuries later, became the Ge-lug-pa, now the dominant sect of Tibet, and the established church of the country.

Atisa’s reformation resulted not only in the new sect, Kadam-pa, with which he most intimately identified himself, but it also initiated, more or less directly, the semi-reformed sects of Kar-gyu-pa and Sakya-pa, as detailed in the chapter on Sects.

The latter end of the eleventh century saw Limaism firmly

the Odantapuri Vihara. Tle underwent training under both Mahayana teachers and the Maha Siddhi (grub-ch’en) or wizard-priests, his most notable masters being Chandrakirti, the Abbot of Suvarnadvip, or Sudharmanagar, the “ Chryse” of the ancients, near * Thaten ” in Pegu, Mativitara of the Mahabodbi Vihara, and the Mahasiddhi Naro, who is especially related to the Kar-gyu-pa Sect. On starting for Tibet, he was a professor of the Vikramasila monastery in Magadha, and a contemporary of Nayapala, son of King Mahipala.

' He visited Tibet by way of Nari K’or-sum in 1038 a.p. in the company of the Lama Nag-tsho, and after starting what may be called the Reformed Lamaism, died in the sNe-t’ai monastery, near Lhasa, in 1052. It is stated that he came frem Vikramasila at the invitation of the Tibetan King, named Lha Lama Ye-shes-'od, but his route ed Navi renders this unlikely, and this Lha Lama seems te have been a petty chief of N.W. Tibet, who was captured about that time by the Nepalese.

• The following works by Atisa occur in mDo of bsTan‘gyur: 1, Bodhipatha pradipa ; 2, Carya sangraha pradipa, 3, Satya dvayavatara: 4, Madhyamopadesa ; 5, Sangraha garbha; 6. Hridaya nischita; 7, Bodhisattva manyavali; 8, Bodhisattva karmnadimiargavatara; % Saranagatadesa; 10, Mahayvanapatha sadhana varna sangraha. 1], Mahayanapatha sadhana sangraha; 12, Sdtrartha samuchhayopadesa ; 15, Dasakusala karmopadesa: 14, Karma Vibhanga ; 15, Samadhi sambhara parivarta ; 16, Loket- tarasaptaka vidhi;17, Gura Krivakrama ; 1s, Chittotpada samvara vidhi krama; 19% Siksha samuechava abhi samaya, delivered by S11 Dharmapala, King of Suvarnad- Vipa to Mpankara and Namala; 20, Vimala ratna lekhana, an epistle by Dipankara to Naya Pala, King of Magadha by Atisa on his departure for Tibet.

5 i

• Dirom-ston,

UNDER SASKYA HIERARCHY. 37

rooted, and its rival sects, favoured by their growing popularity and the isolation of Tibet, were beginning to form at Sakya and elsewhere strong hierarchies, which took much of the power out of the hands of the petty chiefs amongst whom Tibet was now parcelled out, and tended to still further open the country to Chinese and Mongol invasion.

There seems no evidence to support the assertion that this Lamaist revival was determined by any great influx of Indian monks fleeing from persecution in India, as there is no record of any such influx about the time of the Muhammadan invasion of India.

In the second half of the thirteenth century, Limaism received a mighty accession of strength at the hands of the great Chinese emperor, Khubilai Khin. Tibet had been conquered by his ancestor, Jenghiz Khin,! about 1206 a.p., and Khubilai was thus brought into contact with Limaism. This emperor we know, from the accounts of Marco Polo and others, was a most enlightened ruler; and in searching about for a religion to weld together the more uncivilized portions of his mighty empire he called to his court the most powerful of the Limaist hierarchs, namely, the Saskya Grand Lima, as well as representatives of the Christian and several other faiths, and he ultimately fixed upon Lamaism, as having more in common with the Shamanist faiths already prevalent in China and Mongolia than had Confucianism, Muhammadanism, or Christianity.

His conversion to Buddhism is made miraculous. He is said to have demanded from the Christian missionaries, who had been sent to him by the pope, the performance of a miracle as a proof to him of the superiority of the Christian religion, while if they failed and the Limas succeeded in showing him a miracle, then he would adopt Buddhism. In the presence of the missionaries, who were unable to comply with Khubilai’s demands, the Lamas caused the emperor’s wine-cup to rise miraculously to his lips, whereat the emperor adopted Buddhism ; and the discomfited missionaries declared that the cup had been lifted by the devil himself, into whose clutches the king now had fallen.

Just as Charlemagne created the first Christian pope, so the

1 The Tibetan accounts state that he was born in 1182.4.p., and was the son of the Mongol God (? deified ancestor) “The White Gnam-t’e.”

38 SPREAD OF LAMAISM

emperor Khubilai recognized! the Lima of Saskya, or the Sakya Pandita, as head of the Lamaist church, and conferred upon him temporary power as the tributary ruler of Tibet, in return for which favour he was required to consecrate or crown the Chinese emperors. And the succession in this hereditary primacy was secured to the Pandit’s nephew, Lodoi Gyal-ts’an (or Matidhvaja), a young and able Lima, who was given the title of Highness or Sublimity (p’ags-pa). Khubilai actively promoted Lamaism and built many monasteries in Mongolia, and a large one at Pekin. Chinese history? attributes to him the organisation of civil administration in Tibet, though it would appear that he exerted his authority only by diplomacy through these spiritual potentates without any actual conquest by arms.

The Sakya pope, assisted by a staff of schoiars, achieved the great work of translating the bulky Limaist canon (Kah-gyur) into Mongolian after its revision and collation with the Chinese texts. Indeed, the Limaist accounts claim for the Sakya Pope the invention of the Mongolian character, though it is clearly modelled upon the Syrian; and Syriac and nestorian missionaries are known to have worked in Mongolia long prior to this epoch.

Under the succeeding Mongol emperors, the Sakya primacy seems to have maintained much of its political supremacy, and to have used its power as a church-militant. to oppress its rival sects. Thus it burned the great Kar-gyu-pa monastery of Dikung about 1320 a.p. But on the accession of the Ming dynasty in 1368 a.p. the Chinese emperors deemed it politic, while conciliating the Lamas, as a body, by gifts and titles, to strike at the Sakya power by raising the heads of two other monasteries* to equal rank with it, and encouraged strife amongst them.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century a Lima named Tson-K'a-pa re-organized Atisa’s reformed sect, and altered its title to * The virtuous order,” or Ge-lug-pa. This sect soon eclipsed all the others; and in five generations it obtained the priest-kingship of Tibet, which it still retains to this day. Its first Grand Lima was Tson-K’a-pa’s nephew, Geden-dub, with luis succession based on the idea of re-inearnation, a theory

1 iin, LTO. D. ? Miaieeo P., i1., 38.

• The Ka-gyupa, Dikung, and the Ka-dam-pa Ts‘al.

UNDER GE-LUG-PA. 39

which was afterwards, apparently in the reign of the fifth Grand Lima, developed into the fiction of re-incarnated reflexes of the divine Bodhisat Avalokita, as detailed in the chapter on the Hierarchy.

In 1640, the Ge-lug-pa leapt into temporal power under the fifth Grand Lama, the crafty Nag-wan Lé-zang. At the request of this ambitious man, a Mongol prince, Gusri Khan, con- quered Tibet, and made a present of it to this Grand Lama, who in 1650 was confirmed in his sovereignty by the Chinese emperor, and given the Mongol title of Dalai, or “(vast as) the Ocean.” And on account of this title he and his successors are called by some Europeans “the Dalai (or Tale) Lama,’ though this

title is almost unknown to ycn cyA ba Se Tibetans, who call these Grand a i

Lamas “ the great gem of THe First Davart LAMa. majesty ae (Gyal-wa Rin-po- Lé-2an Gya-ts’o or Gyal-wa ha-pa.? ch’e).}

This daring Dalai Lama, high-handed and resourceful, lost no time in consolidating his rule as priest-king and the extension of his sect by the forcible appropriation of many monasteries of the other sects, and by inventing legends magnifying the powers of the Bodhisat Avalokita and posing himself as the incarnation of this divinity, the presiding Bodhisat of each world of re-birth, whom he also identified with the controller of metempsychosis, the dread Judge of the Dead before whose tribunal all mortals must appear.

Posing in this way as God-incarnate, he built® himself the huge palace-temple on the hill near Lhasa, which he called Potala, after the mythic Indian residence of his divine prototype

1 Ct. Csoma, Gi, 192 and 198; Kopp., ii., 168, 235; J.A.S.B., 1882, p. 27. 2 After Pander. 3 In 1643, Csoma, @v., p. 190

40 SPREAD OF LAMAISM.

Avalokita, ‘* The Lord who looks down from on high,” whose symbols he now invested himself with. He also tampered unsecrupu-

—— “

PoTaLa, THE PALACE OF THE DALAl LAMA, (From a native drawing.)

ously with Tibetan history in order to lend colour to his divine pretensions, and he succeeded perfectly. All the other sects of Limas acknowledged him and his successors to be of divine descent, the veritable Avalokita-in-the-flesh. And they also adopted the plan of succession by re-incarnate Lamas and by divine reflexes. As for the credulous populace, they recognized the Dalai Lima to be the rightful ruler and the existing government as a theocracy, for it flattered their vanity to have a deity incarnate as their king.

The declining years of this great Grand Lama, Nag-wan, were tro.ibled by the cares and obligations of the temporal rule, and his ambitious schemes, and by the intrigues of the Manchus, who sought the temporal sovereignty. On account of these political troubles his death was concealed for twelve years by the minister De-Si,! who is believed to have been his natural son. And the succeeding Grand Lima, the sixth, proving hopelessly dissolute, he was executed at the instigation of the Chinese government,

1 sDe-srid. Csoma’s Gran, 191; Giorer’s Alph,

ITS PRESENT-DAY DISTRIBUTION. 4]

which then assumed the suzerainty, and which has since continued to control in a general way the temporal affairs, especially its foreign policy,! and also to regulate more or less the hierarchal succession,” as will be referred to presently.

But the Ge-lug-pa sect, or the established church, going on the lines laid down for it by the fifth Grand Lima, continued to prosper, and his successors, despite the presence of a few Chinese officials, are now, each in turn, the de facto ruler of Tibet, and recognized by the Limas of all denominations as the supreme head of the Limaist church.

In its spread beyond Tibet, Limaism almost everywhere exhibits the same tendency to dominate both king and people and to repress the national life. It seems now to have ceased extending, but shows no sign of losing hold upon its votaries in Tibet.

The present day distribution of Lamaism extends through states stretching more or less continuously from the European Caucasus to near Kamschatka; and from Buriat Siberia down to Sikhim and Yun-nan. But although the area of its prevalence is so vast, the population is extremely sparse, and so little is known of their numbers over the greater part of the area that no trustworthy figures can be given in regard to the total number of professing Limaists.

The population of Tibet itself is probably not more than 4,000,000,’ but almost all of these may be classed as Limaists, for although a considerable proportion of the people in eastern Tibet are adherents of the Bon, many of these are said to patronize the Lamas as well, and the Bon religion has become assimilated in great part to un-reformed Laimaism.?

1 Thus it procured for Tibet satisfaction from the Gorkhas under Prithivi-narayan for their invasion of Western Tibet and sack of Tashi-lhunpo in 1768 (KIRKPATRICK’S alect, of Nepal, p. 268; BucHanan-HaMILTon, .Vepe/, p, 244), and the present seclusion of Tibet against Europeans is mainly due to Chinese policy.

? An interesting glimpse into the country of that period is got in the contemporary record of the friar Horace della Penna, translated into English by Markham (op. e¢t., p. 320 et seq.)

3 RockHIL1, L., p. 296, estimates it at 3,500,090.

• Though it must be remembered that Mr, Rockhill found a large tract of N.E. Tibet exclusively occupied by Bon-pa. In the north-eastern province of Gya-de, with about 50,000 people, between the Dang River and Chamdo, Mr. Rockhill found that the Bon-pa religion reigns supreme, and in order to save these people from persecution at the hands of the Lamaist Government at Lhasa, China itself supervises the administration of this province. And “all along the eastern borderland of Tibet from the

42 SPREAD OF LAMAISM.

SS

The European outpost of the Lamaist Church, situated amid the Kalmuk Tartars on the banks of the Volga, has been described in some detail by Koppen.!

After the flight of the Torgots, about 12,000 cottages of the Kalmuk Tartars still remained in Russian territory, between the Don and the Yaik. Now they number at least 20,000, and contain more than 100,000 souls, of which by far the great majority retain the Lamaist faith. Of course, since the flight, all intercourse with the priest-god at Lhasa is strictly forbidden, nor are they allowed to accept from him any orders or patents, nor to send him any ambassadors or presents. Nevertheless, he gives them secret advice by oracle and otherwise, and maintains their religious enthusiasm. Thus, even now, he exercises an important influence on his pious flock on the Volga, so that they can be considered of the Lamaist church, although the head Lama (for the Kalmuks still call their head priest “ Lima”) is sanctioned at present by the Russian government, and no longer by the Dalai Lima.

Altogether, evidently for a reason not far to seek, the number of priests has greatly increased since their connection with Lhasa has been cut off. Formerly the Dalai Lima had also on the Volga a quite disproportionate number of bondsmen or Schabinaren, whose contributions (taxes) went to Lhasa; but since the flight of the Torgots the money remains there, and the Schabinirs of the remaining Ulusse have been divided amongst the several Churulls. These clergy also would appear to have developed extraordinary zeal, for in the year 1803 it was reported that the Kalmuk priests formed atenth part of the whole population, that they perpetually enriched themselves at the expense of the people, that they meddled in everything, and received all the young men who were averse to labour at their proper calling, etc., ete.

Since 1838 the Russian government has succeeded, through the head Laima Jambo Namka, in preventing in some measure these abuses, and severer laws were issued, especially against the

Kokonor to Yun-nan, it (the Bén-pa religion) flourishes side by side with the Lamaist faith . . . . and in all the southern portions of Tibet, not under the direct rule of Lhasa, its Lamaseries may be found. So it seems that this faith obtains in over two-thirds of Tibet, and that it is popular with at least a fifth of the Tibetan-speaking tribes.” —Creographical Jour., May, 1894.

1 Op. cit., ii., 385 et seg.

ITS PRESENT-DAY DISTRIBUTION. 43

priests interfering in civil affairs; also several hundred worthless priests were expelled.

A more precise census of the Russian empire gives the number of Lamaist people at 82,000 Kirghis, and 119,162 Kalmuks ; while the Buriats in Siberia, near the Baikal lake, are estimated at about 190,000.1

Pallas 2 caleulated when he visited the Kailmuk country last century that there was one Lima to every one hundred and fifty or two hundred tents.

In China, except for a few monasteries at Pekin, etc., and these mostly of Mongol monks, the Limaist section of Chinese Buddhists seems confined to the extreme western frontier, especially the former Tibetan province of Amd6. Probably the Lamaists in China number no more than about 1,000,000.

Mongolia may be considered almost wholly Lamaist, and its population is about 2,000,000. Its Buddhism became extinct on the ex- pulsion of the race from China in 1368; and its reconversion to Lamaism did not occur till 1577, as detailed in the Mongol history by Sanang Setzen,? who was a great grandson of one of the chief agents in this movement. Some details of its history are cited in connection with the Taranitha Grand Lima in the chapter on hierarchy. The number of Limas are estimated* at 10,000 in Urgya in north Mongolia, 2,000 in Tchaitschi in south Mongolia, 2,000 in Altan Zima, and 2,000 in Kukukhotum.

Manchuria is largely Lamaist, with a population of about 3,000,000.

Ladak, to which Asoka missionaries are believed to have penetrated, is now entirely Lamaist in its form of Buddhism, and this is the popular religion. Its history is given by Cunningham? and Marx.® The population was estimated by Cunningham ‘ at 158,000 and the Lamas at 12,000, giving one Lima to thirty laity.

1 KOPPEN, Bulletin Hist. Phil. dev Acad. de St. Petersburg, ix., p. 335 ; KerrH JOHN- STON’s Atlus, p. 34. Schlagintweit says, op. cit., oP. 12, that among oe Buriats Buddhism is still extending.

2 Reisen, i., 557 (French ed.).

3 Op. cit.

• KOPPEN, 1., p. 881, chiefly based on Huc’s data.

5 Laddk, p. 357, ct. seq.

6 J.A.S.B., loc. cit.

Op. cit., p. 287.

44 SPREAD OF LAMAISM

Recent estimates place the population at about 178,000. Spiti in 1845 had a population of 1,414, and the Lamas were one hundred and ninety-three, or about one to seven.’

The vernacular history of its introduction into eastern Turkestan or Khoten (Tib., Zi-yul) has been translated by Rockhill.?

In Nepal, the number of Buddhists grows every year less under the active proselytizing Hindi influences of the Ghorka Government, which places disabilities upon professing Buddhists. But the majority of the Nepalese Buddhists are now Lamaist.

Bhotan® is wholly Lamaist, both in its religion and temporal government. Its population has been given at about 40,000 to 50,000 families, or a total of 145,200.‘ But although it is believed to be almost as priest-ridden as Sikhim, the number of its priests is estimated’ only at about 5,000, distributed in the six districts as follows : In Tassisudon 500, in Punakha also 500, in Paro 300, in Tongso also 300, in Tagna 250, and in Andipur (or Wandipur) 250, in round sum 2,000. Then come 3,000 Limas who do not reside in cloisters, but are employed as officers, making a total of 5,000, besides which there are a lot of hermits and nuns.

In regard to Sikhim, where Limaism is the state religion, I have elicited from original documents and local Lamas full details of the mode in which Limaism was introduced into that country. Some of these are worth recording as showing ina credible manner the mode in which Limaism was propagated there, and it was probably introduced in a similar manner into several of the other areas in which it is now prevalent.

The Lamas and laity of Sikhim® and Tibet implicitly believe that St. Padma-sambhava (Guru Rim-bo-ch’e), the founder of Lamaism, visited Sikhim during his journeyings in Tibet and its western borderlands; and although he left no converts and erected no buildings, he is said to have hid away in caves many holy books for the use of posterity, and to have personally consecrated every sacred spot in Sikhim.

1 Major Hay, J.4,S.B., xix., 487.

2 Life, etc., p. 230, et. seg. See also Dr. HurH’s German translation of the Hor history.

• The word is Sanskritic, and its full form is “ Bhotaxtu,” or “the end of Bhot or Tibet” (cf. Hones., Z., i. p. 30).

• PEMBERTON’S Mission, p. 151.

5 KOPPEN, ii., p. 363.

° The annexed illustration is from a photograph by Mr. Hoffmann.

IN SIKHIM., 45

The authorities for such beliefs are, however, merely the accounts given in the wotks of the patron saint of Sikhim, Lha-tsiin Ch’em-bo, and the fictitious “ hidden revelations ” of the Terténs, all of which are unreliable. And Lha-tsiin rather overdoes it by asserting that the Guru visited Sikhim a hundred times.

Sikhim seems to have been unknown to Tibetans previous to the latter half of the sixteenth century 4.p., and Lha-tsiin Ch’em-bo’s own account of his attempts to enter Sikhim testify to the prevailing ignorance in regard to it, owing to its almost impenetrable

SOME SIKHIM LAMAS.

Mongol Lama She-rab. A Kar-gyu Lama. Lama Ugyen Gya-ts’o. A Karma Lama.

mountain and icy barriers. And the Tun-yik Ser-ten, which gives the fullest account of St. Padma’s wanderings, and considered the most reliable authority, seems to make no mention of Sikhim. It is extremely improbable that the Guru ever entered Sikhim, especially as, as we have seen, he certainly did not pass through that country either when going to or returning from Tibet.

In keeping, however, with the legendary accounts of his visit, it is alleged by Sikhimite Lamas that their Lord St. Padma entered the country by the “ Lordly pass” Jo-la (Aig., Cho-la) and on the

46 SPREAD OF LAMAISM

east side of the pass is pointed out a rock on which he sat down, called Z’u-ti, or throne,! and near the pass,a spot named Sinmoz gyip-tsu,2 where he surprised a party of female devils preparing to cook their food : here are pointed out two masses of columnar rock alleged to be two of the stones of the tripod used to support the cooking-pot of these demons. And he is said to have returned to Tibet by way of the Je-lep pass, resting en route on the Ku-phu and creating the Tuko La by “tearing ” up the rock to crush an obnoxious demon.

The introduction of Limaism into Sikhim certainly dates from the time of Lha-tsiin’s arrival there about the middle of the seventeenth century A.D. By this time Limaism had become a most powerful hierarchy in Tibet, and was actively extending its creed among the Himalayan and central Asian tribes.

Three generations of Tibetan colonists from the adjoining Chumbi valley had settled on the eastern border of Sikhim, near Gang-tok. And it is highly probable that these Tibetan settlers were privy to the entry of the Lamas; as it is traditionally reported that the ancestor of that Sikhimite-Tibetan, who was promptly elected king of Sikhim, by Lha-tsiin, was a protége and kinsman of the Sakya Grand Lima. And Lha-tstin Ch’em-bo seems to have approached Sikhim vid Sakya, and his incarnations subsequently appeared in the neighbourhood of Sakya, and even now his spirit is believed to be incarnate in the body of the present Sakya Lima.

Lha-tsiin was a native of Kongbu, in the lower valley of the Tsang-po (Brahmaputra), which has a climate and physical appearance very similar to Sikhim, and teems with traces of St. Padma- sambhava, ‘‘ discovered” by celebrated Lamas, and it had been a happy hunting ground for the Tertons, or discoverers of the fictitious treatises called “ hidden revelations.” Arriving, then, in a country so like his own, and having the virgin soil of Sikhim to work upon, Lha-tstin seems to have selected the most romantic spots and clothed them in suitable legendary dress in keeping with his ingenious discovery of St. Padma’s previous visits. And to support his statements he also discovered that his own advent as the apostle of Sikhim had been foretold in detail, nine hundred years before, by the Guru himself, in the revelation entitled

1 bzugs khii. 2 Srin-mohi rgyib grsug.

IN SIKHTIM. 47

“The prophetic mirror of Sikhim.”! He seems to have been a man of considerable genius, with a lively sense of the picturesque ; and he certainly left his mark on his adopted country of Sikhim, where his name is now a household word.

The traditional account of his entry to Sikbim associates with him two other Limas, to wit, a Kar-tok-pa and a Na-dak-pa; but they play an inconspicuous part in the work of introducing Lamaism, and it is extremely doubtful whether any representative of these Nin-ma sub-sects arrived in Sikhim at so early a period.

As Lha-tsiin is so intimately identified with Sikhim Laimaism, being its de facto founder, it is desirable here to give a summary of his life as extracted from the local histories.

LIFE OF ST. LHA-TSUN, THE PATRON SAINT OF SIKHIM,

Lha-tsiin Ch’em-bo* isa title meaning “The great Reverend God.” His ordinary religious name is Awn-zan nam-gyé, or “The entirely victorious Essence of Goodness.” He is also known by the title of Lha-tsiin nam-kha Jig-med,' or “The Reverend God who fears not the sky,” with reference to his alleged power of flying. And he is sometimes called Awsho Dsog-ch’en Ch’embo, or “The great Honourable Dsog-c’en ”—Dsog-ch’en, literally “The Great End,” being the technical name for the system of mystical insight of the Nin-mapa, and Kusho means “ the honourable.”

He was born in the fire-bird year of the tenth of the sixty-year cycles, corresponding to 1595 a.v., in the district of Kongbu, in southeastern Tibet. Having spent many years in various monasteries and in travelling throughout Tibet and Sikhim, he ultimately, in the year 1648, arrived in Lhasa, and obtained such great repute by his learning that he attracted the favourable notice of Nag-wan, the greatest of the Grand Lamas, who shortly afterwards became the first Dalai Lama. Indeed, it is alleged that it was mainly through the special instruction given by Lha-tsiin to the Grand Lama that the latter was so favourably treated by the Chinese emperor and confirmed in the temporal rule of Tibet. ,

The detailed account of the saint’s meeting with the Grand Lama is worth citing in illustration of the curious mixture of the crude and the marvellous which make up the bulk of these indigenous narratives. In

1 Den-jor Lungten Sel-wai Melon.

• Chhem-bo is the Sikhimite mode of pronouncing “ Ch’en-po.” 3 Kun-bzar-rnam-rgyal.

4 tha-btsun nam mk ah jigs-med.

48 SPREAD OF LAMAISM

the year previous to that on which the fifth Grand Lama went to China, which Csoma gives! as 1649 a.p., the Grand Lama, while in his palace at Potala told his attendants, by inspiration, that a sage would that day visit him, and should be admitted to his presence. Lha-tsiin, arriving at the site now named Pargo-K’alin, immediately below Potala—the Lamaist Vatican—blew loudly a f/’alin, or trumpet of human thigh-bone ;” but the castle guard, in ignorance of who the

MENDICANT LAMA BLOWING THIGH-BONE TRUMPET,

man really was, seized him and tied him to the Dé-ring monolith in the neighbourhood, as a punishment for daring to trumpet so close to the castle. The saint, bound in this way, shook the whole hill of Potala, and so his arrival was brought to the notice of the Grand

1 Gi, p. 190. 2 The illustration is from a pho‘o by Mr. Hoffmann,

IN SIRHIM, 49

Lama, who ordered his instant release and admission. On coming into the presence of the Grand Lama he walked boldly up and struck the latter with his fist and then vomited before him, much to the astonishment of the courtier Lamas. The Saint then explained: ‘“ You are shortly going to China; on the way a great danger besets you, but my striking you has rid you of that danger. In China you will tind yourself in great peril some day; then consult this paper I now give you, and you will be relieved. My vomiting in your presence means that you will ultimately be invested with great power and riches through me.” The dilemma here prophesied was a query by the Chinese emperor regarding the “essence of the rainbow colour,” ' which quite confounded the Grand Lama, till he, remembering the episode with the Saint, consulted the paper and found full information noted therein, and having completely satisfied the emperor, he received great honour and riches. The Grand Lama, on his return from China, in gratitude for services rendered, offered Lha-tsiin much treasure, which the Saint, however, refused.

Previous to his visit to Lhasa, it is said that the Saint, accompanied by a few disciples, journeyed to the south-west of Tibet, saying: ‘‘ According to the prophecy of Guru Rim-bo-ch’e, I must go and open the northern gate of the hidden country of the rice- valley s—De-mo-jong, 10%; Sikhim, and I must develop that country religiously.” He then proceeded by way of Tashi-lhunpo and Sakya to Zar, a short distance to the north of T'ashi-rabkha near the Nepal frontier, where he then, or afterwards, founded a monastery.

He then attempted to enter Sikhim by way of Dsong-ri (Jongvi), but could find no path, and remained many days in a cave named Neem gah ts’al,’ “the very pleasant grove,” near Ka/-la nar-ma. There “ the everlasting summit of the five repositories (of snow),” the mountain god, Kai-ch’en dsé-na * transformed himself into a wild goose and conversed with the sage; and here, “according to the prophecy of Guru Rim-boch’e,” he composed” the book named “the complete Book of Worship and offerings for Kan ch’en dsé-na.°

At this time another Lama of the Kar-tok :-pa sub-sect came by Kangla Nangma searching for a path into Sikhim, and also tried without success the sPreu-gyab-tak (7.c., “ Monkey-back rock,” with reference to its semblance to a monkey sitting with hands behind back), and Dsong-ri, and the western shoulder of sKam-pa Khab-rag—a ridge of “ Kabru,” which runs down to the Rathong river. He then arrived at the cave of ‘the very pleasant grove,” and met the Saint, who told him that as he was not destined to open the northern gate, he should go round and try the western.

Then Lha-tsiin, traversing the Kangla Nangma and finding no road beyond the cave of Skam-pa Kha-bruk, flew miraculously to the upper

1 ’Dsah ts’on siti po. + mdsod-liu rtug-rtse. 2 bras-bmo-lois. 5 “ytsom” is the word used, 3 maam dgah-ts’al. ® gaas-chon mdsod-lie, mod spriv las guts-yor dsog.

E

50 SPREAD OF LAMAISM

part of “Kabru” (24,000 feet), and there blew his kang-ling, and after an absence of two weeks flew down to where his servants were collected and guided them by a road vid Dsongri to Norbu-gang, in Sikhim.

Here soon after arrived two other Nin-ma Lamas. By “ the western gate” of Single La came the Kar-tok-pa Lima above mentioned, named “The Great Soul,”? and a Lama of the Na-dak-pa sub-sect, named The Great Sage,’ who had opened ‘“ the southern gate” by way of Darjiling and Namchi respectively. The place where these three Lamas met was then called by the Lepchas Yok-sam, which means “ the three superior ones or noblemen,” a literal translation of ‘the three Lamas.”

The three Lamas held here a council at which Lha-tsiin said: “ We three Lamas are in a new and irreligious country. We must have a ‘dispenser of gifts’ (i.e, a king) to rule the country on our behalf.” Then the Na-dak-pa Lama said: “I am descended from the celebrated Tertén Na-dak Nan-rvél, who was a king; I should therefore be the king.” While the Kar-tok-pa Lama declared: ‘As I too am of royal lineage I have the right to rule.” Then Lha-tsiin said: “In the prophecy of Guru Rim-bo-ch’e it is written that four noble brothers shall meet in Sikhim and arrange for its government. We are three of these come from the north, west, and south. Towards the east, it 1s written, there is at this epoch a man named P’iin-ts’ok, a descendant of brave ancestors of Kham in Eastern Tibet. According, therefore, to the prophecy of the Guru we should invite him.” ‘Two messengers were then dispatched to search for this P’iin-ts’ok. Going towards the extreme east near Gangtok they met a man churning milk and asked him his name. He, without replying, invited them to sit down, and gave them milk to drink. After they were refreshed, he said his name was P’iin-ts’ok. He was then conducted to the Laimas, who coronated him by placing the holy water-vase on his head and anointed him with the water ; and exhorting him to rule the country religiously, they gave him Lha-tsiin’s own surname of Nam-gyé‘ and the title of “‘religious king.” P’iin-ts’ok Nam-gyé was at this time aged thirty-eight years, and he became a Lama in the same year, which is said to have been 1641 a.p.

Lha-tsiin then spent the greater part of the rest of his life in Sikhim, exploring its caves and mountain recesses, composing its Tamaist legends, and fixing sites for temples and monasteries. He first of all built a hut at Dub-de, which afterwards became the monastery of that name. And he is believed to have built rude shrines at Tashiding, Pemiongchi, and Sang-ha-ch’b-lmg; though others assert that Tashiding was first occupied by the original Na-dak-pa Lama,

In appearance Lha-tsiin is usually represented as seated on a leo-

1 Sems dpah cl’ en-po. > shytn-day.

Rig-dsin cl’en-po. * rnam-ryyal,

IN SIKHTM. : 51

pard-skin mat with the right leg hanging down and his body almost bare—one of his titles is He-ru-ha-pa, which means “unclad.” His complexion is of a dark blue hue. Otherwise he is somewhat like his prototype Guru Rim-bo-ch’e. <A chaplet of skulls encircles his brow. In his left hand is a skull eup filled with blood, and a trident topped with human heads rests in front of the left shoulder. The right hand is in a teaching attitude.

He is believed to be the incarnation of the great Indian teacher Bhima Mitra. And he himself is held to have been subsequently incarnated twice as a Sikhim Lama, the last re-incarnation being Jik mt Pa-wo, born at Ok-ja-ling near Sakya, who built the present monastery of Pemiongchi.

I cannot ascertain the place of his death or what became of his body, but he is currently reported to have died in Sikhim of fever contracted during a visit to India. The dark livid hue of his skin is said to vefor to his death from malignant fever. His chief object in visiting India was, according to a popular saying, to obtain a rare variety of ruddy leopard-skin (the sa/a leopard) which is highly prized by ascetics as a mat."

All his clothing and personal effects ave carefully treasured in Sikhim and worshipped as most sacred relics. They were all stored at Pemiongchi monastery until the Gorkha invasion of last century, when, for greater safety, most of them were taken to the remote Té- lung monastery. At Pemiongchi are kept one set of his full dress robes after the style of Guru Rim-bo-ch’e, including hat and boots, his hand-drum, bell, and dorje, and a miraculous p’urbu dagger for stabbing the demons. These objects are only shown at Pemiongchi ou special occasions to wealthy worshippers, and they are highly celebrated as a certain cure for barrenness. Couples afticted in this way, and who can afford the necessary expense, have a preliminary worship conducted in the Pemiongchi chapel,.lasting one or two days, Then the box containing the holy relics is brought forth and ceremoniously opened, and each article is placed on the heads of the suppliant pair, the ofliciating priest repeating meanwhile the charm of his own tutelary deity. Of the marvellous efticacy of this procedure numerous stories are told. And should two sons result, one of them is certainly dedicated to the Church.

Subsequent to Lha-tstin Ch’em-bo’s death in the latter end of the seventeenth century, Lamaism steadily progressed in Sikhim till latterly monks and monasteries filled the country. The list and detailed descripiton of these are given in the next chapter under the heading of Monasteries. What civilization and literature the Sikhimites now possess they owe to Lamaism, and the Lepcha alphabet too was derived from the Tibetan.

1 Sa gya-gur-tu p yin ba, don-gsuh lac pags-pa.

ia bo

SPREAD OF LAMAISM

The religions displaced by Limaism were the Pon (Bon), which is usually identified with Taouism, and the earlier animistic and fairy worship of the Lepchas, which can scarcely be called a religion. Numerous traces of both of these primitive faiths are to be found incorporated in Sikhim Limaism, which owes any special features that it possesses to the preponderance of these two elements.

Only two sects of Lamas are established in Sikhim, namely, the Nin-ma-pa and the Kar-gyu-pa as represented by the Karma-pa. There are no Duk-pa monasteries in Sikhim, nor does there seem ever to have been any.

The Limas number nearly one thousand, and are very numerous in proportion to the Buddhist population of the country. In 1840! the Lepchas and Bhotiyas of Sikhim were estimated at 3,000 and 2,000 respectively, but Mr. White, in his census of Sikhim in March, 1891, gives the population roughly as :—

Lepchas sie ae =a 5,800 Bhotiyas ae ian ae 4,700 Nepalese, etc. ... ie ... * 19,500

30,000

As the Nepalese, who are of very recent immigration, are all professing Hindiis, the Limas are now dependent on the Bhotiyas and Lepchas for support; and we thus get a proportion of one Lamaist priest to every ten or eleven of the indigenous population. But this does not represent the full priest-force of those two races, as it takes no count of the numerous devil-dancers and Lepcha priests patronized both by Bhotiyas and Lepchas.

In British Sikhim and the Nalim-pong section of British Bhotan, the Limaists numbered in the census of 1891 40,520, of which 3,657 were resident in the town of Darjiling?

There is no sign of any decrease of Laimaism in Sikhim, although large numbers of Hindtiized Nepalese have lately been introduced into the country, and the government is no longer in

1 Dr. CAMPBELL in The Oriental, p. 18. 9g

2 “Census of 1891 Rept.,” p. 47. The total Buddhists in Bengai, including a few thousands of Burmese convicts in Bengal jails, numbered 189,122.

IN SPRH TM. 53

the hands of Limas. Its Limaism is so deeply rooted that, in the absence of any actively anti-Buddhist policy such as has operated in Nepal, it is unlikely to be much affected by the recent political changes, at least for many years to come.

TASHIDING MONASTERY (in Sikhim).

TY: THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

BHE light shed by the lamp of Lamaism, like that of most other religions, has been broken into variegated fragments by the prisms of later priests.

No sects appear to have existed prior to Lan-Darma’s persecution, nor till more than a century and a half later. The sectarial movement seems to date from the Reformation started by the Indian Buddhist monk Atisa, who, as we have seen, visited Tibet in 1038 a.p.

Atisa, while clinging to Yoga and Tantrism, at once began a reformation on the lines of the purer Mahiyina system, by enforcing celibacy and high morality, and by deprecating the general practice of the diabolic arts. Perhaps the time was now ripe for the reform, as the Limas had become a large and influential body, and possessed a fairly full and scholarly translation of the bulky Mahayana Canon and its Commentaries, which taught a doctrine very different from that then practised in Tibet.

A glance at the annexed “Genealogical Tree of Limaist Sects” will show that Atisa was the only profound reformer of Laimaism.

The first of the reformed sects and the one with which Atisa most intimately identified himself was called the Kah-dam-pa,’ or ‘those bound by the orders (commandments)”; and it ultimately, three and a half centuries later, in Tson K’apa’s hands, became less ascetic and more highly ritualistic under the title of ‘“ The Virtuous Style,” Ge-lug-pa, now the dominant sect in Tibet, and the Established Church of Limaism.

1 Part of this chapter appeared in the Asiadée Quarterly for January, 1894. 2 bKah-gdams-pa.

ORIGIN OF (SHOPS,

GENEALOGICAL TREE OF LAMAIST SECTS.

Old A or-Unreformed Semi-reformed Reformed Schoo! School School NINMAPA. ae —_— : ; . 2 £ e = 3 és a 3 » os < t< ° ra ra 3 es es a a £Q (ae 22 £ ec. a Be x ; : is && kco TD sg “3 =~ wo 5 cs 2 <= ce ee & Ee < - $2 ta5 2 fs me oo ES: Sa Sz Se eon 2 ws eC wis < seo = Sin emer © sec s eg TSS . oo 3 s2> o > mis OE 8 wee SS = at =cueee = Po ee Ses = Ss 5S <-z 80 6 092 83 xc sa E-DFO Ss o rhnath u Taranatha Me cechy estzb i 1640 A.D UU He 14 a! fo,t pay, ee ao ule | TSONPBKHAPA +ounded Galildan 1407 A.D r 4 Oo z= “f d u“ 1220} JA (2) Ww Circa 1210 Cir. a if fy x y 1160 yy Circa \ 142A D \

pA & MILARASEA

ay Ninma Jer 1062 ATISHA & hi pep!) BROMTON A.D 1050

MAR

LAaAMAIS

Persecution by King angdarms 899A D0

PRIMITIVE, LAMAISM

PRIMITIVE

OCYEN Wl arrived 747 A:D

TIBE A and Tan tery BON 7 ¢ BUDDHiSm

yt

fs

56 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM,

Atisa’s chief Tibetan disciple was Dom-ton,! or “Dom Bakshi,” ” to whom he taught the mystic Mahayana and Tantrik doctrines which he himself had learned in India and Pegu. Two other noted pupils were K’u and Nak; but Dom-ton was the recognized head of the Kah-dam-pa, and he built, in 1058, the Ra-Deng® monastery to the north-east of Lhasa, which was the first limasery of the new sect, though the monastery of T’o-din,* in Pu-rang, built in 1025, is considered to have become a Kah-dampa institution by Atisa’s residence therein, Dom-ton’s successor was Potova.

The rise of the Kih-dam-pa (Ge-luwg-pa) sect was soon followed by the semi-reformed movements of Kar-gyu-pa and Sakya-pa, which were directly based in great measure on Atisa’s teaching. The founders of those two sects had been his pupils, and their new sects may be regarded as semi-reformations adapted for those individuals who found his high standard too irksome, and too free from their familiar demonolatry.

The residue who remained wholly unreformed and weakened by the loss of their Si imembers, were now called the Néii-ma-pa or “the old ones,” as they adhered to the old practices. And now, to legitimize many of their unorthodox practices which had crept into use, and to admit of further laxity, the Nin-ma-pa resorted to the fiction of Ter-nia or hidden revelations.

Just as the Indian monk Nagarjuna in order to secure an orthodox reception for his new creed had alleged that the Mahayana doctrine was entirely the composition of Sikya Muni, who had written it during lis lifetime and entrusted the volumes to the Naga demigods for preservation until men were sufficiently enlightened to comprehend so abstruse a system, so in the same way several Nin-ma Limas now began to discover new gospels, in caves and

i ’Brom-ston rGyal-wahi ’Byun-gnas.

2 Bukshé isa general term in Central Asia for those monks called in Tibetan Lob-pon, or Teacher; and it isused by Marco Polo (Yule, i, 805). Pallas says it is Mongolian for sTon, which means “ Guide,” and is applied only to the oldest and most learned priest of acommunity. But the title sTon (-pa) is usually reserved for Buddha. Yule and others believe it to be probably a corruption of © Bhlithshu,” a Buddhist mendicant monk, and Yule shows it to be used as an euuivalent for Lama by Rashiduddin, and in the Ain-i-Akbari, Possibly it is also related to the * Abassi” of Friar Odoric (Mark- HAM, p. Xlvi.). Conf. also KOPPEN, ii., 105.

3 Rea-sgren,

4 mT o-ldin.

SECTARIAN REVELATIONS.

elsewhere, which they alleged were hidden gospels of the Guru,

Saint Padma. And

these so-called “revealers,” but really the

coinposers of these Ter-iiic treatises, also alleged as a reason for their ability to discover these hidden gospels, that each of them had been, in a former birth, one or 6ther of the twenty-five disciples

of St. Padma.

Table Showing

DESCENT AND INTER-RELATIONS

OF

THE CREEDS OF THE REFORMED LAMAIST SECTS.

Prozimate Inspirer. Maitreya.

Human Teachers.

Asanga (about 500 4.D.)

through

a series

a of

a Disciples

& to.

a

=| oe

el

a)

E eer

Atisa~ OS

fantra,—rGya-ch’en spyod. Meditative Doctrine. —~

Lam-rim. (= ? Kramamarga).

[SS

Lama ’Brom-ston. '

through series of Disciples ny

Lama Tson-K’apa founder of GE-LUG-PA Sect.

Lamaist (Tibetan) Teachers,

_ Ultimate Inspirer. Adi-Buddha Vajradhara.

}

Prozimate Inspirer. Manijusri.

Human Teachers. Human Teachers,

Tilo. Nagarjuna (about 975 A.D.) (about 100 a.p.) through series l of (Naro. Disciples Died 1039 a.p.) to

Jantra—inamlen-byin-rlabs,

Vasuputra. SS Tantra,—Gambhira darsana, or the deep theory or doctrine. T., zab-mo dlta, Meditative Doctrine.—Lam-~’bras. (=? Phalamarga).

[

Mixed Tantra.—gsum- Kar-bsdus na.

Meditative Doctrine.—Mahamnudra or P’yagch’en. Lama K’ug-po-lha-btsas

Lama Mar- pa, K’on-dKon-mch’og-rgyal-po,

a pa |

founder of SASKYA-PA Sect,

Laima Dwag-po lha-rje founder of KAR-GYU-PA Sect.

These ‘‘ Revelations” treat mainly of Shamanist Bon-pa and other demoniacal rites which are permissible in Lamaist practice ;

and they prescribed the forms for such worship.

About thirty of

58 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

these revelations have been discovered; but as the number has been oracularly fixed at one hundred and eight, future contingencies are well provided for. These ‘“ Revelations,” relaxing still further the Limaist obligations, were eagerly accepted by most Limas, and they play an important part in the schisms which subsequently occurred in both old and reformed sects. Indeed, many of the sub-sects differ from their parent sects merely in having adopted a different Ter-m« work as an ordinary code of demoniacal worship.

The sectarian distinctions are of a creedal character, entailing different ritualistic and other practices, and expressed by a difference in dress and symbols. The creedal differences may be categorically classed under the heads of—

1. The personality of the primordial deity or Adi-Buddha;
2. Special source of divine inspiration ;
3. The saintly transmitters of this inspiration ;
4. Meditative doctrine or system of mystical insight ;
5. Special Tantra-revelation.

6. Personal Tutelary—a Tantrik demoniacal Buddha of Sivaist

type ; Xeligious “ Guardian ”-demon, usually of Tibetan type.

In considering the sects individually, let us look first at the sect forming the Established Church—the Ge-lug-pa—as it represents the oldest of the sects, the Kah-dam-pa, aud is the purest and most powerful of all, having now the temporal government of Tibet in its hands.

THE GE-LUG-PA SECT, OR ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

The Ge-lug-pa arose at the beginning of the fifteenth century A.D, as a regeneration of the Kah-dam-pa by Tson-K’a-pa or Lé- zan-tak-pa* or Je-Rim-po-ch’e, though he is better known to Europeans by his territorial title of Tson-K’a-pa, that is, “* Native of the Onion Country,” the district of his birth, in the province of Amdo, now within the border of China.

1 ?/Ta-wa. Skt., Dursuna.

2 bLo-bzun tuk-po (Cf. KOPPEN, ii., 18). O.M., 115; J.1.S_B., 1882, p. 58-57; PAnn., No. 41 ; HowortH, op. cit.

• He was born in 1355-57 at Kum-bum (see its photograph at page 280).

ESTABLISHED CHURCH OR GE-LUG-PA. 59

He was probably, as Huc notes,’ influenced by the Roman Catholic priests, who seem to have been settled near the place of his birth. Huc’s tradition runs that Tson K’a-pa had intercourse with a stranger from the West with a long nose and piercing eyes, who is believed to have been a Christian missionary. He studied at Zhar- Ch’un, in Amdo, and thereafter at Saskya, DiRung, and Lhasa.

aN Ose Seo Ve He wrote many ee ON books,? and most of SLIM is AZ, a a Oe

the extant sacerdotal ORS See manuals of the Gc-

lug-pa sect are attributed to him. He died (or, as is popularly believed, as- cended to Heaven *) in 1417, and was canonized as an in-

TSON-K’A-PA. carnation of Man- rGgyal-ts’ab-rje (disciple). mK'as-grub-rje (disciple).

Plies bhairava (tutelary ). A votary. jusrl (or, as some

say, Amitabha, or Vajrapini). And by the Ge-lug-pa he is considered superior even to St. Padma and Atisa, and is given the chief place in most of their temples. His image is placed above, and usually between, those of the dual Grand Lamas—the Dalai and Pan-ch’en—and, like these, he is given the title of Gyal-wa, or The Jina or Victor. His image is also worn as a charm in amulet boxes.

Tson-K’a-pa received the traditions of the Kah-dam-pa sect from the Lima Ch’os skyabs-bzan-po, the seventy-eighth abbot in succession from Dom-ton.

Unlike Atisa, Tson-K’ a-pa was an ardent proselytizer, and

1 Travels in Tartary, etc., HAzLert’s trans., ii., 48. ? Chief of which was The Gradual Way (Ldme-rim). 3 His ascenxsion is celebrated during the Lamaist festival of Lamps.

60 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

spent most of his strength in organization. He collected the scattered members of the Kah-dam-pa from their retreats, and housed them in monasteries, together with his new followers, under rigid discipline, setting them to keep the two hundred and thirty-five Vinay rules! and hence obtaining for them the title

GE-LUG-PA MONK AND ATTENDANT,

of Vinaya-keepers or “ Dul-wa Lamas.” He also made them earry a begging-bowl, anardha-chuna,”? prayet-carpet,® and wear patched robes* of a yellow colour, after the fashion of the Indian mendicant monks. And he attracted followers by instituting a

1 Including retirement during Lent for meditation, etc. 2 The z/a-gam or crescentic cope or cape.

2 yding-wa.

• dras-drubs. See detailed description at yp. 200.

ESTABLISHED CHURCH OR GE-LUG-PA. 61

highly ritualistic service, in part apparently borrowed from the Christian missionaries, who undoubtedly were settled at that time in Tson-K’a, the province of his early boyhood in Western China. He gave the hat named pdéin-ssa-sne-riii, or the ‘“Pandit’s longtailed cap”; and as it was of a yellow colour like their dress, and the old Limaist body adhered to their red hat, the new sect came to be popularly called the S’a-ser or “ Yellow-cap,” in contradistinction to the S'a-mar or “ Red-cap” and their more aboriginal Bon-pa co-religionists the S’u-nak or “ Black-caps.”}

This seems to be the origin of the sect-titles depending on the colour of the cap. The Kah-dam-pa are said to have worn red caps, and certainly the extant pictures of Atisa and other Kahdam-pa Limas give them red caps.

Tson-K’a-pa named his own monastery, which he built in 1409 about thirty miles east of Lhisa, Gah-dan? or Paradise, and it is said that his followers at first went by the name of Gah-lugpa or “ Followers of the Gah- dan fashion”; but as this name was ill-sounding it was changed to the more euphonic (e-lugpa or “ Followers of the Virtu- ous order.”

The special sectarian distinctions of the Ge-lug-pa, which represent the earlier Kah-dam-pa sect, are that this sect has the mythical Vajradhara as its Adi-Buddha; and derives its divine inspiration from Maitreya—“the coming Buddha,” through the Indian Saints ranging from Asanga down to Atisa, and through the Tibetan Saints from his disciple Brom-ton to Tson-K’a-pa (J e-Rim-po-ch’e). The Ge-lug-pa mystical insight (Ta-we) is termed the Laum-rim or “the Graded Path,” and their Tantra is the “Vast Doer” (rgya-ch’en spyod).

Weaarsateray,

VAJRA-DHARA.

1 See page 196 for pictures of the caps. ? Skt., ‘“Tushita” or the Happy place.

62 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

Its tutelary demoniacal Buddha is Vajra-bhairava (Dorje-jig-je), supported by Samvara (Dem-ch’og) and Guhya-kala (Sang-dii). And its Guardian demons are “The Six-armed Goi-po or Lord ”

«sk Beas Nou See Sigg aR Yate Dee SEG

RO UG set

Le

THE TUTELARY TAM-DIN’s * ll and the Great horse-necked Hayagriva (Tam-din), or the Red Tiger-Devil.

But, through Atisa, the Ge-lug-pa sect, as is graphically shown in the foregoing table, claims also to have received the essence of Manjusri’s doctrine, which is the leading light of the Sakya-pa sect. For Atisa is held to be an incarnation of Maiijusri, the Bodhisat. of Wisdom: which is merely a way of stating that he was the greatest embodiment of Buddhist Wisdom that ever visited Tibet. Andin the person of Atisa were also united the essentials of the Kar-gyu-pa sect by his pupilage to the Indian sage Naro.

KAR-GYU-PA SECT. 63

Thus the Ge-lug-pa sect claims that through Atisa it has received the special inspiration of Maitreya, and in addition all that is best in the special systems professed by the other two reformed sects.

The purer morality practised by the Ge-lug monks gained them general respect. So, despite their internecine feuds with the Sakya-pa and other rival sects, its Church grew in size and influence, and became a powerful hierarchy with the succession of its chief abbot based upon the theory of Re-incarnation, namely, that the spirit of the dead chief after his death is re-born in a child, who was forthwith found by oracular presage, and installed in the vacant chair. ;

Tson-K’a-pa’s nephew, Ge-dun-dub, was installed in 1439 as the first Grand Lima of the Ge-lug-pa Church, and he built the monastery of Tashi-lhunpo, in 1445, while his fellow workers Je-She-rabSen-age Gyal-Ts’ab-je and Khas-grub-je had built respectively De-p’ung (in 1414), and Se-ra (in 1417), the other great monasteries of this sect.

Under the fourth of these Grand Limas, the Ge-lug-pa Church

was vigorously struggling for supreme power and was patronized by the Mongol minister of the Chinese Government named Chong- Kar, who, coming to Lhasa as an ambassador, usurped most of the power of the then king of Tibet, and forced several of the Kar-gyu and Nin-ma monasteries to join the Ge-lug-pa sect, and to wear the yellow caps. " _ And, as we have seen in the previous chapter, the Ge-lug-pa sect in 1640, under its fifth Grand Laima, leapt into temporal power as the dominant sect in Tibet, and has ever since remained the Established Church of the country.

Since then, however, the Ge-lug-pa sect has gradually retrograded in its tenets and practice, till now, with the exception of its distinctive dress and symbols, celibacy and greater abstinence, and a slightly more restricted devil-worship, it differs little from the other Lamaist sects, which in the pride of political power it so openly despises.

THE Kar-Gyu-pa SECT. The Kar-gyu-pa, the next great reformed sect after the Ge-lugpa, was founded in the latter half of the eleventh century a.p. by

64 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

Lima Marpa? of Lha-brag, who had visited India and obtained special instructions from the Indian Pandit Atisa and his teacher P’am-thin and Naro, the janitor of Nilanda University, who never visited Tibet. But as Marpa and his successor Milara-pa, while nominally having a monastery at Gro-bu-lun and sGrub - pug -matogs, respectively, led hermit lives, the real organizer of this sect was the Kah-dam-pa Lama, Dvagpo lha-rje,? who founded the monastery of Ts’ur-lha about 1150.

The name Kar-gyu-pa? means a “follower of the successive orders,” expressive of

: : | the fact that the sect believes 7 bo |

a aes that the rulings of its later

Marpa. sages are inspired. Naro’s

teacher, the monk Tilo or Telo (about 950 a.p.)* is held to have been directly inspired by the metaphysical Buddha Vajra-dhara.

Its distinctive features are its hermit practices, meditation in caves and other retired places, and the following specialities :—

Its inspiration was attributed by their saint Tilo directly to the Adi-Buddha Vajra-dhara. Its mode of mystic insight (Ta-wa) is named Mahdmudra® or “the Great Attitude,” also called U-mahi Lam or “the Middle Path,” and its Tantra is “Sum-

1 Marpa, according to Sum-pa K’an-po’s Ch’os-’byun, was born at Gro-bu-lun po gsar, as the second son of dbAn-p'yug-od, his mother being sKal-Idan sKyd ghis. His son when riding to Talung monastery to witness a Lama’s dance was thrown down the cliff and fearfully mangled owing to his horse in a rocky defile taking fright at the flight of some rock pigeons. This scene is pictured often in Kar-gyu-pa temples. (Cf. also Panp., No. 32.)

2 Also called rJe sGam-po-Va with title mfiam-ned. He was a native of E. Tibet beyond Kongbu; died 1152, (Cf. Panp., No, 39.)

3 bKuh-braynd-pa.

4 Cf, TARA,,, 226, PAND., No. 17.

6 P’yag-rgya-ch’en usually contracted to “ ch’ag-ch’en.”

Ppa 5 ESS ea

a

oe

OM Ate FF Wea Waa as

9, Wh

‘34 CaN

LES

%

(se te , (ey

‘S

forse eel

‘i

ca Si 7 a

Ea a \

DA ss

y —

y (> ~ LPAI e

ne

Sr. MILA-R&A-PA, [Te face p. 64,

KATEGTC SECT. 65

kar-bsuds-sum.? Its tutelary demon is Samvara. Its guardian deity “The Lord of the Black Cloak.? Its hat is “the meditation hat with the cross-knees,” bearing on its front this emblem as a badge like a St. Andrew’s cross (X), and a conical centre-piece representing a cave elsewhere. And with these technicalities was associated a stricter observance of the monastic rules and discipline.

The most. popular Kar-gyu-pa saint, and one who, while founding no monastery, did more even than Marpa, to establish the sect, was Marpa’s pupil, Mila-rii-pa.? He never visited India, but led a wandering ascetic life among the mountains of Tibet, and his 100,000 songs * containing much Tibetan colouring are popular amongst all the sects of Limas, and his name is now a household word throughout Tibet.

He is pictured, as seen in the annexed illustration, as a thinlyclad ascetic almost on the Indian model, enduring great hardships of climate and exposure, and a great magician conquering many demons. His picture is surrounded by scenes illustrative of the leading events of his life.

His biography is sketched here in a footnote,® as he is a person of importance in Limaism. It is contained in a bulky volume

1 Marpa’s scripture was based upon the “ miham-len byin rlabs,” which he diluted and mixed with more mystic Tantras; hence his Tantra is called “the mixed” (zun-jug)- The so-called esoteric is the “ mdo lugs-stong-pa-nyid,” and the esoteric“ shays lugs bde ston dbyer med, which are reférved to in the chapter on Doctrine. For some technical details regarding several sects, see transl. by Sarat, /..108.4., 1883; also RAMSAY’s Dirt,

2 mGon-po bar-nag.

3 Mi-la-ras-pa or “the Cotton-clad.” (Cf. Csoma, @r., 18£; TARA., 328; Pann., No. 31.)

• glu-’bum.

5 He was born at Kya-nan-tsa in the year 1038 a.p., on the 28th day of the month, under the planet phur-bu, and named Thos-pa-dgal. His father, Mila-shes-rab-reyalmtsan, was a wealthy merchant of the Kun-po clan of Uru-chan-ch'og, and his mother was Gyan-tsa dkar-rgyan. The father died when Thos-pa-dgal (the young Mila) was only seven years old, leaving his property in his brother's charge till his son reached his majority at fifteen. This uncle, however, appropriated everything to himself, and left young Mila and his mother destitute, and even persecuted them, Young Mila’s mother, therefore, sent her son to become a Lama in order to learn the m?n-art of destroying people by soreery. So he started off for Lhun-grub grong Wan in Gun-t’on-stod, and there joined a party of monks on their way from Upper Nari to U (or Central Tibet). Passing Yag-sde, and crossing Mar-tsan, he reached T’on-lun-raga in U, and found at Yar-lun skyo-mo-Krun a learned “mt’u” teacher named Yun sTon-p’ro-rgyal, who taught him sorcery for several years, until he obtained the power to destroy his cruel uncle’s house and gear. After being instructed in the mode of compelling hailstorms, he went to Magon (or gTsanron-gi-nar), and then to Ch’os-la sgang, where he beeame a pupil of Lama Marpa, who had visited India. Here he was set many tiresome tasks by Marpa, such as building

Fr

66 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

aseribed to his disciple Riis-ch’un, and dated from the hermitage of the latter.

AFFILIATION OF SUB-SECTS OF THE KAR-GYU-PA.

FOUNDER: MARPA,

a Tibetan and Pupil of Naropa. Dells) ae

lees MILA-RA-PA. b. 1033 | dd. 1122 —. { Ras-ch’un Dorje Grags-pa, b. 1083, d,

Nam med Dvag-po-Lharje. b. d, 1152.

| ‘Karma Bakshi” Nin marey , | (Ran-’byun- LACS: 1) CL ar re Dorje or Dus-geum

in Kongbu. b,1109 | d. 1192

din found | ‘ mK hyen-pa) KAR-WA PA

: Rinch’en-p'iin- on laeere Sprul-skuis : ts’og or Bkris- dbag-bsam- | Nin ma rev., |; p lin-ts’ogs vang po, founded Nin-marey., Paudma-lin, || '"” prev. to 1166. Ralung monastery ...| Padma-lin. : DI-KUNG-PA prev. to 1150 a ae Sub-sect. Upper DUK-PA : Sub-sect. | Nag-dban-ch’os Z’abs-drun Nag- : gyalpo founded dban-rnam-rgyal, : *..sTag-glung Mon. ; Middle and Nin-ma rev., in 1179. Southern “"" Sungyus- TA-LUNG-PA (Bhotanese) din, Sub-sect. DUG-PA Sub-sect.

forts and pulling them to picces again, and the pictures of these tasks are favourite subjects for frescoes in Kar-gyu-pa monasteries. As the tasks seemed endless and Marpa still withheld instruction, the young Mila fled, taking with him the Indian saint Naropa’s six-bone ornaments and = padma-raga-rosary, which had been in Marpa’s keeping as relies ; and which young Mila obtained possession of hy the connivance of Marpa’s wife, bDag-med-ma. These relics he offered to Lama rNog-pa, who in return gave him instruction and the meditation of Gron-ldan p’ug-pa. Then Marpa recalled him and initiated him into the mysteries of the magic circles, and gave him the esoteric name of dPal-s’es-pa and the common name of Mila-rdo-rje rgyal mts’an, and set him severe ascetic exercises. Meanwhile Marpa went to India, and met the monk Naropa at the monastery of Bula-hari, and was taught *p'o-waston-jug, and returned to Tibet by ClYos-la gan. When Mila returned home, he found his mother dead, so he dwelt in a cave near by named Kan-mdsod phug. Then his uncle and aunt assaulted him on his begging excursions, but though possessing the power of destroying them, he preferred to flee from them to Brag Kar-rta-so, near Kyi-ron, where he remained in meditation for cighteen years, living solely on

THE KAR-MA-PA. 67

Mila-ri-pa’s chief pupils were Dvag-po-lha-rje,' who continued the succession of the orthodox Kar-gyu-pa doctrine, and Rich’un Dor-je Tag-pa,? who did not interest himself in organization.

The hermit-feature of this sect rendered it so unattractive, that several sub-sects soon arose which dispensed with the necessity for hermitage. Thus appeared the sub-sects Kar-ma-pa, Di-kung-pa, Ta-lung-pa, and Duk-pa (the form dominant in Bhotan), which differ from each other merely in having each adopted a different revelation from the Nin-ima sect as a code of demoniacal worship, and so relaxing the purity of the former Kar-gyu-pa practice.

These differences are shown in the foregoing table.

And the image of the particular founder of the sub-sect shares with that of their Adi-Buddha, Vajradhara, the chief place in their temples.

The Kur-ma-pa sub-sect was founded in the middle of the twelfth century by Kar-ma-pa Ran-cl’un Dor-je, also named Du-sum K’yen-po,® a pupil of the aforesaid Dvag-po-lha-rje. His monastery of S'u-Ts’ur Lha-lun,* built in 1154, at Ts’ur-p’u, about one day’s journey to the north of Lhasa beyond Sera, is still the headquarters of this, the most powerful of all the Kar-gyu-pa subseets.© This Kar-ma Lima does not appear to be identical with the famous “ Kar-ma-Bakshi,”® whose image is the central one in all Kar-ma-pa temples, for lis birth is placed by Csoma later.’ The ninth head Kar-ma-pa Lima was named dGu-pa-bar Phyug Dor-je, and was alive in 1725 A.p., when the then raja of Sikhim visited him in Tibet and was prevailed on by him to establish some Kar-ma-pa monasteries in Sikhim.

The so-called monastery, though it is only a temple, in the “ Bhotiya-basti” at Darjiling belongs to this sect.

vegetables, and performing many miracles. Then he went to Dig-ri plain, where he met Pari, the translator, and his pupils. Thereafter he went to ’Brin-yul, and afterwards to a cave in Lab-¢i-¢u-gar (? Mount Everest), where he died. His favourite god was Kuvera, the King of the Yaksha genii.

1 Also called rJe-Tsun sGam-po. See PanpeEr, No. 33. Ras-cl’un rdo-rje grags-pa, born 1083, founded Ras-ch’un p’ug monastery. Rin-’byut-rdo-rje dus-gsum-ink’yen-po, burn 1109, ordained 1124, died 1192. Ts’u-mts’ur.

It was zealously patronized by De-si Zan-po, a King of Western Tibet, with his capital at Shigatse.

6 Cf. Csoma, Gr., 186; J.A.S.B., 51, p.53; Pann. No. 39.

7 In Gram., 185, Kar-ma-Bakshi’s birth is given as 1177 a.D.

ie}

ie ae

Eve

68 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

It differs from its parent sect in having retrograded towards the Nin-ma-pa practices by adopting the Nin-ma revelation found in Kong-bo and entitled Lé-té Lin-pa,' or “ the locally revealed merit,” and some also have ’Jah-ts’on-pa. Few of the Kar-ma Lamas are celibate, and Marpa, the founder of the parent sect (Kar-gyu-pa), was married.

The next great sub-sect is the Dug-pa,? which also arose with a pupil of Mila-ri-pa’s disciple, Dvag-po. Its founder was Pag-Sam- Wang-po,? and it originated in the gNam province of Tibet. about the middle of the twelfth century, at the Ralung monastery, near Gyan-tse, in Téd or Upper Tibet. To emphasize the change the monastery was called Dug-Ralung, and a legend of the thunderdragon or Dug is related in connection therewith, and gives the sectarian title. It adopted the same revelation as the Di-kungpa, but there seems some other distinctive tenet which I have not yet elicited.

Much confusion has been caused in European books by misusing the name Dug-pa, employing it as a synonym for the ‘red-hat ” sect, which properly is the Nin-ma.

The Middle Dug-pa and the Lower Dug-pa arose soon afterwards. The Middle Dug-pa adopted the revelation of San-gyas- lin-pa. This is the form of Kar-gyu-pa which now prevails in Bhotan under the name of Lhé Dug-pu or “ Southern” Dug-pa. Its chief Laima is Z’ab-drun Nag-ban-nam-gyal,’ a pupil of Padma dkar-po” or “The omniscient white lotus,” who leaving Southern Tibet in the seventeenth century A.D.,° settled at ‘ IChags-ri ita mgo” in Bhotan, and soon displaced the Karthok-pa and other forms of Nin-ma Laimaism then existing in that country, and which are reputed to have been founded there directly by St. Padma himself, who entered Bhotan vit gZ’as-ma gan and left it by mDun tsan, and at dGon-ts’al p’u are still shown his footprints on a rock, and at. the sPa-te tak-ts’an or tiger’s den.®

1 Las-’prod-lin-pa.

2"brug-pa. It is Sanskritised in the Chronicle of Nag-wan Nam-gyal as Megha Svara or “ Cloud-voice,” thunder being regarded as the dragon’s roar.

2 dPag-bsam dban-po, who seems to be identical with, or patronized by, ’Gromgon rtsaii-pa rgyal vas, “ The Vietory-clad Patron of Animals” (? born 1160 a.D.),

4 His title is ddud-jom-rdorje, or “the Vajra which Softened the Devils.”

5 Csoma, J.A.S.B., 1832, 126.

6 According to the Than-yig sde-/na, some historic notes on the history of Lamaism in Bhotan are to be found in the book Lho-Ch’os *byun.

THE DUG-PA AND SA-KYA-PA. 69

In Bhotan the Dug-pa sect possesses the temporal as well as the spiritual power, and has suppressed all other sects there. Some details of its chief monasteries and hierarchs are given in the special chapters on these two subjects.

The Di-kwig-pa,' another large sub-sect, also originated with a pupil of Dvag-po. It takes its title from the Di-kung monastery founded by Rinch’en-p’un-ts’og and Je-spyan-sha-wa, in 1177 A.D.” Its revelation is Nin-ma the Padma-lin-pa.

The Ta-luny-pu? issued from the Di-kung-pa and takes its title from the Ta-lung monastery founded by Nag-dban-ch’os-gyalpo in 1178. They differ from their parent Di-kung-pa in admitting also the revelation work adopted by the Kar-ma-pa, namely, the Lé-t6 lin-pa.

THE Sa-KYA-PA SECT.

The last great reformed sect is the Sa-skya-pa + or Sakya, taking its name from the yellow colour of the scanty soil at the site of its first monastery in western Tibet, founded in 1071 a.p. It grew into a most powerful hierarchy, and attained for.a time the temporal sovereignty over the greater part of Tibet before it was eclipsed by its Ge-lug-pa rival.

{ts founder was K’on-dkon-mch’og rgyal-po,® a pupil of K’ugpa lha-btsas, who claimed inspiration from the celestial Bodhisat of wisdom, Manjusri, through the Indian sages ranging from Nagirjuna® to Vasuputra,’ and he mixed together the “old” and the “new” Tantras, calling his doctrine the “new-old occult mystery ’S of “The deep sight.”° Its mystic insight is called “The fruitful path.” ! Its special gospels are Nigirjuna’s Avatansaka, Vasubandhu’s Paramirtha. Its tutelary demon is Vajru

1 ’Bri-gun, 2 Csoma, Gram., 185.

• sTag-lun.

4 Sa-skya-pa, from Su-skya = “tawny earth.”

• Born 1033. Details of the sect are found in its records, The Sa-skya Viy-ts'a.

• These are given as Candra-Kirti, Rig-pahi-K’u-p’yug, Buddha ‘ dgons "-pala.

7 Yab-sras.—-Vasuputra seems a title of the great Indian monk Vasubandhu, the brother of Asanga, and the special transmitter of Nagarjuna’s purer Sautrautika doctrines, inspired by Mafijusri.

• osar-nin. zab-mo-blta—Gunbhire durscuc. mgon-po gur.

70 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

phurpa, for whose and other demonist worship it borrowed the Nin-ma books, Dorje phurpach’s ch’oga; and from the newer school were taken Dem-ch’ok, Dorje-kando, Den-z’1, Maha-mahama-yab, Sangya t’6pa, and Dorje- dutsi. Its demoniacal Guardians are “the Guardian of the Tent,” ! and “ The Face-Lord.”? Its Hat is sa-z'u. But now except in a few externals itis practically undistinguishable from the Nin- ma-pa.

The Sa-kya-pa has two reformed sub-sects, namely, the Nor-pa and the Jonan-pa. These differ from one another

ea only in founders. . AS Gr AarA” The J6-nan-po issued from the Tue Lorp (-FIEND) Gur. Sa-kya-pa in the person of Je- Kun-gah-dol-ch’og ? in the beginning of the fourteenth century. To this sect belonged the illustrious historiographer, Lima-Taranatha,

Taranatha, son of Nam-gyal P’in-ts’ogs, was born in Tsang on the Sth day of the pig-male-tree year, corresponding to 1573 A.D., and was called Kun-dgah sNyin-po,! or “The essence of happiness.” He studied in the Jonang monastery, north of Sakya under the religious name of ‘Taranaitha, and in his forty-first year built himself a monastery in the weighbourhood, which he named Tag-brten, and filled it with many images, books, and caityas. He latterly proceeded to Mongolia at the invitation of the people of that country, and founded there several monasteries under the auspices of the Chinese Emperor. He died in Mongolia, and was canonized under the title of “The Reverend Holiness,” Je-tswin dampa And his “re-incarnate” successors are now installed with great magnificence as Grand Limas at Urgya in the Kalkha

1 mGon-po gur.

2 mGon-zhal.

3’ Who seems also to be called Dol-bu sher-rgyan. Born 1290, and died 1355. 4 Skt., Anandagarbha. Another account gives the name as Sri-gcod rdorje. ° 7Je-btsun dan-pa.

' THE SA-KYA AND TARANATHA. 71

province of Mongolia, to the east of Lob-Nor. Shortly after his death, both Urgya and his old monastery—which was renamed—

A Sa-skyvA LAMA.

‘*P’un-ts’o-lin,” were forcibly converted into Ge-lug-pa institutions, by the aggressive Dalai Lima on his becoming priest-king.

The Nor-pa, founded by Kun-gah Zan-po in 1427, issued from the Sa-kya-pa at the time of Tson-K’apa. Its founder discarded the Nin-ma element in its Tantrik system, retaining only the ‘‘new.” It has many monasteries in eastern Tibet.

72 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

THE NIN-MA-PA SECTS.

The wholly unreformed section of the Lamas was, as we have seen, named Nin-ma-pa, or “the old school. It is more freely than any other tinged with the native Bon or pre-Buddhist practices ; and celibacy and abstinence are rarely practised. This

Nix-ma LAMAS.

e is the real “red-hat ” sect of Lamas, and not the Dug-pa as is stated in European books.

It regards the metaphysical Buddha Samanta-bhadra as its primordial deity or Adi-Buddha. Its mystic insight is Mahiutpanna (Dsog-cl’en) or “the great ultimate perfection.” — Its tutelaries are “ The fearful Vajra” (Vajra-“ phurba”) and Dub-pakah-gye.! Its guardian demon is “ The Lord Gur? It worships

1 sGrub-pa bkah-brgyad—the tutelary of the Guru St. Padina. 2 Gur-gon, a two-handed demon, the highest of the five “ Pal-gon.”

THE NIN-MA. 1

the Guru Padma-sambhava, the founder of Limaism, in a variety of forms, both divine and demoniacal, expressive of his different moods at different times, and also his favourite Kashmiri teacher, Sri Sinha, and the Indian teacher of the latter, Gah-rab Dorje, who derived his inspiration from the celestial Buddha, Vajrasatwa, who in turn was ae by the primordial deity, Saman- ta-bhadra Buddha.

Its peculiar red cap is named after the Guru “ Tee zu,” and with these characteristics it exhibits a greater laxity in living than any other sect of Lamas.

But even the Nin-ma-pa, too, has its sub-sects, based on the adoption of different revelations. Its chief sub-sects are the Dorje-tak-pa, Mindol- lin, Kar-tok- -pa, and Na-dak-pa, named after their respective founders or parent monastery. But their differences are very trifling.

The Dorje-tak-pa! is named after the greatest of the existent Nin-ma monasteries, to wit, Dorje-tak, near Sam-yiis. It follows the revelation “found” by a(rod-ldem in Zan-Zan Lha brag, and its chief branches seem to be at Hug-pa-glin, Tsa-ngi Lhiari zim-p’ug, and T’eg-me’og glin.

An offshoot of it is the Nah-dag-pa,” taking its name from its founder, Nah-dag, “the owner of dominion,” and of royal lineage, and represeuted in several Sikhim monasteries.

Scarcely inferior in extent and repute to the Dorje-tak-pa is the Min-dol-lin-pa,? also named after its chief monastery, Mindol-lin. Its revelation was found by bDag-ling-pa, and its chief branches are at sLe-luh, P’un-po ri-wo-ch’e. And in Sikhimn it is represented by the large Pemiongchi monastery, which until a few years ago was in the habit of sending to Min-dol-lin batches of its young monks for instruction in the higher discipline and ritual.

The Kar-tok-pa,‘ named after Lima Kar-tok, “ The understander of the precepts,” adopt the revelation of kLon-ch’en Rab-h'byun found in the lake of sGra-mdah. Its chief inonasteries are at Byan-ch’ub-glin and sDe-dge (“ Der-ge”) in the extreme east of Tibet, and the seat of a large printing establishment and township famous for its inlaid metal work.

1 ydo-rje-brag-pa. 2 wNah-bdag-pa. ® sMin-yrol Glin. + DKah-rfug-pa.

74 THE SECTS OF LAMAISM.

Lho-brag-lha-lun-pa follow the revelation of Padma-lin-pa like the Di-kung-pa sub-sect of the Kar-gyu-pa.

The Lha-tsun-pa, named after the*founder of Sikhim Limaism, adopt the revelation of Jah-ts’on-pa, found in Kong-bu, named the La-t’o-lin-pa.

THE Z’I-JED-PA.

The Z’i-jed-pa (“ the mild doer”), or passionless Ascetic, is a homeless mendicant of the Yogi class, and belonging to no sect in particular, though having most affinity with the Kar-gyu-pa. They are now almost extinct, and all are regarded as saints, who in their next birth must certainly attain Nirvana. They carry thighbone trumpets, skull-drums, etc., and in the preparation of these instruments from human bones, they are required to eat a morsel of the bone or ashred of the corpse’s skin. The founder of the order was P ‘a-dam-pa Sans-rgyas (? Jianaka- or Pita-Buddha), born at Jara Sin(d)ha, in India, his father being named brTson-’grus-goch’a and his mother Rasha. He visited Tibet, w@ Kashmir and Na-ri, about the beginning of the twelfth century a.D., his final visit being in 1112 a.p. As this order is highly esteemed in Tibet, I subjoin some details of its chief saints.!

SUMMARY OF SECTs.

It will thus be seen that Lamaist sects seem to have arisen in Tibet, for the first time, in the latter part of the eleventh century A.D., in what may be called the Limaist Reformation, about three centuries after the foundation of Limaism itself.

They arose in revolt against the depraved Limaism then prevalent, which was little else than a priestly mixture of demonolatry

1 In Tibet P’a-dam-pa taught his doctrines to Zhan-chun-glin-Pawa and bin po F’rachun-bruk, Meeting rMan gra-Serpo, of Yar-kuns, he accorapanied him to Tsang, where he gave instruction to Lama sKyo-bséd-nam, who succeeded him.

The second successor was the hermit rMa-sgom, born at Yar-stud-skyer-snar, in 1054 a.p., and forming the ;Ma order, His pupil was So-ch’un-pa, a dwarf.

The Yogini Ma-gci'g-lab-sgron, born at the southern Pl’a-druk, in 1054 A.D., was the devoted pupil of rMa.

sam, another great 7 i-jed-pa, was a pupil of dge-s’es-gra-pa, and suffering injury from a sa-ydon demon, he burned its effigy. The demon afflicted him with dropsy and leprosy ; but by his zhi-cjed rites he recovered. He died 1119 a.p,

Zanr-dgah-ldan, also a pupil of rMa, was born at Yar-stod-gtsan-z’al, in the tribe of wPshims zan. His pupils were @Nal-ston-dyah ch’un-bor, skKyog-sgom bsam-tan, K’u-sgom jo-dgah, rGya-dar-sen, and Ch’us-pa-dar brtson.

GENERAL SUMMARY. 75

and witchcraft. Abandoning the grosser charlatanism, the new sects returned to celibacy and many of the purer Mahayana rules.

In the four centuries succeeding the Reformation, various sub-sects formed, mostly as relapses towards the old familiar demonolatry.

And since the fifteenth century A.D., the several sects and subsects, while rigidly preserving their identity and exclusiveness, have drifted down towards a common level where the sectarian distinctions tend to become almost nominal.

But neither in the essentials of Limaism itself, nor in its sectarian aspects do the truly Buddhist doctrines, as taught by Naikya

Muni, play a leading part.

SasH oF CARVED HumAn BONES worn by Lamas in Necromancy. (Reduced 4, see also figure, p. 18.)

Ve THE METAPHYSICAL SOURCES OF THE DOCTRINE.

fy Buddhism is a highly philosophical religion, and Limaism, though deeply tinged with non-Buddhist beliefs, still retains much of the loftier philosophy and doctrines of Primitive Buddhism and its earlier developments, we must, in considering the metaphysical basis of the Limaist doctrine, glance at the metaphysics of Buddha himself, as well as that of the Mahfyina and the later ‘“develop- ments.” And as Buddha’s philosophy is based upon his working theory of the Universe, our subject wiil fall conveniently under the heads of (@) Buddha’s Theory of the Universe,! (0) his Metaphysics, and (c) the Metaphysics of the Limas.

However inconsistent materialism and theistic theories may appear, with a system avowedly idealistic and practically atheistic, it certainly seems that Buddha, himself a Hindi and a teacher of Hindits, did adopt the Hindtii mythology and cosmic notions current in his day, with shght modifications, which were directed merely towards depriving the gods of thei creative functions and rendering them finite and subject to death and the general law of metempsychosis.*

His siéras, or sermons, contain numerous references to these divinities, and the earliest of all authentic Buddhist records extant, namely, the Asoka edict pillars of the third century B.c., show a model Buddhist delighting in calling himself * the beloved of the Gods”; and in the Barhut Stupa of the second century Bc.

1 General mythology forms a special chapter (xv.), but it is necessary at this stage to sketch the mythology which bears directly upon the doctrinal developments.

2 Even in Brahmanic mythology the hosts of the gods, including Indra, the greatest god in Vedic times, are subject to the universal law of dissolution at the end of a Kalpa, ov cycle of time, when the Priad god-head A.U.M. becomes simple soul (Aeculdtuan).

THE BUDDITIST UNIVERSE. wm

the gods and genii are represented with functions identical with those now allotted to them in the latter-day Buddhism of both Burma and Tibet, where, as in the orthodox scriptures of both schools, the gods receive more or less worship on account of the power which they are believed to possess of bestowing temporal blessings. And the coming Buddha is believed by all Buddhists to be even now resident in the Tushita heavens of the gods.

So intimately have these mythological figures been woven into the texture of Buddism, and especially of Limaism, which peoples the world with gorgons and hydras and other dire chimeras, that without having gained a general idea of their nature and position, it is impossible to understand the allusions to them which constantly crop out in Buddhist ritesand dogma. And, indeed, many of these fantastic beliefs with their deified heroes and Natureworship are in reality petrified survivals of the archaic beliefs of our Indo-Germanic ancestors.

BUDDHIST THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE.

In sketching the Buddhist world-system, with its “ antres vast and deserts idle,” existing mostly on the map of the imagination, it. is deemed advisable, in order to avoid needless repetition, to give at once the Lamaist version, even though this is slightly more “developed” than the cosmogony of Buddha’s day; although it eannot be very different after all, for the Limaist accounts of it are in close keeping with the Barhut lithic remains, and almost identical with the versions found among the Ceylonese and other Buddhists of the south, and the Chinese and Japanese Buddhists."

This, our human, world is only one of a series (the others being fabulous) which together form a universe or chiliocosm,” of which there are many.

Each universe, set in unfathomable space, rests upon a warp and woof of “blue air” or wind, liked crossed thunderbolts (aajra), hard and imperishable as diamonds (vajr), upon which is set “the body of the waters,” upon which is a foundation of gold, on which is set the earth, from the axis of which towers up the great

Cf. also Giorei, whose figure is attached ; and summary by Burnouvg, ii., 599.

2 Skt., Sarva-loka-dhatu.

78 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

Olympus—Mt. Meru! (Su-meru, Tib., Ri-rab) 84,000 miles * high, surmounted by the heavens, and overlying the hills.

In the ocean around this central mountain, the axis of the universe, are set (see figures) the four great continental worlds with their satellites, all with bases of solid gold in the form of a tortoise as this is a familiar instance to the Hindi mind of a solid floating on the waters. And the continents are separated from Mt. Meru by seven concentric rings of golden mountains, the inmost being 40,000 miles high,’ and named “ The Yoke ” (Yugandara),* alternating with seven oceans, of fragrant milk, curds, butter, blood or sugar-cane juice, poison or wine, fresh water and salt water. These oceans diminish in width and depth from within outwards from 20,000 to 625 miles, and in the outer ocean lie the so-called continental worlds. And the whole system is girdled externally by a double iron-wall (Cakravdla) 3124 miles high and 3,602,625 miles in circumference,—for the oriental mythologist is nothing if not precise. This wall shuts out the light of the sun and moon, whose orbit is the summit of the inmost ring of mountains, along which the sun, composed of “ glazed fire” enshrined in a crystal palace, is driven ina chariot with ten (seven) horses ; and the moon, of “ glazed water,” in a silver shrine drawn by seven horses, and between these two hang¢he jewelled umbrella of royalty and the banner of victory, as shown in the figure. And inhabiting the air, on a level with these, are the eight angelic or fairy mothers. Outside the investing wall of the universe all is void and in perpetual darkness until another universe is reached.

1 Its prototype, as with the Greek Olympus, is terrestrial, namely, Mt. Kailas, 22,000ft., directly north of Lake Manasarovara in the Himalayas (cf. MARKHAM, XXiv.).

2 The 84,000 is a mathematical figure expressing multitude. The Tibetan measure is a “dpag-tshad,” which, according tu Csoma (Dret.), equals 4,000 fathoms, and hence a geographical mile, but it is used as the equivalent of the Indian unit of measure which is translated in the Ceylonese scriptures as a Yojana, 4e., a unit of about + cos, about five or six geographical miles.

• These mountains are severally named the Ox Yoke-holder, Plough-holder, Sandalholder, Pleasing Mount, Horse-car Hill, Demon or Assembly Mount, and Circle or Edge-holder.

• The names of the others are Isadara, Karavika, Sudarsana, Asvakarna, Vinayaka, and Nemindhara.

5 This ocean of milk was churned by the Bréhmanical gods for the recovery of thei, elixir vite and the thirteen precious objects. And the churning produced the beautiful goddess Lakshmi.—Compare with Aphrodite from the froth of the ocean, and the proverbial beauty of the Naga water nymphs—the Hindti: mermaids.

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THE UNIVERSE OF THE LAMAS.

80 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDITISTS.

Of the four “continents” all except “* Jambudvipa “! are fabulous. They are placed exactly one in each of the four directions, and each has a smaller satellite on either side, thus bringing the total up to twelve. And the shapes given to these continents, namely, crescentic, triangular, round, and square, are evidently symbolic of the four elements.

These continents, shown in the annexed figure, are thus described :—

On the Mast is Videha,? ov‘ vast body” (P). This is shaped like

Hees yy the crescent moon, and is white

A Fairy.3 in colour. It is 9,000 miles in

diameter, and the inhabitants are

described as tranquil and mild, and of excellent conduct, and with faces of same shape as this continent, 42. crescentic like the moon.

On the South is Jmudetp' (F), or our own world, and its centre is the Jodhi-tree at Budh Gaya. It is shaped like the shoulder-blade of a sheep, this idea being evidently suggested by the shape of the Indian peninsula which was the prototype of Jambludvipa, ws Mt. Kailfis in the Himalayas and Nv. of Tndia was that of Mt. Meru. Tt is blue in colour; and it is the smallest of all, being ouly 7.000 miles in diameter. Tlere abound riches and sin as well as virtue. The = inhabitants have faces of similar shape to that of their continent, “e., somewhat triangular.

On the West is Godhanya,’ ov “ wealth of oxen” (1), which in shape is like the sun and red in colour, Tt is 8,000 niles in diameter. Its inhabitants are extremely powerful, and (as the mame literally means, com oe action) they are believed to be specially addicted to eating cattle, and their faces are round like tire sun.

On the North is Uttara-hurn! or © northern Nurw “tribe (M), « square shape and green in colour, and the largest ef all the contine .

tT, Jambu-lin.

Lats-"pags.

• After Pander.

4 Some Lianns state that this name is derived from the Jlamabar tree ¢ Aeapenie Sigel, While others belewe that the mane 1s enon Lb Apert pe fer the ——| Jambo emitted When the werd was threwn by the weds inte the outer ocean

ba-glan spyed.

• Sera-mi-snan,

THE GODLINGS AND TITANS. 81

being 10,000 miles in diameter, Tts inhabitants are extremely fierce and noisy. They have square faces like horses; and live on trees, which supply all their wants. ‘They become tree-spir its on their death ;

and these trees afterwards emit “ bad sounds” (this is evidently, Vile many of the other legends, due to a puerile and false interpretation of the etymology of the “word).

The satellite continents resemble their parent one in shape, and each is half its size. The left satellite of Jambudvip, namely, “The oxtail-whisk continent,” is the fabulous country of the Tiadsilenas to which Padma-sambhava is beheved to have gone and to be still reigning there. And each of the latter presents towards Mount Meru one of the following divine objects respectively,’ viz., on the east (?south) the mountain of “jewels, named Amo-likha, shaped like an elephant’s head,’ and on the south, the wish-granting tree,’ on the west the w ich. granting cow,’ and on the north the self-sprung crops.’

In the very centre of this cosmic system stands “ The king of mountains,” Mount Meru, towering erect ‘like the handle of a mill-stone,” while half-way up its side is the great wishing tree,” the prototype of our “ Christmas tree,” and elie object of contention between the gods and the Titans. Meru has square sides of gold and jewels. Its eastern face is crystal (or silver), the south is sapphire or lapis lazuli (vaidiirya) stone, the west is ruby (padmaraga), and the north is gold, and it is clothed with fragrant flowers and shrubs. It has four lower compartinents before the heavens are reached. The lowest of these is inhabited by the Yaksha genii—holding wooden plates. Above this is “ the region of the wreath-holders”™ (Skt., Srag-dhard), which seems to be a title of the bird-like, or angelic winged Garudas. Above this dwell the “eternally exalted ones,** above whom are the Titans.

Tue TIrans.

The Titans (lswra*) or “ ungodly spirits.” These are pictured in the “ Wheel of Life” (at page 108), in the upper right section. Their leading trait is pride, and this is the world of re-

1 These, according to other accounts, are situate on the flanks of Meru itself. 2 The Yama rocks are on the south. * Tib., Yond-’dus-sa-gtol.

4 ’dod-'zo-i-ba. 5 ma-smos-pi lo-t'og. 6 The Ri-wo na-s‘in. 7 tag myos, here the rfa may represent © horse “—the horse-headed musicians. s T., Lha-ma-yin. G

THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

ive) bo

birth for those who, during their human career, have boasted of being more pious than their neighbours. The Titans were originally gods; but, through their pride, they were, like Satan, expelled from heaven ; hence their name, which means “not a god.”' And their position at the base of the Mount Meru is intermediate between heaven and earth.

The duration of their life is infinitely greater than the human, and they have great luxury and enjoyment ; ‘but in pride they envy the greater bliss of the gods, and die prematurely, fighting vainly against the gods for the fruits of the heavenly tree and the divine nectar.

Their region is represented in the picture, of an almost colourless atmosphere. They live in fortified houses. The ground, both inside and outside the fort, is carpeted with flowers of which the inhabitants, male and female, make the wreaths and garlands which they wear. They are dressed in silk; and when the heroes are not engaged in fighting they spend their time in all sorts of gaiety with their wives. In the right-hand corner is shown their birth from a Jotus-flower and their obtaining a wish-granting tree and cow. The rest of the picture is devoted to their misery, which consists in their hopeless struggle and fatal conflict with the gods. The commander of the forces is seen in conclave with his leaders,’ horses are being saddled and the “heroes” are arming themselves with coats of mail and weapons. Another scene shows the battle raging along the border separating their countyy from heaven, and the “general mounted with his staff as spectators in the background. The warriors of the first line are all killed or horribly mangled by the thunderbolts and adamantine weapons hurled at them by the gods. One of the weapons pues alike by gods and Titans is a spiked dise.

The ultimate fate of every Titan is to die painfully warring against the gods with whom they are in constant conflict, and they have no access to the ambrosia with which a wounded god obtains instant recovery. Another scene (see picture on page 102) depicts the womenfolk gathered round “The Reflecting Lake of Perfect Clearness ” after the departure of their lords to the battle. In this lake are mirrored forth all the doings and ultimate fate of their absent spouses, and there is also shown the region of re-birth of themselves, which is nearly always hell, owing to the passionate life which they lead j in the Asura world. And while their lovers die painful and passionate deaths, the misery of the womanfolk of this world is to look into this fascinating lake and experience the horror of such hideous spectacles. In the picture some women are shown peering into the lake, and others on the banks are giving vent to their grief.

1 Analogous to this is the common colloquial term m/?-mwa-y/n or “not a man” applied to those who lead vicious and dissolute lives. 2 Note that greatness of rank is shown in pictures by enlarged bodily dimensions,

THE HEAVENS OF THE GODS. 83

THE HEAVENS AND THE GobDs.

Above the region of the Titans, at a distance of 168,000 miles, are the bright realms of the gods. In the lowest compartment

GUARDIAN KiNG OF THE East, Yul-k’or-srun,

of the heavens are the four “great guardian kings of the

quarters” (Tib.,rgyal-c’en de-z'i; Skt., Citur-Mahdraja), namely :—

G 2

84 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

1. Dhritardshtra (Yul-k’or-srun'), the white guardian of the east, and king of the Gandharvas ° (see figure over page).

2. Viraidhaka (P’ag-kye-p6*), the green* guardian of the south, and king of the K’umbhindas* (see figure page 330).

3. Viriipiksha (Jii-mi-zan °), the red guardian of the west and king of the Nagiis’ (see figure page 289).

4, Vaisravana (Nam-t’6-srii*), the yellow guardian of the north and king of the Yakshas.® He is an especial favourite, as he is also, in another aspect, the god of Riches (see figure on page 370). Indeed, it would seem that all of the gods, even Indra (Jupiter) himself, were originally considered to be Yaksha genii.

The subjects of these kings are members of the eight great classes of supernatural beings.”

These great celestial kings guard the heavens from the attacks of the outer demons; and have to be distinguished from a more extended category of guardian gods, the ten Lokpals who guard the world from its ten directions ; namely, Indra on the east, Agni (the fire-god) on the south-east, Yama (the death-god) on the south, Rakshas (? Sura) on the south-west, Varuna (the water-god) on the west, Vayu (the wind-god) on the north-west, Yakshas on the north, Soma (the moon) on the north-east, Brahma, above ; Bhipati, below.

The Buddhists divide every universe into three regions, in imitation, apparently, of the Brahmanice Bhavanatraya, substituting for the physical categories (Bhi earth, Bhuva heaven, and Svar space) of the Brahmans, the ethical categories of Desire (Kama), Form Ripa and Formlessness (Arupa), which collectively are known as “The Three Regions” (Trailokya "), and mostly placed in heaven. They are :—

I. The region of Desire, Kamadhatu (Tib., Dod-pahi K’ams), is the lowest. of the three, and comprises the six Devalokas (Tib., Lha-Yul) or heavens of the gods, as well as the earth.

1 yul-’k’or bsrun. 6 spyan mig-bzan.

2 Dri-za “ the Small-eaters.” 7 &Lu.

3 "pags skyes-pa. % rnamt ’os sras.

4 Sometimes the colours of the North and * yNod-sbyin or “the injurers.” South Guardians are transposed. 10 See chapter on Mythology.

Grul-bum. 1. amen.”

THE HEAVENS OF BRAHMA, 85

II. The region of Form, Répadhitu (Tib., gZugs kyi k’ams) is in the purer heavens of Brihma where form is free from sensuality. It comprises the sixteen Brahmalokas ; which are divided into four regions of contemplation (dhyana).

III. The region of ForMLEssNEss, Ardpudhdtw (Tib., gZugs med-pahi k’ams) comprises the four highest of the Brahma heavens and near to Nirvana.

The heavens are thus diagrammatically shown in the furm of the funereal monument or caitya; though in other pictures, as in the foregoing chart of the universe, they form an inverted pyramid, increasing in size from below upwards.

The celestial Buddhas therein shown are, it is needless to say, additions of later days.!

Diagram of

THe HEAVENS OF THE Buppatsrs.

Heaven of ADI-LUDDHA Akanishtia ( Tib. ‘Og-min).

Heaven of JINAS (Tib, rGyal-wa).

Heavens (4) of kormless Spirits. A-RUPA, (Tib. gzhugs-med-pa).

Uusensual Heavens (16) of Bodily Forms LOWER BRAHMALOKA (Tib. gzhugs-k’ams).

Sensual Heavens (6) of the Gods. DEVALOKA (Tib. Lhahf Yul).

The Six Devalokas are in series from below upwards : —

1. Catur-mahirdjakayikas.—The abode of the four guardian kings of the quarters, already mentioned.

2. Lrayastrinsas (Tib., Sum-cu tsa sum) or “The 33.” Vedic gods with Indra or Sakra (Jupiter) or the Yaksha spirit Vajrapani as chief.

1 Compare with Mr. Hopesoy’s account (Luay. wad Lit., p. 43) of the heavens according to the Nepalese Buddhists.

86 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS,

This heaven is the svarga of Brahmanism, and is shown in the upper compartment of the Wheel of Life.

3. Yama, the Hindi Pluto, the king and judge of the dead.

4. Tushita. (Tib., dGah /dan) or “Joyful place”—the paradise of the Bodhisats prior to their final descent to the human world as Buddhas, Maitreya, the coming Buddha, dwells at present in this heaven.

5. Nirmdanarati (Tib., ’p’rul dgah).

6. Paranwmita Vasavartin (Tib., yz’an ’p’rul dban byed)—the highest of the heavens of the gods and the abode of Mara.

The Brahmaloka worlds are subject to the God Brahma, and existence ranges from intellectual tranquillity to unconsciousness. These worlds of meditation (dhyana) are accounted eighteen in number, and arranged in five groups (3, 3,3, 2, and 5) corresponding to the five-fold division of Brahma’s world, and are usually named from below upwards as follows: (1) Brahma parsadya, (2) Brahma purohita, (3) Maha Brabmana, (4) Paritabha, (5) Apramana, (6) Abhasvara, (7) Paritasubha, (8) Apramanasubha, (9) Subhakrishna, (10) Utpala, (11) Asa- fiasatya, (12) Avriha or Vrihatpala, (13) Atapa, (14) Sudasa, (15) Sudasi, (16) Punyaprasava, (17) Anabhraka, (18) Akanishtha (Tib., Og-min) or “The Highest ”—the abode of the Primordial Buddha-God, the Adi-Buddha of the Lamas, viz., Samantabhadra (T., Kuntu-zanpo). This last, together with the next subjacent Brahmaloka, are according to the Lamaists eternal, and are placed above the Ariipa Brahmalokas,

The duration of existence in each of those states is for vastly increasing periods from below upwards, till beyond the sixteenth immortality itself is reached ; and according to some of the later Buddhists, each Bodhisat must traverse each of these stages (Bhwin) before he attains Buddhahood.

The typical heaven of the gods—Indra’s paradise—is pictured in the Wheel of Life at page 108. Its atmosphere is yellow, and in it are portrayed the four states of godly birth, bliss, passion and misery and death.

Godly Birth. The god is born at once fully developed within a halo of glory from a lotus-flower,—the oriental symbol of immaterial birth and is provided with the special attributes of a god,—viz., (1) a lotusfootstool, (2) splendid dress and ornaments, (3) goddess-companions,' (4) a wish-granting tree, or pay-sam-shin (Skt., Aalpadaru)* which instantly yields any fruit or food wished for, and bends to the hand of the gatherer, its leaves yielding luscious food, its juice nectar, and its

1 Apsaras, celestial nymphs—the “ houris ” awarded to heroes. 2 The wish-grauting tree of Indra’s heaven is described in the 45th Section of the Silpa Sastra.

THE HEAVENS OF INDRA (JUPITER). 87

fruit jewels, (5) a wish-granting cow (Kdma-dhenu or Surabha *) which yields any drink wished for, (6) self-sprung crops (usually painted as Indian corn or maize), (7) in a golden stall a jewelled horse-of-foreknowledge which Pegasus-like carries his rider wherever wished, through- out the worlds of the past, present, and future, (8) a lake of perfumed nectar or ambrosia (Skt., Amrita) which is the elixir vite and the source of the divine lustre.’ Shining is a peculiarly divine attribute, and the

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HEAVENLY Birtu.

etymology of the word “divinity,” is the root Div, “to shine,” the parent of the Skt. Deva and Latin Deus.

Godly Bliss. The bliss of the gods is depicted by an assembly of bejewelled gods and goddesses basking in sensuous enjoyment in splendid palaces in the midst of a charming garden enamelled with flowers, of which they make their wreaths. Gay birds warble in the foliage, and noble animals peacefully roam together there. Amongst the quadrupeds are deer, lions, and elephants with jewelled heads. Amongst the birds are the peacock, parrot, cuckoo, and the “ Kala-pinka,” which repeats the mystic ‘Om mani padme, Him!” for the language of the gods is the

1 Images of these are sold in the Indian bazaars as toys for children, Compare this myth of the wishing-cow with the parallels related by Professor Weber in Sttzungsberichte der Kanig Preuss., Acad. zu Berlin., Xxvii., 1890.

? The cup-bearer is Dhanwantari, the Indian Ganymede,

88 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

Deva-nagari or sacred language of India. One of the blissful conditions of godly life especially dwelt upon, is that the most dainty morsels may be eaten without sense of repletion, the last morsel being as much relished as the first.

In the centre of this paradise is the great city of Belle-vue (Sudarsana), within which is the celestial palace of Vaijayanta (Amarivati) the residence of Indra (Jupiter), the king of the gods. It is invested by a wall and pierced by four gates, which are guarded by the four divine kings of the quarters. It isa three-storied building ; Indra occupying the basement, Brahma the middle, and the indigenous Tibetan war-god—the d(rra-lha —as a gross form of Mira, the god of Desire, the uppermost story. This curious perversion of the old Buddhist order of the heavens is typical of the more sordid devil-worship of the Lamas who, as victory was the chief object of the Tibetans, elevated the war-god to the highest rank in their pantheon, as did the Vikings with Odin where Thor, the thunder-god, had reigned supreme. The passionate war-god of the Tibetans is held to be superior even to the divinely meditative state of the Brahma.

War with the Titans. The gods wage war with the Titans, who, as we have seen, are constantly trying to seize some of the precious fruit of the great Vovi-dw sa-tol (Skt., Parijdtta’) tree, or “tree of the concentrated essence of earth’s products,” whose branches are in heaven, but whose roots are in their country. The climber which encircles this tree is called the Jambuti tree, and is the medium by which the quintessence of the most rare delicacies of Jambudvip are instilled into the larger tree. And the war-god directs the divine army.

To account for the high position thus given to the war-god, it is related that he owes it to the signal assistance rendered by him to the gods in opposing the Asuras.?

The misery of the gods. The god enjoys bliss for almost incalculable time; but when his merit is exhausted then his lake of

1 Identified with the beautiful Indian Coral Tree (Hrythrina Indica).

2 Tt is related that in former times the gods were defeated by the Asuras in fighting for the fruits of the great wishing-tree of Paradise; and the defeated: gods under Indra beseught gSan-bahi-sdag-po for council. This divinity advised the gods to eall to their aid the war-god dGva-/ha, and also to obtain from the depths of the central ocean the invisible armour and the nine self-created weapons, viz. :—(1) rMogehue khanuy-keugercs, «© helmet of the skeleton bones of the Garuda bird; (2) Khrab-ii-shur-Ho-rgath, the coat of mail shining like the sun; (3) Lha-khebs-rdorje-

THE HELLS. 89

nectar dries up; his wish-granting tree, cow and horse die; his splendid dress and ornaments grow dim and disappear; his palace gets dilapidated ; his flowers and garden fade; his body, no longer bathed by nectar, loses its lustre and sweats like mortals, so that his person becomes loathsome to his goddess-companions and the other gods, who shun him, and so the poor god dies miserably. If he has led a virtuous life during his existence asa god then he may be re-born in heaven, otherwise he goes to a lower region and may even be sent to hell. Buddha was born twenty times as the god Sakra or Indra (Jupiter) and four times as Brahma.”

THe Buppuist HELL.

The antithesis to heaven is hell, which with its awful lessons looms large on the horizon of the Buddhists. For according to their ethical doctrine of retribution, and in the case of the more theistic developments, their conception of God as the supreme type of right-doing, they picture him like a human judge trying and punishing the evil-doers;* although, with truly Buddhist idealism, these tortures are believed by the more philosophical Limas to be morbid creations of the individual’s own ideas, a sort of hellish nightmare. The majority of the Lamas, however, and

go-c'a, necklet; (4) Lak-hay-mt’sin-c'd-lam-lok, a weapon resisting and returning glove; (5) sWin-khebs-mdah-mts'in-kun thub, a breast-plate entirely able to withstand arrows and other weapons; (6) Piis-khebs-ites-pu-skyobs-c'ed, a knee-cap which defends against destruction; (7) Phubm-sba-dmar-gling-drug, a six-embossed shield. The nine sorts of weapons are:—(1) a 'A'or/u or spiked-disc which completely routes the enemy; (2) a dG'ra-sta or an axe which chops the enemy ; (3) a ral-gri or sword which slices the enemy; (4) a yZhu or bow which scatters the brains of the enemy; (5) a “muh” or arrow that pierces the vitals; (6) a Zhagspa or noose which ensnares the enemy; (7) a mDung or spear which pierces the hearts of the foe; (8) a Ur-rdo, a whirring sling-stone that produces the “up-p-p” sound of a thunder-dragon; and (9) a Dorje or thunder-bolt which demolishes the enemy. The story seems founded on the Brahmanical legend of Indra (Jupiter) obtaining from the sea the talismanic banner which conferred victory over his enemies; cf. Brihat Sunita, translated by Dr. Kern, J.20AUN., vi., p. 44.

The gods having obtained these weapons and armour, invited the war-god, who eame enveloped in thunder-clouds and attended by his nine sons, and receiving worship from Indra and the other gods as the price of his assistance, they assailed and utterly routed the Titans.

1 Compare Harpy, J/an, 143.

7 RD. Buddhist Birth Stories CV.

• Cf. Maine's works on Early Law.

90 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

the laity, believe in the real material character of these hells and their torture.

The Buddhist hell (Nuraha?!) is a true cnferno situated in the bowels of the human earth like Hades, and presided over by the Indian Pluto, Yama, the king and judge of the dead, who however is himself finite and periodically tortured. Every day he is forced to swallow molten metal. So, as the shade of Achilles says, “it is better to live on earth as the poorest peasant than to rule as a prince of the dead.” 2

The Great Judgment is determined solely by the person’s own deeds, and it is concretely pictured by the ordeal of scales, where the good deeds, as white pebbles, are weighed against the sins, as black counters, in balances, and the judge holds a mirror which reveals the soul in all its nakedness. ‘* Not in the heavens, not. in the midst of the sea, not if thou hidest thyself in the clefts of the mountains wilt thou find a place where thou canst escape the force resulting from thy evil actions.”° Through the six states of transinigration does the power of our actions lead us. A life in heaven awaits the good. The warders of hell drag the wicked before the king of hell, Yama, who says to them:

“ ¢Pid you not when on earth see the five divine messengers sent to warn you-—the child, the old man, the sick, the criminal suffering punishment, and the dead corpse?’ And the wicked man answers— ‘T did see them.’

“ «And didst thou not think within thyself: “I also am subject to birth, old age, and death. Let me be careful to do good works” ?’ And the wicked man answers: ‘ I did not, sire; I neglected in my folly to think of these things.’

“Then the king, Yama, pronounces his doom: ‘ These thy evil deeds are not the work of thy mother, father, relatives, friends, advisers. Thou alone hast done them all; thou alone must gather the fruit.’ And the warders of hell drag him to the place of torment, rivet him to red-hot iron, plunge him in glowing seas of blood, torture him on burning coals, and he dies not till the last residue of his guilt has been expiated.” *

Nor is hell a complete expiation of offences, for Buddha is eredited with saying, © A harsh word uttered in past times is not lost, but returns again,” and the Jitaka tales are full of incidents in illustration,

Pdmyal-kams, or “the region of torment.” Compare with Chinese version in Brats Catena, p. 6, sey. 2 Odyssey, i. 481, 3 Dhamnu-pada, 127. ' Deva-ditta-sutta, transl, by HL. OLDENBERG.

me ap hG iy SY gy = ~ Res

Bee ear

MENT AND COMPARTMENTS OF THE BUDDHIST HELL.

(From a fresco of a Wheel of Life in Tashiding Temple.)

THE GREAT JuDG

92 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

Hell is divided into numerous compartments, each with a special sort of torture devised to suit the sins to be expiated. Only eight hells are mentioned in the older Buddhist books, but the Lamas and other “northern” Buddhists describe and figure eivht hot and eight cold hells and also an outer hell (Prutyeha wcraka), through which all those escaping from hell must pass without a guide. The Brailmanical hells are multiples of seven instead of eight; some of them bear the same names as the Buddhists, but they are not systematically arranged, and as the extant lists date no earlier than Manu, about 400 A.p., they

are probably in great part borrowed from the Buddhists,! The foregoing figure? shows the

Limaist hells, but they are seen in greater detail in “ The Wheel of Life,” at page 109. At the entrance to the great hell i. on the bank of the Hindi Styx—the

Baitarani® or “three path” river— sits, according to one version, an old hag, a sort of Prosperine, who strips off the clothes from the new arrivals, and hangs them on a tree behind her.* She is 160 feet in stature, with eyes like burning wheels, and she despatches the condemned souls along their respective roads in accordance Mer Sf yw, , With tlie qudemient, but Sometime A Wl “La she delays them with endless tasks a of heaping up stones on the banks of Tae Buppuisr PRospentne. : Styx, and so prolongs their ageny. The hot hells stand in tiers, one upon another, beginning at a depth of 11,900 miles below the surface of the earth, and reach to a depth of 40,000 miles; each hell has four gates, outside

each of which are four caée-hells, thus making altogether 136 hot

hells.

T See oan artiele by M. Leon Feer, Lo enter indien,” in the Jorn! Letateper | xx. (1892), and i. (New Series 1805), for lists and description of the Dralimanist hells. ? For the tracing of whieh 1am indebted to Mr. J.C. White.

• 2° Pheescdlent queen,” ' Her picture is given trom the Japanese.

PIE TOT TPRLLS. 93

The atmosphere of the hells is of the deepest black :—

“Light was absent all. Bellowing there groan’d A noise, as of a sea in tempest torn By warring winds, the stormy blast of hell.”

DANTE, Canto v., 29. Each hell is enveloped by a wall of fire, and the horrible torments are fit to illustrate Dante’s Inferno. Indeed, it has been suggested that Dante must have seen a Buddhist picture of these hells before writing his famous classic, so remarkable is the agree- ment between them. The lictors (s’in-je) are sayage flame-en- veloped monsters with heads _ of Peet. Nowl: various animals,

and all their pincers, and other instruments of torture, are red-hot.

The following are the eight great hot hells.

1, Safjiva ' =“ again revived.” Here the wretches are cut and tom to pieces and then re-united and revived only to suffer the same process repeated ad anjinitum throughout the period spent in this hell.

‘* Because our wounds heal ever and anon Ere we appear before the fiend again.” DANTE, Canto xxviii., 36.

This restoration of the body, in order to subject it to fresh torture, is an essential part of the process in all the hells. The body when thoroughly mangled is restored and the racking torture applied afresh, so that the agony never ceases. This is the special hell for suicides, murderers, ignorant physicians who killed their patients, fraudulent trustees, and tyrants.

2. Adlasutra*= “black lines.” Here the victims are nailed down and eight or sixteen black lines drawn by the lictors along the body, which is then sawn asunder along these lines by a burning hot saw. Another

,

1 Yan-sos. * tle-nag, shag

94 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

punishment here is the especial one of the slanderer, or busy-body, who has his or her tongue enlarged and pegged out and constantly harrowed by spikes ploughing through it. To this hell are assigned those who during life were disrespectful to their parents, or to Buddha, or the priests.

3. Samhita,’ = “ concentrated oppression.” Here the guilty are

fHorgHetrt No. 3.

squeezed and crushed between animal-headed mountains, or monster iron books. This last is an especial punishment for monks, laymen and infidels who have disregarded or profaned the scriptures, and also for priests who have taken money for masses which they have not performed. Others here are pounded in iron mortars and beaten on anvils. Here are tortured thieves, those who indulged in hatred, envy, passion, the users of light weights and measures, and those who cast refuse or dead animals on the public roads.

4. Ranvava,” =“ weeping and screaming.” The torture here is to have molten iron poured down the throat. ‘Those who were prisoners, obstructed watercourses, or grumbled against the weather (/ clearly the English hell! ), or wasted food, are here tortured.

1 bsdus Sjoms. ~ nua-"bod,

THE COLD HELLS, 95

5. Muhiraurava,' =“ greater weeping and screaming.” Here they are

cooked in seething cauldrons of molten iron. This is the hell for heretics.

6. Tapana, =“ heat.” The condemned is enclosed in a red-hot fiery chamber. In this hell are punished those who roasted or baked animals for their food.

7. Prataépana,’ = “highest heat.” A three-spiked burning spear is thrust into the wretch’s body, which is then rolled up within red-hot iron plates. It is the special torture for apostates and those who reject the truth.

8. Avichi,* =‘ endless torture.” This is the most severe and longest of all the infernal torments. The guilty is perpetually kept in flames, though never consumed. This is the hell for those who have reviled Buddha, and others who have harmed or attempted to harm Lamaisin or shed the blood of a Lama or holy-man.

The Cold Hells, apparently an invention of the northern Buddhists, as cold was an idea rather foreign to the Indian mind, are situated on the edge of the universe below its encircling wall (Cakravala), They are encircled by icy mountains (see plite, page 109), and have attendants of appalling aspect, as in the hot hells. They are thus described :—

l. Arbuda,’ =“ blistered or chapped.” The torture here is constant, immersion of the naked person in ice and glacier water, under which the body becomes covered with chilblains (which torture may be compared with the curse invented by a scribe in the reign of Athelstan for anyone who should break the terms of his charters: ‘‘ May he be tortured by the bitter blasts of glaciers and the Pennine army of evil spirits.” ")

2. Virarbuda.’ The chilblains are rudely scarified, producing raw sores. -

3, dtata,’ “ Ach’u” ov “ A-ta-ta,” an exclamation of anguish beyond articulate expression—which resounds through this hell.

4. Hahava.’ A worse degree of cold in which the tongue is paralyzed and the exclamation A’yi-i or [a-ha alone possible.

5. Ahaha.” Here both jaws and teeth are spasmodically clenched through cold.

6. Utpala.'' Livid sores which become everted like blue Ut-pal flowers.

1 Nu-bod Ch'en-po. 2 Ts’a-ba.

3 Rab-tu t’sa-wa.

4 mnar-med,

5 Ch’'u-bur ch’en. Ardy sounds suspiciously like Mount Abu 1B 6 Quoted by Mr. D. W. Freshfield in J. R. @eay. S.. 1894.

7 Ch’u-bur-brol-wa.

8 A-cl’u.

» Kyi-ud,.

lo §$0-t’am-pa,.

1 Ut-pal-ltar gas-pa.

96 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

. Padma.’ The raw sores become like red Lotus-flowers. 8. Pundarika.” Raw sores where the flesh falls away from the bones like the petals of the great Lotus ; and which are continually pecked and gnawed by birds nal insects with iron beaks.

The frontier or anterior hells at the exit from the great hell are called “The near (to re-birth) cycle,”’? and are divided into four sections. The first bordering hell consists of hot suffocating ashes with foul dead bodies and all kinds of offal. Then is reached a vast quagmire, beyond which is a forest of spears and spikes, which must be traversed like the razor-bridge in Muhammadanism and in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Then sueceeds a great river of freezing water; on the further shore of which the ground is thickly set with short squat tree-trunks, each surmounted by three spiked leaves which impale the unwary grop- ing fugitives. Reference to these last two localities occurs in the ordinary litany for the dead, which says ‘“‘may his chu-wogab-med ocean become a small rivulet, and the ts’al-na-ri tree a divine wish-granting tree.”

In addition to the hot and cold hells are eighty-four thousand external hells (Ne-ts’e-wa, Skt. ? Lokantarika) situated mostly on the earth, in mountains, deserts, hot springs, and lakes.

Another state of existence, little better than that of hell, the Preta (Tib., Yi-dag) or Manes, a sort of tantalized ghoul or ghost. This world is placed above hell and below the Sitavan forest, near Rajgriha, in the modern district of Patna in Bengal.

These wretched starvelings are in constant distress througn the pangs of hunger and thirst.° This is pictured in the Wheel of

1 Padma-ltar-gas-pa.

2 Padma cl’en-po-ltar-gas pa.

fie-’k’or (=? Skt., Prateyka naraka) meaning near to re-birth.

Named utgei-kkedd (me-ma-mur gyi ‘obs) or the fiery pit, Awaapanka (Ro-myags Kyi ’dams) or quagmire of earcases, Whiradhdrdeane (spu-gri gtams ts’al) or forest of spikes, and .tsidhdracane (ral-gri loma nays-ts’al) or forest of sword-leaves,

t

• w

5 ‘Thirty-six species are described in five groups, namely : (1) py? sgribepa chan or “the foreign or gentile horrid beings,” (2) Vang-g6 sgeih-pe chan oy the Buddhist horrid beings, (3) Zus-skom-gyi sgrib-pa chan oy the eating and drinking horrid beings —these are they who on eating and drinking have the ingested material converted into lacerating weapons, (4). 0... and (5) cha-thor or free Yi-dags. ‘The latter are not confined in the Preta-prison, but are free to roam about in the human world—in graveyards. ete,,—and injure man. These are (BEAL's Catena, 67) 1, Flat-bodied; 2, Needle-mouthed . 3, Vomit-caters; 4, Filth-eaters ; 5, Mist-eaters , 6, Water-feeders ; 7, Searcely seen: 8, Spittle-feeders ; 9, Hair-eaters; 10, Blood-suckers ; 11, Notion-fecders ; 12, Flesh-

THE MANES OR PRETA, 97

Life, also in the annexed figure. This is the special torment for those who, in their earthly career, were miserly, covetous, uncharitable, or gluttonous. Jewels, food, and drink are found in plenty, but the Pretas have mouths no bigger than the eye of a needle, and gullets no thicker in diameter than a hair, through which they can never ingest a satisfying amount of

TANTALIZED SPIRITS.

food for their huge bodies. And when any food is taken it becomes burning hot, and changes in the stomach into sharp knives, saws, and other weapons, which lacerate their way out from the bowels to the surface, making large painful wounds. They are constantly crying “water, water, give water!” And the thirst is expressed in the picture by a flame which is seen to issue from their parched mouths, and whenever they attempt to touch

eaters ; 13, Incense-feeders ; 14, Fever-makers ; 15, Secret pryers ; 16, Earth lurkers ; 17, Spirit-rappers ; 18, Flame-burners ; 19, Baby-snatchers ; 20, Sea-dwellers ; 2 ee a 2, King Yama’s club-holders; 23, Starvelings ; 24, Baby-eaters ; 25, Vital-eaters : 26, Rakshas; 27, Smoke-eaters; 28, Marsh-dwellers ; 29, Wind-eaters ; 30, Ash-fecders ; 31, Poison-eaters ; 32, Desert-livers : 33, Spark-feeders; 34, Tree-dwellers; 35, Road-

dwellers; 36, Body-killers. H

98 THE UNIVERSE OF THE BUDDHISTS.

water it changes to liquid fire. Avalokita is frequently figured in the act of giving water to these Pretas to relieve their misery.

And a famous story of Buddha credits the great Maudgalyayima, the right-hand disciple of “the Blessed One,” with having descended into the Preta-world to relieve his mother. As this story, the Avalambana Sutra, dating to before the third century A.D., gives a very vivid picture of this tantalizing purgatory, and also illustrates the rites for extricating the starveling ghosts,” it

is here appended.

MAUDGALYAYANA’S DESCENT INTO THE PRETA PURGATORY.

Thus have I heard. Buddha at one time was residing in the country of Sravasti, in the garden of Jeta, the friend of the orphans. At this time Mugalan, having begun to acquire the six supernatural powers (irrdhi), desiring above all things, from a motive of piety, to deliver his father and mother, forthwith called into use his power of supernatural sight, and looking throughout the world he beheld his unhappy mother existing without food or drink in the world of Pretas (hungry ghosts), nothing but skin and bone. Mugalan, moved with filial pity, immediately presented to her his alms-bow] filled with rice. His mother then taking the bowl in her left hand, endeavoured with her right to convey the rice to her mouth, but before it came near to her lips, lo! the rice was converted into fiery ashes, so that she could not eat thereof. At the sight of this Mugalan uttered a piteous cry, and wept many tears as he bent his way to the place where Buddha was located. Arrived there, he explained what had happened, and awaited Buddha’s instruction. On this the Master opened his mouth, and said, ‘The sin which binds your mother to this unhappy fate is a very grievous one ; from it you can never by your own strength rescue her, no! nor yet all the powers of earth or heaven, men or divine beings: not all these are equal to the task of deliverance. But by assembling the priests of the ten quarters, through their spiritual energy, deliverance may be had, I will now recount to you the method of rescue from this and all similar calamities.” Then Buddha continued: ‘‘On the 15th day of the seventh month, the priests of the ten quarters being gathered together ought to present an offering for the rescue of ancestors during seven generations past, as well as those of the present generation, every kind of choice food and drink, as well as sleeping materials and beds. These should be offered up by the assembled priesthood as though the ancestors themselves were present, by which they shall obtain deliverance from the pains, and be born at once in a condition of happiness in heaven.” And, moreover, the World-honoured One

' See my “Indian Cult of Avalokita,” J. Rot. S8., p. 1, and plates ii. and iii., 1894. 2 Translated by S. Bean in The Oriental, November 6th, 1875. A dramatized version js common in China.—Cf. Les Fétes wienuellement célébrés & Emoin, J. J. M. de Groot.

HARITI, THE CANNIBAL SHE-DEVIL, 99

taught his followers certain words to be repeated at the offering of € sacrifices, by which the virtue thereof would be certainly secured.

On this Mugalan with joy accepted the instruction, and by means of this institution rescued his mother from her sufferings,

And so for all future time this means of deliverance shall be effectual for the purpose designed, as year by year the offerings are presented according to the form delivered by Buddha.

Having heard these words, Mugalan and the rest departed to their several places, with joyous hearts and glad thoughts.

Related apparently to this story is the Lamaist account of “The queen of the Pretas with the fiery mouth,” whom the Lamas identify with the celebrated Yakshini fiendess Hariti, for whom and her five hundred sons they daily reserve some of their food, relating in support of this practice the following story, evidently borrowed from the story of Hariti in the Ratnakita Sutra :~

Hariri, THe CHILD-EATING YAKSHINI, AND ‘QUEEN OF PRETAS.”

Hariti, queen of the hungry ghouls with the burning mouths, had five hundred children, whom she fed on living children. The great Buddha, “ Mohugalaputra,” coming to her dwelling, hid away Pingala, the youngest and most beloved of her sons, in his begging-bowl, unknown to the gods or demons. The mother, on her return, was drowned in sorrow at the loss of her favourite son, and in her distress appealed to the omniscient Mohugalaputra for aid to recover him. The Buddha then showed her Pingala within his bowl, yet all the efforts of Hariti and her demons failed to release him. So she besought Buddha for aid, who replied, “ You, with five hundred children, mercilessly devour the children of men whic have only two or three, yet you grieve at the loss of only one!” The Preta-queen declared that this one was the most precious of all, and she vowed that were he released she never again would devour human children. The Buddha, consenting, restored her child, and gave her the three Refuges and the five Precepts, and (say the Lamas) he promised that in future all Buddhist monks would give her a handful of their daily food.’

This practice is probably derived from the Hindi offering of food and drink to the manes of departed relatives, the Sraddha ceremonial.

Flying visits of mortals to Hades, having their parallels in

a ee ee we

1 The Japanese version of this legend and its pictorial illustration are published by Sir. A. W. Franks, F.B.S., in Jour. Soc. Antiquaries, Vol. liii., 1892. Buddha further informed her that “You were the ninth daughter of King Chia-ye at the time of Buddha Kasyapa, and performed many great and meritorious actions. But because you did not keep the precepts you received the fourm of a demon.”

(5 ee

100 METAPHYSICS.

Odysseu’s and Dante’s visits to purgatory, are found in Limaism, where they are known as De-lok, or “the ghostly returning,” and are used for stirring the people to good behaviour.

BUDDHIST METAPHYSICS.

Buddha, being a Hindi, accepted the Hindi theory of the universe and its fantastic world-system, with the modifications above indicated, and he started also with the current notions of metempsychosis and Karma as part. of his mental furniture.

According to the theory of metempsychosis, or more properly palingenesis, which was not unknown to the ancient Hellenic and even Jewish literature, and western fairy-tales,

‘The son] that rises with us, our life's star Hath had elsewhere its setting.”—WoORDSWORTH.,

Death merely alters the form, but does not break the continuity of the life, which proceeds from death to re-birth, and fresh deaths to fresh re-births in constant succession of changing states, dissolving and evolving until the breaking up of the universe after a kalpa, or almost an eternity of ages. How Buddha modified this doctrine will be referred to presently.

Karma, or the ethical doctrine of retribution, is accepted ax regards its general principle, even by such modern men of science as Huxley.” It explains all the acts and events of one’s life as

? Tibetan, las and p'rin-las.

• Professor Huxley in his lecture on Evolution and Ethics says :—

“Everyday experience familiarizes us with the facts which are grouped under the name of heredity, Every one of us bears upon him obvious marks of his parentage, perhaps of remoter relationships. More particularly the sum of tendencies to act ina certain way, Which we call * character’ is often to be traced through along series of progenitors and collaterals. So we may justly say that this ‘character, this moral and intellectual essence of a man dees veritably pass over from one fleshy tabernacle te another and does really transmigrate from generation to generation, In the newborn infant the character of the stock lies latent, and the Ego is little more than a bundle of potentialities, but, very early, these become actualities » from childhood to ave they manifest themselves in dulness or brightness, weakness or strength, vicious Hess or uprightness: and with each feature modified by confluence with another character, if by nothing else, the character passes on to its incarnation in new bodies.

“The Indian philosophers called character, as thus defined, * Karn.” It is this Karina which passed trom life te life and linked them inthe chain oat transmigrations ; and they held that it is modified in each life, not merely by contluence of parentage but by its own acts * © * ° *

“In the theory of evolution, the tendency of a germ to develop according tea

KARMA AND PALINGENESIS., 101

the results of deeds done in previous existences, and it creates a system of rewards and punishments, sinking the wicked through the lower stages of human and animal existence, and even to hell, and lifting the good to the level of mighty kings, and even to the gods.

In this way Buddha explained all the acts and events of his life, his joys and sorrows, his success and failures, his virtues and weaknesses, ax results of things done by him in previous states of life, which he recalled to mind as oceasion arose for teaching purposes. And thus those anecdotes of the antecedent lives of the Buddha, —the so-called “ Jataka tales”—with the moral lessons derived from them, came to be among the most cherished items of ‘Buddhist belief.

The various regions of re-birth or “ways” of life, the so-called Gati,” are pictorially represented in the accompanying drawing called “Tie Wheel of Life.” They are given as six (or five, as with the primitive Buddhists when the 7%tuns were not separately represented), and are thus enumerated in the order of their superiority :—

Ist. The Gods (Sura or Deva, Tibetan, Lha).

2nd. Titans (Asura, T., Lha-ma-yin).

3rd. Man (Nara, T., Mi).

4th. Beasts (Tiryak, T., Du-d6°).

5th. Tantalized Ghosts (Preta, T., Yi-dvag).

6th. Hell (Naraka, T., Nal-k’am).

Bournouf * writing from Chinese and Ceylonese sources, classes man above the Titans, but the order now given is that adopted by

certain specific type, ey., of the kidney-bean seed to grow into a plant having all the characters of Phaseolus vudgarts, is its ‘Karma.’ It is the ‘last inheritor and the last result of all the conditions that have effected a line of ancestry which goes back for many millions of years to the time when life first appeared on earth. As Professor Rhys Davids aptly says, the snowdrop ‘is a snowdrop and not an oak, and just that kind of a snowdrop, beeause it is the outcome of the Karma of an endless series of past existences.” ”

' Buddha's births are usually numbered at 550, of which the latter and more important are called “the Great Births.” For list of different forms of existence aseribed to Buddha in his previous births see Ruys Davips’ Jiteku Tales. Cf. also Cowet’s edition of the Jatakas translated from the Pali, and Ratsrox’s Tales from the Tibetan.

26skt., Gti; Tib., gro-bahi rigs.” * Literally * the bent goers.”

• Lotus de la bonne Lot, p. 377.

102 METAPHYSICS.

Existence in the first three worlds is considered superior or good, and in the last three inferior or bad. And these

the Limas.}

(ae HUMAN \ / WORLD og Labour hy : ani _ Sweat ofProw i o “ caw ie a Traders Govern, - _ Drenikeness 2 | Gouge | Tillage last ce-s Vonttort Lue Birth

oe The Fortane-MirrorLe) & ets rrusery

-dsuraé Burth

Wy ae GHOSTS

The Roman nunerads nrdicote Ue Nubinies The untericr Comparbnents are nusnberta agi the ter:

Key TO WHEEL OF LIFE, (See p. 109.)

worlds are shown in this relation in the picture, the highest being heaven, and the lowest hell.

The six regions of re-birth are shown in the middle whorl.

1 Conf., Harvy’s Mux. of Buddhism, p. 37. The Lamaist account is contained in the

mhon-pa-1_ wdsod,” translated by Lotsawa Bande-dpal tsegs from the work of the Indian Pandit Vasubandhuy, etc.

REGIONS OF RE-BIRTH. 103

They are demarcated from each other by rainbow-coloured cordons representing the atmospheric zones that separate the different worlds. No place is allotted to the other phases of existence believed in by the Limas, namely, the everlasting existence in the western paradise of Sukhdvati and of the celestial Buddhas and demoniacal protectors of Lamaism, and the expressed absence of such expressions of the current modern beliefs favours the claim of this picture to considerable antiquity.

Of these six states all have already been a, except the third and fourth, namely, the state of being a man ora beast, a reference to the Buddhist conception of which is necessary to understand the picture of The Wheel of Life.

The most pessimistic view is of course taken of human life, It is made to be almost unalloyed misery, its striving, it perennially unsatisfied desire, its sensations of heat and cold, thirst and hunger, depression even by surfeiting with food, anxiety of the poor for their daily bread, of the farmer for his crops and cattle, unfulfilled desires, separation from relatives, subjection to temporal laws, infirmities of old age and disease, and accidents are amongst the chief miseries referred to. The miseries of human existence are classed into eight sections, viz.: The miseries of (1) birth; (2) old age; (3) sickness; (4) death; (5) ungratified wishes and’ struggle for existence ; (6) misfortunes and punishments for lawbreaking ; (7) sepavation from relatives and cherished objects; (8) offensive objects and sensations.

In the picture the following phases of life are depicted amongst others :—

Ist. Birth in a cottage.

2nd. Children at play.

3rd. Manhood, village scenes, people drinking wine under shade of a tree,a man playing a flute, women spinning and weaving, a borrower, two traders, a drunken man.

4th. Labour by sweat of brow, men tilling a field, gathering fuel in a forest, carrying a heavy load.

oth. Accident, a man and horse falling into a river.

6th. Crime, two men fighting, one under trial before the judge, and one undergoing corporal punishment.

7th. Temporal government: the king and his ministers.

104. METAPHYSICS,

8th. Old age—decrepit old people. 9th. Disease, a physician feeling the pulse of a patient. 10th. Death, a corpse with a Lima feeling whether breath be extinct, and a Lima at the head doing worship, and a woman and other relatives weeping.

11th. Funeral ceremonies. A corpse being carried off to the

funeral pyre on the top of a hill, preceded by a Lima blowing a thigh-bone trumpet and rattling a hand drum: he also has hold of the end of a white scarf which is affixed to the corpse. The object of this scarf is to guide the soul by the white path to the pyre so that it may be disposed of in the orthodox manner, and have the best chance of a good re-birth, and may not stray and get caught by outside demons. Behind the corpsebearer is a porter with food and drink offerings, and last of all a mourning relative.

12th. Religion is represented by a temple placed above all other

habitations with a Lima and monk performing worship ; and a hermit in his cell with bell, vajra-sceptre, and thigh-bone trumpet; and a stupa or caitya (chorten) cireumambulated by a devotee.

The state of the beasts is one of greater misery even than the human. In the picture are shown land and aquatic animals of various kinds devouring one another, the larger preying on the small; and also small ones combining to catch and kill the larger ones. Human hunters also are setting nets for, and others are shooting game. Domestic animals are shown laden with burdens, or ploughing and being goaded ; some are being milked and shorn of their wool, others are being branded or castrated or having their nostrils bored, others killed for their flesh or skin, ete. All are suffering great misery through the anxiety and pains of preying or being preyed upon. In the water is shown a Naga or merman’s house, with its inmates in grief at being preyed upon by the Garuda, a monster bird, like the fabled voc, which by the rush of air from its wings cleaves the sea to its depths in its search for Vagus.

We are now in a position to consider Buddha’s conception of Human Life—

BUDDHAS THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE. 105

BuppHA’s CONCEPTION OF THE CAUSE OF LIFE AND OF MISERY.!

Apart. from its importance as an illustration of the earlier intellectual life of humanity, the Buddhist ontology, the most won- derful, perhaps, the world has seen, possesses a paramount interest for all who would arrive at a right understanding of the religion and ethics with which it is associated.

Buddha formulated his view of life into a twelve-linked closed chain called “the Wheel of Life or of ‘Becoming’” (Bhavacakra), or the Causal Nexus (Pratitya Samutpada); which he is represented, in the Vinaya scripture itself, to have thouglit out under the Tree of Wisdom.” The way in which the narrative is couched, leads, indeed, to the impression that it was precisely the insight into this “ Wheel of Life” which constituted his Buddhahood, and distinguished him from the other Arhats. However this may be, he gave it a very leading place in his philosophy, so that the stanza recounting its utterance, Ye dharma hetu,® etc., termed by English writers “ The Buddhist Creed,” is the most frequent of all Buddhist inscriptions, and was certainly in olden days familiar to every lay Buddhist ; and it is practically identical with “The four noble Truths,” omitting only the initial expression of *‘ suffering.” 4

1 The bulk of this article appeared in the J.R. A.S. (1894), pp. 367, ete. 2 Vinaya Texts, Vol. i., pp. 74-84. 3 “ Of all objects which proceed from a Cause The Tathagatha has explained the cause, And he has explained their cessation also ; This is the doctrine of the great Samaza.” Vinaya Texts, i., 146.

4 This famous stanza, says Professor Ruys Davins (Vinuwyu Texts, i. 146), doubtless alludes to the formula of the twelve Nidanas. “The Chain of Causation, or the doctrine of the twelve Nidanas (causes of existence) contains, as has often been observed in a more developed form, an answer to the same problem to which the second and third of the four Noble Truths (Ariya Sacca) also try to give a solution, viz., the problem of the origin and destruction of suffering. The Noble Truths simply reduce the origin of suffering to thirst or desire (Tazha) in its threefold form, thirst for pleasure, thirst for existence, thirst for prosperity (see i., 6,20). In the system of the twelve nidanas Thirst also has found its place among the causes of suffering, but it is not considered as the immediate cause. A concatenation of other categories is inserted between taxha andits ultimate cffect ; and,onthe other hand, the investigation of causes is carried on further beyond tazha. The question is here asked, what does taxha come from ? and thus the series of causes and effects is led back to Aviad (Ignorance) as its deepest root. We may add that the redacturs of the Pitakas who. of course, could not but observe this parallelity between the second and third Ariya Saccas and the

106 METAPHYSICS,

Yet though this chain forms the chief corner-stone of Buddhism, it is remarkable that scarcely any two European scholars are agreed upon the exact nature and signification of some of its chief links, while the sequence of several links is deemed selfcontradictory and impossible; and even the alleged continuity of the whole is doubted. The best western authorities who have attempted its interpretation, Childers! and Prof. H. Oldenberg, have practically given up the problem in despair; the latter exclaiming, “it is utterly impossible for anyone who seeks to find out its meaning, to trace from beginning to end a connected meaning in this formula.” 2

Such conflict of opinion in regard to this “ chain” is mainly due to the circumstance that no commentary on its subtle formula has ever been published ; and that the only means hitherto available for its interpretation have been the ambiguous Pali and San- skrit terminology for the links themselves. Thus, for one only of these links, namely, Sanskara, the following are some of the many renderings which have been attempted :—

“Constructing, preparing, perfecting, embellishing, aggregation ; matter; Aarma, the Skandhas.—(‘As a technical term, Sankdro has several decided shades of meaning . . . in fact, Sankharo includes everything of which impermanence may be predicated, or, what is the same thing, everything which springs from a cause ’—Childers.) ° Les Concepts.—(Burnouf)*; Composition notion (Csoma); Willen (Schmidt) ; Discrimination ’ (Hardy) ; ; Les idées (Foucaux)’; Tendencies, potentialities, confections (Rhys Davids) ;° Gestaltungen : shapes and forms (H. Oldenberg) ; Conformations (W. Hoey).

This bewildering obscurity of its terminology has somewhat

system of the twelve Nidanas go so far in one instance (Anguttara Nikaya, Tika Nipata, fol. se of the Phayre MS.) as to directly replace in giving the text of the four Ariya Saccas the second and third of these by the twelve Nidanas in direct and reverse order respectively.”— Vinaya Texts, i., 75.

1 CoLEBROOKE’S Mis. Essays 2nd ed., ii., 453 seq.

2 Buddha, vetc., Eng. trans, by Dr. W. Hovy, p. 226. Recently Mr. H.C. Ww arren, of Cambridge, Mass. (Proc. Americun Oriental Society, Ap. 6-8, 1898, p. xxvii), has advocated a looser meaning for the word pacceya, usually translated “ cause,” without, however, getting rid of the more serious difliculties which beset the interpretation of the chain.

3 Pdli Dict., p. 453.

• Pp. 503.

5 These last four authors are quoted through KopPEn, i., 604.

6 Buddhism, p. 91, where the fifty-two divisions are enumerated.

BUDDHAS SUBTLE CONCEPTION OF LIFE. 107

displaced the chain from its due prominence in the European books on the system, notwithstanding the importance claimed for it by Buddhists.

Now I have lately discovered among the frescoes of the ancient Buddhist caves of Ajanta, in central India, a picture, over thirteen centuries old, which supplies a valuable commentary on this subject. It portrays in concrete form those metaphysical conceptions —the so-called Nidadna—which, in their Pali and Sanskrit terminology, have proved so puzzling to European scholars. And, as this picture, supplemented by its Tibetan versions and its detailed explanation as given me by learned Limas, who are thoroughly familiar with it, and possess its traditional interpretation, affords a clue to much that is imperfectly understood, and helps to settle disputed points of fundamental importance, these advantages seem to justify my bringing it to notice, and may also, I hope, justify my attempt, however crude, at exhibiting its continuity as a complete authentic account of human life from the absolute stand- point of the earliest Buddhist philosophy.

One important result of this new interpretation of the ancient formula will be to show that it seems to possess more in common with modern philosophic methods and speculations than is usually suspected. Indeed, it would scarcely be going too far to say that at a period before the epoch of Alexander the Great, in the valley of the Ganges, and at a time when writing was still unknown in India, an Indian anchorite evolved in the main by private study and meditation an ontological system which, while having much in common with the philosophy of Plato and of Kant,? and the most profound and celebrated speculations of modern times (such as those of Bishop Berkeley, and Schopenhauer, and Hartmann), yet far surpassed these in elaborateness. And as this bold system formed the basis of Buddhist ethics, its formulas came to be represented for teaching purposes in concrete pictorial form in the vestibules of the Indian monasteries and temples, as they still are in Tibet and China; and although the impermanence of the

1 As current in medieval Indian Buddhism.

2 Buddha seems to have propounded the same truth which Plato and latterly Kant were never tired of repeating, that “this world which appears to the senses has no true Being, but only ceaseless Becoming ; it is and it is not, and its comprehension is not s9 much knowledge as illusion.”

THE PICTORIAL WHEEL OF LIFE. 109

The Tibetan form of the picture! here given should be studied with its Key (p. 102). It is a dise or wheel, symbolizing the endless cycle of Life (samsara), of which each re-birth is a revolution. The wheel is held in the clutches of a monster, who represents the hideousness of the Clinging to Life. The broad tire is occupied by the Causal Nexus, and the nave by the three vices or delusions, ‘“ The Daughters of Desire,” the three vices—Raga, Dvesa, Moha. Lust, ill-will, stupidity, which lie at the core of re-birth, and are figured here, as in the other Indian picture on page 6, as a dove, serpent, and pig, appropriately coloured red, green, and black; while the body of the wheel, which is considered to be in continuous revolution, is filled with pictorial details of Life in its. several forms, or “The Whirling on the Wheel” of Life. And outside the wheel is a figure of Buddha, showing that he has escaped from the cycle, to which he is represented as pointing the way of escape.

The ancient conception of Life under the figure of a wheel of which each re-birth is a revolution is not confined to Buddhism and Brihmanism. This fancy finds an echo more than once in Hellenic literature.”

1 Skt., Bhavacakramudra ; T., Srid-pahi 'K’or-lohi p’yag-rgya, or shortly ‘‘ Si-pa K’or- 16.” The Tibetan form of the picture is of two styles, the “old” and ‘“‘new.” The latter is given in the attached plate, and it differs from the “old” only in the introduction of a figure of Avalokita or the God of Mercy, in the form of a Sage or Muni, into each of the six worlds of re-birth, and in one or two different pictorial symbols for the causes of re-birth.

2 Cf. note by Prof. C. Bendall on “ Platonic Teaching in Ancient India.’ —4 theneum, 10th January, 1891. Mrs. Rhys Davids, commenting on my article (J. R.A.S., 1894, p. 888), writes: “In the Orphic theogony we come across the notion of re-birth considered as a weary unending cycle of fate or necessity—KvKAos Tijs yevésews, 6 Tis molpas tpoxds, etc.—from which the soul longs to escape, and entreats the gods, especially Dionysos (Aidyvugos Avatar G5) Avoiov), for release,—KUKAov Te A~a Kal avamvedoa kaxoTnTos. Inthe verses inscribed on one of three golden funereal tablets dug up near the site of Sybaris the line occurs: ‘And thus I escaped from the cycle, the painful, misery-laden’ (/iser. gr. Sicel. et Stal. 641). These allusions may be referred to at second-hand in Herr Erwin Rohde’s study of Hellenic ideas respecting the soul and immortality, entitled Psyche (4to. Halfte, pp. 416 et seg.; 509), recently completed. Pindar, Empedocles, and Plato, as is well known, all entertained the notion of repeated re-birth in this world at intervals ranging from nine to one thousand years, repeated twice, thrice, or an indefinite number of times, and, according to the two latter writers, often including in its phases incarnation as an animal, or even as a vegetable. And throughout there rans the Orphic ideas of each re-birth being a stage ina course of moral evolution and effort after purification. But I do not know whether the actual image of the wheel occurs in other instances besides those I have quoted. Empedocles,

110 METAPHYSICS.

In the pictorial diagram of human life, as conceived by Buddhist philosophy, the causal nexus begins at the left-hand side of the top partition. The twelve links round the rim follow in the usual order and in evolutionary fashion as follows :—

CausaAL CATEGORY. EVOLUTIONARY SPaGE. SANSKRIT. I. Unconscious Will | Avidya Stage of passing from Death to Re-birth. If. Conformations Sarnshkara | Shaping of formless physical and mental materials (in the Gata). III. Consciousness Vijitina Rise of Conscious Experience. IV. Self-consciousness | Nama-rupa Rise of Individuality—distine-

tion between self and not-self. V. Sense - surfaces and!

Understanding Chaddayatana Realizes possession of Sense- Surfaces and Understanding with reference to outside

world. VI. Contact | Sparsa Exercise of Sense-organs on outer world. VII. Feeling Vedana Mental and physical sensations. VIII. Desire Trishna Desire, as experience of pain or delusive pleasure. IX. Indulgence Updadéana Grasping greed, as satisfying

Desire, inducing clinging to Worldly Wealth and desire of heir to it.

X. Fuller Life Bhava | Life in fuller form, as enriched by satisfying desire of married life and as means of obtaining

heir.

XI. Birth (of heir) Jati Maturity by birth of heir (which affords re-birth to another spirit).

XII. Decay and Death. | Jaramarana Maturity leads to Decay and to Death. I. Unconscious Will. | Avidya Passing from Death to Re-birth.

The key-note to Buddha’s system is that Life in any form must necessarily, and not merely accidentally, be accompanied by suffer-

for instance sees rather a toilsome road or roads of life—dpyadéas Bidroto KerevOous. With Plato, again, we more readily associate his simile of a re-birth as a fall of the soul from heaven to earth, as it drives its chariot after the procession of the gods, through the steed of Epithumia being dragged down by its craving for carnal things —or, as the Buddhist might say, the steed of Chandarago overcome by Upadana for the skandhas.

“The question of a genetic connection between oriental and Hellenic notions as to re-birth is of the greatest interest. Prof. Leopold von Schreeder’s opinion that such a connection exists (Pythagoras und die Inder, especially pp. 25-31) seems on the whele to be well founded.”

THE WHEEL OF LIFE. ile

ing as others had taught. Anityan Duhkham Andtmakam !* All is transitory, painful, and unreal !

Buddha, therefore, set himself the task of solving the mystery of Life in order to find the way of escape from continual Becomings, which was clearly involved in misery. Being a Hindu, he adopted the then, as now, current Hindu notion of metempsychosis or palingenesis, the doctrine, namely, that death merely alters the form, but does not break the continuity of life? which proceeds from Death to Re-birth, and fresh Deaths to fresh Rebirths in constant succession of changing states dissolving and evolving until the breaking up of the universe after a Kalpa, or almost an eternity of countless ages; though it would appear probable that Buddha and the primitive Buddhists denied the real existence of the material and physical world as well as the vital.

In his ontological scheme, while adopting an agnostic attitude towards the Hindi gods and their creative functions, Buddha does not begin by attempting to account for the first life. He accepts the world as a working system on metempsychological lines, and he evades the necessity for a supernatural creator by interpreting the Universe, as Will and Idea, and by placing the Karma or ethical doctrine of retribution in the position of the Supernatural Controlling Intelligence or Creator. Perceiving the relativity of knowledge and that nature furnishes presumptive evidence that some evolution has taken place in her methods, he throws his theory of the vital process into a synthetical or developmental form, showing a gradual transition from the simple to the complex, and proceeding from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous by an ever-changing cosmic order in which everything is dominated by causality.

The starting point in Buddha’s theory of Life is the connecting link between the old life and the new. Unfortunately, however, even on so elementary a point as this, there exists no consensus of opinion as to what Buddha’s view of this link precisely was, for he concerned himself less with the metaphysical aspects of his philosophy than with the practical alleviation and removal of

1 Pali, Aniccuom Dukham Anattam; in Tibetan, Mi-rtag-pa sdug-bsnal-ba, bdagmed-ba. 2 But see hereafter.

112 METAPHYSICS,

sorrow. He expressly avoided the use of the term “Soul” (Atman), as this word was already in use in Brahmanism with the implication of supernatural and theistic creation. Some say that he taught there is no continuity between the old life and the new, that the Karna attaches itself to any spirit which may chance to be re-born at the time of the person’s death. But if this be so, where is the justice of the Karma doctrine? It is said by some that the sole-surviving thing is Karma, yet this term is used so elastically as to include products which belong rather to the category of the Will-to-live. Others say that Vijndne, or consciousness alone, survives; and so on.!

The view adopted in this paper is based upon that held by one of the Limas who explained to me the pictorial Niddnas; and it has the advantages of being not only intelligible, but consistent, and seems as reasonable as any ontological theory well can be which postulates a metaphysical absolute.

Our view holds that there is actual continuity of the Individual life (or Sattva) between death and re-birth. And this identity of being is supported by the doctrine of Ekotibhava, which word, according to its Tibetan etymology, means “to become one uninterruptedly.”?

The Surviving Thing, which is carried on into the new career of the individual, would indeed seem to be identical with what is now generally known to occidentals as Hartmann’s absolute, “ the

1 See J.R.A.S., 1892, p. 1 seq., for a tabular abstract by Prof. Rhys Davids on the authorities for such conflicting views.

2 Ekotibhava is another crux of Buddhism. Childers, in quoting Thero Subhuti’s etymology from eko wdeti, writes: “ Ekodibhavo, the second Jhana, is said to be cvtaso ekodibhavo, which Burnouf renders ‘Unity of the mind’; but that this is its true meaning is very doubtful, as will be seen from the full extract sent me. . . . In accordance with this gloss I would be inclined to render ekodibhavo by ‘ piedomenance, rather than by unity, but I do not feel competent to give a decided opinion as to its meaning.” —Dict., p. 134. Dr. Morris (in the Academy, 27th March, 1886, p. 222) has a note on the subject, followed by Prof. Max Miller (Academy, 3rd April, 1886, p. 241), who would derive it from eka+kodi; and Professor Eggeling has a supplementary note in the Puli Text Soc. Jour. (p. 32, 1885), in which it is considered a mental state, and rendered by Prof. Rhys Davids as “exaltation.” Prof. Kern (Introd, to his translation of the Suddharna Pundarika, xvii.) in noting the occurrence of the word ekot/bhdeu in the Lalita Vistura (p. 147, 8, and 439, 6), rejects Subhuti’s etymology of the word, without assigning any reasons. The Tibetan etymology, however, entirely supports Subhuti. It is translated rG@yud-gehig-tu-gyur-pa, which means ‘to become or to be transformed+one-+a thread continuous, uninterrupted”; and my Manuscript Tibeto-Sanskrit Dictionary restores the word to Eka+urthanan+

bhava,

UNCONSCIOUS WILL. 113

Unconscious WILL”; and to this is attached the Karma or retribution of deeds done in former lives.

This, the first link of the Ontological Chain, begins at the instant when the mortal envelope is thrown off or changed, that is at “¢ death,” and was termed by Buddha the stage of Avidyd, which literally means “Want of Knowledge,” and usually rendered into English as “Ignorance” or “ Nescience.” But the word Avidya is used in different senses. Its ordinary sense is thus defined in the Vinaya Texts, i., 76: “ Not to know Suffering, not to know the Cause of suffering, not to know the Cessation of suffering, not to know the Path which leads to the cessation of suffering, this is ealled Ignorance.” But Avidyd, as the initial link of the Causal Nexus, is, according to our information, what may be termed the Ignorant Unconscious-Will-to-Live.

The pictorial representation of this link is a blind she-camel (“Ignorant ” Productive Unconscious Will) led by a driver (the Karma).}

The camel vividly suggests the long and trying journey of the Unconscious Will across the desert valley of the shadow of death, past death itself to the dawn of the new life beyond. The sex of the camel seems to indicate the potential productiveness of the Unconscious Will. The blindness of the beast represents the darkness of the passage and the blind ignorance of the Unconscious Will, which through spiritual ignorance or stupidity (Moha) believes in the reality of external objects. And the ignorant animal is led blindly onwards by its Karma.

In the body of the picture are given the details of the progress across this initial stage to the next link in the chain of casuality. The manner in which the Karma determines the kind of new life is concretely represented as a “judgment scene.” Here the sins are figured as black pebbles, and the good deeds as white, which are weighed against each otherin scales. And according to whichever preponderates so is the place of re-birth in one or other of the six states. Thus the kind of new life is entirely determined by the individual’s own deeds or Karma, which creates a system of

1 The Tibetan picture usually depicts “a blind old woman” led by aman. This perversion of the Indian picture seems to me to be due to a mistranslation on the part of the Lamas, who appear to have constructed their picture from a written description in which the little known word xgu-mo, a she-camel, is interpreted as ya-mo, an old woman.

I

114 METAPHYSICS.

rewards and punishments, sinking the wicked through the lower stages of human and animal existence and even to hell; and lifting the good to the level of mighty kings and sages, and even to the gods. Here it may be noted that hell is an idealistic state, a sort of hellish nightmare, the product of the morbid sinful imagination.

The ignorant Unconscious Will, as a homogeneous aggregate under the influence of the three fires of illusion (Trividagnd, lust, ill-will, and stupidity), is thus led by its Karma to one or other of the six gati or forms of existence with which begins link number II., namely, ConrorMATIONS (Saiskdra).

Here our picture and its Limaist tradition have come to our aid, and rendered it certain that out of the manifold renderings of Saiskdra attempted by European scholars, as detailed on a previous page, “Conformations ” was the one intended by the primitive Buddhists; and the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit word gives ‘impression ” or “ formation” + “action.” The picture is a potter modelling clay on his wheel, and is identical with the Egyptian image of the creator. It represents the shaping of the crude and formless physical and mental aggregates of the Unconscious Will by the Karma, in accordance with “The Judgment.”

‘©Our mind is but a lump of clay, Which Fate, grim Potter, holds On sorrow’s wheel that rolls alway

And, as he pleases, moulds.” C. H. Tawney’s trans. Vairdgya Satakam.

These so-called aggregates or Skandha (Pali, Khandhw) require some notice. The Buddhists, in their theory of the nature of sentient beings, pre-suppose the existence of ideal atoms, external and internal, which, by aggregation, constitute man and the rest of the universe. These aggregates or Skandha are grouped into five classes, which are rendered by Professor Rhys Davids as (1) the Material Properties and Attributes (Ripa); (2) the Sensations (Vedani) ; (3) Abstract Ideas (Samia); (4) Tendencies or Potentialities (Sankhara) ; and (5) Reason (Vinnidna).t Only the first of these sets, or the Rupa Skandha, appear to be operated on in link number IT. or Conformations.

Now the Unconscious Will, no longer amorphous, reaches its

1 Buddhism, p. 90.

RISE OF CONSCIOUSNESS, ETC. 115

next stage of development with the rise of ConsclousNEss, or Conscious Experience (Vijndna), as the third link in the evolutionary process. This is figured by a monkey, which some learned Lamas explained to me as showing that the rudimentary man is becoming anthropoid, but still is an unreasoning automaton. From this it will be seen that however abstract its basis of metaphysical conceptions, or transcendental the causal machinery by which it is set in motion, Buddha’s evolutionary scheme, in its practical aspects, must necessarily depend on a tolerably comprehensive and subtle interpretation of human nature.

The rise of SELF-CoNnscIOUSNEsS (Ndnva-rupa, literally “ Name ”

• “Form”), as a result of conscious experience, forms the fourth link or stage, and is represented by a physician feeling the pulse of asick man. Here the pulse denotes the individuality or distinction between “Self” and ‘Not Self.” And its Sanskrit title of “Name and Form” expresses the commonest features of Individuality, “comes Nadmaripa, local form, and name and bodiment, bringing the man with senses naked to the sensible, a helpless mirror of all shows which pass across his heart.”’ <A variant of this picture in some Limaist temples is a man in the act of being ferried across an ocean. It is the Individual crossing the Ocean of Life.

As a result of Self-Consciousness, the individual now realises his possession of THE SENSE-SURFACE AND UNDERSTANDING (Chadayatana). And here again the relatively low place given to the understanding is quite in keeping with modern philosophy. The picture represents this link by a mask of a human face, “ The empty house of thé Senses” ;? and the understanding is indicated by a pair of extra eyes gleaming through the brow of the mask. At this stage seems to be effected the-full union of the hitherto passive will with the active co-efficients of a human nature as expressed by “ The Three Fires, the Buddhist variant of our Devil, the World and the Flesh” (Raga, Dvesa, Moha), though these have been present concurrently from the initial stage of “ Ignorance.” *

1 ARNOLD'S Light of Asia.

2 The Tibetan picture represents this literally as “an empty house.”

3 These Three Fires (Skt., Trividhdgni) seem to have been substituted by Buddha for the Brahmanical “Three Guna,” or moral qualities of animated beings—the “binding qualities of matter” (Mon. Win.iAMs’s Hind., p. 88)—namely, sattva (Goodness or Virtue), vajas (Activity), and tamas (Darkness or Stupidity), which in a mystical sense

116 METAPH YSICS.

The exercise of the sense organs and the understanding is Con- TACT (Sparsa) forming the sixth link or stage, bringing the individual into relation with the outside world. It is pictured by kissing, and in some Tibetan frescoes by a man grasping a plough. It illustrates the exercise of one of the senses.

From Contact comes FEELING (Vedand), both physical and mental, including delusive pleasure, pain, and indifference. It is pictured by an arrow entering a man’s eye,! evidently a symbolic of “ Perception,” but explained by the Limas in such a way as to render it translatable by “ Feeling.”

From the operation of Feeling comes DEsiRE or thirst (Trishv). This stage, dealing with the origin of Desire, perhaps the most psychologically interesting in Buddhism, is pictured by a man drinking wine, and the same metaphor, namely, thirst, which is the literal me ining of the word for thi: link, and is adopted by Sir Edwin Arnold in his graceful lines—

© Trishnd, that thirst which makes the living drink Deeper and deeper of the false salt waves Whereon they float, pleasures, ambitions, wealth, Praise, fame, or domination Conquest, love, Rich meats and robes and fair abodes and pride Of ancient lines, and lust of days, and strife To live, and sins that flow from strife, some sweet, Some bitter. Thus Life’s thirst quenches itself With draughts which double thirst.” 2

Thus the conquest of Desire is the greatest step towards Buddhist salvation.

The Satisfying of GREED, or Indulgence of Desire (Upddina) forms the next stage. It is pictured by a man grasping fruit and storing it up in big baskets. It appears to be, and is so explained by the Limas, as a clinging or attachment to worldly objects, rather than to worldly “ exzstence” as Oldenberg has interpreted it.

With the next stage—the tenth link—namely, BECOMING

are interpreted as A, U, M (or OM), the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer. These three fires which, according to the Buddhists, lie at the core of re-birth, are Lust (T., ‘dodcCags, cf. Jarscu., p. 281), Anger or Il-will (T., z’e-sdan), and Stupidity (T., gti-mug or p'rag-sdog, cf. Jauscu., 207; Kopp., i., 33).

1 In this particular Tibetan picture the sixth and seventh links have been transposed.

2 The Light of Asa, p. 165,

UPADANA—BHAV A—JATI. Lig

(Bhava), we reach one of the alleged obstacles in the chain, an irreconcilable link which puzzles Oldenberg, and which, together with the next link, is deemed inexplicable and altogether out of place. Up to the preceding link, the ninth, the evolution has clearly been that of the life history of a man. The tenth link is rendered by Oldenberg thus: “From ‘Clinging to Hxistence’’ comes Re-birth and the Continuance of Being for yet another existence.” Very naturally he goes on to say that it is strange to find a man who has long ago “entered on real life” suddenly becoming a child again. And adds, ‘‘ How can a man be born again when he is old,” and before he dies? for death only happens in the twelfth stage.

But here it would seem as if Oldenberg has misled himself by introducing the term “‘ Existence” into the previous link and by interpreting Bhava as “ Re-birth.”

For we find that Bhavu is pictured by a married woman ; and the Lamas explain the picture by saying that she is the wife of the individual whose life-history is being traced. The word is thus given somewhat the sense of Bhavanan (Childers’ Dict. : “a house-dwelling”); or, as it might be rendered, “ husbandship”; it is the result of the previous link, namely, Greed or Indulgence in Worldliness. It is literally fuller “ Becoming ” (Bhava)—Life as enriched by satisfying the worldly desire of home, and as a means of obtaining an heir to the wealth amassed by Greed.

The eleventh stage or link is another of the alleged stumblingblocks, which, however, ceased to present any difficulty in the light of the picture and the Limas’ explanation of it. The picture shows a parent and child. It is the Maturing of the man’s life by the Birra (Jatv) of an heir, and as a result of the married existence of the tenth stage. It must’ be remembered that according to Buddhist belief there is no propagation of species. Life is held to be indivisible ; hence the child is no relation to his parents, as the wandering individual finds its family through its own inherent Karma. This dogma so opposed to experience and science carried with it its own refutation; but it forms no essential part of the evolutionary chain.

Maturity of Life then leads to Decay anp DEatH (Jaramuarana), the twelfth and final stage, which in turn leads on to link No. 1—

118 METAPHYSICS.

Re-birth—and so on as before. This stage is pictured as a corpse being carried off to cremation or burial.

Let. us now look at the Chain as a whole. Here we are met by the difficulty of finding a suitable expression for the word which connects the several links, the Pali paccaya, usually translated “cause” or “concurrent occasion.” Prof. Rhys Davids writes (Vinaya Texts, i, 146): “ Hetu and paccaya (the word so frequently used in the formula of the Nidanas) are nearly synonymous. Colebrooke (Life and Essays, Vol. ii., p. 419) says that the Bauddhas distinguish between hetu ‘ proximate cause,’ and »accaya (pratyaya) ‘concurrent occasion’; but in practical use this slight difference of meaning, if it really existed, has but little weight attached to it.”’ Mr. Warren believes* that the term “ cause” should be used in a very loose and flexible way, and in different senses, in discussing different members of the series of links. But as Prof. Oldenberg’s rendering—“ From . . .. . comes . . . . .’—seems sufficient for our purpose, while it preserves uniformity and continuity, it is here adopted. The Chain then runs as follows:

3 This same difference is observed by Tibetan writers. Pratitya is rendered by rkyen, defined by JaEscHKE (L/ct.,p. 17) as “a co-operating cause” of an event as distinguished from its proximate (or, rather, primary original) cause rgyu (Skt., Retz).

2 Loc. cit. He writes: “Now a great deal of the difficulty experienced by scholars on this subject appears to me to arise from the too strict way in which they use the word ‘cause, and from the idea which they labour under that Time plays an important part here, whereas it would appear to have but a secondary role.

“The term ‘cause’ should be used in a very loose and flexible way, and in different senses, in discussing different members of this series. The native phrase, of which Chain of Causation is supposed to be a translation, is paticca-samuppada. Paticca is a gerund, equivalent to the Sanskrit pratitya, from the verbal root 7 ‘go,’ with the prefix prati, ‘back’; and samuppada stands for the Sanskrit samutpdda, meaning a ‘spring- ing up. Therefore the whole phrase means a ‘springing up’ [into existence] with reference to something else, or, as I would render it, ‘origination by dependence.’ The word ‘chain’ is a gratuitous addition, the Buddhist calling it a wheel, and making Ignorance depend on Old Age, etc. Now it is to be noted that if a thing springs up—that is to say, comes into being—with reference to something else, or in dependence on something else, that dependence by no means needs to be a causal one, In the Pali, each of these members of the so-called Chain of Causation is said to be the paccuya of the one next following, and paccaya is rendered‘ cause.’ But Buddhaghosa, in the Visuddhi-Magga, enumerates twenty-four different kinds of paccaya, and in discussing each member of the patieca-sumuppdda, states in which of these senses it is a paccaya of the succeeding one.

“The Pali texts very well express the general relation meant to be conveyed by the word parcaya when they say ‘If this one [member of the series] is not, then this [next following] one is not.’ ”

THE TWELVE-LINKED CHAIN. 119

“From the Ignorance (of the Unconscious Will) come Conformations, From Conformations comes Consciousness. From Consciousness comes Self-Consciousness. From Self-Consciousness come The Senses and Understanding. From the Senses and Understanding comes Contact. From Contact come Feeling. From Feeling comes Desire. From Desire come Indulgence, Greed, or Clinging (to Worldly Objects). From Clinging (to Worldly Objects) comes (Married or Domestic) Life. From (married) Life comes Birth (of an heir and Maturity of Life). From Birth (of an heir and Maturity of Life) come Decay and Death. From Decay and Death comes Re-birth with its attendant Sufferings. Thus all existence and suffering spring from the Ignorance (of the Unconscious Will).”

The varying nature and relationship of these formule is noteworthy, some are resultants and some merely sequences; char- acteristic of Eastern thought, its mingling of science and poetry ; its predominance of imagination and feeling over intellect ; its curiously easy and naive transition from Infinite to Finite, from absolute to relative point of view.

But it would almost seem as if Buddha personally observed much of the order of this chain in his ethical hahit of cutting the links which bound him to existence. Thus, starting from the link short of Decay and Death, he cut off his son (link 11), he cut off his wife (link 10), he cut off his worldly wealth and kingdom (link 9), then he cut off all Desire (link 8), with its “three fires.” On this he attained Buddhahood, the Bodhi or “ Perfect Knowledge” dispelling the Ignorance (Avidy4), which lay at the root of Desire and its Existence. Nirvdna, or “ going out,” ! thus seems to be the * going out ” of the three Fires of Desire, which are still figured above him even at so late a stage as his “ great temptation”; and this sinless calm, as believed by Professor Rhys Davids,’ is reachable in this life. On the extinction of these three fires there result the sinless perfect peace of Purity, Goodwill, and Wisdom, as the antitypes to the Three Fires, Lust, Il- will, and Stupidity ; while Parinirvana or Extinction of Life

1In Tibetan it is translated “The Sorrowless State” (mya-nan-med), Cf. also Burnoor, i., 19; Brax’s Catena, 174, 183, etc.

2 See Ajanta picture, p. 6.

3 Buddhism, p.14; also O. FRANKFURTER, Ph.D. (in J.R.A.S., 1880, p. 549), who shows that the three “fires” are also called the three “obstacles” (Aificana).

120 METAPHYSICS.

(or Becoming) was reached only with the severing of the last fetter or physical “Death,” and is the “going out” of every particle of the elements of “ becoming.” ’

Amongst the many curious perversions of the latter Buddhism of India was the belief that by mystical means, the Saéfva or personal entity may, short of death, and whilst yet retaining a body, be liberated from the influence of Avidyd, and thus form the operation of the causal nexus, and so secure immortality. Upagupta and many other noted Buddhist sages are helieved to be yet living through this happy exemption.

Buddha’s metaphysics appears in the light afforded by the chain, to borrow—like so many other world principles professing to solve the problem of existence—from the distinctions of psychology, and to be based on Will. Schopenhauer indeed admits the affinity of his theory with Buddhism. He writes: “ If I were to take the results of my philosophy as the standard of truth I would be obliged to concede to Buddhism the pre-eminence over the rest. In any case it must be a satisfaction to me to see my teaching in such close agreement with a religion which the majority of men upon the earth hold as their own.”* Hartmann’s absolute or his

1 These are the so-called Skandhas.

2 Although it is a common belief amongst the Burmese that Upagupta still survives in this way, and, in consequence, is an object with them almost of worship, the monks cannot point to any ancient scripture in support of this popular belief.

3 The World as Will and Idea, by A. SCHOPENHAUER, Eng. trans. by Haldane and Kemp, 1883, ii., p. 371. Schopenhauer indeed claims to have arrived at such agreement independently of Buddha's teaching. He writes: “This agreement, however, must be the more satisfactory to me because, in my philosophising, I have certainly not been under its influence; for up till 1818, when my work appeared, there were very few exceedingly incomplete and scanty accounts of Buddhism to be found in Europe, which were almost entirely limited to a few essays in the earlier volumes of ‘Asiatic Researches, and were principally concerned with the Buddhism of the Burmese” (Joc. cit., 371). It is, however, probable that Schopenhauer, such an omnivorous reader, and withal so egotistic, minimizes his indebtedness to Buddha. For the Vedanta philosophy, to which Schopenhauer admits his indebtedness, is very deeply tinged by Buddhist beliefs, and Schopenhauer in his system gcnerally follows the lines of Buddhism; and in his later writings he frequently uses Buddhist works to illustrate his speculations. Thus: “We find the doctrine of metempsychosis . . . . in its most subtle form, however, and coming xearest to the truth ; in Buddhism” (Joc. cit., iii., 8302), And illustrating his theme “of Denial of the Will to Live,” he refers (loc. cit., iii, 445) to Fauspori’s Dhammapadam and Burnovur’s Introduction; and (p. 808) SpeNcE Harpy’s Manual, Opry’s Du Nirvana Indien (p. 308); Colebrooke, Sangermano, Transactions St. Petersburg Academy of Science; and frequently to the Asiatic Researches.

BUDDHISM AS A PHILOSOPHY. 121

Unconscious includes Unconscious intelligence as well as Unconscious Will. In Buddhism intelligence is not denied to Will and accorded a secondary and derivate place as in German pessimism, and we may even infer, from what is set forth as to the directing function of the Karma, as well as from its pictorial representation, that Buddhism in some sense felt the necessity of attributing an intelligent quality to the unconscious principle in order that it might pass from the state of migratory abstractiveness to that of determinate being. But, on the other hand, there is not here as an essential feature of the system a deliberate ascription of intelligence to the uneonscious ax with Hartmann. The Unconscious Will-to-live maintains the changes of phenomena. “ The world is the World’s process.” All “ix becoming,” nothing “is.” It is indeed, as has been suggested to me, the Flux of Heraclitus, who also used the same simile of Fire and Burning. ‘“ The constant new-births (palingenesis) constitute,” as Schopenhauer, a Neo- Buddhist says, “ the succession of the life-dreams of a will, which in itself is indestructible until instructed and improved, by so much and such various successive knowledge in a constantly new form, it abolishes or abrogates itself.” *

As a philosophy, Buddhism thus seems to be an Idealistic Nihilism; an Idealism which, like that of Berkeley, holds that “the fruitful source of all error was the unfounded belief in the reality and existence of the external world”; and that man can perceive nothing but his feelings, and is the cause to himself of these. That all known or knowable objects are relative to a conscious subject, and merely a product of the eyo, existing through the ego, for the eyo, and in the ego,—though it must be remembered that Buddha, by a swinging kind of positive and negative mysticism, at times denies a place to the ego altogether. But, unlike Berkeley’s Idealism, this recognition of the relativity and limitations of knowledge, and the consequent disappearance of the world as a reality, led directly to Nihilism, by seeming to exclude the knowledge, and by implication the existence, not only of a Creator, but of an absolute being.

As a Religion, Buddhism is often alleged to be theistic. But although Buddha gives no place to a First Cause in his system,

. SCHOPENHAUER’S Will and Idea, Eng. trans., iii., 300.

e

122 _ METAPHYSICS,

yet, as is well known, he nowhere expressly denies an infinite first cause or an unconditioned Being beyond the finite; and he is even represented as refusing to answer such questions on the ground that their discussion was unprofitable. In view of this apparent hesitancy and indecision he may be called an agnostic.

In the later developments, the agnostic idealism of primitive Buddhism swung round into a materialistic theism which verges on pantheism, and where the second link of the Causal Chain, namely, Sazskdra, comes closely to resemble the modi of Spinoza ;! and Nirvana, or rather Pari-Nirvana, is not different practically from the Vedantic goal: assimilation with the great universal soul :

‘‘ The dew-drop slips into the shining sea.”

And the latter developments generally have been directed towards minimizing the inveterate pessimism of Buddha’s ethics which tends to bring the world toa standstill, by disparaging that optimistic bias which is commonly supposed to be an essential element. in the due direction of all life-processes.

Lamaist METAPHYSICS.

After Buddha’s death his personality soon became invested with supernatural attributes; and as his church grew in power and wealth his simple system underwent academic development, at the hands of votaries now enjoying luxurious leisure, and who thickly overlaid it with rules and subtle metaphysical refinements and specu- lations.

Buddha ceases even to be the founder of Buddhism, and is made to appear as only one of a series of (four or seven) equally perfect Buddhas who had “similarly gone” before, and hence called Tathdgata,? and implying the necessity for another “ coming Buddha,” who was called Maitreya, or “ The Loving One.”

1 “All Sentient beings exist in the essence (garbha) of the Tathagata.” —A nyulimaliyu Siitra (Kah-gyur; Do, xvi. f. 208, transl. by Rock., B., p. 196).

2 This theory of multiple Buddhas and the introduction of the name Tathagata seems to have been introduced by the Sautrantika School (Wass., B., 314). This doctrine is held by the southern Buddhists. Ruys Davips (B., p. 179) writes: “ It is not so necessarily implied in or closely connected with the most important parts of his scheme as to exclude the possibility of its having arisen after his death” (cf. also Davips, p. 13, Buddhist Birth Stories ; Senart’s La Légende du Buddha).

THEISTIC DEVELOPMENTS. 123

Then these (four or seven) Buddhas or Tathigatas are extended into series of 24, 35 and 1,000; in addition to which there are also Pratyeka or solitary non-teaching Buddhas.

In the second century after the Nirvina! arose the Mahisinghika sect (latterly grouped under Vaibhishika) which asserted that the Buddhas are illusory and metaphysical; that the traditions respecting the Buddha having been born into the world as men are incorrect, that the law is Tathigata,? that the “Buddhas have passed beyond all worlds (= Lokottaravadina); * that “Tathagata is infinitely extended immeasurably glorious, eternal in duration, that to his power ‘of recollection (ai-smiti), his power of faith (sridhabala), his experience of joy, and his life there is no end; he sleeps not, he speaks, asks, reflects not, they say that his existence is ever one, and uniform (one heart), that all things born may obtain deliverance by having his instruction.”

This theistic phase of Buddhism seems foreshadowed even in orthodox Hinayana scriptures. Thus in the Mahivagga (i., 6, 8) Sikya Muni is made to say of himself, “I am the all-subduer ; the all-wise; I have no stains, through myself I possess knowledge; I have no rival; I am the Chief Arhat—the highest teacher, I alone am the absolutely wise, I am the Conqueror (Jina).” And the Mahadsanghika sect of the Hinayina discussed the eternity and omnipotence of the Buddha. While the Sautrantika section asserted the plurality of the Buddhas.

Indeed, even in southern Buddhism, the expressed deification of Buddha can scarcely be said to be altogether absent. For Ceylon monks, following an ancient ritual, chant :—

‘*T worship continually The Buddhas of the ages that are past,

I worship the Buddhas, the all-pitiful, I worship with bowed head.

• ¥ * % * *%

‘¢T bow my head to the ground and worship

1 Mahdwanso, 20-21. 116 years after Nirvana, Brat in Jnd. Antiq., p. 301. The Tibetan gives the date 110 years and also (RocKHiLt, &., p. 182) 160, which is probably a mistake for the 116 of the Chinese.

2 BEAL, /oc. cit.

3 RocwHIL1, B., 183, where is given a detailed translation of the features of the eighteen Hinayana sects.

• BEAL, loc. cit.

124 METAPHYSICS.

The sacred dust of his holy feet, If in aught I have sinned against Buddha, May Buddha forgive me my sin.” !

Here Buddha seems prayed to as an existing and active divinity.’

About four centuries after Buddha’s death the Mahayana doetrine had evolved specialized celestial Buddhas and Bodhisatvas residing in worlds as fabulous as themselves; and the human Buddhas are made mere manifestations, and reflexes from celestial counterparts.

The Mahayana development seems an offshoot of the Mahisanghika sect of primitive Buddhism. It assumed a concrete form about the end of the first century a.D. under Asvaghosha, who wrote the Mahayana Sraddhotanda Sastra; but its chief expounder was, as we have already seen, Nagarjuna.

Buddha, it will be remembered, appears to have denied existence altogether. In the metaphysical developments after his death, however, schools soon arose asserting that everything exists (Sarvastivada ), that nothing exists, or that nothing exists except the One great reality, a universally diffused essence of a pantheistic nature. The denial of the existence of the “ Ego” thus forced the confession of the necessary existence of the Non-ego. And the author of the southern Pali text, the Milinda Paitha, writing about 150 A.D., puts into the mouth of the sage Nigasena the following words in reply to the King of Sagala’s query, “Does the all-wise (Buddha) exist ?” “He who is the most meritorious does exist,” and again “‘ Great King! Nirwana is.” ®

Thus, previous to Nigirjuna’s school, Buddhist doctors were divided into two extremes: into a belief in a real existence and in an illusory existence; a perpetual duration of the Sattva and total annihilation. Nagarjuna chose a “middle way” (Madhyamika). He denied the possibility of our knowing that

1 Padtimekkha, Dickson, p. 5.

• Though some_hold this to be merely a chant for luck and not real prayer.

® Inthe middle of the third century after the Nirvana (BEAL, loc. cit.) arose the realistic Sarvastivada as a branch of the Sthaviras, “those who say all exists, the past, future and the present,” and are called in consequence “they who say that all exists,’ or Sarvdstivddina (ROCKHILL, B., 184).

• Eastern Mox., p. 300, and Ruys Davips’ Questions of Milinda.

Bust. Mon,, p. 295.

SOPHISTIC NIHILISM. 125

anything either exists or did not exist. By a sophistic nihilism he “dissolved every problem into thesis and antithesis and denied both.” There 1s nothing either existent or non-existent, and the state of Being admits of no definition or formula.

The Prajit paranita* on which Nagarjuna based his teaching consist of mythical discourses attributed to Buddha and addressed mostly to supernatural hearers on the Vulture Peak, ete. It recognizes several grades of metaphysical Buddhas and numerous divine Bodhisats, who must be worshipped and to whom prayers should be addressed. And it consists of extravagant speculations and metaphysical subtleties, with a profusion of abstract terminology.

His chief apocalyptic treatises? are the Buddhivatdansaka, Samidhiraja and Ratnakiita Sutras. The gist of the Avatansaka Sutra may be summarized* as “The one true essence is like a bright mirror, which is the basis of all phenomena, the basis itself is permanent and true, the phenomena are evanescent and unreal; as the mirror, however, is capable of reflecting images, so the true essence embraces all phenomena and all things exist in and by it.”

An essential theory of the Mahayana is the Voidness or Nothingness of things, Sunyata,! evidently an enlargement of the last term of the Trividyd formula, Andtma. Sikya Muni is said to have declared that “no existing object has a nature,’ whence it follows that there is neither beginning nor end—that from time immemorial all has been perfect quietude® and is entirely immersed in Nirvana.” But Stnyata, or, as it is usually translated, “nothingness” cannot be absolute nihilism for there are, as Mr. Hodgson tells us, “a Stinyata and a Maha-Siinyataé. We are dead. You area little Nothing; but I am a big Nothing. Also there are eighteen degrees of Stinyata.’ You are annihilated,

i Prajid begins with chaos. She produced all the Tathagatas, and is the mother of all Bodhisattvas Pratyeka-Buddhas and Disciples (Conf. CowELt and EGGELine’s Catal, Skt. MS., J.R.A.S., NS. viii., 3).

2 For some details of these see Csoma’s An., p. 400.

3 BEAL’s Catena, 125.

4 Tib., Tong-pa nid.

5 No-vo-hid.

6 Zod-manas Zi-ba—“ nothing has manifested itself in any form ” (ScHL., 343).

7 Hopeson’s Essays, etc., 59.

126 METAPHYSICS.

but I am eighteen times as much annihilated as you.”’ And the Lamas extended the degrees of ‘‘ Nothingness” to seventy.

This nihilistic doctrine is demonstrated by The Three Marks and the Two Truths and has been summarized by Schlagintweit. The Three Marks are:

1. Parikalpita (Tib., Kun-tag) the supposition or error; unfounded belief in the reality of existence; two-fold error in believing a thing to exist which does not exist, and asserting real existence when it is only ideal.

2. Paratantra (T., Z’an-van) or whatever exists by a dependent or causal connexion, viz., the soul, sense, comprehension, and imperfect philosophical meditation.

3. Parinishpanna (T., Yon-grub) “completely perfect” is the unchangeable and unassignable true existence which is also the scope of the path, the summum bonum, the absolute.

The two Truths are Samvritisatya (T., Kun-dsa-bch’i-den-pa) The relative truth; the efliciency of a name or characteristic sign. And Paramiarthasatya (Don-dam-pahi den-pa) the absolute truth obtained by the self-consciousness of the saint in self-meditations.

The world (or Samsara), therefore, is to be renounced not for its sorrow and pain as the Hinayana say, but on account of its unsatisfying unreality.

The idealization of Buddha’s personality led, as we have just seen, to his deification as an omniscient and everlasting god; and traces of this development are to be found even in southern Buddhism. And he soon came to be regarded as the omnipotent primordial god, and Universal Essence of a pantheistic nature.

About the first century 4.D. Buddha is made to be existent from all eternity (Anada). Professor Kern, in his translation of The Lotus of the True Law, which dates from this time,? points out that although the theistic term Adi-Buddha or Primordial Buddha does not occur in that work, Sikya Muni is identified with Adi- Buddha in the words, “ From the very beginning (ddita eva) have I roused, brought to maturity, fully developed them (the innumerable Bodhisats) to be fit for their Bodhisattva position.” 3

And with respect to the modes of manifestations of the universal essence, “‘ As there is no limit to the immensity of reason and measurement to the universe, so all the Buddhas are possessed of

UA, Livwin, /,8.A.S., xiv., 9. 3 Loc. cit., XXV. Saddharma Pundarika, xxii.

PANTHEISTIC UNIVERSAL ESSENCE. 127

infinite wisdom and infinite mercy. There is no place throughout the universe where the essential body of Vairocana(or other supreme Buddha, varying with different sects) is not present. Far and wide through the fields of space he is present, and perpetually manifested.!

The modes in which this universal essence manifests itself are the three bodies (Tri-kiya), namely—(1) Dharma-kdya? or Law-body, Essential Bodhi,? formless and self-existent, the Dhyaini Buddha, usually named Vairocana Buddha or the “ Perfect Justification,” or Adi-Buddha. (2) Sambhoga-hdya* or Compensation-body, Reflected Bodhi, the Dhyani Bodhisats, usually named Lochana or “ glorious ”°; and (3) Nirmdya-kaya® or Transformed-body, Practical Bodhi, the human Buddhas, as Sikya Muni.’

Now these three bodies of the Buddhas, human and _ superhuman, are all included in one substantial essence. The three are the same as one—not one, yet not different. When regarded as one the three persons are spoken of as Tathagata. But there is no real difference, these manifestations are only different views of the same unchanging substance.

One of the earliest of these celestial Buddhas was given the title of “The Infinite Light” (Amtdbha), and his personality soon crystallized into a concrete theistic Buddha of that name, residing in a glorious paradise (Sukhavati) in the West, where the daily suns hasten and disappear in all their glory, and hence supposed by some to include a sun myth or to be related to sunworship, probably due to Persian influence; for the chief patrons of the early Mahayana, about the time of the invention of this myth, were Indo-Scyths, a race of sun-worshippers.

After Nagarjuna,the chief expounder of the Mahayana philosophy

1 Beav’s Catena, 123.

2 T., ch’os-sku.

3 Eir., p. 180.

4 long-sku.

5 It is singular to find these Buddhist speculations bearing so close a resemblance to the later Greek theories on the same subject, especially in the plain resemblance of the cdua abyoedés or luciform body, to the Lochana (Rajana) or “ Glorious Body ” of the Buddhists. Vide the whole subject of these ‘ bodies” treated by Cupwortu, Lntellec. System, ii., 788; Braw’s Cat., 123.

6 sprul-sku.

7 On these bodies see also Vasttiev, B. (French ed.), p. 127, and EITEL, 179 seg.

3 BEAL’S Catena, 123.

128 METAPHYSICS.

was Vasubandhu, who was less wildly speculative than many of his predecessors and composed many commentaries. Previous to his day, the nihilism of the Mahayana had become almost mystic in its sophistry.

This intense mysticism of the Mahayana led about the fifth century to the importation into Buddhism of the pantheistic idea of the soul (atman) and Yoga, or the ecstatic union of the individual with the Universal Spirit, a doctrine which had been introduced into Hindiiism about 150 B.c. by Patanjali. This innovation originated with Asanga,” a monk of Gindhara (Peshawar), whose system is known as the Yogiacarya, or “ contemplative ” Mahiyina. Asanga is credited with having been inspired directly by the celestial Bodhisat Maitreya, the coming Buddha, and it is believed that he was miraculously transferred to the Tushita heavens and there received from Maitreya’s hands the gospels called “The Five Books of Maitreya,” the leading scripture of this party.

His school, the Yogicairya, and especially its later development (into which magic circles with mantras or spells were in- troduced about 700 a.D.), was entitled “ Mantrayana” or “ the mantra-vehicle.” And Yoga seems indeed to have influenced also the Ceylonese and other forms of southern Buddhism, among whom flying through the air and other supernatural powers (Irdhi) are obtainable by ecstatic meditation (though not expressedly pantheistic), and the recitation of dharanis*; and the ten “ addhis ” or miraculous supernatural powers, are indeed regarded as the attribute of every perfected saint or Arhat.' “ Rahats (Arhats) flying” is a frequent expression in the southern scriptures, and is illustrated by numerous paintings in the early caves of Ajanta, in central India.

It is with this essentially un-Buddhistic school of pantheistic mysticism—which, with its charlatanism, contributed to the decline of Buddhism in India—that the Theosophists claim kinship. _ Its

1 Amitayus sttropedesa, Buddhagotra Sastra, on the Saddharma Pundarika, Vajra Ch’edika, Dasabhtimika, etc. ; and also “ the Treasury of Metaphysics” (Abidharma Kos-sa sastra), containing many Sautrantika principles.

© For his date conf. VasIL., 225, 230 and previous note. The works of his younger brother Vasubandhu, were translated into Chinese 557 A.D.

3 Conf. Harpy’s E.M,, p., 252, and Grimpror, Sept. Suttas pali, p. 323.

4 Caitpers’ Pali Dict.

PANTHEISTIC MYSTICISM AND THEOSOPHY. 129

so-called “esoteric Buddhism” would better be termed exoteric, as Professor C. Bendall has suggested to me, for it is foreign to the principles of Buddha. Nor do the Laimas know anything about those spiritual mediums—the Mahitmas (“ oot Hoomi’’) —which the Theosophists place in Tibet, and give an important place in Lamaist mysticism. As we shall presently see, the mysticism of the Lamas is a charlatanism of a mean necromantic order, and does not even comprise clever jugglery or such an interesting psychic phenomenon as mesmerism, and certainly nothing worthy of being dignified by the name of “natural secrets and forces.”

But with its adoption of Tantrism,? so-called, Buddhism entered on its most degenerate phase. Here the idolatrous cult of female energies was grafted upon the theistic Mahayana and the pantheistic mysticism of Yoga. And this parasite seized strong hold of its host and soon developed its monstrous growths, which crushed and strangled most of the little life yet remaining of purely Buddhist stock.

Tantrism, which began about the seventh century A.D. to tinge Buddhism, is based on the worship of the Active Producing Principle (Prakriti) as manifested in the goddess Kali or Durga, the female energy (Sakti) of the primordial male (Purusha or Siva), who is a gross presentation of The Supreme Soul of the universe. In this cult the various forces of nature —physical, physiological, moral and intellectual—were deified under separate personalities, and these presiding deities were grouped into Mdtri (divine mothers), Dakkini and Yogini (goddesses with magical powers), etc. And all were made to be merely different manifestations of the one great central goddess, Kali, Siva’s. spouse. Wives were thus allotted to the several celestial Bodhisats, as well as to most of the other gods and demons; and most of them were given a variety of forms, mild and terrible, according to the supposed moods of each divinity at different times. And as_ goddesses and

?

1 Vasiliev designates this stage as “ Mysticism”; but surely the developed Mahayana and Yogacarya doctrines were already mystic in a high degree ; while the name Tdntrik expresses the kind of mysticism and also conveys a sense of Sivaist idolatry, although the word “ Tdutra,’ according to its Tibetan etymology (rgyud), literally means “a treatise,” it is restricted both in Buddhism and Hindiiism to the necromantic books on Sakta mysticism.

K

130 METAPHYSICS.

she-devils were the bestowers of natural and _ supernatural powers and were especially malignant, they were especially worshipped.

About this time the theory of Adi-Buddha,! which, it has been seen, existed about the first century a.p., underwent more concrete theistic development. He becomes the primordial god and creator, and evolves, by meditation, five celestial Jinas or Buddhas of Meditation (Dhydni Buddhas), almost impassive, each of whom, through meditation, evolves an active celestial Bodhisat-son, who possesses creative functions,? and each human Buddha, though especially related to a particular one of the five celestial Buddhas of Meditation, is produced by a union of reflexes from each of these latter. For pictures of these deities, see the chapter on the pantheon, where also I give a table presenting the inter-relations of these various celestial Buddhas, Bodhi- sats, and human Buddhas, and also incorporate their mystic symbolism, although this was probably added in the later Mantrayana stage.

It will be seen that the five celestial Jinas are so distributed as to allot one to each of the four directions,? and the fifth is placed in the centre. And the central position thus given him, namely, Vairocana, is doubtless associated with his promotion to the Adi-Buddhaship amongst certain northern Buddhists; though the reformed and unreformed sects of Liimas, differ as regards the specific name which they give the Adi-Buddha, the former calling him Vajradhara, doubtless selected as bearing the title

1 Tib., mCh’og-hi dan-pohi Sans-rgyas. 2 “According to this system,” says Mr. Hopeson, J..A.S.B., xii, 400, “from an eternal, infinite and immaterial Adi-Buddha proceeded divinely, and not generatively, five lesser Buddhas, who are considered the immediate sources (Adi-Buddha being the ultimate source) of the five elements of matter, and of the five organs and five faculties of sensation. The moulding of these materials into the shape of an actual world is not, however, the business of the five Buddhas, but it is devolved by them upon lesser emanations from themselves denominated Bodhisattyas, who are thus the tertiary and active agents of the creation and government of the world, by virtue of powers derived iminediately from the five Buddhas, ultimately from the one supreme Buddha. This system of five Buddhas ):rovides for the origin of the material world and for that of immaterial existences. A sixth Buddha is declared to have emanated divinely from Adi-Buddha, and this sixth Buddha, Vajrasattva by name, is assigned the immediate organization of mind and its powers of thought and feeling.”

3 The five “ wisdoms” which the human Buddha embodies are: Ch’o-ki byin ki ye-ses, Melon ta-bahi, Nambar-ned-ki, Sosor tog-pahi, Gya-wa du-pahi ye-s’es.

POLYTHEISTIC DEVELOPMENTS. 131

of “ Vajra” so dear to Tantrik Buddhists, while the unreformed sects consider him to be Samantabhadra, that is, the celestial son of Vairocana. And the Adi-Buddha is not considered wholly inactive or impassive, for he is frequently addressed in prayers and hymns.

Sakya Muni is the fourth of the Manushi or human Buddhas of this age, and his Dhyani Buddha is Amitabha, and his corresponding celestial Bodhisat is Avalokitesvara, the patron-god of Limaism, who is held to be incarnate in the Grand Lima.

The extreme development of the Taintrik phase was reached with the Kala-cakra, which, although unworthy of being considered a philosophy, must be referred to here as a doctrinal basis. It is merely a coarse Tantrik development of the Adi-~Buddha theory combined with the puerile mysticisms of the Mantrayina, and it attempts to explain creation and the secret powers of nature, by the union of the terrible Kali, not only with the Dhyani Buddhas, but even with Adi-Buddha himself. In this way Adi-Buddha, by meditation, evolves a procreative energy by which the awful Samvharad and other dreadful Dakkini-fiendesses, all of the Kali-type, obtain spouses as fearful as themselves, yet spouses who are regarded as reflexes of Adi-Buddha and the Dhyani Buddhas. And these demoniacal “Buddhas,” under the names of Kala-cakra, Heruka, Achala, Vajra-vairabha,! ete., are credited with powers not inferior to those of the celestial Buddhas themselves, and withal, ferocious and bloodthirsty; and only to be conciliated by constant worship of themselves and their female energies, with offerings and sacrifices, magic-circles, special mantra-charms, etc.

These hideous creations of Tantrism were eagerly accepted by the Limas in the tenth century, and since then have formed a most essential part of Lamaism; and their terrible images fill the country and figure prominently in the sectarian divisions,

Afterwards was added the fiction of re-incarnate Limas to ensure the political stability of the hierarchy.

Yet, while such silly and debased beliefs, common to the Lamas of all sects, determine the character of the Tibetan form of the doctrine, the superior Lamas, on the other hand, retain much of the higher philosophy of the purer Buddhism.

1 Compare with the Pancha Raksha, and see chapter on pantheon, pp. 353 and 368. K 2

LAMAS SENDING PAPER-HORSES TO 'TRAVELLERS.!

NOE THE DOCTRING AWD ITS: ETHICS:

HE simple creed and rule of conduct which won its | way over myriads of Buddha’s hearers is still to be found in Limaism, though often obscured by the mystic and polydemonist accretions of later days. All the Lamas and most of the laity are familiar with the doctrinal elements taught by Sakya Muni and give them a high place in their religious and ethical code.

A keen sense of human misery forms the starting-point of Buddha’s Law or Dharma,’ the leading dogma of which is propounded in “The Four noble Truths,”’? which may be thus sum- marized :—

1. Existence in any form involves Suffering or Sorrow.

1 After Huc.

2 Dharma is best rendered, says Ruys Davips (Lrddi., p. 45), by “truth” cr rightcousness, and not by “Law,” which suggests ceremonial observances and outward rules, which it was precisely the object of Buddha’s teaching to do away with.

3 Arya Satydui. T.,’p’ags-pa bden-pa 627i.

4 The word for Misery (Skt., Agrace ; T.’zag-pa) means “ drops,” so-called because it oozes or drops (zag) from out the different regions of the six ayatanas (or sens¢-sur-

THE TRUTHS OF THE PATH. 133

2. The Cause of Suffering is Desire and Lust of Life.

3. The Cessation of Suffering is effected by the complete conquest over and destruction of Desire and Lust of Life.

4. The Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering is ‘The noble Eight-fold Path,” the parts+ of which are :—

1. Right Belief 5. Right Means of Livelihood
2. op Aime 6. ,, Endeavour

3. 5, Speech ; 7. 4, Mindfulness

4, , Actions 8. 4, Meditation.

Thus Ignorance (of the illusive idealism of Life) is made the source of all misery, and the right Knowledge of the nature of Life is the only true path to emancipation from re-birth or Arhatship; and practically the same dogma is formulated in the well- known stanza called by Europeans “the Buddhist Creed.”? And

faces) as drops water through holes (RockHILL’s Uddnacarya, 10). It seems to convey the idea of tears as expressive of misery. Teva: 2 “The Buddhist Creed,” found so frequently on votive images, is :— Ve dharma hetuprabhacd Hetun teshdn tuthagaté Hyavadata teshiu ea yo nivodha Ecaumvddi mahdgramanah. It has been translated by Rhys Davids (Vin. Fexts., i., p. 146) as follows :—

Of all objects which proceed from a Cause The Tathagata has explained the cause, And he has explained their Cessation also ; This is the doctrine of the great Samana.

The Second Stanza, also found frequently on, Buddhist votive images in India (see Burnovr’s Lotus, p. 523, and Cunnincuam’s rch. Surv. Rep. Ind., i., pl. xxxiv., fig. 1, First Stanza), is according to its Tibetan form :—

Sarvapdpusyd karanam Kugalasyopasapraddm Scacittam paridamann ktud Buddhdnusdsanam.

Which has been translated by Csoma thus :—

• No vice is to be committed ; Every virtue must be perfectly practised ; The mind must be brought under entire subjection. This is the commandment of Buddha.” In Tibetan the first stanza of “the Creed” is widely known, and is :— Ch’os-nam t’am-c’ad rgyu-las byun De-rgyu de-z'in-gs’egs-pas gsuns rGyu-la ’gog-pa gan-yin-pa *Di-skad gsun-ba dge-spyon-ch’i.

134 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

the bulk of the Buddhist scriptures is devoted to the proofs and

illustrations of the above dogma.

The Moral Code, as expressed in its most elementary form of rules for the external conduct, forms the well-known decalogue (dasa-sila) which enunciates its precepts in a negative and pro-

hibitive form, namely :—

1. Kill not. 7. Use no Wreaths, Ornaments
2. Steal not. or Perfumes.
3. Commit not Adultery. 8. Useno High Mats or Thrones. 4, Lie not. 9. Abstain from Dancing, Sing-
4. Drink not Strong Drink. ing, Music, and Worldly
5. Eat no Food except at the Spectacles.

stated times. 10. Own no Gold or Silver and

accept none.

YOK YO

BUDDHA PREACHING THE LAW (in the Deer-park {[Mriga-dawa] at Benares).

The first five (the pavica-sila) are binding upon the laity; the whole ten are binding only on the monks; but the layman on certain fast-days, in accordance with a pious vow, observes also one or more of the next four (Nos. 6 to 9). The more austere rules for monastic discipline are indicated in the chapter on the monkhood.

BUDDHA'S SERMONS. 135

Sakya Muni’s sermons, as presented in the earlier and more authentic scriptures, have all the simple directness and force which belong to sayings of “the inspired.” As an illustration of his moral teaching, his popular sermon on “ What is the Greatest Blessing ?” (the Mangala Siitra)! is here appended :—

Buppua’s Sermon on Wuart 1s THE Greatest Bressine ?

Praise be to the Blessed One, the Holy One, the Author of all Truth !

1. Thus I have heard. On a certain day dwelt the Blessed One? at Srivasta, at the Jetavana monastery, in the Garden of Anathapindaka. And when the night was far advanced, a certain radiant celestial being, illuminating the whole of Jetavana, approached the Blessed One and saluted him, and stood aside, and standing aside addressed him with this verse: —

Many gods and men yearning after good have held divers things to be blessings ; say thou what is the greatest blessing ?

1. To serve wise men and not serve fools, to give honour to whom honour is due, this is the greatest blessing.

2. To dwell in a pleasant land, to have done good deeds in a former existence, to have a soul filled with right desires, this is the greatest blessing.

3. Much knowledge and much science, the discipline of a welltrained mind, and a word well spoken, this is the greatest blessing.

4. To succour father and mother, to cherish wife and child, to follow a peaceful calling, this is the greatest blessing.

5. To give alms, to live religiously, to give help to relatives, to do blameless deeds, this is the greatest blessing.

6. To cease and abstain from sin, to eschew strong drink, to be diligent in good deeds, this is the greatest blessing.

7. Reverence and lowliness and contentment and gratitude, to receive religious teaching at due seasons, this is the greatest blessing.

8. To be long-suffering and meek, to associate with the priests of Buddha, to hold religious discourse at due seasons, this is the greatest blessing.

9. Temperance and chastity, discernment of the four great truths, the prospect of Nirvana, this is the greatest blessing.

10. The soul of one unshaken by the changes of this life, a soul inaccessible to sorrow, passionless, secure, this is the greatest blessing.

11. They that do these things are invincible on every side, on every side they walk in safety, yea, theirs is the greatest blessing.

Indeed, Buddha’s teaching is not nearly so pessimistic as it is

1 From Professor Childers’ translation. 2 Bhagava.

136 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

usually made to appear by its hostile critics. His sermon on Love (Mitra Sutra) shows that Buddhism has its glad tidings of great joy, and had it been wholly devoid of these, it could never have become popular amongst bright, joyous people like the Burmese and Japanese.

The stages towards Arhatship! or emancipation from re-birth are graduated into a consecutive series of four (cattaro-margd) paths, a fourfold arrangement of “ the eightfold paths” above mentioned ; and these depend upon the doctrinal comprehension of the devotee, and his renunciation or not of the world, for the higher stages were only reachable by celibate monks (sramana) or nuns (sramanera), and not by the ordinary laity or hearers (sravaka). Those who have not yet entered any of these stages or paths are “the ignorant and unwise ones.” And Meditation (dhyana) is the chief means of entry. The first and lowest stage or step towards Arhatship is the Srottapatti, or the entering the stream—the state of the new convert to Buddhism. He is called Sotapanno, “ One who has entered the stream,” inevitably carrying him onward—though not necessarily in the same body—to the calm ocean of Nirvana.? He, now, can only be re-born? as a god or man, and not in any lower births, though his metempsychoses may yet last countless ages.4

In the second stage the graduate is called Sakrid-dgamin, or “he who receives birth once more” on earth. He has freed himself from the first five fetters.

In the third stage he is called An-igimi, or “one who will not come back” to earth. Such a person can only be re-born in a Brahma heaven, whence he reaches Nirvana.

The fourth and highest stage is the attainment of Arhatship in this life. Such a graduate will at death experience no rebirth.

After Buddha’s death seems to have arisen the division of

1 Arhant (Pdl:, Araha, Rahan, Rahat) as its Tibetan equivalent, dgra-bcom-pa, shows, is derived from A7?, an enemy, and hax, to extirpate, ée., ““he who has extirpated his passions.” It seems to have been applied in primitive Buddhism to those who comprehended the four Truths, and including Buddha himself, but lately it was restricted to the perfected Buddhist saint (Laipuay’s FaHian Ki, 94; Burn., i., 295; i1., 297; Kopr., i. 400; JAESCH., 88).

2 Harpy’s Hasin. Mon., Chap. xxii.

3 Only seven more births yet remain for him.

• According to northern Buddhism for 80,000 kalpas, or cycles of time.

ARHATSHIP AND BODHISATSHIP. 137

Arhats into the three grades of Simple Arhat, Pratyeka-Buddha, and Supreme Buddha, which is now part of the creed of the southern school.

Firstly, “‘the Simple Arhat who has attained perfection through his own efforts and the doctrine and example of a Supreme Buddha, but is not himself such a Buddha and cannot teach others how to attain Arhatship.

“Secondly, and second in rank, but far above the Simple Arhat, the Pratyeka-Buddha or Solitary Saint, who has attained perfection himself and by himself aloneand not . . . through the teaching of any Supreme Buddha.

“Thirdly, the Supreme Buddha, or Buddha par excellence (once a Bodhisattva), who, having by his own self-enlightening insight attained perfect knowledge (sambodhi) . . . has yet delayed this consummation (parinirvana) that he may become the saviour of a suffering world . . . by teaching men how to save themselves.}

The leading religious feature of the Mahayana doctrine was its more universal spirit. Its ideal was less monastic than the Hinayaina, which confined its advantages practically to its cceobitical monks. The Mahayana endeavoured to save all beings by rendering Bodhisatship accessible to all, and thus saving all beings in the ages to come. It also called itself the “ Vehicle of Bodisats,” thus constituting three vehicles (Triyana) which it described as—(1) Of the hearers or disciples (Sravaka), whose vehicle was likened to a sheep crossing the surface of a river; (2) of the Pratyeka-Buddhas, or solitary non-teaching Buddhas, whose vehicle was likened to a deer crossing a river; and (3) of the Bodhisats, whose vehicle is likened to a mighty elephant which in crossing a river grandly fathoms it to the bottom. These vehicles “are, in plain language, piety, philosophy, or rather Yogism, and striving for the enlightenment and weal of our fellowcreatures. . . . Higher than piety is true and self-acquired knowledge of eternal laws; higher than knowledge is devoting oneself to the spiritual weal of others.”? It thus gave itself the highest place.

Its theory of Bodhisatship is, to use the words of Professor

Summary by Mon. Wittiams’s Buddhism, p. 134. 2 KERN, op. cit., p. XXXiv.

138 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS QiORALITY,

Rhys Davids, ‘‘the keynote of the later school just as Arhatship is the keynote of early Buddhism. The Arhats being dead cannot be active, the Bodhisattvas as living beings can: “the Bodhisattvas represent the ideal of spiritual activity; the Arhats of inactivity.”

But, as Professor Kern shows, one of the earliest of the Mahayana scriptures, the Saddharma pundarika, dating at least about the second century 4.D., goes further than this. It teaches that everyone should try to become a Buddha. “It admits that from a prac- tical point of view one may distinguish three means, so-called Vehicles (ydanas), to attain summun bonum, Nirvana, although ina higher sense there is only one Vehicle—the Buddha Vehicle.” ?

To obtain the intelligence (Bodhi) of a Buddha, and as a Bodhisat to assist in the salvation of all living beings, the six Para- mita or transcendental virtues must be assiduously practised. These cardinal virtues are :—

1. Charity (Skt., dana) 4. Industry (virya®)

2. Morality (stla*) 5. Meditation (dhyana’)

3. Patience (kshants >) 6. Wisdom (prajna *) To which four others sometimes are added, to wit :—

7. Method (upaya®) 9. Fortitude (bala "')

8. Prayer (pranidhana™) 10. Foreknowledge (? dhyana?) Sakya Muni, in his last earthly life but one, is held to have satisfied the Péramita of Giving (No. 1 of the list) as prince Visvantara (“ Vessantara”) as detailed in the Jataka of the same name. Asoka, in his gift of Jambudvipa; and Siladitya, in his gifts at Prayag (Allahabad), as described by Hiuen Tsiang, are cited as illustrations of this Péramita.

Meditation, the fifth Paramiti, was early given an important place in the doctrine, and it is insisted upon in the Vinaya. Through it one arrives at perfect tranquillity (samadhi), which is believed to be the highest condition of mind. And in the later

1 Origin, p. 254. 2 Sucr. Bks. East, XXi., p. XXXIV. 3 sbyin-pa, Csoma, Analy., 399; Burnour, Lotus, p. 544.

• ts’ul-k’rims. 5 bzod-pa. 6 botson-’grus.

7 bsam-gtan, 8 s’es-rab. ® tabs. 10 smon-lam. Il stobs. 12 ye-s’es.

13 For stages of meditation see BicanpeEt's Legends, etc., 446. Bodhidharma inthe fifth century A.D. exalted meditation as the means of self-reformation.

PARAMITAS—PARADISE OF AMITABHA 139

days of mysticism this led to the ecstatic meditation of Yoga, by which the individual becomes united with and rapt in the deity.

The ten stages through which a Bodhisat must pass in order to attain perfection. These stages are called “ The Ten! Heavens” (dasa bhumisvara*), and are objectively represented by the ten “umbrellas” surmounting the spire of a caitya, and one of the treatises of the “nine canons” is devoted to their description.®

In the natural craving after something real and positive, “ When the theory of a universal void became the leading feature of the Buddhist scholastic development, the question pressed upon the mind was this: If all things around us are unreal and unsubstantial, is there anything in the universe real or any true ex- istence ? The answer to this question was that “on the other shore,” that is, in that condition which admits of no birth or death, no change or suffering, there is absolute and imperishable existence.” 4

The chief of these regions is the western paradise of Amitabha, named Sukhavati, or “the Happy Land,”’ a figure of which is here given, as it is the goal sought by the great body of the Buddhists of Tibet, as well as those of China and Japan. Its invention dates at least to 100 a.p.,° and an entry to it is gained by worshipping Amitibha’s son, Avalokita, which is a chief reason for the spell of the latter, the Om mani padme Hum, being so popular.

In the seventh century 4.D., under Buddha-palita, and in the eighth or ninth, under Candrakirti, a popular development arose named the Prasanga Madhyamika (Tib., T’al gyur-va’), which by a hair-splitting speculation deduces the absurdity and erroneousness of every esoteric opinion, and maintained that Buddha’s doctrines establish two paths, one leading to the highest heaven of the universe, Sukhdvati, where man enjoys perfect happiness, but con-

1 They are sometimes accounted thirteen in Nepal (Hopeson, Lang., 16) and also by the Nin-ma Lamas.

2 See also Larpiay’s FaHian, p. 93; J.R.A.S., xi., 1,21. Sometimes they are extended to thirteen.

Honoes., supra cit. 4 Beaw’s Catena, 275.

5 For its description see BEAL’S 5 Cater p. 117 seg.; Max MULLER’s trans, of Sukhdvativytha, S.B.E., xlix.; and Sarat, J.A.S.B., 1891.

§ Max MU ter, op. cit., supra il., Xxiii. Avalolatas name also occurs here.

7 VasILiev, B., 327, 357 ; Csoma, J.A.S.B., vii., 144.

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nected with personal existence, the other conducting to entire emancipation from the world, namely, Nirvana.!

The Yoga doctrine of ecstatic union of the individual with the Universal Spirit had been introduced into Hindiiism about 150 B.C. by Patanjali, and is not unknown to western systems.? It taught spiritual advancement by means of a self-hypnotizing to be learned by rules. By moral consecration of the individual to Isvara or the Supreme Soul, and mental concentration upon one point with a view to annihilate thought, there resulted the eight great Siddhi or magical powers, namely (1) “the ability to make one’s body lighter, or (2) heavier, or (3) smaller, (4) or larger than anything in the world, and (5) to reach any place, or (6) to assume any shape, and (7) control all natural laws, to

‘Hang like Mahomet in the air, Or St. Ignatius at his prayer,”

and (8) to make everything depend upon oneself, all at pleasure of will—Iddhi or Riddi.” On this basis Asanga, importing Patanjali’s doctrine into Buddhism and abusing it, taught* that by means of mystic formulas—dharanis (extracts from Mahayana sutras and other scriptures) and mantra (short prayers to deities) —as spells, “the reciting of which should be accompanied by music and certain distortion of the fingers (mudra), a state of mental fixity (samadhz) might be reached char- Mystic ATTITUDES OF FINGERS. acterized by neither

thought nor annihilation of thoughts, and consisting of sixfold

1 Scuuaar., 41-42.

2 Compare the remark of Beal, “the end to which Plotinus directed his thoughts was to unite himself to the Great God; he attained it by the wnx?tive method of the Quietists.” — Critical Dict., art. Plotinus, quoted through Brat’s Catena, 150.

®’ Hupisras, Gestu Roman, 326. 2

4 His doctrine is contained in the treatise entitled Yogicarya-bhiimi Sastra.

142 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

bodily and mental happiness (Vogt), whence would result endowment with supernatural miracle-working power.” These miracu- lous powers were alleged to be far more efficacious than mere moral virtue, and may be used for exorcism and sorcery, and for purely secular and selfish objects. Those who mastered these practices were called Yogiacarya.

But even in early Buddhism mantras seem to have been used as charms,! and southern Buddhism still so uses them in Paritta service for the sick,2and also resorts to mechanical contrivances for attaining Samadhi, somewhat similar to those of the Yogicirya.’ And many mystic spells for the supernatural power of exorcism are given in that first or second century a.p. work, Saddharma Pundarika.*

In the mystic nihilist sense, as the name of a thing was as real as the thing itself, the written spell was equally potent with the spoken, and for sacerdotal purposes even more so on account of the sacred character of letters,as expressing speech and so exciting the intense veneration of barbarians. No Tibetan will wantonly destroy any paper or other object bearing written characters.

The general use of the mystic OM, symbolic of the Hindu Triad AUM, The Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, probably dates from this era; though in the Amaravati tope is figured a pillar of glory surmounted by OM proceeding from the throne supposed to be occupied by Buddha.’ It is doubtful whether its occurrence in some copies of the Lalita Vistaru and other early Mahayana works, as the first syllable of the Opening Saiutation, may not have been an after addition of later scribes. The monogram figured on page 386 is entitled “ The All-powerful ten,”® and is in a form of the Indian character called Raija or “Lantsa.”

The Tantrik cults’ brought with them organized worship, litanies, and pompous ritual, offerings and sacrifice to the bizarre

1 Kullavagya, v., 6. 2 East. Mon. Ruys Davips’ Milinda, 2138.

3 Harpy’s E.M., chap. “Ascetic Rites.” See also the mexndala diagrams, p. 252; and “The Contemplation Stone,” J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 564.

4 See also BEAL’s Catena, p. 284, etc,

5 Fercusson’s Tree and Serp. Worship, pl. Yxxi., figs. 1 and 2.

6 Nam-beu-dban-ldan ; cf. also Chinese name for the Nrastéka. The letters are O, (0 186 UG IS Wildly Mig Ly

7 Cf. my Indian-Buddhist Cult of Acatokita, ete. JAR UA S., 1894; Burnovr’s Zntro., 465,

SPELLS—MANTRAS AND DHARANIS. 143

or terrible gods and goddesses for favours, temporal and spiritual. A supreme primordial Buddha-god and superhuman Buddhas and Bodhisats, together with their female energies, mostly demoniacal,

aT De REC.

SD AR,

im € AR, (Pa

anne eos Sy QOGHODTRA Bg SOOOUO LE om LOSSE88ES

PEGS

SOIT ae eee

yu

AS

Maaeic..“ CrrciE.” }

demand propitiation by frequent worship and sacrificial offerings. This Tantrik ritual is illustrated in the chapters on worship.

The excessive use of these mystic Mantras, consisting mostly of unmeaning gibberish, resulted in a new vehicle named the Mantra-yana, which isa Tantrik development of the Yoga phase

1 From Japan,

THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

of Buddhism.

,

,. ve Sn Fe Ft BAER 7, Fe RBTAes

Mis a a !

———— we apd — fod GS! wes Diy RPacs< FD OR SiO

YaRtra or MANovgni. (From Japanese.)

Charmed sentences (dhi@rani) supposed to have

been composed by these several divinities themselves, are used as incantations for procuring their assistance in peril as well as in ordinary temporal affairs. And by means of these spells and mummerythe so-called “magic circles” are formed by which the divinities are coerced into assisting the votary to reach “‘the other shore.’ And the authors of this socalled ‘‘esoteric” system gave it a respectable antiquity by alleging that its founder was really Nagarjuna, who had received it in two sections of vajyra and garbha-dhatu from the celestial Buddha Vajra-sattva, within “the iron tower” in southern India. Its authorship is, as even Taranatha himself admits, most obscure.} The Mantra-ycnd asserts that the state

_of the ‘* Great en-

1 ‘PAmws., 173.

EL. frees pr 144.

Macie-Cinerk ob AVALOKITA.

MAGIC-CIRCLES, — 145

lighted or perfected”! that is, Buddhaship, may be attained in the present body (composed of the six elements) by following the three great secret laws regarding the body, speech, and thought,? as revealed by the fictitious Buddha, Vajrasattva.

Its silly secrets so-called comprise the spells of the several divinities, and the mode of making the magic-circles (mandala) of the two sorts—the outer and inner (vajradhdtwu and garbhadhatw); though something very like, or analogous to, magic-circles are also used in southern Buddhism.®

Some idea of its contemptible mummery and posturing and other physical means for spiritual advancement is to be gained from the following three exercises which every Lima should daily perform :—

The “ meditative posture of the seven attitudes” is daily assumed by the Lama with his associates, in order to subjugate the five senses. These attitudes are—(1) sitting with legs flexed in the well-known attitude of Buddha; (2) the hands resting one above the other in the lap; (3) head slightly bent forward ; (4) eyes fixed on the tip of the nose ; (5) shoulders ‘‘ expanded like the wings of a vulture ; ” (6) spine erect and “straight like an arrow”; (7) tongue arching up to the palate like the curving petals of the eight-leaved lotus. While in this posture he must think that he is alone in a wilderness. And he now, by physical means, gets rid of Raga, Moha, Dvesa—the three “ original sins” of the body—and these are got rid of according to the humoral physiology of the ancients in the three series of dhuma, roma, and , rkyan-ma. After taking a deep inspiration, the air of the roma veins is expelled three times, and thus “the white wind” is let out from the right nostril three times in short and forcible expiratory gusts. This expels all anger. Then from the left nostril is thrice expelled in a similar way “the red air” which rids from lust. The colourless central air is thrice expelled, which frees from ignorance. On concluding these processes, the monk must mentally conceive that all

1 Maha-utpanna or “ Atiyoga, Tib., dsog-ch’en.

2 sKu, Sun, Tug. This doctrine seems almost identical with that of the Shingon-shu sect of Japan described by B. Nanusto in his Jap. Buddh. Seeds, p. 78. Taranatha also mentions Nagarjuna’s name in connection with its origin, which he admits is most obscure. It probably arose at the end of the seventh century A.D., a8 in 720 a.p. Vajrabodhi brought it with its magic-circles to China.

• These elaborate circles of coloured clay, ete., are described in detail by Harpy, E. M., 252, etc., and I have seen diagrams of an apparently similar character in Burmese Buddhism. Compare also with the mechanical contrivance “the Octagon” (Tib., Dab-c’ad) used in the rite sGrub-byed, to concentrate the thoughts and coerce the shedevils (Dakkin?) who confer miraculous powers described. Scuiau., p. 247. Cf. also “ Meditation-stone.”

L

146 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

ignorance, lust and anger—the three original sins—have ‘‘disappeared like frost before a scorching sun.”

He then says the “ a-lia-ki,” keeping his tongue curved like a lotus petal. This is followed by his chanting “the Yoga of the Lama,” during which he must mentally couceive his Lama-guide as sitting overhead upon a lotus-flower.

The mere recital of mystic words and sentences (mantra or

Mystic ATTITUDES. (Lamas of Established Church.)

dharani [T., Z’un]), and their essential syllable (the germs or seed, so-called vija) is held to be equivalent to the practice of the Paramitis, and subdues and coerces the gods and genii, and procures long life and other temporal blessings, and obtains the assistance of the Buddhas and Bodhisats. Although these

MYSTIC ATTITUDES. 147

Dhirayis' were likely introduced to supply the need for incantations their use is alleged to be based upon the doctrine of un- reality of things. As existence is ideal, the name of a thing is equivalent to the thing itself, and of a like efficacy are the attitudes (mudra) of the fingers, symbolic of the attributes of the gods. Thus Om is an acceptable offering to the Buddhas, Hari dispels sorrow, and by uttering Ho, samddhi is entered. Of such an ideal nature also were the paper horses of Huc’s amusing story, which the Limas with easy charity bestowed on belated and helpless travellers, as figured at the top of this chapter.

These postures and parrotlike exercises, as practised by the unreformed and semi-reformed sects, according to the book entitled The complete esoteric Tantra? and the reputed work of Padma-sambhava, areas follows. The cor- 450A

responding Ge-lug-pa rites are LoTuUs-PETALS OF HEART.

: On meditating upon Celestial Buddhas. not ver y much different = (A Stage in the Magic-Circle,—After Nanjio,)

East

1st.—The mode of placing the three mystic words, body, speech and thought (Au, sui and t’uh).

2nd.—The nectar-commanding rosary,

3rd.—The jewelled rosary-guide for ascending.

4th.—Secret counsels of the four Yogas.

dth.—The great root of the heart.

6th.—The lamp of the three dwellings.

Tth.—The bright loosener of the illusion.

8th.—The water-drawing “ dorje.”

9th.—The secret guide to the fierce Dakkini. 10th.—The drawing of the essence of the stony nectar. 11¢h.—Counsel on the Dakkini’s habits. 12th,—Fathoming the mystery of the Dakkinis 13th.— Counsel for the Dakkini’s heart-root. 14th.—The four words for the path of Pardo (limbo%. 15th.—The Pardo of the angry demons.

1 Conf. Burnoocr, i., 522-74 ; Vasitiev, 153, 193. 2 ysan-sngags Mpyi rvyud ee

148 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

16th.—To recognize the Gyalwa Rig-na or the five celestial Buddhas. Then “Happiness” is reached—this goal is the sensuous happiness of the Jina’s Paradise or of Sukhavati, that of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light.

The transcendental efficacy attributed to these spells fully accounts for their frequent repetition on rosaries and by mechanical means in the “ prayer-wheel,” flags, ete.

Thus, the commonest mystic formula in Limaism, the “ Omma-ni pad-me Him,”—which literally means “ Om! The Jewel in the Lotus! Him !”—is addressed to the Bodhisat Padmapani

= ~ 7.60 + G22 2 _ = ae INABES SIE URANO ~Y Om, g O80 Pn 4.) oF tS ee Soisge ee ee ero

Eyasis Ee o~ Qu) C pa Pad yi rs * |

THE PRAYER-WHEEL FORMULA. Om-ma-ei pad-me Hum.

who is represented like Buddha as seated or standing within a lotus-flower. He is the patron-god of Tibet and the controller of metempsychosis. And no wonder this formula is so popular and constantly repeated by both Limas and laity, for its mere utterance is believed to stop the cycle of re-births and to convey the reciter directly to paradise. Thus it is stated in the Mani-kahbum with extravagant rhapsody that this formula “is the essence of all happiness, prosperity, and knowledge, and the great means of deliverance”; for the Om closes re-birth amongst the gods, ma, among the Titans n7, as a man, pad as a beast, me as a Tantalus, and Him as an inhabitant of hell. And in keeping with | this view each of these six syllables is given the distinctive colour | of these six states of rebirth, namely Om, the godly white ; ma, |

PRAYVER-WHEELS AND OM-MANI FORMULA. 149

the Titanic blue; ni, the human yellow; pad, the animal green ; me, the “Tantalic” red; and Hum, the hellish black. & But the actual articulation is not even needed. The mere inspection of this formula is equally effective, and so also is the passing of this inscription

THe OM MA.VI Formvuta (in Indian ‘* Rena” characters of about the before the individual. And to seventh century).

be effective it does not require to be actually visible, it is therefore printed thousands and millions’ of times on long ribbons and coiled into cylinders and inserted into the “ prayer-wheels ” socalled, which are revolved everywhere in Tibet, in the hand (see pages 45, 218, ete.), and as great barrels turned by hand or water or wind,” and also printed on stones and on cloth-flags which flutter from every house, so as to ensure the cessation of metempsychosis by re-birth in the western paradise.

The origin of this formula is obscure. The earliest date for it yet found is the thirteenth century A.p.?

What seems to be a more expanded version of this spell is known to a few Lamas and is met with in Japanese Buddhism, namely, “OM! Amogha Vairocana Mahamudra MANI PADMA Jvala-pravarthtaya HUM!” But this is addressed to the first of the Dhyani* Buddhas, namely, Vairocana, to whom also the Japanese Mantrayina sect ascribe their esoteric doctrine, but the ordinary Lamaist formula is unknown in Japan, where its place is taken by “ Namo O-nvi-to Fo,” or “ Hail to Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light.”

1 In some of the larger prayer-wheels it is printed 100,000,000 times (Baron Schilling, cf. Scunae., 121.

2 For wind-prayer vanes, cf. Rocx., Z., p. 147 cf. ; also Grorer, 508.

3 RockuHILL, in The Land of the Lémas, London, 1891, page 326, notes that Wilhelm de Rubruk, writing in the second half of the thirteenth century a.p. GSor. de Croy, de Paris, iv., page 283) states regarding the Buddhist monks of Karakorum: “ Habent etiam quocumque vadunt semper in manibus quandam testem centum vel ducentorum nucleorum sicut nos portamus paternoster et dicunt semper hec verba on wan burcam, hoc est Deus, tu nosti, secundum quod quidam corum interpretatus est michi, et totiens exspectat, remunerationem a Deo quotiens hoc dicendo memoratur.’ Mr. Rockhill also, I find, independently arrives at a similar conclusion to myself as regards the relatively modern composition of the Mani-bkah-sbum. Cf. also Hvc,ii.; K6pp., ii., 59-61.

• W. Anverson, Catal. Jap. Patutings Brit. Maus.

a

150 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

From its mystic nature the Om Mani formula is interpreted in a great variety of ways, including amongst others the phallic,! though this latter sense is seldom accorded it. The heterodox Bon-pa followers repeat it in reverse fashion, thus making it mere gibberish.’

THE MYSTIC FORMULAS FOR THE ROSARIES.

The repetition of the mystic formulas for the beads follows the prayer, properly so-called, and is believed to contain the essence of a formal prayer, as well as to act as a powerful spell. The formulas are of a Sanskritic nature, usually containing the name of the deity addressed, but are more or less wholly unintelligible to the worshipper.

Different mantras are needed for different deities; but the one most frequently used by the individual Lama is that of his own tutelary deity, which varies according to the sect to which the Laima belongs.

The formulas most frequently used are shown in the following table :

SPECIAL KIND OF ROSARY USED,

NaME OF DEITY. THE SPELL.

Human skull or

1. Dor-je jik-je.® Skt., Vayrabhairava

. Cha-na dorje.* Skt., Vajyrapdani.

bo

. Tam-din.° Skt., Hayagriva. 4, Chi-rii-si or ch’enbo.°® Skt., Aralokita. . Dél-ma jan-k’u.” Skt., Tard. 6. Doé-kar.® Skt., S7tdtard.

or

-I

. Dor-je p’ag-mo.° Skt., Vajravarahi. 8. ’O-zer-ciin-ma. *° Skt., Marte.

T’ug-je-

Om! Ya-man-ta-taka him phat !

Om! Vajrapani him phit!

Om! Vajra dsan-da maha ro-khana him !

Om! pad-ma ta krid him phat !

Om ! mani piid-me him !

Om! Ta-re tut-ta-re ture sva-ha !

Om! Ta-re tut-ta-re mama a - yur punye-dsanyana pusph-pi-ta ku-ru sva-ha !

Om! sar-ba Bud-dha dakkinni him phat !

Om! Ma-ri-eye mam sva-

ha!

** stomach-stone.”

Raksha. Ditto.

Red sandal or coral.

Conch-shell or crystal.

Bo-dhi-tse or turquoise. Bodhitse.

Ditto.

Ditto.

1 As noted by Hodgson.

2 ‘The characteristic Bén-pa mantra is however: ‘ Ma-tri-mu-tri sa-la dzu.” Cf. Jaescu., J)., 408; DEsGoprns, 242.

3 ydo-rje’jigs-byed.

8 'Tugs-rje-c’en-po.

® do-rje p’ag-mo.

• yta-merin.
• serol-dkar.

4 p’yagena rdo-rje.

• serol-ma jan-k’u. i Sod-zer-c’an-ma.

SPELLS FOR ROSARIES—VAJRAY ANA.

|

NAME OF DEITY.

THE SPELL.

9. Gon-po nag-po.!

Skt, an 10. Nam-sé.?

Skt., Auvera. 11. Dsam-b’a-la.?

Skt., Jambhala. 12. Sen-ge-da.*

Skt., Szrhandda. 13. Jam-yang.’

Skt. Waijughosha.| 14, Dem-ch’ok.®

Skt., Samvara. 15. Piid-ma jui-nia.?

Skt., Padma-sam-

/ Om! | Om!

Om! Sri Ma-ha-ka-la him phat sva-ha !

Om! Vai-sra-va-na ye svaha!

Jam-bha-la dsalen-

dra ye sva-ha !

a-hrih Sit-ha-nada him phiit !

Om! a-ra-pa-ca-na-dhi !

Om! hrih ha-ha him him phat !

Om! Vajra Gu-ru Piidma sid-dhi him !

SPECIAL KINDS OF ROSARY USED.

Raksha. Nanga-pani.

Ditto. Conch-shell or crystal. Yellow rosary. Bodhitse. Coral or bodhitse.

bhava.

The concluding word phat which follows the mystic am in many of these spells is cognate with the current Hindiistani word phat, and means “ may the enemy be destroyed utterly !”

The laity through want of knowledge seldom use with their rosaries any other than the well-known “ Jewel-Lotus ” formula.

Such mechanical means of spiritual advancement by promising immediate temporal benefits, have secured universal popularity ; and possess stronger attractions for gross and ignorant intellects over the moral methods of early Buddhism. The Chinese literati ridicule the repetition of these mantras by saying,’ “Suppose that you had committed some violation of the law, and that you were being led into the judgment-hall to receive sentence; if you were to take to crying out with all your might ‘Your Worship’ some thousands of times, do you imagine that the magistrate would let you off for that ?”

On the evolution, in the tenth century, of the demoniacal Buddhas of the Kalacakra, the “ Mantra”-vehicle was developed into “The Thunderbolt-vehicle” or Vajraydna, the proficient in which is called Vajyrdedrya. According to this, the most depraved form of Buddhist doctrine, the devotee endeavours with the aid of the demoniacal Buddhas and of fiendesses (Ddkkin?) and their

3 dsam b’a-la. 6 hde-meh’og.

• rmam-sras.

5 ‘jam-dbyangs.

7 pad-ma byun-gnas. Most conspicuous amongst the authors of diatribes against Cf. MAYErs.

1 mgon-po nag-po.

• sen-ge-sgra.

8 Remusat, ds. Mise, Buddhist worship was Han Yii in the eighth or ninth centuries a.p.

152 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

magic-circles to obtain the spiritual powers of Siddha} or “ The accomplishment of perfection or of one’s wishes.” Although the attainment of Siddhi is below the stage of Arhatship, the Lamas value it more highly than the latter on account of its power of witcheraft. Its mystic insight is classed as the external (Ch’irdub), internal (Naii-dub), and esoteric or hidden (Sai-dwb), and correspond to the body, speech, and thought. Its followers are called Vajracirya and its rules are detailed by Tson K’hapa.

Its recognized divisions” are :—

VAJRAYANA., rT Lower Tantra Upper Tantra ————> a > oa Kriya Tantra Carya Tantra Yoga Tantra Anuttara Tantra

bya-rgyud spyod rnal-byor bla-na med-pahi-gyud

In only the last, or Anuttara Tantra, have the tutelary demons spouses.”

The rampant demonolatry of the Tibetans seems to have developed the doctrine of tutelary deities far beyond what is found even in the latest phase of Indian Buddhism, although I find at many of the medieval Buddhist sites in Migadha, images of several of the devils which are so well-known in Tibet as tutelaries.

Each Limaist sect has its own special tutelary fiend, which may or may not be the personal tutelary of all the individual Limas of that particular sect; for each Lima has a tutelary of his own selection, somewhat after the manner of the isht@ devatda of the Hindiis, who accompanies him wherever he goes and guards his footsteps from the minor fiends. Even the purest of all the Limaist sects—the Ge-lug-pa—are thorough-paced devil-worshippers, and value Buddhism chiefly because it gives them the whip-hand over the devils which everywhere vex humanity with disease and disaster, and whose ferocity weighs heavily upon all. The purest Ge-lug-pa Lima on awaking every morning,

1 Stddhi, which seems (according to Sir Mon. Winr_iams, Bidd., 536), to correspond to the stage below Arhatship. © Eighty Siddhas (saints) are sometimes mentioned. And amongst their supernatural Irdhi powers they obtain “the Rainbow Body” Cjahlus), Which vanishes like the rainbow, leaving no trace behind.

“Gt. Japserm, 2., 112.

*'The directions for these cults are found chiefly in the Nin-ma “revelations ” or term books,

COERCING THE TUTELARY-FIENDS. 153

and before venturing outside his room, fortifies himself against assault by the demons by first of all assuming the spiritual guise of his fearful tutelary, the king of the demons, named Vajrabhairava or Samvara, as figured in the chapter on the pantheon. The Lama, by uttering certain mantras culled from the legendary sayings of Buddha in the Mahayana Tantras, coerces this demonking into investing the Lama’s person with his own awful aspect.! Thus when the Laima emerges from his room in the morning, and wherever he travels during the day, he presents spiritually the appearance of the demon-king, and the smaller malignant demons, his would-be assailants, ever on the outlook to harm humanity, being deluded into the belief that the Lima is indeed their own vindictive king, they flee from his presence, leaving the Lama unharmed.

A notable feature of Limaism throughout all its sects, and decidedly un-Buddhistic, is that the Lima is a priest rather than a monk. He assigns himself an indispensable place in the religion and has coined the current saying ‘‘ Without a Lima in front there is no (approach to) God.” He performs sacerdotal functions on every possible occasion; and a large proportion of the order is almost entirely engaged in this work. And such services are in much demand; for the people are in hopeless bondage to the lemons, and not altogether unwilling slaves to their exacting worship.

The Chinese contempt for such rites is thus expressed in a sacred edict. of the emperor Yung-Ching. “ If you neglect to burn paper in honour of Buddha, or to lay offerings on his altars, he will be displeased with you, and will let his judgments fall upon your heads. Your god Buddha, then, is a mean fellow. Take for a pattern the magistrate of your district. Even if you never go near him to compliment him or pay court to him, so long as you

1 This process, called lha-sgrub-pa, implies (says JAESCHKE, D., 52) not so much the making a deity propititious to man (Csoma’s definition in his Déct.) as rendering a god subject to human power, forcing him to perform the will of man. This coercion of the god is affected by saints continuing their profound meditation (sgom-pa) for months and years untilthe deity, finally, overcome, stands before them visible and tangible ; nay, until they have been personally united with and, as it were, incorporated into the invoked and subjected god. The method of effecting this coercion, of obliging a god to make his appearance, is also called sgrub-tabs.

2 Réemvusat, As. Miscell.

154 THE DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

are honest folk and attentive to your duty, he will be none the less ready to attend to you; but if you transgress the law, if you commit violence, or trespass on the rights of others, it would be useless for you to try a thousand ways of flattering him; you will always be subject to his displeasure.”

Thus had these various influences warped the Buddhist doctrine in India, ere it reached Tibet, and there the deep-rooted demonworship made Limaism what it is: a priestly mixture of Shamanist cults and poly-demonist superstitions, overlaid by quasi-Buddhist symbolism, relieved by universal charity and other truly Buddhist principles, and touched here and there by the brighter lights of the teaching of Buddha.

But notwithstanding its glaring defects, Lamaism has exerted a considerable civilizing influence over the Tibetans. The people are profoundly affected by its benign ethics, and its maxim, “as a man sows he shall reap,” has undoubtedly enforced the personal duty of mastery over self in spite of the easier physical aids to piety which are prevalent.

And it is somewhat satisfactory to find that many of the superior Lamas breathe much of the spirit of the original system. They admit the essentially un-Buddhist nature of much of the prevalent demonolatry, and the impropriety of its being fostered by the church. They regard this unholy alliance with the devils as a pandering to popular prejudice. Indeed, there are many Lamas who, following the teaching of the earlier Buddhism, are inclined to contemn sacerdotalism altogether, although forced by custom to take part in it.

NovicE-LAMA READING SCRIPTURES.

Nell, THE SCRIPTURES AND LITERATURE.

44. HE sacred books embodying the “Word” of Buddha 4} are regarded by the Lamas, in common with all other Buddhists, as forming the second member of the Trinity—“ The Three precious Ones”—in whom the pious Buddhist daily takes his “ refuge.”

The books themselves receive divine honours. They are held

156 THE SCRIPTURES AND LITERATURE.

materially sacred, placed in high places, and worshipped with incense, lamps, etc.;! and even fragments of books or manuscripts bearing holy words are treasured with the utmost rever- ence. It is deemed the grossest profanity for anyone to throw even a fragment of holy writ upon the ground or to tread upon it, and in this way the Tibetans, like the Chinese, not infrequently express their contempt for Christianity by utilizing, as soles for their shoes, the bundles of tracts which our missionaries supply to them.

But Buddha, like “the Light of the World,” and unlike Moses and Muhammad, wrote nothing himself; nor does it appear that his words were even reduced to writing until about 400 years or more after his death,’ so it is unlikely that most of his sayings have preserved their original form, wholly unaltered, in the process of handing them down orally during several centuries.

The Lamaist scriptures are faithful translations? from the Sanskrit texts,‘ and a few also from the Chinese, made mostly in the eighth and ninth, and the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries

1 The scriptures are actively worshipped even by southern Buddhists. ‘The books are usually wrapped in cloth, and when their names are mentioned an honorific is added equivalent to reverend or illustrious, Upon some occasions they are placed upon a kind of rude altar near the roadside, as 1 have seen the images of saints in Roman Catholic countries, that those who pass by may put money upon it in order to obtain merit ” (Harpy’s Eust Moxn., 192). Compare also with Hindus paying respect to their Sustrus with garlands and perfumes and grains of rice, and the Sikhs to their Granth.

2 The words were at first transmitted down orally; their recital (bhana = to speak) is one of the duties of a monk even now. The southern (Pali) scriptures are stated to have been first reduced to writing in Ceylon in 88-76 B,.c., in the reign of King Vartagamani (Turnour, -Wahavanso, 207), and the northern by king Kanishka in the second half of the first century 4.p. But as writing was certainly in use in Asoka’s - day—250 1.c.—it is probable that some scriptures were committed to writing at an earlier period than here assigned to the complete collect. Cf. OLDENBERG, Vinaye Trip. XXXVIii.

3 The verbal accuracy of these translations has been testified by Max Muller, Rhys Davids, Cowell, Foucaux, Feer, Vasiliev, Rockhill, etc,

4 Indian, Kashmiri and Nepalese scriptures, A few of the Tibetan translations were made from the Pali, e.g., vol. 80 of Sutras (Rockuity’s Udeanecarga, X). Some very old Indian MSS. still exist in Tibet. His Excellency Shad-sera Shab-pe, one of the Tibetan governors (bkKah-blon) of Lhasa, while at Darjiling about a year ago, on political business, informed me that many ancient Buddhist manuscripts, which had been brought from India by medieval Indian and Tibetan monks, are still preserved in Tibet, especially at the old monasteries of Sam-yiis, Sakya, Nar-thang and Phun-tsholing. These manuscripts, however, being worshipped as precious relics, and written ina character more or less unknown to the Lamas, are kept sealed up and rarely seen by the Lamas themselves.

THE BOOKS—THE CANON. 157

A.D.; and a very few small volumes, those first translated into Tibetan, date to the epoch of Thon-mi Sambhota, about 645 a.p.

None of these Tibetan translations, however, seem to have been printed until comparatively recent times, though the exact date of the introduction of printing into Tibet is as yet unknown.

The Tibetan so-called ‘‘ books” are, strictly speaking, only aylographs, being printed from rudely carved wooden blocks. Mov- able type is unknown, and a large proportion of the books are still written in manuscript. The great canon, the Kah-gyur, was, it seems, only printed for the first time, at least in its collected form, about two hundred years ago.

The paper, which is remarkably tough, is made from the inner bark of a shrub,' and comes mostly from Nepal and other parts of the sub-Himalayas, and the Chinese border-lands. The smaller abstracts from the scriptures, used by the more wealthy devotees, are sometimes written on ornate cardboard, consisting of several sheets of paper pasted together, and varnished over with a black pigment, upon which the letters are written in silver or gold; and occasionally they are illuminated like missals.

Books now abound in Tibet, and nearly all are religious. The literature, however, is for the most part a dreary wilderness of words and antiquated rubbish, but the Lamas conceitedly believe that all knowledge is locked up in their musty classics, out- side which nothing is worthy of serious notice.

The Limaist scriptures consist of two great collections, the canon and the commentaries, commonly called the “ Kang-gyur, or properly the Kah-gyur,? and Tan-gyur.” ®

The great code, the Kah-gyur, or “The Translated Commandment,” is so called on account of its text having been translated from the ancient Indian language,’ and in a few cases from the Chinese. The translators were learned Indian and Kashimri Pandits and a few Chinese monks, assisted by Tibetan scholars.’

The code extends to one hundred or one hundred and eight volumes of about one thousand pages each, comprising one thou-

1 The Daphne Cannabina. See Hopeson in J..A.S.B., 1832, i., p. 8, for an account of its manufacture.

2 bkah-’gyur.

3 bstan-’gyur.

4 rgya-gar-skad, or “ Indian language,” and usually employed as synonymous with

“ Sanskrit.” 5 Lo-tsa-wa.

158 THE SCRIPTURES AND LITERATURE.

sand and eighty-three distinct works. The bulk of this colossal bible may be imagined from the fact that each of its hundred or more volumes weighs about ten pounds, and forms a package measuring about twenty-six inches long by eight inches broad and about eight inches deep. Thus the code requires about a dozen yaks for its transport; and the carved wooden blocks from which this bible is printed require, for their storage, rows of houses like a good-sized village.

The Kah-gyur is printed, I am informed, only at two places in Tibet: the older edition at Narthang,' about six miles from Tashi-lhunpo, the capital of western Tibet and headquarters of the Grand Panch’en-Lima. It fills one hundred volumes of about one thousand pages each. The later edition is printed at Der-ge? in eastern Tibet (Kham) and contains the same matter distributed in volumes to reach the mystic number of one hundred and eight. In Bhotan an edition is printed at Punakha;* and I have heard of a Kumbum (Mongolian) edition, and of one printed at Pekin. The ordinary price at Narthang is about eight rupees per volume without the wooden boards. Most of the large monasteries even in Sikhim possess a full set of this code. The Pekin edition published by command of the emperor Khian-Lung, says Koppen, sold for £600; and a copy was bartered for 7,000 oxen by the Buriats, and the same tribe paid 1,200 silver roubles for a complete copy of this bible and its commentaries.*| The Kah-gyur was translated into Mongolian about 1310 a.p. by Saskya Lama Ch’os-Kyi ’Od-zer under the Saskya Pandita, who, assisted by a staff of twenty-nine learned Tibetan, Ugrian, Chinese and Sanskrit scholars, had previously revised the Tibetan canon by col- lating it with Chinese and Sanskrit texts, under the patronage of the emperor Kublai Khan.

The contents of the Kah-gyur and Tan-gyur were briefly analyzed by Csoma,* whose valuable summary, translated and

1 sN’ar-tan. 2 sDe-dge.

3 So I have been told.

! And a copy also of this edition seems to be in the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, obtained about 18380 by Baron Schilling de Canstadt, together with about 2,000 Mongolian and Tibetan treatises.— Bulletin Historicoephilologique del leadéncte de St. Péterboury, tom, iv., 1848, pp. 321-329,

5 Vol. xx., As. Researches.

THE CANON. 159

indexed by Feer,! and supplemented in part by Schiefner and Rockhill, forms the basis of the following sketch. Hodgson’s copy of the Kih-gyur, on which Csoma worked at Calcutta, contained one hundred volumes, and appears to have been printed from the wooden types prepared in 1731, and which seem to be still in use at Narthang.

The Kah-gyur is divisible into three? great sections, the T7ipitaka,? or three vessels or repositories, corresponding generally to the less inflated Pali version of the Tripitaka of the southern Buddhists, which has, however, no counterpart of the mystical Sivaist treatises, the Tantras. The three sections are :—

I. The Dul-va (Skt., Vinwya), or Discipline, the compilation of which is attributed to Upali,! in thirteen volumes.

Il. The Dé (Skt., Stitra), or Sermons (of the Buddhas), compiled by Ananda? in sixty-six volumes inclusive of Tantras. As these discourses profess to be the narrative of the disciple Anandit,° who is believed to have been present at the originals as uttered by Buddha, most of these Siitras commence with the formula: Hvam mays srutam, “ Thus was it heard by me ;” but this forraula now is almost regarded by many European scholars as indicating a fictitious siitra, so frequently is it prefixed to spurious siitras, eg., the Amitaébha, which could not have been spoken by Buddha or recited by Ananda. The Lamas, like the southern Buddhists, naively believe that when Buddha spoke, each individual of the assembled hosts of gods, demons, and men, as well as the various kinds of lower animals,’ heard himself addressed in his own vernacular.

III. The Ch’os-non-pa (Skt. Abidharma), or Metaphysics,

1M. Léon Feer published in 1881 a translation of Csoma’s Ana/ys/s under the title Analyse du Kandjour et du Tandjour in the second volume of the “Annales du Musée Guimet,” and appended a vocabulary giving all the names which occur in Csoma’s Anu/ysis, with an Index and Table Alphabétique de Ourrages dus Kandjour, And he gave further extracts in Vol. v. of the same serial.

? Another classification of the canonical scriptures, especially amongst the Nepalese, is given by Hopeson (Lany. 13, 49) as “The nine scriptures (Dharmas),” namely :

1. Praja paramita. 2. Gandha-vyuha. 3. Dasa-bhimisvara. 4. Samdadhi-raja. 5. Lankavatara. 6. Saddharma Pundarika. 7. Tathagatha guhyaka (containing the secret Tantrik doctrines). 8. Lalita Vistara. 9. Suvarna-prabhasa.

5 sde-snod gsum. 4 Nye-var-’K’or. > *Kun-dgah-wo.

® At the first great council when Buddha’s word was collated

7 Cf, also BEat’s Romantic Leyend, 244-254, Gya Tscher Rolepa, ch. 26.

160 THE SCRIPTURES AND LITERATURE.

including Transcendental Wisdom (S’er-p’yin, Skt., Prajna Paramita), attributed to Maha Kasyapa, in twenty-one volumes.

These three sections are mystically considered to be the antidotes for the three original sins; thus the discipline cleanses from lust (Raga), the sermons from ill-will (Dvesa), and the wisdom from stupidity (Moh«a).

By subdividing the D6 or Sutra section into five portions, the following sevenfold division of the canon results :—

“YT. Discipline or Dul-va (Skt., Vinaya), in thirteen volumes, deals with the religious discipline and education of those adopting the religious life, and also contains Jétakas, avadanas, vyakaranas, sutras, and ridanas.” (It is the Vinaya of the Sarvastivadains, and its greater portion has been abstracted by Rockhill.) It is sub-divided into seven

arts :

1. “The Basis of Discipline or Education (dul-va-gz’i, Skt., Vinaya Vastu), in four volumes (K, K’, G, and N), translated from the Sanskrit in the ninth century by the Pandits Sarvajfiyadeva and Dharmakara of Kashmir and Vidyakara-prabha of India, assisted by the Tibetan Bindes dPal-gyi Ihunpo and dPal-brtsegs. (The chief Jataka and other tales interspersed through these volumes form the bulk of Schiefner’s

collection of Tibetan tales, translated into English by Ralston.) ' 2, “Siitra on Emancipation (So-vor-t’ar-pai-mdo, Skt., Pratimol:sha Sitra),’ in 30 leaves.

3. “ Explanation of Education (Dul-va nam-par-’byed-pa, Skt, Vinaya vibhaiga) in four volumes. Enumerates the several rules (K’rims) of conduct, 253 in number, with examples of the particular transgression which led to the formation of these laws. Directions for dress and etiquette.

4, ‘“ Kmancipation for Nuns (dG‘e-slon mahi so-sor thar par mod, Skt., Bhikshuni pratimoksha Sutra), 36 leaves in the ninth volume (T).

5. “ Explanation of the Discipline of the Nuns (Skt., Bhik. Vinaya vtbhaga) in preceding volume (T).

6. “ Miscellaneous Minutie concerning Religious Discipline (Dul-va pran-ts’egs-kyi gz’i, Skt., Vinaya Kshudraka Vastu), in two volumes.

7. “The highest text book on Education” (Dul-va gzun bla-ma Vinaya Uttara Grantha), in two volumes (N and P), and when spoken of as “the four classes of precepts” (lii-de-zhi) the division comprises 1, 2 and 3, 6 and 7.

II. Transcendental Wisdom (“ Ses-rab kyi p’a-rol-tu p'yin-pa,” or eurtly, “ Ser-ch'in” (Skt., Prajid-paramita), in twenty-one volumes.

1 The Life of the Buddha, etc. Also in part, but not directly for the Dulva, by Schiefner in his Tibetische Liebenbescriebung Sukra, impl., St. Petersburg, 1849,

2 Cf. translation from the Tibetan by Rockui11, and from the Pali by Ruys Davips and OLDENBERG, Vinaya Texts.

THE CANON. 161

They contain, in addition to the metaphysical terminology, those extravagantly speculative doctrines entitled Prajia-péramita, which the Mahayana school attributes to Buddha’s latest revelations in his mythical discourses mostly to supernatural hearers at the Vultures’ Peak at Rajgriha.’ There is no historical matter, all is speculation, and a profusion of abstraction.

The first twelve volumes, called ’Bum (Skt., Suta Sahasrikd) or “the 100,000 (slokas of Transcendental Wisdom),” treat fully of the Prajna-paramita at large, and the remaining volumes are merely various abridgments of these twelve. Thus the three volumes called ~ Ni-k’ri (pron. Nyi-thi) or “the 20,000 (slokas)” is intended for those monasteries or individuals who cannot purchase or peruse the full text ; while the single volume, entitled the brgyad-ston-pan (ashta sahasrika) or 8,000 (slokas), contains in one volume the gist of the Prajia-paramita, and is intended for the average and junior monks. This is the volume which is figured on the lotus which Majijusri, the Bodhisat of wisdom, holds in his left hand. And for the use of the schoolboys and the laity there is a recension of three or four leaves, entitled “Transcendental Wisdom in a few letters” or Yige-iiun-du (Skt., Alpa akshara).” And mystically the whole is further condensed into “the letter A, which is considered ‘the mother of all wisdom,” and therefore of all men of genius; all Bodhisatvas and Buddhas are said to have been produced by “A” since this is the first element for forming syllables, words, sentences, and a whole discourse.

One of the most favourite Siitras and a common booklet in the hands of the laity, is ‘‘the Diamond-cutter” (rDo-rje ge’od-pa, Skt., Vajrach’edika) In it Bhagavati (Sakya) instructs Subhiti, one of his disciples, in the true meaning of the Prajia-paramita.’

The full text (Bum) was translated from the Sanskrit in the ninth century by the Indian pandits Jina Mitra and Surendra Bodhi, and the Tibetan interpreter Ye-s’es-sde,

IIT. “ Association of Buddhas” (P’al-c’ar, Skt., Buddhdvatansaka), in six volumes. Description of several Tathagatas or Buddhas, their provinces, etc. Enumeration of several Bodhisats, the several degrees of their perfections, ete.

This great Vaipulya (or developed Siitra) is alleged to have been preached by Buddha in the second week of his Buddhahood and before he turned the “ Wheel of the Law” at Benares. And it is asserted to have been delivered in nine assemblies at seven different places, and is thus given pre-eminence over the first historic discourse at Sarnath.

IV. “The Jewel-peak” (dkon-brtsegs, Skt., Ratna-kita). Enu-

1 They are alleged to have been delivered in sixteen assemblies at the following sites: Gridhrakiita, Sravasti, Venuvana, and the abode of the Paranirmita-vasavartins. cf. Bun. Nans1o’s Jép. Budd. Sects, p. xvii.

• This probably corresponds to the Mahaprajha paramita hridaya Siitra, translated by Brat (Catena, 282), and perhaps the original of the more expanded treatises.

• It has been translated from the Sanskrit by CoweLt, Mahdydna Texts, ii., xii.

M

162 THE SCRIPTURES AND LITERATURE.

meration of several qualities and perfections of Buddha and _ his doctrine.

V. The Aphorisms (Tib., mDo or mDo-sde Siatra or Sitranta). Lhe amplified or developed Sitras are called Vaipulya. Ina general sense, when the whole Kha-gyur is divided into two parts, mDo and rGyud, all the other divisions except the rGyud are comprehended in the mDo class. But in a particular sense there are some treatises which have been arranged under this title. They amount to about 270, and are contained in thirty volumes. The subject of the works ix various. The greatest part of them consist of moral and metaphysical doctrine of the Buddhistic system, the legendary accounts of several individuals, with allusions to the sixty or sixty-four arts, to medicine, astronomy, and astrology. There are many stories to exemplify the consequences of actions in former transinigrations, descrip- tions of orthodox and heterodox theories, mural and civil laws, the six kinds of animal beings, the places of their habitations, and the causes of their being born there, cosmogony and cosmography according to Buddhistic notions, the provinces of several Buddhas, exemplary conduct of life of any Bodhisat or saint, and in general all the twelve kinds of Buddhistic Scriptures * are to be found here.

The second volume (K’) contains the romantic biography of Buddha—the Lalita Vistara, translated by M. Foucaux.” The seventh volume (J) contains the Saddharma Pundarika,’ or White Lotus of the Holy Law, translated from the Sanskrit into French by Burnouf, and into English by Prof. H. Kern,‘ and the most popular treatise with Japanese Buddhists. The eighth volume (N) contains “the Great Decease” (Vahdparinirvana). The ninth volume has, amongst others, the Surangama Samadhi Sitra referred to by FaHian, The twentysixth volume (L), folios 329-400, or chapters of “joyous utterance ” (Udanas), contains the Udd@navarya,’ which Schiefner showed to be the Tibetan version of the Dhammapada ; and which has been translated into

1 This twelve-fold division (ysuti rab yan-lay be'u-ghis) I here extract from the Vyutpatti in the Tah-gyur: 1. Stra (mdo-sdehi-sde) discourses. 2. geyam (dbyans kyis dehad), mixed prose and verse. 8. Vyakaruiaa (lun du-bstan), exposition. 4. (thd (Tshigs-su-be'ad), verse. 5. Uddnun (C'ed-du-brjod). 6. Niddnan (glin-gzhi). 7. Aradinan (rtogs-pa-brjod). 8. Ltéerittuhan (de-Ita bw byun). 9. Jdtaka (skyes-parabs). 10. Vaspulyen (shin-tu-rgyas), very expanded. 11. .tébhitdharmmah (rmad- du byun), mysteries. 12. Cpadesuh (gtun-la-dbab). This division, says Burxnovr (Lutrod., p. 45-60), writing of Nepalese Buddhism, is made up of the older nine ayes mentioned by Buddhagosha, a.p. 450, to which were added at a later period Nidana, Avadana, and Upadesa. Conf. also Cuttpers’ Diet., Burnovr’s Lotus, 355, 3905 Harpy’s Mew.; Hopeson’s Ess., 155 Ruys Davips’ Berd. 214.

2 Also stunmarised by Csoma (.tae/., 413) and Vast, B., 2,4, 176; FEER's Intro., p. 72. Also abstracted by Rocxutry, B., ii.; and in part from the Sanskrit by Raj. Mitra.

3 Dam-pahi ch’os padma dkar-po.

F VOL XXL, Seered Books of the Bast,

3 Cled-du brjed pai ts’oms ; see also Csoma’s .17., p. 477. Its commentary by Prajfiavarman (a native of Bengal whe lived in Kashmir in the ninth century—7d@randtha, p. 204, RocKHILE, Nii.) is in Vol Ixxi. of Dawe jaur.

THE CANON. 163

English with copious notes by Mr. Rockhill. It contains three hundred verses, which “are nearly identical with verses of the Dhammapada ; one hundred and fifty more resemble verses of that work.” The variations show that the northern translation was made from a different version than the Pali,’ and from, as Mr. Rockhill believes,’ a ‘‘ Sanskrit version in the dialect prevalent i in Kashmir in the first century Bee, at which period and in which place the compiler, Dharmatrata,’ prob-

ably lived.”

From this (D6) division of the Kah-gyur are culled out the Indian mystic formulas, mostly in unintelligible gibberish, which are deemed most potent as charms, and these form the volume named mDo-man gzun* bsdus, or curtly, Dé-iman or “assorted aphorisms ”—literally “many Sitras.” These formulas are not used in the worship of the Buddhas and superior gods, but only as priestly incantations in the treatment of disease and ill-fortune. And as these spells enter into the worship of which the laity have most experience, small pocket editions of one or other of these mystic Sutras are to be found in the possession of all literate laymen, as the mere act of reading these charms suffices to ward off the demonbred disease and misfortune.

The remaining divisions of the canons are :—

VI. Niredna (Mya-nai-las-’das-pa), in two volumes. An extended version, part of the eighth volume of the mDo on “The Great Decease, or Snitire deliverance from Pain.” “Great lamentation of all sorts of animal beings on the approaching death of Shakya; their offerings or sacrifices presented to him; his lessons, especially with regard to the soul. His last moments; his funeral ; New. his relics were divided and where deposited.” ’

VII. Yantra (rgyud), in twenty-two volumes. “These volumes in general contain mystical theology. There are descriptions of several gods and goddesses. Instruction for preparing mandalas or circles for the reception of those divinities. Offerings or sacrifices presented to them for obtaining their favour. Prayers, hymns, charms, ete., addressed to them. There are also some works on astronomy, astrology, chronology, medicine, and natural philosophy.” ‘

In the first volume (K) are fonnd the Kalacakra doctrine’ and Sambara. In the third the history of the divine mothers Ta@rahi. ete.

ROCKHILL'S Udduararga, IX.

JET ON

Toavandtha, p. 54, lig. 8.

gzuns = Skt. dharani, which is a mystic spell like the Hinda Mantra. Csoma, .Az., p. 487.

6 Csoma, Az., p. 487.

7 Csoma, Gram., p. 172; Dict., 488.

are wm

164 THE SCRIPTURES AND LITERATURE,

In the seventeenth volume (M) the expelling of devils and Nagaworship. The Zuthdyata-yuhyaka contains a summary of the Sivaic esoteric doctrine.

The word “ Tantra,” according to its Tibetan etymology, literally means ' “treatise or dissertation,” but in Buddhism as in Hindiism, it is restricted to the necromantic books of the later Sivaic or Sakti mysticism.

The Tantras are arranged into “ The four classes” (gyud sde bzhi) :

1. Ariya Tantra (bya-bai-rgyud).

2. Carya T. (spyod-pai rgyud).

3. Yoga T. (rual-’byor rgyud).

4. Anuttara Yoya T. (vnal-’byor bla-na med-pai rgyud) or “ The peerless Yoga.”

The first two form together the lower division (’og-ma), and the latter two the higher division (gon-ma). It is only in the Anuttara Yogatantras, including the Atiyoga (Ds og-ch’en), that the tutelary fiends and their Jinas have female energies or Matris.

Those translated from the eighth to the eleventh centuries a.p. are called “the Old,” while the latter are “the New.” Amongst those composed in Tibet are the Hayagriva, Vajraphurba and sKu-gsun-t’ugs yon-tan ’p’rin las.

THE COMMENTARIES (TAN-GYUR).

The Buddhist commentators, like those of the Talmud, overlay a line or two with an enormous excrescence of exegesis.

The Tibetan commentary or Tan-gyur is a great cyclopedic compilation of all sorts of literary works, written mostly by ancient Indian scholars and some learned Tibetans in the first few centuries after the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet, commencing with the seventh century of our era. The whole makes two hundred and twenty-five volumes. Itis divided into the classes—the rGyud and mDo (Tantra and Sitra classes in Sanskrit). The rGyud, mostly on tantrika rituals and ceremonies, make eighty-seven volumes. The mo on science and literature one hundred and thirty-six volumes. One separate volume contains hymns or praises on several deities and saints. And one volume is the index for the whole.2 The first sixteen volumes of the mo class are all commentaries on the Prajnd-paramita, Afterwards follow several volumes explanatory of the Madhyamika philosophy (of Nagarjuna) which is founded on the Prajna-pairamita.3

1 JAESCHKE, p. 112. 2 Csoma, An., 558.

3A few of the individual treatises have been translated, either in full or abstract, by Schiefner, Rockhill, ete. Nagarjuna’s Friendly Epistle (behes-pahi p'rin yig), by Wenzet in J. Pali Text Soc., 1886

“|

COMMENTARIES AND VERNACULAR. 165

One volume contains the Tibeto-Sanskrit dictionary of Buddhist terminology, the “ bye-brag-tu rtogs byad (pron. je-tak-tw toy-je) ——the Mahivyutpati.1 Under this heading would also come the later commentaries, such as the Bodhi-patha(in Mongolian—Bodhi Mur). Its contents include rhetoric, grammar, prosody, medieval mechanics, and alchemy. But its contents have not yet been fully examined.?

THE INDIGENOUS TIBETAN LITERATURE.

The indigenous works composed in Tibet are for the most part devoted to sacred subjects. The secular books exist, as a rule, in manuscript, as the printing is in the hands of the monks.

The sacred books may be divided into («) apocryphal and (b) authentic or quasi-authentic.

The apocryphal works are the most numerous and most popular. Chief amongst these are the fictitious “revelations” or Tern books, already referred to in describing the part which they played in the origin of the sects of Laimaism. These Terma books may be recognized by their style of caligraphy. For instead of the opening sentences and chapters commencing with the hook-like symbol for Om, duplicated or triplicated, as on the cover of this book, and the punctuation periods being vertical lines, as in ordinary orthodox books, the Terma books commence with the ordinary anusvdva (AM), or a vertical stroke enshrined in a trefoil-like curve, and their periods are marked by two small circles one over the other, like the Devanagari visarga, but with a curved line with its concavity upwards, intervening. These “revelations,” it will be remembered, pretend to be the composition of St. Padma, the founder of Limaism.‘

• The Sanskrit text of which has been published by Maiyaneff ; and much of it is abstracted in the Buddhistische Triglotte, printed by Schiefner, St. Petersburg, 1859.

• The 2nd vol. of the Annales du Musée Guimet contains some additional notes on the Tan-gyur by M. Léon Feer.

• Most of the printing-monastic establishments issue lists of the books which they sell.

• Amongst the better known are: The Golden Rosary. of Displayed Letters (T'ugyig gser-'p’ren), found by Sang-gyas gling-pa; The Displayed Lotus Orders (Padma bkah-t’an), found by O-rgyan gling-pa; Ka-t’ang Zang-gling ma; The Lamp Enlightener of Prophecy (Lung-brtan gsal-bai sgron-me). Also of this nature are: The Directions for the Departed Soul to find its way to bliss (Pa-cha-to’s-sgrol).

166 THE SCRIPTURES AND LITERATURE.

To this revelation class belong also the fictitious works attributed to King Sron Tsan Gampo.1

Of the other most common apocryphal works found in Sikhim are the Mi-yik, or “ Story of the Sacred Sites of Sikhim,” and Lhatsun’s inspired manual of worship for the great mountain god Kanch’en-dsé-na (English, Kinchinjwiga). Each monastery possesses In manuscript a more or less legendary account of its own history (deb-@er), although this is kept out of sight. In the Lepcha monasteries and in the possession of a few Lepcha laymen are found the following, mostly translations from the Tibetan: (1) Tashi Swi, a fabulous history of St. Padma-sambhava; (2) Gairw Ch’ Wan; (3) Sakun de-lok, the narrative of a visit to Hades by a resuscitated man named Sikun ;? (4) Eh-doshi man-lom—forms of worship.

The large work on the Naga demigods—the Lu-’bum dkar-po— is regarded as a heterodox Bon-po book.?

As authentic works may be instanced, the religious chronologies (Ch’os-’byun) and records (Deb-t’er) by Bu-ton, and Padma-karpo; the histories (Sun-’bum) of Zhvi-lu Lé-tsa, and Taranatha’s well-known history of Buddhism in India, and a useful cyeclopedia by an Amdo Lima entitled T’ub-dban bstan-paihi Nima ; and as quasi-authentic the fifth Grand Lima’s “ royal pedigree.” 4 All begin with pious dedicatory sentences and usually end with the Buddhist wish that the writer may acquire merit through his literary work.

But most of the autobiographies so-called (rNam-t’ar) and records (Yig-tsan or deb-t’er) are legendary, especially of the earlier Lamas and Indian monks are transparently fictitious, not only on account of their prophetic tone, though always “ discovered” after the occurrence of the events prophesied, but their almost total absence of any personal or historic details. Some of the later ones

! (1) Mani bkah-bum (already referred to), the legendary history of Avalokita and a maze of silly fables. (2) S'alch’em or Sron Tsan Gampo’s Hoxouruble Well or Testament, and (3) an exoteric volume entitled “ The Sealed Commands,” bka-rggama, which is kept carefully secreted in some of the larger monasteries. It belongs to the silly esoteric class of books called Sai-nak.

2 Cf. also the play of Nansa, The Brilliant Light, Chap. xx.

3 A German translation by Schiefner of the smaller version has been published by the St. Petersburg Acad. (Das Weisse Naga Hunderh tausend.) Cf. also Rockuinr. L., jan VG

• gyal-rabs [Skt., Rajvansa].

INDIGENOUS BOOKS, 167

dealing with modern personages are of a somewhat more historical character, but are so overloaded by legends as to repel even enthusiastic enquirers.

The leading ritualistic manuals of the various sects are of a more or less authentic character, and small pocket editions of these prayer books (smon-lam) and hymns (bstod-tsogs) are very numerous.!' Individual Lamas possess special books according to their private means and inclinations, such as the 100,000 songs’® of the famous mendicant sage Mila-rd-pu on the worship of Tara and other favourite or tutelary deities, and the mode of making their magic-circles. Mongol Limas have the Dsang-lun. The specialist in medicine has one or more fantastic medical works, such as Mannag-rgyud, S’ad-gyud; and the 7'si-pu or astrologer has the Butdyur karpo and other books on astrological calculations and sorcery, many of which are translated from the Chinese.

Some further details of ritualistic books are found in the chapters on the monkhood and on ritual, where several abstracts are given. ‘

The secular works, through most of which runs a more or less Buddhistic current, are mainly annals or chronicles (l6-rgyu).

Good and clever sayings and reflections (*togs-brjod), as “ The precious rosary” (vin-ch’en-p’ren-wa), a collection of proverbs, and drinking songs.

Tales more or less fabulous (sgruns). The best known of these is that of Ge-sar (=? Czar or Cesar), who is described as a mighty war-like king of northern Asia, and who is made to figure as « suitor for the hand of the Chinese princess before her marriage with Sron Tsan Gampo, although it is evident the legendary accounts of him must be more ancient. Baber ® refers to the story-book nained Djriung-yi ‘ songs.’

1 The Ge-lug-pa monk’s manual is “The Bhikshu’s Timely Memoranda (dGe-slongi-du-dran), and his other special books are the two volumes by Tson K’apa entitled : The Gradual Path (Lam rin Cer-bo),a doctrinal commentary based on Atisa’s version of the Bods Patha Pradip, and The Gradual Path of Vajradharu (vDor-c’an Lamrim), ahighly Tantrik book. (Cf. Csoma, G'r., 197.) For Bodhi-mur (Bodhi-patha), see ScuMipti’s Ssanany Ssetsen.

2¢Lu-b’um,

3 Op. cit., p. 88.

4 Rock.,. B., p. 288, suggests this may be rGyus-yi-dpe.

5 Amongst indigenous geographical works is “ A Geography of the World” ( Dswm-/in gye-she). The references to countries outside Tibet are mainly confined to India, and are even then very inexact. Its most useful section is that descriptive of Tibet, translated by Sarat, J.AS.B., 1887, pp. 1 et seg. See also Wes-tshany thn shi, abstracted by Klaproth from the Chinese. Cf. also Csoma’s enumeration of Tibetan works, JUAN Z2., vii., 147; ix., 905.

168 THE SCRIPTURES AND LITERATURE.

THE LAMAIST LIBRARY.

The Lamaist library is usually situated within the temple. The large books are deposited in an open pigeon-holed rackwork. The sheets forming the volume are wrapped in a napkin; and the bundle is then placed between two heavy wooden blocks, as covers, which bear on their front end the name of the book in letters graved in relief and gilt. The whole parcel is firmly bound by a broad tape and buckle tied across its middle. These ponderous tomes are most unwieldy and not easy of reference. When the book is read away from tables as is usually the case, it is held across the knees, and the upper board and the leaves as they are read are lifted towards the reader and repiled in order in his lap. Befor® opening its fastenings, and also on retying the parcel, the monk places the book reverently on his head, saying, “ May I obtain the blessing of thy holy word.”

Copyists of manuscript, as well as composers and translators, usually conclude their work with a short stanza expressing their pious hope that “ this work here finished may benefit the (unsaved) animals.”

An enormous mass of Limaist literature is now available in Europe in the collections at St. Petersburg, mainly obtained from Pekin, Siberia, and Mongolia; at Paris, and at the India Office, and Royal Asiatic Society + in London, and at Oxford, mostly gifted by Mr. Hodgson.’

The St. Petersburg collection is the largest, and extends to over 2,000 volumes.’

1 Catalogue of these, by Dr. H. WENZEL, in J.R.A.S., 1891. ? The India Office copy of the canon was presented to Mr, Hodgson by the Dalai

Lama. Notices of these oceur in various volumes of the Me/lang. Asiat. de St, Petersd.

A LAmatst Procession.!

Vi. THE LAMAIST ORDER: AND PRIESTHOOD.

** Without the Lama in front, God is not (approachable). — Tibetan Proverb,

WS in primitive Buddhism, the monastic order or congregation of the Virtuous Ones ? forms the third member of the Trinity, “The Three most Precious Ones” of Limaism. But owing to the rampant sacerdotalism of Tibet, the order is in a much higher position there than it ever attained in Indian Mahayana Buddhism, according to the current Tibetan saying above cited.

The order is composed of Bodhisats both human and celestial. The latter occupy, of course, the highest rank, while the so-called incarnate Lamas,’ who are believed to be incarnated reflexes from

? After Giorgi. 2 Skt., Seayhka ; Tib., dGediu, 3 sprul-sku, or ku-s’o.

170 THE ORDER OF LAQPAS.

a superhuman Buddha or Bodhisat or a reborn saint, are given an intermediate position, as is detailed in the chapter on the hierarchy.

The Limas are “ the Bodhisats who have renounced the world,” * and thus are held to correspond to the Sagha of primitive Buddhism consisting of the Bhikshus (mendicants), Sramaneras (ascetic) and Arhuts. The nuns, excepting the so-called incarnations of celestial Bodhisats (e.g., Dorje-p’agmo), are given an in- ferior position scarcely higher than lay devotees.

While the laity, corresponding to ‘‘ the pious householders and hearers”? of the primitive Buddhists, who under the Mahayana system should be “ the Bodhisats who reside in their houses,” are practically excluded from the title to Bodhisatship or early Buddhahood like the Limas, and are contemptuously called the * Owners of Alms,”? those “ bound by fear,” + and the “ benighted people ;”? although the lay devotees are allowed the title of Updsahka and Bip 6 if keeping the five precepts, and those who are uncelibate are called “the pure doer”;’ while the Nen-t’o or Nen-ni8 keep four of the precepts.

The supreme position which the Lamas occupy in Tibetan society, both as temporal and spiritual rulers, and the privileges which they enjoy, as well as the deep religious habit of the people, all combine to attract to the priestly ranks enormous numbers of recruits. At the same time it would appear that compulsion is also exercised by the despotic priestly government in the shape of a recognized tax of children to be made Limas, named b7’swn-qral Every family thus affords at least one of its sons to the church. The first-born or favourite son is usually so dedicated in Tibet. The other son marries in order to continue the family name and inheritance and to be the bread-winner ; and many families contribute more than one, as the youths are eager to join it.

L Pravrajy.

? Hopas., Z//us., p. 98; Harpy, £., p. 12.

2 sbyen-bdays

4 “pigs-rten-pa. .

a met= nly

8 dGe-lbsiten. This title is also applied to a novice, probationer, or candidate. Cf. Kopp., ii., 252; Scuiac., 162; JaEscuK., D., 85.

7 mtsan-spiyod,

% Esen-Qws.

“Conf. also Pandit, A. K. In Sikhim it is the second son ; and alsoin Ladak (Marx, loc. cit.).

GRADES OF MONKS, ie

Thus in Tibet, where children are relatively few, it is believed that one out of every six or eight of the population isapriest. In Sikhim the proportion is one to ten.’ In Ladak one-sixth. In Bhotan one to about ten.

GRADES.

In every monachism there are naturally three hierarchical seniorities or ranks, namely: the scholars or novices, the ordained, and the reverend fathers or the priests, just as in the common guilds or arts are the grades of the apprentice, the journeyman, and the master. Indian Buddhism had its grades of the Sramanera (or the novice), of the expert Sramana or Bhikshu (the mode- rate one or beggar), and of the Sthavira or Updythya (master or teacher).

Limaism has naturally these necessary degrees of clerical maturity and subordination, and by dividing the noviciate into two sections it counts four, thus :-—

1. The clerical apprentice or scholar. The customary title of this first beginner in holy orders is Gé-nen, which means “ to live upon virtue,” and is a translation of the Sanskrit word Updsaka or lay-brother. This word has a double meaning; it shows firstly the simple lay believer, who has promised to avoid the five great sins; and secondly the monastic devotee or scholar, who keeps the ten precepts and is preparing for the holy orders to which he partly belongs through the clothes he wears and the official acknowledgment which he has received. He is also called Rabbyun or *“ excellent born.” The Mongols call these “ Schabi,” and Bandi, Bunda, or * Bante,” > which latter word seems to be of Indian origin. The Kalmaks call them Manji.?

2. The Ge-ts’wl, the commencing, but not quite fully ordained monk, an under priest, or deacon, who keeps the thirty-six rules.

3. Ge-long or “ virtuous or clerical beggar,” the real monk, the priest, over twenty-five years of age, and who has been fully ordained, and keeps the two hundred and fifty-three rules.

1See my Ldmaism in Sikhim.

2 KNIGHT, op. cit., p. 130.

3 Cf. JAESCHKE, D., 364.

4 The Santals of Bengal, who are believed to be of the so-called Turanian descent, call their chiefs Manji.

4, The K’an-po, which means the master or Abbot (Skt., Upadhyaya). He is the end, the true extremity of the Lamaist

PA mid Yoyy abv hy Us y

i Ne

Neeser sshd i

re, > SR A ee al Fe oe ERS C1, wage By) Mia NS

A TiBetan Doctor or Divinity. AN ABBOT.

monachism, because he has under him all the scholars, novices, and common monks. And although the regenerated or re-incar-

CURRICULUM. 173

nated monks, the Chutuktus, and sovereign priest-gods are above him,’ their originals were essentially nothing else than abbots. He it is, who in the early time was probably the only one to be honoured by the title Lima (Guru or master), and to whom is given this title even to the present time; although he may he called a Grand Laima to distinguish him from the other cloister inhabitants. Only the larger cloisters have a K’an-po, who has the right to supervise several smaller Limaseries and temples, and whose position seems to be such that he is compared as a rule with the catholic bishop.’

THE CURRICULUM.

In sketching the details of the curriculum of the Lama, I give the outlines of the course followed in the greatest of the monastic colleges of the established church of Tibet—the Ge-lug-pa—as related to me by Lima-graduates of these institutions, namely, of De-pung, Sera, Gaih-ldan, and Tashi-lhunpo, as these set the high standard which other monasteries of all sects try to follow, and marked departures from this standard are indicated in a subsequent note.

The child who is the Lama-elect (btsan-ch’un) stays at home till about his eighth year (from six to twelve), wearing the red or yellow cap when he is sent to a monastery, and educated as ina sort of boarding-school or resident college, passing through the stages of pupil-probationer (da-pa), novice (ge-ts’ul), to fullyordained monk (ge-lon), and, it may be, taking one or other of the degrees in divinity, or a special qualification in some particular academic department.

As, however, the applicants for admission into these monastic colleges have usually passed the elementary stage and have already reached, or nearly reached, the stage of noviciate at some smaller monastery, I preface the account of the course in great monastic colleges by the preliminary stage as seen at the leading monastery in Sikhim, the Pemiongchi, which is modelled on that of the great Nin-ma monastery of Mindolling.

Preliminary Examination—Physical.When the boy-candi-

• Those K’an-pos who have gone through the Tantra or rgyud-pa course have a higher repute than the others. 2 KOPPEN, ii., 254.

date for admission is brought to the monastery his parentage is enquired into, as many monasteries admit only the more respectable and wealthier class.1. The boy is then physically examined to ascertain that he is free from deformity or defect in his limbs and faculties. IPf he stammers, or is a cripple in any way, or bent in body, he is rejected. When he has passed this physical examination he is made over by his father or guardian to any senior relative he may have amongst the monks. Should he have no relative in the monastery, then, by consulting his horoscope, one of the elder monks is fixed upon as a tutor, who receives from the lad’s father a present of money,’ tea, eatables, and beer.® The tutor or elder (Ger-giin)* then takes the boy inside the great hall where the monks are assembled, and publicly stating the parentage of the boy and the other details, and offering presents of beer, he asks the permission of the elder monks (d)U-ch’os) to take the boy asa pupil. On this being accorded the boy becomes a probationer.

As a probationer he is little more than a private schoolboy under the care of his tutor, and doing various menial services. His hair ix cropped without any ceremony, and he may even wear his ordinary lay dress. He is taught by his tutor the alphabet (the “Ka, ha, Gra,” as it is called),° and afterwards to read and recite by heart the smaller of the sacred hooks,® such as :—

Let bdun ma, or ‘*The Seven Chapters”—<A prayer-book of St. Padma.

Bar-c’ad lam gsel or “Charms to clear the way from Danger and Tnjury "—A prayer to St. Padma in twelve stanzas.

Sher-phyin—An abstract of transcendental wisdom in six leaves,

sKu-rim—A sacrificial service for averting a calamity.

Mon-lam—Prayers for general welfare.

ml

sDig sags, or “'The Confession of Sins.” ' The mere act of reading

1 At Pemiongehi only those candidates who are of relatively pure Tibetan descent by the father’s side are ordinarily admitted.

2 In Sikhim definite fees are payable at the different ceremonies for admission to the order, as detailed in my Ldmarsm fa Sikh, aMounting to about 150 Rs., in the case of the highest monastery—Pemiongchi. In Bhotan it is stated (PEMBERTON’S Ri port, p. 18, TURNER'S Embassy, 170) that the fee is 100 Bhotanese rupees,

8 This, of course, would not be offered in a Ge-lug-pa monastery.

• dge-rgan, or “the Virtuous Elder.” 5 See p. xviii.

© Sach small manuals are about eight or ten inches long by two to three inches broad, and usually have the leaves stitched together.

TEXT-BOOKS AND LESSONS. 175

this holy booklet even as a school exercixe cleanses from sin. Most ot the monasteries possess their own blocks for printing this pamphlet. Both the text and its translation are given by Schlagintweit.°

ror gchod—A_ Sitra from the eel of ‘aumeanicabal wisdom.

P’yogs-be’ul-p’yogs- dral, or deser aaa of the ten direc- ‘tions

Namo Guru—“ Becton a the on uu?

mC’od-’ bul—To give offerings

gTorma—Sacr ed Nemive re :

bSans bsur—Incense and huttemimeanse a ae eee

1To-me’od—Rice offering ... at at

Rig-dsin snon- ‘gro—The first essay “of the s sage

Drag-dinar snon-’gr ‘o—The primer of red come deity

bKa brgyed—* The eight commands” or precepts

bDe gs’egs kun aie 'The collection of the Tathagatas

Yes’es sku me ’og—The best foreknowledge ods

rTsa-gdun bs’ag-gsal—The root-pillar of clear confes- S108 Se ay: ae 7 se ee a,

pages.

Cc

~ Se *

Crue Re PP OTL

The young probationer is also instructed in certain golden maxims of a moral kind, of which the following are examples :—

Buddhist Proverbs :—

Whatever is unpleasing to yourself do not to another.

Whatever happiness is in the world has all arisen from a wish for the welfare of others. Whatever misery there is has arisen from indulging selfishness.

There is no eye like the understanding, no blindness like ignorance, no enemy like sickness, nothing so dreaded as death. \

A king is honoured in his own dominions, but a talented man everywhere.

“The four Precipices in Speech.—It speech be too long, it is tedious ; if too short, its meaning is not appreciated ; if rough, it ruftes the temper of the hearers ; if soft, it is unsatisfying.

“The Requirements of Speech.—Speech should be vigorous or it will not interest ; it must be bright or it will not enlighten ; it must he suitably ended, otherwise its effect is lost.

“ The (Qualities of Npeech. —Speech must be bold as a lion, gentle and soft as a hare, impressive as a serpent, pointed as an arrow, anid evenly balanced as a dorje held by its middle (literally ‘ sarst”). :

“ The Four Relations of Speech.—The question should first be stated. The arguments should be duly connected, the later with the earlier. Essential points should be repeated. The meanings should be illustrated by examples.

_ 2 Pheaword for sf is * scorpion,” thus conveying the idea of a vile, venomous, clawing, acrid thing. 2 Op, cit, pages 122 to 142.

“The religious king Sron-I'san Gampo has said (in the Mani-kah- ’bum): ‘Speech should float freely forth like a bird into the sky, and be clothed in charming dress like a goddess. At the outset the object of the speech should be made clear like an unclouded sky. The speech should proceed like the excavation of treasure. The arguments should shoot forth nimbly like a deer chased by fresh hounds, without hesitation or pause.”

“* Assemblies.—People assemble for three purposes, namely, for, (a) happiness, (/) sorrow, and (c) worldly gossip. The assemblies for happiness are three,namely,(1) for virtuous acts, (2) for worship in the temples, and (3) for erecting houses and for feasts. The assemblies for virtuous acts are four, viz., the gathering of the monks, the gathering of the laity for worship, writing and copying holy books, and giving away wealth in charity. There are six kinds of assemblies for worship, namely, the gathering of the rich, the gathering in a separate place of the common men, the gathering for thanksgiving of those who have escaped from their enemy’s grasp, traders returned safely and successfully, sick men who have escaped from the devouring jaws of death, and youths on gaining a victory. 3

“The eight acts of Low-born persons.—Using coarse language, 1mpoliteness, talking with pride, want of foresight, harsh manners, star- ing, immoral conduct, and stealing.

The ten Faults —Unbelief in books, disrespect for teachers, 1endering one’s self unpleasant, covetousness, speaking too much, ridicul- ing another’s misfortune, using abusive language, being angry with old men or with women, borrowing what cannot be repaid, and stealing.

Invoking “The Blessing of Eloquence” (iag-byin-rlabs). This is a Mantrayana rite instituted by the “great saint” K’yun-po (Skt., Garuda or Puna, or Brika.)'

“T go for refuge to the Three Holy Ones! May I attain perfection and benetit the animal beings. The one who brought me to the light is at the tip of my tongue and the white Om made up of the words is above the moon : the white Ali (vowels) go by the right circle, the red Ka-li (consonants) go by the left and the blue Atan-siin by the right.” I repeat them secretly after deep contemplation :

“Om! a, a, i, i, u, u, ri, ri, li, li, e, ai, 0, ou, angah! swaha! (This is to be repeated thrice.) Om! Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha, Na (and here follow all the letters of the alphabet). (Three times), Om! ye dhorma (here follows ‘The Buddhist Creed’ thrice.) Through the rays of the seed of the mantra-rosary and the power of the blessings of speech, I summon the accomplishments of the seven precious rgyal-srid and ‘The eight glorious signs.” By repeating the above one attains accomplishment in speech.

During this training the boy’s relatives call about once a month

1 Cf. also the “ Garuda Charm,” figured at p. 387.

NOVICIATE. 177

to enquire after his progress and health, and to pay the tutor his fees for the lad’s board and education.

After two or three years of such rudimentary tenein when the boy has committed to memory the necessary texts (amounting to about one hundred and twenty-five leaves), his tutor sends in an application for his admission as a novice.

The mode of admission to the noviciateship in the great Depung monastery is as follows :—

THE NOVICIATE.

The tutor-Lima of the applicant for the noviciateship addresses the head monk (spyi-rgan) of his section for permission to admit the applicant, and at the same time offers a ceremonial scarf! and the fee of ten rupees. Then, if the applicant be found free from bodily defects and otherwise eligible, a written agreement is made out in the presence of the head monk and sealed by the thumb.

To get his name registered in the books of that particular school of the monastery to which he is to be attached, the pupil and his tutor go to the abbot® or principal of that school and proffer their request through the butler or cup-bearer,? who conducts them to the abbot, before whom they offer a scarf and a silver coin (preferably an Indian rupee), and bowing thrice before him, pray for admission.

Amongst the questions now put are: Does this boy come of his free will? Is he a slave, debtor, or soldier? Does anyone oppose his entry ? Is he free from deformity, contagious disease, or fits? Has he neglected the first three commandments? Has he committed theft, or thrown poison into water, or stones from a hillside so as to destroy animal life, etc.? What is his family ? and what their occupation ? and where their residence ? On giving satisfactory replies, he is then required to recite by heart the texts he has learned; and if approved, then the names of the pupil and his tutor are written down and duly sealed by the thumbs, and a scarf is thrown around their necks, and the boy, who has heen dressed in princely finery, has his dress exchanged for the yellow or red robe in imitation of Sakya Muni’s renunciation of the world ; while, if he is rejected, he is ejected from the monastery,

' tha-vdsas. 2 mM an-po. * gsol,

N

and his tutor receives a few strokes from a cane, and is fined several pounds of butter for the temple lamps.

The approved pupil and his tutor then proceed to the head Lama (zal-no) of the great cathedral (common to the colleges of the university), and, offering a scarf and a rupee, repeat their requests to him, and the names of the pupil and tutor and his sectional college or residentiary club are registered, so that should the pupil misconduct himself in the cathedral, his teachers, as well as himself, shall be fined.

The neophyte is now a registered student (d/d@-pc),! and on returning to his club, he is, if rich, expected to entertain all the residents of the club to three cups of tea. If he has no relatives to cook for him, he is supplied from the club stores; and any allowance? he gets from his people is divided into three parts, one-third being appropriated by his club for messing expenses. Then he gets the followmg monkish robes and utensils, viz., a sTod-~gag, bs’ain-t’abs, gzan, zla-gam, z’wa-ser, sgro-lugs, a cup, a bag for wheaten flour, and a rosary.

Until his formal imitiation as an ascetic, “the going forth from home” (pravrayyd-vrata), by which he becomes a novice (Ge-ts’ul, Skt., Sramana), the candidate is not allowed to join in the religious services in the monastery. So he now addresses a request to the presiding Grand Lima*® to become a novice, accompanying his request with a scarf and as much money as he can offer.

The ceremony of initiation is generally similar to that of the southern Buddhists.’

On the appointed day—usually on one of the fast days (Upo satha), the candidate has his head shaven all but a small tuft on the crown °; and he is conducted by his spiritual tutor (apadhyaya) before a chapter in the assembly hall, clad in the mendicant’s robes, on putting on which he has muttered a formula to the effect that he wears them only for modesty and as a protection

1 orya-pa. revved. dGe-lden-K’ri-rin-po-c’he, or s’Kyabs-mgon-rin-poch’e. Cf. Mahavanso, i, 12. CpaSanpudd-Kaumacdka, translated by F. Spiegel, op. eét. Rays Davins, B., p. 159.

5 My friend, Mr. A. von Rosthorn, informs me that the Lamas of eastern Tibet usually pass through an ordeal of initiation in which six marks are seared in their crown with an iron lamp, and called Dipamkara, or “the burning lamp.”

we Ww ts

TREEEATION. es)

against heat, cold, etc. The officiating head Lama, sometimes the Grand Lima, addressing the student by his secular name, asks, “Do you subject yourself to the tonsure cheerfully ?” On receiving a reply in the affirmative, the presiding Liaina cuts off the remaining top tuft of hair from the head of the novice, who is like Chaucer’s monk,

“ His hed was balled, and shone like any glas.”

The Lima also gives the kneeling novice a religious name, by which he is henceforth known,' and exhorting him to keep the thirty-six precepts and the thirty-six rules, and to look upon the Grand Lima as a living Buddha, he administers the vows to the novice, who repeats clearly three times the formula, “I take refuge in Buddha, in the Law, and in the Assembly.”

The ceremony concludes with the presentation of a scarf and ten silver coins.”

At the next mass, the boy is brought into the great assembly hall, carrying a bundle of incense sticks; and is chaperoned by a monk named the “ bride-companion ” (ba-grags), as this ceremony is regarded as a marriage with the church. He sits down on an appointed seat by the side of the “ bride-companion,” who instructs him in the rules and etiquette (sGris) of the monkish manner of sitting, walking, ete.

The initiation into the Tantrik Buddhist priesthood of the Vajraciryas is detailed below in a foot-note.®

1 Extra titles are also bestowed, says Sarat, on the descendants of the old nobility. Thus, Nag-tshang families are given title of Shab-dung; the sons of high officials and landowners Je-dun; and the gentry and Sha-ngo family Choi-je.

2 Tankus.

’ The following account of the initiation of the Vajracarya priests, as given by Mr. Hodgson for Nepal (J//., p. 189) :—

“Early in the morning the following things, viz., the image of a Chaitya, those of the Tri Ratna or Triad, the Prajna Pdramitd scripture, and other sacred scriptures, a kalas, or water-pot, filled with a few sacred articles, a platter of curds, four other water-pots filled with water only, a chiara, mendicants’ upper and lower garments, a Pinda pétra (alms-bow]) and a religious staff, a pair of wooden sandals, a small mixed metal plate spread over with pounded sandal-wood, in which the image of the moon is inscribed, a golden razor and a silver one, and lastly, a plate of dressed rice, are collected, and the aspirant is seated in the svast/kdsana and made to perform worship to the Guru Mandalu, and the Chaitya, and the Tri Ratna and the Prajna Pdéramita Sastra. Then the aspirant, kneeling with one knee on the ground with joined hands, entreats the Guru to make him a Bandya, and to teach him whatsoever it is needful *for him to know. The Guru answers, O! disciple, if you desire to perform the Pravrajya Vrata, first of all devote yourself to the worship of the Chaitya and of the Tri

N 2

The novice is now admitted to most of the privileges of a monk, and after a period of three years he passes out of the preliminary stage (rig-ch’un), and is then entitled to have a small chamber or cell to himself, though he is still called a student (da-pa), and, in-

Ratna: you must observe the five precepts or Pancha Siksha, the fastings and the vows prescribed; nor speak or think evilly; nor touch any intoxicating liquors or drugs; nor be proud of heart in consequence of your observance of your religious and moral duties.”

“Then the aspirant pledges himself thrice to observe the whole of the above precepts; upon which the Guru tells him, ‘If while you live you will keep the above rules, then will I make you a Bandya.’ He assents, when the Guru, having again given the three Rakshds above-mentioned to the Che/a, delivers a cloth for the loins to him to put on. Then the Guru brings the aspirant out into the court-yard, and having seated him, touches his hair with rice and oil, and gives those articles to a barber. The Guru next puts on the ground a little pulse and desires a Chelu to apply it to his own feet. Then the Guru gives the Chela a cloth of four fingers’ breadth and one cubit in length, woven with threads of five colours, and which is especially manufactured for this purpose, to bind round his head. Then he causes the aspirant to per- form his ablutions, after which he makes péjé to the hands of the barber in the name of Visvakarma, and then causes the barber to shave all the hair, save the forelock, off the aspirant’s head. Then the paternal or maternal aunt of the aspirant takes the vessel of mixed metal above noted and collects the hair into it. The aspirant is now bathed again and his nails pared, when the above party puts the parings into the pot with the hair. Another ablution of the aspirant follows, after which the aspirant is taken again within, and seated. Then the Guru causes him to eat, and also sprinkles upon him the Pancha Garbha, and says to him, ‘ Heretofore you have lived a householder, have you a real desire to abandon that state and assume the state of a monk ?’ The aspirant answers in the afhrmative, when the Guru, or maternal uncle, cuts off with his own hand the aspirant’s forelock. Then the Guru puts a tiara adorned with the images of the five BuppuHas on his own head, and taking the sa/as or waterpot, sprinkles the aspirant with holy water, repeating prayers at the same time over him.

“The neophyte is then again brought below, when four Nayakas or superiors of proximate Viharas and the aspirant’s Guru perform the Pancha Abhisheka, ¢.e., the Guru takes water from the ka/sw and pours it into a conch; and then ringing a bell and repeating prayers, sprinkles the water from the conch on the aspirant’s head ; whilst the four Nayakas taking water from the other four water-pots named above, severally baptize the aspirant, The musicians present then strike up, when the Nayakas and Guru invoke the following blessing on the neophyte: ‘May you be happy as he who dwells in the hearts of all, who is the universal Atman, the lord of all, the Buddha called Ratnasambhava.’ The aspirant is next led by the Nayakas and Guru above stairs, and seated as before. He is then made to perform pwd to the (ruru Mandal and to sprinkle rice on the images of the deities. The Guru next gives him the Chivara and Nivasa and golden earrings, when the aspirant thrice says to the Guru, §O Guru, I, who am such an one, have abandoned the state of a householder for this whole birth, and have become a monk.” Upon which the aspirant’s former name is relinquished anda new one given him, suchas Ananda, Shari, Putra, Kasvapa, Dharma, Sr Mitra, Paramita Sagar. Then the Guru causes him to perform puwjé to the Tri Ratna, after having given him a golden tiara, and repeated some prayers over him. The Guru then repeats the following praises of the Tri Ratna: ‘1 salute that

TNOTTATION. 181

deed, all the monks, from the novice to the more senior (par-pa), and even the full monk (ge-lon) retain the same title in the chief monasteries of Tibet—the term “Lima” being reserved to the heads of the monastery.

The novice now undergoes a severe course of instruction, during which corporal punishment is still, as heretofore, freely inflicted. The instruction is mainly in ritual and dogma, but crafts and some arts, such as painting, are also taught to those showing special aptitude. The spiritual adviser of the young monk is called “the radical Laima,”! and as he initiates the novice into the

Buddha who is the lord of the three worlds, whom gods and men alike worship, who is apart from the world, long-suffering, profound as the ocean, the quintessence of all good, the Dharma Raja and Munindra, the destroyer of desire and affection, and vice and darkness; whois void of avarice and lust, who is the icon of wisdom. I ever invoke him, placing my head on his feet.

“*T salute that Dharma, who is the Prajna Paramita, pointing out the way of perfect tranquillity to mortals, leading them into the paths of perfect wisdom; who, by the testimony of all the sages, produced or created all things; who is the mother of all Bodhisatwas and Sravakas. I salute that Sangha, who is Avalokitesvara and Maitreya, and Gagan Ganja, and Samanta Bhadra, and Vajra Pani, and Manju Ghosha, and Sarvanivarana Vishkambhin, and Kshiti Garbha and Kha Garbha.’ The aspirant then says to the Guru, ‘I will devote my whole life to the Tri Ratna, nor ever desert them. Then the Guru gives him the Dasa S’iksha or ten precepts observed by all the Buddhas and Bhikshukas, and commands his observance of them. They are: 1. Thou shalt not destroy life. 2. Thou shalt not steal. 3. Thou shalt not follow strange faiths. 4. Thou shalt not lie. 5. Thou shalt not touch intoxicating liquors or drugs. 6. Thou shalt not be proud of heart. 7. Thou shalt avoid music, dancing, and all such idle toys. 8. Thou shalt not dress in fine clothes nor use perfumes or ornaments. 9. Thou shalt sit and sleep in lowly places. 10. Thou shalt not eat out of the prescribed hours.

“The Guru then says, ‘ All these things the BuppHas avoided. Youare now become a Bhikshu and you must avoid them too;’ which said, the Guru obliterates the Tri Ratna Mandala. Next, the aspirant asks from the Guru the Chivara and Nivasa, the Pinda Patra and Khikshari and Gandhar, equipments of a BuppHA, a short staff surmounted by a Chaitya and a water-pot. Add thereto an umbrella and sandals to com- plete it. The aspirant proceeds to make a Mandal,. and places in it five flowers and five Drubakund, and some Khil, and some rice; and assuming the Utkutak Asan, and joining his hands, he repeats the praises of the Tri Ratna above cited, and then again requests his Guru to give him suits of the Chivara and the like number of the Nivasa, one for occasions of ceremony as attending the palace, another for wearing at meals, and the third for ordinary wear. He also requests from his Guru the like number of Gandhar or drinking cups of Pinda Patra, and of Khikshari. One entire suit of these the aspirant then assumes, receiving them from the hands of the Guru, who, previously to giving them, consecrates them by prayers. The aspirant then says, ‘Now I have received the Pravrajya Vrata, I will religiously observe the Sitla-Skandha and Samadhi-Skandha, the Prajfia-Skandha and the Vimukti-Skand- [al

1 rTsa wai blama. This is not, as Schlagintweit states (op. cit., 139), in any way restricted to particular “ priests who originated a specific system of Buddhism.”

mysterious rites he is held by the latter in especial reverence all through life.

Frequent examinations are held and also wrangling or public disputations.

In every cloister is a teacher of the law, who, as a rule, takes the highest rank after the chief. But in the larger ones are regular schools or universities, in which the holy books are systematically explained, and theology, etc., is taught. The most celebrated ones of these are of course those near Lhasa and Tashi-lhunpo, which are visited by students from all provinces of the Limaist church. In the countries of sonthern Buddhism the cloister schools are divided after th» three branches of the codes, into three sections, the Siitras, Vinayas and Abhidharmas. In Tibet the division practically is the same, though sometimes is added a medical one, and also a mystic faculty for magic aud conjuration, which, however, seems to be united as a rule with the section for philosophy and metaphysics (Abhidharma), for which in some Limaseries special schools are established.

Every Lima belongs to one or other of these faculties, and the position which he occupies inside the brotherhood depends on the number and class of holy books which he has gone through and understands thoroughly.

As soon as the bell sounds he has to go to his respective room or class, to start with his lection, to receive new ones, to listen to the explanations of the professor, etc., etc., and to prepare for examinations and disputations.

Examinations —Within a year after lis admission to the order he must attempt to pass the first professional examination, and in the following year or two the second examination for promotion. And until he passes these examinations he must perform for the first three years the menial offices of serving out tea, etc., to the elder monks in the assembly hall.

The examinations are conducted in the presence of the heads of the monastery and the assembled monks, who observe a solemn silence, and the test is for the candidate to stand up in the assembly and recite by heart all the prescribed books.’ The ordeal is a

1 An idea of the nature of this is got from the following list of text books for the first examination at Pemiongchi, which comprise the worship necessary for three “ magic-cireles,” viz: The jist is the magic-cirele of dKon-c’og spyi “dus Rig-dsin

EXAMINATIONS FOR ORDINATION. 183

very trying one, so that the candidate is given a companion to prompt and encourage him. The first examination lasts for three days ; and nine intervals are allowed daily during the examination,

*‘dsah ms’an fing-poi c’os “ker (or * Banquet to the whole assembly of the Gods and Demons”). This book contains about sixty pages, and its recitation takes nearly one whole day. It comprises the chapters :—

(1) Ts’e-sgrub or The obtaining of long life.

(2) Z'i-k’ro—The mild and angry deities.

(3) Guru-drag—The fierce form of Padma-sambhava.

(4) Sen-gdonma—The lion-faced demoness.

(5) Ch’osskyon Mahakala Yes’es mgonpo.

(6) T’an-lha (Mt. Thang-lha with its spirit “Kiting ” is a northern guardian of

Sikhim), mDsod-Ina, Lha-ch’en and sMan-bstiin—Local and mountain deities.

(7) bsKan bs’ags, ts’og's and 'Tas’i-smon-lam.

The second comprises the magic-circle of the collection of the Tathagathas and * the powerful great pitying one” (Avalokita)—bDe-gs’egs-kiin “dus-gar-dban, Tugs-rje chen-po, of about 40 pages.

Then follow the magic circles of the fierce and demoniacal deities Guru-drag-dmar, K’rowo-rol wai gtor-zlog and Drag poi las Gurui-gsol-’debs len-bdun-ma, K’a “don ch’os spyod.

The books for the second examination, requiring to be recited by heart, are the following :—

(1) The worship of “ The lake-born Vajra’’ (mTs’o-skyes-rdorje)—?.e., St. Padmasambhava—and “the sage Guru who has obtained understanding ” (Rig *dsin rtog sgrub-guru). .

(2) The three roots of sagedom (Rig ’dsin rtsa-gsum)—

(a) Rig ’dsin Ihamai-las. (6) Ts’e-sgrub k’og dbugs. (c) gSang sgrub donyi shin-po.

(3) The deeds of Dorje P’Agmo (Dorje p’ag-moi-las), the great happiness of zagmed (zag-med éde-ch’en), and the four classes of the fierce guardians—c’os srun drag-po sde dzhi. The names of these demons are—on the east, kLubdud Munpa nagpo ; on the south, Srinpo Lanka-mgrim-bchu ; on the west, Mamo §8’a-za p’ra-gral nag-po ; on the north, gS’enpa sPu-gri-dmarpo.

(4) The subjugation of the host of demons—The offering to the Dhyani Buddhas bdud dpun zil non, Kun-bzan, me’od-sprin.

(5) The sacrificial ceremony bskang bshags, viz., Rig ‘dsin bskang-bshags, Phagmai bskang bshags.

(6) The prayer of the glorious “ Tashi’”’—the Lepcha name for Padma-sambhava —Tashi smon-lam.

The above books reach to about fifty-five pages.

(7) The cirele of the eight commanders of the collected Buddhas. bkah-bgyad bde gsegs ’duspai dkyil’khor kyi las and Khrowo-rol wai gtor.zlog gyi skori bkah brgyad. This has about forty pages. [The names of the eight commanders, bKah-bgyads, are—(1) C’e-mch’og, (2) Yan-dag, (3) gS’in-rje, (4) rTa-mgrin, (5) Phurpa, (6) Mamo, (7) ’Gad ston, (8) Rig-’dsin.]

When the young monk recites by heart all these books satisfactorily, and so passes this examination, he is not subject to any further ordeal of examination: this being the final one.

and these intervals are utilized by the candidates in revising the next exercise, in company with their teacher.

Those who disgracefully fail to pass this examination are taken outside and chastized by the provost. And repeated failure up to a limit of three years necessitates the rejection of the candidate from the order. Should, however, the boy be rich and wish re-entry, he may be re-admitted on paying presents and money on a higher scale than formerly, without which no re-admission is possible. If the rejected candidate be poor and he wishes to continue a religious life, he can only do so as a lay-devotee, doing drudgery about the monastery buildings. Or he may set up in some village as an unorthodox Lima-priest.

The majority fail to pass at the first attempt. And failure on the part of the candidate attaches a stigma to his teacher, while in the event of the boy chanting the exercises correctly and with pleasing voice in the orthodox oratorical manner, his teacher is highly complimented.

PUBLIC DISPUTATIONS.

The public disputations are much more attractive and favourite exercises for the students than the examinations. Indeed, the academic feature of the monastic universities of Tibet is perhaps seen at its best in the prominence given to dialectics and disputations, thus following the speculative traditions of the earlier Indian Buddhists. In the great monastic universities of De-pung, Tashi-lhunpo, Serra and Gah-ldan, each with a teeming population of monks, ranging from about 4,000 to 8,000, public disputations: are regularly held, and form a recognized institution, in which every divinity student or embryo Lima must take part. This exercise 1s called expressing “the true and innermost essence (of the doctrine)” (m7s’an-niid), in which an endeavour is made to ascertain both the literal sense and the spirit of the doctrine, and it is held within a barred court. Some details of the manner in which these disputations are held are given below.®

1 Ch’os-k’rims-pa.

2 Conf. also JAEScHKE, Dict., p. 454, who is inclined to identify this “school” with the Vaiseshkas (or Atomists) K6pp, i., 691.

3 Within the court-ch’os-ra where the disputations are held are seven grades (dstn-ru),namely: (1), Aha-doy-dkar-dmur ; (2), Tehedma ; (8), Pear-pyin ; (4), mDsbd ; (5), Dulwa ; (6),dbUma ; (7), bsLab-btub.

At these disputations there are tree-trunks, called the Sal-tree trunk (Shugs-sdon),

ORDINATION AND DEGREES. 185

ORDINATION AND DEGREES.

After a course of such training for twelve years, each student is eligible for full ordination, the minimum age for which is twenty, and the ceremony is generally similar to that of the initiation. Those who prove their high capabilities by passing with exceptional distinction through the disputations and examinations conducted by the assembled Lamaist literati and the heads of one or more cloisters, receive academic and theological degrees

Ichan-ma-sdonpo, and yubu; and bounded by a wall, and inside the court is covered by pebbles (rdehu). In the middle there is a great high stone seat for the lord protector (sKyabs-mgon), and a smaller seat for the abbot (mk’anpo) of the school, and one still smaller for the chief celebrant.

On reaching the enclosure, the auditors take their respective seats in the seven grades, in each of which discussions are held. One of the most learned candidates volunteers for examination, or as it is called, to be vow-keeper (Dam-bchah). He takes his seat in the middle, and the others sit round him. Then the students stand up one by one, and dispute with him.

The scholar who stands up wears the yellow hat, and, clapping his hands together says, Aa-ye/ and then puts his questions to the vow-keeper, who is questioned by every student who so desires; and if he succeeds in answering all without exception, then he is promoted to a higher grade. In any case, one is transferred to another grade after every three years.

After twenty-one years of age the rank of d@e-’ses is obtained, though some clever students may get it even at eleven. The abbot of the college comes into the enclosure seven days every month, and supervises the disputations of the seven grades, When a candidate has reached the bslab-btub grade, he is certain soon to become a dGe-s’es.

The great disputation, however, is held four times a year, in spring, in summery, in autumn, and in winter, in a great paved courtyard, and lasts five or seven days. On these occasions, all the scholars and abbots of the four schools of the colleges of De-pung congregate there. And all the learned students of the four schools who belong to the grade of bslab-btub volunteer for examination, and each is questioned by the students who ply their questions, says my Lama, “just like flies on meat.” When the voluntary examinee has successfully replied to all the questions he goes to the abbot of his own school, and, presenting a silver coin and a scarf, he requests permission to be examined on the Lhasa mass-day. If the abbot receives the coin and scarf, then the application is approved, and if not, the student is referred to his studies. In the great Lhasa mass all the monks of Serra, De-pung, and Gah-ldan congregate, and examinations are held every seventh day, and the dGe-s’es of the three monasteries of Serra, De-pung, and Gah-ldan act as examiners. If the volunteer can answer them all, then the Lord Protector throws a scarf round his neck, and he thus receives the title of d@e-s'’es—somewhat equivalent to our Bachelor of Divinity.

The newly-fledged dGe-s’es is now known as a sAya-ser-med-pa-dGe-hs'es or “The yellowless-pale Ge-s’e” (pale + yellow = “ laymen and priests,” says JAESCHKE, D., p. 25). Then he must give soup (called dGe-bs’es T’ugpa) to all the students of his school and club, each student getting a cupful. The soup is made of rice, mixed with meat and butter, and different kinds of fruits. Then the abbot of the school and the Spyi-so of his club, and all his friends and relatives, each gives him a Khadag scarf and a money present.

and honours, by which they become eligible for the highest and most privileged appointments.

The chief degrees are (re-s’e, corresponding to our Bachelor of Divinity ; and Rab-jam-pa, or Doctor of Divinity.

The degree of (re-s’e or “the learned virtuosi,” may be called B.D. It is obtained, in the manner above detailed, by giving proof in open meeting of the Lamas? of his ability to translate and interpret perfectly at least ten of the chief books of his religion. The Ge-s’e is eligible to go in for the higher special departments, to which a non-graduate, even though he may be a ge-long, and as such senior to the young Ge-s’e, is not admitted? Many of them become the head Limas or lord protectors (skyabs-mgon) of the government monasteries of the established chureh, not only in Tibet, but in Mongolia, Amdo, ancl China. Others return to their own fatherland, while some pursue their studies in the higher Tantras, to qualify for the much coveted post of the Khri-pa of Gah-ldan.

The degree of Ruh-jam-pa,* “verbally overflowing, endlessly,” a doctor wniversulis, corresponds with our Doctor of Theology, or D.D., ‘and is, it seems, the highest academical title of honour which can be earned in the Lamaist universities, and after a disputation over the whole doctrine of the church and faith. The diploma which he receives entitles him to teach the law publicly, and authorizes him to the highest church offices not specially reserved for the incarnate Limas. And he is given a distinctive hat, as seen in the foregoing figure, at the head of this chapter. It is said that in Tibet there are only twelve cloisters who lave the right to bestow this degree, and it is even more honourable than the titles bestowed by the Dalai Laima himself. But this is, as a matter of course, a very expensive affair.

The titles of Ch’o-je’ or “noble of the law,” and Paiu/ita or

! dGe-s’es. It seems to be the same as the Tung-ram-pa of Tashi-Ihunpo and the Kabs-bchu, K6OPPEN, ii.; it also seems to be “ p’al-ch’en-pa.”

2 Apparently a joint board of representatives of the three great monasteries aforesaid, De-pung, etc. Conf. also Panpir A. K. on “ Gisi.”

3 The Ge-s’e of the three great Ge-lug-pa monasteries may be admitted to one or other of the four Lings or royal monasteries: Tse-nam-gyal, sTan-gyal-ling, Kun-deling, and Gyud-sTod-smad, and he may become a 7Tse-drung of the Grand Dalai Lama’s royal monastery at Potala.

• Rabs-’byams-pa, and seems to be the same as the Kah-c’an of Tashi-lhunpo.

• Ch’os-rje.

OFFICIALS AND DISCIPLLNE. 187

“learned,” are bestowed by the sovereign Grand Limas on those doctors who have distinguished themselves through blameless holiness and excellent wisdom. And between these two seems to lie the title of Ld6-tsa-wa or “translator.” The relative ranks of Rab-jam-pa and Ch’o-je may be seen from the fact that after the second installation of Buddhism in Mongolia, the former were put by law on the same footing as the Tai-jis or barons or counts; and the latter as Chungtaijis or marquesses or dukes. Did the dignity of the Pundita allow a more exalted rank, the consequence would be that only the holy princes from K’an-po upwards, that is to say, the K’an-po, the Chubilghan, and the Chutukten, only could have it; but of this nothing certain is known.

Thus the K’an-po, the Ch’o-je, and the Rab-jam-pa form the three principal classes of the higher non-incarnate clergy, and they follow each other in the order described. The K’an-pos take amongst them the first place, and are, as a rule, elected out of the two other classes. As the K’an-po has been compared with a bishop, so could the C’ho-je perhaps be called “ vicar-general ” or “coadjutor.” And often in the same cloister by the side of, or rather under, the K’an-po, are found a Ch’o-je as vice-abbot (a mitred abbot). In the smaller cloisters the chief Lima as a rule has only the grade of Ch’o-je or Rab-jam-pa.

Special schools, expressly for the study of magic, are erected in the cloisters of Ramo-ch’e and Mo-ru. Those who receive here the doctor’s diploma, and thereby acquire the right to carry on the mystery of science practically, especially conjuring, weather prophecy, sympathetical pharmacy, ete., ete., are called Nagram-pa, which means “ master of conjuration.” Their uniform is Sivaite, and they probably spring from the red religion, but their science follows strictly the prescribed formulas in the Kah-gyur, and is therefore quite orthodox.t Their practices as augurs are detailed under the head of sorcery, along with those of the ordinary illiterate Nag-pa fortune-teller.

OFFICIALS AND DISCIPLINE. The huge cloisters, with several hundreds and occasionally several thousands of monks, necessarily possess an organized body

1 KOPPEN, ii., 290.

of officials for the administration of affairs clerical and temporal, and for the enforcement of discipline.

At the head of a monastery stands either a re-generated or reincarnate Lima (Ku-s’o, T’ul-ku, or in Mongolian “Khubilighan’”) or an installed abbot (A’an-po, Skt., Upadhdhaya), the latter being as a rule elected from the capital, and sanctioned by the Dalai Lima or the provincial head of the re-incarnate Lamas; and he holds office only for seven years.

He has under him the following administrative and executive officers, all of whom except the first are usually not ordained, and they are elected by and from among the brotherhood for a longer or shorter term of office :—

1. The professor or master (Lob-pon!), who proclaims the law and conducts the lessons of the brethren.

2. The treasurer and cashier (C’ag-dso ”).

3. The steward (Ner-pa* or Spyi-ier).

4, Provost marshal (Ge-Ko*), usually two who maintain order like police, hence also called vergers or censors, and they are assisted by two orderlies (hag-ner).

5. The chief celebrant or leader of the choir or precentor (Um-dse).

6. Sacristan (Ku-fer).

7. Water-giver (Ch’ab-dren).

8. Tea waiters (Ja-ma).

To these are to be added the secretaries,’ cooks,’ chamberlain,” warden or entertainer of guests,® accountant,? bearer of benedictory emblem,'’ tax-collectors, medical monks, painters, merchant monks, exorcist, etc.

The general rules of conduct and discipline are best illustrated at the great monastic universities.

The De-pung monastery, with its 7,700 monks, is divided into four great colleges (grwa-ts’an), namely: (1) bLo-gsal-glin ; (2) sGo-man ; (3) bDe-yans; and (4) sNags-pa, and each of these schools of the

1 sLob-dpon. 2 p’yag mdsods. 3 oner-pa.

dge-bskos, also called Ch’o-k’rims-pa or “religious judge,” and the provost of the

cathedral seems to be called Zhal-no.

5 spyi-k’yab. ® gsol-dpon. 7 gzim-dpon.

8 mgron-gner ch’en. ® Tsi-dpon. 0 p’yag-ts’ang or sku-b’c’ar-mkhan-po.

DISCIPLINE IN MONASTIC COLLEGES. 189

monastery has its own abbot. The monks are accommodated according to their different nationalities and provinces, each having separate resident and messing sections, named K’ams ts’an or provincial messing clubs. The cathedral or great hall of the congregation, named T’sogsch’en lha-k’an, is common to the whole monastery.

Sera monastery, with its 5,500 monks, divided into three collegiate schools named : (1) Bye-wa, (2) sNags-pa, and (3) sMad-pa, and each has its sectional club.

Gah-ldan with its 3,300 monks is divided into two schools, namely, (1) Byan-rtse, and (2) S’ar-tse, each with its club.

Tashi-lhunpo has three collegiate schools.*

Each club has at least two Lama-oflicers, the elder of whom takes charge of the temple attached to the club, and teaches his pupils the mode of making offerings in the temple. The younger officer is a steward in charge of the storehouse (gNer-ts’ang), and the tea presented by the public (Man-ja), or “ tea-general,” and the kitchen (Run- k’an). These two Lamas are responsible for the conduct of the monks of their section, and in case their pupils do wrong, they— the masters—are fined. These two oflicers are changed every year.

Entry of Pupil.—The applicant for admission goes to the great paved court (the rdo-chal) of the monastic club, the masters are called and ask him whence he has come, and whether he has any relatives or

1 The grand monastery of Tashi-Ihunpo is divided, says Sarat (Jour. Bud. Text Socy. Ind., iv., 1893, p. 14), into forty Aham-tshan or wards, which are placed under the jurisdiction of the three great Tu-tshang or theological colleges, viz. :—(a) Thoisamling college exercises control over the following Kham-tshan :—

1. Gya Kham-tshan. 10. Ser-ling Kham-tshan. 2aSO 5 i 11. Je-pa, also called Sha-pa Ta-shang.
2. Hamdong Kham-tshan. 12. Chang-pa Kham-tshan. 4, Chawa 7 o 13. Leg-thig 35 =
3. Tanag a a 14. Norpugandan, the first house built
4. Tang-moc’he Kham-tshan. when the monastery was established.
5. Tinke cr 4 15. Srepa (Hrepa) Kham-tshan.
6. Chinee 5 : 16. Pa-so Kham-tshan.
7. Lhiam-bu-tse ,, oa 17. Dong-tse Kham-tshan (6) The following belong to Shar-tse Ta-tshany :—
8. Thon-pa Kham-tshan. 7. Potog-pa Kham-tshan.
9. Gyal-tse-tse Kham-tshan 8. Nénin a “n
10. Shiné ” ” 9. Tom-khaling
11. Lhopa : A 10. Déyang-pa.
12. Latoi (Ladak) ,, + 11. Samlo Kham-tshan.
13. Chang-pa a‘ 12. Néninnag-po Shara. (ce) The following are under Kyi khang :—
14. Khogyé Kham-tshan. 6. Piling Kham-tshan.
15. Tangmo ,, of 7. Khalka ,, ‘5
16. Rog-tsho ,, “r 8. Darpa ,, *
17. Lakha ,, ” 9. Lhundub-tse Aham-tshan.
18. Dodan ,, or 10. Tsa-oo Kham-tshan, also called Tsa-00

para.

acquaintances in the monastery. If any such there be he is called, and takes the applicant to his own private chamber. But if the applicant has no friend or relative there, tea and wheaten flour are given to him, and he is kept in the Run-khan for three days. After which period, should no one have come to claim him or search for him, one or ovlet of the two masters of the section take him under their charge, the head master having the preference, and the proper application for his admission is then duly made.

For the general assembly hall or cathedral there is a special staff of officials. The great celebrant (Z'soys-ch’en dbu-imdsad) who leads the chant ; the two /Zal-ro ave the provosts; the two Nan-ma are subordinate orderlies who look after the conduct of the students ; the two Ch’ab-rils go round the benches giving water to the monks to rinse out their mouths after reciting the mantras (as in Hindi rites of ceremonial purity), and at other times they help the orderlies to look after the pupils. The Lama dMig-rtse-ma' fixes the time for congregation and the “tea-general” of the same. The two orderlies must watch whether the pupils throw away tea or flour, and they also take general care of the temples.

Early in the morning, about four o’clock, a junior pupil chants chhis-shad from the top of the temple of the cathedral. ‘Then each of the clubs beat their stone bells (*do-rting) to awake the occupants, who arise and wash and dress. They put on the cope (zla-gam), and carry the yellow hat over their shoulders, and take a cup and a bag for wheaten flour. Some bow down in the court, others cireumambulate the temple, and others the temple of Maiijusri, which is bebind the

cathedral, repeating his mantra (Omah-ra-pa-tea-na-dht).

About one o’clock the Miy-rtse-ma Lama chants the ‘ dmig-rtse-ma ”

a loud voice, and at once the pupils assemble near the two doors, and having put on their yellow hats, join in the chant. Then after an interval the ch’abril opens the door, and all enter in proper order and take their seats according to their rank in their club.” The yellow

1 Or“ The highest idea or imagining” (Skt., Ava/ambundc). 2 At Tashi-lhunpo, says Sarat (Jour. Budd. Text Socy. Ind., iv.), the monks sit in nine rows one facing another.

ist row is called Lobtg or Lob-zang bug ¢/. 2nd Champa ta/ (the row opposite the gigantic image of a Maitreya). aS { 3. Goiku tal (the row opposite the satin tapestry). | 4. Shuthi te/ (the row opposite the huge lamp of the hall). 4 5. Dong tu/ (the front row opposite the sacerdotal Is common to all t 7 throne of the Grand Lama). 6. Ne-chii ta/ (the row opposite the painted images of the cone sixteen Sthaviras (sages) on the wall). iepiiehang ; 7. Ne-ning tal (the row opposite the old images of the sixteen Sthaviras). 8. Dol-ma tal (the row opposite the image of the god- Shar-tse we dess Do/ma, Tara). 9. Go-gyab tal (the row opposite the door of the hall).

Opposite Dong te7 is the chapel or Tsany-khany containing the image of Buddha,

DISCIPLINE. Lisl

hat is thrown over the left shoulder, and the cup and the bag are placed under the knees, and all sit facing to their front.

After the repetition of the refuge formula, headed by the chief celebrant, the younger provost arises and dons his yellow hat, “ s(rurisem-md,” and with an iron rod strikes a pillar with it once, on which all the students will go into the refectory, where tea is distributed to

each in series, each getting three cupfuls. On drinking it they return and resume tlteir respective seats, and continue the celebration.

When drinking the tea presented by the populace (iany-ja) all the pupils sit silent, and the two cab-rils spread a carpet and make a seat in the middle for the elder provost, who then steps forward and sits down, and, after having thrice bowed down, then he repeats the sk Bebo” jee in which is name of the Dispenser of the yifts, who has offered the tea, is called out, and blessings prayed for to extend the doctrines of Buddha, to secure long lite to the two Grand Lamas, and absence of strife amongst the members of the monkhood, and that the rains may descend in due season, and the crops and cattle prosper, and disease, human and of animals, decrease, and that life be long with good luck.

After this service in the cathedral, a lecture is given called Ts‘ogsgtam, in which the rules of etiquette for pupils are laid down, and the manner of walking and conduct at meetings explained, after which should there be any pupil who has infringed the rules of discipline, he is dealt with in an exemplary way, as will be described presently.

The Refectory,or vather tea-kitchen, attached to the cathedrals and temples, has five regular oflicials: Two tea-masters (Ja-dpon), who look after the distribution of the government tea, and the other after the tea ordered by the provost of “the cathedral ; ; also two menial Ja-ma, and the superintendent T’ab-gyog-gi dpon-po, who has twenty-five subordinates on fatigue duty.

The service of general-tea (Man-ja) is given three times daily from the stock supplied by the Chinese emperor as a subsidy amounting to about half-a-million bricks. On the 15th, 25th, and the last day of the month, general-tea is given three times and soup once by the governor of Gah-ldan palace. There are many dispensers of gifts who offer tea and a donation (gyed) amounting to three, fifteen, seventeen silver srangs pieces ; and it is the custom that if one Tai-qa (about +6; of a rupee) be offered to the cathedral, then two Tam-gas must be offered to the college-school, and four to the club. Offerings may be made

which has accommodation for eiguty monks. It is in charge of the Kyi/-khang Ta-tshangq.

The chapel of Maitreya (Chamkhazy, which is three storeys high, and is spacious enough to contain eighty monks. It is under the charge of Thoisamling College.

Opposite to Do/ma tu/ is Do/ma Lhakhang (the chapel of the goddess Tara). It can hold forty monks, and is in the charge of Shar-tse Ta-tshang.

Opposite Lobig is the chapel of Paldan Lhamo. It is said that the image of Paldan Lhamo contained in it stands in space, /.+.. without auy support on any side.

solely to the schoo! without the cathedral, and may be made to the club independently of either. In any case, when offerings are made to the cathedral, then something must be offered both to the school and to the club. This custom has existed at De-pung at least from the time of the great Dalai Lama Nag-wan.

The size of the tea-boilers of the larger monastery and at the Lhasa temple is said to be enormous, as can be well imagined when it is remembered that several thousands have to be catered for. The cauldron at the great Lhasa cathedral is said to hold about 1,200 gallons.

A very vigorous discipline is enforced. It is incumbent on every member of the monastery to report misdemeanours which come under his notice, and these are punished according to the Pratimoksha rules. Minor offences are met at first by simple remonstrance, but if persisted in are severely punished with sentences up to actual banishment.

If anyone infringes the rules of discipline short of murder, or oath, or wine-drinking, or theft, within the club, the two club-masters punish him; but if within the college or debating-hall, then he is amenable to the provost of the college.

A member of De-pung who commits any of the ten kinds of “ indulgence” cannot be tried except in the cathedral. The elder provost calls on the breaker of the rules to stand upin the presence of the assembled students, and the transgressor rises with bent head and is censured by the younger provost and sentenced to a particular number ot strokes. Then the two water-men bring in the dGe-rgan of the club and the tutor of the offending student. The dGe-rgan rises up to receive his censure, and so also the tutors. Then the offending pupil is seized by the head and feet, and soundly beaten by the lictors (T’ab-gyog).

The punishment by cane or rod is fifty strokes for a small offence, one hundred for a middling, and one hundred and fifty for a grave offence. In the cathedral no more than one hundred and fifty strokes can be given, and no further punishment follows.

For breach of etiquette in sitting, walking, eating, or drinking, the penalty is to bow down and apologize, or suffer ten strokes.

The most severe punishment, called “Good or Bad Luck” (sKyidsdug), so called it is said from its chance of proving fatal according to the luck of the sufferer, is inflicted in cases of murder and in expulsion from the order for persistent intemperance, or theft. After the congregation is over the teacher and club-master of the accused are called to the court, and the provost of the cathedral censures them. Then the accused is taken outside the temple and his feet are fastened by ropes, and two men, standing on his right and left, beat him to the number of about a thousand times, after which he is drawn, by a rope, outside the boundary wall (/chags-ri) and there abandoned; while his teacher and club-master are each fined one scarf and three silver Srangs.

DISCIPLINE. 193

The rule which is most broken is celibacy. The established church alone adheres strictly to this rule; so that, on this account, many of its monks leave the order, as they are always free to do, though suffering social disgrace, as they are called ban-lok, or “turncoats.” In the other sects many celibate monks are also found, especially in the larger monasteries of Tibet ; but the great majority of the members of the unreformed sects, for instance, the Nin-ma-pa, also the Sa-kya-pa, Duk-pa, etc., are married openly or clandestinely.

The Lamas also extend their exercise of discipline outside the walls of the monastery. Mr. Rockhill witnessed at Kumbum the following fracas: “ Suddenly the crowd scattered to right and left, the Limas running for places of hiding, with cries of Gékor Lama, Gékor Lama! and we saw, striding towards us, six or eight Lamas, with a black stripe painted across their foreheads, and another around their right arms—black Lamas (hei-ho-sang) the people call them—armed with heavy whips, with which they belaboured anyone who came within their reach. Behind them walked a stately Lima in robes of finest cloth, with head cleanshaved. He was a Gékor, a Lima-censor, or provost, whose duty it is to see that the rules of the Lamasery are strictly obeyed, and who, in conjunction with two colleagues, appointed like him by the abbot for a term of three years, tries all Limas for whatever breach of the rules or crime they may have committed. This one had heard of the peep-shows, Punch and Judy shows, gambling tables, and other prohibited amusements on the fair-grounds, and was on his way with his lictors to put an end to the scandal. I followed in his wake, and saw the peep-show knocked down, Punch and Judy laid mangled beside it, the owners whipped and put to flight, and the majesty of ecclesiastical law and morality duly vindicated.” !

As the Lima is comfortably clothed and housed, and fed on the best of food, he cannot be called a mendicant monk like the Buddhist monks of old, nor is the vow of poverty strictly interpreted ; yet this character is not quite absent. For the order, as a body, is entirely dependent on the lay population for its support; and the enormous proportion which the Limas bear to the laity ren-

PockHILy, Z., 65.

ders the tax for the support of the clergy a heavy burden on the people.

Most of the monasteries, even those of the sects other than the dominant Ge-lug-pa, are richly endowed with landed property and villages, from which they derive much revenue. All, however, rely mainly on the voluntary contributions of the worshippers amongst villagers and pilgrims. And to secure ample aid, large numbers of Limas are deputed at the harvest-time to beg and collect grain and other donations for their monasteries. Most of the contributions, even for sacerdotal services, are in kind,—grain, bricks of tea, butter, salt, meat, and live stock,—for money is not much used in Tibet. Other sources of revenue are the charms, pictures, images, which the Lamas manufacture, and which are in great demand; as well as the numerous horoscopes, supplied by the Lamas for births, marriages, sickness, death, accident, etc., and in which most extensive devil-worship is prescribed, entailing the employment of many Limas. Of the less intellectually gifted Lamas, some are employed in menial duties, and others are engaged in mercantile traffic for the general benefit of their mother monastery. Most of the monasteries of the established church grow rich by trading and usury. Indeed, Limas are the chief traders and capitalists of the country.

DRESS.

The original dress of Buddha’s order was adapted for the warm Indian climate. Later, when his religion extended to colder climes, he himself is said to have permitted warmer clothing, stockings, shoes, ete. The avowed object of the monk’s dress was to cover the body decently and protect from cold, mosquitoes,! and other sources of mental disturbance.

The dress of a Tibetan monk? consists of a hat covering his closely-shaven crown, a gown and girdle, inner vest, cloak, plaid, trousers, and boots, rosary, and other minor equipments.

LAMAIST HATS AND COWLS,

No hat is mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures as part of the outfit of a monk, nor does it seem to have been introduced into

i Harpy, East. Mon., 122. 2 See figures on pages 45, 60, 172, etc.

DRESS—HATS AND COWTS. 195

Indian Buddhism even in the later period, judging from its apparent absence in the Ajanta cave paintings. It is, however, a necessity for tonsured heads in a cold climate,! and it is usually made in Tibet of thick felt, flannel, or blanket.

The conspicuousness of the cap lent itself readily to its hat being converted into a sectarial badge. We have seen how the colour of the cap afforded a rough distinction into yellow, red, and black hats. But the shape is also an important element in differentiating hats, both for sectarian and ceremonial purposes.

The majority of the hats are of an Indian type, a few only being Chinese or Mongolian. .

The two most typical hats are believed by the Laimas to have been brought from India by St. Padma-sambhava, the founder of Lamaism, and his coadjutor, Santa-rakshita, in the eighth century. And both of these hats are essentially Indian in pattern.

To begin with, the hat, numbered j in the figure, named “The red hat, of the great Pandits” (pan-ch’en-z’wa-dmar). It is alleged to have been brought from India on the foundation of Limaism by the abbot Santa-rakshita, and it is common to all sects in Tibet except the Ge-lug-pa. Its shape is essentially that of the ordinary cap used in the colder parts of India during the winter (see fig. 7), with lappets coming’ over the ears and the nape of the neck, which lappets are folded up as an outer brim to the cap in the hotter part of the day. Such a cap is often worn by Indian ascetics when travelling in India in the winter time; and it is quite probable that Atisa, as the Lamas allege, did arrive in Tibet in such a hat, and possibly of a red colour. The chief difference in the Laimaist form is that the crown has been raised into a peak, which gives it a more distinguished look, and the lappets have been lengthened.

Tson-K’apa altered the colour of this hat from red to yellow, and hence arose the title of ‘ Yellow-hat ” (S’a-ser), a synonym for his new sect, “the Ge-lug-pa,” in contradistinction to the “ Red-hat ” (S’a-mar) of the Unreformed Limas. He raised its peak still higher (see figures 6 and ¢ in annexed illustration),

1 In India the only need for a head-covering is as an occasional protection against the sun, but the Indian monk defends his shaven crown from the scorching sun by his palm-leaf fan.

0 2

£96 THE ORDER OF LAMAS.

and lengthened its lappets in proportion to the rank of the wearer. Thus he gave himself the longest lappets, forming tails

LAmAs’ Hats.

a, rTse-z’'va sgro h, sNags z’va-nag. p. Saks-2’u of Sakya.

6. Pan-ch’en sne-rin. i, rTaz'va, for nTse-drung. q. Gra-z'a of Taranatha (red). ec. Ditto, in profile. j. Pan-ch’en z’va-dmar. 7, Sakya k’ri z’va.

d, rTse-z’va sgro-rtse. k. Dag z’va-ri- gra. s. sGom-z’va dbUus ’gyud.

e. dGon-’dus dbu. i, dGun-z’va. t. mKah~-’grohi dbu-skra.

F. Ditto, in profile. m, Z'va-dkar skyed k’ra. u. Kar-ma snags z’va.

g. T’an-z’va, for abbots and re- 7. Jo-2’va glin gsum. v. sKar-ma za-z'va.

incarnations. 0. Jo-2z’va rgyun.

HATS AND COWZLS. 197

down to the waist. The abbots were given shorter tails, and the ordinary monk shorter still, while the novices were deprived altogether of the tails. It can be used when walking and riding.

Padma-sambhava’s mitre-like hat is the “ U-gyan-Pandit,” the typical hat of the unreformed Nin-ma sect. It is on the same Indian model, with the lappets turned up, and divided so as to suggest the idea of a red lotus, with reference to the etymology of St. Padma-sambhava’s name, to wit, “The Lotus- born,” and his legendary birth from a red lotus-flower. His native euntry was Udyana, between Afghanistan and Kashmir; and the tall conical crown is still a feature of the caps of those regions. It is also called the Sahor (Lahore ?) Pandit’s cap. It is worn by the Nin-ma sect in empowering (abisheka), and in offering oblations, and in sacred dances. The largest form of this hat, surmounted by a golden vajra, is called the “ Devil subduer ” (dreg-pa zil-non gyi cha lugs), and is figured in the foregoing picture of St. Padma. It is only worn by the head Limas when giving the king holy water, and at the highest festivals.

Many of the hats are full of symbolism, as, for example, Figs. a and d, as described in the footnote."

‘ rTse-zwa sgro-lugs (Fig. a). This helmet-like hat is common to all Ge-lug-pa Lamas. It was invented by gZ’i-bdag ne-ser, and adopted by the first Grand Lama GedenDub. It is used along with the cope (zlagam) when going to mass, and is taken off on entering the temple and thrown over the left shoulder, with the tails hanging down in front ; on emerging from the temple it is worn or not according to the monk’s own wishes. Its long tails are stitched to imitate the beaded covers of a book, so that when the monk grasps the tails, he is to conceive that he has a grasp of the scriptures; and again that he is drawing to salvation thousands of animals represented by the pile on the cap. The three lateral stitches in the tails typify the three classes of scriptures—the T'ripitaka, as well as the three original sins or “fires” and the sin of body, speech and mind, for which the Tripitaka are the antidotes. The long tails also have to suggest to him that the doctrines may be extended and long remain. The marginal stitches represent “‘ the twelve best commands.” The inside is often white to suggest that the monk should keep his heart clean and pure. The crest represents the doctrinal insight (/ta-wa, Skt., darsana) of the wearer. As he rises by taking a degree in divinity his crest is elevated by an extra stitch.

rTse-zwa sked-bts’em differs from the foregoing in having an extra stitch in its crest (see p. 172). It is confined to the re-embodied mis’an-nid Lamas and those who have taken the degree of dqe-s’e, or B.D,

Nuns wear a skull-cap of woollen cloth or fur, coloured yellow or red, according to their sect.

rTse#wa sgro rts’e has the highest crest. It is confined to the dGebskul of De-pung monastic university and the degree of D.D.

rT'se-Zwa sgro-rtse-ma (Fig. @) is confined to the Dalai Lama’s chapelroyal of 7T'se-7Nam-gyal, and to the four Lings. It is worn during the gtor-rgyab sacrifices and dances at these temples only.

dGongs ‘dus zwa zur-aur (Figs.e and f). Designed by Pan-ch’en 6Lobzan ch’os-kyi rgyal mts’an after the shape of dBen-dgon hill. It is worn by the Grand Pan-ch’en Lama and the four abbots of Tashi-lhunpo on going to preside at the wrangling disputations.

Piin-zwa sne-rid’ ser-po (Figs. band ¢). This is a yellow variety of the red one of the same name, with the tails much lengthened by Tson K’apa. It is only worn with these long tails by the Dalai Lama, the Pan-ch’en (Tashi) Lama, the Gah-ldan Khri-rinpo-ch’e, and the Tibetan Lamaking or regent, during the assembly (fal-k’u) mass and empowering. It is worn with the gos-ber robes.

sNe-rin zur Zwa is worn by the abbots of the colleges and the head Lamas of smaller monasteries.

T’an-zwa dbyar-zwa (Fig. g) is the summer hat when riding on horseback, and is confined to the Dalai and Pan-ch’en Grand Limas, the regent, or king, and the re-embodied Lamas, and those abbots who, having obtained highest honours in divinity, have received from the Grand Lima the diploma of bdag-rkyen,

rTa-zwa zur ltas dgun-zwa. This is the winter riding hat, and is confined to the above privileged persons.

Se-teb-rgyun zwa (Fig. 0). The summer riding hat for the Tse-drung grade of Lamas, who are selected on account of their learning and good looks as personal attendants of the Grand Lama (sKyabs-mgon ch’en).

rTa zwa rgyun-zwa (Fig. 7). The winter riding hat of the Tse-drung.

rTse-drung sga-p’ug is used only by the skyabs-myou ch’en-mo in ascending and descending (? Potala hill).

Zwa-dkar skyid-ka (Fig. im). Worn by the Tse-drung attendants in summer when accompanying the Grand Lama wearing preceding hat.

Jo-zwa-glin-gsum (Fig. x), “the lord’s hat of the three continents.”

.1t is formed after the fashion of the Asura cave, and was worn by the Indian Jo-wo(Atisa), the reformer of Lamaism, while on his way to Tibet, at the Nepalese shrine Svayambhunath (T., Rang-’byun) Chaitya ; afterwards it was the hat of his sect, the Kah-dam-pa. In hot weather its flaps are folded up, and in the cold let down. It was originally red, but changed to yellow by the Ge-lug-pa. Now it is worn only by the hermits (ri-k’rod-pa) of the Ge-lug-pa or established church, and is never worn within the monastery or in quarters.

Sa-skya K’ri-zwa (Fig. ). This hat of the Sa-kya sect is of later introduction. Originally all the Sa-kya Lamas wore the Urgyen-pen-zwa of the unreformed party. Whenthey attained the temporal lordship over

HATS AND COWLS. 7

In the outer rainy districts of the Himalayas, in Bhotain and Sikhim, many Limas wear straw hats during the summer, or go bare-headed.

the thirteen provinces of Tibet, the Chinese king ‘“ Se-ch’en” presented this hat to the chief of the sect, his highness ’Phag-pa Rin-po-ch’e, and its central vajra upon the ‘‘unchangeable” crown is after the Chinese style. It is restricted to those of noble descent (ydung-pa), and is only worn when the gduh-brgyud Lama ascends the throre, or in empowering devotees, or in the gTor rgyab sacrificial offering. Cf. also p. 57.

Sa-zu mt’on grol (Fig. p). This isa hat of the Sa- -kya- pa. Itis believed to confer spiritual insight, and to have been invented by the God of Wisdom (Majijusri). It is used when empowering the Khri-pa, and for mass.

Sa-skya grwa-zwa (Fig. qg.) This is the hat of the Jonan-pa sub-sect, to which Taranatha belonged. It is worn by the junior Sa-kya monks during certain masses, at the beginning and the end, also in religious dances and in the Tor-gya sacrifice.

Karma-pai zwa nag (Fig. t). ‘“ The black (fairy) hat of the Kar-ma-pa.” This hat was conferred upon the reverend Rang-’byun 7Dorje (Vajra Svayambhu) by the five classes of witches (Dakkini) when he coerced them into granting him the Siddhi—power of flying in the air. Each of the Dakkinis contributed a hair from their tresses, and plaited these to form this hat. Whoever wears it can fly through the air. It is kept as a relic at Sa-kya monastery, and only worn in state, or when a wealthy votary comes to the shrine. On such occasions a monk or either side holds the hat to prevent it from carrying off the wearer.

Karma shags-zwa (Fig. «). ‘The enchanter’s hat” of the K-armapa sect. It is shaped after the cake-oftering for the angry demons, and is worn during the dances and the gtor-rgyab sacrifice.

Dwag-zwa ri-’gra (Fig. 4). A hat of the Kar-gyu-pa sect, worn when empowering or preaching. It is shaped after the hill of Dwag-lha sgam-pa, and was invented by mNam-med -diwag-po tha rjes-ts’erin-ma.

sNags pai awa nag (Fig. h). The black necromancer’s hat. Worn by the sLob-dpan feeeac of the unreformed sect in their gTor-rgyab saerifice, and in the mystic play in all the sects.

gZah-zwa (Fig. v). ‘The planet hat.” This raven-crowned hat was designed by Lama Gyun-ston-k’ro-rgyal on seeing the planet Mercury. It is worn by the Di-kung-pa, Kar-ma-pa, and Nii-ma-pa sects during the ceremony of “circling the planets” (gza7-bskor) and the striking and injuring one’s enemy (m?’v).

The hat of the Grand Lama of Bhotan (head of the southern Dug-pa church), and figured at page 226, is called pad-ma-mt'ong or “the lotus-vision.” It has a vajra-spikelet which cannot be worn by any but the supreme Lama. And the hat is finely embroidered with the cross-thunderbolts, lotus-flower, and thunder dragons (Duy).

The Tibetans follow the Chinese in the practice of saluting by taking off their hat, so in their temples no hats are worn except during certain ceremonies, and then only a special kind.

THE ROBES.

The robes, which the monks of the established church and the more celibate monks of the other sects wear during certain celebrations, are the three vestments of the shape prescribed in the primitive code of ritual, the Vinaya, with the addition of a — brocaded collared under-vest 1 and trousers, as seen in the figures. The material of these robes is usually woollen cloth; but silk, though against the precepts,? is sometimes worn by those who can afford the expense.

The colour of these robes is yellow or red, according to the sect. Yellow or saffron? colour in Tibet is sacred to the clergy of the established church, the Ge-lug-pa; and its use by others is penal. The only instance in which it is permitted is when a layman is bringing a present. to the Ge-lug-pa priests. He then is permitted to wear during his visit a flat yellow hat like a Tam-o’-Shanter bonnet.

These three orthodox Buddhist raiments are :—

1. The Lower patched robe, named “?2’dn” 4 ( = Sanghatt). The cloth is in several largish patches (about twenty-three) and sewn into seven divisions, and fastened by a girdle at the waist.?

1 stod ‘jag.

2 In common with most ascetics, Buddha decreed the monastic dress of his order to be of as mean a material and cost as possible, and the colour selected was sad saffron, which, while affording a useful wearable colour not readily soiled, gave uniformity to the wearer and afforded no scope for worldly vanity in fine dress. Yet nothing can be more dignified and becoming than the thin loose robe of the Buddhist monk, falling in graceful drapery, endlessly altering its elegant folds with every movement of the figure. And the ease with which it lends itself to artistic arrangement is seen not only in the Grecian and Indian sculptures of Buddha in a standing posture, but is even retained somewhat in the thicker and relatively unelegant robes of the Lamaist monk, seen in the several figures.

3 Literally nur-smrig or “ Brahmani goose” (coloured). This sad-coloured bird, the ruddy shell-drake, has from its solitary habits and conjugal fidelity been long in India symbolic of recluseship and devotion, and figures in such capacity on the capitals of the Asoka pillars.

• g7’an or ? dras-drubs.

5 The patched robe, which gives the idea of the tattered garments of poverty, is stated to have originated with Ananda dividing into thirty pieces the rich robe given to Buddha by the wealthy physician Jivaka, and that robe was sewn by Ananda into five divisions like this one.

ROBES. 201

2. The Outer patched robe, named Nam-jar (P., ? Antarvasaka). The cloth is cut into very numerous pieces, about one hundred and twenty-five, which are sewn together in twenty-five divisions.

3. The Upper shawl, named bLd-gés (Uttardsanghati). Long and narrow, ten to twenty feet long and two to three feet broad. It is thrown over the left shoulder and passed under right arm, leaving the right shoulder bare, as in the Indian style, but the shoulders and chest are covered by an inner vest. It is adjusted all round the body, covering both shoulders, on entering the houses of laymen. And over all is thrown a plaited cloak or cope, crescentic in shape.}

But the ordinary lower robe of Limas of all sects is an ample plaited petticoat, named “ S’am t’abs,”? of a deep garnet-red colour, which encircles the figure from the waist to the ankles, and is fastened at the waist by a girdle, and with this is worn an unsleeved vest, open in front like a deacon’s dalmatia. On less ceremonial occasions a sleeved waistcoat is used; and when travelling or visiting, is worn the ordinary Tibetan wide-sleeved red gown, gathered at the waist by a girdle; and always trousers. The sleeves of this mantle are broad and long, and in hot weather, or on other occasions where greater freedom is wanted or the priest has to administer with bare arms, the arms are withdrawn from the sleeves, which latter then hang loose.

A sash is also usually worn, several yards 4% long and about three inches broad, thrown 4 over the left shoulder, across breast, and tied “iogh in a bow over the right hip, and the re- Y mainder swung round the body.

Thus it will be seen that Lamas of every sect, the established church included, ordinarily wear red robes, and it is the colour of the girdles (sKe-rag) and the shape and colour of the hats which are the chief distinctive badges of the

WATER-BOTTLE WALLET.

1 zla-gam. 2 or mt’an-gos, 3 KOPPEN, ii., 268.

sect. The holy-water bottle (Ch’ab-lug), figured on page 201, which hangs from the left side of the girdle, is also fringed by a flap of cloth coloured red or yellow according to the sect.

The boots are of stiff red and particoloured felt, with soles of

PEN-CASE, INK-BOTTLE AND SEAL. (The pen-case is silver-inlaid iron from Der-ge.)

hide or Yak-hair.

From the girdle hangs, in addition to the holy-water bottle, a pen-case, purse, with condiments, dice, ete., sometimes the rosary, when it is not in use or worn on the neck or wrist, and the amulet box. And in the upper flap of the coat, forming a breast pocket, are thrust his prayerwheel, drinking-cup, booklets, charms, ete.

The dress of the nuns generally resembles that of the monks. The head is shaved, and no ornaments are worn.!

THE ROSARIES.

The rosary is an essential part of a Lima’s dress; and taking, as it does, such a prominent part in the Lamaist ritual, it is remarkable that the Tibetan rosary does not appear to have attracted particular notice.

As a Buddhist article the rosary appears only in the latest ritualistic stage when a belief had arisen in the potency of muttering mystic spells and other strange formulas. In the very complicated rosaries of Japan? it has attained its highest development.

Amongst southern Buddhists * the rosary is not very conspicu-

“2 Gf. Boyre, Mark., p. 109.

173, 1881.

2 “Note on Buddhist Rosaries in Japan.” By J. M. James, Trans. Jap. As. Soe., p.

3 [have described Burmese Buddhist rosaries, as well as some of the Lamaist, in

JAS. B., 1891.

ROSARIES. 203

ous, but amongst Tibetans it is everywhere visible. It is also held in the hand of the image of the patron god of Tibet—Chiarii-si (Skt., Avalokitesvara). And its use is not confined to the Liimas. Nearly every lay man and woman is possessed of a rosary, on which at every opportunity they zealously store up merit; and they also use it for secular purposes,' like the sliding balls of the Chinese to assist in ordinary calculations: the beads to the right of the centre-bead being | called ta-thav and registering units, while those to the left are called c’udé and record tens, which numbers suffice for their ordinary wants.

The Tibetan name for the rosary is “’pren-ba,”. pronounced teni-wa, or vulgarly @eni-ia, and literally means “ a string of beads.”

The rosary contains 108 beads of uniform size. The reason for this special number is alleged to be merely a provision to ensure the repetition of the sacred spell a full hundred times, and the extra beads are added to make up for any omission of beads through absent-mindedness during the telling process or for actual loss of beads by breakage. Ché-ré-si and Dé-ma have each 108

, 7 BAAS SONG / : RESeasenon

A Rosary.

1 The rosary has proved a useful instrument in the hands of our Lama surveying spies. Thus we find it reported with reference to Gyantse town, that a stone wall nearly two-and-a-half miles goes round the town, and the Lama estimated its length by means of his rosary at 4,500 paces. At each pace he dropped a bead and uttered the mystic “Om mam padm hm,” while the good people who accompanied him in his Lin-k or or religious perambulations little suspected the nature of the work he was really doing.

names, but it is not usual to tell these on the rosary. And in the later Kham editions of the Limaic scriptures—the “ bka- *gyur,”’—the volumes have been extended from 100 to 108, And the Burmese foot-prints of Buddha sometimes contain 108 subdivisions. This number is perhaps borrowed, like so many other Limaist fashions, from the Hindiis, of whom the Vaishnabs possess a rosary with 108 beads.

The two ends of the string of beads, before being knotted, are passed through three extra beads, the centre one of which is the largest. These are collectively called “ retaining or seizing beads,” rdog-'dsin. The word is sometimes spelt mdo-’dsin, which means “the union holder.” In either case the meaning is much the same. These beads keep the proper rosary beads in position and indicate to the teller the completion of a cycle of beads.

This triad of beads symbolizes “the Three Holy Ones” of the Buddhist trinity, viz., Buddha, Dharma (the Word), and Sangha (the church, excluding the laity). The large central bead represents Buddha, while the smaller one intervening between it and the rosary beads proper represents the church and is called “ Our . radical Laima” (or spiritual adviser),! the personal Liama-guide and confessor of the Tibetan Buddhist ; and his symbolic presence on the rosary immediately at the end of the bead-cycle is to ensure becoming gravity and care in the act of telling the beads, as if he were actually present.

The Gelug-pa, or established church, usually has only two beads as dok-dsin, in which case the terminal one is of much smaller size, and the pair are considered emblematic of a vase from which the beads spring. In such cases the extra bead is sometimes strung with the other beads of the rosary, which latter then contains 109 beads; thus showing that the beads really number 111.

Counters.

Attached to the rosary is a pair of strings of ten small pendant metallic rings as counters. One of these strings is terminated by a miniature dovje (the thunderbolt of Indra) and the other by a small bell—in Tantric Buddhist figures the dorje is ususlly associated with a bell. The counters on the dorje-string register units

1 tsa-wai bla-ma.

ROSARTES. 205

of bead-cycles, while those on the bell-string mark tens of cycles, The counters and the ornaments of the strings are usually of silver, and inlaid with turquoise. These two strings of counters, called “‘ count-keepers,”! may be attached at any part of the rosary string, but are usually attached at the eighth and twenty-first bead on either side of the central bead.

They are used in the following manner: When about to tell the beads, the counters on each string are slid up the string. On completing a circle of the beads, the lowest counter on the dorjestring is slid down into contact with the dorje. And on each fur- ther cycle of beads being told, a further counter is slid down. When the ten have been exhausted, they are then slid up again, and one counter is slipped down from the bell-string. The counters thus serve to register the utterance of 108 x 10 x 10= 10,800 prayers or mystic formulas. The number of these formulas daily repeated in this way is enormous. The average daily number of repetitions may, in the earlier stages of a Lima’s career, amount to 5,000, but it depends somewhat on the zeal and leisure of the individual. A layman may repeat daily about five to twenty bead-cycles, but usually less. Old women are especially pious in this way, many telling over twenty bead-cycles daily. A middleaged Lama friend of mine has repeated the spell of his tutelary deity alone over 2,000,000 times. It is not uncommon to find rosaries so worn away by the friction of so much handling hat originally globular beads have become cylindrical.

Affixed to the rosary are small odds and ends, such as a metal toothpick, tweezer, small keys, etc.

Material of the Beads.

The materials of which the Limaist rosaries are composed may to a certain extent vary in costliness according to the wealth of the wearer. The abbot of a large and wealthy monastery may have rosaries of pearl and other precious stones, and even of gold. Turner relates? that the Grand Tashi Lama possessed rosaries of pearls, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, coral, amber, crystal and lapislazuli.

1 grang-’dsin, but vulgarly they are known as chub-shé (c’u-bs’ad) or “the ten

makers.” 2 Embassy to Tibet, p. 261, 1800.

~But the material of the rosary can only vary within rather narrow limits, its nature being determined by the particular sect to which the Lima belongs and the particular deity to whom worship is to be paid.

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i a i FE, a Fy q

SITIO TM” *

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KinbDs oF ROSARIES.

Fig. 1. The yellow wooden rosary of Ge-lug-pa sect.

, 2. The red sandal-wood rosary for Tam-din’s worship. 3. The white conch shell rosary for Cha-rasi’s worship. 4, The Raksha rosary for the furies’ worship.

» 5. A layman’s rosary (beads of unequal size). 6. The human skull (discs) rosary. 7. The isnake-spine rosary.

a=dé-dsin, d=dorge-pendant. 4=counters. e=a tweezer and tooth-pick. c=bell-pendant.

ROSARTIES., 207

kinds of Rosaries.

The yellow rosary or Ser-t’en, Fig. 1, is the special rosary of the Ge-lug-pa or ‘‘ reformed school,” also called ‘the yellow hat sect ” (S’d-ser). The beads are formed from the ochrey yellow wood of the C’an-ch’ub tree, literally “the Bodhi tree” or tree of supreme wisdom, which is said to grow in central China. The wood is so deeply yellow that it is doubtful whether it be really that of the Pipal (Ficus religiosa), of which was the Bodhi tree under which Gautama attained his Buddhahood. These beads are manufactured wholesale by machinery at the temple called by Tibetans Ri-wo tse-iia and by the Chinese U-tha Shan, or “The Five Peaks,” about 200 miles south-west of Pekin. Huc gives a sketch! of this romantic place, but makes no mention of its rosaries. This rosary is of two kinds, viz., the usual form of spherical beads about the size of a pea, and a less common form of lozenge-shaped perforated discs about the size of a sixpence. This rosary may be used for all kinds of worship, including that of the furies.

The bo-dhi-tse rosary is the one chiefly in use among the Nin-ma-pa, or “old (¢.¢., unreformed) school” of Lamas, also called the S’a-mar or “red-hat sect.” It is remarkable that its name also seeks to associate it with the Bodhi tree, but its beads are certainly not derived from the /%cus family. Its beads are the rough brown seeds of a tree which grows in the outer Himalayas. This rosary can be used for all kinds of worship, and may also be used by the Ge-luk-pa in the worship of the fiercer deities.

The white conch-shell rosary Tuwi-t’en,’ Fig. 3, consists of cylindrical perforated discs of the conch shell, and is specially used in the worship of Avalokita—the usual form of whose image holds a white rosary in the upper right hand. This is the special rosary of nuns.

The rosary of plain crystal or uncoloured glass beads is also peculiar to Avalokita.

The red sandal-wood rosary Tstin-ddn-mar, Fig. 2, consists of perforated discs of red sandal-wood (Adenanthera pavonina) or

1 Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and China. By M. Hvc (Hazlitt’s tranis.), i., p. 79, and figured under Shrines, 2 Drun-p rer,

aad

other wood of a similar appearance. It is used only in the worship of the fierce deity Tam-din (Skt., Hayagriva), a special protector of Limaism.

The coral rosary—Ch’i-ru-tei—is also used for the tutelary fiend, Tam-din, and by the unreformed sects for their wizard-saint Padma-sambhava. Coral being so expensive, red beads of glass or composition are in general use instead. With this rosary it is — usual to have the counters of turquoise or blue beads.

The rosary formed of discs of the human skull—the fod-fen, Fig. 6—is especially used for the worship of the fearful tutelary fiend Vajra-bhairava as the slayer of the king of the Dead. It is usually inserted within the Bo-dhi-tse or other ordinary rosary ; and it frequently has its discs symmetrically divided by four large Raksha beads into four series, one of these beads forming the central bead. There is no rosary formed of finger-bones, as has been sometimes stated.

The ‘ elephant-stone ” rosary—Lua ii-ch’en-grod-pu—is prepared from a porous bony-like concretion, which is sometimes found in the stomach (or brain) of the elephant. As it is suggestive of bone,it is used in worship of Yama. The real material being extremely scarce and expensive, a substitute is usually found in beads made from the fibrous root of the bow-bambu (Z’u-shi), which shows on section a structure very like the stomach-stone, and its name also means “stomach or digestion” as well as “bow.”

The Raksha rosary, Fig. 4, formed of the large brown warty seeds of the Elwocarpus Janitrus, is specially used by the Nin-ma Lamas in the worship of the fierce deities and demons. The seeds of this tree are normally five-lobed and ridged, and it is interesting from a botanical point of view to find how relatively frequent is the occurrence of six lobes. Such abnormal seeds are highly prized by the Tibetans, who believe them to be the offspring of some seeds of Padma-sambhava’s rosary, which, the legend states, broke at his Halashi hermitage in Nepal, and several of the detached beads remaining unpicked up, these were the parents of the six-lobed seeds. The demand for such uncommon seeds being great, it is astonishing how many of them are forthcoming to diligent search. This rosary is also commonly used by the indigenous Bon-po priests, and it is identical with the rosary

ROSARTES, 209

of the Hindtis—the rudraksha (Rudra’s or the fierce god Niva’s eyes, with reference to their red colour), from which the Tibetan name of Raksha is apparently derived.

The Naiji-ga pd-ne rosary is used only for the worship of Namsra, or Vaisravana, the god of wealth; and by the wizards in their mystical incantations. It consists of glossy jet-black nuts about the size of a hazel, but of the shape of small horse chestnuts. These are the seeds of the Lwi-t’ai tree which grows in the sub-tropical forests of the S.E. Himalayas. They are emblematic of the eyes of the Garuda bird,a henchman of Vajra~pani (a form of Jupiter) and the great enemy of snakes, and hence is supposed to be derived the Sanskritic name of the beads, from naga, a serpent. Its use in the worship of the god of wealth is interesting in associating snakes, as the mythological guardians of treasure, with the idea of wealth.!

The rosary of siahe-spines (vertebrae), Fig. 7, is only used by the sorcerers in necromancy and divination. The string contains about fifty vertebre.

The complexion of the god or goddess to be worshipped also determines sometimes the colour of the rosary-beads. Thus a tur- quoise rosary is occasionally used in the worship of the popular goddess Tara, who is of a bluish-green complexion. A red rosary with red Tam-din, a yellow with yellow Manjusri ; and Vaisravan, who is of a golden-yellow colour, is worshipped with an amberrosary.

The rosaries of the laity are composed of airy sort of bead according to the taste and wealth of the owner. They are mostly glass beads of various colours, and the same rosary contains beads of a variety of sizes and colours interspersed with coral, amber, turquoise, etc. The number of beads is the same as with the Lamas, but each of the counter-strings is usually terminated by a vajra: both strings record only units of cycles, which suffice for the smaller amount of bead-telling done by the laity.

Mode of telling the Beads. When not in use the rosary is wound round the right wrist like

a bracelet, as in figure on page 172, or worn around the neck with the knotted end uppermost.

1 See p. 368,

The act of telling the beads is called tas-c’e, which literally means “to purr” like a cat, and the muttering of the prayers is rather suggestive of this sound.

In telling the beads the right hand is passed through the rosary, which is allowed to hang freely down with the knotted end upwards. The hand, with the thumb upwards, is then usually carried to the breast and held there stationary during the recital. On pronouncing the initial word “Om” the first bead resting on the knuckle is grasped by raising the thumb and quickly depressing its tip to seize the bead against the outer part of the second joint of the index finger. During the rest of the sentence the bead, still grasped between the thumb and index finger, is gently revolved to the right, and on conclusion of the sentence is dropped down the palmside of the string. Then with another “Om” the next bead is seized and treated in like manner, and so on throughout the circle.

On concluding each cycle of the beads, it is usual to finger each of the three “ keeper-beads,” saying respectively, “Om!” “Ah!” pam |’

The mystic formulas for the beads have already been illustrated. They follow the prayer, properly so-called, and are believed to contain the essence of the formal prayer, and to act as powerful spells. They are of a Sanskritic nature, usually containing the name of the deity addressed, and even when not gibberish, as they generally are, they are more or less unintelligible to the worshipper.

The formula used at any particular time varies according to the particular deity being worshipped. But the one most frequently used by the individual Lima is that of his own tutelary deity, which varies according to the sect to which the Lima belongs.

The other articles of equipment comprise, amongst other things, a prayer-wheel, vajra-sceptre and bell, skull-drum and smaller tambour, amulet, booklets. Some even of the higher Lamas wear ornaments and jewellery.'

1 The Grand Lama of Tashi-Ihunpo wore a jewelled necklace, which he presented to Mr. Bogle (MAREH., cxl.)

MENDICANT’S STAFF. 211

A few possess a begging-bowl and the mendicant’s staff,’ but these are mostly for ritualistic displays, as the Lima is no longer

a mendicant monk living on alms like the Indian Bhikshu of old.

1 Khar-sil ; Skt., the onomatopoetic hi-ki-le or kha-kha-vean, the alarm-staft with jingling rings carried by the mendicant monk to drown out by its jingling worldly sounds from the ears of the monk and to warn off small animals lest they be trod upon and killed. Its use is explained in Kah-gyur Do, Vol. xxvi., Csoma, Av. p. 479. The Tibetan form is usually tipped by a trident in place of the leaf-like loop.

ALARM-STAFF

of a mendicant monk.

SD —i bo

rx. DAILY LIFE AND ROUTINE.

** He who eats Lamas’ food -Wants iron jaws.’ —Tibetan Proverb

FER P| LUTHOUGH the Lamas are enslaved in the bonds of ritual y | they are not all gloomy ascetics, wrapped up in contemplation, but most can be as blithe as their lay brothers. Their heavy round of observances, however, often lies wearily upon them, as mav be seen from the frequent interruptions in the ordinary Liama’s saintly flow of rhetoric to yawn, or take part in some passing conversation on mundane matters.

The daily routine of a Lima differs somewhat according to whether he is living in a monastery, or as a village priest apart from his cloister, or as a hermit. As with occidental friars, a considerable proportion of Lamas have trades and handicrafts, labouring diligently in the field, farm, and in the lower valleys in the forest. But scarcely ever is he a mendicant monk, like his prototype the Indian Bhikshu of old.

The routine in the convents of the established church is seen at its best in the Grand Lima’s private monastery or chapel-royal of Nam-gyal, on mount Potala, near Lhasa, and I am indebted to one of the monks

Menpicant LAMA.”

1 dkor zus sa-le \ehay-gi gram-pa dyos. 2 After Giorgi.

DAILY ROUTINE. 213

of that monastery for the following detailed account of the practice followed there.

ROuTINE IN A MONASTERY OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

Immediately on waking, the monk! must rise from his couch, even though it be midnight, and bow thrice before the altar in his cell, saying, with full and distinct enunciation: “OQ Guide of great pity! hear me! O merciful Guide! Enable me to keep the two hundred and fifty-three rules, including abstinence from singing, dancing, and music, and thoughts of worldly wealth, eating luxuriously, or taking that which has not been given,” etc., etc.

Then follows this prayer?: “*O Buddhas and Bodhisats of the ten directions, hear my humble prayer. I am a pureminded monk, and my earnest desire is to devote myself towards benefiting the animals; and having consecrated my body and wealth to virtue, I vow that my chief aim will be to benefit all living things.”

Then is repeated seven times the following mantra from the Siitra on “the wheel-blessing for the animal universe” *: ‘Om! Sambhara, Sammaha jaba him!” Followed also seven times by this extract from bharabi manaskar maha jaba him! Om! Smara Smarabi manaskara Norbu-rgyas-pahi-gzhal-med-k’an : “Om! ruci ramini pravartya him !”

This is followed by “Om! Khrecara ganayu hri hri svaha!” —a spell which if the monk thrice repeats and spits on the sole of his foot, all the animals which die under his feet during that day will be born as gods in the paradise of Indra (Jupiter).

Having done this worship, the monk may retire again to sleep if the night is not far advanced. If, however, the dawn is near he must not sleep but employ the interval in repeating several mantras or forms of prayer (smon-lam) until the bell rings for the first assembly.

The first assembly, or matin, called “the early gathering ” (snatsogs), is held before sunrise. The great bell goes and awakens everyone hitherto slumbering, and it is soon followed by the great conch-shell trumpet-call, on which signal the monks adjust their

• Thave translated by “monk” the word dge-slon, which is literally “the virtuous beggar,” corresponding to the Indian Buddhist word Bhikshu, or mendicant.

” Composed by m'as-grub-nag-dban-rdorje.

• *gro-wa-yongs-su-bsngo-wai-’khor-loi-mdo.

214 DAILY LIFE AND ROUTINE.

dress and go outside their cell or dormitory to the lavatory stoneflag or pavement (7do-bchal) for ablution.

Standing on these stones, and before washing, each monk chants the following mantra, and mentally conceives that all his sins, as well as the impurities of his body, are being washed away : ‘ Onv/ argham tsargham bimanase! utsusma maha krodh himphat !”

Then with water brought in copper vessels, and with a pinch of saline earth as soap,! they perform ablutions usually of a very partial kind.

After ablution each monk repeats, rosary in hand, the mantra of his favourite deity (usually Maijusri or Tari), or his tutelary fiend, as many times as possible.

On the second blast of the conch-shell, about fifteen minutes after the first, all the fully-ordained monks bow down before the door of the temple, while the novices bow upon the outer paved court. All then enter the temple and take their places according to their grade, the most junior being nearest the door; and during the ingress the provost-marshal stands rod in hand beside the coor.

The monks seat themselves in rows, each on his own mat, crosslegged in Buddha-fashion, and taking care not to allow his feet to project, or his upper vestments to touch the mat. They sit in solemn silence, facing straight to the front. The slightest breach of these rules is promptly punished by the rod of the provostmarshal, or in the case of the novices by the clerical sacristan.

At the third blast of the conch-trumpet the following services are chanted :—

Invoking the blessing of eloquence; the refuge-formula; Tson- K’apa’s ritual of lha-brgya-ma.

After which tea is served, but before it is drunk the presiding Lama says a grace in which all join.

LAMAIST GRACES BEFORE MEAT.

The Lamas always say grace before food or drink. Most of these graces are curiously blended with demonolatry, though they always are pervaded by universal charity and other truly Buddhist principles.

1 This earth is called svg-pa, but the higher Lamas use soap: “The Lama minister of the Grand Lama,” says Sarat’s narrative, “ formerly used to wash his holiness’s head with water and suy-pa powder, but now he uses a cake of P. ’s transparent soap.”

LAMATST GRACES. 215

And they throw some light on the later Mahayana ritual of Indian Buddhism, from which they are alleged to have been borrowed.

Before drinking, the Lamas, like the Romans, pour out some of the beverage as a libation to their Lares, and other gods. A common

TEA SERVICE.

grace before drinking tea (which is served out eight or ten times daily

at the temples and cathedrals—the service being interrupted for this

temporal refreshment) is :—

“We humbly beseech thee! that we and our relatives throughout all our life-cycles, may never be separated from the three holy ones! May the blessing of the trinity enter into this drink!” [Then,

216 DAILY LIFE AND ROUTINE.

here sprinkling a few drops on the ground with the tips of the fore and middle fingers, the grace is continued :—-| ‘To all the dread locality, demons of this country, we offer this good Chinese tea! Let us obtain our wishes! And may the doctrines of Buddha be extended ! ” The grace before food of the established church, the purest of all the Lamaist sects, is as follows :—

‘¢This luscious food! of a hundred tempting tastes, is here reverently offered by us—the animal beings—to the Jinas (the Dhyani Buddhas) ‘and their princely sons (celestial Bodhisattvas). May rich blessings overspread this food! Om-Ah Him!

‘It is offered to the Lama—Om Guru vajra naividya-ah Him!

‘It is offered to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas—Om sarva Buddha Bodhisattva vajra naividya-ah Him !

“it is offered to the tutelaries, witches, and defensores fidei2—Om Deva, Dakini Sri dharmapdla saparivara vajra naividya-ah Him !

‘One piece (is offered) to the powerful demon-lord (dban-bahi-’byun-po ; Skt., Bhitesvara)—Om-Agra-Pinda-ashi bhya svaha !

“One piece to hprog-ma—Om-Harite 3-svaha !

“© One piece to ‘the five hundred brothers or sisters ’*—Om Harite maha-vajrayakshini hara-hara sarva papi-mokshi svaha !

“‘This food, of little virtne, is offered compassionately and without anger or pride, or as a return for past favours ; but solely in the hope that we—all the animal beings—may become holy and attain the rank of the most perfect Buddhahood.”

When any flesh-meat is in the diet, then the following grace is repeated seven times in order to cleanse from the sin of slaughter and ot eating flesh: “Om abira khe-ca-ra Hiim/” And by the efticacy of this spell, the animal, whose flesh is eaten, will be reborn in heaven.

The following grace is for the special benefit of the donors of provisions, tea, etc., to the monastery, and it is repeated before the monks partake of food so gifted :—

‘Salutation to the all-victorious Tathagata Arhat. The most perfect Buddha. The fiery and most illuminating king of precious light ! Namo! Samantaprabha-raigaya Tathagataya Arhate-samayak-Buddhaya Namo Matjusri- ye. Kumara-Bhitaya Bodhisattvaya maha-sattvaya! Tadyatha! Om

1 Zal-zas.

2 Yidam wk’ah-gro ch’os-skyon.

3 This is the celebrated man-eating Yakshini fiendess, with the 500 children, whose youngest and most beloved son, Pingala, was hid away by Buddha (or, as some Lamas say, by his chief disciple, Maudgalyayana) in his begging-bowl until she promised to cease cannibalism, and accept the Buddhist doctrine as detailed in the Ratnakita Siitra. See also the Japanese version of this legend, footnote p. 99. The Lamas assert that Buddha also promised Hariti that the monks of his order would hereafter feed both herself and her sons: hence their introduction into this grace; and each Lama daily leaves on his plate a handful of his food expressly for these demons, and these leavings are ceremoniously gathered and thrown down outside the monastery gate to these prefas and other starveling demons.

• The children of the above Hariti.

MASSES FOR SICK. 217

ralambhe-nira-bhase gaye-jayelabdhe maha-materakshinamme parisodhd ya svahd. (The efficacy of reciting this mantra is thus described, says the Ge-lug-pa manual of daily worship, in the Vinaya-Sitra: ‘‘ When this is repeated once all sins will be cleansed, and the dispensers of the gifts will hive their desires fulfilled.” Then here follow with :—)

‘* May, I attain bliss by virtue of this gift !

‘May I attain bliss by deep meditation, the ceremonial rites, reverence and the offerings !

‘‘May I attain perfect bliss and the supreme perfection of the real end (Nirvana) !

«* May I obtain the food of meditation of the hundred tastes, power, and brightness of countenance by virtue of this food-offering !

‘* May I obtain rebirths of wisdom, void of thirst, hunger, and disease, by virtue of this repentance-offering !

** May I obtain unalloyed happiness, free from worldly birth, old age, disease, and death !

‘* May the dispenser of these gifts attain perfection by virtue of these, his liberal gifts !

‘“‘May the human beings and all the other animals, obtain deliverance by virtue of this vast offering !

“* May all the Buddhists, Nanda, Upananda, etc., the gods of the natural dwelling, the king, this dispenser of gifts, and the populace generally, obtain everlasting happiness, long life, and freedom from disease.

‘«May all the human beings, by virtue of this (gift), obtain luck in body and fore-knowled ge.

*« May the hopes of animals be realized as by the wish-granting gem (Cintdmant) ee the wish-granting tree (Kalpataru), and may glory come on all ! mangalam |”

After the tea-refreshment, the following services are performed : The Great Compassionators liturgy, the praise of the disciples or Sthaviras, the offering of the magic-circle or mandala, though the great circle is not offered every day, Yon-ten-zhi-gyurma, and the worship of the awful Bhairava, or other tutelary, such as Sandus, Dem-ch’og, or Tara. But as these latter liturgies are very long, they are interrupted for further tea-refreshment. And at this stage, that is, in the interval between the first and second portions of the tutelary’s worship, is done any sacerdotal service needed on account of the laity, such as masses for the sick, or for the soul of a deceased person. In the latter case it is publicly announced that a person, named so-and-so, died on such a date, and his relatives have given tea and such-and-such present, in kind or money, to the Lamas for masses. Then the Lamas do

the service for sending the soul to the western paradise.! Or, if the service is for a sick person, they will do the Ku-rim* ceremony.

The tutelary’s service is then resumed, and on its conclusion tea and soup are served. Then is chanted the S’es-rab snin-

1 See chapter on worship. 2 Not phonetic for “ cure him.”

218 DAILY LIFE AND ROUTINE.

po, after which the assembly closes, and the monks file out singly, first from the extreme right bench, then from the extreme left, the youngest going first, and the most senior of the re-incarnated saintly Lamas last of all.

The monks now retire to their cells, where they do*their private devotions, and offer food to their tutelary deities ; often marking the time to be occupied by particular devotional exer- cises by twirling with the finger and thumb their table-prayer-wheel, and while it spins, the exercise lasts.

The orisons are chanted to the clamour of noisy instruments whenever the sun’s dise is first seen in the morning. Then the hat is doffed, and the monk, facing the sun, and uplifting his right hand to a saluting posture, chants “It has arisen! It has arisen! The glorious one has arisen! The sun of happiness has arisen! The goddess Marici has arisen! Om-Maricinim - svahi!” On repeating this mantra of Marici seven times, he continues with: “* Whenever I recall your name I am protected from all fear. I pray for the attainment of the great stainless bliss. I salute you, Q goddess Marici! Bless me, and fulfil my desires. Protect me, O Goddess, from all the eight fears of foes, robbers, wild beasts, snakes, and poisons, weapons, firewater, and high precipices.”

The second assembly, called “the After-heat” (t’sa-gtin) is held about! 9 a.m., when the sun’s heat is felt. On the first blast of the conch all retire to the latrine. At the second blast all gather on the pavement, or, if raining, retire to a covered court to read, etc. At the third blast—about fifteen minutes after the

PRAYER-CYLINDER FOR TABLE.

1 Time is only known approximately, as it is usually, as the name for hour (ch’uts’al) implies, kept by water-clocks (See “ C’u-ts’al,” Ramsay’s Dict., p. 63), and also by the burning of tapers.

ORISONS— VESPERS., 219

second—all re-assemble in the temple and perform the service of ‘Inviting the religious guardian (-fiend).” During this worship tea is thrice served, and on its conclusion the monks all leave the temple. The younger monks now pore over their lessons, and receive instructions from their teachers.

The third assembly, called “ Noon-tide,” is held at noon. On the first blast of the conch all prepare for the sitting. At the second they assemble on the pavement, and at the third they enter the temple and perform the worship of “ bS’ags-pa ” and “ bSkanwa,” during which tea is served thrice, and the meeting dis- solves.

Each monk now retires to his cell or room, and discarding his boots, offers sacrifice to his favourite deities, arranging the first part of the rice-offering with scrupulous cleanliness, impressing it with the four marks, and surrounding it with four pieces bearing the impress of the four fingers. After this he recites the “ Praise of the three holy ones.” }

Then lay servants bring to the cells a meal consisting of tea, meat, and pdk (a cake of wheat or tsam-pa). Of this food, some must be left as a gift to the hungry m«nes, Hariti and her sons. The fragments for this purpose are carefully collected by the servants and thrown outside the temple buildings, where they are consumed by dogs and birds. The monks are now free to perform any personal business which they have to do.

The fourth assembly, called “ First (after-) noon tea” (dguija-dan-po) is held about 3 pm. The monks, summoned by three blasts of the conch as before, perform a service somewhat similar to that at the third assembly, and offer cakes and praise to the gods and divine defenders, during which tea is thrice served, and the assembly dissolves.

Then the junior monks revise their lessons, and the pur-pu or middle-grade monks are instructed in rhetorie and in sounding the cymbals and horns. And occasionally public wranglings as a'ready described are held on set themes to stimulate theological proficiency.

The fifth assembly or vesper, called “ The Second (after-) noon tea’ is held about 7 p.m. The conch, as formerly, calls thrice to

1 See chapter on worship.

220 ~ DAILY LIFE AND ROUTINE

the temple, where is chanted the worship of Tan-rak and the prayers of glory (bkra-shis), during which tea is given thrice, and the assembly dissolves. After this the monks return to their rooms till the second night bell sounds, when the junior monks repeat from memory before their teachers certain scriptures and other texts; and at the third bell all retire to their cells to sleep.

ROUTINE IN AN UNREFORMED MONASTERY.

The routine in the monasteries of the unreformed or Ninma sects departs considerably from the high standard above described, and introduces more demonolatry and the worship of the deified wizard Guru Padma-sambhava.

The practice followed at Pemiongchi monastry is here described :—

In the morning, after offering the sacred food, incense, and butter-incense, a conch-shell is blown, on which all the monks must come out of their chambers. On the second blast all collect in the great assembly hall, and during this entry into the hall the provost-marshal stands beside the doo- with his rod in hand. All the monks seat themselves in Buddha-fashion, as before described.

The slightest breach of the rules of etiquette and discipline is promptly punished by the rod of the provost-marshal, or, in the case of the younger novices, by the sacristan.

When all have been properly seated, then two or three of the most inferior novices who have not passed their examination, and who occupy back seats, rise up and serve out tea to the assembly, as already described, each monk producing from his breast pocket his own cup, and having it filled up by these novices.

The service of tea is succeeded by soup, named gSol-jam t’ugpa, and served by a new set of the novice underlings. When the cups are filled, the precentor, joined by all the monks, chants ‘the Sacrificial Offering of the Soup.” Three or four cups of soup are supplied to each monk. The hall is then swept by junior monks.

The precentor then inspects the magic circle? to see that it is correct, and, this ascertained, he commences the celebration, con-

1 No layman is allowed to serve out the monks’ food in the temple. The lay servants bring it to the outside door of the building, and there deposit it.

IN UNREFORMED SECTS. 221

sisting of the sN6én-gro and the refuge-formula, and Las-shyai, on the conclusion of which the assembly disperses.

About 8 a.M. the conch-shell blast again summons the monks to the assembly hall, where, after partaking of refreshments of tea and parched grain in the manner already described, a full celebration is done. And on its conclusion the monks disperse.

About 10 a.M. a Chinese drum is beaten to muster the monks in the assembly hall. At this meeting rice and meat and vegetables are served out as before, and with this is also served beer called gSos-rgyab, the “ food-sacrifice ” (/To-mch’od) being done as formerly. A full celebration is then performed, and the meeting dissolves.

In the afternoon a conch-shell is blown for tea, and a Chinese gong calls for beer, the monks assembling as before, and doing a full celebration of the worship of the lord (demon) Mahakala and the guardians of religion respectively.

When sacerdotal celebrations on behalf of laymen have to be done, such are introduced within the latter celebration, which is interrupted for this purpose. And after each of these extra celebrations the monks remain outside the assembly hall for a very short time and then re-assemble. On finishing the extra services, the worship of the religious guardians is then resumed and concluded.

In the evening another assembly, preceded by tea as refreshment, conducts the celebration of sKai-shags with one hundred and eight lamps.

Another and final assembly for the day is made by beat of drum, and rice and flesh-meat is served out.

The refreshments and meals usually number nine daily.

LIFE AS A VILLAGE PRIEST.

The monk, immediately on waking, must rise from his couch, even though it be midnight, and commence to chant the Mi-rtakrgyud-bskul, taking care to pronounce all the words fully and dis- tinctly. This contains the instructions of his special Laima-preceptor, and in its recital the monk must recall vividly to mind his spiritual guide. This is followed by a prayer consisting of numerous requests for benefits of a temporal nature desired by the petitioner.

222 DAILY LIFE AND ROUTINE

Then he assumes the meditative posture of the seven attitudes,’ and gets rid by physical means of the ‘‘ three original sins.”

Then, coercing his tutelary demon into conferring on him his fiendish guise, he chants ‘‘ the four preliminary services ” :—

The s.Von-gro bzi~byor. These are the refuge formula, which cleanses the darkness of the body ; the hundred letters, which cleanse all obscurity in speech, and the magic-circle of rice, the Mandala, which cleanses the mind ; and the prayer enumerating the Lamas up to the most perfect one, which confers perfection on the monk himself.

This is followed by the chanting of bLa-yrub, “the obtaining of the Lama,” and “ the obtaining of the ornaments, s.Ven-grub.”

The mild deity in this worship is called “The Placid One,” ’ and the demon ‘The Repulsive.”* The demoniacal form must be recited the full number of times which the Lima bound himself to do by vow before his spiritual tutor, namely, one hundred, one thousand, or ten thousand times daily. Those not bound in this way by vows repeat the charm as many times as they conveniently can.

Having done this, he may retire again to sleep, if the night be not very far advanced. But if the dawn is near, he must not go to sleep, but should employ the interval in several sorts of prayer.

As soon as day dawns, he must wash his face and rinse his mouth and do the worship above noted, should he not have already done so ; also the following rites :—

Ist. Prepare sacred food for the six sorts of beings (Riys-struy-yigtorma) and send it to tantalized ghosts.

2nd. Offer incense, butter-incense, and wine-oblation (gSe-sK yen). The incense is offered to the good spirits—firstly, to the chief god and the Lama; secondly, to the class of “ king” gods; and thirdly to the mountain god “ Kanchinjinga.” Then offerings are made to the spirits of caves (who guarded and still guard the hidden revelations therein deposited), the “enemy-god of battle,” the country gods, the local demigods, and “the eight classes of deities.” The butter-incense is only given to the most malignant class of the demons and evil spirits.

Some breakfast is now taken, consisting of weak soup, followed by tea with parched grain. Any especial work which has to be done will now be attended to, failing which some tantrik or other

1 Seep. 145. 2 mon, * hele-pa.

AS VILAGE PRIEST AND IEERATT’. 223

service will be chanted. And if any temple or Caitya be at hand, these will be circumambulated with “ prayer-wheel” revolving in hand, and chanting mantras. Then is done any priestly service required by the villagers.

About two o’clock in the afternoon a meal of rice is taken followed by beer by those who like it, or by tea for non-beer drinkers.

About six o’clock p.M. is done the gtor-bshés service, in which, after assuming his tutelary dignity, he chants the snon-gro and refuge formula. Then is done a sacrificial worship! with bell and small drum, followed by an invocation to the hosts of Limas, tutelaries, and the supernatural defensores fide.

About 9 or 10 P.M. he retires to sleep.

IN HERMITAGE.

Buddhism in common with most religions had its hermits who retired like John the Baptist into the wilderness. And such

HeErmMIT-LAMA.:?

periodical retirement for a time, corresponding to the Buddhist Lent (the rainy season of India, or Varsha, colloq. “ barsat ”), when travelling was difficult and unhealthy, was an essential part of the routine of the Indian Buddhist. Tson K’apa enforced the obser-

1 mCh’oga. > After Hue. Sb

224 ; DAILY LIFE AND ROUTINE.

vance of this practice, but it has now fallen much into abeyance. Probably the booths which are erected for the head Lamas in Sikhim during their visits to villages in the autumn, are vestiges of this ancient practice of retirement to the forest.

Theoretically it is part of the training of every young Lima to spend in hermitage a period of three years, three months, and three days, in order to accustom himself to ascetic rites. But this practice is very rarely observed for any period, and when it is observed, a period of three months and three days is considered sufficient. During this seclusion he repeats the spell of his tutelary deity an incredible number of times. The Mula-yoga sigon-gro, complete in all its four sections, must be repeated 100,000 times. In chanting the refuge-formula portion, he must prostrate hinself to the ground 100,000 times. The repetition of the Vigebrgya-pa itself takes about two months ; and in addition must be chanted the following voluminous services: P’yi-’grub, nan- ‘grub, gsan-’grub, bla~’grub, snen-grub, *prin-las, and bzi-’grub.

Those who permanently adopt the hermit life are called “the packed-up ones”? and those of the highest rank are “the great recluses.”? They are engaged in ascetic exercises and are usually followers of the Vajriyfina system, seeking Szddhi and its wizard powers by the aid of the Dakkini she-devils and the king-devils who are their tutelaries.

a

TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS.

Like western friars, the Lamas have a considerable proportion of their number engaged in trades and handicrafts. The monks are practically divided into what may be called the spiritual and the temporal. The more intelligent are relieved of the drudgery of worldly work and devote themselves to ritual and meditation. The less intellectual labour diligently in field or farm and in trading for the benefit of their monastery ; or they collect the rents and travel from village to village begging for their parent monastery, or as tailors, cobblers, printers, etc. Others again of the more intellectual members are engaged as astrologers in casting horoscopes, as painters or in image-making, and in other pursuits contributing to the general funds and comfort of the monastery.

mts'am-s-pa. 2 syom-ch'en.

TRADES AND DIET. 225

THE DIET.

The diet of the Limas is the ordinary rather Spartan fare of the country! consisting mainly of wheat, barley, or buck-wheat and occasionally rice, milk and butter, soup, tea and meat. The only flesh-meat allowed is sheep, goat, and yak; fish and fowl are prohibited. The fully-ordained monks, the Ge-longs, are supposed to eat abstemiously and abstain totally from meat; though even the Grand Lama of Tashi-lhunpo appears to eat flesh-food.?

Neither the monks of the established church nor the holier Limas of the other sects may drink any spirituous liquor. Yet they offer it as libations to the devils.

1 For food of Tibetans, see TURNER'S Embassy, 24-48, etc.; PEMBERTON, 156; Moor- CROFT, i., 182, etc. ; Huc, ii., 258; Cunnincuam’'s Ladak, 305; Rockx., L., passim. ’ l

• Bogle in Markuan, p. 100.

LIBATION-JUG AND CHALICE-CUP (of silver).

A GRAND LAMA OF BHOTAN.

».& THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

« Le rot estanortyuinenle rot! ~ “Adam... his soul passed by transmigration into David .. . his soul transmigrated into the Messiah.”—Vhe Talmud.

organization. It was merely a brotherhood of monks. Even after Buddha’s death, as the order grew in size and afHuence under the rich endowments from Asoka and other kingly patrons, it still remained free from anything like

YT Hersnon’s Treasures of the Talmud, yp. 242.

HIERARCHY AND PRIEST-KINGSHIP. 227

centralized government. The so-called patriarchs had only very nominal power and no generally recognized position or functions. And even the later Indian monasteries had each its own separate administration, and its own chief, independent of the others; a similar state of affairs seems to have prevailed in Tibet until the thirteenth century.

The hierarchical system of Tibet seems to date from the thirteenth century A.D., when the Lima of the Sas-kya monastery was ereated a pope by the Great Mongol emperor of China, Kubilai Khan. This Sas-kya Lima, receiving also a certain amount of temporal power, soon formed a hierarchy, aud some generations later we find the other sects forming rival hierarchies, which tended to take the power out of the hands of the petty chiefs who now pareelled out Tibet. Im 1417, doctor Tson K’apa founded the (re-lug-pa sect, which under his powerful organization soon developed into the strongest of all the hierarchies, and five genera- tions later it leapt into the temporal government of Tibet, which it still retains, so that now its church is the established one of the country.

Priest-kingship, a recognized stage in the earlier life of social institutions, still extends into later civilization, as in the case of the emperors of China and Japan, who fill the post of high-priest. It was the same in Burma, and many eastern princes who no longer enjoy “the divine right of kings,” still bear the title of ** god,” and their wives of “ goddess.”

The Grand Lima who thus became the priest-king of Tibet was a most ambitious and crafty prelate. He was named Nag-wan Lé-zan, and was head of the De-pung monastery. At his instigation a Mongol prince from Koko Nor, named Gusri Khan, conquered Tibet in 1640, and then made a present of it to this Grand Lima, together with the title of Dalai or “the vast” (literally ‘ocean ”) Lima,! and he was confirmed in this title and kingly possession in 1650 by the Chinese emperor. On account of this Mongol title, and these priest-kings being first made familiar to Europeans through the Mongols,? he and his

1 The Tibetan for this Mongol word is r@ya-mts’o, and in the list of Grand Lamas some of his predecessors and successors bear this title as part of their personal name. And the Mongolian for rin-po-ch’e is “ Ertennt.”

? Through the works of Giorgi, Pallas, and Klaproth.

Lo Lo

28 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

successors are called by some Europeans “ Dalaz (or Tale) Lama,” though the first Dalai Lima was really the fifth Grand Lima of the established church; but this title is practically unknown to Tibetans, who call the Lhasa Grand Limas, Gyal-wa Rin-po-ch’e, or “The gem of majesty or victory.”

In order to consolidate his new-found rule, and that of his church in the priest-kingship, this prelate, as we have seen, posed as the deity Avalokita-in-the-flesh, and he invented legends magnifying the powers and attributes of that deity, and trans-

FourR-HANDED AVALOKITA. (Incarnate in the Dalai Lama.)

ferred his own residence from De-pung monastery to a palace which he built for himself on “the red hill” near Lhasa, the name of which hill he now altered to Mount Potala, after the mythic Indian residence of his divine prototype. He further forcibly seized many of the monasteries of the other sects and converted them into his own Ge-lug-pa institutions! ; and he developed the

1 Amongst others he seized the monastery of the great ‘Taranatha, and demolished many of that Lama’s buildings and books, for such an honest historian was not at all to his taste.

THE FIRST DALAI LAMA-POPE. 229

fiction of succession by re-incarnate Lamas, and by divine reflexes.

The other sects accepted the situation, as they were indeed forced to do; and all now, while still retaining each its own separate hierarchical system, acknowledge the Grand Lama of Lhasa to be

PoTALA. THE PALACE OF THE DaALar LAMA. (From Kircher’s China Illustrata.)

the head of the Limaist church, in that he is the incarnation of the powerful Buddhist deity Avalokita. And they too adopted the attractive theory of the re-incarnate succession and divine reflexes.

It is not easy to get at the real facts regarding the origin and development of the theory of re-incarnate Limas, as the whole question has been purposely obscured, so as to give it the appearance of antiquity.

It seems to me that it arose no earlier than the fifteenth century, and that at first it was simply a scheme to secure stability for the succession to the headship of the sect against electioneering intrigues of crafty Lamas, and was, at first, a simple re-incarnation theory ; which, however, must not be confused with the orthodox Buddhist theory of re-birth as a result of Karma, for the latter is never confined in one channel. Onthe contrary, it holds that the spirit of the deceased head Lima is always reborn in a child, who has to be found by oracular signs, and duly installed in the vacant chair; and he on his death is similarly reborn, and so on ad infinitum,

230 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS,

thus securing, on quasi-Buddhistic principles, continuous succession by the same individual through successive re-embodiments.

The first authentic instance of re-incarnate Lamas which I can find is the first of the Grand Limas of the Ge-lug-pa, namely, Geden-dub. Had this theory been invented prior to Tson h’apa’s death in 1417 a.p., it is practically certain that the succession to Tson K‘apa would have begun with an infant re-incarnation. But we find the infant re-incarnationship only beginning with the death of Tson K’apa’s successor, namely, his nephew and pupil, Ge-den-dub aforesaid; and from this epoch the succession to the Ge-lug-pa Grand Limaship has gone on according to this theory. As the practice worked well, it was soon adopted by the Limas of other sects, and it has so extended that now nearly every great monastery has its own re-incarnate Lima as its chief, and some have several of these amongst their higher officials.

The more developed or expanded theory, however, of celestial Lima-reflexes, which ascribes the spirit of the original Laima to an emanation (Nirnwtne hdya, or, changeable body)? from a particular celestial Buddha or divine Bodhisat, who thus becomes incarnate in the church, seems to me to have been of much later origin, and most probably the invention of the crafty Dalai Laima Nag-wan, or Gyal-wa Na-pa,? about 150 years later. For, previous to the time when this latter Grand Lima began to consolidate his newly-acquired temporal rule over Tibet, no authentic records seem to exist of any such celestial origin of any Lamas, and the theory seems unknown to Indian Buddhism.* And this Dalai Liima is known to have taken the greatest liberties with the traditions and legends of Tibet, twisting them to fit in with his divine pretensions, and to have shaped the Limaist hierarchy on the lines on which it now exists.

This Dalai Lima, Gyal-wa Na-pa, is the first of these celestial incarnate Liimas which I can find. He was made, or, as I consider, made himself, to be the incarnation of the most popular Buddhist divinity possible, namely, Avalokita, and to the same rank were promoted the four Grand Limas who preceded him, and who,

Cf. ante.

Literally ‘* The fifth Jina.” Cf. also Panxp., /., No. AG.

None of the so-called biographies of Atisa and earlier Indian monks containing any such references can certainly be placed earlier than this period.

ww t=

ORIGIN OF RE-INCARNATE LAMAS. 231

together with himself, were identified with the most famous king of Tibet, to wit, Sron Tsan Gampo, thus securing the loyalty of the people to his rule, and justifying his exercise of the divine right of kings ; and to ensure prophetic sanction for this scheme he wrote, or caused to be written, the mythical so-called history, Mani kah-’bum. It was then an easy task to adjust to this theory, with retrospective effect, the bygone and present saints who were now affiliated to one or other of the celestial Buddhas or Bodhisats, as best suited their position and the church. Thus, Tson K’apa, having been a contemporary of the first Grand Lama, could not be Avalokitesvara, so he was made to be an incarnation of Maijusri, or “the god of wisdom,” on whom, also, Atisa was affiliated as the wisest and most learned of the Indian monks who had visited Tibet ; and so also King Thi Sron Detsan, for his aid in founding the order of the Lamas.

It also seems to me that Na-pa was the author of the re-incarnate Lima theory as regards Tashi-lhunpo monastery and the so-called double-hierarchy ; for an examination of the positive data on this subject shows that the first re-incarnate Lima of Tashi-lhunpo dates only from the reign of this Na-pa, and seven years after his accession to the kingship of Tibet.

Tashi-lhunpo monastery was founded in 1445 by Geden-dub, the first Grand Ge-lug-pa Lima, who seems, however, to have mostly lived and to have died at De-pung.

It will be noticed from the list of Tashi Grand Lamas! that Geden-dub, the founder of Tashi-lhunpo, contrary to the current opinion of European writers, does not appear as a Tashi Lima at all. This official list of Tashi-lhunpo, read in the light of the biographies of these Limas,? clearly shows that previous to the Lima who is number two of the list, and who was born during the latter end of Dalai Lima Na-pa’s reign as aforesaid, none of the Tashi-lhunpo Limas were regarded as re-incarnations at all. The first on this list, namely, Lo-zan Ch’o-kyi Gyal-ts’an, began as a private monk, and travelled about seeking instruction in the ordinary way, and not until his thirty-first year was he promoted to the abbotship, and then only by election and on

1 Presently to be given. 2 Some of which have been translated by Sarat (J.4.8.B., 1882, 26 seq.).

932 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

account of distinguished ability. It is also interesting to note that on the death, in 1614, of the fourth Grand Lama of the Ge-lug-pa (named Yon-tan), whom he had ordained, he was installed in the abbotship at Gih-ldan monastery, and in 1622, at the age of 53, he initiated, as fifth Grand Lama, the infant Napa, who was then seven years old, and who afterwards became the great Dalai Lama.

And he continued to be the spiritual father and close friend and alviser of Na-pa, and seems to have begun those political negotiations which culminated in the cession of Tibet to his protégé. When he died, in 1662, his spiritual son Na-pa, who was 47 years old, and had been 22 years in the kingship, promptly re-incarnated him, and also made him out to be his own spiritual father, even as regards the divine emanation theory. Thus the new-born babe was alleged to be an incarnation of Avalokita’s spiritual father, Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light ; and he was given-a considerable share in the management of the established church. This, however, merely perpetuated the relations which had actually existed between these two Grand Limas as father and son, and which had worked so well, and had such obvious political advantages in providing against interregnums.

In the hierarchical scheme of succession by re-incarnate Limas, the Lhasa Grand Lima, who wields the sovereign power, thus gave himself the highest place, but allotted the Tashi-lhunpo Grand Lama a position second only to his own. Below these come the other re-incarnate Lamas, ranking according to whether they are regarded to be re-embodiments of Indian or of Tibetan saints. The former class are called “ the higher incarnations ” or Tul-Ku,’ and by the Mongols Khutukfu. They occupy the position of cardinals and archbishops. The lowest re-incarnate Limas are regarded as re-embodiments of Tibetan saints, and are named ordinary Tul-ku or * Ku-s’o,”? or by the Mongols Khublighan or Hoblighan; these mostly fill the post of abbots, and rank one degree higher than an ordinary non-re-incarnate abbot, or A°an-po, who has been selected on account of his proved abilities. Most of

1 sPrul-sku.

2 sKu-s’ogs. The use of the term for a re-incarnate Lama seems restricted to Ladak. In Tibet proper this title is applied to any superior Lama, and is even used in polite society to laymen of position.

SUCCESSION OF LAMAIST POPES. 233

these so-called re-incarnate Limas are by a polite fiction credited with knowing all the past life and deeds of individuals, not only in the present life, but also in former births.

In the unreformed sects, where the priests are not celibate, the children succeed to the headship. The ordinary hierarchical distinctions of grades and ranks have already been noted in describing the organization of the order.

The greatest of the Lima hierarchs, after the Grand Lamas of Lhasa and Tashi-lhunpo, are the great Mongolian Lima at Urgya, the Sas-kya Lima, and the Dharma Raja of Bhotan, this last being practically independent of Lhasa, and the temporal ruler of Bhotan. Here also may be mentioned the female incarnate goddess, “The diamond sow” of Yam-dok Lake monastery.

The following list of Tibetan popes, the Grand Limas of Lhasa, is taken from the printed list. The birth-dates are given upon the authority of a reliable, trustworthy Limaist calculator.’

List OF GRAND (DALAI) LAMAS OR POPES.

No. Name, Birth. Death. Remarks, ery A.D. l dGe-’dun grub-pa ............ 1591 1475 2 dGe-'dun rGya-mts’o......... 1475 1543 3 bSod-nams ae _| 1543 1589 4 Yon-tan a Sion 1589° 1617 5 Nag-dban blo-bsan rGya-

1. rere ree aea e Rese3 | 1617 1682 | First ‘‘ Dalai.” 6 Ts’ans-dbyans rGya-mts’o | 1683! 1706 | Deposed & murdered. a sKal-bzan es 1708 1758 8 ‘Jam-dpal o 1758 1805° 9 Lua-rtogs i 1805° 1§16 |Seen by Manning. 10 Ts’ul-K’rims Re 18197 1837 11 mK’as-grub rr 1837 1855 2 ’P ’rin-las Ar | 1856 1874 13 T’ub-bstan * | 1876 Present pope.

The first Grand Lima, Ge-’dun-dub, was born near Sas-kya, and

eee

1 The modern list precedes the historical names by a series of fifty more or less mythic personages, headed by Avalokita himself.

• Lama §’e-rab Gya-ts’o, of the Ge-lug-pa monastery, Darijiling.

% DesGopINs (La Miss., etc., p. 218) gives 1588.

• Desa. gives 1682.

5 Other accounts give 1798, 1803, 1808; cf. also KGprEn’s List, i., 235.

° Dese., and this corresponds with Manning’s account (Marxu., 265).

7 Desa. gives 1815.

234 THE HIERARCHY AND RIPINCARNATE DAATAS:

not: far from the site whereon he afterwards founded Tashi-lhunpo. His successors, up to and inclusive of the fifth, have already been referred to in some detail.

On the deposition and death of the sixth Grand Liima for licentious living, the Tartar king, Gingkir Khan, appointed to Potala the Lima of C’ag-poh-ri, named Nagwan Yeshé Gya-mts’o, into whom the sorcerers alleged that, not the soul but the breath of the former Grand Lima had passed. It was soon announced, however, that the sixth Grand Lima was re-born in the town of Lithang as Kal-zan, the son of a quondam monk of De-pung monastery. This child was imprisoned hy the Chinese emperor, who had confirmed the nominee of the Tartar king, until the war of 1720, when he invested him with spiritual rule at Lhasa; but again, in 1728, deposed him, as he was privy to the murder of the king of Tibet. So he set in his place the Lima “ Kiesri” Rimpoch’e, of the Chotin monastery, four days’ journey from Lhisa.t He seems latterly to have returned to power, and during his reign in 1749, the Chinese put his temporal vice-regent to death, when the people flew to arms and massacred the Chinese.”

The ninth is the only Grand Lima of Lhiisa ever seen by an Englishman. He was seen by Manning in 181], while still a child of six years old. Manning relates that: “ The Lama’s beautiful and interesting face and manner engrossed almost all my attention. He was at that time about seven years old; had the simple and unaffected manners of a well-educated princely child. His face was, I thought, poetically and affectingly beautiful. He was of a gay and cheerful disposition, his beautiful mouth perpetually unbending into a graceful smile, which illuminated his whole countenance. Sometimes, particularly when he looked at me, his smile almost approached to a gentle laugh. No doubt my grim beard and spectacles somewhat excited his risibility. . . . He enquired whether I had not met with molestations and difficulties on the road,” ete. This child died a few years afterwards, assassinated, it is believed, by the regent, named Si-Fan.

The tenth Grand Lima also dying during his minority, and

t This latter Lama was in power at Potala in 1730 on the arrival of Horace Dellapenna, from whose account (MAkkH., p. 321) most of the latter details have been taken.

Sih Abe

3 Thid., yp. 266.

GRAND DALAI LAMAS. 235

suspicions being aroused of foul play on the part of the regent, the latter was deposed and banished by the Chinese in 1844, at the instance of the Grand Lima of Tashi-lhunpo, and a rising of his confederates of the Sera monastery was suppressed.

The eleventh also died prematurely before attaining his majority, and is believed to have been poisoned by the regent, the Lima of Teu-gye-ling. A young Lima of De-pung, named Ra-deng,’ was appointed regent, and he banished his predecessor “* Pe-chi,” who had befriended Huc; but proving unpopular, he had eventually to retire to Pekin, where he died? Pe-chi died about 1869, and was succeeded by the abbot of Gah-ldan.

The twelfth Grand Lima was seen in 1866 by one of our Indian secret surveyors, who styles him a child of about thirteen, and describes him as a fair and handsome boy, who, at the reception, was seated on a throne six feet high, attended on either side by two high rank officials, each swaying over the child’s head bundles of peacock feathers. The Grand Lima himself put three questions to the spy and to each of the other devotees, namely : “Is your king well?” “ Does your country prosper?” “ Are you yourself in good health?” He died in 1874, and his death is ascribed to poison administered by the regent, the Tengye-ling head Lima.

The thirteenth is still (1894) alive. He was seen in 1882 by Sarat Candra Das, whose account of him is given elsewhere.

The Tashi-lhunpo Grand Limas are considered to be, if possible, holier even than those of Lhisa, as they are less contaminated with temporal government and worldly politics, and more famous for their learning, hence they are entitled ‘“ The precious great doctor, or Great gem of learning” (Pan-cl’en Rin-po-ch'e),* or (ryal-gon° Rin-po-ch’e, or “ The precious lordly victor.” The Sa-kya Grand Limas had been called “ Pan-ch’en,” or the “ Great doctor” from the twelfth century, but have ceased to hold the

! Huc, ii., p. 166. This account is disbelieved by Mr. Mayers, J.RuA.S., iv., 805. 2 rva-sgren, the “ gyal-po Riting ” of the Pandit, p. xxiv. MAREH., xevii.

• Pan is a contraction for the Indian ‘* Pand:t,” or learned scholar, and rin-po-ch’e = ratna or gem, or precious, or in Mongolian Jrtini or Hrden‘, hence he is called by Mongolians “ Pan-ch’en Irtini.”’

Vulgarly “ gyan-gin.”

236 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

title since the era of the Dalai Limas, when the established church appropriated it to itself.

The following list of “ Tashi” Lamas is taken from that printed at the monastery itself.

List oF ** TASHI” GRAND LAMAS.

No. Name. ' Birth. | Death. Remarks. ASD, | A.D, 1 | bLo-bzan ch’os-kyi rgyal-mts’an | 1569 | 1662 2 | bLo-bzan ye-she dpal bzan-po , 1663 | 1737 3 | bLo-bzan dpal-Idan ye-s’es | 1738? | 1780 | Bogle’s friend, installed {| 1743. 4+ | rJe-bstan pahi hima | 1781 | 1854 , Seen by Turner. 5 | rJe-dpal-ldan ch’os-kyi grags-pa ) | lene 1862 | Diedunomoue: bstan-pahi dhani p’yug io Se 6 ae oe as . | 1883 | Installed last week of | ; February, 1888. |

The third Tashi Lima was the friend of Mr. Bogle, who seems to be the only European who had the advantage of close and friendly intercourse with one of the Grand Limas. Mr. Bogle gives us a delightful glimpse into the amiable character of this holy man.®

“The Lima was upon his throne, formed of wood carved and gilt, with some cushions about it, upon which he sat cross-legged. He was dressed in a mitre-shaped eap of yellow broad-cloth with long bars lined with red satin; a yellow cloth jacket, without sleeves ; and a satin mantle of the same colour thrown over his shoulders.

1The official list is entitled pan-sku-p’ren rim-pa lar byon-pa-ni, and gives no dates. It ends with No. 3 of my list as above, and extends the list backwards to ten additional names, beginning with the somewhat mythical disciple of Buddha, Su-bhuti ; and including legendary Indian personages as re-incarnations, as well as the following six Tibetans, the fourth of which is usually held to be the first of the Tashi-Ihunpo Grand Lamas. As, however, Tashi-lhunpo was only built in 1445, only the latter two of this list could be contemporary with it, and as is noted in the text, their biographies show that they were ordinary monks who held no high post, if any at all, at Tashilhunpo. SUPPLMENTARY List OF SO-CALLED PAN-CH'EN GRAND LAMAS. 1, K’ug-pa lhas-btsas, of rTa-nag monastery. 2. Sa-skya Pandita (1182-1252), 3. gYun-ston rdo-rje dpal (1284-1376). 4, mK’as-sgrub dG’e-legs-dpal zang-po (1385-1439). 5. pan-ch’en-bSod-nams pyoys kyi-ylan-po (1439-1505) 2 6. dben-sa-pa blo-bzan Don-grub (1505-1570). 2 At “ Tashi-tzay,” N.E. of Tashi-Ihunpo (M., p. 92). 3 Loc, cit., p. 83.

GRAND TASHI-LAMAS. 237

On one side of him stood his physician with a bundle of perfumed sandal-wood rods burning in his hand; on the other stood his So-pon Chumbo! or cup-bearer. I laid the governor’s presents before him, delivering the letter and pearl necklace into his own hands, together with a white Pelong handkerchief on my own part, according to the custom of the country. He received me in the most engaging manner. I was seated on a high stool covered with a carpet. Plates of boiled mutton, boiled rice, dried fruits, sweetmeats, sugar, bundles of tea, sheeps’ carcasses dried, ete., were set, before me and my companion, Mr. Hamilton. The Lima drank two or three dishes of tea along with us, asked us once or twice to eat, and threw white Pelong handkerchiefs on our necks at retiring.

“ After two or three visits, the Lima used (except on holidays) to receive me without any ceremony, his head uncovered, dressed only in the large red petticoat which is worn by all the gylongs, red Bulgar hide boots, a yellow cloth vest with his arms bare, and a piece of yellow cloth thrown around his shoulder. He sat sometimes in a chair, sometimes on a bench covered with tiger skins, and nobody but So-pon Chumbo present. Sometimes he would waik with me about the room, explain to me the pictures, make remarks on the colour of my eyes, etc. For, although venerated as God’s vicegerent through all the eastern countries of Asia, endowed with a portion of omniscience, and with many other divine attributes, he throws aside in conversation all the awful part of his character, accommodates himself to the weakness of mortals, endeavours to make himself loved rather than feared, and behaves with the greatest affability to everybody, especially to strangers.

“Teshu Lima is about forty years of age, of low stature, and though not corpulent, rather inclining to be fat. His complexion is fairer than that of most of the Tibetans, and his arms are as white as those of a European; his hair, which is jet black, is cut very short; his beard and whiskers never above a month long ; his eyes are small and black. The expression of his countenance is smiling and good-humoured. His father was a Tibetan, his

1 He held, according to Turner (p. 246), the second rank in the court of the Tashi Lama, and was by birth a Manchu Tartar. He was then only about twenty-two years of age.

238 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAWAS.

mother a near relation of the Rijas of Ladak. From her he learned the Hindustani language, of which he has a moderate knowledge, and is fond of speaking it. His disposition is open, candid, and generous. He is extremely merry and entertaining in conversation, and tells a pleasant story with a great deal of humour and action. I endeavoured to find out in his character those defects which are inseparable from humanity, but he is so universally beloved that I had no success, and not a man could find in his heart to speak ill of him.

‘Among the other good qualities which csi Lima possesses is that of charity, and he has plenty of opportunities of exercising it. The country swarms with beggars, and the Lima entertains besides a number of fakirs (religious mendicants), who resort hither from India. As he speaks their language tolerably well he every day converses with them from his windows, and picks up ° by this means a knowledge of the different countries and governments of Hindistan. . . . He gives them a monthly allowance of tea, butter, and flour, besides money, and often bestows something considerable upon them at their departure. The Gosains who are thus supported at the Laima’s expense may be in number about one hundred and fifty, besides about thirty Musulman fakirs. For although the genius of the religion of Muhamad is hostile to that of the Lima, yet he is possessed of much Christian charity, and is free from those narrow prejudices which, next to ambition and avarice, have opened the most copious source of human misery.” And observing the universal esteem in which the Grand Lama is held by the monks and people, the looks of veneration mixed with joy with which he is always regarded, Mr. Bogle adds “one catches affection by sympathy, and I could not help, in some measure, feeling the same emotions with the Lima’s votaries,! and I will confess I never knew a man whose manners pleased me so much, or for whom, upon so short an acquaintance, I had half the heart’s liking.” ?

This Grand Lima, soon after Bogle’s departure, died of smallpox. He had, in response to the invitation of the Chinese emperor, set out for Pekin, attended by 1,500 troops and followers, and sumptuous provision was made for his comfort during the whole

1 Op. cit., p. 95. 2p. 1838.

GRAND LAMAS OF PTASHLT, HOONPO, you

of the long journey in Chinese territory. The emperor met him at Sining, several weeks’ march from Pekin, and advanced about forty paces from his throne to receive him, and seated him on the topmost cushion with himself and at his right hand. To the great grief of the empress and the Chinese the Lima was seized with small-pox, and died on November 12th, 1780. His body, placed in a golden coffin, was conveyed to the mausoleum at Tashi-lhunpo.!

His successor, while still an infant of about eighteen months, was seen by Captain Turner as the envoy of the British government. This remarkable interview took place at the monas- tery of Terpa-ling.” He found the princely child, then aged eighteen months, seated on a throne of silk cushions and hangings about four feet high, with his father and mother standing on the left hand. Having been informed that although unable to speak he could understand, Captain Turner said “that the governorgeneral on receiving the news of his decease in China, was overwhelmed with grief and sorrow, and continued to lament his absence from the world until the cloud that had overcast the happiness of this nation was dispelled by his re-appearance. . , , The governor anxiously wished that he might long continue to illumine the world by his presence, and was hopeful that the friendship which had formerly subsisted between them would not be diminished. . . . |” The infant looked steadfastly at the British envoy, with the appearance of much attention, and nodded with repeated but slow motions of the head, as though he understood every word. He was silent and sedate, his whole attention was directed to the envoy, and he conducted himself with astonishing dignity and decorum, He was one of the handsomest children Captain Turner had ever seen, and he grew up to be an able and devout ruler, delighting the Tibetans with his presence for many years, and dying at a good old age? He is described by Hue # as of fine majestic frame, and astonishing vigour for his advanced age, which was then about sixty.

l Oriental Repertory, ii., p. 145; and MARKHAM, ). 208.

• On the 4th December, 1783.

3 TURNER'S Embassy, ete. The new TashiLama was installed in October, 1784, in the presence of the Dalai Lama, the Chinese Minister or Amban, the Ge the heads of all the monastery in Tibet, as described by Pur agent of the Warren Hastings, M., Ixxy.

2 toh, W6Yi.

sub Rimboe’e, and angir Gusain, the native

240 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

The Mongolian hierarch at Urgya-Kuren, in the Khalka country, is called “His holy reverence,” or Je-tsun Dam-pa,”! and is regarded as an incarnation of the celebrated historian Lama, Tara- natha, who, it will be remembered, was of the Sa-kya sect, which had identified itself with Mongolian Limaism, having introduced the religion there and given the translations of the gospels. Urgya monastery was doubtless founded by the Sa-kya-pa. However this may be, on the development of the reincarnate Lama theory, the Khalka? Mongols fixed upon Taranitha as the source of the re-incarnations for their chief hierarch. And the Dalai Lima, Nag-pa, who had climbed into power on the shoulders of the Mongols, had to accept the high position thus accorded to Taranitha, whom he detested, but he, or one of his early successors, converted the monastery into a Ge-lug-pa institution.

The hierarch, Je-tsun Dam-pa, was the most powerful person in the whole of Mongolia® during the reign of the emperor Kang-hi (1662-1723), and had his headquarters at Koukou-Khoton, or ‘‘Blue town,” beyond the bend of the Yellow river, when the Khalkas quarrelled with the Kaimuks or Sleuths and escaped into territory under Chinese protection. The Kalmuks demanded the delivery of Je-tsun Dam-pa and his brother, the prince Tuschetu- Khan, which of course the emperor refused, and sought the mediation of the Dalai Lama. But the latter, or, rather, his regent (Tis-ri), for he had been defunct for seven years, to the emperor's surprise, advised the delivering up of these two princes, and such a decision was, perhaps, the first sign to him of the great frand which was being enacted as Lhasa. To make matters worse, when the emperor was warring with the Kalmuks “he paid a visit to Je-tsun Dam-pa, and owing to some fancied want of respect on the part of the holy man, one of the emperor's officers drew his sword and killed him. This violence caused a tumult, and soon afterwards it was announced that Je-tsun Dam-pa had reappeared among the Khalkas, who threatened to avenge his former death. The emperor engaged the diplomatic interposition of the Dalai

1 yJe-btsun-gdam-pa.

2 The Khalkas, so called after the Khalka river, are the representatives of the Mongol or Yuen dynasty of China, founded by Jingis and Kubilai Khan, and driven from the throne in 1368.—Margu., p. xlix.

3 KOPPEN, ii., 178.

TARANATHA AND SA-KYA HIERARCHS, 241

Lima, who succeeded in pacifying the Khalkas. But it was arranged that the future births of the Je-tsun Dam-pa should be found in Tibet, so that the Khalkas might not again have a sympathizing fellow-countryman as their high-priest.”!

His “ re-incarnation ” is now always found in central or western Tibet. The present one is said to have been born in the bazaar (S’ol) of Lhasa city, and to be the eighth of the series. He is educated at the De-pung monastery as a Ge-lug-pa Lima; but the present one was carried off, when four or five years of age, to Urga, accompanied by a Lima of De-pung as tutor. A complete list of these hierarchs and fuller historical information in regard to them is much needed.”

The Sa-kya hierarchs, as we have seen, were once extremely powerful and almost de facto kings of Tibet. Although the Sa-kya hierarch is now eclipsed by the established church, he still retains the sympathy of the numerous adherents of the unreformed sects, and is now regarded by the Nin-ma-pa as their head and an incarnation of the Guru himself, and as such scarcely inferior to the Grand Lima of Lhasa. Sa-kya was founded, as we saw, by Kungah Nin-po, born in 1090 a.p., and became famous under Sa-kya Pandita, born 1180, and his nephew was the first of the great hierarchs.

The list of the earlier Sa-kya hierarchs, whose most prosperous era was from 1270 to 1340, is as follows * :—

List oF SA-KYA HIERARCHS.

1. Sas-kya bsan-po. 12. ’Od-ser-sen-ge.

2. S’an-btsun. 13. Kun-rin.

3. Ban-dKar-po, 14. Don-yod dpal.

4. Chyat-rin bsKyos-pa. 15. Yon-btsun.

5. Kun-gs’an, 16. ’Od-ser Sen-ge IT.

6. gS’an-dban. 17. rGyal-va San-po.

7. Chan-rdor. 18. Dban-p’yng-dpal.

8. An-len. 19. bSod-Nam-dpal.

9. Legs-pa-dpal. | 20. rGyab-va-Tsan-po II.
10. Sen-ge-dpal. 21. dBan-btsun.

11. ’Od-zer-dpal. Its head Lima is still called by the unreformed Limas “Sa-kya

1 MARKHAM’'S Tibet, Xlix.

2 For an account of the journey of the present hierarch from Lhasa to Urga, see Peking Gazette for 1874, pp. 68, 74 and 124 (Shanghai abstract 1875). The new incarnation met by the Abbé Huc in 1844, journeying from Urga to Lhasa appears to have been the seventh.

3 Cf. also list by -SaNnanG SETSEN, p. 121; Csoma, @r., 186; KOpPEN, ii., 105; Sarat, J.A.S.B., 1881, p. 240.

R

242 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

Pan-ch’en.”! Thesuccession is hereditary; but between father and son intervenes the brother of the reigning Lama and uncle of the successor, so as to secure an adult as holder of the headship.

The Bhotan hierarchy is still a strong one and combines the temporal rule of the country. It ousted all rival sects from the land, so that now it has its own sect, namely, the southern Duk-pa form of the Kar-gyu-pa. According to Mr, (Sir Ashley) Eden, the Bhotanese only overran the country about three centuries ago, displacing the then natives, who are said to have come originally from Koch Bihar. The invaders were Tibetan soldiers, over whom a Lama named ‘Dupgani Sheptun” acquired paramount influence as Dharma Raja. On his death the spirit of the Sheptun became incarnate in a child at Lhasa, who was conveyed to Bhotin. When this child grew up he appointed a regent for temporal concerns, called Deb Raja,? but this latter office seems to have lapsed long ago, and the temporal power is in the hands of the lay governors (Pen-lo) of the country.

The head Lima is held to be re-incarnate, and is named Lima Rin-po-ch’e, also “The religious king” or Dharma Raja. His hat, as seen in the illustration at the head of this chapter,® bears the badge of cross thunderbolts, and is surmounted by a spiked thunderbolt, typical not only of his mystical creed, but also of the thunder dragon (Dug), which gives its name to his sect—the Dug-pa. His title, as engraved on his seal figured by Hooker,! describes him as ‘* Chief of the Realm, Defender of the Faith, Equal to Sarasvati in learning, Chief of all the Buddhas, Head Expounder of the Sastras, Caster out of Devils, Most Learned in the Holy Laws, An Avatar of God, Absolver of Sins, and Head of the Best of all Religions.”

List oF THE BHOTAN HIERARCHS.

1. Nag-dbah rnam rgyal bdud ’jom-}| 7. Nag-dban ch’os kyi dban p’ug.

rdorje. Ss » ‘jig-med rtags-pa (second ess » jig-med rtags-pa. re-incarnation). Bh » ch’os-kyi rgyal mtshan. OMmiss » jig-med rtags norbu. Ge ey. » ‘jig med dban po. 10" .; nA rf » ch’os-rgyal— Be op » Shakya sen ge. the present Great Bho- (Bs 6p » ‘jam dbyansrgyal mts’an. tan Lama in 1892.

1 He is entitled by Turner (op. cit., p. 315) “ Gongoso Rimbochhe.”

2 Rept. cf. MarKu., p. lv.

3 The figure is from a photo of a Bhotan Lama, and the hat is that of the present (1893) Grand Lama of Bhotan.

4 Himal, Jours,i.

BHOTAN HIERARCH. 245

Each of these Grand Limas has a separate biography (or iwaiitar). The first, who was a contemporary of the Grand Lima Sonam Gya-tsho, seems to have been married; the rest are celibate. A celebrated Lima of this Dug-pa sect was named Mi- pam ch’os-Kyi gyal-po.

The Dharma Raja resides, at least in summer, at the fort of Tashi-ch’o. The palace is a large stone building, with the chief house seven storeys high, described and figured by Turner and others. Here live over five hundred monks.

Bogle describes the Lima of his day as “a thin, sickly-looking man of about thirty-five years of age.” }

He exercises, I am informed, some jurisdiction over Lamas in Nepal, where his authority is officially recognized by the Gorkha government.

The number of the lesser spiritual chiefs held to be re-embodied Lima saints is stated? to be one hundred and sixty, of which thirty are in Tibet (twelve being ‘“‘Shaburun”), nineteen in north Mongolia, fifty-seven in south Mongolia, thirty-five in Kokonor, five in Chiamdo and the Tibetan portion of Sze-ch’wan, and fourteen at Pekin. But this much under-estimates the number in Tibet.

Amongst the re-embodied Limas in western Tibet or Tsang are Sen-c’en-Rin-po-ch’e,? Yanzin Lho-pa, Billun, Lo-ch’en, Kyizar, Tinki, De-ch’an Alig, Kanla, Kon (at Phagri). In Kham, Tu, Ch’amdo, Derge, ete.

The Lamaist metropolitan at Pekin is called by the Tibetans “‘]C’an-skya,” and is considered an incarnation of Rol-pahi Dorje. His portrait is given in the annexed figure. He dates his spiritual descent from a dignitary who was called to Pekin during the reign

1 MAREH,, p. 27.

• In the Sheng Wu Ki, and registered by the Colonial Board at Pekin. (Mayer) J RAS, Vi., p. 307.

3 The last re-incarnate Lama bearing this title, and the tutor of the Tashi Grand Lama, was beheaded about 1886 for harbouring surreptitiously Sarat C. Das, who is regarded as an English spy ; and although the bodies of his predecessors were considered divine and are preserved in golden domes at Tashi-lhunpo, his headless trunk was thrown ignominiously into a river to the S.W. of Lhasa, near the fort where he had been imprisoned. On account of his violent death, and under such circumstances, this re-incarnation is said to have ceased. From the glimpse got of him in Sarat’s narrative and in his great popularity, he seems to have been a most amiable man.

Rez

244 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-TIN@GARNATE LABUAS.

of K’ang Hi, probably about 1690-1700 a.p., and entrusted with the emperor’s confidence as his religious vicegerent for inner Mongolia.!

In Ladik only four monasteries have resident re-incarnate Limas or Aw-s’o0. Although they are of the red sect, these head Lamas are said to be educated at Lhasa. The present (1893) reincarnate Lima of Spitak, the seventeenth of the series, is thus described by Captain Ramsay.2 A youth, 26 years of age, who lately returned from Lhasa, where he had been for 14 years. He was handsomely dressed in a robe made of a particular kind of dark golden-coloured and yellow embroidered China silk, which none but great personages are allowed to wear, and he had on Chinese long boots, which he did not remove when he entered the house. His head and face were closely shaved, and one arm was bare. On entering the room he bowed, and then presented the customary ‘scarf of salutation,’ which I accepted. He impressed me very favourably ; his manner and general appearance was superior to anything I had seen among other Limas or people of Ladak.”

In Sikhim, where few Limas are celibate and where the Labrang Lima is the nominal head of the fraternity with the title of “ Lord protector” (sKyab mGon), the fiction of re-incarnation was only practised in regard to the Pemiongchi and La-brang

HEAD LAMA OF PEKIN. 3

1 ZK. 21, Panv., No. 53. 2 Op. cits p. 69. * After Griinwedel.

FEMALE RE-INCARNATIONS. 245

monasteries, but has ceased for several generations. In Sikhim, too, the same tendency to priest-kingship cropped out. Several of the Sikhim kings were also Lamas; and when the king was not a monk, the Lamas retained most of the temporal power in their hands; and the first king of Sikhim was nominated by the pioneer Limas; and the ancestor of the present dynasty, a descendant of the religious king, Thi-Sron Detsan, one of the founders of Lamaism, was canonized as an incarnation of the Buddhist god, Manjusri.

The female re-incarnation, the abbess of the monastery of the Yamdok lake, who is considered an embodiment of the goddess Vajra varahi, or “ The diamond sow,” is thus described by Mr. Bogle!: “ The mother went with me into the apartment of Durjay Paumo, who was attired in a gylong’s dress, her arms bare from the shoulders, and sitting cross-legged upon a low cushion. She is also the daughter of the Lama’s (Tashi) brother, but by a different wife. She is about seven and twenty, with small Chinese features, delicate, though not regular fine eyes and teeth; her complexion fair, but wan and sickly; and an expression of languor and melancholy in her countenance, which I believe is occasioned by the joyless life that she leads. She wears her hair, a privilege granted to no other vestal I have seen; it is combed back without any ornament, and falls in tresses upon her shoulders. Her Cha-wa (touch), like the Lamas’, is supposed to convey a blessing, and I did not fail to receive it. Durjay Paumo spoke little. Dr. Hamilton, who cured her of a complaint she had long been subject to, used to be there almost every day.”

Let us now look at the manner in which the new re-embodiments or re-births of the hierarchs are discovered. On the death of a re-incarnate Lama his spirit is believed to flit into the soul of some unknown infant who is born a few days after the death of the Lama. The mode of determining the child who has been so favoured is based upon the practice followed in regard to the Grand Lama of Lhasa, which we will now describe.

Sometimes the pontiff, before he dies, indicates the particular place and even the family in which he will be re-born, but the usual practice is to ascertain the names of all the likely male

1 Marku.,, p. 109.

246 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

infants who have been born under miraculous portents just after the death of the deceased Lima, and with prayer and worship to ballot a selected list of names, which are written by a committee of Limas on slips of paper and put into a golden jug, and then amid constant prayer, usually by 117 selected pure Lamas, to draw by lot in relays, and extending over 31 to 71 days, one of these, which is the name of the new incarnation. As, however, the Pekin

TESTING A CLAIMANT TO THE GRAND LAMASHIP. !

court is believed to influence the selection under such circumstances, the state oracle of Na-ch’un has latterly superseded the old practice, and the present Grand Lima was selected by this oracle. Lima Ugyen Gya-tsho relates? that the present Na-ch’un oracle prophesied disaster in the shape of a monster appearing as the Dalai Lama, if the old practice were continued. On the other hand he foretold that the present Dalai would be found by a pious monk in person, and that his discovery would be accompanied with ‘horse neighings.” The “pious monk” proved to be the head Lima of Gah-ldan monastery, who was sent by the oracle to Chukor-

1 After Huc. 2 Loc. cit., para. 59; cf. also Huc, ii., 197.

DISCOVERING THE NEW INCARNATION. 247

gye, where he dreamed that he was to look in the lake called Lhamoi-lamtsho for the future Dalai. He looked, and it is said that, pictured in the bosom of the lake, he saw the infant Dalai Lama and his parents, with the house where he was born, and that at that instant his horse neighed. Then the monk went in search of the real child, and found him in Kongtoi, in the house of poor but respectable people, and recognized him as the child seen in the lake. After the boy (then a year old) had passed the usual ordeal required of infants to test their power to recognize the property of the previous Dalai Lima, he was elected as spiritual head of Tibet.

These infant candidates, who, on account of their remarkable intelligence, or certain miraculous signs,! have been selected from among the many applicants put forward by parents for this, the highest position in the land, may be born anywhere in Tibet.2. They are subjected to a solemn test by a court composed of the chief Tibetan re-incarnate Lamas, the great lay officers of state, and the Chinese minister or Amban. The infants are confronted with a duplicate collection of rosaries, dorjes, etc. and that one particular child who recognizes the properties of the deceased Lima is believed to be the real re-embodiment.

To ensure accuracy the names are written as aforesaid, and each slip encased in a roll of paste and put in a vase, and, after prayer, they are formally drawn hy lot in front of the image of the emperor of China,’ and the Chinese minister, the Amban, unrolls the paste and reads out the name of the elect, who is then hailed, as the great God Avalokita incarnate, hence to rule over Tibet. An intimation of the event is sent to the emperor, and it is duly acknowledged by him with much formality, and the enthronement and ordination are all duly recorded in like manner.

Interesting details of the ceremonies as well as of the prominent part played by China in regulating the pontifical succession, have

1Circumstantial stories are told of such applicants to the effect, that when only a few months old the infants have obtained the power of speech for a few moments and informed their parents that the Lamas have left Potala to come and claim them.

• The distant villages of Gada, south-west of Darchhendo (Ta-chhien Lu) and Lithang, have each produced a Dalai Lama.

• The emperor Pure Kien Lung, who died 1796, since his final subjugation of Tibet, has continued to receive homage even posthumously as sovereign of the country. (Maxrco P., loe. cit., L., p. 290.)

248 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

been supplied by Mr. Mayers! from the original Chinese document of Meng Pao, the senior Amban at Lhasa, and from which the following historic extract is made by way of illustration :—

I. Memorial drawn up on the 9th day of the 12th month of the 20th year of Tao Kwang (January 30th, 1841), reporting that, on instituting an investigation among young children for the embodiment of Dalai Lama, miraculous signs, of undoubted authenticity, have been verified, which is laid in a respectful memorial before the Sacred Glance.

In the matter of the appearance of the embodiment of the Dalai Lama, it has already been reported to your majesty that a communication had been received from Ké-lé-tan-si-leu-t’u-sa-ma-ti Bakhshi re- porting the dispatch of natives in positions of dignity to inquire into the circumstances with reference to four young children born of Tibetan parents, respectively at Sang-ang-kiiih-tsung in Tibet, the tribalty of K’ung-sa within the jurisdiction of Ta-tsien-lu in Sze-ch’wan, and [two] other places. The chancellor has now made a further report, stating that in the case of each of the fowr children miraculous signs have been shown, and that bonds of attestation have been drawn up in due form on the part of members of both the priesthood and laity of the Tibetans. He annexes a detailed statement in relation to this matter ; and on receipt of this communication your Majesty’s servants have to observe that on the previous occasion, when the embodiment of the tenth Dalai Lama entered the world, three children were discovered [whose names] were placed in the urn for decision by lot. As the chancellor now writes that each of the four children discovered by the Khan-pu on this occasion has been attended by auspicious and encouraging omens, we do not presume to arrogate to ourselves the choice of any one of their number, but, as regards the whole four, have on the one hand communicated in a Tibetan dispatch with the chancellor respecting the two children born within the territory of Tibet, and as re- gards the two children born within the jurisdiction of the province of Sze-ch’wan, have addressed a communication to the viceroy of that province calling upon them respectively to require the parents and tutors of the children in question to bring the latter to Anterior Tibet. On this being done, your majesty’s servants, in accordance with the existing rules, will institute a careful examination In person, conjointly with the Panshen Erdeni and the chancellor, and will call upon the children to recognize articles heretofore in use by the Dalai Lama; after which your servants will proceed with scrupulous care to take measures for inscribing their names on slips to be placed in the urn, and for the cele- bration of mass and drawing the lots in public. So soon as the individual shall have been ascertained by lot, your servants will forward a further report for your majesty’s information and commands. They now present for imperial perusal a translation of the detailed state-

1W. F. Mayer, J//ustrations of the Ldmaist System ix Tibet, drawn from Chinese Sources, J.R.A.S., vi. (1872), p. 284 seg.

DISCOVERING THE NEW INCARNATION. 249

ment of the miraculous signs attending the children that were discovered on inquiry.

[ Enclosure. ]

Detailed statement of the miraculous signs attending upon four children, drawn up for his majesty’s perusal from the despatch of the chancellor reporting the same :—

1, A-chu-cho-ma, the wife of the Tibetan named Kung-pu-tan-tséng, living at the Pan-jé-chung post-station in Sang-ang-k’ith-tsung, gave birth to a son on the 13th day of the 11th month of the year Ai-hai (19th December, 1839), upon a report concerning which having been received from the local headmen, the chancellor despatched Tsze-féng-cho- ni-’rh and others to make inquiry. It was thereupon ascertained that on the night before the said female gave birth to her child, a brilliant radiance of many colours was manifested in the air, subsequently to which the spring-water in the well of the temple court-yard changed to a milkwhite colour. Seven days afterwards, there suddenly appeared upon the rock, behind the post-station, the light of a flame, which shone for a length of time. Crowds of people hastened to witness it, when, however, no single trace of fire remained, but upon the rock there was manifested an image of Kwan Yin (Avalokita) and the characters of Na-mo O-mi-to-Fo (Amitabha), together with the imprint of footsteps. On the night when the child was born, the sound of music was heard, and milk dropped upon the pillars of the house. When the commissioners instituted their inquiry, they found the child sitting cross- legged ina dignified attitude, seeming able to recognize them, and showing not the slightest timidity. They placed a rosary in the child’s hands, whereupon he appeared as though reciting sentences from the Sttra of Amita Buddha. In addressing his mother he pronounced the word A-mdé with perfect distinctness. His features were comely and wellformed, and his expression bright and intellectual, in a degree superior to that of ordinary children.

In addition to the foregoing report, certificates by the local headmen and members of the priesthood and laity, solemnly attesting personal knowledge of the facts therein set forth, were appended, and were transinitted after authentication by the chancellor to ourselves, etc., ete.

II. Memorial drawn up on the 8th day of the 6th month of the 21st year of Tao Kwang (25th July, 1841), reporting the verification of the child in whom the re-embodiment of the Dalai Lama has appeared, the drawing of lots in accordance with the existing rule, and the fact that the entire population of Tibet, both clergy and laity, are penetrated with feelings of gratitude and satisfaction: upon the memorial bringing which to the imperial knowledge the Sacred Glance is reverently besought.

Your servants have already memorialized reporting that the embodiment of the Dalai Lama having imade its appearance, a day had been fixed for the drawing of lots; and they have now to state that

250 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

they subsequently received a letter from the chancellor to the effect that the children had successively arrived and had all been lodged in the Sangha monastery at Té K’ing, to the eastward of Lassa, whereupon he had appointed the 21st day of the 5th month for proceeding to put them to the proof. On that day, accordingly, your servants proceeded to the Sangha monastery in company with the Panshen Erdeni, the chancellor, and all the hut’whht’u, khan-pu, ko-pu-lun, ete., when it was ascertained by a careful inquiry into each individual case that the two children born respectively at Sang-ang-k’liih-tsung and at La-kia-jih-wa in Tibet are both aged three years, and the two children born respectively in the tribalty of K’ung-sa in the district of Ta-tsien-lu and at the Tai Ning monastery are both aged four years—that their personal appearance is uniformly symmetrical and proper, and that all alike display an elevated demeanour. Hereupon the Panshen Erdeni and his associates laid before them for recognition the image of Buddha worshipped by the late Dalai Lama, together with the bell-clapper, swinging drum, and other like articles used by him, all in duplicate, the genuine objects being accompanied by imitations. The children showed themselves capable of recognizing each individual article, without hesitation, in presence of the assembled clergy and people, who, as they crowded around to behold the sight, gave vent aloud to their admiration of the prodigy.

A despatch was subsequently received from the. chancellor to the effect that the supernatural intelligence of the four children having been tested by joint investigation, and having been authenticated in the hearing and before the eyes of all, he would request that the names be placed in the wn and the lot be drawn on the 25th day of the 5th month ; in addition to which, he forwarded a list of the names bestowed in infancy on the four children and of the names of their fathers. Your servants having in reply assented to the proposed arrangement, masses were performed during seven days preceding the date in question by the hué’ukht’u and Lamas, of mount Potala and the various monasteries; and, on the appointed day, the Panshen Erdeni, the chancellor, and their associates, followed by the entire body of Lamas, chanted a mass before the sacred effigy of your majesty’s exalted ancestor, the emperor Pure, offering up prayers subsequently in devout silence. On the 25th day of the 5th month your servants reverently proceeded to mount Potala, and placed the golden vase with due devotion upon a yellow altar before the sacred effigy. After offering in- cense and performing homage with nine prostrations, they inscribed upon the slips, in Chinese and Tibetan characters, the infant-names of the children and the names of their fathers, which they exhibited for the inspection of the respective relatives and tutors, and of the assembled Lamas. This having been done, your servant, Haip’u, recited a chapter from the scriptures in unison with the Panshen Erdeni and the other [ecclesiastics], in presence of the multitude, and, reverently sealing up the inscribed slips, deposited them within the vase. The slips being small and the urn deep, nothing was wanting to secure per-

THE CHILD-HIERARCH. 251

fect inviolability. After the further recital of a chapter by the Panshen Erdeni and his associates, your servant, Méng Pao, inserting his hand within the urn upon the altar, turned the slips over and over, several times, and reverently proceeded to draw forth one of their number, which he inspected in concert with the children’s relatives and tutors and the assembled Lamas, The inscription upon the slip was as follows: ‘The son of Tsé-wang-téng-chu, Tibetan, from the Tai Ning monastery. Infant-name, Na-mu-kio-mu-to-urh-tsi. Present age, four years.” The remaining slips having been drawn out and inspected publicly, the Penshen Erdeni, the chancellor, with the greater and lesser hut'ukht’u and all the attendant Lamas, exclaimed unanimously with unfeigned delight and gladsomeness that “by the favour of his imperial majesty, who has given advancement to the cause of the Yellow Church, the established rule has now been complied with for ascertaining by lot the embodiment of the Dalai Lama, and the lot having now fallen upon this child—who, the son of a poor Tibetan fuel-seller, has manifested prodigies of intelligence, abundantly satisfying the aspirations of the multitude—it is placed beyond a doubt that the actual and genuine re-embodiment of the Dalai Lama has appeared in the world, and the Yellow Church has a ruler for its governance. The minds of the people are gladdened and at rest, and the reverential gratitude that inspires us humble priests is inexhaustible.” After this they performed with the utmost devotion the homage of nine prostrations in the direction of your majesty’s abode, expressing their reve- rential acknowledgments of the celestial favour. Your servants observed with careful attention that the gratitude not alone of the Pan- shen Erdeni and his attendant ecclesiastics proceeded from the most sincere feelings, but also that the entire population of Lessa, both clergy and laity, united in the demonstration by raising their hands to their foreheads in a universal feeling of profound satisfaction.

The infant is taken to Lhasa at such an early age that his mother, who may belong to the poorest peasant class,’ necessarily accompanies him in order to suckle him, but being debarred from the sacred precincts of Potala on account of her sex, she is lodged in the Jay town in the vicinity, and her son temporarily at the monastic palace of Ri-gyal Phodan,? where she is permitted to visit her son only between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. She, together with her husband, is given an official residence for life in a palace about a mile to the west of Potala and on the way to Depung, and the father usually receives the rank of Kwang, said to be the highest of the five ranks of Chinese nobility.

1 As, for example, in the case of the eleventh Grand Lama, whose father was a poor fuel-seller.

2 Another account (Mayen, loc. cit., p. 295) states that he is kept at the ‘‘ Jih-kia ” monastery to the east of Lhasa, or “ Chih-ta-wang-pu.”

252 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

At the age of four the child assumes the monkish garb and tonsure, and receives a religious name, and is duly enthroned at Potala in great state and under Chinese auspices, as shown from the annexed state paper :—

‘“‘ Memorial dated the 18th day of the 4th month of the 22nd year of Tao Kwang (27th May, 1842), reporting the conclusion of the ceremony of enthronement of the embodiment of the Dalai Lama. :

‘In obedience to these commands, Your ser vants proceeded on “the 13th day of the 4th month in company with the Chany-Chia Hutukht’u (the Pekin metropolitan) and the chancellor, followed by their subordinate functionaries, the hut’ukht?u, Lamas, and Tibetan officials, to the monastery on mount Jih-kia, for the purpose of escorting the Dalai Lama’s embodiment down the mountain to the town of Chih-ta-hwangpu, on the east of Lassa, where his abode was temporarily established. Your servants, in respectful conformity with the rules for attendance upon the Dalai Lama, appointed detachments of the Chinese garrison troops to form an encampment, and to discharge the duty of bodyguards during the two days he remained there. On the 15th, your servants escorted the embodiment to the monastery at mount Potala, where reverent prostrations were performed, and the ceremonial observances were fulfilled before the sacred eftigy of your majesty’s ele- vated ancestor, the emperor Pure. On the 16th, your servants reverently took the golden scroll containing the mandate bestowed by your majesty upon ‘the Dalai Lima’s embodiment, together with the sable cape, the coral court rosai Y etc., and the sum of ten thousand taels in silver, being your majesty’s donations, which they caused to be conveyed upon yellow platforms to the monastery at mount Potala, and deposited with devout care in due order in the hall called Ta Tu Kang. The couch and pillows were then arranged upon the divan; and on the arrival of the Dalai Lama’s embodiment in the hall, your servants and the secretary of the Chany-chia Hut’ukht'u, reverently read out the golden scroll, embodying your majesty’s mandate, to the perusal of which the embodiment listened in a kneeling posture, facing toward the east. After the reading was concluded, he received with veneration the imperial gifts, and performed the ceremonial of three genuflec- tions and nine prostrations in the direction of the imperial abode, thus testifying his respectful gratitude for the celestial favours. Having been invested with the garments conferred by your majesty, the embodiment was supported to his seat upon the throne ; whereupon the chancellor, at the head of the Tibetan priesthood, intoned a chant of Dharani formulas, invoking auspicious fortune. All the hutukht'u and Lamas having performed obeisances, a great banquet was opened, and the ceremonial of enthronement was thus brought to a close. The day was attended by the utmost fine weather, and everything passed off auspiciously and well, tothe universal delight of the entire body of clergy and laity of Lassa, This we accordingly bring to your majesty’s knowledge ; and in addition we have to state, that as the embodiment

HIS TRAINING AND MINORITY. 253

of the Dalai Lama has now been enthroned, it is proper, in conformity with the existing rules, to cease henceforth from using the word ‘embodiment.’ This we accordingly append, and respectfully bring before your majesty’s notice.”

He is now admitted as a novice to the Nam-gyal monastery of Potala, and his education is entrusted to a special preceptor and assistants learned in the scriptures and of unblemished character.

At the age of eight he is ordained a full monk and abbot of the Nam-gyal convent and head of the Lamaist church,

The Dalai Lima is, as regards temporal rule, a minor till he reaches the age of eighteen, and during his minority a regent carries on the duties of temporal government. And the frequency with which the Dalai Lima has died before attaining his majority gives some support to the belief that the regents are privy to his premature death; and the Chinese government are usuall y credited with supporting such proceedings for political purposes.

On the death of a re-incarnate Lima, his body is preserved. The tombs of the Dalai.and Pan-ch’en Limas form conspicuous gilt monuments, sometimes as many as seven storeys high, named Ku-tun,? at Potala and Tashi-lhunpo. The holiness of such a Lama is estimated in proportion to the shrinkage of his body after death.

The temporal rule of Tibet is vested in a Lama who has the title of “king.” For when Nag-wan acquired the temporal power he retained this title for one of his agents, also called “ The regent,” * and “ Protector of the earth,”® and « Governor,” ® and by the Mongols Vomen-Khan.

A regent is necessary to conduct the temporal government, especially under the system of papal succession by re-births, where the new Dalai Lima does not reach his majority and nominal succession to temporal rule till his eighteenth year. In order to avoid plotting against the hierarchs, Nag-wani ruled that the regent must be a Lama, and he restricted this office to the head Lamas of the monastic palaces or Ling of Lhasa, named Tan-gye-ling,’ Kunde-ling,® Ts’e-ch’og-ling,® and Ts’amo-ling,!® whom, he alleged, by a

1 MAYER, loc. cit., p. 296. ° The preceptor of the tenth and eleventh Grand Lamas was “ Kia-mu-pa-le-i-hi-tanpel’ -gyam-ts6.” Mayer, loc cit,

• sku mdun. * Gyal-tshab. ° Sa-Kyon. ® de-sid.
• bsTan-rgyas-glin. § Kun-’dus glin ® Tse-mch’og glin. ““'Ts’a-mo-glin. A Lama of this monastic palace and a member of Sera, became the celebrated regent Tsha-tur numa-hang ( ? “ Nomen Khan”),

254 THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LAMAS.

polite fiction, to be re-embodiments of the spirits of the four most celebrated ministers of the monarchical period. Thus the spirit of king Sron Tsan Gampo’s minister Lon-po Gar is believed to he incarnate in the Lama of Tan-gye-ling. The office when falling vacant through death (or deposition) passes ccvteris paribus to the surviving senior of those Lings. The present regent (1893) is the Kun-de-ling Lima. The regent is assisted in the government ' by four ministers called Kd-lon,’ who were formerly all laymen, but now some of them are being replaced by Lamas; also secretaries (Ka-dwi) and district magistrates (Jon-pon). And the two Chinese political residents, or Ambans,’ have administrative as well as consulting functions.

With such large bodies of monks comprising so many fanatical elements, and not at all subject to the civil authorities, who, indeed, possess almost no police, it is not surprising that fracas are frequent, and bloody feuds between rival monasteries occasionally happen. Every monastery has an armoury, and in the minor quarrels the lusty young monks wield their heavy iron pencases with serious and even fatal effect.

Since the temporal power passed into the hands of the Lamas, the Tibetans who, in Sron Tsan Gampo’s day, were a vigorous and aggressive nation, have steadily lost ground, and have been ousted from Yunnan and their vast possessions in eastern Tibet, Amdo, ete., and are now hemmed in by the Chinese into the more inhospitable tracts.

1“ De-ba zhun.”

2 bKah-blon.

3% 4mban” is not Chinese. It is probably Manchu or Mongolian, cf. Rock., Z., 51. The resident imperial minister of Tibet is colloquially called Chu-tsan tu-chon, and he is always a Manchu, that is, of the ruling race.

ar

MONASTERY OF CHOGORTAN,!

li,

ay SOLATION from the world has always been a desidera- A tum of Buddhist monks; not as penance, but merely to escape temptations, and favour meditation. The monastery is named in Tibetan Gon-pa,? vulgarly Gom-pa, or a solitary place” or hermitage; and most monasteries are situated, if not actually in solitary places, at least some distance off from villages, while around others which were originally hermitages villages have grown up later.

The extreme isolation of some of the Tibetan cloisters has its

1 After Huc.

2 dgon-pa. The title Cog-sde, or Choi-de, a “religious place,” is especially applied to temple-monasteries within a village or town. “Lin,” or “continent,” is applied to the four greatest monasteries of the established church especially associated with the temporal government, and is evidently suggested by the four great fabulous continents of the world. gT’sug-lag-k’an’ is an academy, though it is used for temples frequently.

counterpart in Europe in the alpine monasteries amid the everlasting snows. Some of them are for the greater part of the year quite cut off from the outer world, and at favourable times only reachable by dangerous paths, so that their solitude is seldom broken by visitors. The monastery of Kye-lang in Little Tibet stands on an isolated spur about 12,000 feet above the sea, and is approached over glaciers, so that sometimes its votaries are buried under avalanches. And the site is usually commanding and picturesque. Shergol in Ladik, like so many monasteries in cen- tral Tibet, is set on the face of a cliff. It is “carved out of a honeycombed cliff, forming, with some other cliffs of the same description, a giant. flight of stairs on the slope of a bleak mountain of loose stones. The Gémpca itself is painted white, with. bands of bright colour on the projecting wooden gallery, so that it stands out distinctly against the darker rocks. There is not a sign of vegetation near—all round is a dreary waste of stone.!

Such remote and almost inaccessible sites for many of the convents renders mendicancy impossible; but begging-with-thebowl never seems to have beena feature of Laimaism, even when the monastery adjoined a town or village.

Several monasteries, especially of the Kar-gyu sect, are called “caves” (hermitages) (or tak-p’w), although any caves which may exist accommodate only a very small proportion of the residents of the cloister so named. Yet many gompas, it is reported, passed through the state of cave-residence as a stage in their career. Firstly a solitary site with caves was selected, and when the monks by extra zeal and piety had acquired sufficient funds and influence, then they built a monastery in the neighbourhood. While, if the venture were not financially successful, the hermitage remained in the cave. One of these struggling cave-hermitages exists at Rikyi-sum near Pedong, in British Bhotin. Such caves, as a rule, are natural caverns, wholly unadorned by art, and are specially tenanted by the wandering ascetics named Yogicirya and Z?- Jepae

1 Mr. Knrant, loc. cit., p. 127, where a picture of the monastery also is given.

2 Under this heading come the four great caves of Sikhim hallowed as the traditional abodes of St. Padma and Lhatsiin Ch’embo, and now the objects of pilgrimage even to Lamas from Tibet. These four caves are distinguished according to the four cardinal points, viz. :—

The Nortu Lha-ri iia pu, or “the old cave of God's hill.” It is situated about

THE SITE AND NAME. 257

The site occupied by the monastery is usually commanding and often picturesque. It should have a free outlook to the east to catch the first rays of the rising sun; and it should be built. in the long axis of the hill; and it is desirable to have a lake in front, even though it be several miles distant. These latter two conditions are expressed in the couplet :-—

** Back to the hill-rock, And front to the tarn.”’!

The door of the assembly room and temple is ceteris paribus built to face eastwards. The next best direction is south-east, and then south. Ifa stream directly drains the site or is visible a short way below, then the site is considered bad, as the virtue of the place escapes by the stream. In such a case the chief entrance is made in another direction. A waterfall, however, is of very good omen, and if one is visible in the neighbourhoood, the entrance is made in that direction, should it not be too far removed from the east.

The name of the monastery is usually of a religious nature, ideal or mystic, or, like De-pung, borrowed from the name of a celebrated Indian monastery ; but others are merely place-names which are often descriptive of the site,’ thus :—

Tasui-Luun-ro, “ The mass of glory.”

Sa-skya, the tawny soil.

Min-por-.in, ‘The place of perfect emancipation.”

The “ Himrs,” monastery in Ladak is called “The support of the meaning of Buddha’s precepts.” *

three days’ journey to the north of Tashiding, along a most difficult path. This is the most holy of the series.

The Soutu Kak-do san p’u, or “cave of the occult fairies.” Here it is said isa hot spring, and on the rock are many footprints ascribed to the fairies.

The East sBés »’u, or “secret cave.” It lies between the Tendong and Mainom mountains, about five miles from Yangang. It is a vast cavern reputed to extend by a bifurcation to both Tendong and Mainom. People go in with torches about a quater of a mile. Its height varies from five feet to one hundred or two hundred feet.

The West bDe-ch’en p’u, or “cave of Great Happiness.” It is in the snow near Jongri, and only reachable in the autumn.

1 rgyab ri brag dan mdun ri mts’o. 2 See my * Place, River and Mountain Names of Sikhim,” etr., J..1.8.B., 1891. 3 Scutac., 179.

SS)

SaN-Na-cHO-LIN (Ang., Sangachiling) gsan, secret or occult, + snags, spell or magic + c¢’os religion + glin, a place. “The place of the occult mystic religion.” A catholic Buddhist monastery open to all classes, including deformed persons, nuns, Lepchas and Limbus.

PapMa-yaN-tsE (Ang., Pemiongchi) = padma (pr. “‘paima”)alotus + yar, perfect or pure + rése, the highest “the monastery of the sublime perfect lotus (-born one, i.e., Padma-sam bhava).” A monastery professing, we believe, only well-born, celibate, and undeformed monks, and especially associated with St. Padma, who is worshipped here.

Ta-Ka Tasui-pix (dng., Tashiding) = brag (= tag,) a rock + dhar, white

• bkra-sis (pr, tashi) glory + lding, a soaring up or elevation. The original name is likely to have been ‘bring, pronounced “ ding,” and meaning the middle, with reference to its romantically elevated site between two great rivers at their junction. “The gompa of the elevated glorious white rock.” The site, a bold high promontory at the junction of and between the Great Rangit and Katong rivers, is believed to have been miraculously raised up by St. Padma, and amongst other traces a broad longitudinal white streak in the rock is pointed out as being the shadow of that saint.

Puo-pan (Ang., Fadung) = p’o-ldan, a sloping ridge ; such is the site of this gémpa and the usual spelling of the name. As, however, this is the “chapel royal” of the raja, it seeftns possible that the name may be p’o-bran (pr. p'o-dan) = palace, “the gémpa of the palace.”

La-BRAN = bla, a contraction of Lama or high-priest + bran, a dwelling. Here resides the hierarch or chief Lama.

[V.2.—This is one of the very few words in which Jy is literally pronounced as spelt. |

Dorsz-Lin (Ang., Darjeeling) = rdé-rje “the precious stone” or ecclesiastical sceptre, emblematic of the thunder-bolt of Saka (Indra or Jupiter) + gliz,a place. The monastery from which Darjiling takes its name, and the ruins of which are still visible on observatory-hill, was a branch of the Dorjeling, usually curtailed into Do-ling (Ang., Dalling) monastery in native Sikhim; and to distinguish it from its parent monastery, it was termed Ank-dii Dorje-ling (dbany, power + bdus, accumulated or concentrated) on account of its excellent situation, and powerful possibilities.

De-r’aN = De, a kind of tree (Daphne papyraceae, Wall.), from the bark of which ropes and paper are made + ?’a7i,a meadow = “the gompa of the De meadow.” Here these trees are abundant.

Rr-cén (Any., Ringim = (ri + dyon, a hermitage = “the hermitage hill.” It is situated near the top of the hill.

Té-L0N = rdo,astone + luz,avalley. This valley is remarkably rocky, and avalanches of stones are frequent.

En-ce = dben (pr. en), a solitary place + le’e, a tongue. A monastery on a tongue-shaped spur.

THE NAMES. 259

Dos-pe = sgrub (pr, “ dub”), a hermit’s cell + sde,a place. ‘The place of the hermit’s cell ”—the oldest monastery in Sikhim, founded by the pioneer missionary Lha-tsiin Ch en-bo.

P’gn-zaN = p’an bliss or profit + bzaz, excellent. The monastery of “ excellent bliss.”

K a-cé-pat-r1 (Ang. Ketsuperi) = mk’a, heaven + spyod {pr. chi) to accomplish or reach + dpal, noble + ri =the mona tery of ‘the noble mountain of the Garuda (a messenger of the gods)” or “of reaching heaven.”

Ma-yi = ma-ni, a tablet inscribed with “ Om mani, etc.,” a Mendon, “The gompa of the Mendon”; here the gompa was erected near an old mendong.

Se-nén = Se, a sloping ridge + nén, depressed. It is situated on a depressed sloping ridge ; and is also spelt gzigs (pr. zi), a see-er or beholder, + mnén, to Suppress ; and in this regard it is alleged that here St. Padma-sambhava beheld the local demons underneath and kept them under,

YaN-caN = yav, perfect, also lucky + sgar, a ridge. “The monastery of the lucky ridge.”

Luun-tsz = lhun, lofty + rtse, summit. ‘The monastery of the lofty summit.”

Nam-ts—E = rnam, a division or district + rtse. “Lofty division” one of the subdivisions of native Sikhim, on the flank of Tendong. It is probable that this isa Lepcha name from tsii = “ Seat of government,” as the site is a very old Lepcha one.

Tsun-r’ax (Ang., Cheungtham)= bésun, a queen ; also “respected one,” ue, a Lama or monk ; also marriage + tha’, a meadow. This gompa is situated overlooking a meadow at the junction of the Lachhen and Lachhung rivers. It may mean ‘the meadow of marriage (of the two rivers),” or “the meadow of the Lamas,” or “the meadow of Our Lady ”—its full name as found in manuscript being “ btsun-mo rin-chen tan,” implies that the Lamas derive its name from “the precious Lady (Dorje-p’ag-mo) ” whose image is prominently displayed within the gompa.

RaB-Liw (Ang., Rawling) = rad, excellent or high + gliz,a place. This monastery is situated on a high cliffy ridge.

Nus-un (Ang., Nobling) = nub, the west + glin = “The gémpa of the western place or country.” It lies on the western border of Sikhim,

De-Ky1-Lin (Ang , Dikiling) = bde-skyid, happiness + gli = ‘ The place of Happiness.” It is a rich arable site with the beer-millet (murwa) cultivation.

The site chosen for a monastery must be consecrated before any building is begun. A chapter of Lamas is held, and the tutelary deity is invoked to protect the proposed building against all injury of men and demons. At the ceremony of laying the first stone prayers are recited, and charms, together with certain forms of

a D

-_

benediction (Tashi-tsig jod), together with relies, are deposited in a hollow stone.1. And other rites are done. And in repairing a sacred building somewhat similar services are performed.

The size of the Tibetan monasteries is sometimes immense, several containing from 3,000 to 10,000 monks, in this the most priest-ridden country in the world. The larger monasteries are like small towns, as seen in the original drawing of Tashi-lhunpo here given, with long streets of cells, two or three storeys high, and usually surrounding small courtyards which generally contain a shrine in the centre. The chief building is “The assembly hall,” which, however, is practically a temple, and is considered under that head.

There are always small halls for teaching purposes, as the monasteries serve also as colleges. But these colleges are for the clergy alone, as Limas, unlike Burmese monks, are not the schoolmasters of the people. They teach only those who enter the order. And the lay populace have to be content with the poor tuition obtainable in a few schools (Lob-ta) conducted by laymen.

The architecture seems to have preserved much of the medizyval Indian style. Mr. Fergusson shows? that Nepal, in its architecture as well as ethnologically, presents us with a microcosm of India as it was in the seventh century, when Hiuen Tsiang visited it; and that the Sikhim monasteries show a perseverance in the employment of sloping jambs (as in the Tashiding doorway),? as used two thousand years ago in the Behar and early western caves; and the porch of the temple at Pemiongchi shows the form of roof which we are familiar with in the rock examples of India.

The architecture of the monastery resembles that of the houses of the wealthy Tibetans, and is often ostentatious. It has been described in some detail by Schlagintweit, Huc, Rockhill,’ ete., as regards Tibet, and by General Cunningham and Mr. Conway as regards the large monasteries of Ladaik. The monasteries im Sikhim are mean and almost devoid of any artistic interest.

1 ScHLaG., 178, who there translates the histerieal document on the founding of Himis: Csoma’s .f7., p. 503; CUonnrnenan’s Laddk, 309,

2 Hist, Ind. and Kastn. Areh., p. 290, acm

3 Figured by Hookgn, Wii. Som,

4+ See also detailed description of the houses of the Lamas of Kumbum in Land ef

the Litmas, pp. G5.

p. 260

'To face

TASHI-LHUNPUO MONASTERY.

(From a native drawing.)

CAITYAS AND MENDONS. 26]

As wood is scarce in Tibet most of the monasteries are built of stone or sun-dried bricks. Most have flat roofs, some are in the Chinese style, and -most are surmounted by the cylinders of yakhair cloth crossed by a few white ribbons at right angles to each other, and topped by a crescent and spear, as in figures, and a curtain of yak-hair cloth bearing similar stripes in the form of a Latin cross closes the windows. In the outer Himalayas the cells and dormitories and other buildings cluster round the temple. And in the temple-monasteries, the ground floor is without windows and is generally used as a storehouse, and the upper storeys are reached by a staircase or an inclined beam on which notches are cut for steps; and the seanty furniture is of the plainest.

The well-known Indian name of a Buddhist monastery, namely, Arama, or Sangharima (“the resting-place of the clergy”), more strictly applied to the grove in which the monastery was situated, is applied in Tibet, which is almost destitute of groves, to the auditory or library of the monastery.

CW’ORTEN AND MENDON IN LabDAk.?

Lining the approaches to the monastery are rows of tall

1 Cf. Jamsen., D., 4, °? After Mr, Knight.

“prayer ”-flags, and several large funereal monuments—Ch’orten and long wall-like Mendoi monuments.

The Ch'ortens,} literally “receptacle for = offerings,”? are = usually solid conical masonry structures, corresponding to the Caityas and Stiipas or**Topes” of Indian Buddhism, and origi- nally intended as relic-holders ; they are now mostly erected

as cenotaphs in q

memory of FUNEREAL BuDDHIST MONUMENT Buddha or of (A OlWorten Stipa or Tope”).

canonized saints ; and they present a suggestively funereal appearance. Some commemorate the visits of Lamaist saints; and miniature ones of metal, wood, or clay often adorn the altar, and sometimes contain relics.

The original form of the Caitya, or Sttipa,? was a simple and massive hemisphere or solid dome (garbha, literally “ womb” enclosing the relic) of masonry, with its convexity upwards and crowned by a square capital (tora) surmounted by cne or more umbrellas, symbols of royalty. Latterly they became more complex in form, with numerous plinths, and much elongated, especially in regard Mrpuevat Invian to their capitals, as seen in the small photograph

BRAZEN CAITYA. : 4 (from Tibet.) here given.

1 mCh’od-r-ten. 2 Skt., Da-yarbha,

3 Cf. Honas., I/., 39, e seg, for descriptions; also his views about the respective meanings of “Caitya” a d “Stipa.”

4 In Mr. Hodgson’s collection are nearly one hundred drawings of Caityas in Nepal ; Feracsson’s Hist. Ind. and East. Arch., 303; FERG. AND BurGEss’ Cave-Temples ; also Cunninenam’s Bhilsa Topes, p. 12.

CAITY AS—CH’ORTEN. 263

The Lamaist Caityas, or Ch’ortens, are mainly of the two forms here shown. They generally adhere to the Indian type; but differ most conspicuously in that the dome in the commonest form is inverted. Both have more or less elaborate plinths, and on the sides of the capital are often figured a pair of eyes, like the sacred eyes met with in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman vases, etc., and believed to be connected with sun-worship. Above the toran is a bluntly conical or pyramidal spire, Cidamani, of thirteen steplike segments, typical of the thirteen. Bodhisat heavens of the Buddhists. This is surmounted by a bell-shaped sym- bol (usually copper-gilt) called the kalsa, the handle of which forms a tapering pinnacle sometimes modelled after a small Caitya, but often moulded in the form of one or two or all of the following objects: a lotus - flower, a crescent moon, a globular sun, a triple canopy, which are finally surmounted by a tongue-shaped spike, representing the jyote or saered light TIBETAN CH'ORTEN, COMMON FORM. of Buddha. And sometimes round the base of the kalsu is a gilt canopy or umbrella (catra).!

Many of the Lamaist Caityas are, like those of the Japanese, symbolic of the five elements into which a body is resolved upon death ; thus, as in the annexed figure, the lowest section, a solid rectangular block, typifies the solidity of the earth ; above it water is represented by a globe; five by a triangular tongue; air by a

1 CUNNINGHAN’S Bhilsa Topes, 12.

crescent—the inverted vault of the sky, and ether by an acuminated circle, the tapering into space.

A miniature Ch’orten, containing an enormous number of small images of Limaist deities, in niches and in several inner compartments within folding doors, is called “the glorious (Ch’orten) of many doors.”! It is carried about from village to village by itinerant

rote Lamas for exhibition to the laity. In the wealthier monasteries the Ch’ortens are

regularly white-washed.

mares \ The Mendons, as figured on page 261, are long wall-like erections sometimes over a mile in length, which divide the road into two lateral halves to allow of the respectful mode of passing it, namely, with the right hand to the wall. They are faced with blocks bearing in rudely cut characters the six-

Ecementat- syllabled mystic sentence “ Om mani padine hum ”

Chote "the same which is revolved in the “prayerwheels,” and usually called Manji; and its name is said to be derived from these, namely, Mayi-doi, or “The Mani-faced.” It usually has a ch’orten terminating it at either end; and occasionally it contains niches to burn incense or to deposit the small clay funereal Caityas,’ and also bears coarsely outlined figures of the three especial protecting divinities of Limaism.* As it is a pious act to add to these “ Manz” slabs, a mason is kept at the larger temples and places of special pilgrimage, who carves the necessary number of stones according to the order and at the expense of the donating pilgrim.

The small cairns, surmounted by a few sticks, to which rags are attached by passers by as offerings to the genius loci, like the ‘‘rag-bushes ” of India, are called Lab-ch’a, and figured at page 286.

As with all sacred objects, these monuments must always be passed on the right hand,’ according to the ancient custom of showing respect. And thus, too, it is that the prayer-cylinders must always be turned in this direction.

In addition to the foregoing objects, there is frequently found in

Ll Tu-shi-go-men. 2 dharma-sarird. 3 The Rig-sum gor-po. 4 pradakshina.

RANSOMED CATTLE. 265

the vicinity of the monastery a stone seat called a “ throne” for the head Lima, when he gives «/-fresco instruction to his pupils. One of the reputed thrones of the founder of Sikhim Limaism exists at the Pemiongchi Ch’orten, where the camp of visitors is usually pitched.

There is no regular asylum for animals rescued from the butchers, to save some person from pending death; but occasionally such ransomed cattle are to be found in the neighbourhood of monasteries where their pension-expenses have been covered by a donation from the party cured. The animals have their ears bored for a tuft of coloured rags as a distinctive and saving mark.

In Sikhim not far from most monasteries are fertile fields of avurwe (Eleusine corocana), from which is made the country beer, a beverage which the Sikhim and Bhotanese monks do not deny themselves.

Over 3,000 monasteries are said to be in Tibet. But before giving a short descriptive list of some of the chief monas- teries of Liamadom it seems desirable to indicate the chief provinees into which Tibet is divided.!

Tibet is divided into three sections, namely :—

1. Pod or “Tibet” proper, or the provinces of U and Tsang, hence the name “ Weitsang” applied to Tibet by the Chinese.

2. High (or Little) Tibet, or the northern provinces of Tod, Nari, and Khor-sum.

3. Eastern Tibet, or the provinces of Kham, Do, and Gang.

In Tibet proper the central province of U and the western one of Tsang have their capitals at Lhasa and Tashil-hunpo respectively. U contains the districts of Gyama (and Kongbu, including Pema- Koi), Di-gung, Tsal-pa, Tsang-po, Che’-va, Phag-du, Yah-sang, and Yaru-dag, including the great Yamdok lake. Tsang comprises the districts of north and south Loé-stod, Gurmo, Ch’umig, S’ang, and S’alu.

Little Tibet is divided into the three circles of sTag-mo Ladvags (“ Ladak ”), Mang-yul S’ang Shui, Guge Burang (“< Purang”),

1 The best vernacular account of the geography of Tibet is contained in the Dsam-ling Gye-she of Lama, Tsan-po Noman Khan of Amdo, and translated by Sarat, J.A.S.B., 1887, p. 1, seg. Csoma, J.A.S.B., 1832, p. 123. For scientific geography, see Markwam’s Tibet, Indian Survey Reports, Prejvalsky, Rockhill, etc. D’ANVILLE’s map of 1793, compiled on data supplied by Lamas. is still our chief authority for a large portion of Tibet.

comprising the districts cf Purang, Mang-yul Sangs-dKar, hCh’iva, blLas’a, sBal-te, Shang-shung, upper and lower Khrig-se. East Nari includes Dok-t’al and lake Manasarovar. The Ladak and Balti districts of west Nari were conquered by Kashmir in 1840 and are now British dependencies. Ka-che, sometimes used synonymously with Kashmir, includes the lofty northern steppes and the gold fields of Thog-Jalung.

Eastern Tibet is the most populous: section of the country. The greater part of the low-lying Do province (Amdo) seems to have been detached from Tibet by the Chinese about 1720. The southeastern province of Kham borders on Assam and upper Burma, and includes the districts of Po, Lhari-go. The Gang province consists mostly of high bleak ridges, Pombor, Tsawa, and ‘Tsa- Ch’u.§ The northern Tsai-dam, comprising many marshes between Nan-shan and Altentagh mountains, is peopled by Tanguts and Mongols.

The chief monasteries of central Tibet are :—

Sam-yAs, which as the first monastery founded in Tibet, deserves first mention.

Its full title is “bSam-yas Mi-’gyur Lhun-gyis grub-pai Tsug-lug- K’an” or “The academy for obtaining the heap of unchanging Meditation.”

The explorer Nain Singh resided in this monastery in 1874 and has given a good account of it. It is situated (N. lat. 29° 20’, EK. long. 91° 26, altitude about 11,430ft.) about thirty miles to the 8.E. of Lhasa, near the north bank of the Tsang-po river amidst hillocks of deep sand, clothed with scanty herbage. It was built about 74 by Thi-Sron Detsan with the aid of the Indian monks, Padma-sambhava and Santa-rakshita, after the model of the Udandapur,’ templemonastery of Bihar. But the building is believed to have been alto- gether miraculous, and an abstract of the legend is given underneath.’

1 For some details see Sarat, in J. Budd. Texts. Ind., i., p. 4, seq.

2 To consecrate the ground and procure supernatural workers St. Padma made the magic-circle of rDo-r je-P’ur-pa with coloured stone-dust, and having the K’ro-wo of the five kinds, and all the necessary offerings arranged in his presence, he worshipped for seven days. Then the five Jinas (Dhyani Buddhas, Gyal-wa-rigs-Ima) appeared to him, and the king, being empowered, also saw the faces of these five. Then the Guru created several incarnations of himself, some of whom entered the Mandala, while some flew up into the sky. These incarnations caused the Tibetan devils to bring stones and wood from the hills and rivers, and thus the foundation of bSam-yas academy was begun. Human beings built it by day, while the devils worked at it by © night, and so the great work rapidly progressed.

When the king saw the great piles of gathered wood he was surprised and was

SAM-Y AS. 267

Part of the original building yet remains. The monastery, which contains a large temple, four large colleges, and several other buildings, is enclosed by a lofty circular wall about a mile and a half in cireumference, with gates facing the cardinal points, and along the top of the wall are many votive brick chaityas, of which the explorer, Nain Singh, counted 1,030; and they seemed to be covered with inscriptions in ancient Indian characters. In the centre of the enclosure stands the assembly hall, with radiating cloisters leading to four chapels, facing at equal distances the four sides of the larger temple. This explorer notes that “ the idols and images contained in these temples are of pure gold, richly ornamented with valuable cloths and jewels. The candlesticks and vessels are nearly all made of gold and silver.” And on the temple walls are many large inscriptions in Chinese and ancient Indian characters. In the vestibule of the chief temple, to the left of the door, is a colossal copy of the pictorial Wheel of Life.

The large image of “Buddha,” over ten feet high, seems to be called “the Sam-yiis Jing” (Samyas Gyal-po).

The library contains many Indian manuscripts, but a great number of these were destroyed at the great fire about 1810 a.p.

In a temple close by among the sand is a celebrated chamber of horrors, built of large boulders, and containing gigantic figures of the twenty-five Gon-po demons. The images are made of incense, and are about twenty feet high, of the fiercest expression, and represented as dancing upon mangled human corpses, which they are also devouring. And great stains of blood are pointed out by the attendants as

awestruck, and asked the Guru to explain. The Guru thereon made the Mandala of the “ Five,” and worshipping for seven days, the Five transformed themselves into five kinds of Garuda birds, which were visible to the king. And at that very time the Guru himself became invisible, and the king saw in his stead a great garuda holding a snake in his clutches and beak; but not seeing the Guru, the king cried out in fear, Then the garuda vanished and the Guru reappeared beside him. The country to the south of Samye was then, it is said, inhabited by the savage “kLa-klo ” tribes, which the Tibetans, through their Indian pandits, termed Nagas (cognate with those of the Brahmaputra valley). The next day, aN aga, having transformed himself into a white man on a white horse, came into the presence of the king and said, “O king ! How much wood do you need for building Sam-yas ? asI will supply you with all you want.” On being informed of the requirements, the Naga collected wood to an enormous extent.

The building of the Sam-ye academy (gtsug-lag-k’an) swallowed up the wealth of the king. So the Guru, accompanied by the king and his ministers, went to the bank of Mal-gro lake, and keeping the ministers concealed in a small valley, the Guru began to make a Mandula of the “Five” and worshipped for seven days, after which Avalokita sinhada, with Amitabha on his head, stood at each of the four directions, where dwell the four gods of the Five. On this the Nagas of the depths became powerless, and the Guru, addressing them, said, “The wealth of my king being exhausted, I have come to ask wealth.” Next day the banks were found lined with glittering gold, which the Guru caused the ministers to carry off to the palace. On this account all the images of gods at Sam-yiis are made of solid gold, and of a quality unequalled in any part of our world of Jambudvip.

the fresh stains of bodies which the demons have dragged to the place during the previous night.

We have already referred to the miraculous account of the building of this monastery, which is said to rest upon Raksha fiends. On account of the peculiar safety imparted to the locality by the spells of the wizard priest, Padma-sambhava, the Tibetan government use the place as a bank for their reserved bullion and treasure, of which fabulous sums are said to be stored there.

Although it is now presided over by a Sa-kya Lama, the majority of its members are Nin-ma.

GiAn-LDAN, the monastery founded by Tson-K’a-pa, is one of the four great Ge-lug-pa or established church monasteries, the others being De-pung, Sera and Tashi-lhunpo.

Its full name is dGah-ldan 1rNam-par Gyal-wahi glin, or the Continent of completely victorious happiness.

This monastery stands enthroned on the db4év-A’or hill, about twenty-five miles E. N.E. of Lhasa. Its founder, T'son-K’a-pa, raised it to a high pitch of fame and filled it with costly images. The chief object of veneration is the grand tomb of Tson-K’a-pa, which is placed in the Tsug-la-k’an. It is a lofty mausoleum-like structure of marble and malachite, with a gilded roof. Inside this outer shell is to be seen a beautiful Ch’orten, consisting of cube pyramid and surmounting cone, all said to be of solid gold. Within this golden casket, wrapped in fine cloths, inscribed with sacred Dharani syllables, are the embalmed remains of the great reformer, disposed in sitting attitude. Other notable objects here are a magnificent representation of Cham-pa, the Buddha to come, seated, European fashion, on a throne. Beside him stands a life-sized image of T'son-K’a-pa, in his character of Jam-pal Nin-po, which is supposed to be his name in the Galdan heavens. A rock-hewn cell, with impressions of hands and feet, is also shown as Tson-K’a-pa’s. A very old statue of S’inje, the lord of Death, is much reverenced here ; every visitor presenting gifts and doing it infinite obeisance. The floor of the large central chamber appears to be covered with brilliant enamelled tiles, whilst another shrine holds an etligy of Tson-K’a-pa, with images of his five disciples (Shes-rab Sen-ge, K’a-grub Ch’os-rje, ete.) standing round him. The library contains manuscript copies of the saint’s works in his own handwriting.'

Unlike the other large Ge-lug-pa monasteries, the headship of Gah- Idan is not based on hereditary incarnation, and is not, therefore, a child when appointed. He is chosen by a conclave from among the most scholarly of the monks of Sera, De-pung, and thismonastery. The late abbot became ultimately regent of all Tibet. The number of inmates here is reckoned at about 3,300.

De-pune (’bras-spuis), the most powerful and populous of all the monasteries in Tibet, founded in and named after the great Indian- Tantrik monastery of “The rice-heap” (Sri-Dhanya Kataka) in

1 Abstract from Survey Reports, etc., by Rev. G. Sandberg.

DEPUNG AND SERA. 269

Kalinga and identified with the Kalacakra doctrine. It is situated about three miles west of Lhasa, and it contains nominally 7,000' monks. It is divided into four sections clustering round the great cathedral, the resplendent golden roof of which is seen from afar. It contains a small palace for the Dalai Lama at his annual visit. Many Mongolians study here. In front stands a stiipa, said to contain the body of the fourth Grand Lama, Yon-tenn, who was of Mongolian nationality.

Its local genii are the Five nymphs of long Life (Ts’erin-ma), whose images, accompanied by that of Hayagriva, guard the entrance. And etligies of the sixteen Sthavira are placed outside the temple door. In its neighbourhood is the monastery of Na-Ch’un, the residence of the state sorcerer, with a conspicuous gilt dome.

Ser-ra, or “The Merciful Hail.”* It is said to have been so named out of rivalry to its neighbour, “The rice-heap” (De-pung), as hail is destructive of rice, and the two monasteries have frequent feuds. In connection with this legend there is also exhibited here a miraculous *¢ Phurbu,” or thunderbolt sceptre of Jupiter Pluvius.

It is romantically situated about a mile and a half to the north of Lhasa, on the lower slopes of a range of barren hills named Ta-ti-pu, famous for silver ore, and which surround the monastery like an amphitheatre.

Its monks number nominally 5,500, and have frequently engaged in bloody feuds against their more powerful rivals of De-pung. The Indian surveyor reported only on the idols of the temple. He says: ‘They differ in size and hideousness, some having horns, but the lower parts of the figures are generally those of men.” Huc gives a fuller description: “The temples and houses of Sera stand on a slope of the moun- tain-spur, planted with hollies and cypresses. At a distance these buildings, ranged in the form of an amphitheatre, one above the other, and standing out upon the green base of the hill, present an attractive and picturesque sight. Here and there, in the breaks of the mountain above this religious city, you see a great number of cells inhabited by contemplative Lamas, which you can reach only with ditticulty. The monastery of Sera is remarkable for three large temples of several storeys in height, all the rooms of which are gilded throughout. Thence the name from ser, the Tibetan for ‘gold.’ In the chief of these three temples is preserved the famous tortché, which, having flown through the air from India, is the model from which all others, large and portable, are copied. The tortché of Sera is the object of great veneration, and is sometimes carried in procession to Lhasa to receive the adoration of the people.” This “ dovje,” or rather “ phurbu,” is what is called a Tam-din-phurbu, and is said to have originally belonged to an Indian sage named Grub-thob mdah-’phyar. It was found on the hill in the neighbourhood named P’urba-Ch’og, having flown from India. In the 12th month of every year (about the 27th

1 LAma U.G., loc. cit., p. 34, says 10,000. ? This word is usually spelt sev, and seems never to be spelt gSer, or “ gold,”

day) it is taken out of its casket and carried in state to Potala, where the Dalai Lama puts it to his head. It is thereafter carried by a high otticial of Sera monastery to the Chinese Amban, the governors (Shape) and the regent, all of whom touch their heads with it. Afterwards thousands throng to Sera to receive its holy touch on their heads as a defence against all evil and spells.

In the great assembly hall is a huge image of Avalokita with eleven heads.

Tasut-taunro (bkra-s’is Lhun-po), or the “ Heap of Glory,” the headquarters of the Pan-ch’en Grand Lama, who to some extent shares with the Lhasa Grand Lama the headship of the church. Its general appearance will be seen from the foregoing plate on page 260, from a native drawing. The monastery forms quite a small town, and not even Lamas other than established church can stay there over-night. It is well known through the descriptions of Bogle, Turner, etc. It is situated near the south bank of the Tsang-po, at the junction of the Nying river, in 89° 7’ E. long., 29° 4’ 20” N. lat., and altitude, 11,800 feet (Marxu., xxvii.). This celebrated establishment has been long known to European geographers as ‘‘ Teeshoo Loombo.”

Mr. Bogle describes it ' as being built on the lower slope of a steep hill (Dolmai Ri, or hill of the goddess Tara). The houses rise one over another; four churches with gilt ornaments are mixed with them, and altogether it presents a princely appearance. Many of the courts are flagged with stone, and with galleries running round them. The alleys, which are likewise paved, are narrow. The palace is large, built of dark-coloured bricks, with a copper-gilt roof. Itis appropriated to the Lama and his officers, to temples, granaries, warehouses, etc. The rest of the town is entirely inhabited by priests, who are in number about four thousand. Mr. Bogle also describes the interior of several of the state rooms and temples. On the top of mount Dolmai Ri is a stone cairn, where banners are always fluttering, and where, on high festivals, huge bonfires are set ablaze. The lay capital of the province, Shigatse, lies on the upper ridges to the N.E. of this hill, hardly a mile from this, the ecclesiastical capital.

The lofty walls enclosing the monastic town are pierced by five gateways. Over the eastern gate has been placed, in large carved letters, a prohibition against smoking within the monastic precincts. The western gateway seems to be regarded as the main entrance. So, entering the monastic premises there, you find yourself in a sort of town, with lanes lined by lofty houses, open squares, and temples.

In the centre of the place is the grand cathedral or assembly hall. Its entrance faces the east. Its roof is supported by one hundred pillars, and the building accommodates two to three thousand monks seated in nine rows on rugs placed side by side on the floor. The four central pillars, called the Aa-ring, are higher than the rest, and support a detached roof to form the side skylights through which those seated in the upper gallery can witness the service. The rows of seats arranged

1 Marg.,, p. 96,

TASHI-LHUNPO. 2

to the right side of the entrance are occupied by the senior monks, such as belong to the order of Rigch’en, Pharch’enpha, Torampa, Kah-c’an, etc. The seats to the left side are taken up by the junior monks, such as Ge-ts'ul and apprentice monks, etc., of the classes called Dara and Rigding. :

The court around it is used by the monks for religious dances and other outdoor ceremonies. Round the space are reared the halls of the college, four storeys in height, provided with upper-floor balconies. North of these buildings are set up in a line the huge tombs of deceased Pan-ch’en Lamas. The body of each is embalmed and placed with- in a gold-plated pyramid raised on a tall marble table, and this structure stands within a stone mausoleum, high and decorated with gilt kanjira and small cylinder-shaped finials made of black felt. One of these tombs is much bigger than the rest. It is that of Pan-ch’en Erteni, who died in 1779.

There are four conventual colleges at- tached to Tashi-lhunpo, all of which receive students from every part of Tibet, who are instructed in Tantrik rit- ual, and learn large portions of that division of the scriptures. The names of these colleges are Shar-tse ‘ Ta-ts’an, Nag-pa Ta- Tome or Tasu1 Lima ts’an, Toi-sam Lin, and Kyil-k’an Ta-ts’an. Each of these institutions has an abbot, who is the tul-wa, or avatar of some bygone saint; and the four abbots have much to do with the discovery of the infant successor to a deceased Pan-ch’en, or head of the monastery. From these abbots, also, one

1 After Turner.

is selected to act as the prime minister, or chief ecclesiastical adviser in the government of Tsang. The most imposing building of the monastery is the temple and hall of the Nag-pa Ta-ts’an, known as the “‘ Nagk’an,” which is the chief college for mystic ritual in Tibet. Another college, the Toi-san-lin, stands at the extreme northern apex of the walls, some way up the slope of the Dolmai-Ri hill.

Hard by the last-named premises, is to be observed a lofty building of rubble-stone, reared to the amazing height of nine storeys. This edifice, which forms a very remarkable object on the hill-side, was sketched by Turner, who visited Tashi-lhunpo one hundred years ago, and his drawing of it is here annexed on opposite page. It is called Gé-Ku-pea, or ‘The Stored Silken Pictures,” as it is used to exhibit at certain festivals the gigantic pictures of Maitreya and other Buddhist deities, which are brought out and hung high up as great sheets outside the walls of the tall building. By the vulgar it is styled Kiku Tamsa. It is used as a storehouse for the dried carcases of sheep, goats, and yak, which are kept in stock for feeding the inmates of the monastery. A wide-walled yard fronts the Kiku Tamsa, and this space is thronged by a motley crowd when (as is the custom in June and November) the pictures are exhibited.

The number of monks generally in residence at Tashi-lhunpo is said to be 3,800. The division into wards and clubs has already been referred to.

The head of the whole monastic establishment resides in the building called 6La-brang, or ‘The Lama’s palace.”

Nam-cyat Cun’o1-dE is the monastery-royal of the Grand Lama on the red hill of Potala, where the Dalai Lama hoids his court and takes part in the service as a Bhikshu, or common monk.

Ramo-cu’s and KarMakya monasteries, within Lhasa, are, as already noted, schools of sorcery, and the latter has a printing house.

‘‘ Desuerip-Gay ” (elevation 12,220 feet), a monastery two miles from the fort of Chamnam-ring in northern Tsang, is subordinate to Tashi- Ihunpo, where the Grand Tashi Lama was resident at Bogle’s visit on account of the smallpox plague at his headquarters. Bogle describes it as “situated in a narrow valley, and at the foot of an abrupt and rocky hill . . . two storeys high, and is surrounded on three sides by rows of small apartments with a wooden gallery running round them, which altogether form a small court flagged with stone. All the stairs are broad ladders. The roofs are adorned with copper-gilt ornaments, and on the front of the house are three round brass plates, emblems of Om, Han (? Ah), Hoong. The Lama’s apartment is at the top. It is small, and hung round with different coloured silks, views of Potala, Teshu Lumbo, ete.” !

Jan-Lacue, a large monastery on the upper Tsang-po, in long. 87° 38’ E.; elevation 13,580 feet. It is eighty-five miles above Tashi- Ihunpo.”

1 MARKHAM, op. cit., p. 82. 2 Marxuam’s Tib., p. xxvii.

NPO,

r }

TASHI-LHU

ASHI-LHUNPO.*

IKU-TAMSA” TOWER AT T

THe “GO-Kvu-rEa” or “

1 After Turner.

4p

Cuamnamrin (Nam-lin), in the valley of the Shing river, a northern aftluent of the T'sang-po, 12,220 feet, seen and visited by Mr. Bogle.

Dorkya LuGU-DON, on the bank of the great Tengri-nor lake.

Ra-pene (Ra-sgren), north-east of Lhasa, a Ka-dam-pa monastery, founded in 1055 by Brom-ton, Atisa’s pupil.

Sa-kya (Sa-skya) “ Tawny-soil,” is about 50 miles north of Mount Everest, 48 miles east from Shigatse,and 30 milesfrom Jang-lache; E. long. 87° 54’, lat. 28° 53’. This monastery gives its name to the Sakya sect, which has played an important part in the history of Tibet. A considerable town nestles at the foot of the monastery. The foundation of the monastery and its future fame are related to have been foretold by the Indian sage, Atisa, when on his way to central Tibet, he passed a rock, on the present site of the monastery, on which he saw the mystic Om inscribed in “ self-sprung,” characters. Afterwards this establishment became famous as a seat of learning and for a time of the priest-king.

It is said to contain the largest single building in Tibet,—though the cathedral at Lhasa is said to be larger. It is seven’ storeys in height, and has a spacious assembly hall known as “ the White Hall of Worship.” It is still famous for its magnificent library, containing numerous unique treasures of Sanskrit and Tibetan literature, unobtainable elsewhere. Some of these have enormous pages embossed throughcut in letters of gold and silver. The monastery, though visited in 1872 by our exploring Pandit No. 9, and in 1882 by Babu Sarat Candra Das, remains undescribed at present. The Sakya Lama is held to be an incarnation of the Bodhisat Maiijusri, and also to carry Karma, derivable from Sakya Pandita and St. Padma.

The hall of the great temple, called ’P’rul-pahi Lha-k’an, has four enormous wooden pillars, Aa-wa-min ches zhi, of which the first pillar is white, and called Kar-po-zum-lags, and is alleged to have come from Kongbu ; the second yellow, Ser-po zum-lags, from Mochu valley ; the third red, Marpo Tag dzag, from Nanam on Nepal frontier; and the fourth pillar black, Nak-po K’un-shes, from Ladak. These pillars are said to have been erected by K’yed-’bum bsags, the ancestor of the Sikhim king.

Tinc-cx is a very large Ge-lug-pa monastery to the north of Sakya and west of Tashi-lhunpo.

PuuntsHonine (p’un-ts’ogs-glin) monastery, formerly named rTagbrten by Tavanatha, who built it in his forty-first year, was forcibly made a Ge-lug-pa institution by the fifth grand Lama, Nag-wan.

It is situated on the Tsangpo, about a day’s journey west of Tashilhunpo, and one mile to the south-west of it is Jonang, which has a very large temple said to be like Budh Gaya, and, like it, of several’storeys and covered by images ; but both it and Phuntsholing are said to have been deserted by monks and now are occupied by nuns.

Sam-prnc (bsam-ldin ch’oinde). It lies in N. lat 28° 57’ 15”, and E.

1 De-pung and the larger monasteries in Tibet have several much smaller buildings distributed so as to form a town.

SAM-DING AND DORJE-P’AG-MO. 275

• ee long., 90° 28’, Altitude, 14,512 feet. An important establishment, noteworthy as a monastery of monks as well as nuns, presided over by a female abbot—the so-called re-incarnate goddess already referred to.' This august woman is known throughout Tibet as Dorje-P’ag-mo, or “the diamond sow”; the abbesses of Samding being held to be successive appearances in mortal form of the Indian goddess, Vajravarahi. The present incarnation of this goddess is thirty-three years old (in 1889); and is described as being a clever and capable woman, with some claim to good looks, and of noble birth. She bears the name of Nag-dban Rin-ch’en Kun-bzan-mo dbAn-mo, signifying “ The most precious power of speech, the female energy of all good”). Under thiz lady the reputation which Samding has long enjoyed for the good morals of both monks and nuns has been well maintained. Among other rules, the inmates are forbidden to lend out money or other valuables on interest to the rural folk, usurious dealings being commonly resorted to by the monastic orders. It is said to be of the Nin-ma sect. The monastery was founded by one Je-tsun T’inle Ts’oma, a flower of the philosophy of Po-don P’yog Legs N am-gyal, whose writings, to the amazing extent of one hundred and eighteen volumes, are treasured up in the monastic library.

Yamdok lake is remarkable for its scorpionoid shape, the grotesque shaped semi-island anchored to the main shore by two necks of land. Samding is itself placed on the main shore at the juncture of the northern neck. Being built on a conical hill, it appears to be guarding the sacred island from intrusion. The monastery stands like a fortress on the summit of the barren hill some 300 feet above the level of the surrounding country. Huge flags of stone are piled in ascending steps up this hill, and a long low wall mounts beside them like a balustrade. At the top of the steps, a narrow pathway conducts to the foot of the monastery, which is circled by a high wall. Samding is finely placed. To the N.E. it fronts the dark and precipitous mountain * spurs which radiate from the lofty central peak of the islands. To the S.E. it looks over the land towards the illimitable waters of the weird and mighty Yamdok herself. To the S. it frowns down on the Dumo Ts'o, the inner lake betwixt the connecting necks of land abovementioned, into which are cast the bodics of the defunct nuns and monks, as food for fishes.

On entering the gates of the monastery, you find yourself in an extensive courtyard, flanked on three sides by the conventual buildings. Part of the fourth side of the parallelogram is occupied by a kind of grand-stand supported on pilasters of wood. Ladders with broad steps, cased in brass, give admission to the first floor of the main building. Here, in a long room, are ranged the tombs of celebrities connected in past times with Samding, including that of the founder, T’inle Ts’omo, The latter tomb is a richly ornamented piece of workmanship, plated with gold and studded with jewels. At the base, on a stone slab is marked the reputed footprint of the saint. In a private, strongly-

1 See page 245, : Te

barred chamber, hard by to which no one may be admitted, are laid the dried mortal remains of all the former incarnations of Dorje P’ag-mo. Here, in this melancholy apartment, will be one day placed the body of the present lady abbess, after undergoing some embalming process. To the grim charnel-house, it is considered the imperative duty of each incarnate abbess to repair once, while living, to gaze her fill on her predecessors, and to make formal obeisance to their mouldering forms. She must enter once, but only once, during her lifetime.

Another hall in this monastery is the dus-k’an, the walls of which are frescoes illustrative of the career of the original Dorje P’ag-mo. There, also, have been put up inscriptions recording how the goddess miraculously defended Samding, when, in the year 1716, it was beset by a Mongol warrior, one Yung Gar. When the Mongol arrived in the vicinity of Yamdok, hearing that the lady abbess had a pig’s head as an excrescence behind her ear, he mocked at her in public, sending word to her to come to him, that he might see the pig’s head for himself. Dorje P’ag-mo returned no angry reply, only beseeching him to abandon his designs on the monastery. Burning with wrath, the warrior invaded the place and destroyed the walls; but, entering, he found the interior utterly deserted. He only observed eighty pigs and eighty sows grunting in the du-khang under the lead of a bigger sow. He was startled by this singular frustration of his project ; for he could hardly plunder a place guarded only by hogs. When it was evident that the Mongol was bent no longer on rapine, the pigs and sows were suddenly transformed into venerable-looking monks and nuns, headed by the most reverend Dorje P’ag-mo; as a consequence, Yung Gar, instead of plundering, enriched the place with costly presents.

A certain amount of association is permitted between the male and female inmates of this convent, who together number less than 200, Dorje P’ag-mo retains one side of the monastic premises as her private residence. It is asserted by the inmates that the good woman never suffers herself to sleep in a reclining attitude. During the day she may doze in a chair, during the night she must sit, hour after hour, wrapt in profound meditation. Occasionally this lady makes a royal progress to Lhasa, where she is received with the deepest veneration. Up in northern Tibet is another sanctuary dedicated to Dorje P’ag-mo. This convent also stands on an islet situated off the west shore of the great lake, 70 miles N.W. of Lhasa, the Nam Ts’o Ch’yidmo, and is much akin to Samding, comprising a few monks and nuns under an abbess. At Markula, in Lahul, is a third shrine of the goddess.’

Di-Kune (bri-gun) about one hundred miles N.E. of Lhasa, is one of the largest Kar-gyu-pa monasteries. It is said to receive its name, the “she-Yak,” from the ridge on which it is situated, which is shaped like the back of a yak. It was founded in 1166, by the son of the Sakya Lama, Koncho Yal-po.

1 Abstract of Sarat’s Report, by Rev. G. SANDBERG.

MINDOLLING, DORJE-DAG, ETC. O17

Minpotiine (smin grol-glin), close to the 8. of Samye, a great Nin-ma monastery, sharing with Dorje Dag, not far off, the honour of being the supreme monastery of that sect. It lies across the Tsangpo from Sam-yiis in the valley of the Mindclling river, the water of which turns numerous large prayer-wheels. Its chief temple is nine storeys high, with twenty minor temples with many “ beautiful images” and books. A massive stone stairway forms the approach to the monastery.

Its chief Lama is a direct descendant of the revelation-finder Dag-lin. The succession is by descent and not by re-incarnation. One of his sons is made a Lama and vowed to celibacy, another son marries and continues the descent, and in like manner the succession proceeds, and has not yet been interrupted since its institu- tion seventeen generations ago; but should the lay-brother die without issue the Lama is expected to marry the widow. The married one is ealled gDun-pa or “the lineage.” ‘The body of the deceased Lama is salted and preserved. The discipline of this monastery is said to be strict, and its monks are celibate. A large branch of this monastery is Na-s’i,’ not far distant from its parent.

Dorse-pac, between Sam-yiis and Lhasa, is a headquarters of the Unreformed Lamas. It has had a chequered history, having been destroyed several times by the Mongols, etc., and periodically restored.

Pat-rt (dpal-ri), a Nin-ma monastery between Shigatse and Gyangtse, where lives the pretended incarnation of the Indian wizard, L6-pén Hinkara.

Satu monastery, afew miles E. of Tashi-lhunpo. Here instruction is given in magical incantations, and devotees are immured for years in its cave-hermitages. Amongst the supernatural powers believed to be so acquired is the alleged ability to sit on a heap of barley without displacing a grain; but no credible evidence is extant of anyone display- ing such feats.

Guro cH’o-waN, in Lhobrak, or southern Tibet, bordering on Bhotin. This monastery is said by Lama U. G.’ to have been built after the model of the famous monastery of Nalanda in Magadha. The shrine is surrounded by groves of poplars, and contains some important relics, amongst others a stuffed horse of great sanctity (belong- ing to the great Guru) which is called Jamlin-nin-k’or, or ‘the horse that can go round the world in one day.” * Observing that the horse was bereft of his ‘left leg,” U.G. enquired the cause, and was told how the leg had been stolen by a Khamba pilgrim with a view of “enchanting” the ponies of Kham. The thief became insane, and his friends took him to the high priest of the sanctuary for advice, who instantly divined that he had stolen some sacred thing. This so frightened the thief that the leg was secretly restored, and the thief and his friends vanished from the place and never were seen again.

1U. G., loc. cit., p. 26. 2 Lac. cit., p. 23. ° Compare with the sacred horse of Shintoism, etc.

The upper Lhobrak is well cultivated; barley, pea, mustard, wheat, and crops of rape were noticed by U. G., surrounding the monastery of Lha Lung. With some difficulty he obtained permission to see the sacred objects of the monastery, whose saintly founder, Lha Lung, has three incarnations in Tibet. One of them is the present abbot of the monastery, who was born in Bhotan, and is a nephew of the Paro Penlo. The monastery is well endowed by the Tibetan government, and rituals are encouraged in it for the suppression of evil spirits and demons.

Sane-KaR Gu-t’ok, also in the Lhobrak valley, has one hundred monks, and is a small printing establishment.’

Kar-cu’u, also in the Lhobrak valley, said’ to be one of the richest monasteries in Tibet, and to contain many bronzes brought from Magadha in the Middle Ages. Pilgrims carry off from here the holy water which percolates into a sacred cave.

Gyan-tsE, on the Painom river, east of Tashi-lhunpo. Its monastery is named Palk’or Ch’oide. Its hall is reported by Lama Ugyiin Gya-ts’o to be lit by 1,000 lamps. In lofty niches on the three sides, N., E., and W. (implying evidently that the entrance is on the 8.), are placed “three huge images of Buddha—Jam-yang, Chanrassig, and Maitreya,” copper-gilt. Here also he notes “ stone images like those at Buddha Gaya. In the lobby is a collection of stuffed animals, including tigers.” .

The foregoing are all in the U and Tsang provinces. In Kham, in eastern Tibet, are many large monasteries, the largest of which are perhaps Derge and Ch’ab-mdé (Chiam6), with about 2,000 monks and large printing press.

Derex (sDe-sge), at the town of that name, and capital of one of the richest and most populous of Tibetan provinces, containing “many Lamaserais of 200 or 800 monks, some indeed of 2,000 or 3,000. Each family devotes a son to the priesthood. The king resides in a Lamaserai of 300 monks.” *

Other large monasteries of eastern Tibet are Karthok and (?) Riwochce on the Nul river, under the joint government of two incar- nate abbots.

In southern Tibet in the district of Pema Kod (map-name Pemakoi) are the monasteries of Dorje-yu (founded by Terton Dorje-thokmi), Mar-pun Lek-pun (built by Ugyen Dich’en-lin-pa), Mendeldem, Phu-pa-ron, Kon-dem, Bho-lun, C’am-nak, Kyon-sa, Narton, Rinc’hensun (built by Ugyen Dodulin-pa, the father « of Dich’en-lin-pa), 'Tsen- euk, Gya-pun, Gilin, and Demu, which are all Nin-ma, except Chamnak and Demu, which are Ge- _lug-pa, and all except the last are on the west or right bank of the Tsangpo river, and the number of monks in each is from ten to thirty. Amongst the chief shrines are Horasharki Ch’orten, Mendeldem’s shrine, and ‘ Buddu Tsip’ak.”

1 Explorer R.N.’s account (S.R., 1889, p. 50). 2 Lama Ugyen Gya-ts’o, /oc. cit., 25, 3 BABER, Suppl, Papers, R. Geog. Socy. ; see also Rocknixt, L., 184, ete., 96.

IN CHINA. 279

IN CHINA,

In China proper there seem to be no truly Lamaist monasteries of any size except at Pekin and near the western frontier. The Pekin monastery is called “everlasting peace” (Yun-ho Kung), and is maintained at the imperial expense.’ Its monks, over 1,000 in number, are almost entirely Mongolian, but the head Lama, a re-incarnate abbot, and his two chief assistants, are usually Tibetans of the De-pung, Sera, and Gah-ldan monasteries, and appointed from Lhasa. The abbot, who is considered an incarnation of Rol-pa-dorje, already figured, lives within the yellow wall of the city, and near by is the great printing-house, called “ Sum-ju Si,” where Lamaist books are printed in Tibetan, Chinese, and Mongolian. In the chief temple “ the

MONASTERY OF U-rar-Suan.?

great wooden image of Buddha, seventy feet high, richly ornamented and clothed, holding an enormous lotus in each hand, and with the traditional jewel on his breast. In each section of his huge gold crown sat a small Buddha, as perfect and as much ornamented as the great one. His toe measured twenty-one inches, On each side of him hung a huge scroll seventy-five feet long, bearing Chinese characters and a series of galleries, reached by several flights of stairs, surrounded him. The expression of his great bronze face was singularly lofty. Near by were two magnificent bronze lions and a wonderful bronze urn ; many temples filled with strange idols hung with thousands of silk hangings, and laid with Tibetan carpets; all sorts of bronze and

1 Epxin’s Relig, in China, 65. 2 After Huc,

enamel altar utensils, presented by different emperors, among them two elephants in cloisonne ware, said to be the best specimens of such work in China, and the great hall, with its prayer-benches for all the monks, where they worship every afternoon at five.”

Another celebrated monastery is the Wu-tai or U-tai-shan, ‘The five towers” in the north Chinese province of Shan-si, and a celebrated shrine.

The great monastery of Kusum (Kumbum), in Sifau, lies near the western frontiers of China. It is the birth-place of St. Tson-K’a-pa, and has been visited and described by Huc, Rockhill, etc. Its photo-

KumbuM (T’s-ERH-SSU),?

graph by Mr. Rockhill is here by his kind permission given. Its Mongolian name is 7’a-erh-ssu.°

Here is the celebrated tree, the so-called “ white sandal” (Syringa Vulosa, Vahl), which the legend alleges to have sprung up miraculously from the placental blood shed at Tson-K’a-pa’s birth. Its leaves are said to bear 100,000 images, hence the etymology of the name of the place (sAw-’bum). The image markings on the leaves are said to represent “ the Tathagata of the Lion’s Voice” (Sen-ge Na-ro), but Hue describes the markings as sacred letters.*

1 Newspaper Acct., 1890.

” After Rockhill.

• RockHILy, /., 57- said to mean “the Great Tent (Tabernacle) ~
• Cf. also ibid., 58, etc.

IN MONGOLIA. 281

Huce’s account of it is as follows: “ At the foot of the mountain on which the Lamaserai stands, and not far from the principal Buddhist temple, is a great square enclosure, formed by brick walls. Upon entering this we were able to examine at leisure the marvellous tree, some of the branches of which had already manifested themselves above the wall. Our eyes were first directed with earnest curiosity to the leaves, and we were filled with absolute consternation of astonishment at finding that, in point of fact, there were upon each of the leaves well-formed Tibetan characters, all of a green colour, some darker, some lighter, than the leaf itself. Our first impression was suspicion of fraud on the part of the Lamas ; but, after a minute examination of every detail, we could not discover the least deception, the characters all appeared to us portions of the leaf itself, equally with its veins and nerves, the position was not the same in all; in one leaf they would be at the top of the leaf; in another, in the middle; in a third, at the base, or at the side; the younger leaves represented the characters only in a partial state of formation. The bark of the tree and its branches, which resemble those of the plane-tree, are also covered with these characters. When you remove a piece of old bark, the young bark under it exhibits the indistinct outlines of characters in a germinating state, and, what is very singular, these new characters are not unfrequently different from those which they replace. We examined everything with the closest attention, in order to detect some trace of trickery, but we could discern nothing of the sort, and the perspiration absolutely trickled down our faces under the influence of the sensations which this most amazing spectacle created.

‘“‘ More profound intellects than ours may, perhaps, be able to supply a satisfactory explanation of the mysteries of this singular tree ; but, as to us, we altogether give it up. Our readers possibly may smile at our ignorance ; but we care not so that the sincerity and truth of our statement be not suspected.” ’

The large temple (Jo-wo-k’at) is described by Rockhill.”

IN MONGOLIA.

In Mongolia the chief monastery is at Ureya-Kuren, on the Tula river in the country of the Khalkas, about forty days’ journey west of Pekin, and the seat of a Russian consul and two Chinese ambassadors. It is the seat of the Grand Lama, who is believed to be the incarnate historian, Lama Taranatha, and he is called Je-tsun Tamba, as detailed in the chapter on the hierarchy, and its monks are said to number over 14,000, and during the great new year festival over 20,000 are present. It contains twenty-eight colleges (sGgra-ts’an).

The monastery is named Kurun or Kuren, and is described by Hue. The plain at the foot of the mountain is covered with tents for the use of the pilgrims. Viewed from a distance, the white cells of the Lamas,

1 Huc, ii., p. 53, 2 RocKHILL, L., 66.

built on the declivity in horizontal lines one above the other, resemble the steps of an enormous altar, of which the temple of Taranatha Lama appears to constitute “the tabernacle.” Hue says it contains 30,000 monks!

Kuku Khotun, or “ blue city,” near the northern bend of the Yellow river, is said by Huc to have formerly been the seat of Jetsun-Dam-pa. It contains five monasteries with about 20,000 Lamas.

e

IN SIBERIA.

In south Siberia, amongst the Buriats, near the Baikal lake, a large monastery is on a lake thirty versts to the north-west of Selinginsk, and the presiding monk is called the K’an-po Pandita, and claims to be a re-incarnate Lama.’

IN EUROPE.

The Kalmak Tartars on the Volga have only temporary, nomadic cloisters and temples, that is to say tents, in which they put up their holy pictures and images, and celebrate divine service. Such temporary cloisters are called “ Churull,” and consist of two different sorts of tents or Jurten (Oergi), the assembly hall of the clergy (Churulliin-Oergs) and of the gods and image hall (Schitdéni or Burchaniin-Oergd). Some of these Churulls contain a hundred priests.

IN LADAK AND LITTLE TIBET.

He-mr (or “ Himis” of survey map). This fine old monastery is situated about 11,000 feet above the sea-level, in a lateral ravine that joins the Indus, a day’s journey (eighteen miles SSE.) above Leh, on the left bank of that river. From its secluded position this was one of the few monasteries which escaped destruction on the invasion of the country by the Dogras under Wazir Gerawar, who ruthlessly destroyed much Lamaist property, so that more interesting and curious objects, books, dresses, masks, etc., are found at Himis than in any other monastery in Ladak. It was built by sTag-stan-ras-ch’en, and its proper title is Ch’an-ch’ub sam-lin.

The ‘* Himis-fair,” with its mask plays, as held on St. Padma-sambhava’s day in summer, is the chief attraction to sight-seers in Ladak. This Lamasery is at present still the greatest landowner in Ladak, and its steward one of the most influential persons in the country. The Lamas seem to be of the Nin-raa sect (according to Marx?’ they are Dug-pa, but he appears to use Dug-pa as synonymous with Red cap sect). To the same sect also belongs Ts’en-re and sTag-na. A fine photograph of this monastery is given by Mr. Knight,’ and one of its courts is shown in his illustration of the mystic play reproduced at p. 528

“The principal entrance to the monastery is through a massive door, from which runs a gently sloping and paved covered way leading into a

1 KOPPEN, op, cit. 2 Loe. cit., 1383. 3 Where Three Empires Meet.

IN LADAK. 283

courtyard about 30 x 40 yards square, having on the left hand a narrow verandah, in the centre of which stands the large prayer-cylinder above mentioned. The larger picturesque doorway, the entrance of one of the principal idol rooms, is in the extreme right hand corner, massive brass rings affixed to large hosses of brass are athixed on either door, the posts of which are of carved and coloured woodwork. The walls of the main building, with its bay windows of lattice work, enclose the courtyard along the right hand side, the roof is adorned with curious cylin- drical pendant devices made of cloth called “ 'Thook” ; each surmounted with the Trisool or trident, painted black and red. On the side facing the main entrance the courtyard is open, leading away to the doorways of other idol rooms. In the centre space stand two high poles “ Turpoche,” from which hang yaks’ tails and white cotton streamers printed in the Tibetan character. Innumerable small prayer-wheels are fitted into a hitch that runs round the sides of the courtyard. A few large trees throw their shade on the building, and above them tower the rugged cliffs of the little valley, topped here and there by Zhatos, small square-built altars, surmounted by bundles of brushwood and wild sheep horns, the thin sticks of the brushwood being covered with offerivgs of coloured flags printed with some mantra or other.’ :

Lama-Yur-Rv, elevation about 11,000 feet.2 Said to be of the Dikung sect, as also the monasteries of sGai-non and Shan.

The name Yur-ru is said to be a corruption of Yun-druh—the Svastika or mystic fly-foot cross.

Tuo-r1nc or Tho’lding (mt’o-glin), on the upper Sutlej (in map of Turkistan it is Totlingmat, “ mat” = “the lower,” ¢.e. lower part of the city). It has a celebrated temple in three storeys, said by some to be modelled after that of Budha Gaya, and the Sham-bha-la Lam-yig contains a reference to this temple: “ It had been built (a.p. 954, Schl.) by the Lo-tsa-wa Rin-zan-po. The Hor (Turks?) burnt it down, but at some later date it was rebuilt, and now, in its lowest compartment, it contains the ‘cycle of the collection of secrets.’” Adolph von Schlagintweit visited it.”

Tuec-Cu’oe is a sister-Lamasery to He-mi, north of the Indus, in a valley which opens out opposite He-mi. Che-de, vulg. Chem-re (survey map: Chim-ray) is the name of the village to which the Lamasery belongs.

Kor-pzoes in Ladak, 16,000 feet above the sea (.D., 11). Tik-za (Thik-se) is said (Marx) to be a Ge-/dan (?Ge-lug-pa) monastery, as also those of San-kar (a suburb of Leh), Likir and Ri-dzon. It is pictured by Mr. Knight.”

Wam-te (or “Han-le”) in Rukshu, a fine Lamasery figured by Cunningham. It is about 14,000 feet above sea-level. Its proper name is De-ch’en, and it was built by the founder of the one at Hemz.

Maszo is affiliated to Sa-skya.

1 Gopwin-AusTEN, Joc, cit.,p. 72. 2 Marx, loc. cit. ; CUNNINGHAM, et. al. 3 See Results of Scientific Mission.

Spi-t’ue, Pz-rvus, or ‘ Pittuk” (sPe-t’ub), a Lamasery and village on the river Indus, five miles south-west of Leh. The Lamas belong to the “Ge-ldan-pa” order of Lamas. The Lamasery has an incarnated Laima.

Suer-cat, figured by Knight, loc. cit., p. 127.

Kinane (Kye-lan) in British Lahil, romantically situated near glaciers, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet.

Gu-ce, where several translations were made over 800 years ago, and still of repute for printing and for its elegant manuscripts.

Kanvum, in Kunaor or seas”; where Csoma studied. Also Dub-lin, Poyi, and Pangi.

IN NEPAL.

In Nepal there appear to be no Lamaist monasteries of any size, at least in the lower valleys. At the principal Buddhist shrines in that country a few resident Lamas are to be found.

IN BHOTAN

In Bhotan the largest monasteries are Tashi-ch’o-dsong and Pun-t’an or ? “ Punakha” (spun-t’an bde-ch’en), each, it is usually said, with over 1,000 monks, though according to other accounts, under 500.

TasHI-cn’0-psoN (bKra-shis ch’os rdson), or ‘The fortress of the glorious religion,” forms the capital of Bhotan and the residence, at least in summer, of the Grand Lama of Bhotan—-the Dharma Raja and Deb Raja. It has been visited and described by Manning, Bogle, Turner,’ Pemberton,’ ete.

The other chief monasteries in Bhotan, all of the Duk-pa sect, the established church of the country, are: dbU-rgyan rtse, Ba-kro (Pato or Paro) ’Bah, rTa-mch’og rgan, Kra-ha-li, Sam-jin, K’a Ch’agsrgan-K’a, Ch’al-p’ug. Of these the first three were for merly Kart’og-pr. In British Bhotin there are a few small monasteries, at Kalimpong, Pedong, ete.

IN SIKHIM.

In regard to Sikhim, as my information is complete, I give it in detail in tabular form on opposite page.

In addition to the monasteries in this list are several religious buildings called by the people yémpas, but by the Lamas only ‘“ temples ” (Lha-k’an), such as Dé-than, Ke-dum, ete.

The oldest monastery in Sikhim is Dub-de, founded by the pioneer Lama, Lhatsiin Ch’embo. Soon afterwards shrines seem to have been erected at Tashiding, Pemiongchi, and Sang-na-ch’6-ling over spots consecrated to the Guru, and these ultimately became the nuclei of monas-

1 Bogle and Turner in 1774 and 1783. Markuam, op, c¢t. 2 In 1837-38. Op, ect.

IN STRAW

teries.

As the last-named one is open to members of all classes of

Sikhimites, Bhotiyas, Lepchas, Limbus, and also females and even deformed persons, it is said that the monastery of Pemiongchi was

List or Monasteries IN SIKHIM,

Serial Ne.

|

—

Aor wd

Map Name.

Sanga Chelling

Dubdi a Pemiongchi ... Gantok- Tashiding Senan

Rinchinpong ...

Ralong Mali

Ram thek Fadung

Cheungtong ...

Ketsuperri

Lachung Talung Entchi Phensung

Kartok Dalling

Yangong

Labrong Lachung Lintse Sinik Ringim Lingthem Changhe Lachen Giatong Lingqui Fadung Nobli ing Namehi Pabia Singtam

Vernacular Name.

\

Meaning of the Name.

gsan hags ch’os glin sgrub- sde pad-ma yantse btsan-mk’ar ... bkra-s’is-Id i gzil-gnon

rin-ch’en spuns ra-blan mad-lis Ram-tek ’o- bran otsun-t’an

mk’a spyod dpal ri

t’an-mé-ch’en...

rdo-lun :

rab-brten-glin

pan-bzan

bKah-rtog

a

rdo-glin

gyan sgan

bla-bran a pon-po sgan ... Ihun-rtse zi-mig ri- dgon lin-t’am rtsag-nes La-ch’en zi-’dur lin- bkod ' . pags rgyal .. ee ola rhnam-rtse spa-’bi-’og

sin-ltam

The place of secret spells ...;

The hermit’s cell The sublime perfect lotus. The Tsén’s house

The elevated central ae

The suppressor of intense fear

| The precious knoll

}

A Lepcha village name e

The chapel royal

The meadow of marriage

(of the two rivers)

The noble heaven- reach-

ing mountain The large plain The stony valley The high strong place The excellent banner, or good bliss

The Kartok (founder of a

schism)

‘‘ The stony site, place of the ‘* Dorjeling ” revelation-finder .

”?

“The cliffy ridge,” or “the

lucky ridge” The Lama’s dwelling The Bon’s ridge The lofty summit

eeeees

Hermitage hill

A Lepcha village name s

seeese

The uplifted limb The sublime victor The western place The sky-top

A Lepcha village name

or the

Date of Building.

Number of Monks.

designed, if not actually built, by Lha-tsiin as a high-class monastery for orthodox celibate monks of relatively pure Tibetan race. Peimiongchi still retains this reputation for the professedly celibate character and good family of its monks; and its monks alone in Sikhim enjoy the title of ta-sai or ‘ pure monk,” and to its Lama is reserved the honour of anointing with holy water the reigning sovereign.

The great majority of the monasteries in Sikhim belong to the Lhatsiin-pa sub-sect of the Nin-ma, only Namchi, Tashiding, Sinén, and T’an-moch’e belong to the Na-dak-pa sub-sect, and Kar-tok and Déling to the Kar-tok-pa sub-sect of the same. All the Nii-ma monasteries are practically subordinate to that of Pemiongchi, which also exercises supervision over the Lepcha convents of Ling-t’am, Zimik, and P’aggye. lLepchas are admissible to Rigdn as well as Sang-na-ch’dling.

Nuns are admitted to a few monasteries in Sikhim, but their number is extremely small, and individually they are illiterate.

The names of the monasteries, as will be seen from the translations given in the second column of the table, are mostly Tibetan, and of an ideal or mystic nature; but some are physically descriptive of the site, and a few are Lepcha place-names, which are also of a descriptive character.

A LAMAIsT CATRN. Lab-ch’a, afterHuce.

7. oo PS. +? ae ER

LuAsy woos Carrot emai

(Frean a mative drawing +

SALT. TEMPLES AND CATHEDRALS.

a N primitive Buddhism the temple had, of course, no place. rq it is the outcome of the theistic development with its 9 relic-worship and idolatry, and dates from the later and impurer stage of Buddhism. The Limaist temple

is called “ God’s house” (Lha-k'wii).

It is usually the central and most conspicuous building in the monastery, and isolated from the other buildings, as seen in the foregoing illustrations. The roof is surmounted by one or two small bell-shaped domes of gilt copper’; if a pair, they are placed one on either end of the ridge, and called jira’ ; if a solitary one in the middle of the ridge, it is called “the banner.”? They are emblematic of the royal umbrella and banner of victory. At tine corners of the roof are erected cloth cylinders called gebi.t. The building is often two storeys in height, with an outside stair on one flank, generally the right, leading to the upper flat. In front is an upper wooden balcony, the beams of which are rudely carved, also the doors. The orientation of the door has already been noted.

In approaching the temple-door the visitor must proceed with his right hand to the wall, in conformity with the respectful custom of pradakshiwa widely found amongst primitive people. In niches along the base of the building, about three feet above the level of the path, are sometimes inserted rows of prayer-barrels

1 See pp. 271 and 273.

2 Spelt “knjira,” (?) from the Skt., kanca, golden.

3 rgyal-mts'an.

4 (rebi—cylindrical erections from three feet high and about a foot wide to a greater size, covered by coiled ropes of black yak-hair and bearing a few white bands transverse and vertical, and when surmounted by a trident are called C’ab-dar.

° The Romans in circumambulating temples kept them to their right. The Druids observed the contrary. To walk around in the lucky way was called Deusi! by the Gaels, and the contrary or unlucky way withershins or widdersinnis by the lowland Scotch. See JamiEson’s Scottish Dict. ; R. A. ARMSTRONG’s Gaelic Dict., p. 184; CROOKE’s trtrod. ; Rockuity. L., p. 67,

288 TEMPLES AND CATHEDRALS.

which are turned by the visitor sweeping his hand over them as he proceeds.

The main door is approached by a short flight of steps; on ascending which, the entrance is found at times screened by a large curtain of yak-hair hung from the upper balcony, and which serves to keep out rain and snow from the frescoes in the vestibule.

Entering the vestibule, we find its gateway guarded by several fearful figures! These usually are—

1. The tutelary demon of the ground, usually a red devil (7'sdén) a brawnylimbed creature of elabor- ate ugliness, clad in skins, and armed with various weapons, and differing in name according to the locality.”

2. Especially vicious demons or dii minores of a more or less local character. Thus, at Pemi- ongchi is the Gyal-po Suk-dén with a brown face and seated on a white elephant. He was formerly the learned Lima Sid-nams Grags-pa, who being falsely charged with licentious living and deposed, his spirit on his death took this actively malignant form and wreaks his wrath on all who do not worship him—inflicting disease and accident.”

TrMPLE-DOOR DEMON.

1 Compare with deseription of Chinese Budd, temples by Erren, Leets. on Buddhism,

2 Thus the local devil of Ging temple near Darjiling is called © The Entirely Victorious Soaring Religion” (Ch’os-!din rham-rgyal). hn a

3 Compare with the malignant ghosts of Brahmans in India. Cf. TAwNeEws Aatha Navit Sagara, VW. 838, 511

THE VESTIBULE. 289

3. A pair of hideous imps, one on either side, of a red and bluishblack colour, named S’em-ba Marnak,' who butcher their victims.

[AES eae Aan nes rrr Saari

ee 5 -

Geantee Cie FP means (Virtipaksha.) 4, Here also are sometimes portrayed the twelve Tin-ma—the aérial fiendesses of Tibet, already figured, who sow disease and who were subjugated by St. Padma.

Confronting the visitor in the vestibule are the four colossal

LyA-han.

330. TEMPLES AND CATHEDRALS.

images (or frescoes) of the celestial kings of the Quarters, who guard the universe and the heavens against the attacks of the Titans and the outer demons, as described at page 84. They are clad in full armour and are mostly of defiant mien, as seen in their figures over the page and at pages 83 and 330. Two are placed on each side of the doorway.

Sometimes the guardian of the north is given a yellow, and the guardian of the south a green, complexion, tlius suiting the complexion of the guardians to the mythic colours of the cardinal points. They are worshipped by the populace, who credit them with the power of conferring good luck and averting the calamities due to evil spirits. And in the vestibule or verandah are also sometimes displayed as frescoes the Wheel of Life and scenes from the Jatakas or former births of Buddha; and here also may he figured the sixteen great saints or Sthavira (Arians or “* Rahans ™).'

In the smaller temples which possess no detached chapels for larger prayer-barrels, one or more huge prayer-barrels are set at either end of the vestibule, and mechanically revolved by laydevotees, each revolution being announced by a lever striking a bell. As the bells are of different tones and are struck alternately, they form at times a not unpleasant chime.

The door is of massive proportions, sometimes rudely carved and ornamented with brazen bosses. It opens in halves, giving entry «lirectly to the temple.

Such grand cathedrals as those of Lhisa will be described presently. Meanwhile let us look at a typical temple of ordinary size. The temple interior is divided by colonnades into a nave and aisles, and the nave is terminated by the altar—generally as in the diagram-plan here annexed. The whole of the interior, in whichever direction the eye turns, is a mass of rich colour, the walls to right and left being decorated by frescoes of deities, saints, and demons, mostly of life-size, but in no regular order; and the heats are mostly pated red, picked out with lotus rosettes and

' Por their deseriptions and titles see po 376. Amongst Che eommien seenes alse res presented here are The ELormenreus Fever” pit tun-pa roam tzi, a hayepy family, consisting of an elephant, monkey, rabbit, and parret > and the long-lived sage uttee-rine with das deer, comparable to the Japanese (2) Jere, ome of the seven @enivot

(reed Luck, and the long-lived hermiat, Neon,

THE INTERIOR. 291

other emblems. The brightest of colours are used, but the general effect is softened in the deep gloom of the temple, which is dimly lit only by the entrance door.

Above the altar are placed three colossal gilt images in a sitting - attitude, “The Three Rarest Ones,” as the Limas call their trinity; though none of the images are considered individually to represent

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DIAGRAMMATIC GGROUND-PLAN OF A TEMPLE IN SIKHIM. . Fresco of local demon. 9. Seats of monks . Fresco of Ki-kang Mar-nak devils. 10, Seat of abbot or professor. . Fresco of guardian kings of quarters. 11. Seat of choir-leader. . Prayer-barrels. 12. Seat of king or visitant head Lama, . Station of orderlies. 13. Site where lay-figure of corpse is laid for . Table for tea and soup. litany. . Seat of the provost. 14. Head Lamas’ tables. . Seat of the water-giver. 15. Idols.

the two other members of the Tri-ratna or “Three Gems,”

namely Dharma or Sangha. The particular images of this triad U2

con or ike RO et

to ise) to

TEMPLES AND CATHEDRALS.

depend on the sect to which the temple belongs ; Sdhya Munii is often given the central position and a saint (Tson K’a-pa or Padmasambhava) to the left of the spectator and Avalokita to the right, Particulars and figures of the principal of these idols are given in the chapter on images.

Mikya Muni is figured of a yellow colour with curly blue hair, and often attended by standing figures of his two chief disciples, Maugdalayina on his left and Sariputra on his right, each with an alarm-staff and begging-bowl in hand. In the temples of the unreformed sects, St. Padma-sambhava and his two wives are given special prominence, and many of these images are regarded as “ self-sprung :”

,

‘‘No hammers fell, no ponderous axes rung ; Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.”’

But even this order of the images is seldom observed. Most frequently in the Ge-lug-pa temples Tson K’a-pa is given the chief place, while in Nin-ma it is given to the Guru, and this is justified by the statement put into his mouth that he was a second Buddha sent by Sikya Muni specially to Tibet and Sikhim, as Buddha himself had no leisure to go there. Sometimes Sakya’s image ix abseut, in which case the third image is usually the fanciful Buddha of Infinite Light, Amitdbha, or Amitdyus, the Infinite Life. In many sectarian temples the chief place is given to the founder of the particular sect or sub-sect.

Ranged on either side of this triad are the other large images of the temple. Though in the larger fanes the more demoniacal images, especially the fiendish “ lords” and protectors of Limaism, are relegated to a separate building, where they are worshipped with bloody sacrifices and oblations of wine and other demoniacal rites inadmissible in the more orthodox Buddhist building. Some of such idol-rooms are chambers of horrors, and represent some of the tortures supposed to be employed in hell.

The alleged existence of images of (Grorakhnath in Tashiding, Tumlong, and other Sikhim temples? is quite a mistake. No such image is known. The name evideutly intended was “ Guru Rinbo-ch’e.”

' Hepner’s Palestine, 2 Cavern, JS, 1849: Hoon, Mim, Jours., i, 323. ib, po 199; Sirk. Trearrr, Jour. po 2125 Sir M. Wittiams, Buddhism, yr 40.

THE INTERIOR. 293

The large images are generally of gilded clay, and in Sikhim the most artistic of these come from Pa-to or “ Paro” in Bhotan. A few are of gilded copper and mostly made by Newaris in Nepal. All are consecrated by the introduction of pellets of paper inscribed with sacred texts as detailed in the chapter on the pantheon.

Amongst the frescoes on the walls are displayed numerous Lamaist saints and the pictorial Wheel of Life, though this last is often in the vestibule.

There are also a few oil-paintings of divinities framed, like Japanese Kahkemonos, in silk of grotesque dragon-patterns with a border, arranged from within outwards, in “ the primary ” colours in their prismatic order of red, yellow, and blue. Some of these pictures are occasionally creditable specimens of art.

The seats for the several grades of officials and the Lamaist congregation are arranged in definite order. The general plan of a small temple interior is shown in the foregoing diagram. Along each side of the nave is a long low cushion about three inches high, the seat for the monks and novices. At the further end of the right-hand cushion on a throne about 2} feet high sits the abbot or professor (Dorje Lé-pén),' the spiritual head of the monastery. Immediately below him, on a cushion about one foot high, is his assistant, who plays the si-/ien cymbals. Facing the professor, and seated on a similar throne at the further end of the left-hand cushion, is the Um-dsé? or chief chorister or celebrant, the temporal head of the monastery; and below him, on a cushion about one foot high, is the deputy chorister, who plays the large ts’6gs-rol or assembly-cymbals at the command of the Um-dsé, and officiates in the absence of the latter. At the door-end of the cushion on the right-hand side is a seat about one foot high for the provost-marshal, who enforces discipline, and on the pillar behind his seat hangs his bamboo rod for corporal chastisement. During the entry and exit of the congregation he stands by the right side of the door. Facing him at the end of the left-hand cushion, but merely seated on a mat, is the water-man.

To the left of the door is a table, on which is set the tea and soup which is to be served out, by the unpassed boy-candidates, during the intervals of worship.

1 ydo-rje slob-dpon. 2 dbU-mdsad.

294 TEMPLES AND CATHEDRALS.

THE LAMAS’ TABLES.

To the right front of the altar stands the chief Lama’s table,’ about two-and-a-half feet in length, and one foot in height, and often elaborately carved and painted with lotuses and other sacred symbols, as figured at page 215. Behind it a cushion is placed, upon which is spread a yellow or blue woollen rug, or a piece of a tiger or leopard skin rug, as a seat. The table of the abbot or professor contains the following articles in the order and position shown in this diagram :—

The other two monks who are ———_——* “el allowed tables in the temple are | the chief chorister or celebrant

: nd and the provost-marshal. The

ae a—aiages | chief chorister’s table faces that

1. Mavie rice-offering of universe. of the abbot, and contains only a

2, Saucer with loose rice (CH en-du holy water vase, bell, dovje and or ne-sel) for throwing in sacrifice. the large cymbals. The table of

ee ve mene. the provost stands in front of

4. Bell. :

5. Donje-nceptre. the seat of that officer, near the

6. Vase for holy-water. door, and contains an incense-

goblet (swng-bur), a bell and dovye.

At the spot marked “13” on the plan is placed the lay-figure of the corpse whose spirit is to be withdrawn by the abbot. At the point marked “12” is set, in all the larger temples in Sikhim, the throne of the king, or of the re-incarnated Lima—the * protecting lord ”*—when either of them visits the temple.

On each pillar of the colonnade is hung a small silk banner with five flaps, and others of the same shape, but differently named,# are hung from the roof, and on each side of the altar is a large one of circular form.?

THE ALTAR AND ITS OBJECTS.

The altar® occupies the upper end of the nave of the temple ; and on its centre is placed, as already mentioned, the chief image.

Tomdum-leog. * Kyab-mgon. * Ka-’p'an, 4 Ba-dan. * yye-pour. ® meh'od s'am.

THE ALTAR. 295

Above the altar is suspended a large silken parasol,’ the

ALTAR (DOMESTIC) OF A NrN-ma LAMA.

oriental symbol of royalty, which slightly revolves in one or

UMBRELLA-CANOPY.

other direction by the ascending currents of the warm air from

1 dug.

296 TEMPLES AND CATHEDRAES.

the lamps. And over all is stretched a canopy, called the “sky”! on which are depicted the thunder dragons of the sky.

The altar should have at least two tiers. On the lower and narrow outer ledge are placed the offerings of water, rice, cakes, flowers and lamps. Qn the higher platform extending up to the

Mauic-OrrenkinG OF THe UNIVERSE, The Rice-J/agdala,

images are placed the musicalinstrumentsand certain other utensils for worship, which will be enumerated presently.

In front of the altar, or sometimes upon the altar itself, stands the temple-lamp, a short pedestalled bowl, into a socket in the centre of which is thrust a cotton wick, and it. is fed by melted butter, As the great mass of butter solidifies and remains mostly in_ this state, the lamp is practically a candle. The size varies according to the means and the number of the temple votaries, as it is an act of piety to add butter to this lamp. One is necessary, but two or more are desirable, and

on special occasions 108 or 1,000 small lamps are offered upon the altar. Sometimes a cluster of several lamps form a small candelabrum of the branching lotus-flower pattern,

1 pamegel ; but its more honorific tithe is b/a-bras. 2 omelod-skon,

THE OFFERINGS. 297

Below the altar stand the spouted water-jug' for filling the smaller water-vessels, a dish to hold grain for offerings,” an incenseholder, and a pair of flower-vases. And on the right (of the spectator) on a small stool or table is the magic rice-otfering, with its three tiers, daily made up by the temple attendant, and

THE Five SENsvoUS OFFERINGS.

symbolic of an offering of all the continents and associated islands of the world. |

The ordinary water and rice-offerings are set in shallow brazen bowls,’ composed of a brittle alloy of brass, silver, gold and pounded precious stones. Their number is five or seven, usually the former. Two out of the five or seven bowls should be filled with rice heaped up into a small cone; but as this must be daily renewed by fresh rice, which in Tibet is somewhat expensive, fresh water is usually employed instead.

Another food-offering is a high, conical cake of dough, butter and sugar, variously coloured, named torma or zal-zé, that is, “holy food.” It is placed on a metal tray supported by a tripod. To save expense a painted dummy cake is often substituted.

Upon the top of the altar are also usually placed the following objects, though several of them are special to the more demoniacal worship :—

1. A miniature funereal monument.*

SACRED CAKEs.

1 ch’ab-bum. 2 nas bzed. 3 mch’od tin.

1 chorter. In the room in which worship is done there must be present these three essential objects: sku-gsum (Skt., Trikdyd@) (a) an image, (0) a ch’orten, and (c) a holy book, which are symbolic of “the Three Holy Ones.” In the early Indian caves this triad seems to have been represented by (?) a Caitya for Buddha, and a Whee? for Dharma.

298 TEMVLES AND CATHEDRALS.

9, One or more sacred buoks on each side of the altar,

3. The Lamaist sceptre or Dorje, typical of the thunderbolt of Indra (Jupiter), and a bell. The dorje is the counterpart of the bell, and when applied to the shoulder of the latter should be of exactly the same length as the bell-handle

t. The holy-water vase' and a metal mirror hanging from its spout. The holy-water of the vase is tinged with saffron, and is

SoME ALTAR OBJECTS.

Lamp (inverted), caitya, holy-water jug.

sprinkled by means of a long stopper-rod, which is surmounted by a fan of peacock’s feathers and the holy Awsa grass. Another form is surmounted by a chaplet, ete., as its frontispiece.

5. The divining-arrow bound with tive coloured silks called dadar * for demoniacal worship

6. A large metal mirror” to reflect the image of the spirits.

7. Two pairs of cymbals. The pair used in the worship of Buddha and the higher divinities are called s7-én,' and are of about twelve or more inches in diameter, with very small central bosses. They are held vertically when in use, one above the other, and are manipulated gently. The pair of cymbals used in the worship of the inferior deities and demons are called rol-mo, and are of shorter diameter with very much broader bosses. They are held horizontally in the hands and forcibly clanged with great clamour. Chinese gongs also are used.

x. Coneh-shell trumpet (f°), often mounted with bronze or silver, so as to prolong the valves of the shell and deepen its note—used with the si-#én cymbals.

'

t hrwebum See fie, Rook. 2, 109 2 onehabecher me-long,.

© Syl-smavaen clan

DEVILS’ ALTAR. 299

DEviLs’ ALTAR.

300 TEMPLES gaiND CATHEDVERAES.

9. Pair of copper flageolets.’ 10, Pair of long telescopic copper horns in three pieces, and often six feet long (see illustration on page 17).

11. Pai of human thigh-bone trumpets." These are sometimes encased in brass with a wide copper flanged extremity, on which are figured the three eyes and nose of a demon, the oval open extremity being the demon’s mouth. In the preparation of these thigh-bone trumpets the bones of criminals or those who have died by violence are pre- ferred, and an elaborate incantation is done, part of which consists in the Lama eating a portion of the skin of the bone, otherwise its blast would not be suttciently powerful to summon the demons.

12. Pair of tiger thigh-bone trumpets.’ These are not always present, and the last three instruments are only for the worship of the inferior gods and demons.

13. Drums (cl’os ria) :—

(a) A sinall rattle hand-drum or ia-ch’un’? or damdru, like a large double egg-cup. Between its two faces are attached a pair of pendant leather knobs and a long-beaded flap as a handle. When the drum is held by the upper part of the cloth handle and jerked alternately to right and left the knobs strike the faces of the drum. It is used daily to mark the pauses between different forms of worship.

(4) The big drum,called ch’d-/a,° or religious drum, These are of two kinds, one of which is suspended in a frame and beat only occasionally and in Buddha’s worship. The other is carried in the hand by means of a stem thrust through its curved border. These are beaten by drum-sticks with straight or curved handles.

(c) The human skull-drum made of shkull-caps, and of the same style as the smaller drum (a) above described.

14. Libation jugs, figured on page 225.

THE CATHEDRAL OF LHASA.

The greatest of all the temples of Lamadom is the great cathedval of Lhasa, the St. Peter's of Limaism, the sketch of which, here given, was drawn for me by a Lima artist, who visited Lhasa with this object, and who deliberately sketched the sacred city and its great temple from the hillock about half a mile to the south of the city. And with the deseription of it’ we will close our account of temples.

This colossal temple, called “The Lord’s House” (Jo-wo Aas),

1 rgye-glin, 2 rag-dun. “ rkan-glin, 4 stay dun, * phaechvun. ® chvos-rna,. 7 Svmmanrized from the accounts of Hc, ete., and from KOprEN, i1., 334.

LHASA CATHEDRAL. 301

stands in the centre of the city of Lhasa, to which it gives its name, * God’s place;! and it is also considered the centre of the whole land. All the main roads, which cut through Tibet, run out of it and meet again init. But it is also the centre of the united Lamaist church, as it is the first and oldest Buddhist temple of Tibet, the true metropolitan cathedral of Limaism. Founded in the seventh century, on commencing the conversion of the gloomy snowland, by king Sron Tsan Gampo, for the preservation of those wondrous images brought to him by his two wives, as before mentioned, it has, no doubt, in the course of a millennium, received many additions and enlargements, and in the seventeenth century it was restored and rebuilt.

Its entrance faces the east, and before it, in a square, stands a flagstaff, about forty feet high with yak’s hair, and horns of yak and sheep, tied to its base. The main building is three storeys high, and roofed by golden plates.2 The entrance is in the shape of a hall, which rests on six wooden pillars, very handsomely decorated with engravings, paintings, and gilding. The walls are eovered with rough pictures out of the biography of the founder of the religion. In the centre of the hall is a swing door, which is decorated on the outside with bronze, and on the inside with iron reliefs.

Through this you pass into the ante-court, which is covered hy the first storey. In the wall, opposite the entrance, is a second door, which brings you inside, on both sides of which stands the colossal statues of the four great guardian kings; two on the right and two on the left side. This brings us into a large pillared hall, which has the form of the basilica, and is divided by colonnades into three long and two cross-aisles. The light comes from above in the middle or broadest aisle, where a transparent oilcloth serves instead of glass. Through this the whole temple is lighted, because there are no side windows. On the outside of the two

1 The name Lhasa is properly restricted to the great temple. Sron Tsan Gampo appears to have been the founder of the city now generally known to Europeans as Lhasa. It is recorded that he exchanged the wild Yarlung valley, which had been the home of his ancestors, for the more central position to the north of the Tsangpo, a village named Rasa, which, on account of the temple he erected, was altered to Lha-sa, or “God’s place.” An old form of the name is said to be /nga-/dan.

2 These plates are said to be of solid gold, and gifted by the son of the princeling Ananmal, about the end of the twelfth century a.D.

302 TEMPLES AND CATHEDRALS.

side aisles, i.e., on the north and south side, as the entrance is towards the east, is a row of small cells or chapels, fourteen to the right and just as many to the left. The two cross-aisles form the background, and are separated from the long aisle by silver latticework. Here are the seats of the lower priests for common prayer-

GROUND-PLAN oF Luisa CATHEDRAL!

meetings. From the west cross-aisle a staircase leads into the holy of holies. On the left of this we see, by ascending behind silver rods, fifteen plates of massive silver, which are covered with innumerable precious stones, and contain representations of the juddhist dogmatics and mysticism. We see there, for instance, the Buddhist svstem of the worid, the circle of the metempsychosis

' After Giorgi. T have not reproduced the references as they are not sufficiently CONCISE,

LHASA CATHEDRAL. 303

with its different states. From the stairs above we come into a cross-aisle, which has just as many pillars as the two lower ones, and is also the inner front hall of the sanctuary. The latter has the form of a square, in which are six chapels, three on each of the north and south flanks. In the middle is the place for the offering altar, which, however, is only erected on certain occasions. On the other side of the altar, on the west side of the holy of holies, also in the lowest depth of the whole edifice, is the quadrangular niche, with the image of Sikya Muni. Before the entrance in this, to the left, is raised the throne of Dalai Lima, very high, richly decorated, and covered with the customary five pillows of the Grand Limas. Beside this stands the almost similar one of the Tashi Grand Lima; then follow those in rotation of the regenerated Limas The abbots, and the whole non-incarnate higher priesthood have their seats in the cross-aisle of the sanetuary. Opposite the throne of Dalai Lima, on the right from the entrance of the niche, is the chair of the king of the Law, not quite so high as those of the regenerate Grand Limas, but higher than those of the others. Behind himare the seats of the four ministers, which are not so high as those of the common Lamas.

On the west side of the niche stands the high altar, which is several steps high. Upon the top of the higher ones we see small statues of gods and saints made of massive gold and silver; upon the lower ones, as usual on Buddhist altars, lamps, incensories, sacrifices, and so on; upon the highest, behind a silver gilt screen, the gigantic richly-gilded image of Buddha Sakya Muni, wreathed with jewelled necklaces as native offerings. This image is named “The gem of majesty ” (Jo-vo Rin-po-ch’e), and represents Buddha as a young prince in the sixteenth year of his age. It, according to the opinion of the believers, was made in Magadha during Buddha’s lifetime, and afterwards gifted by the Magadha king to the Chinese emperor in return for assistance rendered against the Yavan invaders; and given by the Chinese emperor to his daughter on her marriage with the king of Tibet, in the seventh century A.D. Flowers are daily showered upon it. Beside this one—the highest object of reverence—the temple has also innumerable other idols; for instance, in a special room, the images of the goddess Sri Devi (Pal-ldan Lha-mo). There is

304 TEMPLES AND CATHEDRALS,

also a celebrated image of the Great Pitying Lord—Avalokita— named “the self-created pentad.”! Also images of historical persons who have made themselves worthy of the church; amongst whom one sees there the aforesaid pious king and his two wives, all three of whom are canonized; also his ambassador, who was sent by him to India to fetch from there the holy books and pictures.”

In this large and oldest temple are lodged great numbers of other precious things and holy relics, consecrated presents, gold and silver vessels, which are openly exhibited at the beginning of the third Chinese month.

Round about these stand many wooden or copper prayermachines. The surrounding wings of the building contain the state-treasures, the magazines, in which are stored everything necessary for divine service, the monks’ cells, the lecture-rooms ; in the higher storeys also the residences of the highest state officers, and special rooms for the Dalai Lama. The whole is surrounded with a wall, at which are several Buddhist towers, which, as in the case of the large temple, are covered with gilded plates. No women are allowed to remain within the walls during the night, a prohibition which extends to many Limaist cloisters.

1 ran byun /ha-/dan. So called because it is reputed to have formed itself by emanations from: Thug-je ch’enpo (Avalokita), Tul-ku-geylon—the artist, Sron Tsan Gampo, his Chinese wife, and his Newari wife. And the location of cach of these in the image is pointed out. 2 KOpren says an image of Hiuen Tsiang is also there.

BENEptcTrors Ciay Spar or Gkanp Tasn Lvs, GIVEN ‘TO Pireres.

‘Full size.)

LAma-Porr BLESSING PILGRiMs.!

MrT.

SHRINES, RELICS, AND PILGRIMS,

WILGRIMAGES are most popular in Tibet. The country = Re Ay contains an infinite number of sacred sites, reputed il Vox 5} re-incarnated or supernatural Limas, self-created a images, relics of the Buddhas, holy footprints, sanetified trees, etc., to which the pious throng with gifts of gold and other precious offerings ; while many extend their pilgrimages to places outside Tibet, to China, Bhotan, Sikhim, Nepal, Kashmir, Turkestan, and India, to places hallowed by St. Padma-sam- ‘bhava, or by Buddha himself.

The most holy of all sites, according to the Lamas, in common with all Buddhists—like Mecca to the Muhammadans—is the Tree of Wisdom at Buddh-Gaya, in India, with its temple known to Tibetans as Gandhola,? where Sakya Muni attained his Buddha-

1 After Giorgi.

• dri-gtsan-k’an, or “ The Untainted (pure) House.” It was built in seven days by the high-priest “ Virtue” (¢dge-ba). See also TARANATHA, 16, 4, etc. At the Bodhimanda (byan-ch’ub-shin-po) is the diamond-throne (vajrésana, Tib., Dorje-dan), so called on account of its stability, indestructibility, and capacity of resisting all worldly shocks.

x

306 SHRINES, RELICS, AND PILGRIMS.

hood, and which is believed to be the hub of the world. After this come the site of Buddha’s death, Kusinagara; and the eight great Caityas which enshrined his bodily relies; the mythical mount Potala! in the south; the mythical Shambhala in the north; the Guru’s Fairy-land? in Udyana in the west; and “The three hills,” or U-tai Shan, in northern China, the original seat of the God of Wisdom, Manjusri; and Lhisa, the St. Peter’s of the Limas, and the seat of Buddha’s vice-regent upon earth.

The Indian shrines are seldom visited by Limas and Tibetans on account of the great distance and expense. I have listened several times to the prayers of Limas and Tibetan laity at the great Buddh-Gaya temple, which, strange to say, is still held by unsympathetic Hindit priests who prey upon the Buddhist pilgrims. These prayers were divided between petitions for temporal prosperity and for “the great ultimate perfection,” or Nirvina. They make offerings to the Tree of Wisdom, but their oblations do not take the form of watering it with eau de Cologne and gilding it, as do some of the Burmese.

At the shrines under Buddhist management, the pil- grims carry off, as relics, printed charms and fragments of the robes of re-incarnated Limas and other holy men, leaves of sacred trees, ete., which are carefully treasured as amulets and fetishes. And these objects and holy water work most miraculous cures in

Pitgreim LAmaAs.

a manner which is not unknown even in Christian Europe.®

1 ori-bo eru-"dsin. -omk’a-gro lin.

• Those Europeans who sneer at the “pagan” superstitions of the East may find

INDIAN SHRINES. 307

The fullest Tibetan account of Indian shrines is found in the book named Jamnubu-glin spyi bs’ad, a compilation containing a very confused abstract of Hiuen Tsiang’s celebrated treatise.!

In regard to the site of Buddha’s death, the Lamas have placed it in Asam.

In conversations some years ago with Limas and lay Buddhists at Darjiling, I was surprised to hear that Asam contained a most holy place of Buddhist pilgrimage called “ Tscm-ch’6-duit,”® which, it was alleged, next to the great temple at Buddh-Gaya, was the most holy spot a Buddhist could visit. Asam is usually regarded as being far beyond the limits of the Buddhist Holy Land, and the Chinese pilgrims, FaHian and Hiuen Tsiang in the fifth and seventh centuries of our era, to whom we are mainly indebted for our knowledge of ancient Buddhist geography, not only do not mention any holy site in Asam, but Hiuen Tsiang, who visited Gauhati at the invitation of the king of Kamriip, positively notes the absence of Buddhist buildings in Asam.3

I therefore felt curious to learn further particulars of this important site in Asam, which had apparently been overlooked by geographers.

amongst themselves equally grotesque beliefs. For example, the Holy Cout of Tréces, and one of the most recent miracles, the Lady uf Lourdes. Lourdes, as a miracle place, dates from 1858, when a little girl had a vision of “a beautiful and radiant lady.” Eighteen times the glorious apparition was seen by the girl; then it was seen no more. Twenty thousand persons by that time had gathered to the readezrous. On one of the last occasions the girl, as if obeying a sign from her visitant, went to a corner of the grotto where the appearances occurred, and scratched in the dry earth. The gaping crowd saw water rise and the girl drink. Then a little streamlet made its way tothe river. Ina short time the spring gave 120,000 litres a day. And the wonders of miraculous healing effected by this water are the theme of the learned and the ignorant alike. In 1872 the number of pilgrims amounted to 140,000, and this year the same number appeared at the health-giving spring. Over 12,000 brought 1,100 sick. ‘They had come from Paris and the north in seventeen pilgrimage trains, and this year (1894), according to the newspapers, two train-loads steamed out of London for the same convent. There is a band of trained attendants, who do good service, and the sick are dipped by experts and cared for. As the patient is immersed, some of the assistants, with arms uplifted, pray with him. Some of the sick quietly undergo the dip, as if resigned to whatever may befall them. Others beat the water in agony, and clutch at hands near, but all pray—these last with loud cries of despair to heaven: ‘Cure us, Holy Virgin. Holy Virgin. you must Cure us.” There is great ecclesiastical ceremonial, elevation of the host, priests with lighted tapers, and high dignitaries be-robed and be-mitred. ‘The cures” are duly certified—-they are as marvellous as any by a well-advertised specific.

' For a translation of a smaller one see my article in Pror. AWB, Feb., 1893.

2 rTsa-mch’og-gron. See J.A.S.B., 1xi., pp. 33 seq.

3 Si-yu-ki, trans. by BEAL, ii., p. 196.

308 SHRINES, RELICS, AND PILGRIMS.

In Jiischke’s Tibetan dictionary! I found the name “ rTsameh’og-gron” defined as a “town in west Asam where Buddha died,” and this statement, it is noted, is given on the authority of the “ Gyalrabs,” a vernacular history of Tibet. Csoma de Koros also notes ? that ‘*the death of Shakya, as generally stated in the Tibetan books, happened in Asam near the city of Kusa or Camaripa (Kaimrip).” |

Here, then, was a clue to the mystery. Buddha’s death, it is well known, occurred between two sd/ trees near NKwsinagar or Kusanagara, in the north-west provinces of India, thirty-five miles east of Gorakbpur, and about one hundred and twenty miles N.N.E. of Benares; and the site has been fully identified by Sir A. Cunningham ? and others from the very full descriptions given by Hiuen Tsiang and FaHian. The name Awsanagara means “the town of Kusa grass”;+ and as the early Lama missionaries in their translation of the Buddhist scriptures habitually translated all the Sanskrit and Pali names literally into Tibetan, A’w- sanagara was rendered inthe “ Kah-’gyur” canon as “rTsa-mch’oggron,” from “7tsa-meh’og,” kusa grass, “ grong,” a town (= Sskt., nagara).

Now, near the north bank of the Brahmaputra, almost opposite (;auhati, the ancient capital of Kamriip, is, I find, an old village named Sd/-Awsa, and it lies on the road between Gauhati and Dewangiri, one of the most frequented passes into Bhotin and Tibet. With their extremely scanty knowledge of Indian geography, the Lamas evidently concluded that this ‘town of Sd- Kusa” was the “town of Kusa,” where Buddha entered into Nirina between the two sd/ trees—seeing that the word sal was also incorporated with the equivalent of Tsam-ch’o-dun,” and that in the neighbourhood was the holy hill of Hijo, where, as will be seen hereafter, there probably existed at that time some Buddhist remains.

P. 437.

Asiatic Researches, xX., p. 295.

Arch. Surv. India Repts., i. 76; Xvii., 55, ete.

Kusa grass (Pou eyrosuroides), the sacrificial grass of the Hindiis, is also prized by the Buddhists on account of its having formed the cushion on which the Boddhisattva sat under the Bodhi tree. It is also used as a breom in Lamaic temples and as an altar decoration associated with peacock’s feathers in the paapa or holy water

• 2o wD

Vase,

SITE OF BUDDHA’S DEATH. 309

No description of this Buddhist site seems to be on record, except a very brief note by Col. Dalton! on the modern Hindi temple of Hijo, which shrines a Buddhist image. So as I have had an opportunity of visiting the site, and enjoyed the rare advantage of being conducted over it by a Lima of eastern Tibet who chanced to be on the spot, and who had previously visited the site several times, and possessed the traditional stories regarding it, I give the following brief description of it in illustration of how the Limas, originally misled by an identity of name, have subsequently clothed the neighbourhood with a legendary dress in keeping with the story of Buddha’s death, and how this place, with its various associated holy spots, is now implicitly believed by the pilgrims to be the real site of Buddha’s pari-nirvaya. And in this belief, undeterred by the intemperate heat of the plains, Buddhist pilgrims from all parts of Bhotin, Tibet, and even from Ladak and south-western China visit these spots and carry off scrapings of the rocks and the soil in the neighbourhood, treasuring up this precious dust in amulets, and for placing beside their dead body, as saving from dire calamities during life, and from transmigration into lower animals hereafter. Authentic specimens of this dust, I was informed, commanded in Tibet high prices from the more wealthy residents, who had personally been unable to undertake the pilgrimage.

The Hajo hill, or rather group of hills, where is situated, according to the current tradition of the Lamas, the spot where Buddha “ was delivered from pain,” lies to the north (right) bank of the Brahmaputra about nine miles north-west from Gauhati (Kamrip), north latitude 26° 11’ 18” and east long. 91° 47’ 26”, and four or five miles north of Sa/- Kusa, The hill rises directly from the plain, forming a strikingly bold and picturesque mass ; and it is a testimony to its natural beauty to find that the hill has attracted the veneration of people of all religious denominations. The semi-aboriginal Mech and Koch worship it as a deity under the name of Hajo, which means in their vernacular “ the hill.” The Buddhists formerly occupied one of the hillocks, but are now displaced by the Brahmans, who restored the temple, which is now one of the most frequentefl Hindi temples in Asam. The Muhammadans also have crowned the summit of the highest peak with a mosque.

The cluster of hills presents a very symmetrical appearance as seen from a distance, forming a bold swelling mass culminating in three

Y J omis, sao, W351... eS)

310 SHRINES, RELTOS, AND PILGRTAES

trident-like peaks, the central one of which is pre-eminent, and is regarded by the Buddhists as emblematic of Buddha. The high peaks on either side of this are identified with Buddha’s two chief disciples, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana. This triad of peaks is seen from a great distance, and it is only on near approach that the smaller hillocks are observed. These latter number about sixteen, and are called Né- tén c'u-du, or “ the sixteen disciples” of Buddha.

The most holy site, according to the Buddhists, is a bare flattish shoulder of rock, about eight yards in diameter, situated at the northwest base of the hill. This is stated to be the Si/-wa ts'al-qi tur-dé, or “the pyre of the cool grove,” where Buddha died, and where his body was cremated, The rock here bears several roughly-cut inscriptions in Tibetan characters of the mystic sentences, “Om mani padme him,” “Om ah him,” “Om,” ete., and coloured rags torn from the vestments of the pilgrims are tied to the bushes in the neighbourhood. The Hindiis have carved here on the rock a figure of the four-armed Vishnu, which the Brahman priests call DAdwhi, or “the washerwoman of the gods,” and the rock they call “Letai dhupinir pat.”

It is worthy of note that the Lamas, for the benefit of the resident population of Tibet, have made copies of this spot in at least four places in Tibet, viz., at :—

1. Ra-rgyah, in the south-east outskirts of Lhasa city.

2. Pa-por k’ar, in the north suburbs of Lhasa.

3. Pur-mo che, about twelve miles to the north-east of Tashi-lhun-

4, Sel-bragq.

Thexe sites were consecrated by placing on them a piece of rock brought from this Asam site, now under report; but the latter spot bears the distinctive prefix of Gyd-yar, or Indian, implying that it is the original and genuine site.

A high cliff, close to the west of this spot, is called “the vulture’s mound hill,” as in Tibet vultures usually frequent the neighbourhood of the t-dé cemeteries, and in belief that it is the Gridha Kuta Giri hermitage of Buddha.’

A short distance beyond this spot, in the jungle, is a roughly-hewn stone basin, about six feet in diameter, called by the Lamas Sav-yyama ko-ko, or the pot in which the S in-je—the death-demons—boil the heads of the damned. The Brahmans, on the other hand, assert that it is the bowl in which Sira or Adi-purusha brewed his potion of lust-exciting Indian hemp, and they point to its green (confervoid) watery contents in proof of this. They also state that a snake inhabits the depths of the bowl; but it was certainly absent at the time of my visit.

Advancing along the pathway, leading up-hill, we pass a few columnar masses of rock lying near the path, which are pointed to as frag- ments of Buddha's staff with which he unearthed this monster bow].

' bya-reved poun por ri.

SITE OF BUDDHA'S DEATH. 311

Climbing up the hill we reach the temple of Kedaranath, which is approached by a very steep roughly-paved causeway. At the entrance is a long inscription in granite in old Bengali characters, those being the characters adopted by the Asamese. Adjoining this temple is the shrine of Kamalesvar or “ the lord of the Lotus.” Here is a tank called by the Lamas “ 7'sé mani bhadra,” or “the lake of the notable gem”; and they state that many water-sprites (Naga, serpents or dragons) came out of this pond on the approach of Buddha and _presented him with jewels. A small cell by the side of this pond is said to be the place where Buddha set down a mass of butter which had been brought to him as a gift, and the stone linga and yoni (phallus and its counterpart), now shrined here by the Hindi, are pointed to as being this petrified butter.

Crowning the summit of the hill is a large masjid built by Lutfullah, a native of Shiraz, in the reign of the emperor Shah Jahan, in 1656 A.D., with a Persian inscription.’

A detached conical hillock, about 300 feet above the plain, lying about half-a-mile to the north-east of the hill, and now crowned by the Hindi temple of Madhava, is identified with “the great caitya ” which was erected over the cremated relics of the Tathagatha’s body.

The present shrine of the temple seems to be the original shrine of an older Buddhist temple, which, according to both Buddhist and Asamese tradition, formerly existed here—the upper portion only is modern. Col. Dalton has described the general details of this building, and he states: ‘The Brahmans call the object of worship Madhab, the Buddhists call it Mahamuni, the great sage. It is in fact simply a colossal image of Buddha in stone. Its modern votaries have, to conceal mutilation, given it a pair of silver goggle-eyes and a hooked gilt silvered nose and the form is concealed from view by cloths and chaplets of flowers ; but remove these and there is no doubt of the image having been intended for the ‘ruler of all, the propitious, the asylum of clemency, the all-wise, the lotus-eyed comprehensive Buddha.’”

This large image of Buddha is called by the more learned Lama-visitors Munir Muni Mahadmuni, i.e., The Sage of Sages, The Great Sage.” It is the original image of the shrine, and is stated by the Brahmanic priests, who call it .Wadhab, to be of divine origin and an actual embodiment or avatar of the god, in contradistinction to the other images which are called mere ‘“ mdrtis” or hand-fashioned copies of typical forms of the respective gods represented. This may merely mean that the Brahmans found this image here, while the others were brought from the neighbourhood or elsewhere. What seems to be the history of the mutilation of this image is found in the account of the invasion of the Koch kingdom of lower Asam by the Musalmans under Mir Jumlah in 1661 a.p. This chief issued “ directions to destroy all the idolatrous temples and to erect mosques in their stead. . . . . To evince his zeal for religion, the general himself, with a battle-axe, broke the celebrated image of Narain, the principal object of worship of the

1 See Ju1.8.B., Ixi., p. 37.

312 SHRINES, RELICS, AND PIGRTAES.

Hindis of that province.” ' Narayana is one of the names of Madhab and a patronymic of the Koch raja’s ; and Hajo was a seat of the Koch rajas. And it was at Hajo that Mir Jumlah took the Koch king prisoner.”

The other images, not mentioned by Dalton, but which must have existed at the time of his visit, are also of stone and are placed on either side of the large image. They are four in number and are of considerable size. According to the Lama-pilgrims they are all Buddhist images ; but the ervpt was so dimly lit, and the images so enveloped in clothes and wreaths of flowers that I could not distinguish their specitic characters, with the exception of the head and peculiar trident of the first, and the head of the second, which were characteristic and justitied their recognized names, viz. :—

No. 1.—Ugqyan Guru to the left of Mahamuni.

No. 2.—Dorje Dolé to the right of Mahamuni.

No. 3.—Sédkya Thuba to the right of No. 2.

No. 4.—‘‘ Sencha” Muni to the right of No. 3.

Although Hindi priests, as a rule, are not very methodical in their bestowal of names upon the images which they have appropriated from Buddhist ruins, still I here give ‘the Brahmanical names as reported by the attendant priests, as, this being a wealthy temple, the priests were more learned than usu: ul, and the names should give some idea of the

nature of the images. After stating that the Buddhist pilgrims gave the above noted names to the images, these priests said that the Brahmanical names were as follows, which, it will be noticed, are Bengali. I give them in the order of the previous list :—

No. 1. Dwitiya Madhaver mirti.

No. 2. Lal Kanaiya Bankat Viharer mirti.

No. 3. Basu Dever mirti.

No. 4. Hayagriver mirti.

In the vestibule are lotus ornamentations and several articles of the usual paraphernalia of a Buddhist temple, including the following: A pyramidal framework or wheeless car like the Tibetan Ch’av-ga chutuk, with lion figures at the corners of each tier, such as is used to seat the image of a demon which is to be carried beyond the precinets of the temple and there thrown away. The present frame is used by the priests of this temple to parade in the open air one of the smaller images of the shrine (/ Hayagriver), but the image is again returned to the shrine. Above this throne is stretched a canopy containing the fivure of an eight-petalled lotus flower, and has, as is customary, a dependant red fringe. On either side is hung a huge closed umbrella. These articles have been in the temple from time immemorial.

Of the external decoration of the temple, the row of sculptured elephants along the basement, evidently a portion of the old) Buddhist temple, has been figured by Col, Dalton in the paper above referred to ;

Pe Srewarrs UTrstory af Bengal, yy. 289.

2 Bevenipar, Cal, Rercer, July, 1890, p. 12.

ASAM SHRINE. 313

and is identical with the decorative style of the Kailas cave temple of Ellora figured by Fergusson in Plate xv. of his Cave Vemples. The upper walls are covered with sculptured figures nearly life-size. The ten avatéras of Vishnu are represented with Buddha as the ninth. The remaining figures are of a rather nondeseript character, but they are mostly m male, ‘and nearly every figure carries a trident (sega Hie Lhutam of the Buddhists. "The Lamas state that these figures were formerly inside the temple, but that Buddha ejected them. And it is stated that the temple was built in one night by Tvsvakarma, the Vulcan of the Hindiis and Buddhists.

Attached to the temple is a colony of Nati, or dancing girls,’ who are supported out of the funds of the temple, and who on shies numerous feast days dance naked in a room adjoining the shrine. These orgies are part of the Sakti worship so peculiar to Kamrtp, but nowhere is it so grossly conducted as at this temple.* The Nati and the idol-ear are also conspicuous at the degenerate Buddhist temple of Jagannath at Puri.

At the eastern base of the hillock, on which this temple stands, is a fine large tank, called by the Lamas “the lake of excellent water.” * This pond, it is said, was made by Buddha with one prod of his staff, when searching for the huge bow] already deseribed which he unearthed here. This pond is also said to be tenanted by fearful monsters.

I have been unable to ascertain positively whether any Buddhist building existed here previous to the Lamas fixing on the site as the Kusanagara of Buddha’s death. Certainly no monastery existed here at the time of Hiuen '’siang’s visit to the Kamrip (Gauhati) court in the seventh century A.D., for he says of this country that “the people have no faith in Buddha, hence from the time when Buddha appeared in the world even down to the present time there never as yet has been built one Sanghdrdma as a place for the priests to assemble.” The reference which Taranath’ makes to the great stiipa of Kusanagara as being situated here, in Kamriip, was taken from report, and thus would merely show that the present Lama-tradition was current during his time. Any chaitya or other Buddhist building would seem to “have been subsequent to the seventh century ; and in “all probability marked a site visited by the great founder of Lamaism, St. Padma-sambhava, or one of his disciples. The different accounts of this saint’s wanderings vary considerably, but he is generally credited with having traversed most of the country between lower Asam and Tibet. And in this view it is to be noted that the Bhotan Lamas call the chief

1 “ Asam, or at least the north-east of Bengal (/.e., Kamrip), seems to have been in a great degree the source from which the Tantrica and Sakta corruptions of the religion of the Vedas and Puranas proceeded” (H. H. Witson, Preface to Vishni Pwrina).

2 They have their counterpart in the iepddovAo of the Greek Srrago: viii., 6, p. 20,

3 Yon-ch’ab-mts’o,

• VassILigv’s Le Bouddisme, trad. du Russe par M. G. A. Comme, p. 44.

314 SHRINES, RELIC an AND PILGRIMS.

image of this shrine Vamo Gur or * the teacher,” one of the epithets of St. Padma-sambhava. And the images on either side of it are also forms of that saint.

The form of Buddhism here represented is of the highly Tantrik and demoniacal kind, propagated by Padma-sambhava and now existing in the adjoining country of Bhotan. Even this mild form of the image of Ogudn Guru has decapitated human heads strung on to his trident. The second image is of a more demoniacal kind. The third image is, of course, Sakya Muni. The fourth image, from its Brahmanical name, Is i din (Skt., Hayayriva,, one of the fiercest forms of demons amd an especial protector of Laimaism. The trident is everywhere conspicuous in the hands of the sculptured figures onthe walls, and Shakti rites are more pronounced here than in any other place in northern India. '

It is also remarkable to find that the high-priest of the Hajo temple, in common with the other high-priests in Kamriip, is called Dalai,—a title which is usually stated to have been conferred on the fifth Grand Laima of Lhasa by a Mongolian emperor in the seventeenth century a. D. ; though the Tibetan equivalent of this title, viz., Gyam-ts’d,

or ** ocean,” is known to have been used by Grand Lamas previously. As, however, the word is Mongolian, it is curious to find it naturalized here and spontaneously used by Brahmans. It seems also to be the title of village-headman in the adjoining Garo hills. he dalai of this temple is a married man, but the office is not hereditary. He is elected by the local priests from amongst their number, and holds office till death. He resides at the foot of the hill, below the temple, in a large house, the exterior of which is profusely decorated with the skulls of wild buffalo, wild pig, deer, and other big game. ete., like the house of an Indo-Chinese chieftain.

“There does not seem to be in Tibet,” says Mr. Fergusson,’ “a single relic-shrine remarkable either for sanctity or size, uor does relic-worship seem to be expressed either in their architecture or their religious forms,” and he supports this by saying that as their deity is considered to be still living, no relics are newdlid to recall lis presence.

Certainly no immense mounds of the colossal proportions common in Indian Buddhism, and in Burma and Ceylon, appear to exist in Tibet, but smaller stitpas are of very Common occurrence 3 and the tombs of the departed Grand Limas at Tashi-lhunpo, etc, are special objects of worship.

It is said that Tibet possesses several large sttipas as large as

1 Dancing girls appear te figure to seme extent in certain Lamaist ceremonios in Bhotan, od Tursgn’s Kiachessa to Trlet, pr 32,

• Hist. of Ind, and Eastern Architecture, p. 311.

NEPAL SHRINES. 315

the Maguta stiipa of Nepal. This latter is one of the celebrated places of Lamaist pilgrimage outside Tibet. It is called the Ja-puin ka-sor ch’6-rten, and lies about two miles to the northeast of Khatmandu, and it is figured at page 262. Immense numbers of Tibetans, both Limas and laity, visit the place every winter, and encamp in the surrounding field for making their worship and offerings, and cireumambulating the sacred spot. It is the chief place of Limaist pilgrimage in Nepal, attracting far more votaries than the Svayambhiinath stiipa,° which is not far distant. Its special virtue is reputed to be its power of granting all prayers for worldly wealth, children, and everything else asked for. Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton, in his account of Nepal, written about the beginning of the present century, gives a drawing of the monument, which is of an almost simple hemispherical form, of the type of the earliest stiipas ; and Wright,’ under the title of “temple of Bodhnath,” gives a rough chromo-lithograph of its more modern appearance, with its additional buildings and investing wall. But no description or account of the monument seems to be on record.

As I have obtained a copy of the printed booklet which is sold at the stiipa to the pilgrims, I here give a short abstract of its contents, which are interesting as showing how the stiipa is brought into intimate relation with the chief legendary and _ historic persons of early Lamaism. The print is a new revision by Punya-vajra and another disciple of “the great Lama Z’ab-dkar.” This latter Lama, [ am informed, lived about thirty years ago, and gilded the short spire of the sttipa and built the present investing wall.

The book states as follows :-—

“This stiipa enshrines the spirit of the Buddhas of the ten directions, and of the Buddhas of the three times (?.e., the present, past and future), and of all the Bodhisats, and it holds the Dharmakaya.

1 Spelt pya.

2 Called by the Lamas ’P’ags-pa Sin Aun (or ? Zan-bkod) ; cf. also Srayambhu purdna, transid., J.R.4.S., 1894, 297. Another sttipa not far off, namely, about ten miles S.E. of Bhatgaon, and twelve from Khat-mandu, is called sTags-mo-lus-sbyin, and identified as the site where Buddha in a former birth gave his body to a starving tiger, though the orthodox site for this story was really uorthern India, cf. FAHIAN, c. Xi.

3 Nepal, pp. 22, 100.

316 SHRINES, RELICS, AND PILGRIMS.

“When king Thi-Srom Detsan' asked the Guru, at Samyas,” to tell him the history of the Mu-qu-ta stiipa in Nepal, allie by the fia: sons of ‘the bestower of gifts,’ named ‘the poor mother Pya-rdsi-ma (fowl-keeper),’ then the Guru thus related (the story) :—

“¢Tn a former Aalpa—time bevond conception—the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Avalokitesvara, approached the Tathagatha Amitabha and prayed for the animals immersed in the miry slough, and after saving these he went to mount Potala. There he saw hosts of unsaved animals, innumerable like unto mounds of murwa' lees, and (seeing this he) wept. ‘T'wo of his pitying tears were born into Indra’s heaven as god’s daughters, named respectively Kan-ma and the little Kan-ma or Kan-ch’un-ma. This latter having stolen in heaven some flowers,

yas as a punishment reborn in earth, in a low pigherd’s family in Maguta in Nepal, under the name of Samvara or ‘‘ the Chief Happiness,” her mother’s name being Purna. On marriage she had four sons, and her husband’s early death left her with the sole care of the family. She with her family undertook the herding and rearing of geese for the wealthy, and having in this pursuit amassed much wealth, she—Ma-pya-rdsi-ma (or mother fowl-keeper) —decided to build a large stiipa in honour of the Tathagatha. She, thereon, went to the king and begged for a site, saying she wanted only so much ground as one hide could cover. The king assented, saying “ Ja-ru#,” which literally means “ do” +‘can,” te, “ you can do (so).”’ Then dhe cutting a hide into thin thongs (forming a long rope), enclosed that very large space which now is occupied by. this chaitya. And she, with her four sons, and a servant, and an elephant and an ass, as beasts of burden, brought earth and stones, and commenced to build this chaitya by their own personal labour.

“*Then the king’s ministers appealed to the king to stop such an ambitious building, as they asserted its magnificence put to shame the religious buildings of the king and the nobles. But.the king answered

• Ka-Sor ” _whighi literally means “ mouth + (has) spoken ’’-—and so refused to interfere. (Thus is the name of the stiipa—‘ Ja-run A’a-sor’ —accounted for.)

“+ After four years, when only the base had been laid, the mother died, but her sons continued the building till its completion. And in the reeeptacle was placed one Magadha measure (drona) of the relies of the Tathagatha Kasyapa. This event was celebrated by the manifestation in the sky, above the stiipa, of Kasyapa himself, and the circles of celestial Buddhas and Bodhisats, and their hosts of retinue, and

| The king of Tibet who introduced Lamaism. 2 7.e., Padma-sambhava, or Ugyan, the founder of Lamaism. » ‘The first Lamaist monastery in Tibet.

• The millet seed o/astne crocanums, about the size of mustard seed, from whieh) is made the Himalayan beer, This story, and, indeed, the greater part of the legend, seems to have its origin in a talse etymology of the proper names.

SHRINES IN NEPAL, ETC. 317

amongst showers of flowers the gods contributed divine music and rained perfume. Earthquakes thrice occurred, and through the glory of the assembled divinities there was no darkness for five nights.

‘“‘¢ Qne of the sons then prayed, ‘‘ May I in my next re-birth be born as a great scholar (to benefit mankind)”—and he was born as Thunini Sambhota' (the introducer of the so-called ‘ Tibetan” character, and the first translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Tibetan), ezrca 650 a.p.

“«¢The second son prayed in a similar manner, and was re-born as “The Bodhisattva” * (the abbot of the first monastery of Tibet).

“<Then the elephant or /ai-po (hearing these prayers) said, ‘“‘ These two, neglecting me who contributed so much assistance, are asking all the good things for theinselves, therefore let me be re-born in a form to destroy them or their work.” And he was afterwards re-born as Landarma (the persecutor of Limaism).

‘** The third son, hearing the elephant’s request, prayed that he might be re-born in a form to neutralize the evil of the elephant’s inearnation; and he was born as Lho-lun phel kyi rdorje (the Lama who murdered Lan-darma, the Julian of Lamaism).’

‘This stiipa is also worshipped by the Nepalese Buddhists, viz., the Newars—the semi-aborigines of the Nepal valley, and the Murmi, a cis-Himalayan branch of Tibetan stock. The name ‘ Maguta ’—pronounced ‘ Makuta’—is doubtless a contraction for Mahuta bandhana, the pre-Buddhist ‘ crested chaitya,’ such as existed at Buddha's death at Kusinagara, in the country of the Mallas.”

The Gyan-tse Caitya-temple is thus described * :—

It is nine storeys high, and is about 100 to 120 feet high and capped by a gilt dome. A magnificent view of Gyantse town and monasteries from top storey. Numberless niches filled with images of Buddha and Bodhisatwas. In the first floor is an image of the religious king Rabtan. The base is fifty paces square. It is only open to public at the full and new moon.

At those shrines holding or professing to hold relics the fiction of miraculous increase of the relics is frequently enacted. Thus at the Maguta sttipa and Tashiding Ch’orten are sold small granules,’ alleged to be obtained by miraculous efflorescence on

1 Who introduced a written character to Tibet.

2 The Indian monk Santa-rakshita, abbot of the first monastery of Tibet (Samyas).

• Sarat’s Narrative.

• On the cremation of the body of a Buddha it is believed that no mere ash results, but,on the contrary, the body swells up and resolves into a mass of sago-like granules of two kinds, (a) Phe-dur, from the flesh as small white granules, and (6) r/ny-srel, yellowish larger nodules from the bones. It is the former sort which are believed to be preserved at the holiest Caitya of Sikhim, namely, 7’oa-wa ran yrol, or “Saviour by mere sight.” It owes its special sanctity to its reputedly containing some of the funereal granules of the mythical Buddha antecedent to Sakya Muni, namely

318 SHRINES, RELIGR, AMD PILGHIMYS.

the surface of the building from the legendary relics of the fictitious Buddha, Kasyapa, alleged to be enshrined therein. But this practice is common also to southern Buddhism. In the Burmese chronicles! it is stated that the tooth of Buddha, enshrined at Ceylon, yielded in the eleventh century A.D.,to the Burmese king, ‘‘a miraculous inearnation or mysterious growth of homogeneous substances from the holy tooth,” and Col. Phayre adds “and a somewhat similar mission with alike result occurred about twenty years ago (about 1860 A.D.).

And in 1892 similar relics were sent from Ceylon to the Tibetan commissioner at Darjiling. But, after all, such relics are no more spurious than the innumerable “bits of the true cross,” holy coats, and keys of St. Peter, of Christendom ; nor is their worship more remarkable than the vestiges of relic-worship which still survive in the structural features of our chancels, and the blackletter day of the Holy Cross in the calendar,

The temple of Buddha’s tooth at Fu-chau in China is also a known place of Limaist pilgrimage. The tooth is evidently an elephant’: molar.2 That one also at the “Clear water P*u-hsein monastery ” in western Ssit-ch’an seems to be somewhat similar. It is described by Mr. Baber as “dense fossil ivory,” “ about a foot long, and of a rudely triangular outline.”

The sacred mountain of Wu-t’ai or U-tai in northern China, and the alleged birth-place of Manjusri, now identified with the metaphysical Bodhisat of Wisdom, is a favourite place of pilgrimage. It has heen visited and figured by Hue and others.’

Qn mount © in western Ssii-ch’an, at an elevation of about 11,000 feet, is to be seen “ The glory of Buddha ”‘—a mysterious apparition like the giant of the Brocken,’® which is seen oceasionally by looking over the top of a cliff about 2,000 feet high into the terrible abyss below. It is a radiant halo of rainbow tints and it is deemed an emanation from the aureole of Buddha. The Tibetans visit the place.

Od-sren, or Kasvapa, the relies having been deposited there by Jik-mi Pawo, the Incarnation and successor of St. Lha-tstin.

Pravnn’s Mestory af Bret. Berne,

2 Sir Henry Yours Merce Molo, iii, ch. xv. where it is figured after Mr. Fortune,

‘Visited and deseribed also by Rev. J. Bdkins (Relipien tie Chena), Gilmour, Reichthofen, Rockhill, and more fully described by D. Poketiloff, St. Petersburg, Dsto.

hin Chinese fo-Nuang. Cf. Bawnies Sepp! Papers Gray, Soe. (2.

’ Breewsren’s Vetere! Mage, 1833, p. 130.

SHRINES IN CHINA AND TIBET. 319

The sacred sites of Tibet are cited in considerable detail in the vernacular geography already mentioned. And stories abound of the miraculous efficacy of such pilgrimages, and even of the manifestations of the divine spirit to worthy worshippers.

Thus a story is related regarding the great image of ‘the Lord” at Lhasa, which is a parallel to that of the widow’s mite: A poor old widow, destitute of friends and of means, made a long pilgrimage to Lhasa, but had nothing left as an offermg. By begging she ultimately obtained a morsel of butter, which she offered in a tiny lamp to the great idol. The god thereupon revealed himself through the idol, which thanked her for her gift, and spoke to her a few words of comfort. Qn this miracle getting noised abroad, a rich merchant set out for Lhasa, arguing that if the Lord appeared to a poor woman who presented only one tiny lamp, he would certainly appear to the donor of a host. So he offered many thousands of lamps with tons of butter, but the idol remained impassive and irresponsive.

The circling of the great temple by prostrations on the ground is an essential part of the devotions, not only of the pilgrims but of the residents. The day’s devotions begin at Lhasa with the gunfire about 4 a.m. from the Chinese minister’s house, and they close with another gun at 9 or 10 p.m.

After the morning report the people are to be seen in dense crowds on the circular road, all moving in one and the same direction, as with the hands of a watch. A similar circuit is made by the devout in the evening, to say nothing of smaller circuits around individual shrines; at least this is imperative on common folk; as to the great and wealthy,' they urge that their presence would only interfere with the piety of the people, so they engage substitutes, who, however, are rigorously required to cireumambulate for their masters. But whether done in person or by proxy, a careful reckoning is kept of the number of circuits performed, and these, in occasional cases of excessive devotion, are even executed by the method of successive prostrations full length on the road, each prostration beginning where the preceding one ended, called “* Kiang K’or.”

Of the places sacred to the Guru, the most celebrated is the

' Says A. K. (HENEssy’s Jdstract, p. 293).

320 SHRINES, RELICS, AND PILGITGB.

“Lotus lake” (Ts’o Padma-c'an), on which he is believed to have been born. It is usually stated to be in Udyina, but other accounts place it near Haridwar." In Nepal at Halasi on the bank of the Dudh-Kusi is the famous hermitage of the Guru on a hill with many fossil remains, which from their deseription suggest the outlying Siwaliks range

In the mountains, two days’ journey south of Gryang-tse, near the unreformed monastery of Ne-kar, is a celebrated rock-cut cave of St. Padma, called Kyil-kor ta-dub, It is thus deseribed? :—

“We took lighted lamps, and after going 120 paces inside the cavern we reached an open flat space about twenty feet square, from which a rock-cut Jadder led us up to another open space about ten feet square ; thirty paces further brought us to a stone seat, said to be the seat of Guru Padma-sambhava. Behind the seat was a small hole drilled through the rock: through this hole a wooden spoon about two feet long was passed by the sister of the Lima who accompanied us, and a small amount of reddish dust was extracted which is said to be the refuse of the Guru's food. This we ate and found very sweet to the taste. Then after lighting some sacred Jamps and asking a blessing, we descended by another flight of steps to a place where a stream issues from the face of the rock. The total length of the cave from the entrance of the stream ix about a quarter of a mile. There are ascents and descents, and many turns and twists through narrow passages where only one man can go at a time, and many people are afraid to risk exploring the place. If the lamp were to go out there would be no finding the way back again.”

Colossal images of Jam-pa or “ The Loving One” ‘the Buddha to come), and sometimes of Avalokita are occasionally carved on cliffs. A monster image of the god Maitreya (Jam-pa), three storeys in height, is mentioned by explorer A. K.;° the figure is internally of clay, and is well gilded externally ; it is seated on a platform on the ground floor, and its body, passing succes-

1 One account given me says that three days from the tewn in’ nerthern India named Nirdun ¢? Dehra Dun) lies Ramnagar, thence four days Haraduar, where there is a railway station, thence on foot two days to Guruduar, whenee Ts'o Padma is eight days distant amongst seven hills, ike Mt. Meru. In regard to it, the Shew-bhala Lem-yiy contains the following passage: “At the city of the king Da-va-tse of Pu-rang, in consequence of water striking against coal, at might the coal is seen burning. It is said of this coal and water, that they have the peculiarity that: the water, if introduced into the stomach of man or beast, turns into stone.”

2 awa U.G. SR, loc. cit., p. 20.

S Tesnssy, S2., doe. eof. para d9. Animage similar to this, thirty feet high, but of ail copper, is noted by the Lama 0. Go, fore. p. 22. Lake at Ronelvam Ch’en, near the crossing of the Tangpo, near Yam-dok,

RECEPTION BY LAMAIST POPE. - 321

sively through the second and third floors, terminates in a jewelled and capped colossal head above the latter floor ; in all, the figure and platform are said to be seventy or eighty feet high. Now, asan essential feature in Tibetan worship is the performance of circuits around an image, it will be seen that the pilgrim in circling this image of Jam-pa is compelled by circumstances to perform three different series of circumambulations on as many floors ; at first around the god’s legs, next around his chest, and lastly around his head.

But, after all, the greatest pilgrimage to which a Lamaist devotee looks is to the Buddhist-god incarnate at Lhasa, the Grand Dalai Laima.

Accounts of the culmination of such a pilgrimage have been recorded by Manning and others. The infant Grand Lima, who received Manning, was altogether a prodigy. A reception by the (yrand Tashi Lima, one of the many witnessed by Mr. Bogle, is thus described by that gentleman ! (see figure, page 305) :—

“On the 12th November, a vast crowd of people came to pay their respects, and to be blessed by the Lima. He was seated under a canopy in the court of the palace. They were all ranged in a circle. First came the lay folks. Everyone according to his circumstances brought some offering. One gave a horse, another a cow; some gave dried sheep’s carcasses, sacks of flour, pieces of cloth, etc.; and those who had nothing else presented a white Pelong handkerchief. All these offerings were received by the Lima’s servants, who put a bit of silk with a knot upon it tied, or supposed to be tied, with the Lima’s own hands, about the necks of the votaries. After this they advanced up to the Lima, who sat cross-legged upon a throne formed with seven cushions, and he touched their head with his hands, or with a tassel hung from a stick, according to their rank and character. The ceremonial is this: upon the gylongs or laymen of very high rank he lays his palm, the nuns and inferior laymen have a cloth interposed between his hand and their heads ; and the lower class of people are touched as they pass by with the tassel which he holds in his hand. . . . . There might be about three. thousand people

1 Op. cit., p. 85. A grander reception is described by him at p, 98. Me

322 SHRINES, RELICS, AND PILGRIMS,

—men, women, and children—at this ceremony. Such as had children on their backs were particularly solicitous that the child’s head should also be touched with the tassel. There were a good many boys and some girls devoted to the monastic order by having a lock of hair on the crown of the head cropped by the Lama with a knife. This knife came down from heaven in a flash of lightning.

After the Lima retired, many people stayed behind ae they might kiss the cushions upon which he had sat.”

The ordinary receptions by his holiness have been described by the survey spy A. K.! Since his worshippers are in thousands, and it is only to those who are wealthy or of high degree that he can afford to address even a brief sentence or two, this is always done in a deep hoarse voice, acquired by training in order to convey the idea that it emanates from maturity and wisdom. Seated crosslegged on a platform some six feet high, he is dressed to be worshipped in the usual colours of priesthood, 2.¢., red and yellow, and with bare arms, as required of all Buddhist priests, and holds a rod from the end of which hangs a tassal of silk, white, red, yellow, green, and blue. The pilgrim, coming in at the entrance door, advances with folded hands as if in prayer, and resting his head against the edge of the platform above him, mentally and hastily repeats the petitions he would have granted. These unuttered prayers the Dalai Lima is understood to comprehend intuitively ; he touches the pilgrim’s head with the bunch of silk in token of his blessing, and the worshipper is hurried out at the east. door by attendants, only too happy if he has passed say half a minute in the vicinity of the great priest. This is the common procedure. Persons of rank or substance are permitted to mount the platform and to perform obeisance there, receiving the required blessing by actual touch of the Dalai Lama’s hand; subsequently such worshipper may be allowed a seat. below the platform where a few hoarse utterances of enquiry may be addressed to him by the Dalai Liima, and he may also be given some food.

The account of one of these more select receptions, to which

Baber Sarat gained admission in disguise, is here abridged from his narrative.

‘We are seated on rugs spread in about eight rows, my seat being in

1 Lor, vit., edited by HENEssy, para. 20. x

RECEPTION BY LAMAIST POPE. 323

the third row, at a distance of about ten feet from the Grand Lama’s throne, and a little to his left. There was perfect silence in the grand hall. The state officials walked from left to right with serene gravity, as becoming their exalted rank in the presence of the supreme viceregent of Buddha on earth. The carrier of the incense-bow! (suspended by three golden chains), the head steward, who carried the royal golden teapot, and other domestic officials then came into his holiness’s presence, standing there motionless as pictures, fixing their eyes, as it were, on the tips of their respective noses.

“The great altar, resembling an oriental throne, pillared on lions of carved wood, was covered with costly silk scarves; and on this his holiness, a child of eight, was seated. A yellow mitre covered the child's head, his person was robed in a yellow mantle, and he sat crosslegged, with the palms of his hands joined together to bless us. In my turn I received his holiness’s benediction and surveyed his divine face. 1 wanted to linger a few seconds in the sacred presence, but was not allowed to do so, others displacing me by pushing me gently. The princely child possessed a really bright and fair complexion with rosy cheeks. His eyes were large and penetrating. . . . The thinness of his person was probably owing to the fatigues of the ceremonies of the court, of his religious duties, and of ascetic observances to which he had been subjected since taking the vows of monkhood. . . . When all were seated after receiving benediction, the head steward poured tea into his holiness’s golden cup from the golden teapot. Four assistant servers poured tea into the cups of the audience. Before the Grand Lama lifted his cup to his lips a grace was solemnly chanted. Without even stirring the air by the movements of our limbs or our clothes, we slowly lifted our cups to our lips and drank the tea, which was of delicious flavour. Thereafter the head butler placed a golden dish full of rice in front of his holiness, which he only touched ; and its contents were then distributed. I obtained a handful of this consecrated rice, which I carefully tied in one corner of my handkerchief. After grace had been said, the holy child, in a low indistinct voice, chanted a hymn. Then a venerable gentleman rose from the middle of the first row of seats, and, addressing the Grand Lama as the Lord Avalokita Incarnate, recited the many deeds of merey which that patron saint of Tibet had vouchsafed towards its benighted people. At the conclusion he thrice prostrated himself before his holiness, when a solemn pause followed ; after which the audience rose, and the Grand Lima retired.

“One of the butler’s assistants gave me two packets of pills, and the other tied a scrap of red silk round my neck. The pills, I was told, were Chinlab (blessings consecrated by Buddha-Kashyapa and other saints), and the silk scrap, called sungda (knot of blessing), was the Grand Lama’s usual consecrated return for presents made by pilgrims and devotees.”

cs: lo eae

XIV.

«Since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour oni

drink-offerings to her, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and famine.”—Jeremiah xliv., 18.!

Sa AMAIST mythology is a fascinating field for exploring the primitive conceptions of life, and the way in which the great forces of nature become deified. It also shows the gradual growth of legend and idolatry, with its diagrams of the unknown and fetishes; and how Buddhism with its creative touch bodied forth in concrete shape the abstract conceptions of the learned, and, while incorporating into its pantheon the local gods of the country, it gave milder meanings to the popular myths and legends.

The pantheon is perhaps the largest in the world. It is peopled by a bizarre crowd of aboriginal gods and hydra-headed demons, who are almost jostled off the stage by their still more numerous Buddhist rivals and counterfeits. The mythology, being largely of Buddhist authorship, is full of the awkward forms of Hindi faney and lacks much of the point, force, and picturesqueness of the myths of Europe. Yet it still contains cruder forms of many of these western myths,” and a wealth of imagery.

Primitive Buddhisin, as we have seen, knows no god in the sense of a Creator or Absolute Being; though Buddha himself

1 Compare with the analogous Buddhist ** Queen of Heaven, Tara or Kwan-yin, pp. 435, etc.

2 ct. V. A. Saatrx “ On the Grieco-Roman influence on the Civilization of Ancient India,” J.A.S. B., 1891-92, p. 50, etc. Also Prof. GRUNWEDEL, /oc. cit.

BAGLY BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY. 325

seems to have heen in this respect an agnostic rather than an atheist.

But, however, this may be, the earliest Buddhist mythology known to us gives the gods of the Hindiis a very prominent place in the system. And while rendering them finite and subject to the general law of metempsychosis, yet so far accepts or tolerates the current beliefs in regard to their influence over human affairs as to render these gods objects of fear and respect, if not of actual adoration by the primitive Buddhists.

The earliest books purporting to reproduce the actual words spoken by the Buddha make frequent references to the gods and demons. And in the earliest of all authentic Indian records, the edict-pillars of Asoka, we find that model Buddhist delighting to eall himself “‘the beloved of the gods.” The earlier Buddhist monuments at Barhut, ete., also, are crowded with images of gods, Yakshas and other supernatural beings, who are there given attributes almost identical with those still accorded them by present- day Buddhists. Every Buddhist believes that the coming Buddha is at present in the Tushita heaven of the gods. And the Ceylonese Buddhists, who represent the purer form of the faith, still worship the chief Indian gods and are addicted to devilworship and astrology.’

But the theistic phase of Buddhism carried objective worship much further than this. For as Buddha himself occupied in primitive Buddhism the highest central point which in other faiths is occupied by a deity, his popular deification was only natural.

In addition to the worship of Buddha, in a variety of forms, the Mahayana school created innumerable metaphysical Buddhas and Bodhisats whom it soon reduced from ideal abstractness to idolatrous form. And it promoted to immortal rank many of the demons of the Sivaist pantheon ; and others specially invented by

1 Ruys Davins, 2, p. 7. “In the courtyard of nearly all the wihadras (monasteries) in Ceylon there is a small dewala (or god-temple) in which the Bralmanical deities are worshipped. The persons who officiate in them are called Aupavas. They marry. The incantations they use are in Sanskrit (kast. Mow. p. 201). The chief gods worshipped are Vishnu, Kataragama, Nata who in the next Kalpa is to become Maitreva Buddha, and Pattini Deva. Other temples belong to tutelaries, «.7,, Saman Deva, the tutelary of Buddha's foot-print, Sri-pade (20 pt, Nereter Tenures Concmrssvany Ceylon, 1872, p. 62). It is probable that this Pattini is the tutelary goddess of Asoka’s capital, Patna. Cf. my Discovery of eraet site of Patalipatra, ete., 1892."

itself as defensores fidei ; and to all of these it gave characteristic forms. It also incorporated most of the local deities and demons of those new nations it sought to convert. There is, however, as already noted, reason for believing that many of the current forms of Brihmanical gods were suggested to the Brahmans by antecedent Buddhist forms. And the images have come to be of the most idolatrous kind, for the majority of the Lamas and almost all the laity worship the image as a sort of fetish, holy in itself and not merely as a diagram or symbol of the infinite or unknown.

The Lamaist pantheon, thus derived from so many different sources, is, as may be expected, extremely large and complex. Indeed, so chaotic is its crowd that even the Lamas themselves do not appear to have reduced its members to any generally recognized order, nor even to have attempted complete lists of their motley deities. Though this is probably in part owing to many gods being tacitly tolerated without being specially recognized by the more orthodox Lamas.

The nearest approach to a systematic list which I have seen, is the Pekin Lima’s list so admirably translated by the late Mr. Pander,! but this, as well as all the other extant lists, is defective in many ways and only fragmentary.

The chief Tibetan treatises on the Limaist pantheon according to my Laima informants, are :— |

(a) Z’a-lu Lé-tsa-wa’s, “The means of obtaining The Hundred (gods). This is said to be the oldest of the extant systematic works on Lamaist deities and seems to date from about 1436 a.p., when Z’a-lu succeeded to the great Pandit Atisa’s chair at Gah-ldan monastery. Zha-lu Loch’en, “the great translator,” states that he translated his description from one of the three great Indian works by Pandit Bhavaskanda entitled ‘‘Slokas on the means of obtaining (tutelary and other deities).”* The term “the hundred ” which occurs in the title of this and the following treatises refers only to the chief divinities ; for the total number described is much greater.

(b) Pari Lo-tsa-was “The Hundred precious Manifestations of Narthang.” ' ‘This work issuing from the great press at Narthang near Tashi-lhunpo is said to deal mainly, if not solely, with those omitted by Halu, and is placed about the sixteenth century .p.

1 Das Pantheon des Tschangtscha Hutuktu, etc. 2 sGrubs-t'ub brgya-rtsa,

3 Serub-tub tig bead, Skt. ? Sudaxan sloka. 4 yin-byun sNar-t'an brgya-rtsa.

THE LAMAIST PANTHEON. 327

(c) Tavanatha’s “The Hundred precious Appearances.” + This work by the great historiographer Lama Taranatha contains mainly residual deities omitted by the two previous writers ; but it is chiefly devoted to the more demoniacal forms.’ This work dates from about 1600 a.v. and was, I think, printed at Phun-ts’o-ling near Narthang ; but I omitted to note this point specially while consulting the book at Darjiling.”

(d) The Dalai Lama Nag-wan Lé-zai Gya-ts’6’s “autobiography,” written in the latter half of the seventeenth century a.v. In its mythological portion it describes chiefly those aboriginal Tibetan deities which had become grafted upon orthodox Lamaism.

All the foregoing works have been consulted by me except the second or Narthang text, which seems to be the same book referred to by Pander.’ The Pekin work translated by Pander and dating from 1800 A.p., seems to have been a compilation from the above sources in regard to those particular deities most favoured by the Chinese and Mongolian Lamas, though the descriptions with the Pekin list are often meagre and freyuently different in many details compared with the earlier work of Za-lu.’ Another book, also, it would seem, printed in China, was ob-

tained by Mr. Rockhill.*

I cannot attempt, at least at present, to give any satisfactory classification of such a disorderly mob, but I have compiled from the foregoing sources a rough general descriptive list, so as to give a somewhat orderly glimpse into this chaotic crowd of gods, demons, and deified saints.

Arranged in what appears to be the order of their rank, from above downwards, the divinities seem to fall under the following seven classes :—

1. Buddhas.—Celestial and human.

2. Bodhisats.—Celestial and human, including Indian saints

and apotheosized Lamas.

3. Tutelaries.—Mostly demoniacal.

4. Defenders of the Faith, and Witches (Dakkini).

5. Indian Brahmanical gods, godlings, and genil.

1 Rin-’byun-brgya rtsa.

2 Gon-po, Skt., Natha ; and Lha-mo, Skt., Kali.

3 It may probably be a version of this work which Pander (Zectsehiift fiir, Ethnolusre, p. 54, Berlin, 1889) refers to as published at Urgya by a successor of Taranatha rJe-btsun ydam-pa.

4 Op. cit., p. 63.

5 With these lists may also be compared the illustrated Buddhist pantheon of the Japanese, Butzu dso-dsu/, reproduced in parts in Prof. J. Hoffman at Leyden in SieBoLp'’s Nippon Archic zur Beschreibung con Japan, Vol. v.,and by Dr, W. ANDERSON in his admirable Catalogue of Jup. Paintings tn British Musermn.

® It gives pictures of the gods and saints with their special mantras.

6. Country gods (yul-lba) and guardians (srun-ma), and Local

gods. :

7. Personal gods, or familiars.

The tutelaries, however, overlap the classes above them as well as the next one below, and some of the “ guardians” are superior to the Indian gods. The first four classes, excepting their human members, are mostly immortal,! while the remainder are within the cycle of re-births.

Before giving the list of these various divinities, and descriptive details of the images of the more important ones, let us look at the typical forms and attitudes, the material, and methods of exeeution of images in general.

The immense numbers of images abounding in Tibet are not confined to the temples, but are common in the houses of the laity, in the open air, as talismans in amulet-boxes, and painted or printed as screens, and on the title-pages of books, and as charms, etc.

The artists are almost exclusively Limas, though a few of the best idols in Lhasa are made by Newari artisans from Nepal, who are clever workers in metal and wood. Some also are painted by lay-artists, but such images must- be consecrated by Lamas in order to be duly efficacious as objects of worship, for most of the images are credited with being materially holy, like fetishes, and capable of hearing and answering prayers. The mode of executing the images, as regards the materials, the auspicious times to commence the image, and to form the most essential parts, such as the eyes, are all duly defined in the scriptures, whose details are more or less strictly observed. Many of the more celebrated idols are believed by the people and the more credulous Lamas to be altogether miraculous in origin—‘ self-formed,” or fallen from heaven ready fashioned.’

The images are executed in various ways: as statues or basreliefs (sku) and medallions, andas pictures (sku-t’an or z’al-t’an).” The statues are sometimes of colossal size,* especially those of

1 The Lamas do not generally, as do the Nepalese Buddhists, restrict immortality to Adi-Buddha.

• 2 The Hindus entertain the same belicf as regards their dp-rupe idols, which are mostly ancient Buddhist ones.

3 Lit. =flat + imege.

• Schlagintweit describes (Bxd., p. 220) one of these colossal images at Leh as “the 3uddha in Meditation,” and as higher than the temple itself, the head going through

THE {MAGES AND PAINTINGS. 329 Maitreya, or * The coming Buddha,” which are oeeasionally rockcut ; but most are less than life-size.

Of statues the most common form is the plastic,’ all of which are gilt or coloured. They are often cast, as bus-rel/refs, in moulds, and are formed of coarse poprer-maché, or clay, breaddough, ‘compressed incense, or variously-tinted butter,’ and the larger pnes have a central framework of wood. The plastic image

or moulded positive is then dried in the sun those made of butter,—and it is afterwards painted or gilt.

excepting, of course,

The gilt-copper images * are more prized. The costly ones are inlaid with rubies, turquoises, and other precious stones. Less common are those of bell-metal,’ while the poorer people are content with images of brass or simple copper. Wooden images® are not common, and stone images" are least frequent of all, and are mostly confined to the shallow bas-reliefs on slabs, or rock-cut on cliffs. Internal organs of dough or clay are sometimes inserted into the bodies of the larger images, but the head is usually left empty; and into the more Valued ones are put precious stones and

filings of the noble metals, and a few grains

AMIT ALLS. of consecrated rice, a scroll bearing “the (Gilt copper from Lhasa.)

Buddhist creed,” and occasionally other texts, booklets, and relics. These objects are sometimes mixed with the plastic material, but usually are placed in the central cavity, the entrance to which, called “the charm-place,”* is sealed up by the consecrating Lima.’ And the image is usually veiled by a silken scarf.®

Here also may be mentioned the mimature funereal images or the roof. © The body is a frame of wood, dressed with draperies of cloth and paper the head, the arms, and the feet are the only parts of the body moulded of clay.”

1 jim-ezugs,

2 Hve'’s Soe, ii, p. 95: RookHiLe, Lewd, i. p. 69. In Cevlon temporary images are said to be made of rice. —Harpy’s East. Mon., 22.

4 osepezans-sku, + li-ma. ’Sin-skiu, ®* tlo-sku, 7 zun-zhug. 8 This ceremony is called “ rabs-gnas zhug-pa.” Cf. Csoma, -1., p. 403.

© The images of the tierce gods and goddesses especially are veiled. ‘The veil cover. ing the face of Mere is called * Lha-moi zhab-kebs. Itis a white silken scarf, about

caityas, rooulded of clay or dough, with or without the addition< of relics,! and corresponding to the dharma-sarira of the Indian stiuypas, and mentioned by Hiuen Tsiang in the seventh century A.D. Small consecrated medallions of clay are also given by the Dalai and Tashi Grand Limas to donors of largess, in return for their gifts, one of which is figured as a tail-piece on page 304,

The pictures are mostly paintings,seldom uncoloured drawings, and many of them are of considerable artistic merit. The style and technique are, in the main, clearly of Chinese origin. (tibieuae especially seen in the conventional form of clouds, water, ete., though the costumes are usually ‘Tibetan, when not Indian. The eye of the Buddhas and the more benign Bodhisats is given a dreamy look by representing the upper eyelid as dented 4 at its centre like a

GUARDIAN KING OF THE SOUTH, cupid’s bow, but I have as noticed this same peculiarity in mediwval Indian Buddhist sculptures.

eighteen inches broad, with red borders about a foot wide, And on it are dy wn in colours several of the auspicious symbols, the swastika, elephants’ tusks, conch, jewels, also the goad, etc., and the mystic spell Bhyc=.

1 Called sa-fsehoa.

THE PAINTINGS. 331

The paintings are usually done on cloth, frescoes! being mostly confined to the mural decoration of temples. The colours are very brilliant and violently contrasted, owing to the free use of crude garish pigments, but the general colour effect in the deep gloom of the temple, or when the painting is toned down by age, is often pleasing.

The cloth used is canvas or cotton—seldom silk. It is prepared by stretching it while damp over a wooden frame, to which the margin of the cloth is stitched; and its surface is then smeared over with a paste of lime and flour, to which a little glue is sometimes added. On drying, its surface is rubbed smooth and slightly polished by a stone, and the drawing is then outlined either by hand with a charcoal crayon, or, in the more technical subjects, by a stencil-plate consisting of a sheet of paper in which the pattern is perforated by pin-holes, through which charcoal dust is sifted.

The lines are then painted in with Chinese ink, and the other colours, which are usually crude pigments imported from China or India. The colours are simply mixed with hot thin glue, and as the picture is unvarnished, Limaist paintings are especially subject to injury by damp.

On completion, the artist puts a miniature figure of himself in a corner at the bottom in an adoring attitude. The painting is then eut out of its rough easel-frame, and it has borders sewn on to it, consisting of strips of coloured silk or brocade, and it is mounted on rollers with brazen ends, somewhat after the manner of a map or a Japanese Kakemono.” But it is not so elongated as the latter, nor is it so artistically mounted or finished.

The mounted Tibetan painting has a tricoloured cloth border of red, yellow, and blue from within outwards, which is alleged to represent the spectrum colours of the rainbow, which separates sacred objects from the material world. The outer border of blue is broader than the others, and broadest at its lowest border, where it is usually divided by a vertical patch of brocade embroidered with the dragons of the sky.

A veil is usually added as a protection against the grimy smoke of incense, lamps and dust. The veil is of flimsy silk, often

1 ’dabs-ris. 2 Cf. W. ANDERSON’s Catalogue Japanese Pictures ; NotT and Guiippon, Zrdiy, Races, 302.

adorned with sacred symbols, and it is hooked up when the picture is exhibited.

Now we are in a position to consider the detailed description of the images. The various forms of images fall into characteristic types, which, while mainly anthropomorphic, differ in many ways as regards their general form, attitude, features, dress, emblems, etc., yet all are constructed, according to a special canon, so that there is no difficulty in distinguishing a Buddhist image from a Brahmanical or a Jain.

The forms of images differ broadly, as regards the general type or mode of the image, the posture of the body (sedent or otherwise), and the attitude in which the hands are held, the number of arms, which are emblematic of power, and the symbols or insignia which they bear, as signifying their functions.

The general type of Buddha’s image is well-known. It is that of a mendicant monk, without any ornaments and with tonsured hair, and it is also extended to most of the mythical Buddhas. It is called the Muni or saint-type,! and it is usually represented upon a lotus-flower, the symbol of divine birth.

Kixtra to this type, the three others most common are :— Ist. “The Mild” calm form (Z’i-wa?) or Bodhisat type. 2nd. “The Angry” type (Z"o-ro*), of the “ Howler” (Rudra and Murut), or Storm-deity of Vedic times. srd. “The Fiercest” fiend type (Dray-po or Drag-s'é'y ; a fiercer form of No. 2, and including the “lord ”- fiends.® These latter two types are confined mainly to Tantrik Buddhism, Which, as with Tintrik Hinditism, gives each divinity a double or treble nature with corresponding aspects. In the quiescent state the deity is of the mild Bodhisat type; in the active he is of the Angry or Fiercest-fiend type. ‘Thus the Bodhisat Manjusri, the (rod of Wisdom, in his ordinary aspect is a “ Mild” deity (Z’i-wa); as ‘* The Fearful Thunderbolt” ( Bhairava-vajra), he is an “Angry”

1 tub-bzugs,

2 Tibeto-Sanskrit: dictionaries give “Siva as well as “Santi” as the Sanskrit equivalent of this word, so it may literally mean a mild torm of the Sivaist gods,

2 NWro-ho trom the Skt. Avodha, anger,

1 Pirinpsepo ov [rengs-as ed.

s nidion-poo Skt. Ve Cee.

THE MILD DEITIES. 333

deity (Z”o-wo); and as “ The six-faced dreadful King-demon,”! he is of “ The Fiercest Fiend ” type (Drag-po).

To avoid unnecessary repetition in the detailed descriptions, it seems desirable to give here a general note on these typical mild and demoniacal aspects, and also on the attitudes of the body and of the fingers. |

The “ Mild” (Z’i-wa) deities are of what has been called by some European writers “the Bod- hisat type.” They are figured as young handsome Indian princes and princesses, seated usually on lotus thrones, and are thus described by Z’a-lu: The figure looks proud, youthful, beautiful,’ and refined. The body emits a halo of innumerable rays of light, figured as radiating wavy lines, with tremulous lines alternating. The dress is ~ of the Indian style, aN os RVAE with one silk shawl for : PEE Cy ee ! the lower limbs, and Ps gN- (que 2: SG es one for the upper, a AN head ornament (or Eee fF crown) of precious things, an ear-ring, a close - fitting necklace,

and a doshal or garland nee f OES reaching down to the [EQ ya getPos

ice oy CAR

thigh, and a Semondo oN ED LP Whi ot or shorter garland reach- a ing to the navel, an ; armlet, wristlet, brace- ASSAM.

let, anklet, girdle (‘ok- The Buddha of Boundless Life.

pags), and a sash (dar-

‘pyen) with fringes. The above ornaments are accounted thirteen.

1 gdon-drug-ch’an ’jig-byed bdud-las rnam rgyal. 2 According to the rhyme: rje-btsun ’jam dbyans k’ros-pa-ni rdo-rje ‘jigs byed ’jigs par byed, k’ro-bor rgyal-po gdon drug c’an.

• For the (30 or 84) secondary beauties, cf. Burnovr’s Luts, App., Vii., HAkpy’s Mui., 367, Ras. L. Mirra’s Lul/ite Vist. For description of Hindi Idols, see Brihat Samhita, translated by Dr, Kern, J.R.A.S,,vi., 322.

do4 PANTHEON, SAINTS, AND IMAGES.

The hair of the gods is dressed up into a high cone named ral-pa’-t’or-

tshugs, and the forehead usually bears the ¢i/ak or auspicious mark.

The goddesses are given a graceful formwith slender waist and swelling

breasts, and their hair is dressed into plaits which lie on the hinder , part of the neck, and they beam with smiles.

The “ Angry” type (Z7"o-wo) is terrible in its elaborate ugliness, with disproportionately large head,} scowling brows, and cruel, callous eyes, and usually with a third eye in the centre of the forehead.? Z’a-lu de- scribes them as fat, brawny-limbed, and menacing in attitude, standing or half-seated uponsome animal, their lips agape, showing their great canine: fangs, and rolling tongue; their wolfish eyes are glaring, the beards, eyebrows, and hair are either yellow, red, reddishyellow, or greyish- yellow, and the hair is erect, with occa-

THE SHE-DEVIL DEVI. : : T., Lha-mo. sionally a fringe of

curls on the forehead, believed by some to represent coiled snakes. The females, as in the annexed figure,* except for their full breasts and the absence of beards, do not differ in appearance from the males.

1 (f, Scuiac., B., p. 222, for measurements of proportions of several of these images.

2 Trilécana, a character also of the Hindi Bhairava and Kali and their demon troop of followers, the gene,

• After Pander.

FIERCE DEITIES AND POSTURES. 335

All these fiends have six ornaments of human bones, namely: (1 ear ornament, (2) necklet, (3) armlet, (4) bracelet, (5) anklet (but some have snake-bracelets and anklets), and (6) a garland of circular bodies, fixed to bone-heads (seralkha), and corresponding to the semodo of the Z'i-wa, and occasionally they have a doshal garland. The foregoing is according to the Indian canon, but the Tibetan style enumerates for them thirteen ornaments, namely : (1) the raw hide of an elephant, as an upper covering, (2) skins of human corpses as a lower garment, (3) a tiger skin inside the latter, (4) Brahma’s thread (ts’an-skud), (5 to 10) the six bone ornaments above noted, (11) Tilak mark on forehead, of blood, (12) Grease (Z’ag) on either side of mouth, and (13) ashes smeared over body.

The “ Fiercest ” Fiends—(Drag-po and GOn-po) closely resemble the above “ Angry Deities.” They have usually chaplets of skulls encircled by tongues of flames; and they tread upon writhing victims and prostrate bodies.

As regards the Postures of the images, the chief sedent postures, and especially characteristic of the several forms of Buddha himself, and secondarily of the celestial Buddhas and Bodhisats are as follows :—

(1) “The adamantine, unchangeable, or fixed pose” (Skt., Vajra (2) Palaia*) sedent in the well-known cross-legged Buddha posture, The legs ave locked firmly and the soles directed fully upwards. This is the pose of deepest meditation, hence it is also called, when the hands lie loosely in the lap, the “ Dhyana or meditative mudra.” *

(2) “The Bodhisat-pose” (Skt., Satva (?) palana*) differs from No. 1 in having the legs looser and unlocked. ‘The soles are scarcely seen. This is the pose of first emergence from meditation.

(3) “ The sub-active pose” (Skt. (?) Niyampalana) * is emerged farther from meditation. It has the legs unlocked, the left being quite under the right, and the soles invisible.

SARYA IN MEDITATION.

' rdo-rje skyil-drun. sems-dpa skyil drun. $ Skyil dkrun chun zad.

(4) “The Enchanter’s pose” (Skt., Lalita ‘), z.e., after the manner of ‘‘The Enchanter ” Mafjusri. Here the right leg hangs down with an inclination slightly inwards and the left is loosely bent.

(5) Maitreya’s pose.” Sedent in the European style with both legs pendant.

The chief attitudes of the hands and fingers (wdras*) are the following, and most are illustrated in the figures :—-

Tut Five Ceresriat JiINas (ok BUDDHAS). Aimovha-siddhi, Amitabha, Vairocana, Akshobhya. Ratna sambhava,

1. • Karth-touching,” or the so-called “ Witness” attitude (kt., Bhiasgparse'), with reference to the episode under the Tree of Wis-

1 yol-ba bzugs. > byams hbzugs. 4 pyag-rgya. + sa-gnon.

ATTITUDES OF HANDS. 337

dom, when Sakya Muni called the Earth as his witness, in his temptation by Mara. It affects only the right hand, which is pendant with the knuckles to the front. It is the commonest of all the forms of the sedent Buddha, and almost the only form found in Burma and Ceylon. It is also given to the celestial Buddha Akshobhya, as seen in the figure on the preceding page.

2. “The Impartial” (Skt., Samdhitan'), or so-called “ meditative posture” (Skt., Samadhi*). Resting one hand over the other in the lap in the middle line of the body, with the palms upwards, as in Amitabha Buddha (see the attached figure).

3. “The best Perfection” (Skt., Uttara-hodhi*). Index-finger and thumb of each hand are joined and held almost in contact with the breast at the level of the heart, as in the celestial Buddha Vairocana in the figure on the opposite page.

4. “Turning the Wheel of the Law” (Skt., Dharma-cakra '). Dogmatic attitude with right index-tinger turning down fingers of left hand, figured at page 134.

5. “The best Bestowing ” (Skt., VTarada’). It signifies charity. The arm is fully extended, and the hand is directed downwards with the outstretched palm to the front, as in “ the Jewel-born” Buddha Ratnasambhava, who is figured on the opposite page.

6. “The Protecting,” or “ Refuge-giving ” (Skt., Saran°). With arm bent and palm to front, and pendant with fingers directed downwards, as in No. 5.

7. “The Blessing of Fearlessness” (Skt. ? Abhaya). The arm is elevated and slightly bent. The hand elevated with the palm to the front, and the fingers directed upwards, as in Amogha-siddha Buddha, figured over page. It is also the pose in the episode of the mad elephant.

8. “The Preaching ”* differs from No. 7 in having the thumb bent, and when the thumb touches the ring-finger it is called “The triangular ° (pose), see figure on page 5.

9. “The Pointing Finger.” " A necromantic gesture in bewitching, peculiar to later Tantrism.

The halo, or nimbus, around the head is subelliptical, and never acuminate like the leaf of the pipal or Bodhi tree (Ficus religvosa). The fierce deities have their halo bordered by flames (see figure page 330). An additional halo is often represented as surrounding the whole body, as figured at pages 333 and 335. This con- sists of the six coloured rays of light, and it is conventionally represented by wavy gilt lines with small tremulous lines alternating.

Colowr, too, is frequently an index to the mood. Thus, white

1 mnam-bz’ag. 2 tin-ne ’dsin. 3 byan-chub-mch’og.

• ch’os ?kor-bskor, > meh'og-sbyin. ® skyab-sbyin.

• cltosweadk 8 pa-dan rtse gsum. ° sdigs-dsub.

and yellow complexions usually typify mild moods, while the red, blue and black belong to fierce forms, though sometimes light blue, as indicating the sky, means merely celestial. Generally the gods are pictured white, goblins red, and the devils black, like their European relative.

The Buddhas and other divinities, as well as the superior devils, are figured upon a lotus-flower, a symbol of divinity. The lotus-flower, on which the Buddhas and mild divinities are figured, is the red lotus (Nelwmbiwm specioswm) ; while the fiercer divinities, including frequently Avalokita, and all those demons who are entitled to lotus-cushions, should have a pinkish variety of the white lotus (Nympheu esculenta), the petals of which are much notched or divided, so as to resemble somewhat the Acanthus in Corinthian capitals. The blue lotus is the special flower of Tari, but it is conventionally represented by the Lamas as different from the Utpal (Myinphwa sp.), as figured on the opposite page.

A remarkable feature of most Tantrik Buddhist images is the frequent presence of a Buddha seated on the head of the image

TABLE SHOWING THE SURMOUNTING JIZNAS IN BUDDHIST IMAGES.

: | Ratnasam. | eRe Amogha- JINAS. | Vairocana. Akshobhya. al Amitabha. a a eee fas ! a ial Maitreya Muni-yajrasan | : Amitayus Maitreya Surmounted | ? Samanta- | Vajra-papi Ratna-pani Avalokita Visva-papi Boparsats. | __ bhadra | Manju-ghosha | Pita Jambhala, Padma-pani Prajna-para- |: (adhicakra) Pita Vaisra- Tara mita Jfianasattva | vana (pita) Manjusri ' Vasudhara Vetuda-Marici Sita “+ Kan-wa- Mahisahasran | Prajiia-pairamiti bhadra” Vijaya i : ! Pita-Vijaya ! Sita-Ushnisha _ | (= = — a Surmounted ) Kala-Yamari Rakta-yahiha | Hayagriva Kuru-kulle KRODHA- Sasmuka- Yama | Krodha Avalo- | Mahi- Hends, Kala-Jambhala | kita Tita Mayuri ’ Acala-Khroda_ | Brikuti raja | (?. .. Kal- Ri-kbra-loma- | pa) gyon mar | Kuru-kulle I! Hun mdsad ” ‘‘rTows-pa las- Khroda raja, | junwa- “Sau-nags rye ' Kurnu- ‘dsin-ma ” | | kuila” Maha-pratyan- ; gsilla teal gira | clven-mo ”

LOTUSES—SURMOUNTING BUDDHAS. 339

or amidst the hair. The existence of such surmounting images in the Tantrik Buddhist sculptures of India was noted by Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton in his survey of Bihar! at the beginning of this century, but since his time the subject has attracted only

wy one asst ) aot tay ways onlin ||

Utpa'. Blue Lotus, White Lotus. Asok. Naga-tree. LOTUSES and other flowers of conventional form. the merest incidental notice of writers on Indian Buddhist antiquities,” who seem to have considered all such images to be figures only of Avalokita, because Hiuen Tsiang mentioned that a certain image of Avalokita had Amitabha seated in his hair.

As the subject is interesting, and of some importance, I give in the tabie the results of my study of a large series of Limaist pictures containing such figures, and descriptions of others extracted from the works of Pandits “gZ’onnu” Gupta, Sritari, Kalamtira, Lhan-skyes rolwa-kun-rigs, and Bhavaskandha.

The surmounting image represents the spiritual father of the particular Bodhisat or deity; and he nearly always is one or other of the five Jinas, as the Tibetans term them,’ or the Buddhas of Meditation (Dhyani-Buddha), as they are called by the Nepalese Buddhists. In a few cases the coming-Buddha Maitreya is figured with Sakya Muni on his head, as indicating spiritual succession rather than parental relationship, but it is the latter which is the rule.

1 Kastern India, i.

2 India Archeological Survey Repts., by Sir A. Cuxnincuam; West India Arch. S. Repts., by J. Burcess; Catalogue of Archeolog. Collection in Indian Museum, by J. ANDERSON.

’ rgyal-ba rigs-lna—or “The Pentad Victors.” No one seems to have noticed this constant use by the Lamas of the word Jina for the celestial Buddhas, whom the Nepalese term Dhyani-Buddha, though it is interesting in regard to Jainism in its relations to Buddhism.

Z 2

Occasionally the surmounting Jinas are represented by their mystic emblems of a wheel, vajra, jewel, lotus, or visva-vajra, as will be described presently. Thus Ratnasambhava is usually represented by a jewel on the head of his spiritual reflex Jambhala, the god of wealth. And it is to be noted that when, as often happens, the image is surrounded by figures of the five Jinas in an are outside the halo, then its own special surmounting parent occupies the central position in that arc, whilst the others are placed two on each side at a lower level.

English Name. Tibetan, | Sanskrit.

1. a pike K’atvan khatvanga a trident K’a-’tvan-rtse-gsum trisila
2. hand-drum Da-ma-ru damaru
3. chisel-knife ari-gug hartrika 4, thunderbolt rDo-rje vara
4. cross-thunderbolt sNa-ts’ogs rdo-rje | visva-vajra
5. rosary Prei-ba | mala
6. Lotus-flower (white or! Pad-ma | red) pada blue lotus * Ut-pal utpal Agoka-flower ! Mya-nan-med pahi-shin | asohka ‘‘Naga’s tree” (cactus) /Lu-shin or coral) ! naga-taru
7. alarm-staff *k’ar-gail hikile, or khakhara begging-bowl *Lun-bzed patra

9. wish-granting gem (Yid bz’in) Norbu (einta-) mand

10. flames Me-ris, |

1l. snare? Z ags-pa pasa

12. bell dril-bu ghanta

13. wheel ’K’or-lo cakra

14. skull-eu T’od-k’rag hapala

15. thunderbolt-dagger | p’ur-bu phurbu(?)

16. spear gDun

17. club Be-con gada

18. dirk or dagger ’Chu-gri '

19. sword Ral-gri adi

20. axe dGra-sta parasu (?)

21. hammer T'o-ba mt’o-ba mudgara

22. iron-goad 1C’ags-kyu

23. mace Ben

24. thigh-bone trumpet | rhan-dun

25. conch-shell trumpet | Dun sankha

26. iron-chain | 1Chags-sgrog

27. skeleton-staff | dByug-pa |

28. See No. 1 (a)

29. water-pot | Buin-pa | haldsa anointing vase ' sPyi-glugs | ; fly-whisk rNa-yab chauri banner | rGyal-ints’an dhrajya

1 See figures on previous page. 2 To rescue the lost or to bind the opponents. A symbol of Siva, Varuna, and Lakshnx.

INSIGNTA. 341

The objects or insignia which the several figures hold in their hands refer to their functions. Thus, Manjusri, the god of wisdom, wields the sword of the truth in dissipating the darkness of ignorance, and in his left he carries the book of Wisdom

INSIGNIA AND WEAPONS OF THE (ODs, ETC.

upon a Lotus-flower, thus symbolizing its supernatural origin ; and

he rides upon a roaring lion to typify the powerfully penetrating voice of the Law.

The chief of these insignia and other objects held in the hands of the images are shown in the foregoing illustration! and are as follows; the numbers in this list correspond to those in the figures.

We now can look into the details of the principal members of the pantheon.

The vast multitude of deities forming the Limaist pantheon is, as already mentioned, largely created by embodying under different names the different aspects of a relatively small number of divinities with changing moods. Such expressed relationship, however, seems occasionally a gratuitous device of the Lamas in order to bring some of their indigenous Tibetan deities into relationship with the earlier and more orthodox celestial Bodhisats of Indian Buddhism. But the various forms have now all become stereotyped, and even a trivial difference in title yields a different form of image. Thus the images of “ Maitreya ” and “ Bhrikuti” differ much from those of ‘“ Bhadraka Maitreya ” and “Arya Bhrikuti.” And different writers differ in some of the minor details in their description of some of these stereotyped forms. Thus we have images described as “ in the fashion of Nagarjuna,” or of some one or other celebrated Indian monk or Lama.

First in our classification come the Buddhas, human and celes-

tial.

I. THE Buppaas.

The innumerable forms of the Buddhas, the fabulous terrestrial, the celestial and metaphysical, are all, witha few exceptions, based upon the five conventional attitudes ascribed to the historical Buddha, as marking the chief episodes of his Buddhahood. And of these “the Witness attitude” is in Tibet, as in Indian and southern Buddhism, the most common, Additional varieties are obtained by giving to these images different colours, ornaments, and symbols. Almost all are sedent in the well-known cross-legged attitude of Buddha’s image ; few are standing, and the recumbent or dying posture is very rarely seen in Tibet.

The typical Buddha is conventionally represented as a man of

1 After Panper, Panth., p. 108.

THE BUDDHAS. 343

the most: perfect form and beauty.! The face, usually of Aryan type and unbearded, wears a placid and benign expression. The head is bare, and the hair roughly tonsured and curly,’ with a protuberance * on the crown or vertex upon which is sometimes repre- sented a diadem.* He is clad in mendicant’s garb, without any jewellery. The shawl ® usually leaves the right shoulder bare, except when representing him preaching or walking abroad in public. He sits under the pipal-tree, the “Tree of Wisdom,” upon a eushion of lotus-flowers set upon a throne covered by a mat,® supported by lions or other animals, as a sort of heraldic shield. And the throne is sometimes surmounted by a framework bearing at its sides the figures of a rampant lion trampling upon an elephant, and surmounted by a “ water-lion,”* topped by a garuda-bird as the centre-piece or keystone of the arch.

1. Sakya Muni Bhagavan.

T., Sakya-t’ub-pa be’om-ldan ’das.

This typical form of the Buddha is figured as at page 6, but the right hand should be in the pose of Akshobhya at page 336. It represents Sakya Muni at the greatest epoch of his life, namely, under the ‘* Tree of Wisdom,” at the instant of his attaining his Buddhahood. He has the general characters of a Buddha as already described. He has a golden complexion, with tonsured indigo-coloured hair, and wears the three robes of a religious mendicant, without any ornaments. He sits in “the indestructible ” pose, with right hand in “ witness attitude,” and sometimes a begging-bowl rests on his lap. He is seated upon a cushion of

1 Possessing ‘‘the thirty beauties” and ‘‘the eighty secondary beauties.” These include a lotus mark on each palm and sole.

2 The ragged contour of Sakya’s cropped hair in his images is ascribed to his having on his great renunciation cut off his tresses with his sword, The cut locks of hair were carried to heaven, where the gods enshrined them in ‘‘ the tomb of the Jewelled Tresses’’ (Cudamani Caitya), which is still a regular object of worship with Burmese Buddhists.

3 Skt., Ushnisha ; Tib., Tsuy-tor-.

4 Skt., Cuda. The peculiar flame-like process intended to represent a halo of rays of light issuing from the crown, so common in Ceylon images, is not distinctly represented by the Tibetans, and at most by a jewel.

5 Tib., Lagot. 6 Tib., Zen-kab

1 Described by Hiven Tstane, BEav’s translation of S’-Pu-AY, ii., p. 122.

sacrificial grass“ set upon a lion-supported lotus-throne at the spet at Buddh-Gaya, in Gangetic India, afterwards called “ the adamantine throne.”* In this, his final struggle for the Truth, the powers of darkness which assailed him are concretely represented as Mira, the demon of Desire, and his minions. and the “three fires ” of desire are still pictured as heing above him.

Mira denies the good deeds in this and former lives. which qualified Sakva Muni for the Buddhahood, and calls upon him to produce his witness. Whereupon the embryo Buddha touches the ground and instantly the old mother Earth, Dharitri or Dharti Mata! appears riding upon a tortoise (symbolic of the earth), hearing in her hand a “ ports” garland, and she addresses the saint, saving, “lam your Witmess,°—hence the name of this attitude of Buddha, the *Earth-touching “or ** Witness.” The legend goes on to relate that the earth-spirit, wringing her hair. caused a huge river to issue therefrom, which swept away Mara and his hordes. This episode of wringing the hair and the destruction of Mara and his minious is frequently depicted in Burmese temples ; and the custom amongst the Burmese of pouring water on the ground at the conclusion of a religious service is, I am informed by a Burmese monk, an appeal to the earth-spirit to remember and bear witness to the particular good deed when men have forgotten it.

In the larger images of this form of Buddha he is frequently figured with his two favourite disciples standing by his side, Sariputra on his right, and Maudgalyavana on his left.

This title of Bhayoedn, or * The Victorious,” + is in Tibet the most frequently used of all Buddha's titles, after Sakva Muni aud Tathagata.

(ther recognized forms of Sakya’s image are :—

ta) Sakya in the four other sedent attitudes, and the standing and dying, or the so-enlled + lion “-postures,

4 Jo-wo Rin-porehe. * The Precious Lord.” wa young Indian prince of sixteen,

fe) Vajrasen Mani (Tub-pa rde-rje gdan tse-"k or-gsum ).

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• Vajrieume To. rde-tpe-ran, prom, Duerpe-diin. 4% Tafion® Preondiee Cites, i. Bbc h. BO.

• Le tier -hemrewe (Biome... 7: end Jamon, 22, 147.

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MYTHIC HUMAN BUDDHAS. ote

(2) Teub-pa dam-ts’ig geura-bked (Pawp.. No. 36).

(¢) Bhagavan ekajata (Csostas dn, p. 591).

(7) Buddha-kapala (Sans-rgyas t'od-pa: Payo.. No. 69 —a very ‘lemoniacal form.

And here also seem to come the mythological series of “ The Six Muni,” the presidents of the six worlds of re-birth—~ee “Wheel of Life.” These appear to be identical with “ The Six Jizo” of the Japanese, though the “Jiz)” are usually alleged to be forms of Kshitigarbhu, Here also should probably come “© The King of the powerful Nagas“! which seems to represent Buddha defended by the Viyu Muchilinda, who seers to be a historic person, a helot ‘that ix Naga) villager of Muchilinda, a hamlet which adjoins Buddh-Gaya.

2, The Seven Heroic Buddhas (of the Past)? or Tuthgatas?

This is a fabulous arrangement of human Buddhas, for none of them are historical except the last, to wit, Nakva Muni. Yet it was of early origin, as this ~erles of images, aml each of the number with his special tree of wisdom, is found in the Stipa of Barhut, which is assigned to about 150 g.c., and they are also enumerated in the southern scripture, the Digh-mihe yo,

In keeping with their imaginary character, all are given the most extravagant size and duration of earthly lite.*

Their number is sometimes extended! to nine. The most celebrated of the antecedent Buddhas is 17 pasiherrs (Tib., Mar-me- misad), “The Luminous.” This irnaginary Buddha ix considered by some of the Lamas to be the firet of the series of the seven earthly Buddhas preceding Sakya Muni, but by the Ceylonese he is placed as the twenty-fourth predecessor.’ He is represented as the first teacher of Sakyva in one of the former births of the latter, and a favourite Jataka-tale frequent in the Grindhara -culptures in the British Museum, and as a current picture in Burmah stows

1 kLu-dhan-gi-rgyal-pe: Skt.. Nagesvara raja.—His fac is white and his hadv blue: he is sitting in rde-rj- ekyil-krun. Symb.—His two bands are in the neadra of man- ‘gre-las- dun-par-mdsad-pa or causing the animal seings tT te delivered from nieery and are Weld over the heart. He has nv ornaments. Behind him i @ sereen ind flower and a seven-hooded snake canopy. Cf. Panper, p. 71.

2 Sans-rgyas dpah-bohiduns. 3 De-bz’'in gs’egs-pa.

4 CE. C&. de. : TeRver, J.4 SB. ciii., 780: Hawwr’s Mon., 94.

• The Nepalese place him as the ninth pred-ecessor of the historical Puidha Hopes., I, p. 13%. Ct. Horrwayy in siebeld’s SM ppon Pantheon, v . v7. “THe TWENTY-FOrR BcppHas” are Dipamkara, Kaundinya, Matigala. Sumanas. Raivata, ~cbhita, ° Ana-

the self-sacrifice of the embryo Saikya Muni in throwing himself over a puddle to form a stepping-stone for the Buddha Diparmkara (Sumedh ?)—suggestive of Sir W. Raleigh’s gallantry to Queen Elizabeth under somewhat similar circumstances.

Dipamkara’s image, which is figured in the Vajracedika,' is frequently perforated by innumerable sockets, into which small lamps are set. This practice is evidently suggested by the concrete rendering of his name as “ the burning lamp.”

The Seven Buddhas are usually enumerated as:—

1. Vipasyin (T., rNam-gzigs) ; hands “earth-touching” and “impartial.”

2. Sikhin (T., gTsug-gtor-c’an) ; hands “ best-bestowing ” and “ impartial.”

3. Visvabhu (T., T’am-ch’ad-skyob) ; hands “ meditative.”

4. Krakucandra (T., K’hor-wa-hjigs) ; hands “ protecting” and “ impartial.”

5. Kanaka-muni (T., gSer-t’ub); hands “ preaching’ partial.”

6. Kasyapa (T., ’Od-sruns) has his right hand in ‘ best bestowing ” ; and the left holds a piece of his robe resembling an animal’s ear (see figure on page 5). Each is dressed in the three religious garments, and sits in the ‘‘ unchangeable or adamantine ” pose, or stands.

7. Sakya Muni (T., S’akya t’ub-pa) in “ the preaching attitude.”

and ‘ im-

“The Three Holy Ones” are seldom, if ever, concretely represented in Tibet by Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; nor have I found such a triad figured in Indian Buddhism, though many writers have alleged the existence of them, without, however, bringing forward any proofs. <A triad of large images often occupies the centre of the Limaist altar, the central one being usually the founder of the particular sect to which the temple belongs, and the other two varying with the whim of the local Lama.

THE CELESTIAL BUDDHAS.

The ideal origin of the celestial Buddhas has already been referred to in the chapter on doctrine. The five celestial Buddhas were invented in the earlier theistic stage of Buddhism.

The first of the series seems to have been Amitabha, or “the Boundless Light,” a title somewhat analogous to the name of the oldest of the mythical human Buddhas, “‘ the Luminous ” (Diparhkara), This metaphysical creation first appears in works about the

vama-darsin, Padma, Narada, Padmottara, Sumedhas, Sujata, Priya-darsin, Arthadarsin, Dharma-darsin, Siddharta, Tishya, Pushya, Vipasyin, Sikhin, Visvabhu, Krakucandra, Kanaka-muni (or Konagamana), and Kasyapa.

1 Csoma, An.

CELESTIAL BUDDHAS. 347

beginning of our era, and seems to embody a sun-myth and to show Persian influence. For he was given a paradise in the west, to which all the suns hasten, and his myth seems to have arisen among the northern Buddhists when under the patronage of Indo-Seythian converts belonging to a race of sun-worshippers. Indeed, he is believed hy Eitel and others to be a form of the Persian sun-god ; and he was made the spiritual father of the historical Buddha.

Afterwards he was quintupled, apparently to adapt him to the theory of the five earthly Buddhas, the coming one and the four of the past, as well as to the other mystical groups of five—the five senses, the five shkundhus, the five virtues, five cardinal points where the centre makes the fifth. And each one of these five celestial Buddhas was made to preside over a particular direction, as already detailed. Images of this series of Buddhas are found amongst the lithic remaius of India about the seventh century A.D., if not earlier.

In the more developed theory, tending towards monotheism, a First (rreat Cause, under the title of the primordial or Adi-Buddha, is placed above these five celestial Buddhas as their spiritual father and creator. And to this rank was promoted the first and central one of the metaphysical Buddhas, namely, Vairocana, “ The Omni-present ” or his reflex Samantabhadra, “ The All Good.”

These three series of Buddhas are arranged according to the mystical theory of the three bodies of Buddha (Tri hiya) ;? namely, («) the Dharimna-kaya, or law-body, which has been termed “essential wisdom (Bodhi) ” and is self-existent and everlasting, and represented by Adi-Buddha, (b) Sambhoga-kdya. or adorned body, or reflected wisdom, represented by the celestial Jinas, and (c) Nirmaya-hkiya, or changeable body, or practical wisdom represented by Sakya Muni and the other human Buddhas. Though ina more mystic sense Sakya Muni is considered to be an incarnate aggregate of the reflected wisdom of all the five celestial Jinas.

But these five celestial Jinas were latterly held to unite also within themselves both the forms of metaphysical bodies, both the Dharmakiya and the Sambhoga-kiya. Hence arose two series of their images.

1 Cf. Hovus., Ass., 27, 58, 64. K6ppen, ii., 25; Scurac., 51,210; Errer, Handb,, passim.

The original series of these images of the strictly ascetic Buddha-type was by a materializing of the word called the religious (ascetic) or Dharma type—and such images may or may not

_hold begging-bowls; while the other is literally represented as ‘adorned bodies” (Sambhoga-kaya) in the same postures as the foregoing, but adorned with silks and jewels, and wearing crowns, like kingly Bodhisats. In this latter series, “ the five Jinas ” bear individually the same names as their prototypes, except the second and fourth, who are named respectively Vajrasattva (or “the indestructible or adamantine-souled”) and Amnvitdyus, or “the boundless life,” instead of Akshobhya, “the immovable,” and Amitabha, “the boundless light.” These alternative names, however, it will be seen, empress very similar and almost synonymous ideas.

Side by side with these developments arose the theory of celestial Bodhisat sons. The celestial Jinas absorbed in meditation in heaven could hold no contact with the sordid earth, so as agents for the salvation and protection of mortal men and animals they evolved sons, who, though celestial, were given active functions on the earth,

As in the other developments, this new theory first and most firmly attached to those creations most intimately associated with the historical Buddha. His celestial father, Amitdbha, evolved the celestial Bodhisat Avalokita or Padma-pini, who still remains the most popular of all the celestial Bodhisats.

But the popular craving for creative functions in their gods led, in the Tantrik stage, to the allotment of female energies to these celestial Bodhisats. Thus Tara, the goddess of Mercy, was given to Avalokita. And the extreme Tantrik development under the Kalicakra system ' awarded female energies also to each of the celestial Buddhas, and even to the primordial Adi-Buddha himself.

Thus we have celestial Buddhas and Bodhisats and their female energies. Of the celestial Buddhas there are the following series : —(1) The primordial Buddha-god, or Adi-Buddha. (2) The five celestial Victors (Jina). (3) The adorned forms of these latter, like kingly Bodhisats. (4) The Tantrik forms with energies, mostly demoniacal Buddhas. And from several of these were latterly evolved other forms with special attributes; also medical and other Buddhas.

1 In its Anuttara-yoga section.

CELESTIAL BUDDHAS. 349

The Primordial Buddha-God.}

As found in Limaism, he is most actively worshipped by the old or unreformed school, under the title of ‘“‘The all-good religious body.”

Skt., Dharma-kaya Samantabhadra ; Tib., Kun-tu bzan-po.

He is figured of a blue colour, and often naked, sitting in Buddha fashion, with his hands in the meditative pose.

The established Limaist church gives somewhat similar functions to Vajradhara, whom, however, they regard as a sort of celes- tial offshoot of Sikya Muni; while others of the semi-reformed sects seem, like the Nepalese, to credit Vajrasattva with supreme power as the primordial Buddha-god.

The Five Celestial Victors or Jina.

Skt., Paicajati Jina ; T., rgyal-ba rigs-lna.

These are figured on page 336°; and for the sake of clearness and convenience of reference, I have tabulated (see following page) the ohjective characters and relationships of these divinities. All the forms sit in the same Buddha-like attitude, but the pose of the hands is characteristic.

The technical description of their attitudes and colour is as follows :—

Akshobhya (T., Mi-skyod-pa), blue in colour, has his right hand in “witness ” attitude and left in “ impartial.”

Vairoeana (T., rNam-snan), white with hands in “ best perfection ” attitude.

Ratnasambhayva (T., Rin-’byun), yellow, has his right hand in ‘bestowing ” attitude, and left in “ impartial.”

Amitabha (T., ’Od-pag-med), red, in “ meditative ” (Tin-ne-'dsin) attitude.

Amogha-siddhi (T., Don-yod-grub-pa), green, has his right hand in “protecting ” (skyabs-sbyin) httitude, and left in “ impartial.”

Kach sits in the indestructible or “adamantine” pose, and differs only from the images of the human Buddha in having no begging-bowl in the lap. ,

In another and more common series, each is adorned with silks and jewels like a kingly Bodhisat, see page 333.

Other Celestial Tadntrik Jinas. Another series of celestial Buddhas was formed by adorning the five Jinas with a crown, silks, and jewels, like a kingly Bodhisat,

1 t'og-mahi Sans-rgyas, 2 Conf. also Hopeson’s figures from: Nepal in wtsatée Researches, xvi. 3 te, Vajra-palanga. See p. 335.

THE Five C

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CENTRAL. Virtrocena * Teaching,” or, | Lion. White

(eNam-par san: * Taruing = Spare. nelsanel ). Wheel of the Law.” Dharmea-cakra,’ EAST. | Akshobhya *Witness,"-- Elephant.! Blue (Mi-Ask yeor-pa), ~ an the =eiP. ound.” P+ eel :

SOUTH. Beatraseanbhava * Bestowing. © Horse. Golden:

(Rin-elven’ byun- Vora. yellow

mins). =? @ewth.

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( ve you ‘yrub-yra). Jesstiess.

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JARACTERS OF

UDDHAS or JINAS.

‘** Adorned” Female Reflex (? Active Reflex. Sanghd-prijnam (SambhogakayG.) naya@) or Energy. -s Ss Vairocana 2nd. | Vajradhatisvari (nam-mkahdbyids-p’ug-me). | , , - Vajra-sattva Locana. (rDo-rje-sems-dpa). fatnasambhava Mamaki. 2nd Amitéayus ? Pandaré or Sita (Tse-dpag-med), | (gos-dKar-mo). | Amogha-siddhi 5 0 6 fier 2nd. _(dam-ts’ig-sgrolma).

Bodhisat Reflex, or

Spiritual Sons. (Jinaputra.)

Earthly Reflex, as Buddh:

a. (Manushi Buddha.)

Samantabhadra (Kuntu-zan-po).

Vajrapans (p’yag-rdor).

Ratnapani (p’ag-rin-ch’en),

Avalokita—the common title of Padma-pavi

| (sbyan ras-zigs),

Visvapani _ (p’ag na-ts’og),

ecially personifies Wisdom.

jandala is addressed occupies the centre, s and the colour of the vajra and bell are the same as that of the Jina they symbolize.

Krakucandra

(K’or-ba-’jigs).

Kanaka Muni (gser-t’ub),

Kasyapa (’Od-sruns).

Sakya Muni

(S’akya-t’ub-pa).°

Maitreya (Byam-pa).

of “the mild deity *type. Of these the best known are Amitiyus, Vajradhara, and Vajrasattva.

“The Buddha of Infinite or Eternal Life,” Skt., Aimztayus or Aparinitayus; Tib., Ts’e-dpag-med. He is, as figured at pages 329 and 333, of the same form as his prototype Amitabha Buddha, but he is adorned with the thirteen ornaments, and he holds on his lap the vase of life-giving ambrosia.

Other forms of Amitiyus are the four-handed white A., the red A., the King A., Tantricairya A., and Ras-ch’un’s A. 2

The following two divinities, esoteric so-called, are accorded by the Limas the position of Buddhas, though they are Bodhisatreflexes from or metamorphoses of Akshobhya, and they both resemble in many ways their relative and probable prototype Vajrapani :—

“The Adamantine or Indestructible-souled.” (Skt., Vajrasattva ; T., rDor-je dSems-pa), The Everlasting.

“The Indestructible or Steadfast holder.” Skt., Vajradhdra : T., rDorje ’Ch’an).

He is tigured at page 61, and holds a vajra and a bell. In the exoteric cults he is called “ the concealed lord” (Guhya-pati, T., Sanbahi’dag-po). He isa metamorphosis of Indra, and, like him, presides over the eastern quarter, and he seems the prototype of most of those creatures which may be called demon-Buddhas. And though, as above noted, the established chureh regards this Buddha as a reflex from Sakya Muni himself, it also views him as the presiding celestial Buddha, analogous to the Adi-Buddha of the old school.’

Some Tantrik forms of Amogha-siddha, ete., are :— Don-yod z’ags-pa (Pa., 96). » Zags-pa sna-ts’ogs dban-po. » le’ags-kyu. » weh’od-pa’i nor-bu.

Other forms of celestial Buddhas and Bodhisats are :— »Do-rje mi-k’rugs-pa (Pa., No. 87). Vajradhatu: rdor-dbyins (Pa., No. 77) yNam-snan mnon-byan (Pa., No. 83). Vajragarbha Jina: rGyal-ba rDo-rje snin-po. » Yin-c’hen-‘od-’p’ro. Surasena Jina: »Gyal-ba dpa’bo’i-sde, etc., etc. (See Pa., p. 71 for about thirty more), and cf. a dzo-dsui, p. 62, for “the Secret Buddhas of the 30 days.”

1 Cf, Scut., 50; NOrpEN, ii., 28, 367 ; Hopas., 27,46, 77, 83; ScuiEr,, Tdru., 300 ; Pawn.. No, 56.

MEDICAL BUDDILANS. 353

Demoniacal Buddhas. The later Tantrik forms include many demoniacal Buddhas :— Guhya-Kala (T., gSan-’dus). Buddha Kapdla, Sans-rgyas t’od-pa (Panp., No. 69). Vajrasana-mula, rDo-rje ydan-bzhi (Panp., No. 70), ete. The special relationships of the Buddhas to certain fiends is seen in the foregoing table of surmounting Jinas. §

The Thirty-five Buddhas of Confession.

These imaginary Buddhas or Tathagatas are invoked in the socalled Confession of Sins.! Their images are evolved by giving different colours to the Buddhas in the five elementary sedent attitudes. And they, together with “the thousand Buddhas,” 2 may be considered as concrete representations of the titles of the historical human Buddiia.

The Highest Healers and Medical Tathigatas. T., sMan-bla-bde-gs’egs breyad.

This is a very popular form of Buddha as “The supreme physician,” or Buddhist Esculapius, and is probably founded upon the legend of the metaphysical Bodhisat, “ The medicine-king ” (Bhaisajyaraji), who figures prominently in several of the northern scriptures as the dispenser of spiritual medicine. ‘The images are worshipped almost as fetishes, and cure by sympathetic magic. The first of the series, namely, the beryl, or Bediuriya Buddha, is also extremely popular in Japan under the title of “The lord Binzuru” (Binzura Sama), a corruption evidently, it seems to me, of the Indian word “ Bediiriya,” although the Japanese themselves* believe it to be derived from Bharadhvaja, one of the sixteen Arhats.

These Msculapic Buddhas are much worshipped in Tibet, in ritual by pictures, seldom by images as in Japan, where, as the latter are so much consulted by the people, and also doubtless owing to their essentially un-Buddhist character, they are usually

! Dig-pa t’am-c'ad s‘ag-par ter-choi, details in ScHLAG., p. 123 og. It is not to be confused with the section of the Pratimoksha, properly so called.

2 See list of Buddha’s thousand names by Prof. Scumipt, B. Ac., St. Petersbg.

3 Banyio Nanjio, CHAMBERLAIN’s Haxdbovk to Japan.

AA

placed outside the central shrine. The supplicant, after bowing and praying, rubs his finger over the eye, ear, knee, or the particular part of the image corresponding to the patient’s own affected spot, and then applies the finger carrying this hallowed touch to the afflicted spot. The constaut friction and rubbing of this rude worship is rather detrimental to the features of the god.

This group of medical Buddhas is figured in Schlagintweit’s atlas, but. erroneously under fhe title of “ Maitreya.” They are : —

1. Sans-rgyas sman-gyi bla Bediirya’i ’Od-Kyi rgyal-po, or, ‘ King of beryl-light, the supreme physician Buddha.” Like all of the series, he is of Buddha-like form, garb, and sedent attitude. He is indigocoloured ; his right hand is in mch’og-sbyin pose, and in his palm he holds the golden Arura fruit (myrobalans). His left hand is m miiambzag pose, and holds a begging-bowl of Bai-dur-ya (beryl-stone). Cf. Butsu Yakushi in Butsu-dz6-dsui, p. 26 ; Scur., Leben, 84; Panv., No. 142.

2. mNon-mk'ven-rgyal-po is ved in colour, with hands in mch’ogsbyin and miiam-bz’ag pose. Cf, Panp., No. 141.

3. Ch’os-sgrags-rgya-mts’o'i-dbyans is red in colour, with hands in mch’og-sbyin and wiiam-bz’ag pose. Cf. Panp., No. 140.

4. Mya-nan-med-mch’og-dpal is light red in colour, with both hands in mfiam-bz’ag pose. Cf. Panp., No. 139.

5. gSer-bzan-dvi-med is yellowish-white in colour, with right hand in ch’os-’ch’ad mudra, and his left in miiam-hz’ag pose. Cf. Pann., No. 138.

6. Rin-ch’en-zla-wa (or sgra-dbyans) is yellow-red in colour; his right hand is in ch’os-’ch’ad, and his left in mnam-hz’ag pose. Cf. Panp., No. 137.

7. mtsh’an-legs yons-grags dpal is yellow in colour. His right hand is in ch’os-’ch’ad, and his left in miiam-bz’ag pose. Cf. Pann., No. 136.

And in the centre of the group is placed, as the eighth, the image of Sakya Muni.

In this relation it is rather curious to note that some celebrated Europeans have come to be regarded as Buddhas. ‘The common dinner-plates of the Tibetans, when they use any, are of tin, stamped in the centre with an effigy of some European celebrity. In those which I examined I recognized the third Napo- leon, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and Mr. Gladstone, all supposed by the natives to represent Buddhas of more or less sanctity.” 3

II. Bopuisats (CELESTIAL).

These are the supernatural Bodhisats, the active reflexes from

the relatively impassive celestial Buddhas. The human Bodhi-

| BanER, Supp. Papers, Royal Geog. Soc.. p. 200.

CELESTIAL BODHISATS. 355

sats, or the saints, are referred by me to the end of the pantheon, though the Lamas usually place them above the diz mnores, and many of them next to the celestial Bodhisats themselves.

The Limas head the list with the metaphysical Bodhisat of wisdom, Maijusii; but following what appears to be the order of development of these divinities, I commence with Maitreya, the coming Buddha, who, indeed, is the only Bodhisat known to primitive Buddhism and to the so-called “southern” Buddhists of the present day, the Burmese, Ceylonese, and Siamese; though the Limas place him fourth or later in their lists, giving priority to the especially active Bodhisats which the Mahayana created, the mythical Maiijusri, Vajrapini, and Avalokita, whom they have made their defensores fidei of Limaism, with the title of ‘The three lords”! and given functions somewhat like the analogous triad of Brihmanism, Brahma, Siva and Vishnu.

The female Bodhisats, Tara, etc., are given towards the end of the list, though they might more naturally have been placed beside their consorts.

Maitreya, “ The loving one,” the coming Buddha or Buddhist Messiah. T., Byams-pa (pr. “ Jam-pa” or “ Cham-pa.”)

He is usually represented adorned like a prince,’ and sitting on a chair in European fashion with legs down, teaching the law.* He is at present believed to be in the Tushita heaven. His image is frequently rock-carved or built in colossal form several storeys high in Tibet, as he is credited with gigantic size.

MaNsusri or Maijughosha, “The sweet-voiced,” the god of wisdom or Buddhist Apollo, and figured at page 12. T., “Jampahi dbyans (pr. Jam-yang).

He is Wisdom deified, and seems a purely metaphysical creation unconnected with any of his later namesakes amongst the Buddhist monks in the fourth or fifth ‘centuries of our era, or later. His chief function is the dispelling of ignorance. He presides over the law, and with his bright sword of divine knowledge* cuts all knotty points, and carries in his left the bible of transcendental Wisdom, the Prajna-paramita, placed upon a lotusflower He is the especial patron of astrology. In keeping with his pure character he is strictly celibate, one of the few of the

1 Rig-sum mgon-po, the Lamaist Trimurti. 2 Of the mild, z’i-wa type. 3 Cf, Panp., No. 151. 4 Ses-rab ral-gri 5 Cf. KOprPEN, ii., 21. AA 2

Mahayana deities who is allotted no female energy.' He usually sits, as in the figure, in the Buddha attitude. He is given several other modes.

Most of the countries where northern Buddhism prevails have their own special Manjusri. Thus China has a quasi-historical Manjusri of about the fifth century 4.D., located near the U-tai Shan shrine; and Nepalese Buddhism has another of the same name as its tutelary saint.°

VasRaPANI, “The wielder of the thunderbolt,” a metamorphosis of Jupiter (Indra)* as the spiritual son of the second celestial Buddha, Akshobhya. T., p’yag -na-rdo-rje ( pronouced chana-dorje or chak-dor.)

He is figured at page 13, and of the fierce fiend type, black or dark blue in colour, and wields a Vajra (rdo-7je) in his uplifted right hand, while in his left he holds a bell or snare or other implement according to his varying titles, of which there are fifteen or more.*

Hiuen Tsiang mentions his worship in India in the seventh century A.D.°

AvaLokita (or Avalokitesvara or Mahdkarwua), “The keen seeing lord, the great pitier and lord of mercy.” T., spyan-rasgzigs (pr. Chd-rd-21), T’ugs-rje-ch’en-po.

His origin and various forms I have described in some detail elsewhere. The spiritual son of the celestial Buddha Amitabha, he is the most powerful and popular of all the Bodhisats, and the one which the Dalai Limas pretend to be the incarnation of. Other forms of this deity are Padma-pani, the Lotus-handed Khasarpani, Sirhanada (T., sen-ge-sgra), the Roaring Lion, Hala-hala, Arya-pala (‘‘ Aryabolo ”), ete.

Avalokita, being a purely mythological creation, is seldom like Buddha represented as a mere man, but is invested usually with monstrous and supernatural forms and attributes. The earliest Indian images of Avalokita yet found by me, dating to about the

1 Though the Prajna must be somewhat of this character.

2 Cf. Archeol, Wond., 9, Xxvi., 18. Pa., No. 145.

• Dyaush-pitor, or heavenly father of the Hindus, becomes “ Jupiter” or “ Dicspiter ” of the Romans, and “ Zeus” of the Greeks,

4(Cf, for more common form, Arch, W.Zad., 9, xxvii., 28, and Pa., 84, 146, 169, nO, 171.

BEAL’s trans., 11,

6 J RAS, 1894, p. 51, -¢seq., where twenty-two forms are described.

AVALOKITA OR PADMA-PANI. 357

sixth century A.D., clearly show that Avalokita’s image was modelled after that of the Hindt Creator Prajdpati or Brahma ; and the same type may be traced even in his monstrous images of the later Tantrik period, and his images usually bear Bralma’s insignia, the lotus and rosary, and often the vase and book. His commonest forms found in Tibet are:

The Four-handed form, see figure on page 228. This represents him as a prince, with the thirteen ornaments, of white com- plexion, and sitting in the Buddha posture with the front. pair of hands joined in devotional attitude (and often as clasping a jewel); while the upper hand holds a crystal rosary, and the left a longstemmed lot us-flower, which opens on the level of his ear.'

His monstrous eleven-headed form is figured at page 15. It is usually standing. In addition to the double pair of hands, it has others carrying weapons to defend its votaries. It represents the wretched condition of Avalokita when his head split into pieces with grief at seeing the deplorable state of sunken humanity. But this form, too, seems based on the polycephalic Brahma.”

The eleven heads are usually arranged, as in the figure, in the form of a cone, in five series from below upwards, of 3, 3, 3, 1 and 1, and the topmost head is that of Amitabha, the spiritual father of Avalokita. Those looking forward wear an aspect of benevolence ; the left ones express anger at the faults of men; while the right faces smile graciously at the good deeds or in scorn at evildoers.

This form is frequently given a thousand eyes, a concrete materialistic expression of the name dAvalokita, “* He who looks down” or Sumante-nrukha, “He whose face looks every way.”® The fixing of the number of eyes at one thousand is merely expressive of inultitude, and has no precise numerical significance. And unlike the thousand-eyed god of Brahmanic mythology—Indra— Avalokita’s extra eyes are on his extra hands, which are symbolic of power, and most of their hands are stretched forth to save the wretched and the lost. The eye, which is ever on the look-out to

Gi AWE 7. Seer, p. 17; BA. Wo. Ee ny Art ES, once: 2 Of. my art. above cited. The head-splitting is associated with the presence of an obstacle, in early Buddhist works. Thus in the Dialogues of Menander (Milinda, Ruys Davips’ trans., p. 222), in regard to the raiser of an obstacle it is said, “ then would his head split into a hundred or into a thousand pieces.”

3 Cf. BurNour’s Lotus, p. 428; BEaw’s Cutenu, 384.

perceive distress,carries with it a helping hand—altogether a most poetic symbolism. Of this type there are many modes, differing mainly in colour and degrees of fierceness.

The other supernatural male Bodhisats' are not so commonly met with. The chief are :

SAMANTABHADRA, “The all good.” = T., Kuntu-hzan-po.

He is figured at page 14,” and is the son of the celestial] Buddha Vairocana, and is to be distinguished from the Adi-Buddha of the same name. He is of the “mild” type, and usually mounted on an elephant, and he is frequently associated with Manjusri® as attendant on Buddha.

KSHITIGARBHA, ‘¢ The matrix of the earth.”

. T., Sa-yi siiin-po.

Akdsagarbha, “ The matrix of the sky.”

T., Nam-k’ahi-iiti-po. Sarva vivarana vishkambhine. T., s¢Rib-pa rnam sel." (? Jnadnaguru), Master of divine foreknowledge.’ T., Ye-s’es bla-ma. (? Prabhaketu), The crown of light.® T.. (Od-kyi-tog.

Pranidha namati. T., sMon-lam blo-gros.’

Sdntendra, The foundation of power.’ T., dbAn-po 2’1.

FEMALE BODHISATS. - The chief and most active of the supernatural female Bodhisats or “energies ” are Tara and Marici. TARA, The saviour, or deliverer. T., sgRol-ma (pr. Dé-ma.. She is the consort of Avalokita, who is now held to be incarnate in the Dalai Lamas, and she is the most popular deity in Tibet,

1 For description of some of these in the Ajanta caves, see art. by me in Jr, Antiquary, 1898.

e From the Japanese Baten Ded-dse7, pp. 127. The form figured, which is generally like thet in Lamaism, is entitled Samantabhadra-Yama. Cf. also W. ANDERSON’s Cor, pes, &w. 47.

3 Cf, Paxp., No. 152, and No. 55. The Japanese call him Fugen.

• [igs “Tunes, im. iy © [i Pvests,@iio. nti, © Pig, Pawn... No “Dae, 7 Fig. Pann. No. 143. ~ Fie. Pann, No. lod. ’ hig. Pastp.. No. lim,

w Fig. Pann, No. 156,

TARA, THE SAVIOURESS. 359

both with Limas and laity. She corresponds to the goddess of mercy and queen of heaven (Kwan-yin)' of the Chinese, and has her literal analogy in biblical mythology (see the heading to this chapter), and she has several analogies with ‘‘the Virgin ;”* but she is essentially Indian in origin and form.

Her most common form is “the green Tira,” and much less common is “the white Tara,” whose worship is almost confined to the Mongols. Her other numerous forms, of which the names of “the twenty-one” are daily on the lips of the people, are seldom pictured, except the fiendish form Bhrihuti®

The green Tava. T., sgRol-ma ljan-k’u—pronounced Dol-jang.

She is represented (see the figure) as a comely and bejewelled Indian lady with uncovered head, and of a green complexion, seated on a lotus, with her left leg pendant, and holding in her left hand a long- stemmed lotus-flower.

The white Tara. T., sgRol-ma dkar-po—or sgRol-dkar (pr. Do-kar).

She is figured (see p. 23) as an adorned Indian lady with a white complexion, seated Buddha-like, and the left hand holding a long-stemmed lotus-flower. She has seven eyes, the eye of foreknowledge in the forehead, in addition to the ordinary facial pair, and also one in_ each

palm and on each sole. - — Hence she is called “ The ene ao

TARA, THE GREEN.

seven-eyed white Tara.” She is believed by the Mongols to be incarnate in the White Czar.

Tara with the frowning brows—Bhrikuti Tara. T., kKo-gnergyo-ba-hi sgRol-ma (pronounced T’o-nyer-chiin).

1 Or in Japanese Awex-nox, a translation of * Avalokita.” 2 For note on Tara’s origin, see my article in J. R.A.S., 1894, pp. 63, etc. $ For detailed description of twenty-seven forms, see ibid.

This Tara is dark indigo-coloured, and usually with three faces, all frowning.

air THE ‘TWENTY-ONE TARAS. The list of the names of “ the twenty-one Tiris” given helow,! and known to almost all lay Tibetans, indicates many of her attributes.

1 Titles of “The Twenty-one Taras.”

1. Tara, the supremely valiant (Pra- | 10. Tara, the dispeller of grief. sura Tard), ll. ,, the cherisher of the poor.

2, 4, of white-moon — brightness 12. 4, the brightly glorious. (Candrojasa Sita Tard), 13. ,, theuniversal mature worker.

3. 4 the golden coloured (Gear 14.) ,,) with the frowning brows Le) (Bhrikuti: Tard).

4. ,, the victorious hair-crowned 15. 4, the giver of prosperity. (Ushuishahiaga T.). 16. ,, the subduer of passion.

5. 4, the “Hun ”-shouter (Mudd 17. 4, the supplier of happiness ns (Sarsiddhi T.).

6 » thethree-world best worker. 18. ,, thé @2@6Sively wast.

7. ,, suppressor of strife. 19%. ,, the dispeller of distress.

8... the bestower of supreme | 20.) ,, the advent or realization power. spiritual power (Siddhdrté Tara).

9 4, the best providence. i 21. ,, the completely perfect.

TUTELARIES AND MARICI. 361

Marici, The resplendent. T., ‘Od-zer ’c’an-ma.

She was originally the queen of heaven, a Buddhist Ushas, or goddess of the dawn, a metamorphosis of the sun as the centre of energy, curiously coupled with the oriental myth of the primeval productive pig. Ii another aspect she is a sort of Prosperine, the spouse of Yama, the Hindi Pluto. While in her fiercest mood she is the consort of the demon-general, “The horse-necked Trmdin,” a sort of demoniacal centaur. In another mode she is ** The adamantine sow” (Skt., Vajra-vardhi; T., rDo-rje P’ag-mo), who is believed to be incarnate in the abbess of the convent on the great Palti lake,' as already deseribed..,

In her ordinary form she has a _— three faces and eight hands, of AA QRDAN which the left face is that of a Manicl, or VARAni.

‘ (or ‘The Diamond Sow.”) sow. The hands hold various

weapons, including an «ju, axe, and snare. She sits in ** the enchanting pose” upon a lotus-throne drawn by seven swine,? as in

the figure.

III. TurevaRiks.

Although the tutelaries (T.,¥7¢-dan) belong to different classes of divinities, it is convenient to consider them together under one group.

The important part played by tutelaries in every-day life, their worship, and the mode of coercing them, have already been deseribed.

The qualifications demanded in a tutelary are activity combined with power over the minor malignant devils. Thus most of the superior celestial Buddhas and Bodhisats may be, and are, tutelaries. But the favourite ones are the great demon-kings,

' Cf. Chapters x. and xi., and also Giorgi.

• Cf. Panp., No. 163, whose figure is reproduced above.

and also some of the inferior fiends who have been promoted in diabolic rank for their adherence to the cause of Buddhism.

All the five celestial Jinas are tutelaries, but it is their Tantrik forms, such as Vajrasattva and Vajradhara, and Amitayus, which are especially utilized in this way ; and most common of all are those who have consorts (sahtz), as these are considered to be most energetic.

Of the Bodhisats, those most common as tutelaries are Avalokita and Majdjusri, the demon Vajrapini, Tara, and Marici.

The demon-kings, however, are the favourite ones. They are repulsive monsters of the type of the Hindi devil Siva.’ These morbid creations of the later Tantrism may be considered a sort of fiendish metamorphoses of the supernatural Buddhas. Each of those demon-kings, who belong to the most popular section of Lamaist Tantrism—the Anuttara yoga—has a consort,” who is even more malignant than her spouse.

_ There are several of these ferocious many-armed monsters, all -of the fiercest fiend type already described, and all much alike in general appearance. But each sect has got its own particular tutelary-demon, whom it believes to be pre-eminently powerful.

Thus the established church, the Ge-lug-pa, has as its tutelary Vajra-bhairava, though several of the individual monks have Sambhara and Guhyakala as their personal tutelaries.

VAJRA-BHAIRAVA, or “ The Fearful thunderbolt.” (T., rDo-rjejigs-byed). See figure on opposite page.

This is a form of Siva as the destroyer of the king of the dead, namely,as Yamdntaka, Yet with truly Lamaist ingenuousness this hideous creature is believed to be a metamorphosis of the mild and merciful Avalokita. His appearance will best be understood from his picture here attached.” He has several heads, of which the lowest central one is that of a bull. His arms and legs are innumerable, the former carrying weapons, and the latter trample upon the enemies of the established ehureh.

[t will be noticed that these writhing victims are represented

1 As in the type also of the “ Pancha Raksha.” 2 Skt., Marteikd, or mother, T., Ven, and the pair are called «the father-mother,” T..

Vabequm.

• After PANDER, No. 61, which see for some details.

TUTELARY-DEMONS. 365

of the four ancient classes of beings, namely, gods, men, quadrupeds, and birds. Others of these tutelary devils are :

Samvara (T., bDe-mch’og ‘), the chief of happiness, also called dpal- ’k’or-lo-sdom-pa

Guhyukala (T., gSan-’dus*), “the secret time.”

Vajra-phurba, the phurhbathunderholt.

Dub-pa-kah-gye (or ? dGyes-pa-dorje).

These are the tutelary fiends of the Kar-gyu, Sa-kya, and the unreformed Nin-ma sects respectively. Others are Heé-vajra (Kye-

VAJRA-BHALRAVA. (Tutelary fiend of established church.)

rdorje), Buddhakapala (Sans-gyas-t’od-pa), Yama (gsin-rje), but they do not here require special description.

IV. DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH. Skt., Dharmapala ; 'T., Ch’os-skyon,

These are the demon-generals or commanders-in-chief who execute the will of the tutelaries—the demon-kings. In appear-

1 Panp., No, 63, and Csoma, An., p. 498. "2 Panp., Nos. 62 and 68.

ance they are almost as hideous and fierce as their fiendish masters, and each commands a horde of demons.

They are of the fiercest fiend type (the Drag-po and To-wo) already described. The females are metamorphoses of the Hindi fiendess, Kili Devi. A few local country gods have also been promoted to the position of defenders of the faith.

Of those of the Drag-po or To-wo type, the chief are :—

“The horse-necked (fiend),” Skt., Hayagriva ; T., rTa-mgrin, pron. Tam-din.

He is figured as shown here, with a horse’s head and neck surmounting his other heads. There are many varieties of him’; see also his figure at p. 62.

“The immoveable,” Skt., Acala; T., Mi-gyo-ba.

Heis also found in the Japanese Buddhist pantheon as “ Fu-do.’*

“The slayer of the deathking,” Skt., Yamamari,* T., a, a = ySin-rje gs’ed,a form of Bhairava,