The service of general-tea (Maṅ-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 Tam-ga (about 6\16 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 solely to the school 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 Lāma Ṅag-waṅ.

Nuns wear a skull-cap of woollen cloth or fur, coloured yellow or red, according to their sect.

1. The Lower patched robe, named “?z’ān” 4 ( = Sanghāṭi). The cloth is in several largish patches (about twenty-three) and sewn into seven divisions, and fastened by a girdle at the waist. 5

1 stod ‘jag.  2 In common with most ascetics, Buddha decreed the monastic dress of his order to be of as frugal 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 Lāmaist monk, seen in the several figures.  3 Literally ṅur-smrig or “Brāhmani 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 Aṣoka pillars.  4 gz’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 Jīvaka, and that robe was sewn by Ananda into five divisions like this one. 

2. The Outer patched robe, named Nam-jar (P., ? Antarvāsaka). 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-gos (Uttarāsanghāṭi) . 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. 1

But the ordinary lower robe of Lāmas of all sects is an ample plaited petticoat, named ” S’am t’abs,” 2 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 travel- ling 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 long and

about three inches broad, thrown over the left shoulder,

across breast, and tied in a bow over the right hip,  and the remainder swung round the body. 3  Thus it will be seen that Lāmas 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

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 hide or Yak-hair.

 From the girdle hangs, in addition to the holy-

water bottle, a pen-case, purse, with condiments,

dice, etc., 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 prayer-

wheel, drinking-cup, booklets,

charms, etc.

 

The dress of the nuns generally

resembles that of the monks. The

head is shaved, and no ornaments are worn. 1

THE ROSARIES.

 

The rosary is an essential part of

a Lāma’s dress ; and taking, as it

does, such a prominent part in the

Lāmaist 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 2 it has attained its highest development. Amongst southern Buddhists 3 the rosary is not very conspicuous

1 Cf. Boyle, Mark., p. 109. 2 “Note on Buddhist Rosaries in Japan.” By J. M. James, Trans. Jap. As. Soc, p. 173, 1881. 3 I have described Burmese Buddhist rosaries, as well as some of the Lāmaist, in J. A. S. B., 1891.

 but amongst Tibetans it is everywhere visible. It is also held in the hand of the image of the patron god of Tibet — Cha-ra-si (Skt., Avalokiteṣvara). And its use is not confined to the Lāmas. 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, 1 like the sliding balls of the Chinese to assist in ordinary calculations : the beads to the right

of the centre-bead being  

called ta-thaṅ and regis-

tering units, while those

to the left are called c’u-

do and record tens, which

numbers suffice for their

ordinary wants.

The Tibetan name for

the rosary is ” ‘pren-ba” .

pronounced t’eṅ -wa, or

vulgarly t’eṅ –ṅ a, 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.

1 The rosary has proved a useful instrument in the hands of our Lāma 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 Lāma 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 Lāmaic scriptures — the ” bkā- ‘gyur,” — the volumes have been extended from 100 to 108, And the Burmese foot-prints of Buddha sometimes contain 108 sub-divisions. This number is perhaps borrowed, like so many other Lāmaist fashions, from the Hindūs, 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 Lāma ” (or spiritual adviser), 1 the personal Lāma-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 Grelug-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.

 

1 tsa-waī bla-ma.

 

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,” 1 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 dorje– string is slid down into contact with the dorje. And on each further 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 Lāma’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 middle-aged Lāma 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 that 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.

1 grang-‘dsin, but vulgarly they are known as chub-she (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 Lāma belongs and the particular deity to whom worship is to be paid. 

The red sandal-wood rosary Tsan-dan-mar, Fig. 2, consists of perforated discs of red sandal-wood (Adenanthera pavonina) or

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 The Grand Lāma of Tashi-lhunpo wore a jewelled necklace, which he presented to Mr. Bogle (MARKH., cxl.) 

MENDICANT’S STAFF.

A few possess a begging-bowl and the mendicant’s staff, 1 but these are mostly for ritualistic displays, as the Lāma 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-reann, the alarm-staff 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 Kāh-gyur Do, Vol. xxvi., CSOMA, An., p. 479. The Tibetan form is usually tipped by a trident in place of the leaf-like loop. 

DAILY LIFE AND ROUTINE.

  He who eats Lāmas’ food -Wants iron jaws. “ — Tibetan Proverb. 1

Although the Lāmas are enslaved in the bonds of ritual 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 may be seen from the frequent interruptions in the ordinary Lāma’s saintly flow of rhetoric to yawn, or take part in some passing conversation on mundane matters.

The daily routine of a Lāma 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 Lāmas 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 Lāma’s private monastery or chapel-royal of Namgyal, on mount Potala, near Lhāsa, and I am indebted to one of the monks

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 1 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 : ” Guide of great pity ! hear me ! 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 2 : “0 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions, hear my humble prayer. I am a pure-minded 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 Sutra on ”the wheel-blessing for the animal universe” 3 : “ Om! Sambhara, Sammahā jaba hūṃ ! ” Followed also seven times by this extract from bharabi manaskar mahā jaba hūṃ ! Om ! Smara Smarabi manaskara Norbu-r gyas-pahi-gzhal-med-k’aṅ : “Om! ruci ramini pravartya hūṃ.”

This is followed by ” Om ! Khrecara gaṇaya 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 ” (sna-tsogs), 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

1 I have translated by “monk” the word dge-sloṅ, which is literally “the virtuous beggar,” corresponding to the Indian Buddhist word Bhikshu, or mendicant. 2 Composed by m’as-grub-ṅag-dbaṅ-rdorje.  3 ‘gro-wa-yongs-su-bsngo-wai-‘khor-loi-mdo.

 

dress and go outside their cell or dormitory to the lavatory stone-flag or pavement (rdo-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 : ” Oml arghaṃ tsarghaṃ bimanase! utsusma mahā krodh hūmphat !”

 

Then with water brought in copper vessels, and with a pinch of saline earth as soap, 1 they perform ablutions usually of a very partial kind.

After ablution each monk repeats, rosary in hand, the mantra of his favourite deity (usually Mañjuṣṛi or Tārā), 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 door.

 

The monks seat themselves in rows, each on his own mat, cross-legged 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 provost- marshal, 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

Lāma says a grace in which all join.

 

LĀMAIST GRACES BEFORE MEAT.

 

1 This earth is called sug-pa, but the higher Lāmas use soap : “The Lāma minister of the Grand Lāma,” say’s Sarat’s narrative, ” formerly used to wash his holiness’s head with water and sug-pa powder, but now he uses a cake of Pear ‘s transparent soap.”

And they throw some light on the later Mahāyāna ritual of Indian Buddhism, from which they are alleged to have been borrowed.

Before drinking, the Lāmas, like the Romans, pour out some of the beverage as a libation to their Lares, and other gods. A common

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, 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 Lāmaist sects, is as follows: —

 

“This luscious food 1 of a hundred tempting tastes, is here reverently offered by us — the animal beings— to the Jinas (the Dhyāni  Buddhas) and their princely sons (celestial Bodhisattvas). May rich blessings overspread this food ! Om-Ah Hūṃ!

” It is offered to the Lāma— Om Guru vajra naividya-ah Hūṃ!

“It is offered to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas— Om sa’rva Buddha Bodhisattva vajra naividya-ah Hūṃ !

“it is offered to the tutelaries, witches, and defensores fidei 2—Om Deva Dakini Sri dharmapāla saparivāra vajra naividya-ah Hūṃ !

“One piece (is offered) to the powerful demon -lord (dbaṅ -bahi-‘byuṅ -po;Skt., Bhūtesvara)—Om-Agra-Pinda-ashi bhya svahā !

” One piece to h prog-ma — Om-Harite 3 – svahā !

” One piece to ‘ the five hundred brothers or sisters ‘ 4 — Om Harite maha-vajra- yakshini hara-hara sarva papi-mokshi svahā !

“This food, of little virtue, 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 of eating flesh: ” Om abira Jche-ca-ra Hūṃ !” And by the efficacy 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 : —

 

1 Z’a\-zas.  2 Yidam /«K’ah-gro ch’os-*kyon. 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 Lāmas 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 Ratnakūta Sūtra. See also the Japanese version of this legend, footnote p. 99. The Lāmas 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 Lāma 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 pretas and other starveling demons.  4 The children of the above Hariti.

 

ralambhe-nira-bhase jaye-jayelabdhe mahā-materakshinamme parisodhāyā

svahā. (The efficacy of reciting this mantra is thus described, says the Ge-lug-pa manual of daily worship, in the Vinaya- Sutra : “When this is repeated once all sins will be cleansed, and the dispensers of the gifts will have 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 (Nirvāṇa) !

” 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-knowledge.

” May the hopes of animals be realized as by the wish-granting gem (Cintāmaṇi) and 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 maṇḍala, 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 Saṅdus, Dem-ch’og, or Tārā. 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 Lāmas for masses. Then the Lāmas do the service for sending the soul to the western paradise. 1 Or, if the service is for a sick person, they will do the Ku-rim 2 ceremony.

The tutelary’s service is then resumed, and on its conclusion tea and soup are served. Then is chanted the S’es-rab sñiṅ-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 Lāmas last of all.

1 See chapter on worship. 2 Not phonetic for ” cure him.”

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 exercises 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 when-

ever the sun’s disc 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 Marīcī

has arisen ! Om- Marīcīnāṃ svā-hā ! ”

On repeating this mantra of                         .

Marīcī seven times, he continues

with: “Whenever I recall your name

I am protected from all fear. I pray                       Prayer-cylinder for Table

for the attainment of the great stainless bliss.

I salute you, goddess Marīcī ! Bless me, and fulfil my desires. Protect me, 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-gtiṅ) is held about 1  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

1 Time is only known approximately,as it is usually, as the name for hour (ch’u- ts’al) implies, kept by water-clocks (See ” C’u-ts’al,” Ramsay’s Dict., -p. 63), and also by the burning of tapers.  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 ” bSkaṅ- wa,” during which tea is served thrice, and the meeting dissolves.

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.” 1

Then lay servants bring to the cells a meal consisting of tea, meat, and pāk (a cake of wheat or tsam-pa). Of this food, some must be left as a gift to the hungry manes, 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 ” (dguṅ- ja-daṅ-po) is held about 3 p.m. 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 pār-pa or middle-grade monks are instructed in rhetoric and in sounding the cymbals and horns. And occasionally public wranglings as already 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 the temple, where is chanted the worship of Taṅ-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 Ñiṅ-ma 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 door 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 1 to see that it is correct, and, this ascertained, he commences the celebration, consisting of the sNon-‘gro and the refuge-formula, and Las-sbyah, on the conclusion of which the assembly disperses.

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.

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 ” (lTo-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) Mahākālā 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 sKaṅ -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-rtak- rgyud-bskul, taking care to pronounce all the words fully and distinctly. This contains the instructions of his special Lāma-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.

Then he assumes the meditative posture of the seven attitudes, 1 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 sNon-gro hzi-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 Maṇḍala, which cleanses the mind ; and the prayer enumerating the Lāmas up to the

most perfect one, which confers perfection on the monk himself.

This is followed by the chanting of bLa-grub, “the obtaining of the Lāma,” and ” the obtaining of the ornaments, sÑen-grub.”

 

The mild deity in this worship is called ” The Placid One,” 2 and the demon ” The Repulsive.” 3 The demoniacal form must be recited the full number of times which the Lāma 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 : —

 

1st. Prepare sacred food for the six sorts of beings (Rigs-strug-gi-gtorma) and send it to tantalized ghosts.

 

2nd. Offer incense, butter-incense, and wine-oblation (gSer-sKyem). The incense is offered to the good spirits — firstly, to the chief god and the Lāma; 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 See p. 145. 2 mt’un. 3 bzle-pa.

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-bsṅos service, in which, after assuming his tutelary dignity, he chants the sṅon-gro and refuge formula. Then is done a sacrificial worship 1 with bell and small drum, followed by an invocation to the hosts of Lāmas, tutelaries, and the supernatural defensores fidei. 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

 

Hermit-Lāma.:

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. Tsoṅ K’apa enforced the observance of this practice, but it has now fallen much into abeyance. –

 

1 mCh’oga. 2 After Huc.

Probably the booths which are erected for the head Lāmas 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 Lāma 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 Mūla-yoga sṅgon-gro, complete in all its four sections, must be repeated 100,000 times. In chanting the refuge-formula portion, he must prostrate himself to the ground 100,000 times. The repetition of the Yige-

brgya-pa itself takes about two months ; and in addition must be chanted the following voluminous services : P’yi-‘grub, naṅ-‘grub, gsaṅ-‘grub, bla-‘grub, sñen-grub, ‘prin-las, and bzi-‘grub. Those who permanently adopt the hermit life are called ” the packed-up ones ” 1 and those of the highest rank are ” the great recluses.” 2 They are engaged in ascetic exercises and are usually followers of the Vajrāyāna system, seeking Siddhi and its wizard powers by the aid of the Ḍākkinī  she-devils and the king-devils who are their tutelaries.

 

TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS.

Like western friars, the Lāmas 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.

1 mts’am-s-pa, – sgom-ch’en.

THE DIET.

 

The diet of the Lāmas is the ordinary rather Spartan fare of the country 1 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 Lāma of Tashi-lhunpo appears to eat flesh-food.’ 2

Neither the monks of the established church nor the holier Lāmas 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; Moorcroft, i., 182, etc. ; HUC, ii., 258; Cunningham’s Ladak, 305; Rock., L., passim.    2 Bogle in Markham, p. 100.

 

A Grand Lāma of Bhutan

THE HIERARCHY AND RE-INCARNATE LĀMAS.

 

” Le roi est mort, vive le roi ! “

” Adam . . . his soul passed by transmigration into David …his soul transmigrated into the Messiah.” — The Talmud.1

 

EARLY Buddhism had neither church nor ecclesiastical organization. It was merely a brotherhood of monks. Even after Buddha’s death, as the order grew in size and afflueuce under the rich endowments from Aṣoka and other kingly patrons, it still remained free from anything like centralized government.

1 HERSHON’s Treasures of the Talmud, p. 242.

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 CE., when the Lāma of the Sas-kya monastery was created a pope by the Great Mongol emperor of China, Kubilai Khan. This Sas-kya Lāma, receiving also a certain amount of temporal power, soon formed a hierarchy, and 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 parcelled out Tibet. In 1417, doctor Tsoṅ K’apa founded the Ge-lug-pa sect, which under his powerful organization soon developed into the strongest of all the hierarchies, and five generations 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 Lāma who thus became the priest-king of Tibet was a most ambitious and crafty prelate. He was named Ṅag-waṅ Lo-zaṅ, 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 Lāma, together with the title of Dalai or “the vast” (literally “ocean”) Lāma, 1 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,’ 2 he and his

1 The Tibetan for this Mongol word is rGya-mts’o, and in the list of Grand Lāmas some of his predecessors and successors bear this title as part of their personal name. And the Mongolian for rin-po-ch’e is “Ertenni.” 2 Through the works of Giorgi, Pallas, and Klaproth.

successors are called by some Europeans ” Dalai (or Tale) Lāma,” though the first Dalai Lāma was really the fifth Grand Lāma of the established church ; but this title is practically unknown to Tibetans, who call the Lhāsa Grand Lāmas, Gryal-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-

 

Four-Handed Avalokita.  (Incarnate in the Dalai Lāma.)

ferred his own residence from De-pung monastery to a palace which he built for himself on ” the red hill ” near Lhāsa, 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 Gre-lug-pa institutions 1 ; and he developed the

1 Amongst others he seized the monastery of the great Tāranātha, and demolished many of that Lāma’s buildings and books, for such an honest historian was not at all to his taste.

fiction of succession by re-incarnate Lāmas, 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 Lāma of Lhāsa to be

Potala. The Palace of the Dalai Lāma .(From Kircher’s China Illustrata.)

the head of the Lāmaist 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 Lāmas, 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 Lāmas, 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. On the contrary, it holds that the spirit of the deceased head Lāma 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, thus securing, on quasi-Buddhistic principles, continuous succession by the same individual through successive re-embodiments.

The first authentic instance of re-incarnate Lāmas which I can find is the first of the Grand Lāmas of the Ge-lug-pa, namely, Ge-den- ḍub. Had this theory been invented prior to Tsoṅ K’apa’s death in 1417 A.D., it is practically certain that the succession to Tsoṅ K’apa would have begun with an infant re-incarnation. But we find the infant re-incarnationship only beginning with the death of Tsoṅ K’apa’s successor, namely, his nephew and pupil, Ge-den- ḍub aforementioned ; and from this epoch the succession to the Ge-lug-pa Grand Lāmaship has gone on according to this theory. As the practice worked well, it was soon adopted by the Lāmas of other sects, and it has so extended that now nearly every great monastery has its own re-incarnate Lāma as its chief, and some have several of these amongst their higher officials.

The more developed or expanded theory, however, of celestial Lāma-reflexes, which ascribes the spirit of the original Lāma to an emanation (Nirmāna kāya, or, changeable body) 1 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 Lāma Ṅag-waṅ, or Gyal-wa Ṅa-pa, 2 about 150 years later. For, previous to the time when this latter Grand Lāma began to consolidate his newly-acquired temporal rule over Tibet, no authentic records seem to exist of any such celestial origin of any Lāmas, and the theory seems unknown to Indian Buddhism. 3 And this Dalai Lāma 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 Lāmaist hierarchy on the lines on which it now exists.

This Dalai Lāma, Gyal-wa Ṅa-pa, is the first of these celestial incarnate Lāmas 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 Lāmas who preceded him, and who,

1 Cf. ante.  2 Literally ”The fifth Jina.” Cf. also PAND., H.. No. 46. 3 None of the so-called biographies of Atīṣa and earlier Indian monks containing any such references can certainly be placed earlier than this period.

together with himself, were identified with the most famous king of Tibet, to wit, Sroṅ 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, Tsoṅ K’apa, having been a contemporary of the first Grand Lāma, could not

be Avalokiteṣvara, so he was made to be an incarnation of Mañjuṣṛī, or ” the god of wisdom,” on whom, also, Atīṣa was affiliated as the wisest and most learned of the Indian monks who had visited Tibet; and so also King Thi Sroṅ Detsan, for his aid in founding the order of the Lāmas.

It also seems to me that Ṅa-pa was the author of the re -incarnate Lāma 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 Lāma of Tashi-lhunpo dates only from the reign of this Ṅa-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 Lāma, who seems, however, to have mostly lived and to have died at De-pung.

 

It will be noticed from the list of Tāshi Grand Lāmas 1 that Geden-dub, the founder of Tashi-lhunpo, contrary to the current opinion of European writers, does not appear as a Tashi Lāma at all. This official list of Tashi-lhunpo, read in the light of the biographies of these Lāmas, 2 clearly shows that previous to the Lāma who is number two of the list, and who was born during the latter end of Dalai Lāma Ṅa-pa’s reign as aforesaid, none of the Tashi-lhunpo Lāmas were regarded as re-incarnations at all. The first on this list, namely, Lo-zaṅ 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.A.S.B., 1882, 26 seq.).

account of distinguished ability. It is also interesting to note that on the death, in 1614, of the fourth Grand Lāma of the Ge-lug-pa (named Yon- tan), whom he had ordained, he was installed in the abbotship at Gāh-ldan monastery, and in 1622, at the age of 53, he initiated, as fifth Grand Lāma, the infant Ṅa-pa, who was then seven years old, and who afterwards became the great Dalai Lāma.

And he continued to be the spiritual father and close friend and adviser of Ṅa-pa, and seems to have begun those political negotiations which culminated in the cession of Tibet to his protege. When he died, in 1662, his spiritual son Ṅa-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, Amitābha, 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 Lāmas 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 Lāmas, the Lhāsa Grand Lāma, who wields the sovereign power, thus gave himself the highest place, but allotted the Tashi-lhunpo Grand Lāma a position second only to his own. Below these come the other re-incarnate Lāmas, 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, 1 and by the Mongols Khutuktu. They occupy the position of cardinals and archbishops. The lowest re-incarnate Lāmas are regarded as re-embodiments of Tibetan saints, and are named ordinary Tul-ku or ” Ku-s’o,” 2 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 K’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 Lāma seems restricted to Ladāk. In Tibet proper this title is applied to any superior Lāma, and is even used in polite society to laymen of position.

these so-called re-incarnate Lāmas 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 Lāma hierarchs, after the Grand Lāmas of Lhāsa and Tashi-lhunpo, are the great Mongolian Lāma at Urgya, the Sas-kya Lāma, and the Dharma Rāja of Bhutan, this last being practically independent of Lhāsa, and the temporal ruler of Bhutan. 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 Lāmas of Lhāsa, is taken from the printed list. 1 The birth-dates are given upon the authority of a reliable, trustworthy Lāmaist calculator. 2

 

 

 

List of Grand (Dalai) Lāmas or Popes.

No.                                   Name.                         Birth.           Death.          Remarks.

A.D.             A.D.

1                               dGe-‘dun grub-pa                1391              1475

2                              dGe-‘dun rGya-mts’o             1475              1543

3                               bSod-nams                         1543              1589

4                               Yon-tan                              1589 (3)         1617

5              Ṅag-dbaṅ blo-bsaṅ rGva-mts’o .-            1617              1682            First ” Dalai.”

6                   Ts’aṅs-dbyans rGya-mts’o                 1683 (4)         1706 Deposed & murdered.

7                    sKal-bzan             “”                       1708               1758

8                   ‘Jam-dpal              “”                       1758              1805 5

9                     Luṅ-rtogs            “”                       1805 6           1816   Seen by Manning.

10                  Ts’ul-K’rims            “”                     1819 7            1837

11                   mK’as-grub            “”                    1837               1855

12                   ‘P’rin-las             “”                       1856               1874

13                  T’ub-bstan            “”                      1876                               Present pope.

 

The first Grand Lāma, Ge-‘dun-ḍub, was born near Sas-kya, and

1 The modern list precedes the historical names by a series of fifty more or less

mythic personages, headed by Avalokita himself.

2 Lāma S’e-rab Gya-ts’o, of the Ge-lug-pa monastery, Darjiling.

3 DESGODINS {La Miss., etc., p. 218) gives 1588.

4 DESG. gives 1682.

5 Other accounts give 1798, 1803, 1808; cf. also Koppen’s List, i., 235.

6 Desg., and this corresponds with Manning’s account (MARKH., 265).

7 Desg. gives 1815.

 

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 Lāma for licentious living, the Tartar king, Gingkir Khan, appointed to Potala the Lāma of C’ag-poh-ri, named Nagwaṅ Yeshe Gyamtso, into whom the sorcerers alleged that, not the soul but the breath of the former Grand Lāma had passed. It was soon announced, however, that the sixth Grand Lāma was re-born in the town of Lithang as Kal-zaṅ, the son of a quondam monk of De-pung monastery. This child was imprisoned by 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 Lhāsa ; 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 Lāma ” Kiesri ” Rim-poch’e, of the Chotin monastery, four days’ journey from Lhāsa. 1

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. 2

The ninth is the only Grand Lāma of Lhāsa ever seen by an Englishman. He was seen by Manning in 1811, while still a child of six years old. Manning relates that : ” The Lāma’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,” etc. 3 This child died a few years afterwards, assassinated, it is believed, by the regent, named Si-Fan.

The tenth Grand Lāma also dying during his minority, and suspicions being aroused of foul play on the part of the regent,

 1 This latter Lāma was in power at Potala in 1730 on the arrival of Horace Dellapenna, from whose account (Markh., p. 321) most of the latter details have been taken.  2 Ibid., lxv. 3 Ibid., p. 266.

the latter was deposed and banished by the Chinese in 1844, at the instance of the Grand Lāma of Tashi-lhunpo, and a rising of his confederates of the Sera monastery was suppressed. 1

The eleventh also died prematurely before attaining his majority, and is believed to have been poisoned by the regent, the Lāma of Ten-gye-ling. A young Lāma of De-pung, named Ra-deng, 2 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. 3 Pe-chi died about 1869, and was succeeded by the abbot of Gāh-ldan.

The twelfth Grand Lāma 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 Lāma 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 Lāma. The thirteenth is still (1894) alive. He was seen in 1882 by Sarat Candra Dās, whose account of him is given elsewhere.

The Tashi-lhunpo Grand Lāmas are considered to be, if possible, holier even than those of Lhāsa, 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-ch’en Rin-po-ch’e)4 or (Gyal-gon 5 Rin-po-ch’e, or “The precious lordly victor.” The Sa-kya Grand Lāmas had been called ” Pan-ch’en,” or the “Great doctor ” from the twelfth century, but have ceased to hold the

1 HUC, ii., p. 166. This account is disbelieved by .Mr. Mayers, J.R.A .S., iv., 305.  2 rva-sgren, the ” gyal-po Riting ” of the Pandit, p. xxiv. 3 MARKH., xcvii.  4 Pan is a contraction for the Indian ” Pandit,” or learned scholar, and rin-po-ch’e = ratna or gem, or precious, or in Mongolian Irtini or Erdeni, hence he is called by Mongolians ” Pan-ch’en Irtini.”  5 Vulgarly ” gyaṅ-gon.”

title since the era of the Dalai Lāmas, when the established  church appropriated it to itself.

The following list of ” Tashi ” Lāmas is taken from that printed at the monastery itself. 1

 List of “Tashi’  Grand Lāmas.

No.                              Name.                           Birth.       Death.                Remarks.

A.D.          A.D

1              bLo-bzaṅ ch’os-kyi rgyal-mts’an         1569           1662

2              bLo-bzaṅ ye-she dpal bzaṅ-po           1663           1737

3              bLo-bzaṅ dpal-ldan ye-s’es                1738 2        1780   Bogle’s friend,

   installed 1743.

4              rJe-bstaṅ pahi ñima                          1781          1854    Seen by Turner.

5   rJe-dpal-ldan ch’os-kyi grags-pa)                   1854          1882    Died in August.

bstaṅ-pahi dbaṅ p’yug )

6                                                                    1883      Installed last week of February, 1888.

 

The third Tashi Lāma 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 Lāmas. Mr. Bogle gives us a delightful glimpse into the amiable character of this holy man. 3 ” The Lāma 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 cap 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.

1 The official list is entitled pan-sku-p’ren rim-pa ltar 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-lhunpo Grand Lāmas. 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 Tashi lhunpo.SUPPLMENTARY LlST OF SO-CALLED PAN-CH’EN GRAND Lāmas.

2. Sa-skya Pandita (1182-1252).

3. gYtin-sto/i rdo-rje dpal (1284-1376).

4. mK’as-sgrub dGe-legs-dpal zang-po (1385-1439).

5. pan-ch’en-bSod-nams p’yogs kyi-glaṅ-po (1439-1505)

6. dben-sa-pa blo-bzaṅ  Don-grub (1505-1570).

 2 At ” Tashi-tzay,” N.E. of Tashi-lhunpo (M., p. 92).

3 Loc, cit., p. 83.

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 1 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, sweet-meats, sugar, bundles of tea, sheeps’ carcasses dried, etc., were set before me and my companion, Mr. Hamilton. The Lāma 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 Lāma used (except on holidays) to receive me without any ceremony, his head uncovered, dressed only in the large red sarong 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 walk 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 Lāma 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 Lāma, and was by birth a Manchu Tartar. He was then only about twenty-two years of age.

mother a near relation of the Rājas of Ladak. From her he learned the Hindūstani 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 Teshu Lāma possesses is that of charity, and he has plenty of opportunities of exercising it. The country swarms with beggars, and the Lāma 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 Hindūstan. … 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 Lāma’s expense may be in number about one hundred and fifty, besides about thirty Musulman fakirs.

For although the genius of the religion of Muhammad is hostile to that of the Lāma, 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 Lāma 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 Lāma’s votaries, 1 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.” 2

This Grand Lāma, 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.   2 p. 133.

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 Lāma was seized wth small-pox, and died on November 12th, 1780. His body in a golden coffin, was conveyed to the mausoleum at Tashi-lhunpo.1

His successor, while still an infant of about eighteen month, was seen by Captain Turner as the envoy of the British government . This remarkable interview took place at the monastery of Terpaling.2 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 of the left hand. Having been informed that although unable to speak he could understand, Captain Turner said “that the governor general 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 reappearance ……

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.3 He is described by Huc 4 as of fine majestic frame, and astonishing vigour for his advanced age, which was then about sixty.

1 Oriental Repertory, ii.,p. 145 and Markham, p. 208. 2 On the 4th December, 1783.  3 TURNER’s Embassy, etc. The new Tashi Lāma was installed in October, 1784, in the presence of the Dalai Lama, the Chinese Minister or Amban, the Gesub Rimboc’e, and the heads of all the monastery in Tibet, as described by Purangir Gosain, the native agent of the Warren Hastings, M., lxxv.   4 ii., 157.

The Mongolian hierarch at Urgya-Kuren, in the Khalka country, is called ” His holy reverence,” or Je-tsun Dam-pa” 1 and is regarded as an incarnation of the celebrated historian Lāma, Tāranātha, who, it will be remembered, was of the Sa-kya sect, which had identified itself with Mongolian Lāmaism, 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 Lāma theory, the Khalka 2 Mongols fixed upon Tāranātha as the source of the re-incarnations for their chief hierarch. And the Dalai Lāma, Ṅag-pa, who had climbed into power on the shoulders of the Mongols, had to accept the high position thus accorded to Tāranātha, 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 3 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 Kalmuks 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 Lāma. 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 fraud which was being enacted as Lhāsa. 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 rJe-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. — MARKH., p. xlix. 3 Koppen, ii., 178.

 

Lāma, 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.” 1 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 Lhāsa city, and to be the eighth of the series. He is educated at the De-pung monastery as a Gre-lug-pa Lāma; but the present one was carried off, when four or five years of age, to Urga, accompanied by a Lāma of De-pung as tutor. A complete list of these hierarchs and fuller historical information in regard to them is much needed. 2

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 Ñiṅ -ma-pa as their head and an incarnation of the Gruru himself, and as such scarcely inferior to the Grand Lāma of Lhāsa. Sa-kya was founded, as we saw, by Kungah Ñiṅ -po, born in 1090 , and became famous under Sa-kya Paṇḍita, 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 3 : —

List of SA-KYA HIERARCHS.

1.  Sas-kya bsaṅ-po.                                             12. ‘Od-ser-seṅ-ge.

2.  S’aṅ-btsun.                                                     13. Kun-rin.

3.  Ban-dKar-po.                                                  14. Don-yod dpal.

4. Chyaṅ-rin bsKyos-pa.                                        15. Yon-btsun.

5. Kun-gs’aṅ.                                                       16. ‘Od-ser Seṅ-ge II.

6. gS’aṅ-dbaṅ.                                                     17. rGyal-va Saṅ-po.

7. Chaṅ-rdor.                                                      18. Dbaṅ-p’yng-dpal.

8. Aṅ-len.                                                           19. bSod-Nam-dpal.

9. Legs-pa-dpal.                                                  20. rGyab-va-Tsan-po II.

10. Seṅ-ge-dpal.                                                 21. dBaṅ-btsun.

11. ‘Od-zer-dpal.

Its head Lāma is still called by the unreformed Lāmas “Sa-kya

1 Markham’s Tibet, xlix. 2 For an account of the journey of the present hierarch from Lhāsa to Urga, see Peking Gazette for 1874, pp. 68, 74 and 124 (Shanghai abstract 1875). The new incarnation met by the Abbe Huc in 1844, journeying from Urga to Lhāsa appears to have been the seventh. 3 Cf. also list by Sanang Setsen, p. 121 ; Csoma, Gr., 186 ; Koppen, ii., 105 ; Sarat, J.A.S.B., 1881, p. 240.

Pan-ch’en.” 1 The succession is hereditary; but between father and son intervenes the brother of the reigning Lāma and uncle of the successor, so as to secure an adult as holder of the headship.

The Bhotān 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 Bhotānese 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 Lāma named “Dupgani Sheptun” acquired paramount influence as Dharma Rāja. On his death the spirit of the Sheptun became incarnate in a child at Lhāsa, who was conveyed to Bhotan. When this child grew up he appointed a regent for temporal concerns, called Deb Rāja, 2 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 Lāma is held to be re-incarnate, and is named Lāma Rin-po-ch’e, also ” The religious king ” or Dharma Rāja. His hat, as seen in the illustration at the head of this chapter, 3 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, 4 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 Bhutān HIERARCHS.

1. Nag-dbaṅ rnam rgyal bdud ‘jom-rdorje.

2. Nag-dbaṅ ‘jig-med rtags-pa.

3. Nag-dbaṅ ch’os-kyi rgyal mtshan.

4 Nag-dbaṅ ‘jig med dbaṅ po.

5. Nag-dbaṅ Shakya seṅ go.

6. Nag-dbaṅ ‘jam dbyans rgyal mts’an.

7. Nag-dban ch’os kyi dban p’ug.

8. Nag-dbaṅ ‘jig-med rtags-pa (second re-incarnation).

9. Nag-dbaṅ ‘jig-med rtags norbu.

10. Nag-dbaṅ ‘jig-med rtags ch’os-rgyal — the present Great Bhotan Lāma in 1892.

1 He is entitled by Turner (op. cit., p. 315) ” Gongoso Rimbochhe.”  2 Rept. cf. Markh., p. lv.  3 The figure is from a photo of a Bhotān Lāma, and the hat is that of the present (1893) Grand Lāma of Bhotan. 4 Himal. Jours, i.

 

Each of these Grand Lāmas has a separate biography (or nam- t’ar). The first, who was a contemporary of the Grand Lāma Sonam Gya-tsho, seems to have been married ; the rest are celibate. A celebrated Lāma of this Dug-pa sect was named Mi-pam ch’os-Kyi gyal-po.

The Dharma Rāja resides, at least in summer, at the fort of Ta-shi-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.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Tashichoedzong-Bhutan-2001.JPG

Bogle describes the Lāma of his day as ” a thin, sickly-looking man of about thirty-five years of age.” 1 He exercises, I am informed, some jurisdiction over Lāmas in Nepal, where his authority is officially recognized by the Gorkha government.

The number of the lesser spiritual chiefs held to be re-embodied Lāma saints is stated 2 to be one hundred and sixty, of which thirty are in Tibet (twelve being “Shaburuṅ “), 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 Lāmas in western Tibet or Tsang are Seṅ -c’en-Rin-po-ch’e, 3 Ya ṅzin Lho-pa, Billuṅ, Lo-ch’en, Kyi-zar, Ti ṅki, De-ch’an Alig, Kaṅla, Koṅ (at Phagri). In Kham, Tu, Ch’amdo, Derge, etc.

The Lāmaist metropolitan at Pekin is called by the Tibetans

” lC’aṅ -skya,” and is considered an incarnation of Rol-pahī 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 MARKH., p. 27. 2 In the Sheng Wu Ki, and registered by the Colonial Board at Pekin. (Mayer) J.R.A.S., vi., p. 307. 3 The last re-incarnate Lāma bearing this title, and the tutor of the Tashi Grand Lāma, 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 Lhāsa, 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. of K’ang Hi, probably about 1690-1700 CE., and entrusted with the emperor’s confidence as his religious vicegerent for inner Mongolia. 1

In Ladāk only four monasteries have resident re-incarnate Lāmas or Ku-s’o. Although. they are of the red sect, these head

Lāmas are said to be

educated at Lhāsa.

The present (1893)

re-incarnate Lāma of

Spitak, the seventeenth

of the series, is thus de-

scribed by Captain

Ramsay. 2 ” A youth,

26 years of age, who

lately returned from

Lhāsa, 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                                            Head Lāma of Pekin. :

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 Lāmas or people of Ladāk.”

In Sikhim, where few Lāmas are celibate and where the Labrang Lāma 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

1 Z.E. 21, Pand., No. 53.        2 Op.cit., p. 69.     3 After Grunwedel.

 

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 Lāmas ; and when the king was not a monk, the Lāmas retained most of the temporal power in their hands ; and the first king of Sikhim was nominated by the pioneer Lāmas ; and the ancestor of the present dynasty, a descendant of the religious king, Thi-Sroṅ Detsan, one of the founders of Lāmaism, was canonized as an incarnation of the Buddhist god, Mañjuṣṛī.

The female re-incarnation, the abbess of the monastery of the Yamdok lake, who is considered an embodiment of the goddess Vajra varāhī, or ” The diamond sow,” is thus described by Mr. Bogle 1 : ” 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 Lāma’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 Lāmas’, 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 Lāma his spirit is believed to flit into the soul of some unknown infant who is born a few days after the death of the Lāma. The mode of determining the child who has been so favoured is based upon the practice followed in regard to the Grand Lāma of Lhāsa, 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 Markh., p. 109.

infants who have been born under miraculous portents just after the death of the deceased Lāma, and with prayer and worship to ballot a selected list of names, which are written by a committee of Lāmas on slips of paper and put into a golden jug, and then amid constant prayer, usually by 117 selected pure Lāmas, 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 Lāmaship. 1

court is believed to influence the selection under such circumstances, the state oracle of Na-ch’uṅ has latterly superseded the old practice, and the present Grand Lāma was selected by this oracle. Lāma Ugyen Gya-tsho relates 2 that the present Na-ch’uṅ oracle prophesied disaster in the shape of a monster appearing as the Dalai Lāma, 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 Lāma of Gāh-ldan monastery, who was sent by the oracle to Chukorgye,

1 After Huc.  2 Loc. cit., para. 59 ; of. also Huc, ii., 197.

where he dreamed that he was to look in the lake called Lha-moi-lamtsho for the future Dalai. He looked, and it is said that, pictured in the bosom of the lake, he saw the infant Dalai Lāma 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 Lāma, he was elected as spiritual head of Tibet.

 

These infant candidates, who, on account of their remarkable intelligence, or certain miraculous signs, 1 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 Lāmas, 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 Lāma 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 by lot in front of the image of the emperor of China, 3 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

1 Circumstantial 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 Lāmas have left Potala to come and claim them.

2 The distant villages of Gada, south-west of Darchhendo (Ta-chhien Lu) and Lithang, have each produced a Dalai Lāma.

3 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 (Marco P., loc. cit., L., p. 290.)

 

been supplied by Mr. Mayers 1 from the original Chinese document of Meng Pao, the senior Amban at Lhāsa, 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 Lāma, 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 Lāma, it has already been reported to your majesty that a communication had been received from Ke-le-tan-si-leu-t’u-sa-ma-ti Bakhshi  reporting 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-k’iuh-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 four 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 Lāma 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 regards 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 Lāma ; 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 celebration 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-

1 W. F. Mayer, Illustrations of the Lāmaist System in Tibet, drawn from Chinese Sources, J.R.A.S., vi. (1872), p. 284 seq.

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 : —

 

I. A-chu-cho-ma, the wife of the Tibetan named Kung-pu-tan-tseng, living at the Pan-je-chung post-station in Sang-ang-k’iuh-tsung, gave birth to a son on the 13th day of the 11th month of the year Ki-hai (19th December, 1839), upon a report concerning which having been received from the local headmen, the chancellor despatched Tsze-feng-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 milk-white 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 tire remained, but upon the rock there was manifested an image of Kwan Yin (Avalokita) and the characters of Na-mo O-mi-to-Fo (Amitābha), 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 in a 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 Sutra of Amita Buddha. In addressing his mother he pronounced the word A-ma  with perfect distinctness. His features were comely and well-formed, 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 transmitted after authentication by the chancellor to ourselves, etc., etc.

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 Lāma 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 Lāma having made its appearance, a day had been fixed for the drawing of lots ; and they have now to state that 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 Te 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’ukht’u, khan-pu, ko-pu-lun, etc., when it was ascertained by a careful inquiry into each individual case that the two children born respectively at Sang-ang-k’iuh-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 Lāma, 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 urn 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 hut’ukht’u and Lāmas, 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 Lāmas, 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 incense 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 Lāmas. 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 perfect inviolability. After the further recital of a chapter by the Panshen Erdeni and his associates, your servant, Meng 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 Lāmas. The inscription upon the slip was as follows: “The son of Tse-wang-teng-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 hutukhtu and all the attendant Lāmas, exclaimed unanimously with unfeigned delight and gladsome ness 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 Lāma, 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 Lāma 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 reverential acknowledgments of the celestial favour. Your servants observed with careful attention that the gratitude not alone of the Panshen 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 Lhāsa at such an early age that his mother, who may belong to the poorest peasant class, 1 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 lay town in the vicinity, and her son temporarily at the monastic palace of Ri-gyal Phodaṅ n, 2 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 De-pung, and the father usually receives the rank of Kung, said to be the highest of the five ranks of Chinese nobility.

 

1 As, for example, in the case of the eleventh Grand Lāma, whose father was a poor fuel-seller. 2 Another account (Mayer, loc. cit., p. 295) states that he is kept at the ” Jih-kia ” monastery to the east of Lhāsa, or ” Chih-ta-wang-pu.”

 

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 Lāma

 

” In obedience to these commands, Your servants proceeded on the 13th day of the 4th month in company with the Chany-Chia Hut’uklitfu (the Pekin metropolitan) and the chancellor, followed by their subordinate functionaries, the hut’ukhtfu, Lāmas, and Tibetan officials, to the monastery on mount Jih-kia, for the purpose of escorting the Dalai

Lāma’s embodiment down the mountain to the town of Chih-ta-hwang-pu, on the east of Lassa, where his abode was temporarily established. Your servants, in respectful conformity with the rules for attendance upon the Dalai Lāma, 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 effigy of your majesty’s elevated ancestor, the emperor Pure. On the 16th, your servants reverently took the golden scroll containing the mandate bestowed by your majesty upon the Dalai Lāma’s embodiment, together with the sable cape, the coral court rosary, 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 Lāma’s embodiment in the hall, your servants and the secretary of the Chang-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 genuflections 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 hut’ukht’u and Lāmas 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, to the 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 of the Dalai Lāma 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.” 1

 

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. 2

At the age of eight he is ordained a full monk and abbot of the Nam-gyal convent and head of the Lāmaist church.

The Dalai Lāma 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 Lāma 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 usually credited with supporting such proceedings for political purposes.

On the death of a re-incarnate Lāma, his body is preserved. The tombs of the Dalai, and Pan-ch’en Lāmas form conspicuous gilt monuments, sometimes as many as seven storeys high, named Ku-tuṅ, 3 at Potala and Tashi-lhunpo. The holiness of such a Lāma is estimated in proportion to the shrinkage of his body after death. The temporal rule of Tibet is vested in a Lāma who has the title of ” king.” For when Ṅag-waṅ acquired the temporal power he retained this title for one of his agents, also called ” The regent,” 4 and “Protector of the earth,” 5 and « Governor,” 6 and by the Mongols Nomen-Khan.

A regent is necessary to conduct the temporal government, especially under the system of papal succession by re-births, where the new Dalai Lāma does not reach his majority and nominal succession to temporal rule till his eighteenth year. In order to avoid plotting against the hierarchs, Ṅag-waṅ ruled that the regent must be a Lāma, and he restricted this office to the head Lāmas of the monastic palaces or Ling of Lhāsa, named Tan-gye-ling, 7 Kun-de-ling, 8 Ts’e-ch’og-ling, 9 ancl Ts’amo-ling, 10 whom, he alleged, by a

________________________________________________________________

1 Mayer, loc. cit., p, 296.   2 The preceptor of the tenth and eleventh Grand Lāmas was ” Kia-mu-pa-le-i-hi-tan- peī-gyam-tso.” Mayer, loc cit. 3 skumdun. 4 Gyal-tshab. 5 Sa-Kyoṅ. 6 de-sid          7 bsTan-rgyas-gliṅ. 8 Kun-‘dus gliṅ 9 Tse-mch’og gliṅ.10 Ts’a-mo-gliṅ. A Lāma of this monastic palace and a member of Sera, became the celebrated regent Tsha-tur numa-hang ( ? “Nomen Khan “).

polite fiction, to be re-embodiments of the spirits of the four most celebrated ministers of the monarchical period. Thus the spirit of king Sroṅ Tsan Grampo’s minister Lon-po Gar is believed to be incarnate in the Lāma of Tan-gye-ling. The office when falling vacant through death (or deposition) passes caeteris paribus to the surviving senior of those Lings. The present regent (1893) is the Kun-de-ling Lāma. The regent is assisted in the government 1 by four ministers called Kā-duṅ, 2 who were formerly all laymen, but now some of them are being replaced by Lāmas ; also secretaries (Kā-duṅ) and district magistrates (Jon-pon). And the two Chinese political residents, or Am bans, 3 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 Lāmas, the Tibetans who, in Sroṅ 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, etc., and are now hemmed in by the Chinese into the more inhospitable tracts.

1 ” De-ba zhuṅ.” 2 bKah-blon. 3 ” Amban” is not Chinese. It is probably Manchu or Mongolian, cf. Rock., L., 51. The resident imperial minister of Tibet is colloquially called Chu-tsaṅṭu-chon, and he is always a Manchu, that is, of the ruling race.

MONASTERIES

 

 

Key Gompa or Ki Monastery is a thousand year old Tibetan Buddhist monastery located prominently on top of a hill at an altitude of 4,166 meters (13,668 feet) in the Spiti Valley. The village of Kibar below the monastery is said to be the highest village in India. The monastery has been attacked many times during its long history by Mongol and other armies and was also ravaged by fire and earthquakes. The successive trails of destruction and restorations have resulted in a box-like construction, and the monastery looks like a fort, where temples are built on top of one another. –

 

ISOLATION from the world has always been a desideratum of Buddhist monks ; not as penance, but merely to escape temptations, and favour meditation. The monastery is named in Tibetan Gon-pa, 2 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 C’og-sde, or Choi-de, a ” religious place,” is especially applied to temple-monasteries within a village or town. ” Liṅ,” 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’aṅ‘  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 Ladak, like so many monasteries in central Tibet, is set on the face of a cliff. It is ” carvedout 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 Gompa 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. 1

Such remote and almost inaccessible sites for many of the convents renders mendicancy impossible ; but begging-with-the-bowl never seems to have been a feature of Lāmaism, even when the monastery adjoined a town or village.

Several monasteries, especially of the Kar-gyu sect, are called “caves” (hermitages) (or tak-p’u), 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 Ri-kyi-sum near Pedong, in British Bhutan. Such caves, as a rule, are natural caverns, wholly unadorned by art, and are specially tenanted by the wandering ascetics named Yogācā rya and Zi- jepa. 2

 

1 Mr. Knight, loc. cit, p. 127, where a picture of the monastery also is given.  2 Under this heading come the four great caves of Sikkim hallowed as the traditional abodes of St. Padma and Lhatsun Ch’embo, and now the objects of pilgrimage even to Lāmas from Tibet. These four caves are distinguished according to the four cardinal points, viz. : — The North Lha-ri Ñiṅ-p’u, or “the old cave of God’s hill.” It is situated about three days’ journey to the north of Tashiding, along a most difficult path. This is the most holy of the series.  The South Kah-do saṅ p’u, or “cave of the occult fairies.” Here it is said is a hot spring, and on the rock are many footprints ascribed to the fairies.

The East sBas p’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.

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.” 1

 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. If a 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, 2 thus : —

Tashi-Lhun-po, ” The mass of glory.”

Sa-skya,             the tawny soil.

Min-pol-liṅ,       ” The place of perfect emancipation.”

The ” Hīmis,   ” monastery in Ladāk is called ” The support of the meaning of Buddha’s precepts.” 3

1 rgyab ri brag daṅ mdun ri mts’o. 2 See my “Place, River and Mountain Names of Sikkim,” etc., J.A.S.B., 1891. 3 Schlag., 179.

 

Ganden Monastery is one of the ‘great three’ university monasteries of Tibet, located at the top of Wangbur Mountain at an altitude of 4,300 meters (14,107 feet). The other two are Sera Monastery and Drepung Monastery. Being the farthest from Lhasa of the three university monasteries, Ganden traditionally had a smaller population with some 6,000 monks in the early 20th century. In 1959 the monastery was completely destroyed by the Red Guards and the mummified body of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Monastery, was burned. Reconstruction of the Monastery has been continuing since the 1980s. –

The extreme isolation of some of the Tibetan cloisters has its 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 Ladak, like so many monasteries in central 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 Gompa 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. 1

 

Such remote and almost inaccessible sites for many of the convents renders mendicancy impossible ; but begging-with-the-bowl never seems to have been a feature of Lāmaism, even when the monastery adjoined a town or village.

 

Several monasteries, especially of the Kar-gyu sect, are called “caves” (hermitages) (or tak-p’u), 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 Ri-kyi-sum near Pedong, in British Bhutan. Such caves, as a rule, are natural caverns, wholly unadorned by art, and are specially tenanted by the wandering ascetics named Yogācā rya and Zi- jepa. 2

 

1 Mr. Knight, loc. cit, p. 127, where a picture of the monastery also is given.  2 Under this heading come the four great caves of Sikkim hallowed as the traditional abodes of St. Padma and Lhatsun Ch’embo, and now the objects of pilgrimage even to Lāmas from Tibet. These four caves are distinguished according to the four cardinal points, viz. : — The North Lha-ri Ñiṅ-p’u, or “the old cave of God’s hill.” It is situated about three days’ journey to the north of Tashiding, along a most difficult path. This is the most holy of the series.  The South Kah-do saṅ p’u, or “cave of the occult fairies.” Here it is said is a hot spring, and on the rock are many footprints ascribed to the fairies.

The East sBas p’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.

 

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.” 1

The door of the assembly room and temple is caeteris paribus built to face eastwards. The next best direction is south-east, and then south. If a 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 neighborhood, 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,

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Drepung_monastery.jpg

 

borrowed from the name of a celebrated Indian monastery ; but others are merely place-names which are often descriptive of the site, 2 thus : —

Tashi-Lhun-po, ” The mass of glory.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BKraShisLhunPo_Tashilhunpo_Monestary,_Tibet_1985.jpg

Sa-skya,             the tawny soil.

Min-pol-liṅ,       ” The place of perfect emancipation.”

The ” Hīmis,   ” monastery in Ladāk is called ” The support of the meaning of Buddha’s precepts.” 3

 1 rgyab ri brag daṅ mdun ri mts’o. 2 See my “Place, River and Mountain Names of Sikhim,” etc., J.A.S.B., 1891. 3 Schlag., 179.

SAṄ -ṄA-CHO-LIṄ  (Ang., Sangngak Chöling) 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.

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PADMA-YAṄ -TSE(Ang.,Pemiongchi) = padma (pr. “pama”)a lotus + yaṅ, perfect or pure + rtse, the highest ” the monastery of the sublime perfect lotus (-born one, i.e., Padma-sambhava) .” A monastery professing, we believe, only well-born, celibate, and undeformed

monks, and especially associated with St. Padma, who is worshipped here.

 

TA-KA-TASHI-DIṄ (Ang., Tashiding) = brag { = tag,) a rock +dkar , white + bkra-sis (pr. ta shi) 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.

 

PHO-DAṄ (Ang., Fadung) = p’o-ldaṅ, a sloping ridge ; such is the site of this gompa and the usual spelling of the name. As, however, this is the ” chapel royal ” of the raja, it seems possible that the name may be p’o-bran (pr. p’o-daṅ) = palace, ” the gompa of the palace.”

 

LA-BRAṄ = Bla, a contraction of Lāma or high-priest + braṅ, a dwelling. Here resides the hierarch or chief Lāma. [N. B. — This is one of the very few words in which br is literally

pronounced as spelt.]

 

DORJE-LIṄ (Ang., Darjeeling) = rdo-rje “the precious stone”* or ecclesiastical sceptre, emblematic of the thunder-bolt of Sakra (Indra or Jupiter) + gliṅ, a place. The monastery from which Darjīling 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-du Dorje-ling (dbang, power + bdus, accumulated or concentrated) on account of its excellent situation, and powerful possibilities.

 

DE-T’AṄ = De, a kind of tree (Daphne papyraceae, Wall.), from the bark of which ropes and paper are made  + t’aṅ, a meadow = ” the gompa of the De meadow.” Here these trees are abundant.

 

RI-GON (Ang., Ringim = (rl + dgon, a hermitage = “the hermitage hill.” It is situated near the top of the hill.

TO-LUṄ = rdo, a stone + luṅ, a valley. This valley is remarkably rocky, and avalanches of stones are frequent.

EN-CE = dben {pr. en), a solitary place + lc’e, a tongue. A monastery on a tongue-shaped spur.

DUB-DE = sgrub (pr. “dub”), a hermit’s cell + sde, a place. “The place of the hermits cell “—the oldest monastery in Sikhim, founded by the pioneer missionary Lha-tsun Ch en-bo.

P’EN-ZAṄ = p’an bliss or profit + bzaṅ, excellent. The monastery of  “excellent bliss.”

KA-CO-PAL-RI {Ang. Ketsuperi) = mk’ā, heaven + spyod (pr. cho) to accomplish or reach + dpal, noble + ri = the monastery of “the noble mountain of the Garuḍa (a messenger of the gods) ” or “of reaching heaven.”

MA-ṆI = ” mā-nī’ a tablet inscribed with “Om mani, etc,” a Mendoṅ. “The gompa of the Mendoṅ “; here the gompa was erected near an old mendong.

SE-NON = Se , a sloping ridge + non, depressed. It is situated on a depressed sloping ridge ; and is also spelt gzigs (pr. zī), a see-er or beholder + mnon, to suppress ; and in this regard it is alleged that here St. Padma-sambhava beheld the local demons underneath and kept them under.

YAṄ-GAṄ =yaṅ,perfect, also lucky + sgaṅ “ a ridge ” ” The monastery of the lucky ridge.”

LHUN-TSE =lhun,lofty +rtse, summit. The monastery of the lofty summit”

NAM-TSE = 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 is a Lepcha name from tsu = ” Seat of government, as the site is a very old Lepcha one.

TSUN-T’AṄ  (Ang., Cheungtham)= btsun, a queen; also ” respected one ” i.e., a Lāma or monk; also marriage + thaṅ, 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 Lāmas,” or the meadow of Our Lady “-its full name as found in manuscript being btsun-mo rin-chen t’an,” implies that the Lāmas derive its name from “the precious Lady (Dorje-p’ag-mo) ” whose image is prominently displayed within the gompa.

RAB-LIṄ (Ang., Rawling) = rab, excellent or high + gliṅ, a place. This monastery is situated on a high cliffy ridge

NOB-LIṄ (Ang. Nobling) = nub, the west + gliṅ = “The gompa of the Western place or country.” It lies on the western border of Sikhim.

DE-KYI-LIṄ (Ang ,Dikiling) = bde-skyid, happiness + gliṅ = ” The place of Happiness ” ,It is a rich arable slte With the beer -millet (murwa) cultivation.

The site chosen for a monastery must be consecrated before any building is begun. A chapter of Lāmas 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 benediction (Tashi-tsig jod), together with relics, 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 Lāmas, 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 mediaeval Indian style. Mr. Fergusson shows 2 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), 3 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, 4 etc., as regards Tibet, and by General Cunningham and Mr. Conway as regards the large monasteries of Ladāk. The monasteries in Sikhim are mean and almost devoid of any artistic interest.

1 SCHLAG., 178, who there translates the historical document on the founding of Himis; Csoma’s An., p. 508; Cunningham’s Ladāk,309. 2 Hist. Ind. and Eastn. Arch., p. 299, et seq.3 Figured by Hooker, Him. Jour. 4 See also detailed description of the houses of the Lāmas of Kumbum in Land of the Lāmas, p. 65.

 

Tashi-Tashi lhunpo Monastery.(From a native drawing.)

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 yak- hair 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 scanty furniture is of the plainest.

The well-known Indian name of a Buddhist monastery, namely Ārāma, or Saṅghārāma (“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. 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ch’orten and Mendoṅ in Ladāk.2

 

Lining the approaches to the monastery are rows of tall

1 Cf., JAESCH., D., 4.    2 After Mr. Knight.

 

” prayer “-flags, and several large funereal monuments — Ch’orten and long wall-like Mendoṅ monuments.

The Ch’or-tens, 1 literally

” receptacle for offerings,” 2 are

usually solid conical masonry

structures, corresponding to

the Caityas and Stupas or”Topes” of

Indian Buddhism, and originally intended as relic-holders; they are now  mostly erected

as cenotaphs in                                                   Funereal Buddhist Monument

memory of                                                       (A Ch’orten Stupa or ” Tope “).

Buddha or of canonized saints; and they present a suggestively funereal appearance. Some commemorate the visits of Lāmaist saints ; and miniature ones of metal, wood, or clay often adorn the altar, and sometimes contain relics.

 

The original form of the Caitya, or Stupa, 3 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 (toran) surmounted by one or

more umbrellas, symbols of royalty. Latterly they

became more complex in form, with numerous

 

 

plinths, and much elongated, especially in regard                        Mediaeval. Indian

to their capitals, as seen in the small photograph                         brazen Caitya

here given. 4 .                                                                             (from Tibet.)

1 mCh’od-r-ten. 2 Skt., Da-garbha. 3 Cf . HODGSON., Il., 30, et seq., for descriptions ; also his views about the respective meanings of ” Caitya ” and ” Stūpa.”  4 In Mr. Hodgson’s collection are nearly one hundred drawings of Caityas in Nepal ; Fergusson’s Hist. Ind. and East. Arch., 303; Ferg. and Burgess’ Cave-Temples ;Cunningham’s Bhilsa Topes, p. 12.

The Lāmaist 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,

Cūḍāmani, of thirteen steplike segments, typical of the thirteen Bodhisat heavens of the Buddhists. This is surmounted by a bell-shaped symbol (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 jyoti or sacred light of Buddha. And sometimes round the base of the kalsa is a gilt canopy or umbrella (catra). 1 Many of the Lāmaist 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 ; fire by a triangular tongue ; air by a

1 Cunningham’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 Lāmaist deities, in niches and in several inner compartments within folding doors, is called

“the glorious (Ch’orten) of many doors.” 1 It is

carried about from village to village by itinerant

Lāmas for exhibition to the laity.

In the wealthier monasteries the Ch’ortens

are regularly white-washed.

 

The Mendoṅs, 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-syllabled mystic sentence ” Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ “— the same which is revolved in the “prayer- wheels ” and usually called Maṇi ; and its name is said to be derived from these, namely, Maṇi-doṅ, or ” The Maṇi-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, 2 and also bears coarsely outlined figures of the three especial protecting divinities of Lāmaism. 3 As it is a pious act to add to these ” Maṇi ” 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, 4 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

1 Ta-shi-‘go-maṅ.  2 dharma-sarīra. 3 The Rig-sum gon-po. 4 pradakshina.

 

the vicinity of the monastery a stone seat called a ” throne ” for the head Lāma, when he gives al-fresco instruction to his pupils.

One of the reputed thrones of the founder of Sikhim Lāmaism 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 occasion- ally 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 murva (Eleusine corocana), from which is made the country beer, a beverage which the Sikhim and Bhutanese 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 monasteries of Lāmadom it seems desirable to indicate the chief

provinces into which Tibet is divided. 1

 

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,

Ṅari, 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 Lhāsa and Tashi-lhunpo respectively. U  contains the districts of Gryama (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 Lo-stod, Grurmo, Ch’umig, S’ang, and S’alu.

 

Little Tibet is divided into the three circles of sTag-mo Ladvags  (” Ladāk “), Mang-yul S’ang Shum, Gruge Burang (“Purang”),

1 The best vernacular account of the geography of Tibet is contained in the Dsam-ling Gye-she of Lāma, Tsan-po Noman Khan of Amdo, and translated by SARAT, J.A.S.B., 1887, p. 1, seq. ; Csoma, J.A.S.B., 1832, p. 123. For scientific geography, see Markham’s Tibet, Indian Survey Reports, Prejvalsky, Rockhill, etc. D’Anville’s map of 1793, compiled on data supplied by Lāmas, is still our chief authority for a large portion of Tibet.

 

comprising the districts of Purang, Mang-yul Sangs-dKar, hCh’i- va, bLas’a, sBal-te, Shang-shung, upper and lower Khrig-se, East Ṅari includes Dok-t’al and lake Manasarovar.The Ladāk

and Balti districts of west Ṅari were conquered by Kashmīr in 1840 and are now British dependencies. Ka-che, sometimes used synonymously with Kashmīr, 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 south-eastern 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-sban and Altentagh mountains, is peopled by Tanguts and Mongols.

The chief monasteries of central Tibet are : —

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Samye_Monastery_cropped.JPG

 

 

 

 

བསམ་ཡསSam-yas,which as the first monastery founded in Tibet, deserves first mention.

Its full title is ” bSam-yas Mi-‘gyur Lhun-gyis grub-paī Tsug-lug-K’aṅ ” 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’, E. long. 91° 26, altitude about 11,430ft.) about thirty miles to the S.E. of Lhāsa, near the north bank of the Tsang-po river amidst hillocks of

deep sand, clothed with scanty herbage. It was built about 774 by Thi-Sroṅ Detsan with the aid of the Indian monks, Padma-sambhava and Ṣanta-rakshita, after the model of the Udandapur, 1 temple-monastery of Bihar. But the building is believed to have been altogether miraculous, and an abstract of the legend is given underneath. 2

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 (Dhyāni  Buddhas, Gyal-wa-rigs-lṅa) 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 awestruck, and asked the Guru to explain. The Guru thereon made the Maṇḍala of the ” Five,” and worshipping for seven days, the Five transformed themselves into five kinds of Garuḍa 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 Garuḍa holding a snake in his clutches and beak ; but not seeing the Guru, the king cried out in fear. Then the Garuḍa 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 Nāgās (cognate with those of the Brahmaputra valley). The next day, a Nāgā, 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 ? as I will supply you with all you want.” On being informed of the requirements, the Nāgā collected wood to an enormous extent.

The building of the Sam-ye academy (gtsug-lag- k’aṅ) 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 Maṇḍala of the ” Five,” and worshipped for seven days, after which Avalokita sinhada, with Amitābha on his head, stood at each of the four directions, where dwell the four gods of the Five. On this the Nāgās of the depths became powerless, and the Guru, addressing them, said, “The wealth of my kin 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-yas are made of solid gold, and of a quality unequalled in any part of our world of Jambudvīp.

 

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 circumference, 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 candle-sticks 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-yjis Jing ” (Samyas Gyal-po).

The library contains many Indian manuscripts, but a great number of these were destroyed at the great fire about 1810 CE. 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 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 Lāma, the majority of

its members are Ñiṅ-ma.

 

GĀH-LDAN, the monastery founded by Tsoṅ-K’a-pa, is one of the four great Ge-lug-pa or established church monasteries, the others being De-pung, Sera and Tāshi-lhunpo.

Its full name is dGah-ldan rNam-par Gyal-wahi glin, or the Continent of completely victorious happiness.

This monastery stands enthroned on the db Aṅ-K’or hill, about twenty-five miles E. N.E. of Lhāsa. Its founder, Tsoṅ-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 Tsoṅ-K’a-pa, which is placed in the Tsug-la-k’aṅ. 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 Tsoṅ-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 effigy of Tson-K’a-pa, with images of his five disciples (Shes-rab Sen-ge, K’a-grub Ch’os-rje, etc.) standing round him. The library contains

manuscript copies of the saint’s works in his own handwriting. 1 ‘

Unlike the other large Ge-lug-pa monasteries, the headship of Gāh- ldan 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 this monastery. The late abbot became ultimately regent of all Tibet. The number of inmates here is reckoned at about 3,300.

DE-PUNG (‘bras-spuṅiis), 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” (Srī -Dhanya Kataka) in

1 Abstract from Survey Reports, etc., by Rev. G. Sandberg.

 

Kaliṅga and identified with the Kālācākra doctrine. It is situated about three miles west of Lhāsa, and it contains nominally 7,000  1 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 Lāma at his annual visit. Many Mongolians study here. In front stands a stūpa, said to contain the body of the fourth Grand Lāma, 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 effigies of the sixteen Sthavira are placed outside the temple door. In its neighbourhood is the monastery of Na-Ch’uṅ, the residence of the state sorcerer, with a conspicuous gilt dome.

 

SER-RA, or ” The Merciful Hail.” 2 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 Lhāsa, 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 mountain-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 Lāmas, which you can reach only with difficulty. 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 tortche, which, havingflown through the air from India, is the model from which all others, large and portable, are copied. The tortche of Sera is the object of great veneration, and is sometimes carried in procession to Lhāsa to receive the adoration of the people.” This ” dorje,” 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 Indin. In the 12th month of every year (about the 27th

1 Lāma U.G., loc.cit., p. 34, says 10,000.  2 This word is usually spelt ser, 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 Lāma puts it to his head. It is thereafter carried by a high official 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.

 TASHI-LHUNPO (bkra-s’is Lhun-po), or the ” Heap of Glory,” the headquarters of the Pan-ch’en Grand Lāma, who to some extent shares with the Lhāsa Grand Lāma 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 Lāmas 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 (Markh., xxvii.). This celebrated establishment has been long known to European geographers as ” Teeshoo Loombo.”

Mr. Bogle describes it 1 as being built on the lower slope of a steep hill (Dolmai Ri, or hill of the goddess Tārā). 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. It is appropriated to the Lāma 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 Ka-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 Mark., p. 96.

 

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, Kāh-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 Dura 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 Lāmas. The body of each is em-

balmed and placed within a gold-plated

pyramid raised on a tall marble

table, and this structure stands within a stone

mausoleum, high and decorated with gilt

k a nj i r a 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 Er-

teni, 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 ritual,

and learn large

portions of that division of the scriptures.

The names of these

colleges are

Shar-tse

Tā-ts’an,

Nag-pa Ta ts’an, Toi-sam Liṅ,

 

Tomb of Tashi Lāma. 1

and Kyil-k’aṅ Ta-ts’aṅ. 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 Ṅag-pa Ta-ts’aṅ, known as the ” Ṅagk’aṅ,” which is the chief college for mystic ritual in Tibet.

Another college, the Toi-san-liṅ, 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 Go-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 bLa-brang, or ” The Lāma’s palace.”

 

NAM-GYAL CH’OI-DE is the monastery-royal of the Grand Lāma on the red hill of Potala, where the Dalai Lāma holds his court and takes part in the service as a Bhikshu, or common monk.

 

RAMO-CH’E  and KARMAKYA monasteries, within Lhāsa, are, as already noted, schools of sorcery, and the latter has a printing house.

 

 

The “go-Ku-pea ” or “Kiku-Tamsa.” Tower at Tashi-lhunpo 1 After Turner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pp.274

Chamnamrin (Nam-lin), in the valley of the Shing river, a northern affluent of the Tsang-po, 12,220 feet, seen and visited by Mr. Bogle.

Dorkya lugu-doṅ, on the bank of the great Tengri-nor lake.

Ra-deng (Ra-sgren), north-east of Lhāsa, a Ka-dam-pa monastery, founded in 1055 by Brom-ton, Atīṣa’s pupil.

Sa-kya (Sa-skya) ” Tawny-soil,” is about 50 miles north of Mount Everest, 48 miles east from Shigatse,and 30 miles from Jang-lache; E.long. 87° 54′, lat. 28° 53′ . This monastery gives its name to the Sākya 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, Atīṣa, 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 Lhāsa is said to be larger. It is seven 1 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 throughout in letters of gold and silver. The monastery, though visited in 1872 by our exploring Paṇḍit No. 9, and in 1882 by Babu Sarat Candra Dās, remains undescribed at present. The Sakya Lāma is held to be an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Mañjuṣṛī, and also to carry Karma, derivable from Sakya Paṇḍita and St. Padma.

The hall of the great temple, called ‘P’rul-pahī Lha-k’aṅ, has four enormous wooden pillars, Ka-wa-miṅ 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 Ladāk. These pillars are said to have been erected by K’yed-‘bum bsags, the ancestor of the Sikkim king.

Ting-ge is a very large Ge-lug-pa monastery to the north of Sakya and west of Tashi-lhunpo.

Phuntsholing (p’un-ts’ogs-gliṅ) monastery, formerly named rTag-brten by Tāranātha, who built it in his forty-first year, was forcibly made a Ge-lug-pa institution by the fifth grand Lāma, Ṅag-waṅ. It is situated on the Tsangpo, about a day’s journey west of Tashi-lhunpo, and one mile to the south-west of it is Jonang, which has a very large temple said to be like BudhGaya, 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-ding (bsam-ldiṅ ch’oinde). It lies in N. lat 28° 57′ 15″, and E long 90° 28.Altitude, 14,512 feet.

 1 De-pung and the larger monasteries in Tibet have several much smaller buildings distributed so as to form a town.

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-Pag-mo, or ‘the diamond sow’ ; the abbesses of Samding being held to be successive appearances in mortal form of the Indian goddess Vajra-

Varahī. 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 Ṅag-dbaṅ Rin-ch’en Kun-bzaṅ-mo dbAṅ-mo, signifying “The most

precious power of speech, the female energy of all good “). Under this 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 Ñiṅ-ma sect. The monastery was founded by one Je-tsun T’inle Ts’oma, a flower of the philosophy of Po-doṅ P’yog Legs Nam-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 Lamdok herself. To the S. it frowns down on the Dumo T’so the inner lake betwixt the connecting necks of land above-mentioned into which are cast the bodies 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 conventional 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 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’aṅ, 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 Lhāsa, 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 Lhāsa, 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. Abstract of SARAT’s Report, by Rev. G. Sandberg.

Di-kung (‘bri-guṅ) about one hundred miles N.E. of Lhāsa, 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 theSakya Lāma, Koncho Yal-po.

Mindolling (smin grol-glih), close to the S. of Samye, a great Ñiṅ-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-yas in the valley of the Mindolling 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 Lāma is a direct descendant of the revelation-finder Dag-liṅ. The succession is by descent and not by re-incarnation. One of his sons is made a Lāma 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 institution seventeen generations ago ; but should the lay-brother die without issue the Lāma is expected to marry the widow. The married one is called g Dun-pa or ” the lineage.” The body of the deceased Lāma 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, 1 not far distant from its parent.

Dorje-dag, between Sam-yas and Lhāsa, is a headquarters of the Unreformed Lāmas. It has had a chequered history, having been destroyed several times by the Mongols, etc., and periodically restored.

Pal-ri (dpal-ri), a Ñiṅ-ma monastery between Shigatse and Gyangtse, where lives the pretended incarnation of the Indian wizard, Lo-pon Hūṅkāra.

Shalu monastery, a few 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 displaying such feats.

Guru ch’o-waṅ, in Lhobrak, or southern Tibet, bordering on Bhutān. This monastery is said by Lāma U. G. 2 to have been built after the model of the famous monastery of Nālanda in Magadha. The shrine is surrounded by groves of poplars, and contains some important relics, amongst others a stuffed horse of great sanctity (belonging to the great Guru) which is called Jamliṅ-nin-k’or, or ” the horse that can go round the world in one day.” 3 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.

1 U. G., loc. cit., p. 26.    2 Loc. cit., p. 23.   3 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 Bhutan, 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.

Sang-kar Gu-t’ok, also in the Lhobrak valley, has one hundred monks, and is a small printing establishment. 1

Kar-ch’u, also in the Lhobrak valley, said 2 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 Lāma Ugyan 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 S.), 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-mdo (Chiamo), with about 2,000 monks and large printing press.

Derge (sDe-sge), at the town of that name, and capital of one of the richest and most populous of Tibetan provinces, containing ” many Lāma- serais of 200 or 300 monks, some indeed of 2,000 or 3,000. Each family devotes a son to the priesthood. The king resides in a Lāmaserai of 300 monks.” 3

Other large monasteries of eastern Tibet are Karthok and (?) Ri-wochce on the Ṅul river, under the joint government of two incarnate 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-puṅ Lek-puṅ (built by Ugyen Dich’en-liṅ-pa), Mendeldem, Phu-pa-ron, Kon-dem, Bho-lun, C’am-nak, Kyon-sa, Narton, Rinc’h-ensun (built by Ugyen Doduliṅ-pa, the father of Dich’en-liṅ-pa), Tsen-c’uk, Gya-pun, Gilin, and Demu, which are all Ñiṅ-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 Lāma Ugyen Gya-ts’o, loc. cit, 25.  3 BABER, Suppl. Papers, R. Geog. Socy. ; see also ROCKHILL, L., 184, etc., 96.

 

IN CHINA,

In China proper there seem to be no truly Lāmaist monasteries of any size except at Pekin and near the western frontier. The Pekin monastery is called “everlasting peace” (Yun-ho Rung), and is maintained at the imperial expense. 1 Its monks, over 1,000 in number are almost entirely Mongolian, but the head Lāma, a re-incarnate abbot, and Ins two chief assistants, are usually Tibetans of the De-pung, Sera and Gāh-ldaṅ monasteries, and appointed from Lhāsa. 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 Lāmaist books are printed in Tibetan, Chinese, and Mongolian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MONASTERY U-TAI-SHAN.

 

 

In the chief temple ” the 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 EDKIN’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 Kubum (Kumbum), in Sifau. lies near the western frontiers of China. It is the birth-place of St. Tsoṅ -K’a-pa, and has been visited and described by Hue, Rockhill, etc. Its photograph by Mr. Rockhill is here by his kind permission given. Mongolian name is T’a-erh-ssu. 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KUMBUM (T’A-ERH-SSU).-

 

Here is the celebrated tree, the so-called “white sandal” (Syringa Villosa, Vahl), which the legend alleges to have sprung up miraculously from the placental blood shed at Tsoṅ-K’a-pa’s birth. Its leaves are said to bear 100,000 images, hence the etymology of the name of

the place (sKu-‘bum). The image markings on the leaves are said to represent ” the-Tathagata of the Lion’s Voice ” (Sen-ge Na-ro), but Huc describes the markings as sacred letters. 4

1 Newspaper Acct., 1890. 2 After Rockhill. 3 Rockhill, L., 57 said to mean ” the Great Tent (Tabernacle) ”  4 Cf. also ibid., 58, etc.

 

Huc’s account of it is as follows : ” At the foot of the mountain on which the Lāmaserai 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 Lāmas ; 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 infrequently 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.” 1 The large temple (Jo-wo-k’aṅ) is described by Rockhill. 2

 

IN MONGOLIA.

 

In Mongolia the chief monastery is at Urgya-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 Lāma, who is believed to be the incarnate

historian, Lāma Tāranātha, 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’aṅ).

 

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 Lāmas,

1 Hue, 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 Tāranātha Lāma 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 Lāmas.

 

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 Paṇḍita, and claims to be a re-incarnate Lāma. 1

 

IN EUROPE.

 

The Kālmak 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 (Oergo), the assembly hall of the clergy (Churullun-Oergo) and of the gods and image hall (Schitani or Burchanun-Oergo). Some of these Churulls contain a hundred priests.

 

IN LADĀK AND LITTLE TIBET.

 

He-mi (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 Lāmaist property, so that more interesting and curious objects, books, dresses, masks, etc., are found at Himis than in any other monastery in Ladāk. It was built by sTag-stan-ras-ch’en, and its

proper title is Ch’aṅ-ch’ub sam-liṅ.

 

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 Ladāk. This Lāmasery is at present still the greatest landowner in Ladāk, and its steward one of the most influential persons in the country. The Lāmas seem to be of the Ñiṅ-ma sect (according to Marx 2 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, 3 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 courtyard about 30 x 40 yards square,

1 Koppen, op. cit. 2 Loc.cit., 133. 3 When Three Empires Meet.

 

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 bosses of brass are affixed 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 cylindrical 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 Lhatos, small square-built altars, surmounted by bundles of brushwood and wild sheep horns, the thin sticks of the brushwood being covered with offerings of coloured flags printed with some mantra or other. 1

 

Lāma-Yur-ru, elevation about 11,000 feet. 2 Said to be of the Di-kung sect, as also the monasteries of sGah-noh and Shan.

The name Yur-ru is said to be a corruption of Yuṅ-druṅ — the Svastika or mystic fly-foot cross.

 

Tho-ling or Tho’lding (mt’o-gliṅ), on the upper Sutlej (in map of Turkistan it is Totlingmat, ” mat ” = ” the lower,” i.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  con-

tains a reference to this temple : ” It had been built (a.d. 954, Schl.) by the Lo-tsa-wa Rin-zaṅ -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. 3

 

Theg-Ch’og is a sister-Lāmasery 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 Lāmasery belongs.

 

Kor-dzogs in Ladāk, 16,000 feet above the sea (J.D., 11). Tik-za (Thik-se) is said (Marx) to be a Ge-ldan (?Ge-lug-pa) monastery, as also those of Sa-kar (a suburb of Leh), Likir and Ri-dzoṅ. It is pictured by Mr. Knight. 3

 

Wam-le (or ” Han-le “) in Rukshu, a fine Lāmasery 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 Hemi.

 

Masho is affiliated to Sa-s kya.

 

1 Godwin-Austen, loc. cit., p. 72.   2 Marx, loc. cit. ; Cunningham, et. al.  3 See Results of Scientific Mission.

 

 

Spi-t’ug, Pe-tub, or ” Pittuk ” (sPe-t’ub), a Lāmasery and village on the river Indus, five miles south-west of Leh. The Lāmas belong to the ” Ge-ldan-pa ” order of Lāmas. The Lāmasery has an incarnated Lāma.

 

Sher-gal, figured by Knight, loc. cit., p. 127.

 

Kilang (Kye-lan) in British Lahul, romantically situated near glaciers, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet.

 

Gu-ge, where several translations were made over 800 years ago, and still of repute for printing and for its elegant manuscripts.

 

Kanum, in Kunaor or Kanawar, where Csoma studied. Also Duh-liṅ, Poyi, and Paṅgi.

 

In Nepal

There appear to be no Lāmaist monasteries of any size, at least in the lower valleys. At the principal Buddhist shrines in that country a few resident Lāmas are to be found.

 

IN BHOTAN

 

In Bhotan the largest monasteries are Tāshi-ch’o-dsong and Pun-t’an or ? ” Punakha” (spun-t’aṅ bde-ch’en), each, it is usually said, with over 1,000 monks, though according to other accounts, under 500.

 

Tashi-ch’o-dsoṅ (bKra-shis ch’os rdsoṅ), or “The fortress of the glorious religion,” forms the capital of Bhotān and the residence, at least in summer, of the Grand Lāma of Bhotān — the Dharma Rāja and Deb Rāja. It has been visited and described by Manning, Bogle, Turner, 1 Pemberton, 2 etc.

The other chief monasteries in Bhotān, all of the Duk-pa sect, the established church of the country, are : dbU-rgyan rtse, Ba-kro (Pāto or Pāro) ‘Bah, rTa-mch’og rgan, Kra-ha-li, Sani-‘jin, K’a Ch’ags-rgan-K’a, Ch’al-p’ug. Of these the first three were formerly Kart’og-pa.

In British Bhotān there are a few small monasteries, at Kalimpong, Pedong, etc.

 

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 gompas, but by the Lāmas only ” temples ” (Lha-k’aṅ ), such as De-thaṅ, Ke-dum, etc.

 

 

The oldest monastery in Sikhim is Dub-de, founded by the pioneer Lāma, Lhatsun Ch’embo. Soon afterwards shrines seem to have been erected at Tashiding, Pemiongchi, and Sang-ṅa-ch’o-ling over spots consecrated to the Guru, and these ultimately became the nuclei of monasteries.

1 Bogle and Turner in 1774 and 1783. Markham, Op. cit.   2 In 1837-38. Op. cit.

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 of Monasteries in Sikhim.

Serial No	Map Name.	Vernacular Name.	Meaning- of the Name	Date built.	Monks present.
1	Sanga Chelling	gsaṅ nags ch ‘os gliṅ	The place of secret spells	1697	25
2	Dubdi	sgrub-sde	The hermit’s cell	1701	30
3	Pemiongchi	pad-ma yaṅtse	The sublime perfect lotus	1705	108
4	Gantok	btsan-mk’ar	The Tsen’s house	1716	3
5	Tashiding	bkra-s’is-ldaṅ	The elevated central glory	1716	20
6	Senan	gzil-gmon	The suppressor of intense fear.	1716	8
7	Rinchinpong	rin-ch’en spuṅs	The precious knoll	1730	8
8	Ralong	ra-blaṅ	………………	1730	80
9	Mali	mad-lis	………………	1740	15
10	Ram thek	Ram-tek	A Lepcha village name	1740	80
11	Fadung	P’o-braṅ	The chapel royal	1740	100
12	Cheungtong	btsun-t’aṅ	The meadow of marriage(of the two rivers)	1788	8
13	Ketsuperri	mk’a spyod dpal ri	The noble heaven-reaching mountain	….	11
14	Lachung	t’aṅ-mi-ch’en	The large plain	1788	5
15	Talung	rdo-luṅ	The stony valley	1789	90
16	Entchi	rab-brten-gliṅ	The high strong place	1840	15
17	Phensung	p’an-bzaṅ	The excellent banner, or good bliss	1840	100
18	Kartok	bKah-rtog	The Kartok (founder of a schism)	1840	20
19	Dalling	rdo-gliṅ	“The stony site,” or the place of the” Dorjeling ” revelation-finder ..	1840	8
20	Yangong	gyaṅ sgaṅ	“ The cliffy ridge,” or “the lucky ridge “	1841	10
21	Labrong	bla-braṅ	The Lama’s dwelling	1844	30
22	Lachung	pon-po sgaṅ	The Bon’s ridge	1850	8
23	Lintse	lhun-rtse	The lofty summit	1850	15
24	Sinik	zi-mig	………………….	1850	30
25	Ringim	rl-dgon	Hermitage hill	1852	30
26	Lingthem	liṅ-t’am	A Lepcha village name	1855	20
27	Changhe	rtsag-nes	………………………	……	……
28	Lachen	La-ch’en	The big pass	1858	8
29	Giatong	zi-‘dur		1860	8
30	Lingqui	lin-bkod	The uplifted limb	1860	20
31	Fadung	‘p’ags rgyal	The sublime victor	1862	8
32	Nobling	nub-gliṅ	The western place	1875	5
33	Namchi	rnam-rtse	The sky-top	1836	6
34	Pabia	spa-‘bi-‘og		1875	20
35	Singtam	siṅ -ltam	A Lepcha village name	1884	6

 

designed, if not actually built, by Lha-tsun as a high-class monastery for orthodox celibate monks of relatively pure Tibetan race. Pemiongchi 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-saṅ or ” pure monk,” and to its Lāma is reserved the honour of anointing with holy water the reigning sovereign.

The great majority of the monasteries in Sikhim belong to the Lha-tsun-pa sub-sect of the Ñiṅ -ma, only Namchi, Tashiding, Sinon, and T’aṅ-moch’e belong to the Ṅa-dak-pa sub-sect, and Kar-tok and Doling to the Kar-tok-pa sub-sect of the same. All the Ñiṅ -ma monasteries are practically subordinate to that of Pemiongchi, which also exercises supervision over the Lepcha convents of Ling-t’am, Zimik, and P’ag-gye. Lepchas are admissible to Rigon as well as Sang- ṅa-ch’oling.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XII. TEMPLES AND CATHEDRALS.

 

In primitive Buddhism the temple had, of course, no place. It is the outcome of the theistic development with its relic-worship and idolatry, and dates from the later and impurer stage of Buddhism. The Lāmaist temple is called ” God’s house” (Lha-k’aṅ).

 

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 1 ; if a pair, they are placed one on either end of the ridge, and called jira 2 ; if a solitary one in the middle of the ridge, it is called ” the banner.” 3 They are emblematic of the royal umbrella and banner of victory. At the corners of the roof are erected cloth cylinders called gebi.4 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 pradakshiṇa  widely found amongst primitive people. 5 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 “kñjira,” (?) from the Skt., kanca, golden. 3 rgyal-mts’an.  4 Gebi — 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. 5 The Romans in circumambulating temples kept them to their right. The Druids observed the contrary. To walk around in the lucky way was called Deasil  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 Introd. ; Rockhill. L., p. 67.

which are turned by the visitor sweeping his hand over them as they proceed.

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. 1These usually are —

1. The tutelary demon

of the ground, usually a

red devil (Tsan) a brawny-

limbed creature of elabor-

ate ugliness, clad in skins,

and armed with various

weapons, and differing in

name according to the locality. 2

2. Especially vicious demons or dii minores  of a more or less local character. Thus, at Pemiongchi is the Gyal-po S’uk-den with a brown face and seated on a white elephant. He was formerly the learned Lāma Sod-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.’ 3

1 Compare with description of Chinese Budd. temples by EITEL, Lects. on Buddhism.   2 Thus the local devil of Ging temple near Darjeeling is called ” The Entirely Victorious Soaring Religion” (Ch’os-ldin rnam-rgyal).  3 Compare with the malignant ghost ,of Brāhmans in India. Cf .TAWNEY’s Katha Sarit Sāgara,ii.,388, 511

3. A pair of hideous imps, one on either side, of a red and bluish-black colour, named S’em-ba Marnak  rKi-kaṅ.  who butcher their victims.

Guardian King of the West.( Virūpaksha.)

 

4. Here also are sometimes portrayed the twelve Tan-ma — the aerial 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 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, thus 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 Jātakas or former births of Buddha ; and here also may be figured the sixteen great saints or Sthavira (Arhans or

” Rahans “).1

 

In the smaller temple- 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 lay- devotees, 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 directly to the temple.

Such grand cathedrals as those of Lhāsa 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 beams are mostly painted red. picked out with lotus rosettes and other emblems.

1 For their descriptions and titles see p. 376 Amongst the common scenes also represented here are “The Harmonious Four ” (mt’un-pa mam b’zi), ; a happy family, of an elephant, monkey, rabbit, and parrot ; and the long-lived sage  (mits’e-riṅ ) with his deer, comparable to the Japanese (?) Ju-ro, one of the seven genii of Good Luck, and the long-lived hermit, Se-nin

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 Lāmas call their trinity; though none of the images are considered individually to represent

Diagrammatic Ground-plan of a Temple in Sikhim.

the two other members of the Tri-ratna or ” Three Gems,” namely Dharma or Sangha. The particular images of this triad depend on the sect to which the temple belongs ; Ṣākya Muni is often given the central position and a saint (Tsoṅ K’a-pa or Padma-sambhava) 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.

Ṣākya Muni is figured of a yellow colour with curly blue hair, and often attended by standing figures of his two chief disciples, Maugdalayāna on his left and Ṣariputra 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.” 1

 But even this order of the images is seldom observed. Most frequently in the Ge-lug-pa temples Tsoṅ K’a-pa is given the chief place, while in Ñiṅ-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 Ṣākya Muni specially to Tibet and Sikhim, as Buddha himself had no leisure to go there. Sometimes Ṣākya’s  image is absent, in which case the third image is usually the fanciful Buddha of Infinite Light, Amitābha, or Amitāyus, 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 Lāmaism, 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 Gorakhnāth in Tashiding, Tumlong, and other Sikhim temples 2 is quite a mistake. No such image is known. The name evidently intended was ” Guru Rinbo-ch’e.”

1 HEBER’s  Palestine .  2 CAMPBELL, J.A.S.B.,1849; HOOKER, Him. Jours., i.. 323; ii., p. 195; Sir R. TEMPLE, Jour., p.212;  Sir M.WILLIAMS, Buddhism, p.490.

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 Lāmaist 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 Kakemonos, 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 Lāmaist  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 2.5 feet high sits the abbot or professor (Dorje Lo-pon), 1 the spiritual head of the monastery.

Immediately below him, on a cushion about one foot high, is his assistant, who plays the sī-ñen cymbals. Facing the professor, and seated on a similar throne at the farther end of the left-hand  cushion, is the Um-dse 2 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’ogs-rol  or assembly-cymbals at the command of the Um-dse, 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 yet passed boy-candidates, during the intervals of worship.

 

1 rdo-rje slob-dpon. 2 dbU-mdsad.

 

THE LĀMAS TABLES.

To the right front of the altar stands the chief Lāma’s table, 1 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 allowed tables in the temple are the chief chorister or celebrant and the provost -marshal. The chief chorister’s table faces that of the abbot, and contains only a holy water vase, bell, dorje and the large cymbals. The table of the provost stands in front of the seat of that officer,near the door, and contains an incense-goblet (sang-bur), a bell and dorje.

1. Magic rice-offering of universe. . *2. Saucer with loose rice (Ch’en-du or ne-sel) for throwing in sacrifice.3. Small hand-drum. 4. Bell 5. Dorje-sceptre.6. Vase for holy-water.

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 Sikkim, the throne of the king, or of the re-incarnated Lāma — the “protecting lord”‘ 2 — when either of them visits the temple.

On each pillar of the colonnade is hung a small silk banner with five flaps, 3 and others of the same shape, but differently named, 4 are hung from the roof, and on each side of the altar is a large one of circular form.5

 THE ALTAR AND ITS OBJECTS.

The altar 6 occupies the upper end of the nave of the temple ;and on its centre is placed, as already mentioned, the chief image.

1 mdum-lc’og  2 Kyab-mgon. 3 Ka-‘p’an.  4 Ba-dan  5 p’ye-p’ur,  6 mch’od s’am.

 

THE ALTAR.

Above the altar is suspended a large silken parasol, 1 the

 

Altar (domestic) of a Ñiṅ-ma Lāma.

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.

the lamps. And over all is stretched a canopy, called the “sky” 1 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. On the higher platform extending up to the images are placed the musical instruments and 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, 2 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 re-mains 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 nam-yul  but its more honorific title is bla-bras   2 mch’od-skoṅ.

Below the altar stand the spouted water-jug 1 for filling the smaller water-vessels, a dish to hold grain for offerings, 2 an incense-holder, and a pair of flower-vases. And on the right (of the spectator) on a small stool or table is the magic rice-offering, with its three tiers, daily made up by the temple attendant, and

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, 3 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 z’al-ze, that is,                                                                Sacred Cakes.

“holy food.” It is placed on a metal tray supported by a tripod. To save expense a painted dummy cake is often

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. 4

1 ch’ab-bum. 2 nas bzeḍ. 3 mch’od tiṅ. 4 ch’orten. In the room in which worship is done there must be present these three essential objects : sku-gsum (Skt., Trikāyā ) (a) an image, (b) 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 Wheel  for Dharma.

2. One or more sacred books on each side of the altar.

3. The Lāmaist 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.

4. The holy-water vase 1 and a metal mirror hanging from its spout. The holy-water of the vase is tinged with saffron, and is

sprinkled by means of a long stopper-rod, which is surmounted by a fan of peacock’s feathers and the holy kusa grass. Another form is surmounted by a chaplet, etc., as its frontispiece.

5. The divining-arrow bound with five coloured silks called dādar 2 for demoniacal worship.

6. A large metal mirror 3  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 sī- ñen,4 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.

8. Conch-shell trumpet (tuṅ 5),often mounted with bronze or silver, so as to prolong the valves of the shell and deepen its note— used with the sī- ñen cymbals.

1 k’rus-bum   See fig. Rock., L., 106  2 m-dar  3 me-long. 4 sil-smyan.  5 duṅ\

 

Devils’ Altar

 

9. Pair of copper flageolets. 1

10. Pair of long telescopic copper horns in three pieces, 2 and often six feet long (see illustration on page 17).

11. Pair of human thigh-bone trumpets. 3 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 preferred, and an elaborate incantation is done, part of which consists in the Lāma eating a portion of the skin of the bone, otherwise its blast would not be sufficiently powerful to summon the demons.

12. Pair of tiger thigh-bone trumpets. 4 These are not always present, and the last three instruments are only for the worship of the inferior gods and demons.

13. Drums (ch’os rṅa) : —

(a) A small rattle hand-drum or ṅa-chun 5 or damāru, 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.

(b) The big drum,called ch’o-ṅa, 6 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 skull-caps, and of the same style as the smaller drum (a) above described.

14. Libation jugs, figured on page 225.

 

THE CATHEDRAL OF LHĀSA.

The greatest of all the temples of Lāmadom is the great cathedral of Lhāsa, the St. Peter’s of Lāmaism, the sketch of which, here given, was drawn for me by a Lāma artist, who visited Lhāsa 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 description of it 7 we will close our account of temples.

This colossal temple, called “The Lord’s House” (Jo-wo K’aṅ).

1 rgye-glin, 2 rag-dun. 3 rkan-glin. 4 stag dun. 5 rna-ch’un. 6 ch’os-rna. 7 Summarized from the accounts of Huc, etc., and from Koppen, ii.. 334.

stands in the centre of the city of Lhāsa, to which it gives its name, ” (God’s place ; 1 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 in it. But it is also the centre of the united Lāmaist church, as it is the first and oldest Buddhist temple of Tibet, the true metropolitan cathedral of Lāmaism. Founded in the seventh century, on commencing the conversion of the gloomy snow land, by King Sroṅ 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 covered 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 by 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 Lhāsa is properly restricted to the great temple. Sroṅ Tsan Gampo appears to have been the founder of the city now generally known to Europeans as Lhāsa. 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 Lhā-sa, or ” God’s place.” An old form of the name is said to be Lnga-Ldan.  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 CE.

 

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 lattice-work. Here are the seats of the lower priests for common prayer-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 Buddhist dogmatises and mysticism. We see there, for instance, the Buddhist system of the world, the circle of the metempsychosis

1 After Giorgi. l have not reproduced the references as they are not sufficiently concise.

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 Ṣākya Muni. Before the entrance in this, to the left, is raised the throne of Dalai Lāma, very high,

richly decorated, and covered with the customary five pillows of the Grand Lāmas. Beside this stands the almost similar one of the Tashi Grand Lāma; then follow those in rotation of the regenerated Lāmas The abbots, and the whole non-incarnate higher priesthood have their seats in the cross-aisle of the sanctuary. Opposite the throne of Dalai Lāma, 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 Lāmas, but higher than those of the others. Behind him are the seats of the four ministers, which are not so high as those of the common Lāmas.

 

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 Ṣākya 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 CE. Flowers are daily showered upon it. Beside this one — the highest object of reverence — the temple has also inumerable other idols ; for instance, in a special room, the images of the goddess Ṣrī Devi (Pal-ldan Lha-mo). There is also a celebrated image of the Great Pitying Lord — Avalokita —

named ” the self-created pentad.” 1 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. 2

 

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 prayer-machines. 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 Lāma. 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 Lāmaist cloisters.

1 raṅ byuṅ lṅa-ldan. So called because it is reputed to have formed itself by emanations from : Thug-je ch’enpo (Avalokita ), T’ul -ku-geyloṅ— the artist, Sroṅ Tsan Gampo, his Chinese wife, and his Newari wife. Ami the location of each of these in the image is pointed out. 2 Koppen -says an image of Hiuen Tsiang is also there. 

Grand Lāma blessing Pilgrims. 1

SHRINES, RELICS, AND PILGRIMS.

PILGRIMAGES are most popular in Tibet. The country contains an infinite number of sacred sites, reputed re-incarnated or supernatural Lāmas, self-created images, relics of the Buddhas, holy footprints, sanctified 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, Kashmīr, Turkestan, and India, to places hallowed by St. Padma-sambhava, or by Buddha himself.

The most holy of all sites, according to the Lāmas, in common with all Buddhists — like Mecca to the Muhammadans — is the Tree of Wisdom at Buddh-Gayā, in India, with its temple known to Tibetans as Gandhola, 2 where Ṣākya Muni attained his Buddha-

 

1 After Giorgi. 2 dri-gtsaṅ -k’aṅ, or ” The Untainted (pure) House.” It was built in seven days by the high-priest ” Virtue ” (dge-ba). See also Tāranātha, 16, 4, etc. At the Bodhimaṇḍa (byaṅ-ch’ub-sñiṅ-po) is the diamond-throne (vajrāsana, Tib., Dorje-dan), so called on account of its stability, indestructibility, and capacity of resisting all worldly shocks.

 

hood, and which is believed to be the hub of the world. After this come the site of Buddha’s death, Kuṣinagara ; and the eight great Caityas which enshrined his bodily relics ; the mythical mount Potala 1 in the south; the mythical Shambhala in the north ; the Guru’s Fairy-land 2 in Udyāna in the west ; and ” The three hills,” or U-tai Shan, in northern China, the original seat of the God of Wisdom, Mañjuṣṛī ; and Lhāsa, the St. Peter’s of the Lāmas, and the seat of Buddha’s vice-regent upon earth.

The Indian shrines are seldom visited by Lāmas and Tibetans on account of the great distance and expense. I have listened several times to the prayers of Lāmas and Tibetan laity at the great Buddh-Gayā temple, which, strange to say, is still held by unsympathetic Hindū priests who prey upon the Buddhist pilgrims.

These prayers were divided

between petitions for temporal prosperity and for “the great ultimate perfection,” or Nirvana. 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 pilgrims carry off, as relics, printed charms and fragments of the robes of re-incarnated Lāmas and other holy men, leaves of sacred trees, etc.,which are carefully treasured as amulets and fetishes. And these objects and holy water work most miraculous cures in a manner which is not unknown even in Christian Europe. 3

1 ri-bo gru-‘dsin. 2 mk’ā-‘gro gliṅ. 3 Those Europeans who sneer at the ” pagan ” superstitions of the East may find amongst themselves equally grotesque beliefs. For example, the Holy Coat of Treces, and one of the most recent miracles, the Lady of 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 rendezvous. 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 to the river. In a 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.

The fullest Tibetan account of Indian shrines is found in the book named Jambu-gliṅ spyi bs’ad, a compilation containing a very confused abstract of Hiuen Tsiang’s celebrated treatise. 1 In regard to the site of Buddha’s death, the Lāmas have placed it in Assam.

In conversations some years ago with Lāmas and lay Buddhists at Darjeeling, I was surprised to hear that Assam contained a most holy place of Buddhist pilgrimage called ” Tsam-ch’o- ḍuṅ ,” 2 which, it was alleged, next to the great temple at Buddh-Gayā, was the most holy spot a Buddhist could visit. Assam 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 Assam, but Hiuen Tsiang, who visited Gauhaṭī at the invitation of the king of Kāmrūp, positively notes the absence of Buddhist buildings in Assam. 3

I therefore felt curious to learn further particulars of this important site in Asam, which had apparently been overlooked by geographers.

1 For a translation of a smaller one see my article in Proc. A.S.B., Feb., 1893.  2 rTsa-mch’og-groṅ. See J.A.S.B., lxi., pp.33 seq.  3 Si-yu-ki, trans, by Beal, ii., p. 196.

In Jaschke’s Tibetan dictionary1 I found the name ” rTsa- mch’og-groṅ ” defined as a ” town in west Asam where Buddha died,” and this statement, it is noted, is given on the authority of the ” Gryalrabs,” a vernacular history of Tibet. Csoma de Koros also notes 2 that “the death of Shakya, as generally stated in the Tibetan books, happened in Asam near the city of Kuṣa or Cama-rūpa (Kāmrūp).”

Here, then, was a clue to the mystery. Buddha’s death, it is well known, occurred between two sāl  trees near Kuṣinagara or K’uṣanagara, in the north-west provinces of India, thirty-five miles east of Grorakbpur, and about one hundred and twenty miles N.N.E. of Benares ; and the site has been fully identified by Sir A. Cunningham 3 and others from the very full descriptions given by Hiuen Tsiang and FaHian. The name Kuṣanagara  means ” the town of Kusa grass ” ; 4 and as the early Lāma missionaries in their translation of the Buddhist scriptures habitually translated all the Sanskrit and Pali names literally into Tibetan, Kuṣanagara was rendered in the “Kah-‘gyur” canon as “rTsa-mch’og-groṅ,” from “rtsa-mch’og,” kuṣa grass, ” grong,” ‘ a town ( = Sskt., nagara).

Now, near the north bank of the Brahmaputra, almost opposite Gauhaṭī, the ancient capital of Kāmrūp, is, I find, an old village named Sāl-Kuṣa, and it lies on the road between Gauhaṭī,   and Dewangiri, one of the most frequented passes into Bhotān and Tibet. With their extremely scanty knowledge of Indian geography, the Lāmas evidently concluded that this ” town of Sāl-Kuṣa, ” was the “town of Kusa,” where Buddha entered into Nirvāṇa between the two sāl trees — seeing that the word sāl was also incorporated with the equivalent of ” Tsam-ch’o-duṅ,” and that in the neighbourhood was the holy hill of Hājo, where, as will be seen hereafter, there probably existed at that time some Buddhist remains.

1 P. 437.  2 Asiatic Researches, XX, p. 295. 3 Arch. Surv. India Repts., i., 76; xvii.,55, etc.4 Kusa grass (Poa cynosuroides), the sacrificial grass of the Hindūs, is also prized by the Buddhists (in account of its having formed the cushion on which the Bodhisattva sat under the Bodhi tree. It is also used as a broom in Lāmaist temples and as an altar decoration associated with peacock’s feathers in the pampa or holy water vase.

No description of this Buddhist site seems to be on record, except a very brief note by Col. Dalton 1 on the modern Hindū temple of Hājo, 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 Lāma 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 Lāmas, 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 parinirvāṇa.

And in this belief, undeterred by the intemperate heat of the plains, Buddhist pilgrims from all parts of Bhotān, Tibet, and even from Ladāk 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 Hājo hill, or rather group of hills, where is situated, according to the current tradition of the Lāmas, the spot where Buddha ” was delivered from pain,” lies to the north (right) bank of the Brahmaputra about nine miles north-west from Gauhaṭī (Kāmrūp), north latitude 26° 11′ 18″ and east long. 91° 47′ 26″, and four or five miles north of Sāl-Kuṣa. 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 Hājo, which means in their vernacular ” the hill.” The Buddhists formerly occupied one of the hillocks, but are now displaced by the Brāhmans, who restored the temple, which is now one of the most frequented Hindū temples in Asam. The Muhamrnadans 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 trident-like peaks, the central one of which is pre-eminent, and is regarded by the Buddhists as emblematic of Buddha.

 

1 J.A.S.B., 1855, lxxi., p. 8,

The high peaks on either side of this are identified with Buddha’s two chief disciples,

Sāriputra and Maudgalyayāna, 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 Ne-ten 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 north-west base of the hill. This is stated to be the Sil-wa ts’al-gi tur-do,  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 maṇi padme hūṃ,” ” Om ah hūṃ ” ” Om” etc., and coloured rags torn from the vestments of the pilgrims are tied to the bushes in the neighbourhood. The Hindūs have carved here on the rock a figure of the four-armed Vishnu, which the Brāhman priests call Dhūbī , or ” the washerwoman of the gods,” and the rock they call “Letai dhupinir pāt.”

It is worthy of note that the Lāmas, 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-rgyab, in the south-east outskirts of Lhāsa city.

2. P’a-poṅ k’ar, in the north suburbs of Lhāsa.

3. Pur-mo c’he, about twelve miles to the north-east of Tashi-lhunpo.

4. Sel-brag

These 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 Gyā-gar, 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 tur-do cemeteries, and in belief that it is the Gridha Kuta Giri hermitage of Buddha. 1

A short distance beyond this spot, in the jungle, is a roughly-hewn stone basin, about six feet in diameter, called by the Lāmas “ Saṅ-gyāmā ko-ko”, or the pot in which the S in-je — the death-demons — boil the heads of the damned. The Brāhmans, on the other hand, assert that it is the bowl in which Ṣiva 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 fragments of Buddha’s staff with which he unearthed this monster bowl.

1 bya-rgyod p’uṅ poī rī

Climbing up the hill we reach the temple of Kedāranāth, which is approached by a very steep roughly-paved causeway. At the entrance is a long inscription in granite in old Bengālī 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 Lāmas ” Tso mani bhadra,” or ” the lake of the notable gem ” ; and they state that many water-sprites (Nāga, 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 enshrined here by the Hindūs, are pointed to as being this petrified butter.

Crowning the summit of the hill is a large masjid built by Lutfullah, a native of Shirāz, in the reign of the emperor Shāh Jahān, in 1656 C.E., with a Persian inscription. 1

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 Hindū temple of Mādhava, is identified with ” the great caitya ” which was erected over the cremated relics of the Tathāgatha’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 Mādhab, the Buddhists call it Mahāmuni, 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 Lāma-visitors Munir Muni Mahāmuni, i.e., “The Sage of Sages, The Great Sage.” It is the original image of the shrine, and is stated by the Brāhmanic priests, who call it Mādhab, to be of divine origin and an actual embodiment or avatar of the god, in contradistinction to the other images which are called mere “ mūrtis ” 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.d. 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 J.A.S.B., lxi., p. 37.

Hindūs of that province.” 1 Nārāyana is one of the names of Mādhab and a patronymic of the Koch raja’s ; and Hajo was a seat of the Koch rājas. And it was at Hājo that Mīr Jumlah took the Koch king prisoner. 2

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 Lāma-pilgrims they are all Buddhist

images ; but the crypt was so dimly lit, and the images so enveloped in clothes and wreaths of flowers that I could not distinguish their specific characters, with the exception of the head and peculiar trident of the first, and the head of the second, which were characteristic and justified their recognized names, viz. : —

No. 1. — –Ugyan Guru to the left of Mahāmuni.

No. 2. — Dorje Dol’o to the right of Mahāmuni.

No. 3. — Sākya Thuba  to the right of No. 2.

No. 4. — ” Sencha ” Muni to the right of No. 3.

Although Hindū 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 Brāhmanical names as reported by the attendant priests, as, this being a wealthy temple, the priests were more learned than usual, 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 Brāhmanical names were as follows, which, it will be noticed, are Bengali.

I give them in the order of the previous list : —

No. 1. Dwitīya Mādhaver mūrti.

No. 2. Lāl Kanaiyā Bankat Vihārer mūrti.

No. 3. Basu Dever mūrti.

No. 4. Hayagrīver mūrti.

In the vestibule are lotus ornamentations and several articles of the usual paraphernalia of a Buddhist temple, including the following: A pyramidal framework or wheel-less car like the Tibetan Ch’aṅ-ga chutuk, with lion figures at the corners of each tier, such as is used to seal the image of a demon which is to be carried beyond the precincts 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 (? Hayagrīver), but the image is again returned to the shrine. Above this throne is stretched a canopy containing the figure of an eight-petal led 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 ;

1 STEWART’s History of Bengal, p. 289. – BEVERIDGE, Col. Review, July. 1890, p.12.

and is identical with the decorative style of the Kailas cave temple of Ellora figured by Fergusson in Plate xv. of his Cave Temples. The upper walls are covered with sculptured figures nearly life-size. The ten avataras of Vishnu are represented with Buddha as the ninth. The remaining figures are of a rather nondescript character, but they are mostly male, and nearly every figure carries a trident (trisula) — the khatam of the Buddhists. The Lāmas 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 Viṣvakarma, the Vulcan of the Hindūs and Buddhists.

Attached to the temple is a colony of Naṭī, or dancing girls, 1 who are supported out of the funds of the temple, and who on the numerous feast days dance naked in a room adjoining the shrine. These orgies are part of the Sākti worship so peculiar to Kāmrūp, but nowhereis it so grossly conducted as at this temple. 2 The Naṭī and the idol-car are also conspicuous at the degenerate Buddhist temple of Jagannāth at Puri.

At the eastern base of the hillock, on which this temple stands, is a fine large tank, called by the Lāmas ” the lake of excellent water.” 3 This pond, it is said, was made by Buddha with one prod of his staff, when searching for the huge bowl already described 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 Lāmas fixing on the site as the Kuṣanagara of Buddha’s death. Certainly no monastery existed here at the time of Hiuen Tsiang’s visit to the Kāmrūp (Gauhaṭī) court in the seventh century CE., 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 Saṅghārāma  as a place for the priests to assemble.” The reference which Tāranātha 4 makes to the great stupa of Kuṣanagara as being situated here, in Kāmrūp, was taken from report, and thus would merely show that the present Lāma-tradition was current during his time. Any caitya 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 Lāmaism, 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 Bhotān Lāmas call the chief

1 ” Asam, or at least the north-east of Bengal (i.e., Kāmrūp), seems to have been in a great degree the source from which the Tantrica and Sākta corruptions of the religion of the Vedas and Purānas proceeded” (H. H. Wilson, Preface to Vishnu Purāna).  2 They have their counterpart in the story of the Greek Strabo : viii., 6, p. 20.

3 Yon-ch’ab-mts’o.  4 VASSILIEV’s Le Bouddisme, trad, du Russe par M. G. A. Comme, p. 44.

image of this shrine Namo Guru 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 Bhotān. Even this mild form of the image of Ogyan 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, Ṣākya Muni. The fourth image, from its Brāhmanical name, is Tam-din  Skt.. Hayagrīva), one of the fiercest forms of demons and an especial protector of Lāmaism. The trident is everywhere conspicuous in the hands of the sculptured figures on the walls, and Shakti rites are more pronounced here than in any other place in northern India. 1

It is also remarkable to find that the high-priest of the Hājo temple, in common with the other high-priests in Kāmrūp, is called Dalai, — a title which is usually stated to have been conferred on the fifth Grand Lāma of Lhāsa by a Mongolian emperor in the seventeenth century CE. ; though the Tibetan equivalent of this title, viz., Gyam-ts’o, or ” ocean,” is known to have been used by Grand Lāmas previously. As, however, the word is Mongolian, it is curious to find it naturalized here and spontaneously used by Brāhmans. It seems also to be the title of village-headman in the adjoining Garo hills. The 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, etc., like the house of an Indo-Chinese chieftain.

”There does not seem to be in Tibet,” says Mr. Fergusson, 2 “a single relic-shrine remarkable either for sanctity or size, nor 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 needed to recall his 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 stūpas are of very common occurrence; and the tombs of the departed  Grand Lāmas at Tashi-lhunpo, etc., are special objects of worship.

It is said that Tibet possesses several large stūpas as large as

1 Dancing girls appear to figure to some extent in certain Lāmaist ceremonies in Bhotān,vide TURNER’s Embassy to Tibet, p. 32. 2 Hist. of Ind. Ind. and Eastern Architecture, p. 311.

the Maguta stūpa of Nepal. This latter is one of the celebrated places of Lāmaist pilgrimage outside Tibet. It is called the Ja1-ruṅ k’a-ṣor ch’o-rten, and lies about two miles to the north-east of Kathmandu, and it is figured at page 262. Immense numbers of Tibetans, both Lāmas and laity, visit the place every winter, and encamp in the surrounding field for making their worship and offerings, and circumambulating the sacred spot. It is the chief place of Lāmaist pilgrimage in Nepal, attracting far more votaries than the Svayambhūnāth stūpa, 2 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 stūpas ; and Wright, 3 under the title of ” temple of Bodhnāth,” 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 stūpa to the pilgrims, I here give a short abstract of its contents, which are interesting as showing how the stupa is

brought into intimate relation with the chief legendary and historic persons of early Lāmaism. The print is a new revision by Punya-vajra and another disciple of ” the great Lāma Z’ab-dkar.” This latter Lāma, I am informed, lived about thirty years ago, and gilded the short spire of the stupa and built the present investing wall.

The book states as follows : — ” This stūpa enshrines the spirit of the Buddhas of the ten directions, and of the Buddhas of the three times (i.e., the present, past and future), and of all the Bodhisats, and it holds the Dharma-kāya.

1 Spelt pya.  2 Called by the Lāmas ‘P’ags-pa Sin Kun (or ? Zan-bkod) ; cf. also Svayambhū purāna,transld., J.R.A.S., 1894, 297. Another stūpa not far off, namely, about ten miles S.E. of Bhātgaon, and twelve from Kathmandu, 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 northern India, cf. FaHian, c. xi.  3 Nepal, pp. 22, 100.  .

“When king Thi-Sroṅ Detsan 1 asked the Guru, 2 at Samyas, 3 to tell him the history of the Ma-gu-ta  stupa in Nepal, made by the four Bona of ‘ the bestower of gifts,’ named ‘the poor mother Pya-rdsi-ma (fowl-keeper),’ then the Guru thus related (the story) : —

 

“‘In a former Kalpa — time beyond conception — the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteṣvara, approached the Tathāgatha Amitābha 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 4 lees, and (seeing this he) wept. Two of his pitying tears were born into Indra’s heaven as god’s daughters, named respectively Kaṅ-ma and the little Kaṅ-ma or Kaṅ-ch’uṅ-ma. This latter having stolen in heaven some flowers,was as a punishment reborn in earth, in a low pig herder’s family in Maguta in Nepal, under the name of Samvara or ” the Chief Happiness,” her mother’s name being Puma. 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 stūpa in honour of the Tathāgatha. 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-ruṅ,” which literally means” do ” + ” can,” i.e., “you can do (so).” 5 Then she cutting a hide into thin thongs (forming a long rope), enclosed that very large space which now is occupied by this caitya. 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 caitya 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 ” K’a-Sor” — which literally means ” mouth + (has) spoken” and so

refused to interfere. (Thus is the name of the stūpa — ‘ Ja-run K’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 receptacle was placed one Magadha measure (drona) of the relics of the Tathāgatha Kāśyapa. This event was celebrated by the manifestation in the sky, above the stupa, of Kāśyapa himself, and the circles of celestial Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and their hosts of retinue, and

 

1 The king of Tibet who introduced Lāmaism.  2  i.e. Padma-sambhava, or Ugyan, the founder of Lāmaism.

3 The first Lāmaist monastery in Tibet   4 The millet seed(elusine crocanum), about the size of mustard seed, from which is made the    Himalayan beer.  5 This story, and, indeed, the greater part of the legend, seems to have its origin in a false etymology of the the proper names.

 

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.

” ‘ One 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 Thunmi Sambhota 1 (the introducer of the so-called ” Tibetan ” character, and the first translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Tibetan), circa 650 CE.

” ‘ The second son prayed in a similar manner, and was re-born as “The Bodhisattva” 2 (the abbot of the first monastery of Tibet).

” ‘ Then the elephant or laṅ-po  (hearing these prayers) said, ” These two, neglecting me who contributed so much assistance, are asking all the good things for themselves, therefore let me be re-born in a form to destroy them or their work.” And he was afterwards re-born as Laṅ-darma (the persecutor of Lāmaism).

 

” ‘ 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 incarnation; and he was born as Lho-luṅ phel kyi rdorje (the Lāma who murdered Laṅ-darma, the Julian of Lāmaism).’

 

” This stūpa 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 Makuta 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 3 : —

 

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 Bodhisattvas. 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 stūpa and Tashiding Ch’orten are sold small granules, 4 alleged to be obtained by miraculous efflorescence on

1 Who introduced a written character to Tibet.  2 The Indian monk Ṣanta-rakshita, abbot of the first monastery of Tibet (Samyas).  3 SARAT’s Narrative  4 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-duṅ, from the flesh as small white granules, and (b) ring-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, Toṅ -wa raṅ grol, 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 Ṣākya Muni, namely Od-sruṅ, or Kāsyapa, the relics having been deposited there by Jik-mi Pawo, the incarnation and successor of St. Lha-tsun, the surface of the building from the legendary relics of the fictitious Buddha, Kāṣyapa, alleged to he enshrined therein. But this practice is common also to southern Buddhism. In the Burmese chronicles 1 it is stated that the tooth of Buddha, enshrined at Ceylon, yielded in the eleventh century CE.,to the Burmese king, “a miraculous incarnation 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 CE.).

And in 1892 similar relics were sent from Ceylon to the Tibetan commissioner at Darjeeling. 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 black-letter 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 Lāmaist pilgrimage. The tooth is evidently an elephant’s molar.’ 2 That one also at the “Clear water P’u-hsein monastery” in western Ssū-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 Mañjuṣṛī, now identified with the metaphysical Bodhisattva of Wisdom, is a favourite place of pilgrimage. It has been visited and figured by Huc and others. 3

On mount O in western Ssū-ch’an, at an elevation of about 11,000 feet, is to be seen ” The glory of Buddha” 4 — a mysterious apparition like the giant of the Brocken,”‘ which is seen occasionally 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.

1 PHAYRE’s History of Brit. Burma.  2 SIR HENRY YULE’s Marco Polo, iii, ch. xv., where it is figured after Mr. Fortune.  3 Visited and described also by Rev. J. Edkins (Religion in China), Gilmour, Reichthofen, Rockhill, and more fully described by D. Pokotiloff, St. Petersburg,1893.  4 in Chinese Fo-Kuang. Cf. BABER’s  Suppl. Papers Geog. Soc.,p. 42.  5 BREWSTER’s Natural Magic, 1833., p. 180.

 

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 Lhāsa, 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 Lhāsa, but had nothing left as an offering. By begging she ultimately obtained a morsel of butter, which she offered in a tiny lamp to the great idol. The god there-upon revealed himself through the idol, which thanked her for her gift, and spoke to her a few words of comfort. On this miracle getting noised abroad, a rich merchant set out for Lhāsa, 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.

80 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 Lhāsa with the gun-fire 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, 1 they urge that their presence would only interfere with the piety of the people, so they engage substitutes, who, however, are rigorously required to circumambulate for their masters. But whether clone 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 ….

 1 .Says A. K. (HENESSY’s Abstract, p. 293). 

” Lotus lake ” (Ts’o Padma-c’an), on which he is believed to have been born. It is usually stated to be in Udyāna, but other accounts place it near Haridwar.1 In Nepal at Halāsi on the bank of the Dudh-Kusi is the famous hermitage of the Guru on a hill with many fossil remains, which from their description suggest the outlying Siwaliks range.

In the mountains, two days’ journey south of Gyang-tse, near the unreformed monastery of Ṣe-kar, is a celebrated rock-cut cave of St. Padma, called Kyil-k’or ta-ḍub. It is thus described’ 2 : — ” 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 ladder 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 Lāma 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 lamps 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 is 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. ; 3 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 successively through the second and third floors, –

1 one account given me says that three days from the town in northern India named Nirdun (? Dehra Dun) lies Ramnagar, thence four days Haraduar, where there is a railway station, thence on foot two days to Guruduar, whence Ts’o Padma is eight days distant amongst seven hills, like Mt. Meru. In regard to it. the Sham-bha-la Lam-yig contains the following passage: “At the city of the king Da-ya-tse of Pu-rang, in consequence of water striking against coal, at night 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 Lāma U.G. S.R., loc.cit. p. 20.  3 HENESSY, S.R.,loc. cit., para 19. an image similar to this, thirty feet high, but of gilt copper, is noted by the Lāma U.G., loc. cit., p. 22. Lake at Roṅch’am Ch’en, near the crossing of the Tangpo, near Yam-dok.

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, as an 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 Lāmaist devotee looks is to the Buddhist-god incarnate at Lhāsa, the Grand Dalai Lāma.

Accounts of the culmination of such a pilgrimage have been recorded by Manning and others. The infant Grand Lāma, who received Manning, was altogether a prodigy. A reception by the Grand Tashi Lāma, one of the many witnessed by Mr. Bogle, is thus described by that gentleman 1 (see figure, page 305) : —

” On the 12th November, a vast crowd of people came to pay their respects, and to be blessed by the Lāma. 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 Lāma’s servants, who put a bit of silk with a knot upon it tied, or supposed to be tied, with the Lāma’s own hands, about the necks of the votaries. After this they advanced up to the Lāma, 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.

 

 

— 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 Lāma with a knife. This knife came down from heaven in a flash of lightning.

. . . After the Lāma retired, many people stayed behind that 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. 1 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 cross-legged on a platform some six feet high, he is dressed to be

worshipped in the usual colours of priesthood, i.e., 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 Lāma 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 Lāma’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 Lāma, 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 the third row,

1 Loc. Cit., edited by HENESSY, para. 20.

 

at a distance of about ten feet from the Grand Lāma’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 vice-regent of Buddha on earth. The carrier of the incense-bowl (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 cross-legged, 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. I 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 assis- tant servers poured tea into the cups of the audience. Before the

Grand Lāma 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 Lāma as the Lord Avalokita Incarnate, recited the many deeds of mercy 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 Lāma 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 sungdu (knot of blessing), was the

Grand Lāma’s usual consecrated return for presents made by pilgrims and devotees.”

 

” Since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink-offerings to her, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and famine.” — Jeremiah xliv., 18. 1

 

Lāmaist  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 Hindū fancy 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, 2 and a wealth of imagery.

 

Primitive Buddhism, 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, “Tārā or Kwān-yin, pp. 435, etc

2 Cf. V. A. Smith ” On the Graeco-Roman influence on the Civilization of Ancient India,” J.A.S.B., 1891-92, p. 50, etc. Also Prof. Grunwedel, loc. cit.

 

seems to have been 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 Hindūs 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 call himself ” the beloved of the gods.” The earlier Buddhist monuments at Barhut, etc., 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 devil-worship and astrology. 1

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 Mahāyāna school created innumerable metaphysical Buddhas and Bodhisattvas 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 Rhys Davids, B., p. 7. ” In the courtyard of nearly all the wihāras (monasteries ) in Ceylon there is a small dewāla (or god-temple in which the Brāhmanical deities are worshipped. The persons who officiate in them are called Kapavas. They marry. The incantations they use are in Sanskrit (East. Mon., p. 201). The chief gods worshipped are Vishṇu, Kataragaina, Nāta who in the next Kalpa is to become Maitreya Buddha, and Pattini Deva. Other temples belong to tutelaries. e.g., Saman Deva, the tutelary of Buddha’s foot-print, Srī-pade (Rept. Service Tenures Commission, Ceylon, 1872, p. 62). It is probable that this Pattini is the tutelary goddess of Asoka’s capital, Patna. Cf. my Discovery of exact site of Pāṭaliputra, etc., 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 Brāhmanical gods were suggested to the Brāhman s by antecedent Buddhist forms. And the images have come to be of the most idolatrous kind, for the majority of the Lāmas 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 Lāmaist 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 Lāmas 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 Lāmas.

The nearest approach to a systematic list which I have seen, is the Pekin Lāma’s list so admirably translated by the late Mr. Pander, 1 but this, as well as all the other extant lists, is

defective in many ways and only fragmentary. The chief Tibetan treatises on the Lāmaist pantheon according to my Lāma informants, are : —

 

(a) Z’ā-lu Lo-tsa-wa’s, “The means of obtaining The Hundred (gods). 2 This is said to be the oldest of the extant systematic works on Lāmaist deities and seems to date from about 1436., when Z’ā-lu succeeded to the great Pandit Atīsa’s chair at Gāh-ldan monastery. Zhā-lu Lo-

ch’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).” 3 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) Pāri Lo-tsa-was ” The Hundred precious Manifestations of Narthang.” 4 This work issuing from the great press at Narthang near Tashi-lhunpo is said to deal mainly, if not solely, with those omitted by Z’ālu, and is placed about the sixteenth century.

1 Das Pantheon des Tschangtscha Hutuktu, etc. 2 sGrubs-t’ub brgya-rtsa.  3 Sgrub-t’ub ts’ig bc’ad, Skt. ? Sadanaṅ sloka.  4 rin-byuṅ sNar-t’aṅ brgya-rtsa.

 

(c) Tāranātha’ s “The Hundred precious Appearances.” 1 This work by the great historiographer Lāma 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 CE. 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 Darjeeling.”

(d) The Dalai Lāma Ṅag-waṅ Lo-zaṅ Gya-ts’o’s “autobiography,” written in the latter half of the seventeenth century. In its mythological portion it describes chiefly those aboriginal Tibetan deities which had become grafted upon orthodox Lāmaism.

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. 4 The Pekin work translated by Pander and dating from 1800 CE., seems to have been a compilation from the above sources in regard to those particular deities most favoured by the Chinese and Mongolian Lāmas, though the descriptions with the Peking list are often meagre and frequently different in many details compared with the earlier work of Z’ā-lu.” Another book, also, it would seem, printed in China, was obtained by Mr. Rockhill. 6

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. Bodhisattvas. — Celestial and human, including Indian saints and apotheosized Lāmas.

3. Tutelarles. — Mostly demoniacal.

4. Defenders of the Faith, and Witches (Ḍākkinī).

5. Indian Brāhmanical gods, godlings, and genii.

6. Country gods (yul-lha) and guardians (sruh-ma), and Local gods.

7. Personal gods, or familiars.

1 Rin-‘byuṅ-brgya rtsa.  2 Gon-po, Skt., Nātha ; and Lha-mo, Skt., Kalī. 3 It may probably be a version of this work which Pander (Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, p. 54, Berlin, 1889) refers to as published at Urgya by a successor of Tāranātha rJe-btsun gdam-pa. 4 Op. cit., p. 63.  5 With these lists may also be compared the illustrated Buddhist pantheon of the Japanese, Butzu dso-sui, reproduced in parts in Prof. J. Hoffman at Leyden in Siebold’s Nippon Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, Vol. V., and by Dr. W. Anderson in his admirable Catalogue of Jap. Paintings in British Museum.  6 It gives pictures of the gods and saints with their special mantras.

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, 1 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 execution 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 Lāmas, though a few of the best idols in Lhāsa are made by Newari artisans from Nepal, who are clever artisans in metal and wood. Some also are painted by lay-artists, but such images must, be consecrated by Lāmas 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 Lāmas to be altogether miraculous in origin— ” self-formed,” or fallen from heaven ready fashioned. 2

 

The images are executed in various ways : as statues or bas-reliefs (sku) and medallions, and as pictures (sku-t’aṅ or z’al-t’aṅ). 3 The statues are sometimes of colossal size, 4 especially those of Maitreya, or “The coming Buddha,” which are occasionally rock-cut ; but most are less than life-size.

1 The Lāmas do not generally, as do the Nepalese Buddhists, restrict immortality to Ādi-Buddha. 2 The Hindūs entertain the same belief as regards their āp-rupi  idols, which are mostly ancient Buddhist ones. 3 Lit. =flat + image. 4 Schlagintweit describes (Bud, p. 220) one of these colossal images at Leh as “the Buddha in Meditation,” and as higher than the temple itself, the head going through 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.”

Of statues the most common form is the plastic, 1 all of which are gilt or coloured. They are often cast, as bas-reliefs, in moulds, and are formed of coarse papier-mâché  , or clay, bread-

dough, compressed incense, or variously-tinted butter, 2 and the larger ones have a central framework of wood. The plastic image or moulded positive is then dried in the sun — excepting, of course, those made of butter, -and it is afterwards painted or gilt.

The gilt-copper images 3 are more prized. The costly ones are inlaid with rubies, turquoises, and other precious stones. Less common are those of bell-metal, 4 while the poorer people are content with images of brass

or simple copper. Wooden images 5 are not

common, and stone images 6 are  least frequent

of all, and aremostly 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 headis usually left empty; and into

the more valued ones are put precious stones

and filings ofthe noble metals, and a few

grains of consecrated rice, a scroll bearing

“the 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 Lāma. 8 And

the image is usually veiled by a silken scarf. 9

 

Here also may be mentioned the miniature funereal images or

1 ‘jim-gzugs.  2 HUC’s Souv., ii.,p.95 :ROCKHILL, Land, i.. p. 69. In Ceylon temporary images are said to be made of rice.- HARDY’s East. Mon.,202  3 gser-zaṅs-sku. 4 li-ma. 5  S’ in-sku,  6 rdo-sku. 7 zuṅ-zhug. 8 This ceremony is called “rabs-gnas zhug-pa.” Cf. CSOMA, A., p.403.    9 The images of the fierce gods and goddesses especially are veiled. The veil covering the face of Devi  is called ” Lha-moi zhab-k’ebs. It is a white silken scarf, about eighteen inches broad, with red borders about a foot wide. And on it are drawn in colours several of the auspicious symbols, the swastika, elephants’ tusks, conch, jewels, also the goad, etc., and the mystic spell Bhyo-?.

caityas, moulded of clay or dough, with or without the addition of

relics, 1 and corresponding to the dharma-ṣarira of the Indian stūpas, and mentioned by Hiuen Tsiang in the seventh century .

Small consecrated medallions of

clay are also given by the Dalai

and Tashi Grand Lāmas

to donors of largess, in

return for their gifts,

one of which is already figured .

 

The pictures are

mostly paintings, seldom

uncoloured drawings,

and many of them are

of considerable artistic

merit. The style and

 Guardian King of the South  or Virudhaka

technique are, in the main, clearly of Chinese origin. This is especially seen in the conventional form of clouds, water, etc.,though the costumes are usually Tibetan,when not Indian. The eye of the Buddhas and the more benign Bodhisattvas is given a  dreamy look by  representing the upper eyelid as dented at its  centre like a cupid’s bow,

but I have noticed this same peculiarity in mediaeval Indian Buddhist sculptures.

1 Called sa-tsch’a.

THE PAINTINGS.

The paintings are usually done on cloth, frescoes 1 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, Lāmaist 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 cut 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. 2 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, or often

1 ‘dabs-ris.   2 Cf. W. Anderson’s Catalogue Japanese Pictures; Nott and Gliddon, Indig. 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 Brāhmanical 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 signia which they bear, as signifying their function. .

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, 1 and it is usually represented upon a lotus-flower, the symbol of divine birth.

Extra to this type, the three others most common are: —

1st. “The Mild ” calm form (Z’i-wa 2 ) or Bodhisat type.

2nd. “The Angry ” type (T’o-wo3), of the ” Howler ” (Rudra and Marut), or Storm-deity of

Vedic times.

3rd. ” The Fiercest ” fiend type (Drag-po or Drags’e’ 4 ) ;

a fiercer form of No. 2, and including the ” lord “- fiends. 5

These latter two types are confined mainly to Tāntric Buddhism, which, as with Tāntric Hindūism, gives each divinity a double or treble nature with corresponding aspects. In the quiescent state the deity is of the mild Bodhisattva type; in the active he is of the Angry or Fiercest-fiend type. Thus the Bodhisattva Mañjuṣṛī, 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 t’ub-bzugs. 2 Tibeto-Sanskrit dictionaries give ” Ṣiva” as well a* “Santi” as the Sanskrit equivalent of this word, so it may literally mean a mild form of the Ṣivaist gods. 3 K’ro-bo from the Skt. Krodha, anger. 4 Drags-po or Drag-gs’ed. 5 mGon-po   Skt.Nātha

deity (T’o-wo) ; and as ” The six-faced dreadful King-demon,” 1 he is of ” The Fiercest Fiend ” type (Drag-po). 2

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 hand-

some Indian princes and

princesses, seated

usually on lotus thrones,

and are thus described

by Z’ā-lu : The figure

looks proud, youthful,

beautiful, 3 and refined.

The body emits a halo

of innumerable rays of

light, figured as radiat-

ing wavy lines, with

tremulous lines alter-

nating. The dress is

of the Indian style,

with one silk shawl for

the lower limbs, and

one for the upper, a

head ornament (or

crown) of precious

things, an ear-ring, a

close – fitting necklace,

and a doshal or garland

reaching down to the

thigh, and a Semondo

or shorter garland reach-

ing to the navel, an

armlet, wristlet, brace-

let, anklet, girdle (‘ok-

pags), and a sash (dar-

‘p’yaṅ) with fringes.

The above ornaments

are accounted thirteen.

Amitāyus.

The Buddha of Boundless Life.

1 gdoṅ -drug-ch’an. ‘jig-byed bdud-las rnara rgyal.

2 According to the rhyme :

rje-btsun ‘jam dbyaṅs k’ros-pa-ni

rdo-rje ‘jigs byed ‘jigs par byed,

k’ro-bor rgyal-po gdoṅ drug c’an.

 

3 For the (30 or 81) secondary beauties, cf. Burnouf’s Lotus, App., viii., Hardy’s Man., 367, Raj. L. Mitra’s Lalita Vist. For description of Hindū Idols, see Bṛihat Saṃhitā, translated by Dr. Kern, J.R.A.S.,vi., 322. 

 

The hair of the gods is dressed up into a high cone named ral-pa’-t’or- tshugs, and the forehead usually bears the tilak or auspicious mark. The goddesses are given a graceful form with 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 (T’o-wo) is terrible in its elaborate ugliness, with disproportionately large head, 1 scowling brows, and

cruel, callous eyes,

and usually with a

third eye in the centre

of the forehead. 2

Z’ā-lu describes them

as fat, brawny-limbed,

and menacing in

attitude, standing or

half-seated upon some

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, reddish-

yellow, or greyish-

yellow, and the hair

is erect, with

occasionally a fringe of

curls on the forehead,

believed by some to represent

coiled snakes. The females, as in

the annexed figure, 3 except for

their full breasts and the absence

of beards, do not differ in

appearance from the males.

Devi  T. Lha-mo

1 Cf. SCHLAG B.,p. 222, for measurements of proportions of several of these images. 2 Trilocana, a character also of the Hindū Bhairava and Kālī and their demon troop of followers, the gana.   3 after Pander.

FIERCE DEITIES AND POSTURES.

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 tigerskin inside the latter, (4) Brāhma’s thread (ts’aṅ-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 char-

acteristic of the several forms

of Buddha himself, and

secondarily of the celestial

Buddhas and Bodhisats are

as follows : —

 

(1) “The adamantine, un-

changeable, or fixed pose”

(Skt., Vajra (?) Palaṅa 1 ) sedent

in the well-known cross-legged

Buddha posture. The legs are

locked firmly and the soles

directed fully upwards. This

is the pose of deepest meditation

.., hence it is also called, when the

hands he loosely in the lap, the                               Sakya in Meditation.

” Dhyāna or meditative mudra.” –

(2) ” The Bodhisat-pose” (Skt.,Satva (?)palaṅa 2) 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. (?) Niyampalaṅa) 3 is emerged farther from meditation. It has the legs unlocked, the left being quite under the right, and the soles invisible.

1 rdo-rje skyil-druṅ.  2 Sems-dpa skyil druṅ. 3 Skyil dkruṅ chuṅ zad.

(4) “The Enchanter’s pose” (Skt., Lalita 1 ), i.e., after the manner of ” The Enchanter ” Mañjuṣṛī. Here the right leg hangs down with an inclination slightly inwards and the left is loosely bent.

(5) Maitreya’s pose. 2 Sedent in the European style with both legs pendant.

The chief attitudes of the hands and fingers (mudras 3 ) are the following, and most are illustrated in the figures : —

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Five Celestial Jinas (or Buddhas).

Amogha-siddhi.

Amitābha           Vairocana          Akshobhya.

Ratna Sambhava,

 

1. “Earth-touching,”‘ or (he so-called “Witness” attitude (Skt.,Bhūṣparṣa 4 ). with reference to the episode under the Tree of Wisdom, when Ṣākya Muni called the Earth as his witness, in his temptation by Mara. –

1 rol-ba bzugs. 2 byams bzugs.  3 p’yag-rgya, 4 sa-gnon

 

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 preceding.

 

2. “The Impartial” (Skt., Samāhitan 1 ), or so-called “meditative posture ” (Skt., Samādhi 2). Resting one hand over the other in the lap in the middle line of the body, with the palms upwards, as in Amitābha Buddha (see the attached figure).

 

3. “The best Perfection” (Skt., Uttara-bodhi 3 ). 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 4 ). Dogmatic attitude with right index-finger turning down fingers of left hand, figured at page 134.

 

5. ” The best Bestowing ” (Skt., Varada 5 ). 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 Ratna-sambhava, who is figured.

 

6. ” The Protecting,” or ” Refuge-giving ” (Skt., Ṣaraṇ 6 ). 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” 7 differs from No. 7 in having the thumb bent, and when the thumb touches the ring-finger it is called “The triangular 8 (pose), see figure on page 5.

 

9. ” The Pointing Finger.” ” A necromantic gesture in bewitching, peculiar to later Tāntrism.

 

The halo, or nimbus, around the head is sub elliptical, and never acuminate like the leaf of the pipal or Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa). 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 consists of the six coloured rays of light, and it is conventionally represented by wavy gilt lines with small tremulous lines alternating.

Colour, too, is frequently an index to the mood. Thus, white 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.

1 mñam-bz’ag. 2 tiṅ-ṅe’dsin. 3 byaṅ-chub-mch’og. 4 ch’os ‘k’or-bskor. 5 mch’og-sbyin.

6 skyab-sbyin.  7 ch’os ‘c’ad. 8 pa-dan rtse gsum. 9 sdigs-dsub.

 

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 (Nelumbium speciosum) ; 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 (Nymphaea 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 Tārā, but it is conventionally represented by the Lāmas as different from the Utpal (Nymphaea sp.), as figured on the opposite page.

 

 

A remarkable feature of most Tāntrik Buddhist images is the frequent presence of a Buddha seated on the head of the image

 

 

 

TABLE SHOWING

The Surmounting JINAS in Buddhist Images.

 

 

JINAS.	Vairocana.	Akshobhya.	Ratnasam-bhava.	Amitābha.	Amogha-siddha.
Surmounted BUDDHAS.	Maitreya	Muni-vajrāsan		Amitāyus	Maitreya
Surmounted BODHISATS.	? Samanta-bhadraPrajña-pāra-mitā(pita)Vetuda-MarīcīMahāsahasranVijayaPita-VijayaSita-Ushṇīsha	Vajra-pāṇiMañjughosha(adhicakra)JñanasattvaMañjuṣṛīSitaPrajña-pāramitā	Ratna- pāṇiPita JambhalaPita Vaisra-vanaVasudhara” Kan-wa-bhadra”	AvalokitaPadma- pāṇiTārā	Viṣva- pāṇi
SurmountedKRODHA-fiends		Kāla-YamariSasmuka-YamaKāla-JambhalaAcala-KhrodarajaRi-khra-loma-gyon mar”Hun mdsad “Khroda raja“san-nags rje ‘dsin-ma”Mahā-pratyan-gira	Rakta-yakiha	HayagrīvaKrodhaAvalo-kita PitaBṛikuṭi(?’. Kal-pa)Kuru-kulle“ rTogs-pa las- junwa-Kuru-kulla”“gsilba tsal ch’en-mo”	Kuru-kulleMahā- Mayuri

or amidst the hair. The existence of such surmounting images in the Tāntrik Buddhist sculptures of India was noted by Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton in his survey of Bihar 1 at the beginning of this century, but since his time the subject has attracted only

 Utpal,                Blue Lotus.                  White Lotus.                 Asok.     Naga-tree.

LOTUSES and other flowers of conventional form.

the merest incidental notice of writers on Indian Buddhist antiquities, 2 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 Amitābha seated in his hair.

As the subject is interesting, and of some importance, I give in the table the results of my study of a large series of Lāmaist  pictures containing such figures, and descriptions of others extracted from the works of Pandits ” gZ’onnu ” Gupta, Ṣrītāri, Kalamtāra, 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, 3 or the Buddhas of Meditation (Dhyāni-Buddha), as they are called by the Nepalese Buddhists. In a few cases the coming-Buddha Maitreya is figured with Ṣākya Muni on his head, as indicating spiritual succession rather than parental relationship, but it is the latter which is the rule.

1 Eastern India, i.  2 India Archaeological Survey Repts.,by Sir A. Cunningham ; West India Arch. S. Repts., by J. BURGESS; Catalogue of Archaeolog. Collection in Indian Museum, by J.ANDERSON. 3 rgyal-ba rigs-lṅa — or “The Pentad Victors.” No one seems to have noticed this constant use by the Lāmas of the word Jina for the celestial Buddhas, whom the Nepalese term Dhyāni -Buddha, though it is interesting in regard to Jainism in its relations to Buddhism.

 

Occasionally the surmounting Jinas are represented by their mystic emblems of a wheel, vajra, jewel, lotus, or viṣva-vajra, as will be described presently. Thus Ratna-sambhava 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 arc 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 pikea trident	K’atvaṅK’a- ‘tvaṅ- rtse-gsum	khāṭvānga triṣūla
2. hand-drum	Da-ma-ru	damaru
3. chisel-knife	Gri-gug	Kartrikā
4. thunderbolt	rDo-rje	vajra
5. cross-thunderbolt	sNa-ts’ogs rdo-rje	viṣva-vajra
6. rosary	Preṅ-ba	mālā
7. Lotus-flower (white or red)blue lotus1Asoka-flower 1“Naga’s tree” (cactus or coral) 1	Pad-maUt-palMya-ṅan-med pahi-shiṅkLu-shin	padma  utpal aṣoka nāgā-taru

 

 

 

 

8. alarm-staffbegging-bowl	K’ar-gail’Luṅ-bzed	hikile, or khakhara pa tra
9. wish-granting gem	(Yid bz’in) Noi bu	(cintā-) maṇi
10. flames	Me-ris,
11. snare 2	z’ags-pa	pāṣa
12. bell	dril-bu	ghanta
13. wheel	‘K’or-lo	cakra
14. skull-cup	Tod-k’rag	Kapāla
15. thunderbolt-dagger	p’ur-bu	Phurbu (?)
16. spear	gDuṅ
17. club	Be-con	gadā
18. dirk or dagger	‘Chu-gri
19. sword	Ral-gri	adi
20. axe	dGra-sta	paraṣu (?)
21. hammer	T’o-ba mt’o-ba	mudgara
22. iron -goad	lC’ags-kyu
23. mace	Ben
24. thigh-bone trumpet	r Kaṅ-duṅ
25. conch-shell trumpet	Dun	ṣaṅkha
26. iron -chain	lChags-sgrog
27. skeleton -staff	dByug-pa
28. See No. 1 (a)	–	–
29. water-potanointing vasefly-whiskbanner	Bum-pasPyi-glugsrṄa-yabrGyal-mts’an	kalāsa –chauridhvaja

 

1 See figures on previous page. 2 To rescue the lost or to bind the opponents. A symbol of Ṣiva, Varuṇa, and Lakshmi.

 

The objects or insignia which the several figures hold in their hands refer to their functions. Thus, Mañjuṣṛī, 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 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 x 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 Lāmaist 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 Lāmas in order to bring some of their indigenous Tibetan deities into relationship with the earlier and more orthodox celestial Bodhisattvas 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 Nāgārjuna,” or of some one or other celebrated Indian monk or Lāma.

 

First in our classification come the Buddhas, human and celestial.

I. The Buddhas.

The innumerable forms of the Buddhas, the fabulous terrestrial, the celestial and metaphysical, are all, with a few exceptions, based upon the five conventional attitudes ascribed to the historical Buddha, as marking the chief episodes of his Buddhahood. Andof 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 lying posture is very rarely seen in Tibet.

The typical Buddha is conventionally represented as a man of

342………..

…..386

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mystic Monogram. (Nam-c’u-vaṅ-dan.)

GARUḌA YANTRA   Charm.

XV. SACRED SYMBOLS AND CHARMS.

MOST religions of the present day teem with symbolism,which is woven so closely into the texture of the creeds that it is customary to excuse its presence by alleging that it is impossible to convey to the people spiritual truths except in material forms. Yet we have only to look at Muhammadanism, one of the great religions of the world, and still actively advancing, to see that it appeals successfully to the most uneducated and fanatical people, although it is practically devoid of symbolism, and its sanctuary is a severely empty building, wholly unadorned with images or pictures. People, however, who are endowed with artistic sense, tend to clothe their religion with symbolism.

The symbols proper, extra to the symbolic representations of the deities dealt with in the preceding chapter, are conventional signs or diagrams, or pictures of animals, mythological or otherwise, or of plants and inanimate objects ; and in Tibet they are very widely met with. They are painted or carved on houses and furniture, and emblazoned on boxes and embroidery, and on personal ornaments, trinkets, charms, etc.

 The extremely rich symbolism found in Lāmaism is largely of Indian and Chinese origin. Its emblems are mainly of a conventional Hindū kind, more or less modified to adapt them to their Buddhist setting. Others are derived from the Chinese, and a few only are of Tibetan origin. These latter are mostly of a very crude kind, like the rebuses common in mediaeval England for the use of the illiterate.

 

In this place, also, we can most conveniently glance at the mystic value of numbers ; the ” magic-circle ” offering in effigy of the universe, etc., which enters into the daily worship of every Lāma ; and the charms against sickness and accidents, ill-luck, etc., and the printed charms for luck which form the ” prayer- flags,” and the tufts of rags affixed to trees, bridges, etc.

 

The Lotus. — Most of the sacred emblems, as well as the images of divinities, it will be noticed, are figured upon a lotus-flower. This expresses the Hindū idea of super-human origin. The lotus upon the lake seems to spring from the body of the waters without contact with the sordid earth, and, no matter how muddy the water may be, the lotus preserves its own purity undefiled.

 

The various kinds of lotuses figured at page 339 are given special uses. The red lotus is common to most deities and divine symbols; the white lotus is special to Avalokita; the blue one to Tārā ; and when a demon is figured upon a lotus the latter is a pinkish variety of the white form, with the petals much notched or divided.

 

The Three Gems (Tri-ratna 1 ), symbolic of the Trinity : Buddha, his Word, and the Church. These are usually figured (as in No. 2 on next page) as three large egg-shaped gems, with the narrow ends directed downwards, and the central member is placed slightly above the other two, so as to give symmetry to the group, which is usually surrounded by flames.

1 Tib., dKon-mch’og-gsum, or “The rarest ones.”

 

The Svastika, 1 or ” fly-foot cross,” is a cross with the free end of each arm bent at right angles to the limbs. It is one of the most widely diffused of archaic symbols, having been found at Troy by Schliemann, and among ancient Teutonic nations as the emblem of Thor. In Buddhism, the ends of the arms are

always bent in the respectful attitude,

that is, towards the left ; for the

Lāmas, while regarding the symbol as one of good augury, also consider it to typify the continuous moving, or the ceaseless becoming,” which is commonly called, Life. Sir A. Cunningham believed lt-to be a monogram formed from the Aṣoka characters for the auspicious words Su + Asti, or “that which is good.” 2 It was especially associated with the divinity of Fire, as representing the two cross pieces of wood 3 which by friction produce fire. The Jains, who seem to be an Indian offshoot of Buddhism, 4 appropriate it for the seventh of their mythical saints. 5 The heterodox Tibetans, the Bon, in adopting it have turned the ends inthe reverse direction.

The Seven Gems.6 These are the attributes of the universal monarch,7 such as prince Siddhārta was to have been had he not become a Buddha. They are very frequently figured on the base of his throne, and are : —

1. The Wheel. 8 The victorious wheel of a thousand spokes. It also represents the symmetry and completeness of the Law. It is figured in the early Sanchi Tope. 9

2. The Jewel. 10 The mother of all gems, a wish-procuring gem (Cintamaṇi).

1 Yun-druṅ. Chinese, Chu’-Vang, or “The ten thousand character ” ; cf. also Indian Antiquary, ix., 65, etc., 135, etc., and numerous references in DUMOUTIER, op. cit., 22-23.   2 Su, meaning “good” or ” excellent ” (in Greek, eu), and Asti is the third person singular present indicative of the verb As, “to be,” and Ka is an abstract suffix.

3 Skt., Arani. 4 But see JACOBI’s works. 5 Namely, the Jina Su-parṣva. 6 Skt., Sapta-ratna. T., Rin-ch’en sna-bdun ; cf. HARDY’s  Man, p. 130, and ALABASTER’s Wheel of the Law, p. 81. 7 Cakra-vartin Rāja. 8 Skt,, Cakra; T., ‘K’or-lo.  9 Fergusson, Tree and Serp. Worship,pl. xxix., Fig. 2. 10 Skt., Ratna ; T., Norbu.

The Seven Gems.6 These are the attributes of the universal monarch,7 such as prince Siddhārta was to have been had he not become a Buddha. They are very frequently figured on the base of his throne, and are : —

1. The Wheel. 8 The victorious wheel of a thousand spokes. It also represents the symmetry and completeness of the Law. It is figured in the early Sanchi Tope. 9

2. The Jewel. 10 The mother of all gems, a wish-procuring gem (Cintamaṇi).

1 Yun-druṅ. Chinese, Chu’-Vang, or “The ten thousand character ” ; cf. also Indian Antiquary, ix., 65, etc., 135, etc., and numerous references in DUMOUTIER, op. cit., 22-23.   2 Su, meaning “good” or ” excellent ” (in Greek, eu), and Asti is the third person singular present indicative of the verb As, “to be,” and Ka is an abstract suffix.

3 Skt., Arani. 4 But see JACOBI’s works. 5 Namely, the Jina Su-parṣva. 6 Skt., Sapta-ratna. T., Rin-ch’en sna-bdun ; cf. HARDY’s  Man, p. 130, and ALABASTER’s Wheel of the Law, p. 81. 7 Cakra-vartin Rāja. 8 Skt,, Cakra; T., ‘K’or-lo.  9 Fergusson, Tree and Serp. Worship,pl. xxix., Fig. 2. 10 Skt., Ratna ; T., Norbu.

The Seven Gems.6 These are the attributes of the universal monarch,7 such as prince Siddhārta was to have been had he not become a Buddha. They are very frequently figured on the base of his throne, and are : —

1. The Wheel. 8 The victorious wheel of a thousand spokes. It also represents the symmetry and completeness of the Law. It is figured in the early Sanchi Tope. 9

2. The Jewel. 10 The mother of all gems, a wish-procuring gem (Cintamaṇi).

1 Yun-druṅ. Chinese, Chu’-Vang, or “The ten thousand character ” ; cf. also Indian Antiquary, ix., 65, etc., 135, etc., and numerous references in DUMOUTIER, op. cit., 22-23.   2 Su, meaning “good” or ” excellent ” (in Greek, eu), and Asti is the third person singular present indicative of the verb As, “to be,” and Ka is an abstract suffix. 3 Skt., Arani. 4 But see JACOBI’s works. 5 Namely, the Jina Su-parṣva. 6 Skt., Sapta-ratna. T., Rin-ch’en sna-bdun ; cf. HARDY’s  Man, p. 130, and ALABASTER’s Wheel of the Law, p. 81. 7 Cakra-vartin Rāja. 8 Skt,, Cakra; T., ‘K’or-lo.  9 Fergusson, Tree and Serp. Worship,pl. xxix., Fig. 2. 10 Skt., Ratna ; T., Norbu.

3. The jewel of a Wife. 1 ” The Jasper-girl ” who fans her lord to sleep, and attends him with the constancy of a slave.

4. The gem of a Minister, 2 who regulates the business of the empire.

5. The (white) Elephant. 3 The earth-shaking beast, who as a

The Seven Gems.

 

symbol of universal sovereignty the Buddhist kings of Burma and Siam borrowed from Indian Buddhism. It seems to be Indra’s elephant Airāvata. 4

     6. The Horse. 5 It seems to symbolize the horse-chariot of the sun, implying a realm over which the sun never sets, as well as the celestial Pegasus-steed, 6 which carries its rider wherever the latter wishes. 7

     7. The gem of a General, 8 who conquers all enemies.

1 Skt., Slri; T., Tsun-mo. 2 Skt., (?) Girti or Mahājana ; T., bLon-po. 3 Skt., Hasti ; T.,glaṅ-po.  4 This elephant is frequently represented as a miniature bronze ornament or flowerstand on the Lāmaist altar. Mr. Baber records (R. G. Soc. Suppl., paper, p. 33) a colossal elephant with six tusks, cast in silvery-bronze, in western Ssu-ch’uan. It is of artistic merit, and carries on its back, in place of a howdah, a lotus-flower, in which is enthroned an admirable image of Buddha. 5 Skt., Aṣra ; T., rTa-mch’og. 6 Aṣwin or Uchchaihsravas. 7 Compare with the divine horse named ” Might of a Cloud,” from the thirty-three heavens, which delivered the merchants from the island of Rākshasis. — See Hiuen Tsiang’s ,Si-Yu-Ki.  8 Skt., Kshatri or Sena-pati ; T., dMag-dpon.

 And to these the Lāmas add an eighth, namely, the Vase, 1 for storing all the hidden riches of the three regions of life.

The Seven (Royal) Badges 2

 

1. The precious House (palace).                        (Kaṅ-saṅ Rinpoch’e)

2.        „  „       Royal Robes                              (Gos Rinpoch’e)

3.        „  „       Boots (embroidered).                (Lham Rinpoch’e)

4.        „  „       Elephant’s tusk                         (Laṅ-ch’en ch’em Rinpoch’e)

5.        „  „       Queen’s earring.                        (Tsumno na-ja )

6.        „  „       King’s earring.                           (Gyalpo na-ja)

7.        „  „       Jewel.                                      (Norbu)

 

The above list seems somewhat confused with ” The seven world-

The Seven World-Ravishing Gems. 3

ravishing Gems ” here figured. 3

 

The Seven Personal Gems. 4

 1. The Sword-jewel — confers invincibility.

2. The Snake (Nāga)-skin jewel. It is ten miles long by five broad; water cannot wet it, nor the wind shake it ; it warms in the cold weather and cools in the hot ; and shines brighter than the moon.

3. The Palace-jewel.

4. The Garden-jewel.

5. The Robes.

6. The Bed-jewel.

7. The Shoe-jewel. Conveys the wearer one hundred miles without fatigue and across water without wetting the feet.

1 Bum-pa-ter ; Skt., Kalaṣa. 2 Gyal-ts’an sna bdun. 3 ‘Jigs-yoṅs-gyi rin-po-ch’e, namely, bSeru, conch-shell curd, king’s earring, queen’s earring, jewelled tiara, three-eyed gem, and the eight-limbed coral. Another enumeration gives Padmaraga, indranila, baidurya, margad, vajra, pearl, and coral.  4 Ne-wai rin-poch’e sna bdun.

 

A selection of four of these, with the addition of the royal umbrella, is termed “The five Royal Insignia,” 1 namely :—

The Seven Personal Gems.

 

 

The Eight Glorious Emblems. 2

These auspicious symbols are figured in Buddha’s footprints,3 and on innumerable articles, lay and clerical.

 

1 Cf CSOMA’S An., p. 76; Jaeschke’s Dict.,p. 454.  2 Skt., Ashta-maṅgala ;T.,bkra-s’i  rtags-brgyad  3 Said to be symbols of the Vita-raga. HODGSON’ s L.L., p. 136, also J.A.S.B., art.“Naipālya Kalyāṇa”

The Eight Glorious Offerings. 4

1. Mirror. — The light-holding goddess-form offered a looking-glass to Buddha Bhagavāt when he was turning the wheel of religion,

 

The Eight Glorious Offerings.

 

and he blessed it and rendered it holy. (Compare with the mirror in the Shinto religion of Japan.;

2. The intestinal concretion (gi-ham or gi-‘vaṅ  found in the entrails

1 The credulous Lāmas of north-eastern Tibet credited Mr. Rockhill with having captured the golden fish in the Tosu lake, “When I came back from Tosu-nor to Sbang, the Khanpo (abbot), a Tibetan, asked me where I proposed going; ‘To Lob-nor,’ I replied, not wishing to discuss my plans. ‘I supposed that was your intention,’ he rejoined ; ‘you have caught our horse and fish of gold in the Tosu-nor, and now you want to get the frog of gold of the Lob-nor. But it will be useless to try; there is in the whole world but the Panchen Rinpoche,of Tashi-lhunpo, who is able to catch it” (“A Journey in Mongolia and Tibet,” The Geog. Journ., May, 1894, p. 376). The Japanese use a wooden fish as a gong.  2 In Sanchi Tope. Fergus.,Tree and Serp. Worship, pi. xxxv., Fig. 2.   3 Also the symbol of the tenth Jina (Sītala) of the Jāins. Compare with ” Buddha’s entrails,” see number 2 of next list, also on this page.  4 bkras’s-rdsas brgyad. These, together with the foregoing, may be compared with the Navakosa or Navanidhi, or nine treasures of Kuvera, the god of riches, namely, Padma, Mahapadma, Makara, Kacchapa, Mukunda, Nanda, Mia, Kharwa. And these are related to the so-called Nāga kings, “the nine Nandas” of Magadha.

 

of certain animals and on the neck of an elephant. The land-guarding elephant offered this to Buddha, and he blessed it.

3. Curds (zo). — The farmer’s daughter (legs-skyes-ma) offered Buddha curdled milk, and he blessed it.

4. Darwa grass. — Mangalam, the grass-seller, offered Buddha darwa grass, which he blessed.

5. The Bilwa fruit (AEgle marmelos). — Brahma offered him bilwa, which he blessed as the best of fruits.

6. Conch-shell. — Indra offered him a white conch-shell, and he blessed it.

7. Li-khri. — The Brahman ” King-star,” offered him Li-khri, and he blessed it as the overpowering knowledge.

8. The white turnip. — Vajrapāṇi, ” the Secret Lord,” offered him white turnip (yaṅ-dkar), which he blessed as the demon-defeating turnip. *

 

	Sanskrit	Tibet
l. The Golden Fish 1	matsya	gser-ña
2 The Umbrella (“Lord of the White Umbrella “2 )	chatra	gduga
3. Conch-shell Trumpet— of Victory	saṅkha	duṅ
4. Lucky Diagram 3	ṣrīvatsa	d pal -be
5. Victorious Banner	dhvaja	rgyal-mts’an
6. Vase	kalaṣa	bum-pa
7. Lotus	padma	padma
8. Wheel	cakra	k’or -lo

The Five Sensuous Qualities. 1

These are figured at page 297. They seem to be a Buddhist adaptation of the Hindū ” eight enjoyments ” (Ashtabhoga), namely, a grand house, a bed, fine clothes, jewels, wives, flowers, perfumes, areca-nut and betel. They are offered on the altars and are : —

1. Pleasing form (Rupa). 2. Sound (Sapta). 3. Perfumes (Gandhe). 4. Luscious eatables (Naiwete).  5. Pleasing-touch and feelings (Sparsa).

Distinctly Chinese in origin are the TRIGRAMS and the following symbolic animals.

The Trigrams are especially used in astrology, and are described in the chapter on

that subject. They are based upon the  very ancient Chinese theory of the Yin- Yang or “the great extreme ” (” Tai-Ky” 2),where two parallel lines, in a circle divided spirally into two equal tadpole-like segments, represent, as in the doctrine of the Magi, the two  First Causes and great principles, or contrary influences ( Yin+ Yang) ; such as light and darkness, good and evil, male and female,

1 Skt., Kāmaguna, T., ‘dod-yoṅs. 2 DUMOUTIER, Les Symboles, etc., Annamites

heat and cold, movement and repose, and so on. The circular diagram 1 is divided by the Lāmas, like the Japanese, into three segments (as in the annexed figure a); and it will be noticed that the tails are given the direction of the orthodox fly-foot cross, for it too, according to the Lāmas, signifies ceaseless change or ” becoming.”

The LONGEVITY-trigram or hexagram,

in both its oblong and circular forms

(fig. b and c), is a modification of the

Chinese symbol for longevity called Tho2

The Lāmas have also incorporated the

four greatest amongst the Chinese

symbolic animals, to wit, the Tortoise

, the Phoenix, Dragon, and Horse-dragon,

as well as the Chinese Tiger, and the Bats.

The TORTOISE symbolizes the universe

to the Chinese as well as the Hindūs. Its

dome-shaped back represents the vault

of the sky, its belly the earth, which

moves upon the waters ; and its fabulous

longevity leads to its being considered

imperishable.

The DRAGON 3 seems to perpetuate thetradition of primaeval flying saurians of

geologic times, now known only through

their fossilized remains. The Lāmas and

Chinese Buddhists have assimilated them

with the mythical serpents (Naga) of Indian myth.

The HORSE-DRAGON figures, as it seems to me,

very prominently in the prayer-flags of Tibet, as

we shall presently see.

The PHOENIX (or “Garuḍa”). This mythical

“ sky-soarer ” 4 is the great enemy of the dragons,

and has been assimilated to the Indian Garuḍa,

the arch-enemy of the Nāgas.

Trigrams as Charms.

1 Called rGyan-‘k’yil, probably a corruption of the Chinese name. 2 Cf. DUMOUTIER, op. cit., p. 21.  3 Tib., ‘drug ; Chinese Long.  4 Tib., nam-K’ah-ldiṅ. The Chinese call it Con-phu’ong (DUMOUTIER, p. 48).

 And anyone who has, like myself, seen the bird popularly called Garuḍa (namely the Adjutant or Stork) devouring snakes, must realize why the Indians fixed upon such a homely simile to represent their myth. It seems to be analogous to the Thunder-bird of the North American Indians. In a more mystic sense the Lāmas, like the Chinese, believe it to symbolize the entire world ; its head is the heaven, its eyes the sun, its back the crescent moon, its wings the wind, its feet the earth, its tail the trees and plants. 1

 The TIGER is a deity of the pre-Lāmaist religion of Tibet ; and the ” Red-Tiger,” as already noted, appears to me to be the prototype of the favourite Lāmaist demon (Tām-din). The tiger is displayed on all the Tibetan prayer-flags in contest with the dragon,’ 2 and the five tigers (see figure, page 519) are conspicuous in the Chinese symbolism prevalent in Annam. 3

 The group is mystically reputed to symbolize the five elements : the central yellow tiger is the earth, the upper right blue one is wood, the lower right red one is fire (also the south), the upper left black one is water (also the north), and the lower left is metal (also the west).

 The BATS, five in number, have come by a confusion of homonyms to symbolize the five good Fortunes, 4 namely, Luck, Wealth, Long life, Health, and Peace. They are embroidered on dresses of high Lāmas, sorcerers, maskers, etc. 5

 Astrology also uses many other symbols,

as will be seen hereafter. The symbolism of colours is referred to in the chapter on images and incidentally elsewhere.

 

 

 

The Five Bats of Fortune.

 

 

Symbolic Words used as Numerals in Chronograms.

In chronograms and astronomical and other works, symbolic names are often used instead of numerals. The rationale of the

1 Cf. also Dumoutier, p.48. 2 Ngu Ho, see figure, p. 413.  3 Dumoutier, p. 55.. 4 Chinese Ngu Phu’o’c; cf. Dumoutier, p. 51.  5 See also their form on page 4.

use of such names is generally obvious; thus the individual’s body, the moon, the (one-horned) rhinoceros, express unity from their singleness. The hand, the eye, wings, twins, denote a pair. And many of the others are derived from the mythology of the Hindūs.

The following are some additional illustrations 1 : —

3 = the world — i.e., the three Buddhist worlds of Kāma Rūpa, Arupa.

= quality — i.e., the three Guna.

= fire — evidently from its triangular tongue.

= top — probably from the Chinese ideograph of a hill.

4 = a lake or sea — i.e., the idea of fluid requiring to be hemmed in on all four sides.

5 = the senses — the five senses.

= an element — the five elements.

= an aggregate — the five Skandha.

7 = a sage — the seven Ṛishi.

8 = a snake — the eight great Nāgas.

9 = a treasure — the nine treasures of Kuvera and the Nandas.

10 = points — the ten points or directions.

12 = the sun — with its twelve signs of the Zodiac.

24 = Jina or victor — the twenty-four Jina and Tirthaṅkara.

32 = tooth — the human set of thirty-two teeth.

0= sky — the ” empty ” space.

 

 

 

 

The ” Mandala ” or Magic Circle-offering of the Universe.

It is almost a matter of history how the great emperor of Aṣoka thrice presented India to the Buddhist church, and thrice redeemed it with his treasure. But it seems to be little, if at all, known that the Lāmas systematically ape Aṣoka in this particular gift; and they are much more magnificently generous than he. For every day, in every temple in Lāmadom, the Lāmas offer to the Buddhas (as well as to the saints and demons) not only the whole of India, but the whole universe of Jambudvīpa and the three other fabulous continents of Hindū cosmogony, together with all the heavens and their inhabitants and treasures. And although this offering is made in effigy, it is, according to the spirit of Lāmaism, no less effective than Aṣoka’s real gifts, upon which it seems to be based.

1 Taken mostly from Csoma’s Grammar, pp. 150, et seq.

The mode of making this microcosmic offering of the universe in effigy is as follows ; but to fully understand the rite, reference should be made to the illustrated description of the Buddhist universe, already given at page 79.

MODE OF OFFERING THE MANDALA.

Having wiped the tray with the right arm or sleeve, the Lāma takes a handful of rice in either hand, and sprinkles some on the tray to lay the golden foundation of the universe. Then he sets down the large ring (see figure, p. 296), which is the iron girdle of the universe. Then in the middle is set down a dole of rice as mount Meru (Olympus), the axis of the system of worlds. Then in the order given in the attached diagram are set down a few grains of rice representing each of the thirty-eight component portions of the universe, each of which is named at the time of depositing its representative rice. The ritual for all sects of Lāmas during this ceremony is practically the same. I here append the text as used by the Kar-gyu sect.

 During this ceremony it is specially insisted on that the performer must mentally conceive that he is actually bestowing all this wealth of continents, gods, etc., etc., upon his Lamaist deities, who themselves are quite outside the system of the universe.

The words employed during the offering of the Maṇḍala are the following, and it should be noted that the figures in brackets correspond to those in the diagram and indicate the several points in the magic circle where the doles of rice are deposited during this celebration or service.

                                          ” Oṃ! Vajra bhummi Āḥ Hūṃ  “

” On the entirely clear foundation of solid gold is Oṃ ! bajra-rekhe Āḥ Hūṃ  .

” In the centre of the iron wall is Hūṃ  and Ri-rab (Meru), the king of Mountains (1).

” On the east is Lus-‘p’ags-po (2),

” On the south ‘Jam-bu-gliṅ (3),

” On the west Ba-laṅ-spyod (4), and

” On the north Gra-mi-sñan (5).

” On either side of the eastern continent are Lus (6) and Lus’p’ags (7).

” On either side of the southern continent are rNa-yab (8) and

rNa-yab-gz’an (9).

 “On either side of the western continent are Yonten (10) and Lam-mch’og-‘gra (11).

MAGIC SYMBOL OF UNIVERSE.

 And on either side of the northern continent are sGra-mi-sñan (12) and sGra-mi-shañ-gyi-mda (13). ” There are mountains of jewels (14), wish-granting trees (15), wish-granting cows (16), unploughed crops (17), the precious wheel (18), the precious Norbu jewel (19), the precious queen (20), the precious minister (21), the precious elephant (22), the precious horse (23), the precious battle-chief (24), the vase of the great treasure (25), the goddesses sgeg-pa-ma (26), ‘P’reṅ-wa-ma (27), gLu-ma (28), Gar-ma (29), Me-tog-ma (30), bDug-spos-ma (31), sNaṅ-gsal-ma (32),Dri-ch’al-ma (33), the sun (34), moon (35), jewelled umbrella (36), the ensign of victory (37), which is entirely victorious from all directions, and in the middle are the gods (38), the most accomplished and wealthy of the beings !

    ” I offer you all these constituent parts of the universe in their entirety, O! noble, kind, and holy Lāma! O! tutelary gods of the magic-circle, and all the hosts of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas!

    ” I beg you all to receive these offerings for the benefit of the animal beings !

” I offer you ! Buddhas ! the four continents and mount Meru adorned with the sun and moon on a foundation of incense and flowers. Let all the animal beings enjoy happiness !

” I offer you ! assembly of all the accomplished supreme beings of the outside, inside, and hidden regions, the entire wealth and body of all these ideal regions. I beg you all to give us the best of all real gifts, and also the real gift of rDsogs-pa-ch’en-po (the mystic insight

sought by the Ñiṅ-ma)!

” I offer up this fresh magic-circle, through the virtue of which let no injury beset the path of purity, but let us have the grace of the Jinas of the three times, and let us, the innumerable animal beings, be delivered from this illusive world !

” I offer up salutations, offerings, confessions of sins, and repentance. What virtue has been accumulated by myself and others, let it go to the attainment of our great end. Idam-ratna maṇḍala kamnir-yaiteyāmi !

” I humbly prostrate myself three times to all who are worthy of worship, with my whole heart and body.” Let glory come ! 1

 

But the commonest use of sacred symbols is as talismans to ward off the evils of those malignant planets and demons who cause disease and disaster, as well as for inflicting harm on one’s enemy. The symbols here are used in a mystical and magic sense as spells and as fetishes, and usually consist of formulas in corrupt and often unintelligible Sanskrit, extracted from the Mahāyāna and Tantric scriptures, and called dhāraṇi,2 as they are believed to “hold” divine powers, and are also used as incantations. Shorter

1 For details of the rest of this service, see my Lāmaism in Sikhim, p. 105. 2 z’uṅs

forms of these, consisting often of a single letter, are also used as representing the essence or ” germ ” of these spells or mantras, and hence named vīja. And the mystic diagram in

which they are often arranged is named Yantra, as in Hindū Tāntrism. 1

The forms of these talismans and amulets are innumerable. The majority are luck-compelling, but different diseases, accidents and misfortune have each their special kinds.

The eating of the paper on which a charm has been written is an ordinary way of curing disease, as indeed it had been in Europe till not so many centuries ago, for the mystic Rx heading our prescriptions is generally admitted to have had its origin in the symbol of Saturn, whom it invoked, and the paper on which the symbol and several other mystic signs were inscribed constituted the medicine, and was itself actually eaten by the patient. The spells which the Lāmas use in this way as medicine are shown in the annexed print, and are called ” the edible letters ” (za-yig).

A still more mystical way of applying these remedies is by the washings of the reflection of the

writing in a mirror, a practice not without its parallels in other quarters of the globe. 2 Thus to cure the evil eye as  shown by symptoms of mind-wandering and dementia condition — called”byad-‘grol” — it is ordered as follows: Write with Chinese ink on a piece of wood the particular letters and smear the writing over with myrobalans and saffron as varnish, and every twenty-nine days reflect this inscribed wood in a mirror, and during reflection wash the face of the mirror with beer, and collect a cupful ofsuch beer and drink it in nine sips.

   Edible Charm.

1 Monier Williams’s Hindūism, 127. 2 “In Gambia,” writes the colonial surgeon in his report for 1890 (quoted in Nature )” the treatment relied upon for cure, and much practised in the country, is to call in a man who is supposed to be a ‘doctor,’ who, after looking at the patient, sits down at his bedside and writes in Arabic characters on a wooden slate a long rigmarole, generally consisting of extracts from the Koran. The slate is then washed, and the dirty infusion is drunk by the patient.”

But most of the charms are worn on the person as amulets. Every individual always wears around the neck one or more of these amulets, which are folded up into little cloth-covered packets, bound with coloured threads in a geometrical pattern. Others are kept in small metallic cases of brass, silver, or gold, set with turquoise stones as amulets, and called ” Ga-u” These amulets are fastened to the girdle or sash, and the smaller ones are worn as lockets, 1 and with each are put relics of holy men — a few threads or fragments of cast-off robes of saints or idols, peacock feathers, sacred Kuṣa grass, and occasionally images and holy pills.

Other large charms are affixed overhead in the house or tent to ward off lightning, hail, etc., and for cattle special charms are chanted, or sometimes pasted on the walls of the stalls, etc. 2

Most of these charms against accident, disease, and ill-fortune are in the form figured on the opposite page, which is called ” The Assembly of all the Lāmas’ Hearts,” as it is believed to contain the essence of all that is most powerful in the Lāmaist spells.

It consists of a series of concentric circles of spells surrounded by flames, amid which in the four corners are the symbols of the Buddhist trinity symbolized as three gems, a lotus-flower, a thunder-bolt sceptre, and a flaming dagger with a vajra-hilt. In the interior is an eight-petalled lotus-flower, each petal of which bears mystic syllables, and in the centre of the flower is a circular space of about an inch in diameter, in which is placed the especial mystic

charm, prepared as presently described, and varying according to the purpose for which the charm is wanted. The outer spells are : —

In the Outmost Circle. — Guard the Body, Mind, and Speech of this charm-holder !

Rakhya rakhya kuruye svāhā! Angtadyatha! Om muni muni mahamuniye svāhā.

(Here follows ” The Buddhist creed ” already given ; followed by the Dhyāni  Buddhas : — ) Vairocana Om vajra Akshobhya ,Hūṃ , Ratna-sambhava Hri, Bargudhara Hri, Amogasiddha Āḥ!

In Second Circle,—Om ! Nama Samanta Buddhanam, Nama Samanta Dharmanam, Nama Samanta Saṅghanam. Om Sititabatrai. Om Vimala, Om Shadkara, Om Brahyarigar Vajra ustsikhatsa krawarti sarvayana manta mūla varma hana dhanamhā.

Namkilanibā makriayena keni chatkramtamtata sarban rātsin rātsin dakhinda

bhinda tsiri tsiri giri giri mada mada HūṃHūṃ phat phat.

  1 Figured on page 571. The kidney-shaped ones are called Ga-u ke-ri-ma. 2 Cf. also CSOMA and  W. E. CARTE, J.A.S.B., IX., 904. See figures of some of these charms at pages 568, 571, and 572.

In Third Circle. — Guard the Body, Mind, and Speech of this charm-holder ! Mama rakhya rakhya kuruye svāhā!. Here follows the letters of the alphabet:—) Ang, a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, ṛi, ṛī, ḷi, ḷī, e, ai, o, au, ang, a, k, kh, g, gh, ṅ, ts, tsh, ds, dsā, ñ, ta, th, d, dh, n, p, ph, b, bh, m, y, r, l, w, ṣ, sh, s, ḥ, aṃ !

In Fourth Circle. — Hūṃ,Hūṃ, etc.

In Fifth Circle. — Hri Hri , etc.

 

The General Charm Print. Entitled ” The Assembly of Lāmas’ Hearts.” (Reduced 50%.)

 

In Sixth Circle. — Om ! A! Hūṃ!  Hri! Guru! Deva! Dakkini ‘. Sarvasiddhipala Hūṃ!  A!

 

The special charm, which occupies the centre of the diagram, varies according to the object for which the charm is required. It consists of a monogram or mystic letter (Sanskrit, vīja, or seed), which represents the germ of a spell or mantra. This letter is often in the old Indian character of about the fourth or fifth century A.D., and is inscribed in cabalistic fashion with special materials as prescribed in the manual on the subject.

As most of these specific charms are of the nature of sympathetic magic, and evidently derived from very ancient Indian sources, probably dating back to Vedic times when the ritual consisted largely of sympathetic magic, 1 I give here a few examples : 2 —

Thus to make the

Charm against Bullets and Weapons. — The directions are as these : With the blood of a wounded man draw the annexed monogram  and insert in the vacant space in the centre of the aforesaid print of “The Assembly of the Hearts of the Lāmas.” The sheet should then be folded and wrapped in a piece of red silk, and tie up with a piece of string 1 and wear around the neck or an unexposed part of your breast immediately next the skin, and never remove it.

Charm for Clawing Animals (i.e., tigers, cats, bears, etc.). — On a miniature knife write with a mixture of myrobalans and musk-water the monogram (? ZAH) and tie up, etc. (Here the knife seems to represent the animal’s claw.)

For Domestic Broils. — Write the monogram (? RE) and insert in print and fold up and bind with a thread made of the mixed hairs of a dog, goat, sheep, and enclose in a mouse-skin, and tie, etc. (This seems to represent union of domestic elements.)

For Kitchen Cooking Smells offensive to the House-Gods. —

With the blood of a hybrid bull-calf write the monogram GAU ( = cow), and insert it in the print, and fold up in a piece of hedge-hog-skin. (Compare with the western Aryan myth of the Greek hearth-god Vulcan, whose mother Hera as Io is represented as a cow.)

1 Cf. BERGAIGNE’s La religion vedique ; also FRAZER.  2 For a fuller account, with illustrations, see my article in Jour. Anthrop. Institute, 1894.

For Cholera (or “the vomiting, purging, and cramps” ). — With the dung of a black horse and black sulphur and musk-water write the monogram (? ZA), and insert in the print, and fold up in a piece of snake-skin, and wear, etc. (Here the dung seems to represent the purging, the horse the galloping course, the black colour the deadly character, and the snake the virulence of the disease.)

 

Charm against Plagues.

This charm, figured at the head of this chapter, consists of a monster figure of the Garuḍa, the king of birds, with a snake in its mouth, and each of its outstretched plumes bears a text, and it also contains the ” Buddhist creed.” The inscription runs :—

Om ! Bhrum satrirbad namkhamjamram.

Om ! bisakhrilimili hala svāhā !

Om ! bisakhrilimilihalayā skachig !

Guard the holder (i.e., the wearer) of this from all the host of diseases of evil spirits and injuries, including contagious diseases, sore-throat’ cough, rheumatism, the black ” rgyu-ghgyel,” brum-bu, and all kinds’ of plague of the body, speech, and mind ! [Here follows the Buddhist creed.] Habatse habatse hūṃ sod. Suru suru hūṃ sod. Sukarjuka hūṃ sod. Sati karur hūṃ sod. Kularakhyi hūṃ sod. Merumthuntse hūṃ sod. Mahakuruṇa guru triga gurunam Nāgashara ramram duldul nagaṣita pho naga chunglinga shag thumamnyogs sos.

Guard the holder.

Om I thamitharati sadunte dswaramghaye svāhā !

 

Another charm for disease is given at page 62, where the fierce demon Tam-din, clad in human and animal skins, bears on his front a disc with concentric circles of spells.

Scorpion-Charm against Injury by Demons.

This charm, figured at page 474, is in the form of a scorpion, whose mouth, tipped by flames, forms the apex of the picture. On its shoulder are seated the especial demons to be protected against. The inscription runs : — Ayama durur cashana zhamaya. hūṃ! Om! A! hūṃ! Artsignirtsig ! Namo Bhagavāti hūṃ! hūṃ! Phat !

A guard against all the injuries of ” rgyalpo,” ” drimo ” (a malignant demon specially injuring women), ” btsan ” (or red demons), ” sa-dag ” (or earth-demons), klu (or nāga), including ” gñan ” (a plague-causing subordinate of the nāga).

Against injury by these preserve !

And the figures are hemmed in by the mystic syllables: Jsa! hūṃ! hūṃ! Bam! Ho!

The huge Tibetan mastiffs are let loose at night as watch-dogs, and roaming about in a ferocious state are a constant source of alarm to travellers, most of whom therefore carry the following charm against dog-bite. It consists of a picture of a dog fettered and muzzled by a chain, terminated by the mystic and all-powerful thunderbolt-sceptre ; and it contains the following inscribed Sanskrit mantras and statements : ” The mouth of the blue dog is bound beforehand! Omrlti-sri-tl svāhā! Omriti-sri-ti svāhā” And this is repeated along the body of the dog, followed by : — Om Vajra ghana kara kuku ratsa sal sal nan marya smugs smugs kuku ratsa khathamtsa le tsa le mun mun sar sar rgyug kha tha ma chhu chhinghchhang maraya rakkhya rakkhya! (It is) fixed ! fixed !

Charm against Eagles and Birds of Prey.

Eagles play havoc with the young herds of the pastoral Bhotiyas of the Sikhim uplands and Tibet. For this the people use the annexed charm, which they tie up near their huts. The central figure is a manacled bird, representing the offending eagle or other bird of prey ; and around it is the following text : — ” A guard against all injuries of the covetous, sky soaring monarch bird. (It is) fixed ! fixed ! Om smege smege bhum bhummu!”

The necromantic charms for killing one’s enemy are resorted to mostly in inter-tribal feuds and warring with foreigners. I have given details of these rites elsewhere. 1 They require the following objects : —

1. An axe with three heads, the right of which is bull-headed, the left snake-headed, and the middle one pig-headed.

2. On the middle head a lamp is to be kept.

3. In the pig’s mouth an image of a human being made of wheaten flour (a linga). The upper part of the body is black and the lower part red. On the side of the upper part of the body draw the figure of the eight great planets, and on the lower part of the body the twenty-eight

constellations of stars. Write also the eight parkha (trigrams), the nine mewa, the claws of the Garuḍa in the hands, the wing of the eagles and the snake tail.

4. Hang a bow and an arrow on the left and load him with provisions on the back. Hang an owl’s feather on the right and a rook’s on the left ; plant a piece of the poison-tree on the upper part of the body, and surround him with red swords on all sides. Then a red Rgyangbu

wood on the right, a yellow one on the left, a black one in the middle, and many blue ones on diverse places.

5. Then, sitting in quiet meditation, recite the following :—

” hūṃ! “ This axe with a bull’s head on the right will repel all the injuries of the Ṅag-pas and Bon-pos— sorcerers ; the snake on the left will repel all the classes of plagues ; the pig’s head in the middle will repel the sa-dag and other earth-demons; the linga image in the mouth

will repel all the evil spirits without remainder, and the lamp on the head will repel the evil spirits of the upper regions ! the axe will cleave the heart of the angry enemy and also of the hosts of evil spirits ! etc., etc., etc., etc.

 

During the Sikhim expedition of 1888, near Mt. Paul on the Tukola ridge, where the final attack of the Tibetans was made, there was found one of the mystic contrivances for the destruction of the enemy. It consisted of an obliquely carved piece of wood, about fourteen inches long, like a miniature screw-propeller of a steamer, and acted like the fan of a windmill. It was admittedly a charm for the destruction of the enemy by cleaving them to pieces, a device for which there are western parallels. And on it was written a long, unintelligible Bon spell of the kind called z’aṅ -z’uṅ on it, followed by a call for the assistance of the fierce

deities Tam-din, Vajrapāṇi, and the Garuḍa, and concluding with “ phat, phat ” — Break ! Destroy ! It may also be mentioned here that the bodies of all the Tibetans slain in these encounters were found to bear one or more charms against wounds, most of them being quite new; and some of the more elaborate ones, which contained in their centre figures of the other weapons charmed against, swords, muskets, etc., had cost their wearers as much as twenty-five rupees a-piece.

And for torturing one’s enemy short of death, there is the same popular practice which is found amongst occidentals, 1 namely, of making a little clay image of the enemy and thrusting pins into it. The directions for this procedure are : —

Take some of the earth from his footprints ; or better from the house of some wrecked person, and mixing with dough prepare a small figure of a man. On its head put thorns. Through the heart’s region thrust a copper needle. Then say following spell : Om Ghate Jam-mo hāmo hādsam . during the recital of which move the needle briskly over the region of the heart. If this process is long continued then the bewitched person will surely die within the day; but if done only for a time, and the needle and thorns are again withdrawn, and the image- body and needles are washed, the enemy who is thus bewitched will only suffer temporary anguish, and will recover (for it is against Buddhist principles to take life).

 ” Prayer-Flags.”

The tall flags inscribed with pious sentences, charms, and prayers, which flutter picturesquely around every Lāmaisl settlement, curiously combine Indian with Chinese and Tibetan symbolism. It seems a far cry from Aṣoka pillars to prayer-flags, but it is not improbable that they are related, and that ”the Trees of the Law,” so conspicuous in Lāmaism, are perverted emblems of Indian Buddhism, like so much of the Lāmaist symbolism. Everyone who has been in Burma is familiar with the tall masts

 1 Cf. VIRGIL. Bucol. viii. : THEOCRITUS ,Pharmaceutria.

(tagūn-daing), 1 with their streaming banners, as accessories of every Buddhist temple in that country. Each mast in Burma is surmounted by an image of one or more Brahmani geese, and the streamers are either flat or long cylinders of bamboo framework pasted over with paper, which is often inscribed with pious sentences. The monks whom I asked regarding the nature of this symbol believed that it was borrowed from Indian Buddhism.

 

Now, the resemblance which these posts bear to the Aṣoka pillars is certainly remarkable. Both are erected by Buddhists for the purposes of gaining merit and displaying aloft pious wishes

or extracts from the law; and the surmounting geese form an essential feature of the abacus of several Aṣoka pillars. The change from pillar to post could be easily explained, as great monoliths were only possible to such a mighty emperor as Aṣoka ; but everyone could copy in wood the pious practice of that great and model Buddhist who had sent his missionaries to convert them.

 

Such wooden standards may have been common in Indian Buddhism, as some Burmese believe, and yet, from their perishable nature, have left no trace behind. At most of the old rocky Buddhist sites in Magadha I have seen sockets in the rock, some of which may have been used for such standards, although many of the smaller sockets were doubtless used for planting umbrellas to shelter the booth-keepers in their sale of flower and other offerings for the shrines. Most also of the clay models of Caityas in relief, dug out of the earlier Indian Stupas, show streamers’ tied to the top of the Caityas ; and in Ceylon the old Stūpas are surrounded by what seems to be similar posts. 2

Lāmaism, which, more than any other section of Buddhism, has, as we have seen, substituted good words for the good works of the primitive Buddhists, eagerly seized upon all such symbolism, as for instance, Aṣoka’s historic gifts in their daily rice-offerings. The decided resemblance of its ” prayer-flags ” to the tagūn-daing of the Burmese is 3 not more striking, perhaps, than the apparent homology which they present to the Aṣoka pillars.

1 Mr. St. A. St. John kindly informs me that the etymology is ta, something long and straight + gun, bark or husk + daing, a post.    2 See figures in Ferguson’s History of India and Eastern Architecture. 3 These instances seem something more than the simple cloths and banners as propitiatory offerings, which, of course, are found in most animistic religions — from the ” rag-bushes ” of India to the shavings of the Upper Burmese and the Ainos. And the hypothetical relationship between the Burmese and the Tibetans, based on the affinity of their languages, does not count for much, as no real racial relation has yet been proved. Probably related to these prayer-flags are the stone pillars called masts or poles (wei-kan), found in western Su-Ch’uan in China, ami Figured by Mr. Baber (“A Journey,” etc., Roy. Geog. Soc. Suppl. Papers, i.. p. 19).

They are called by the Lāmas Da-cha, 1 evidently a corruption of the Indian Dhvaja, the name given by the earlier Indian Buddhists to the votive pillars offered by them as railings to Stūpas. 2

The planting of a Lāmaist prayer-flag, while in itself a highly pious act, which everyone practises at some time or other, does not merely confer merit on the planter, but benefits the whole countryside. And the concluding sentence of the legend inscribed on the flag is usually ” Let Buddha’s doctrine prosper ” — which is practically the gist of the Aṣoka inscriptions. 3

Horse-Dragon, ” Long-ma”.

But the Lāmas have degraded much of their Indian symbolism, and perverted it to sordid and selfish objects. The prayer-flags are used by the Lāmas as luck-commanding talismans ; and the commonest of them, the so-called ” Airy horse,”

1 dar-lch’og. 2 Cunningham’s Stupa of Barhut.  3 As the legend usually bears a lion and a tiger in its upper corners, while below are a Garuḍa-bird and dragon (Nāga), it seems, not impossible that these may he related, to the surmounting lion and the so-called geese of Aṣoka’s pillars. The rites related to the erection of the Lāmaist standard are somewhat suggestive of the Vedic rite of “raising Indra’a banner,” which in its turn is probably the original of our Maypole, and Aṣoka’s pillars seem to have been somewhat of the nature of the Jayas-tambha.

horse,” seems to me to be clearly based upon and also bearing the same name as ” The Horse-dragon ” of the Chinese.

  This Horse-dragon or ” Long horse ” is one of the four great mythic animals of China, and it is the symbol for grandeur. It is represented, as in the figure on the opposite page, as a dragon- headed horse, carrying on its back the civilizing Book of the Law.

 

Now this is practically the same figure as ” The Lung-horse ” (literally “Wind-horse”) of the Lāmaist flag, which also is used for the expressed purpose of increasing the grandeur of the votary; indeed, this is the sole purpose for which the flag is used by the Tibetan laity, with whom these flags are extremely popular.

 

 

And the conversion of ” The Horse-dragon ” of the Chinese into the Wind-horse of the Tibetans is easily accounted for by a confusion of homonyms. The Chinese word for ” Horse-dragon ” is Long-ma, 1 of which Long = Dragon, and ma = Horse. In Tibet, where Chinese is practically unknown, Long, being the radical word, would tend to be retained for a time, while the qualifying word, ma, translated into Tibetan, becomes ” rta.” Hence we get the form ” Long-rta.” But as the foreign word Long was unintelligible in Tibet, and the symbolic animal is used almost solely for fluttering in the wind, the ” Long ” would naturally become changed after a time into Lung or ” wind,” in order to give it some meaning, hence, so it seems to me, arose the word Lung-rta, 2 or ” Wind-horse.”

In appearance the Tibetan “Lung-horse” so closely resembles its evident prototype the ” Horse-dragon,” that it could easily be mistaken for it. On the animal’s back, in place of the Chinese civilizing Book of the Law, the Lāmas have substituted the Buddhist emblem of the civilizing Three Gems, which include the Buddhist Law. But the Tibetans, in their usual sordid way, view these objects as the material gems and wealth of good luck which this horse will bring to its votaries. The symbol is avowedly a luck-commanding talisman for enhancing the grandeur 3 of the votary.

Indian myth also lends itself to the association of the horse with luck; for the Jewel-horse of the universal monarch, such as Buddha was to have been had he cared for worldly grandeur, carries its rider, Pegasus-like, through the air in whatever direction wished for, and thus it would become associated with the idea of realization of material wishes, and especially wealth and jewels. This horse also forms the throne-support of the mythical celestial Buddha named Ratna-sambhava, or ” the Jewel-born One,” who is often represented symbolically by a jewel. And we find in many of these Luck-flags that the picture of a jewel takes the place of the horse. It is also notable that the mythical people of the northern continent, subject to the god of wealth, Kuvera, or Vaiṣravana, are ” horse-faced.”

The flags are printed on the unglazed tough country paper,and are obtainable on purchase from the Lāmas, but no Lāma is necessarily needed for the actual planting of the flag and its attendant rites.

1 DUMOUTIER, op.cit., p.30. 2 rLuṅ-rta; another form of spelling sometimes, though rarely, met with, is kLuṅ-rta. i. where kluṅ is said to mean ” year of birth.”   3 T., rgyas.

These luck-commanding or “prayer-flags” are of four kinds : —

      I. The Lung-ta proper, as above figured. It is almost square in form, about four to six inches long, and contains in the centre the figure of a horse with the mystic jewel Norbu on its back. It is hung upon the ridges of the houses,

War of the Tiger and Dragon.

and in the vicinity of dwellings. The printed text of this sort of flag varies somewhat in

the order in which the deified Lāmas are addressed, some giving the first place to St. Padma, while others give it to the celestial Bodhisat, Mañjuṛṣī ; but all have the same general form, with the horse bearing the jewel in the centre, and in the four corners the figures or the names of the tiger, lion, the monstrous Garuḍa -bird, and the dragon — the tiger being opposed to the dragon, in accordance with Chinese mythology, as figured over the page.

A translation of one of the prayer-flags is here given : —

Hail! Vagishwari Hūṃ ! (i.e., yellow Mañjuṛṣī ‘s spell.)

TIGER,                                                                                                       LION.

Hail ! to the jewel in the Lotus ! Hūṃ ! (i.e., Avalokita’s spell).

Hail ! to the holder of the Dorje ! Hūṃ ! (i.e., Vajrapāṇi’s spell).

Hail ! to Vajrasattva (The Diamond-souled one ! )

Hail ! Amarahnihdsiwantiye swāhā.

 

[The above is in Sanskrit. Now follows in Tibetan : — ]

 

Here ! May all of the above (deities whose spells have been given) prosper [here is inserted the year of birth of the individual], and also prosper —

 

the Body (i.e., to save from sickness),

the Speech (i.e., to give victory in disputations),

and the Mind (i.e., to obtain all desires) ;

GARUḌA.                            of this year-holder [above specified]                        DRAGON,

and may Buddha’s doctrine prosper !

 

Here it will be noted that the three great celestial defensores  fidei  of Lamaism are invoked through their spells, namely : —

 

1. Mañjuṛṣī, who conveys wisdom; 2. Avalokita, who saves from fear and hell ; and 3. Vajrapāṇi, who saves from accident and bodily injury. And in addition to the above are also given the spells of: 4. Vajrasattva, who purifies the soul from sin; and 5. Amitāyus, who confers long life.

It is interesting to compare with these Tibetan luck-flags the somewhat similar prayer-flags 1 which the Burmese Buddhists offer at their shrines. “These,” says Mr. Scott, 2 “are fancifully cut into figures of dragons and the like, and in the centre contain, in Pali or the vernacular, sentences like these : —

” By means of this paper the offerer will become very strong.” ” By the merit of this paper Wednesday’s children will be blessed by spirits and men.” ” May the man born on Friday gain reward for his pious offering.” “ May the man born on Monday be freed from Sickness and the Three Calamities.”

1 Kyet sha-taing    2 The Burman,i.,p.225 

 

The large Luck-flag “The Victorious Banner.’

 

The second form of the Tibetan luck-flag is called cho-pen. 1 It is of a long, narrow, oblong shape, about eight to ten inches in length. This sort of flag is for tying to twigs of trees or to

bridges, or to sticks for planting on the tops of hills. Its text has generally the same arrangement as form No. 1, but it wants the horse-picture in the centre. Its Tibetan portion usually closes with “May the entire collection (of the foregoing deities) prosper the power, airy horse, age and life of this year-holder and make them increase like the waxing new moon.”

Very poor people, who cannot afford the expense of the printed charms, merely write on a short slip of paper the name of the birthyear of the individual, and add ” May his lung-horse prosper.”

One lung-horse for each member of a household must be planted on the third day of every month (lunar) on the top of any hill near at hand, or on the branch of a tree near a spring, or tied to the sides of a bridge; and on affixing the flag a stick of incense is burned. And a small quantity of flour, grain, flesh, and beer are offered to the genius loci of the hill-top by sprinkling them around, saying, So ! So ! Take ! Take !

 

A more expanded form of the luck-flag is the Gyal-tsan dse-mo, or “Victorious banner,” 2 which is generally of the same form as that first mentioned, but containing a much larger amount of holy texts, and also usually the eight glorious symbols, of which the lotus forms the base of the print. It prospers not only Luck in wealth, but also the life, body, and power of the individual, and seems to contain also spells addressed to the goddess Durga, Ṣiva’s spouse.

The Vast Luck-flag

. This fourth form of Lung-ta is named “gLaṅ-po stob ryyas” or “That which makes vast like the Elephant.”3 It is pasted to the walls of the houses, or folded up and worn around the neck as a charm for good luck. It consists of crossed vājras in the centre with a Garuḍa and a peacock, the jewelled elephant and the jewelled horse, each bearing an eight-

leaved lotus-disc on which are inscribed the following Sanskrit and Tibetan text-. The other symbols are the eight glorious symbols  already described.

1 sbyod-pan.  2 Sometimes rendered into Sanskrit as Arya agra-keyur rana maharani.  3 gLaṅ-po stob-rgyas

 

And around the margin is the familiar legend ” the Buddhist creed,” repeated several times, also the letters of the alphabet, together with the words ” May the life, body, power, and the

‘ airy horse ‘ of the holder of this charm prosper his body, speech, and wishes, and cause them to increase like the growing new moon; may he be possessed of all wealth and riches, and be guarded against all kinds of injury.”

 

In the upper left hand disc : ” May the life of this charm-holder be, raised sublimely (like the flight of the Garuḍa here represented). Om ! sal sal hobana sal sal ye svāhā ! Om ! Om ! sarba kata kata sata kata sala ya nata sah wa ye svāhā ! Om ! kili kili mili mili kuru kuru hūṃ,hūṃ ye svāhā ! Om ! May the life of this charm-holder be raised on high !

 

In the upper right-hand disc : ” May the body of this charm-holder

be raised sublimely (like the flight of the peacock here represented).

Om ! yer yer hobana yer yer ye svāhā ! Om ! sarba Taihagata bhiri

bhiri bata bata miri miri mili mili ae bata sarba gata-gata shramana

sarba gata-gata shramana sarba ! O !

May the body of this charmholder be raised on high.”

 

In lower left-hand disc : ” May the power of this charm-holder be

raised sublimely (like the precious elephant here represented). Om !

Mer mer hobana mer mer ye svāhā ! Om sarva dhara dhara bara dhara

ghi kha ye svāhā ! Sarva kili kili na hah kang li sarba bhara bhara

sambhara sambhara ! O !

May the power and wealth of this charmholder be increased and all the injuries be guarded against.

 

In lower right-hand circle : “May the ‘Airy horse’ of this charmholder be raised sublimely (with the celerity of ‘ the precious horse ‘ here represented).

Om! lam lam hobana lam lam lam svāhā! Om ! Sarva kara kara phat ! Sarbha dhuru dhuru na phat! Sārbā kata kata kata na phat! Sarba kili kili na phat! Sarbha mala mala svāhā ! O !

May the ‘ Lung-horse ‘ of the charm-holder be raised on high and guarded against all injury.”

 

In the central disc over the junction of the cross Dor-je is written :

” Om ! neh ya rani jiventi ye svāhā ! O !

May this charm-holder be given the undying gift of soul everlasting (as the adamantine cross

Dor-je herein pictured).”

 

In planting these luck-flags a special form of worship is observed. And the planting of these flags with the due worship is advised to be done when ever anyone feels unhappy and down in luck, or injured by the earth-demons, etc. It is called ” The great statue of the Lung-horse,” and is as follows : —

 

First of all is made a rice-oftering of the universe, under a yellow canopy, but screened on the four sides by curtains of different colours, blue on the east, red on the south, white on the west, and black on the north. The canopies are to be fixed in the ends of a perfect square

set in the four directions, around which are the twelve-year cycle, the nine cakes (bs’os) representing the nine Mewas, eight lamps representing the eight parkha, eight planets, twenty-eight constellations of stars, five Tormas, five glud (small balls of wheaten flour offered to demons as ransom), five arrows with silk streamers (mda-dar) of the five different

colours, and many more mdā rgyan-bu and ‘p’aṅ. The above must be arranged by a practical man, and then the ceremony begins with the fingers in the proper attitude of the twelve cycle of years, and recitation of the following in a raised and melodious voice : —

  ” Kye ! Kye ! In the eastern horizon from where the sun rises, is a region of tigers, hares, and trees. The enemy of the trees is the Iron, which is to be found in the western horizon, and where the enemy, the life-cutting bdud-devil, is also to be found. In that place are the

demons who injure the life, body, power, and the ‘ Lung-horse* The devil who commands them also lives in the occidental region : he is a white man with the heads of a bird and a monkey, and holds a white hawk on the right and a black demon-rod on the left. Oh ! Bird and

monkey-headed demon ! Accept this ransom and call back all the injuring demons.

ā Ā ī Ī ū Ū ṛ Ṛ ṝ ḷ l ṅ Ṅ ñ Ñ ṭ Ṭ ḍ Ḍ ṇ Ṇ ś Ś ṣ Ṣ ṃ ḥ ē ō ṇḍ

” Kye ! Kye ! In the southern horizon is a region of horses, snakes, and fire. The enemy of the fire is the water, etc., etc. O ! Rat and pig-headed demon ! Accept this ransom and call back all the injuring demons.” ……….

” Kye ! Kye ! In the boundary of the south-eastern horizon is a yellow dragon-headed demon. O ! Dragon-headed devil ! Accept this ransom and call back all the injuring devils.

“Kye! Kye! In the boundary of the south-western horizon is a yellow sheep-headed woman. ! Sheep-headed she-devil ! Accept this ransom and call back all the injuring demons.

” Kye ! Kye .’ In the boundary of the north-western horizon there is a yellow dog-headed demon. O ! Dog-headed devil ! Accept this ransom and call back all the injuring demons.

” Kye ! Kye! In the boundary of the north-eastern horizon there is a yellow bull-headed demoness. ! Bull-headed she-devil ! Accept this ransom and call back all the injuring demons !

   ” O ! Upset all the injuring evil spirits, the ill-natured devils, the demons who injure the life, body, power, and the lung-horse, the wandering demons, the ill-luck of bad ‘lung-horses,’ the fearful goblins, the bad omens, the doors of the sky, and the earth, and the injuries of all malignant devils.

      “May we be freed from all kinds of injuries and be ‘ favoured with the real gift, which we earnestly seek ! ‘ ”

                       ” May virtue increase !

                                                       ” Glory ! ”

 

The “Vast” Luck-flag

(Reduced 50%.)

Dough Sacrificial Effigies of the Tibetan Bon Religion.

 

WORSHIP AND RITUAL.

WORSHIP and priestcraft had no place in primitive Buddhism. Pious regard for admirable persons, such as Buddha and the elders, and for ancient cities and sacred sites, was limited to mere veneration, and usually took the form of respectful circumambulation (usually three times), with the right hand towards the admired object, as in western ceremonial, 1 and this veneration was extended to the other two members of the Buddhist trinity, namely, Buddha’s

Word or Dharma, and the Assembly of the Faithful.

 

After Buddha’s death such ceremonial, to satisfy the religious sense, seems soon to have crystallized into concrete worship and sacrifice as an act of affection and gratitude towards the Three

___________________________________________________________________

1 For instance, as in the Scotch highlands, “to make the deazil” or walk thrice in the direction of the sun’s course around those whom they wish well (Gordon-Cuming, From the Hebrides to the Himalayas, ii., 164); We also follow the same rule in passing decanters round our dinner-tables; and it is the direction in which cattle tread out

the corn. — Cf. Pradakshina, p. 287

Holy Ones; and it was soon extended so as to include the worship of three other classes of objects, namely (1), Bodily relics (Ṣarīrika); (2), Images of Buddha’s person, etc.(Uddesika); and (3),Vestments, utensils, etc. (Paribhogika). And in justification of such worship the southern Buddhists quote the sanction of Buddha himself, 1 though of course without any proof for it.

And we have seen how, in the objective phase of Buddhism, and especially in its Tāntrik development, ritual is elevated to the front rank in importance, and binds the votaries in the bonds of sacerdotalism and idolatry. Even in southern Buddhism there is a good deal of

priestcraft. The monks draw out horoscopes, fix auspicious days for weddings, etc. and are sent for in cases of sickness to recite the scriptures, and the pirit  as a charm against snakes, and evil spirits, and devil dances.2

 

But in Lāmaism the ritualistic cults are seen in their most developed form and many of these certainly hear a close resemblance outwardly to those found within the church of Rome, in

the pompous services with celibate and tonsured monks and nuns, candles, bells, censers, rosaries, mitres, copes, pastoral crooks, worship of relics, confession, intercession of “the

Mother of God,” litanies and chants, holy water, triad divinity organized hierarchy, etc. 4

 

It is still uncertain, however, how much of the Lāmaist symbolism may have been borrowed from Roman Catholicism, or

1 Hardy’s East. Mon., 216. 2 “After the conclusion of the perahera (in the month of Ehala [July] in the god’s temples) the officers, etc., engaged in it, including the elephants, have ceremonies for the conciliation of lesser divinities and evil spirits performed called Balibat-neṭima,Garayakun-neṭima, and Waliyakun-neṭima.. The Balibat-neṭima is a devil dance performed for five days after the perahera by a class of persons, named Balibat Gammehela,superior to Yakdesso or devil dancers”-Report of Service Tenure Commisioners,Ceylon,1872,p.60-82. 3 After Giorgi. 4 Cf . HUC ii.,p.50.

 

vice versa. Large Christian communities certainly existed in western China, near the borders of Tibet, as early as the seventh century a.d. 1 Thus has it happened, in a system which acknowledged no Creator, that the monks are in the anomalous position of priests to a host of exacting deities and demons, and hold the keys of hell and heaven, for they have invented the common saying, “‘without

1 At Si-ngan-fu, near the eastern border of Tibet, is an edict stone, erected by the Chinese emperor Tetsung, 780-783 a.d., which contains an account of the arrival of the missionary Olopan (probably a, Chinese form of Rabban-monk) from Tat’sin (Roman empire), in the year equivalent to a.d. 635, bringing sacred books and images ; of the translation of the said books ; of the imperial approval of the doctrine, and permission to teach it publicly. There follows a decree of the emperor Taitsung, a very famous prince, issued in 638 in favour of the new doctrine, and ordering a church to be built in the square of Peace and Justice at the capital. The emperor’s portrait was to be placed in the church (in the royal garden of Inifan). Kaotsung(650-683, the devout patron also of the Buddhist traveller Hiuen Tsiang) continued tofavour it. — See Yule in Marco Polo, ii., 23, where a photograph of the inscription is given. The edict also states (Kikcher’s China Illustrata) that in the years 699 and 713, the Bonzes, or Buddhist idolatrous priests, raised a tumult against the Christians, which was quelled by order of the emperor Yven-Sun-ci-tao.

     The Muhammadan traveller, Abu Zeid al Hassan, writing in the ninth century (Renaudot’s transl., Lond., 1733, p. 42), states that ” thousands of Christians ” were massacred in S. W. China.

   In the twelfth century Jenghiz Khan and his successors were well inclined to Christianity; his principal wife was the daughter of king Ung Khan, who was a Christian. In the thirteenth century Marco Polo found in the north of Yunnan a few Nestorian Christians.— YULE, M.P., ii., 52. ” In 1246,” writes HUC (Chinese Empire . i., p. 141), ” Plan-Carpin was sent to the great Khan of the Tartars by pope Innocent the Fourth. At Khara Khoroum,the capital of the Mongols, he saw, not far from the palace of the sovereign, an edifice on which was a little cross ; ‘then,’ says he, ‘ I was at the height of joy, and supposing that there must be some Christians there, I entered, and found an altar magnificently adorned; there were representations of tlie Saviour, the Holy Virgin, and John the Baptist, and a large silver cross, with pearls and other ornaments in the centre: and a lamp with eight jets of light burned before the altar. In the sanctuary was seated an Armenian monk of swarthy complexion, very thin, wearing nothing but a coarse tunic reaching only down to the middle of his leg, and a black mantle fastened with iron clasps.’ “

     And in 1336 letters reached pope benedict XII. from several Christian Alans holding high office at the court of Cambaluc, in which they conveyed their urgent request tor the nomination of an archbishop in succession to the deceased John of Monte Corvino. John Marignalli says of these Alans that in his day there were 30,000 of them at the great Khan’s service, and all at least nominally Christians. — YULE, M.P., ii , 164

   And in the fourteenth century, still before Tsong Khopa’s era, not only were missionaries of the Roman church established in the chief cities of China, but a regular trade was carried on overland between Italy and China by way of Tana, Astracan, Otrar, and Kamul. — YULE’s Marco Polo, i., 135; Conf. also The Nestorians and their Rituals, by Dr. Badger.

a Lāma in front (of the votary), there is (no approach to) God.” And so instilled is such belief in the minds of the laity that no important business is undertaken without first offering worship or sacrifice. The necessity for offerings at the shrines of the images, etc., is now insisted on in all the forms of Buddhism.

 

The regular offerings will be detailed presently. But there is no limit to the variety of things that are offered. Wealthy votaries offer art objects, rich tapestries, gold and silver vessels, jewels, and the plunders of war, including weapons.’ In Burma, some of the earliest knitting and embroidery efforts of young girls are devoted to Buddha’s shrine, along with American clocks and chandeliers, tins of jam and English biscuits, sardines, and Birmingham um-

brellas. And most of these, and still more incongruous objects, are offered on Lāmaist altars ; even eggs are sometimes given.

 

We have already seen the general form of daily service as practised at Potala and lesser cathedrals and temples, and by isolated monks in hermitage. Here we shall look at some details of particular acts of worship and celebrations.

 

Personal ablution is enjoined, as a sacerdotal rite preparatory to worship, on the principle of purity of body being emblematic of purity of heart. But this ceremonial purification seldom extends to more than dipping the tips of the fingers in water, and often even not that, for the Tibetans, like most mountaineers, are not remarkable for their love of water or soap.

 

Before commencing any devotional exercise, the higher Lāmas perform or go through a manoeuvre bearing a close resemblance to ” crossing oneself,” as practised by Christians. The Lāma gently touches his forehead either with the finger or with the bell, uttering the mystic Om, then he touches the top of his chest, uttering Ah, then the epigastrium (pit of stomach), uttering Hum. And some Lāmas add Svāhā, while others complete the cross by touching the left shoulder, uttering Dam and then Yam. It is alleged that the object of these manipulations is to concentrate the parts of the Sattva, namely, the body, speech and mind, upon the image or divinity which he is about to commune with. 1

1 The svāhā, etc., are held to mean knowledge (Yon-ton) and a kind of Karma (‘p’rin-las), and the five syllables are mystically given the following colours from above downwards : white, red, blue, yellow and green.

In the worship of every Buddhist divinity there are seven recognized stages, 1 evidently framed on a Hindū model.’ 2 The stages are 3 : —

1. The Invocation — Calling to the feast or sacrifice.

2. Inviting the deity to be seated.

3. Presentation of offerings, sacred cake, rice, water, flowers, incense, lamps, music, and

occasionally a maṇḍala or magic-circle offering, for which there is a special manual.

4. Hymns in praise.

5. Repetition of the special spell or mantra.

6. Prayers for benefits present and to come.

7. Benediction.

Many of the Lāmaist offerings are of the nature of real sacrifice. Some of the objects are destroyed at the time of offering. Ceremonies to propitiate demons are usually done after dark, and the objects are then commonly thrown down ” delibare.” Frequently the sacrifice is given the form of a banquet, and accompanied by games and sacred plays and dances.

What are called ” the Essential Offerings or Sacrifice ” 4 seem to represent the earlier and purer offerings of Indian Buddhism, and are little more than the fresh-cut flowers and incense which were

1 Tib., Yan-lag-bdun. 2 In thr Hindū worship of a deity there are sixteen stages of ceremonial adoration following on the Invocation to come (āvāhan ), and the Invitation to be seated (āṣan), and in each stage mantras are chanted. I have italicized those stages which are found in the above Lāmaist ritual :—

    1. Pādya, washing the idol’s feet. 2. Azgha, washing the idol’s hands. 3. Achmana, offering water to rinse mouth. 4. Snāna, bathing the idol. 5. Vastra, dressing the idol. (The Lāmas bathe and dress their idols only once or twice a year.) 6. Chandan, offering sandal wood, saffron, or holi powder. 7. Akshat, offering rice. 8. Pushpa, offering flowers. 9. Dhupa, offering incense. 10. Dipa, offering lamp. 11. Naividya, offering food. 12. Achmana, second offering of water to rinse mouth. 13. Tāmbula, offering betel. 14. Supāri or puga, offering Areca nuts 15. Dakshana, offering money. 16. Nizājan, waving lights or camphor. It may also be compared with the Jaina ritual by Dr. J. BURGESS, Indian Antiquary, i., 357, etc.   3 Another enumeration gives: 1, Salutation ; 2, Offering; 3, Confession of sins (sdig-‘s’ags) ; 4, Rejoicing (yid-rangs) ; 5, Exhortation (‘skul-wa) 6., Prayers for temporal and other blessings (gsol-gdeb) ; 7, Prayers for spiritual blessing (bṣṅo-ba). 4 Ner-spyod mch’od-pa.

customary offerings even in the seventh century, at the time of Hiuen Tsiang. These offerings are set upon the altar already described, before the image worshipped, accompanied by the rhythmic recital of incantations and music.

These ” essential ” or necessary offerings, which are needed

Dough Sacrificial effigies of the Lāmas.

in every service of worship, are seven in number, and each bears a special Sanskritic name descriptive of its nature, 1 and must be

1

1. Ar-gham (in Tibetan co-yon), or excellent drinking river water.

2. Pā dyam (Tib., zāb-sel / mch’od yon. ), or the cool water for washing feet.

3. Pukh-pe (Tib., me-tok / z’abṣ  g-sil), flower.

4. Dhu-pe (Tib., du-po), incense fumes.

5. A-loke (Tib., snaṅ-gsal / dug-spoṣ.), lamp.

6. Gan-dhe (Tib., ti-chab), perfumed water for anointing body.

7. Nai-vi-dya (Tib., zāl-ze / dri-ch’ab. ), sacred food.

8. Shabta (Tib., rol-mo / zal-zaṣ), cymbals.

This order is reversed in established church and Kar-gyu-pa temples when doing a certain kind of tutelary deity’s worship. The Lāmaist account of the history of these offerings, is that each was offered to Buddha by some celestial or other person, namely :—

Ar-gham.— Indra, the king- of gods, offered this, the water of eight-fold virtues, to the Buddha for general use.

Pā dyam.— gTsug-na-rin-ch’en, the king of the Nāgas, offered z’abs-gsil, the purifying water, to the Buddha for washing his feet.

Pukh-pe — Ganga Devi, the fiendess, offered a flower-rosary to the Buddha for decorating his head.

Dhu-pi. — ” The glorious Kheu,” the incense-seller, offered sweet-smelling incense to the Buddha.

A-loke.— The gold-handed king offered the darkness-clearing light for invigorating his eyes.

placed in the bowls already described, 1 and in line in the above order. In the third and fourth bowls on the top of the rice heaps should be placed respectively a flower 2 and a stick of incense; and in the sixth bowl should be placed perfumed water ; and lastly a cake, into which have been incorporated a few filings of the precious metals 3 ; but these details are only observed on special occasions. Ordinarily all of the bowls are filled with plain water.

On placing the above offerings in position in the order noted, the benefit of a full service of worship is obtained by merely chanting the following hymn : —

A-va-tā-ya, .A-va-tā-ya. Om vajra! Argham, Pā-dyam,Pūkh-pe, Dhū-pe, A-loke, Gan-dhe, Nāi-vi-dya, Shab-ta, Prāti-dsa-yī Swāhā !

Which being interpreted is : ” Come ! Come ! Om ! The Thunderbolt ! Partake of these offerings : Excellent river water for drinking, cool water for washing your feet, flowers for

decking your hair, pleasing incense fumes, lamps for lighting the darkness, perfumed water for anointing your body, sacred food, the music of cymbals ! (here the cymbals are sounded). Eat fully ! Swāhā !”

But the high-church Lāma, or Ge-lug-pa monk, must chant a longer service, which is noted below. 4

Gan-dhe. — Zur-phud-lnga-pa, the King of Gandarvas, offered Dri-ch’al, the soothing

scent, to the Buddha for refreshing his body.

Nai-wi-dya. — Mgon-Anātha-med-dānu athara data zas-sbyin (the lordless+food+give) the house-owner, offered the food of hundred tastes to the Buddha for supporting his health.

Shapta. — The divine and Nāga-smiths offered Gsil-snyan, the pleasant music, to the Buddha for cheering his ears. The Buddha blessed each of the offerings, and since then they are considered sacred.

1 See p. 297. 2 The flowers most commonly used for this purpose at Lhāsa and sold in booths near the temples, are the common marigold {Calendula — Tib., gur-Kum me-tog), and white and blue asters (skal-bzaṅ), and hollyhocks. 3 See annexed figure for the block containing these metals (named Rin-ch’en brdar-ru, [or p’yema]) ; the metals are usually gold, silver, copper, brass and iron. 4 Na-mo ratnatrayaya! Namo Bhagavate vajra sara foramardu Tathagataya arhate samayagasa buddhaya! Tadyatha! Om Vajra Vagra! Mahabodhitsattva Vajre ! Mahabodhimandop asam Kramana Vajra! Sarbo karma awarana bigodhana vajra svāhā ‘.

This mantra invites all the Jinas and their (celestial) sons). Om! Namo bhagavate puhpe ketu rajaya! Tathagataya! Arhate samayaka san Buddhaya! Tadyatha! Om! puhpe puhpe svāhā! puhpesu puhpesu puhpesudbhave! puhpe avakarane svāhā !

This should be repeated seven times, after which the magic-circle and food grains should

be offered. When the lamp is offered, the following should be repeated

“I arrange this lamp with great reverence, and offer it to the Buddha, the Law. and the Order. Through the power of this virtuous deed, let me be possessed of illuminating knowledge, and let the animal beings be cleared of the misty impurities which surround them.”

Then he must rise up, and joining his hands in devotional attitude, chant ” TheInvitation ” :–” I beg you Patrons of the animal beings ! Demon-vanquishing gods Jinas and your retinues ! to approach this humble dwelling. I beg you, merciful owners of miracles, to approach this humble dwelling and receive these offerings.” [Then holding hands horizontally, bow down and say ;—] ” I bow down before the Lamas of the three times and of the ten directions, and before the precious Three Holy Ones with greatest reverence and oceans of praise.” Om! Namo Mañjuṣṛīye ! Namassce Shriye ! Namo uttamshriyesloaha ! [bow down at once at each recitation of this mantra].

The Presentation of offerings: “I here offer up all the most excellent offerings of holy drinking water, foot-washing water, flowers, incense, lamp, scented toilet water, food and music, which I have here arranged in full, to you with all my heart.

” I confess all my past sins and repent of all my sinful deeds. I beg you to bless me with mahabodhi, so that I may turn the wheel of the Law and be useful to all the animal beings.

“I have here arranged the flowers on the pure soil of incense, and the Mt. Meru, decked with sun, moon, and the four continents, all of which I offer up to the Buddhas with my whole heart.

” May all the animal beings be blessed with perfection and purity, and be born in brighter regions. Idam Guru ratna mandala kam niryata yami ! [Then offer up the magic-circle in suitable manner, for description of which see previous chapter, and continue.]

“May my Lāma, tutelary deity and the Holy Ones, and the potent Mahā-Vajradhāra remain inseparably with the Kumuda flower.

“May all the animal beings be freed from re-births by being born into the pure regions.

“May I be endowed with firm resolve and ability to rescue animal beings from the worlds of woe.

“May I be endowed with an unfailing ocean of knowledge to enable me to advance the holy religion among both orthodox and heterodox.

” May my misty ignorance be cleared by the bright rays of Mañjuṣṛī from on high.

” May my desires be all realized through the grace of the Jinas and their celestial sons, and the auspicious breath of the Supreme Ones.

It is customary for every votary on special occasions to offer one hundred and eight lamps, together with an equal number of vessels of rice and of cake. These are placed in four rows, the

Filing the Five Precious Metals for the sacrifice.

order of which from before backwards is rice, water, lamps, and cakes. And for the great demoniacal tutelary’s service extra cakes  used on a separate altar with five ledges (see also figure on page 299),on each of which are set a series of one hundred and eight of the offerings noted, and on special feasts great bas reliefs of coloured butter are offered, many of them of artistic-designs. 1

A still more elaborate arrangement of food-offerings is seen in the banquet to the whole assembly of the gods and the demons, entitled Kon-ch’og -chī- du, or ” Sacrifice to the whole assembly of Rare Ones,” which is frequently held in the temples. This feast is observed by Lāmas of all sects, and is an interesting sample of devil-worship. The old fashion is here detailed, but it differs from that of the reformed or high church only                                          Offerings to Tutelary-Fiend.

1. Great cake.  2. Wine or blood in a skull. 3. Rice.  4. Cake. 5. Butter 6. Lamps.

in providing for a slightly larger party of demoniacal guests ; the Ge-lug-pa inviting only the following, to wit, their chief Lāma, St. Tsoṅ-K’a-pa, their tutelary deity Vajra-bhairava, Vajrasattva Buddha, the deified heroes, the fairies, the guardian demons of the Ge-lug-pa

1 Cf. HUC, ii.. 12; Rockhill, L ., 70.

creed, the god of wealth, the guardian demons of the caves where the undiscovered revelations are deposited, the five sister sprites of mount Everest, the twelve aerial fiendesses (Tan-ma), who sow disease, and the more important local gods.

This sacrifice should be done in the temples for the benefit of the Lāmas on the 10th and 15th of every month. On behalf of laymen it must be done once annually at the expense of every individual layman who can afford it ; and on extra occasions, as a thanksgiving for a successful undertaking, and as a propitiation in sickness, death, and disaster.

The arrangement of the banquet is shown in the foregoing diagram : —

        In the inmost row are placed the large coloured and ornamented Baling cakes for

(a) the chief Lāma-saint, who in the case of the old school is St. Padma,

(b) the tutelary deity, in this case Guru tak-po, a fierce demoniacal form of the saint, and

(c) the she-devil with the lion-face.

For the saint there is also placed on either side of his cake a skull-cap, the one to his right containing country wine, here called “Ambrosia” (amrita), in Tibetan literally ” devils’ juice ” ; and the contents of the other are called blood (rakta), though tea-infusion is usually offered instead. In the second row are the cakes for the guardians and protector of Lāmaism, usually with Buddha’s cake (No. 4) in centre.

The order of the cakes for these guardian demons is as follows — the attached figures relate to the foregoing diagram : —

No. 5. The Lion-faced demoness.	No. 13. The Nun-fiendess of Di-kung monastery
„ 6. The four-armed ” Lord,”a form of Mahākāla.

,, 14. The five everlasting sisters of Mount   Everest.

,, 7. The god of wealth.

,, 15. The spirits of the tank-drowned persons,

„ 8. The “Ruler of Tibet’s guardian” (and in Sikhim the special guardian of the Na-dukpa – monasteries),,. 16. The homestead demon-owner.

,, 9. The demon blacksmith(red and black colour rides a goat and carries an anvil and a bellows, was made a protector of Lāmaism by St. Padma).17. The country-god Kang-ehen-dsonga (mountain). –

10. The Lord of the Rākshas devils18. The black devil, red devil and Nāga of Darjiling or special locality of temple.11. The Locality protector.,, 19. The demons who cause disease.12. The Nāga demi-gods, white and black.„ 20. The twelve aerial fiendesses of disease (Tan-ma)No. 21. The demon owners of the “Ter” caves where the hidden revelations are deposited.

No. 22. The black and red devils and Nāga of parent monastery of the priests of this temple.

“In the third row are placed the “essential offerings ” already described, which are especially intended for the superior gods.

In the fourth and outmost row are an indefinite number of T’sog-cakes, which are especial dainties as an extra course for all. These cakes contain ordinary torma cake of cooked rice or barley, with the addition of some wine, and a mixture of cooked flesh and all sorts of eatables available.

The stages of the worship in this feast are as follows: —

             1st. Invitation to the deities and demons to come to the feast (Skt., āvāhan). This is

                  accompanied by great clamour of drums, cymbals, horns and fifes, so as to

                  attract the attention of the gods and demons.

             2^nd. Requesting the guests to be seated (Skt.,āsan).

             3^rd. Begging them to partake of the food offered.

             4^th. Praises the goodness and admirable qualities of the guests. This is done while the

                  guests are partaking of the essence of the food.

             5^th. Prayers for favours immediate and to come.

             6^th. The especial delicacy, the T’sog cake, is then offered to all, on four plates, a plate

                   for each row of guests, and one plateful is reserved for the Lāmas themselves.

Then is done the ceremony of “Expiation for religious duties left undone,” 1 which wipes off all arrears of religious duty. Here the sacristan throws skywards, amid great clamour of wind and

brass instruments, several of the T’sog-cakes to all the demi-gods and demons not specially included in the feast. One T’sog-cake is then given to each Lāma in the order of his rank, from the highest to the lowest, as the food has been consecrated by the gods having partaken of it.

        Each Lāma must, however, leave a portion, which is collected carefully, in a plate, in order, from the lowest to the head Lāma. And on the top of these collected fragments is placed a whole cake. Then a celebration called Lhak-dor is done, and the whole of these crumbs — the leavings of the Lāmas — are contemptuously thrown down on to the ground, outside the temple-door to the starveling ghosts and those evil-spirits who have not jet been subjected by St. Padma or subsequent Lāmas.

1 bsKaṅ-gso.

 The efficacy of these cake-offerings is urged at length in the manual of the established church. 1 The special rites and celebrations are usually detailed in separate manuals ; but each Ge-lug-pa monk has a general manual of worship, etc., entitled ” the monk’s timely Memoranda,” 2 and seems to correspond in some measure to the Dina Chariyāwa of the Ceylonese, 3 in which are given directions for personal and general devotions as well as for monastic conduct, from which I have already made extracts in the chapter on the order.

      The service is mostly in Tibetan, which is like the Latin of the papal mass-books used throughout Mongolia and Lāmaist temples in China, the only exception being the privileged temple at Pekin. 4 Music is much used, though it is in the main an earpiercing din of drums, loud trumpets, horns, and clashing cymbals.

The leaders of the choir also have a psalter or score in which the swelling, rising, and falling notes are curiously represented by curves, as shown in the annexed photograph ; and the points at which the several instruments join in the choir are also duly noted therein. The pauses are marked by bells and cymbals, and the effect at times of the noisy din and clamour suddenly lapsing into silence is most solemn, and even impressive in the larger cathedrals

with their pious and sombre surroundings. 5

1 The Ge-lug-pa manual says :—

The advantages to the chanter of the above service are that : His wishes will be all realized ; wealth and luck will increase according to his wishes ; he will obtain power, and all his sins will be blotted out ; he will subject the evil spirits and will duly perform charity, and the preta will obtain deliverance by being re-born in the heavens, and he himself will also obtain heaven, and it has been said that he will ultimately obtain Buddhahood.

The burnt-offering of incense, analogous to the Vedic Homa, but specially intended for demons, includes by name the Tan-ma and other Tibetan fiends. It is a mixture of incense and butter heated to ignition on coals. The celebration is detailed above. Cf. also Schlag., p. 249 ; JAESCH., p. 210, for kinds of cakes  2 dGe-slon-gi dus dran.  3 East Mon., 24, and also ” the Daily Manual of the Shaman” of the Chinese. Beal’s Catena, 239.  4 Cf. KOPPEN, ii., 228. 5 Although the instruments are wielded with greaT clamour, each is manipulated strictly according to rule. Thus with the cymbals, at the word Argham the cymbals are held horizontally and struck with mid-finger erect. On Parghaṃ ,held below waist and the upper cymbal is made to revolve along the rim of the lowest, etc., etc.

The daily celebrations of the high church monk, or the Ge-lug-pa Lāma, comprise the following services : —

 

1. The “Refuge-formula” (mT’un-moṅ).

2. mT’uṅ-moṅ ma-yiṅ-pa.

3. The four-fold prayer for the Animals (Sems-bskyed).

4. Another prayer for Animals (K’yad-par gyi smes-bskyed).

5. Prayer for the Earth (Sa-gz’i byin brlabs).

6. Sacrificial offerings (mCh’od-pa byin brlabs).

7. Invocation to the Jinas (Spyan-‘dren).

8. Offering of bathing water to the Gods and Jinas (K’rus-gsol. ” Tui-Sol”).

9. Salutation to Buddhas, Saints and Lāmas (P’yag-‘t’sal).

10. Offerings of ” the necessary things ” (mCh’od-pa).

11. Offerings of ” five sensuous things” (‘Dod-yon-lṅa).

12. Offerings of ” seven precious things ” (rgyal-sri sna bdun).

13. Confession of Sins (bS’ags-pa).

14. In praise of the Jinas and Buddha-putras (rJes-su yi-raṅs).

15. Turning the Wheel of the Law (Ch’os-‘k’or bskor-wa).

16. Prayer for attaining Nirvāṇa (Mya-ṅan las-mi ‘das was gsol-wa ‘debs-pa).

17. Prayer for Blessing (bsṅo-wa).

18 Magic-circle — Offering of the Universe.

19. Prayer to Lāma-tutor. 1

20. The Tutelary’s invocation — Yamāntaka, etc. (for Ge-lug-pa) and

Guru Tak-po Kah-gye, etc., for Ñiṅ-ma.

21. Sacrificial worship (ch’oga) to the demons, after dark with cake (torma), incense and wine with the libations (gSer-skyems) the Kang-so banquet.” 2

 

We will illustrate a few of these services by some abstracts and extracts : —

 

A good sample of the worship of a Lāmaist divinity is seen in that of Tārā, the Virgin of northern Buddhism, and the “Goddess of Mercy.”

 

The manual of Tārā’s worship 3 is one of the commonest booklets in Tibet, and is in the hands of nearly all laymen, most of whom can repeat her hymn and chief service by heart. 4

1 La-mai-gsol-‘debs. 2 See p. 429.  3 Abstracted by me in considerable detail in J.R.A.S., 1894, p.68. etc.  4 The book is entitled “sGrol-ma dkar sṅon-gyi bstod-pa gzuṅs,” or ” The praise and spells (Dhāraṇī) of The Pure Original Tārā.” And in some editions she is termed “Mother of the Jinas” (rgyal-yum), also ” Mother of the Tathāgathas.” The manual extends to thirty-eight or forty pages of five lines each. The greater portion, including ” The Exhortation” and “The Hymn,” is alleged internally to have been composed by “The great Vairocana-Buddha of the Ultimate Perfection” [dsog,-pai saṅs-rgyas rnam par snaṅ-mdsad ch’en-po] and usually interpreted by the Lāmas as referring to Vairochana, the first of the mythical Jina-Buddhas ; but it may probably be the Kashmir Monk Vairocana, of the ” Great Ultimate Perfection (Mahā-utpanna) ” form of the Buddhist doctrine, who lived in the eighth century CE., and a noted translator of Sanskrit Scriptures into the Tibetan. An appendix is signed by Gedun Ḍub The Grand Lāma, who built Tashi-lhunpo monastery circa 1445 A.D.

TĀRĀ THE SAVIOUR AND GODDESS OF MERCY.

Tārā’s Worship.

 

Tārā’s worship, like that of most of the Mahāyāna and Tāntrik deities, is divided into the seven stages already mentioned. The service is chanted in chorus, and the measure used in chanting the hymn, namely trochaic in eight-syllabled lines, I have indicated in a footnote to the hymn.

A portion of the manual is here translated —

” If we worship this sublime and pure-souled goddess when we retire in the dusk and arise in the morning, then all our fears and worldly anxieties will disappear and our sins be forgiven. She— the conqueror of myriad hosts— will strengthen us. She will do more than this ! She will convey us directly to the end of our transmigration — to Buddha and Nirvāṇa !

“She will expel the direst poisons, and relieve us from all anxieties as to food and drink, and all our wants will be satisfied; and all devils and plagues and poisons will be annihilated utterly ; and the burden of all animals will be lightened ! If you chant her hymn two or three or six or seven times, your desire for a son will be realized ! Or should you wish wealth, you will obtain it, and all other wishes will be gratified, and every sort of demon will be wholly overcome.”

 

“Hail! 0! verdant Tārā!

The Saviour of all beings !

 

Descend, we pray Thee, from Thy heavenly mansion, at Potala,

Together with all Thy retinue of gods, titans, and deliverers ! ‘

We humbly prostrate ourselves at Thy lotus-feet !

Deliver us from all distress ! holy Mother ! ”

 

Presentation of Offerings (Sacrificial).

” We hail Thee ! rever’d and sublime Tārā !

Who art adored by all the kings and princes

Of the ten directions and of the present, past and future.

We pray Thee to accept these offerings

Of flowers, incense, perfumed lamps,

Precious food, the music of cymbals,

And the other offerings !

We sincerely beg Thee in all Thy divine Forms

To partake of the food now offered !

On confessing to Thee penitently their sins

The most sinful hearts, yea ! even the committers of the

Ten vices and the five boundless sins,

Will obtain forgiveness and reach

Perfection of soul — through Thee !

If we (human beings) have amassed any merit

In the three states, 2

We rejoice in this good fortune, when we consider

The unfortunate lot of the poor (lower) animals

Piteously engulphed in the ocean of misery.

On their behalf, we now turn the wheel of religion !

We implore Thee by whatever merit we have accumulated

To kindly regard all the animals.

And for ourselves !

When our merit has reached perfection

Let us not, we pray Thee,

Linger longer in this world ! ”

 

Hymns in Tārā’s Praise.3

 

(The translation I have made almost literal. Each separate stanza

is addressed to a special one of Tārā’s twenty-one forms — the name of

which is given in the margin for reference.)

 

(Tārā, the Mother.) Arya Tārā ! Hail to Thee !

Our Deliverers sublime !

Avalok’ta’s messenger

Rich in power and pity’s store.

1 The polymorphism already referred to. 2 Kāma, Rūpa, and Arūpa    3 As this hymn is so popular amongst Lāmaist people in Tibet, Sikhim, etc., I give here in the Lhāsa dialect its, second stanza, which is the proper commencement of the hymn, in order to -how its metre.

 

Ch’ag ts’al | Do-ma | nur-ma | pa-mo |

Ch’en-ni | ke-c’ig | log-taṅ | ta-ma |

Jlg-ten | sum gon | c’u kye | z’al-gyi |

Ke-sar| c’e-wa    | le-ni    | juṅ-ma | .

 

(1. Tārā, the Supremely

            Courageous.)            Hail O Tārā ! quick to Save !

                                             Lotus-born of pitying tear

                                             Shed down by The Three-World-Lord,

                                            (Grieving sad for sunken souls.)

 (2. Tārā, of White-moon

                   Brightness.)          Hail ! to Thee with fulgent face,

                                              Brilliant as a hundred moons

                                              Of harvest gleaming in the light

                                              Of myriad dazzling stars.

(3. Tārā, the Golden-

               Coloured.)                Hail ! to Thee whose hand is decked

                                              By the lotus, golden blue.

                                              Eager Soother of our woe,

                                              Ever tireless worker, Thou !

(4. Tārā, the Grand

             Hair-piled.)                Hail ! to Thee with pil’d-up hair,

                                             Where Tathāgata sits shrin’d,

                                             Victor 1 of the universe.

                                             Thou a saintly victor too !

(5. Tārā, the ” Huṅ”

               Shouter.)                 Hail to thy ” tut-Tārā-huṅ,” ~

                                             Piercing realms of earth and sky,

                                             Treading down the seven worlds,

                                             Bending prostrate everyone !

(6. Tārā, the best Three-

World Worker.)                      Hail ! adored by mighty gods,

                                            Indra, Brāhma, Fire and Wind,

                                           Ghostly hordes and Gandharvas

                                            All unite in praising Thee !

(7. Tārā, the Suppressor

                       of Strife.)        Hail ! with Thy dread ” tre ” and “phat ” 3

                                            Thou destroyest all Thy foes :

                                            Striding out with Thy left foot

                                            Belching forth devouring fire !

(8. Tārā, the Bestower

       of Supreme Power.)         Hail ! with fearful spell ” tu-re “

                                            Banishing the bravest fiends,

                                            By the mere frown of Thy brows,

                                            Vanquishing whole hordes of foes!

                                            etc., etc., etc., etc

1 rgyal-wa = Sanskrit Jina. 2 This is a portion of Tārā’s spell, for which see over page. 3 Mystic spells used by wizards — phat means break or smash ! 

Telling the Rosary.

[Here is repeated on the rosary 108 times, or as often as possible, the spell or mantra of Tārā, namely : Om ! Tā-re-tu-tā-re tu-re Svā hā !

The mantra of Sīta Tārā is Om! Tā-re tu-tā-re ma-ma ā-yur-pun-ye jna- na-push-tin ku-ru Svā-hā !

The rosary used in Sīta Tārā’s worship is a Bodhitse, while Tārā requires either a Bodhitse or turquoise one. 1 ]

Prayers for Blessings.

We implore thee, O ! Revered Victorious Bhagavāti ” and Merciful One ! to purify us and all other beings of the universe thoroughly from the two evil thoughts ; and make us quickly attain the perfection of Buddhahood. If we cannot attain this perfection within a few life cycles, then grant us the highest earthly and heavenly happiness and all knowledge. And preserve us, we beseech Thee, from evil spirits, plague, disease, untimely death, bad dreams, bad omens, and all the eight fears and accidents. And in our passage through this world grant unto us the most perfect bliss, beyond possibility of increase, and may all our desires be realized without exertion on our part.

Let the holy religion prosper. And in whatever place we dwell, we beg thee to soothe there disease and poverty, fighting and disputes, and increase the Holy Religion.

And may Thy benign 3 face always beam on us and appear large like the waxing moon in forwarding our heart’s desire of admission to the heavenly circle and Nirvāṇa.

Let us obtain the favourite gods 4 of our former lives and entry into the prophesied paradise of the Buddhas of the past, present and future !

Now ! O ! Thou ! The Great Worker !

Thou Quick Soother and Gracious Mother,

Holding the uptal flower !

Let Thy glory come. Maṅgalam ! 5

The offering of the universe as a so-called ” magic-circle ” is an essential part of the daily service of the Lāmas, and has been described in the previous chapter.

The following hymn in praise of the Three Holy Ones is recited at noon with the presentation of the offering of rice.

1 But see page 206 for details on ” Lāmaist Rosaries.” 2 bc’om-ldan-‘das-ma, pronounced “chom-den-de-ma.” 3 In contradistinction to “fury-face” (khro-bo; Skt. krodha). 4 sGrub-bahi-lha. 5 bgra-shis shok, pronounced ” Tā-shi-sho.”

Hymn to the Three Holy Ones.

OM ! Salutation to the Omniscient Ones! Buddha, The Law and The Church !

Salutation to Buddha Bhagavān, the Victorious and All-wise Tathāgata Arhat, who has gone to happiness !

He is the guide of gods and men !	His melodious voice is all-pleasing.
He is the root of virtue.	He is without equal.
He is the fountain of all treasure.	He is without desires.
He is adorned with perfect endurance.	He is without evil.
He is adorned with all-beauty.	He delivers all from sorrow.
He is the greatest flower of all the race.	He delivers all from sin.
He is admirable in all his actions.	He is free from worldliness.
He is admirable in the eyes of all.	His senses are the sharpest
He delights in the faithful ones.	He bravely cuts all knots.
He is The Almighty Power.	He delivers all from deepest misery.
He is The Universal Guide.	He delivers all from this woeful world.
He is The Father of all the Bodhisats	He has crossed the ocean of misery.
He is The King of all the revered Ones.	He is perfect in fore-knowledge.
He is The Leader of all the dead.	He knows the past, present and future.
He owns infinite knowledge.	He lives far from death.
He owns immeasurable fortitude.	He lives in the pure blissful land where,

enthroned, he sees all beings !His commands are all-perfect.

Salutation to the Holy Law ! — (Dharma)

It was the virtue of the ancient times.	It is all-perfect and illuminating.
It was the virtue of the middle ages.	It is the all-pure Law.
It is the virtue of the present hour	It is perfectly clear.
It has excellent sense.	It is free from disorder.
It has excellent words.	It is everlasting.
It is unalloyed Law.	It points the direct path
It benefits the wisest men.	It realizes the desires of all.

The Law has been well ordered and taught in the Vinaya by Bhagavān. It brings all to perfection ! It fulfils all desires ! It is an all-sufficient support, and it stops re-birth.

Salutation to The Assembly or Clergy (Saṅgha) of the Mahāyāna !

They live in peace.

They live in unison.

They live in wisdom.They merit respect.

They live in truth.

They merit the grandest gifts.

They merit glory.

The goodness of Buddha is immeasurable !

The goodness of The Law is immeasurable !

And the goodness of The Clergy is immeasurable !

     By planting our faith on The Immeasurable Ones we shall reap immeasurable fruit in the land of bliss.

  Salutation to the Tathāgata ! The Merciful Patron, the omniscient Guide, the ocean of knowledge and glory.

   Salutation to the softening Dharma ! the pure gift of the heart, the deliverer from evil, and the best of Truth.

   Salutation to the Assembly ! the deliverer, and guide to the true faith, the teacher of pure wisdom, and the possessor of the holy knowledge for cultivating the (human) soil.

The ” Refuge-Formula ” of the Lāmas.

The ” Refuge-formula ” of the Lāmas, which I here translate, well illustrates the very depraved form of Buddhism professed by the majority of Lāmas ; for here we find that the original triple

Refuge-formula (Skt., Triṣaraṇa ; Pali, Ṣaraṇagamama) in the Three Holies, the Triratna— Buddha, The Word, and The Assembly — has been extended so as to comprise the vast host of deities, demons and deified saints of Tibet, as well as many of the Indian Mahāyāna and Yogācārya saints.

The version here translated is that used by the Kar-ma-pa and Ñiṅ-ma sects of Lāmas, but it is practically the same as that in general use in Tibet, except among the reformed Lāmas of the established church — who address a less extensive circle of saints and demons, and who substitute St. Tsoṅ-K’a-pa for St. Padma-sambhava. It is extracted from the manual of worship entitled the sKyabs-‘gro, commonly pronounced “Kyamdo,” 1 which literally means “the going for protection or refuge”; and its text is as follows : —

         ” We — all beings — through the intercession of the Lāma, 2 go for refuge to Buddha !

         ” We go for refuge to Buddha’s Doctrine {Dharma) !

         ” We go for refuge to the Assembly of the Lāmas (Sangha) ! 3

             We go for refuge to the Host of the Gods and their retinue of tutelaries and she-devils, the defenders of the Religion, who people the sky !

_________________________________________________________________________-

1 Contributed to Ind.Antiq. 1893.  2 It is a Lāmaist axiom, as already noted, thai no layman can address the Buddhas except through the medium of a Lāma. 3 The Ge-lug-pa formula begins thus: bdag sogs nam-mkah daṅ mñams-paī sems-c’an t’ams-c’ad bLa-ma la skyabs su mch’io, Saṅs-rgyas-kyi skyabs-su mch’io Ch’os-kyi skyabs su mch’io, dGe-‘dun-gyi skyabs su-mch’io.

” We go for refuge to the victorious Lāmas, who have descended from heaven, the holders of Wisdom and the Tāntras ! ” We go for refuge to the Buddhas of the Ten Directions, and to the primordial Samantabhadra. Buddha with his spouse!”

      Then the following deities and saints are addressed as refuges : The Incarnate Sambhoga-kāya, the Mild and Angry Loving One the Nirmāṇa-kāya Māha Vajradhara ; the Diamond-souled Guide — Vajrasatva ; the Jina — the Victorious Ṣākya Muni ; the most pleasing Vajra Incarnate ; the Fierce Holder of the Thunderbolt — Vajra-pāṇi  the Goddess-Mother, Marīcī Devi ; the Learned Teacher, Acārya-Mañjuṣṛī ; the Great Paṇḍita Ṣrī Siṅha ; the Jina Suda ; the Great Paṇḍita Bimala Mitra ; the Incarnate Lotus-born Dharmakāya Padma-sambhava ; (his wife) the Fairy of the Ocean of Fore-knowledge ; the Religious King, Thi-Sroṅ-deu-Tsan ; the Noble Apocalypse-Finder, Myaṅ-ban ; the Teacher’s disciple, the Victorious Sthavira Dang-ma :

the Reverend Sister, the Lady Siṅheṣwara ; the Incarnate Jina ” Zhang-ton “; the Guru, clever above thousands ; the Religious Lord (Dharma-nātha) Guru Jo-Ber ; the Illusive Lion Gyāba ; the Great Siddhi, the Clearer of the Misty moon — grub-ch’en zla-wa-mun-sel ; the Sage

Kumaraja; the Prince, Bimāla Bhāskara ; the renowned Candrakīrti ; the Three Incarnate Kind Brothers ; the Bodhisat, The noble Ocean ; the Incarnate Sage, the Holder of the religious vajra ; the Entirely accomplished and renowned Speaker ; the Great Teacher Māhaguru

Dharmarāja ; the Revelation-Finder T’ig-po-liṅ ; the Religious King of Accomplished Knowledge 1 ; the Banner of Obtained Wisdom ; the Peerless active Vajra; the Radical (Skt.. Mūla ) Lāma Aṣoka;2 the Lāma of the Mūla Tantra of the Three Times; the Sage, the Accomplished Soul ; the Religious Loving King, the Holder of the Doctrines 3 ; the Reverend Abbot, the Sky Vajra ; the Noble Jewelled Soul — ” Palzaṅ ” ; the Assembly of Mild and Angry tutelary Deities; the Holy Doctrine of the Great End — Mahotpanna !

“ We go for refuge to the Male and Female Saints of the Country !

“ O ! Lāma ! Bless us as You have been blessed. Bless us with the blessings of the Tāntras! —

“ We beg You to bless us with OM, which is the (secret) Body. We beg You to purify our sins and pollutions of the body. We beg You to increase our happiness without any sickness of the body. We beg You to give us the real undying gift of bodily life !

” We beg You to bless us with AH, which is the (secret of the) Speech. We beg You to purify the sins and pollution of our Speech.

1 The first Bhotiya king of Sikhim, circ. 1650 CE.  2 This may be a reference to the great emperor Aṣoka, or his confessor Upagupta, the fourth patriarch of the early Buddhist church in India, or it may be only the title of a Lāma. Several also of the foregoing titles which I have translated are proper names. 3 The sixth Bhotiya king of Sikhim, circ.1770-90

We beg You to give us the power of Speech. We beg You to confer

on us the gift of perfect and victorious Speech !

“We beg You to bless us with HŪṂ (pronounced ” hūṃ”) which is the (secret) Thought. We beg You to purify the pollution and sins of our Mind. We beg You to give us good understanding. We beg you to give us the real gift of a pure heart. We beg You to empower us with The Four Powers (of the heart) !

” We pray You to give us the gifts of the True Body, Speech, and Mind. 1 Om ! Ah ! Hūṃ !

” O ! Give us such blessing as will clear away the sins and defilement of bad deeds !

” We beg You to soften the evils of bad causes !

” We beg You to bless us with the prosperity of our body (i.e., health) !

” Bless us with mental guidance !

” Bless us with Buddhahood soon !

” Bless us by cutting us off from (worldly) illusions !

” Bless us by putting us in the right path !

” Bless us by causing us to understand all things (religious) !

” Bless us to be useful to each other with kindliness !

” Bless us with the ability of doing good and delivering the animal beings (from misery) !

” Bless us to know ourselves thoroughly !

” Bless us to be mild from the depths of our heart !

” Bless us to be brave as Yourself !

” Bless us with the Tāntras as You Yourself are blessed ! “

” Now ! we — the innumerable animal beings — conceiving that (through the efficacy of the above dharanis and prayers, we have become pure in thought like Buddha himself ; and that we are working for the welfare of the other animal beings ; we, therefore, having now acquired the qualities of the host of the Gods,and the roots of the Tāntras, the Z’i-wa, rGyas-pa, dBaṅ and P’rin-las, we desire that all the other animal beings be possessed of happiness, and be freed from misery ! Let us —all animals ! — be freed from lust, anger, and attachment to worldly affairs, and let us perfectly understand the true nature of The Religion !

“Now! O! Father-Mother — Yab-yum — the Dharmakāya Samanta-bhadra ! The Sambhogakāya Ṣānti Khroda Prasaraka,  mild and angry Loving Ones ! The Nirmāṇa-kāya, Sages of the skull-rosary ! And the Mūla-tāntra Lāma ! I now beg You all to depart !

” O ! Ghosts of Heroes ! Witches ! Demoniacal Defenders of The Faith! The holy Guardians of the Commandments! And all those that we invited to this place ! I beg You all now to depart !

” O! most powerful King of the Angry Deities ! The powerful Isvara, and the host of the Country Guardian Gods ! And all those

1 This triad refers to the mystic Yoga or union of “The three secrets,” which the Japanese call, San-mitsu-sō–ō.

 others that we invited to this place, with all their retinue ! I beg You all now to depart ! ! ! May glory come ! Tashi-shok ! and Virtue ! Ge-o ! Sarva-maṅgalaṃ ! “

Confession of Sins.

The Confession of Sins 1 is done twice a month in public assembly, in presence of the abbot and senior monks. It is no proper confession, only a stereotyped form chanted in chorus.

The full form is practically the same as in southern Buddhism. 2 The shortest form is here given : —

   ” I here confess the sins which I may have committed by the body, speech and mind, and through lust, anger and stupidity.

” Listen to me, O ! great Vajra-holding Lāmas 3 and all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions ! I repent of all the sinful acts which I have committed from the time of my birth up to the present, such as : committing the ten non virtuous deeds and the five waverings, transgressing the vows of deliverance, the teachings of the Bodhisatta, the vows of the secret mantras, irreverence, and want of faith in The Three Rarest Ones, irreverence and want of faith in the abbots and teachers ; separation from the holy religion and the best commands ; want of reverence to the revered clergy ; want of reverence to parents, and want of reverence to one’s faithful fellow-mortals. In short, I here confess to all the Vajra -holding Lāmas, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions, all the sins which hinder my reaching the heaven of deliverance; and I promise never again to commit these sins.”

 There are also numerous rites on the same lines or by magic-circles, posturing and mummery, for obtaining supernatural powers and for purposes of sorcery. Some of these latter I have abstracted in the chapter on necromancy.

The Magic-Circle Tabernacle.

1. Chart or Mosaic. 2. Cakes. 3.Umbrella. 4. Banners.

 

 

1 gso-byoṅ. See pages 323 and 501 ; and cf. Schlagintweit, p. 123. 2 Cf . Pratimoksha sutra, ” The Book of Deliverance ” and its Tibetan version, trans, by Rockhill. 3 Probably mythical Buddha, Vajradhara.

 

Of special celebrations it will suffice to refer only to one of the most interesting, which some Europeans who witnessed its pompous and solemn service, have compared to the Christian Eucharist.

The ” Eucharist ” of Lāmaism. ¹

This Lāmaist liturgy, the celebration of which is pictured as the frontispiece, on account of its dispensation of consecrated wine and bread, has been compared by Huc and others to the Christian Eucharist, although it is in reality, as here shown, a ceremony for gratifying the

rather un-Buddhistic craving after long earthly life. Still, it nevertheless presents many

parallels to the Christian rite for conferring on the worthy recipient ” the life everlasting.”

 

It is entitled ” The Obtaining of (long) Life,” 2 and is a very good sample of the Lāmaist blending of Buddhists’ ideas with demon- worship. It seems to incorporate a good deal

of the pre-Lāmaist ritual, and its benedictions and sprinkling of holy water are suggestive of

Nestorian or still later Christian influences.

 

This sacrament is celebrated with much pomp at stated periods, on a lucky day, about once a week in the larger temples, and attracts numerous votaries.

1 In the Asiatic Quarterly, 1891, part of this article was published by me.    2 Tib. Ts’e-grub.

 

Crowds throng to the temple to receive the coveted blessing. Its benefits are more particularly sought in cases of actual illness, and when death seems imminent; but every village must have it performed at least once a year for the life of the general community, and after its performance any prolongation of life is credited to this service: while a fatal result is attributed

to the excessive misdeeds of the individual in his last life or in previous births.

 

The chief god addressed is Buddha Amitāyus or Aparamita,¹ “The (god of) infinite Life,” or “The Eternal.” Unlike the Chinese Buddhists the Lāmas never confuse Amitābha the Buddha of infinite Light) with his reflex Amitāyus . they represent these differently, and credit them with different functions. The other gods specially identified with life-giving powers are “The five long-Life Sisters,’- mountain nymphs presiding over the everlasting snows, and to a less degree the white Tārā, and Ushṇīsharāni ; and even Yarna, the Lord of Death himself, may occasionally be propitiated into delaying the day of death.

 

The priest who conducts this ceremony for propitiation of Amitāyus and the other gods of longevity must be of the purest morals, and usually a total abstainer from meat and wine. He must have fasted during the greater part of the twenty four hours preceding the rite, have

repeated the mantras of the life-giving gods many times, 1.00,000 times if possible, and he must have seemed ceremonial purity by bathing.

The rite also entails a lot of other tasks tor the preparation of the consecrated pills and the arrangement of utensils, etc., and extends over two or three days.

 

The arrangements are as follow : —

 

Upon an altar, under the brocaded dragon-canopy, within the temple or in a tent outside, are placed the following articles : —

 

1. Las-bum, the ordinary altar water-vase.

 

2. Ti-bum, the vase with pendant mirror and containing water tinged with saffron,

 

3. dBaṅ-bum. the “empowering vase” with the chaplet of the Five Jinas.

 

4. Ts’e-bum, the “vase of Life,” special to Amitāyus, with a banner of peacock’s

feathers and sacred Kuṣa-grass.

 

5. Ts’e-ch’aṅ, or ” the wine of Life,” consisting of beer in a skull-bowl.

 

6. Ts’e-ril, or the “pills of Life,” made of flour, sugar and butter.

 

7. Chi-mar, or wafers of flour and butter and rice.

 

8. mDah-dar, or sacred divining-dagger with silk tassels.

 

9. rdor-jehi gzuṅ t’ag , or the divining-bolt, a vajra or thunderbolt-sceptre with eight

ridges to which a string is attached.

 

In the preliminary worship the pills are made from buttered dough, and the ambrosia or amṛita (Tib., dud-tsi or “devil’s juice”) is brewed from spirit or beer, and offered in a skull-bowl to the great image of Buddha Amitāyus.

¹Tib., Ts’e-pag-med. ² Ts’e-riṅ-che-ṅa

 

Everything being ready and the congregation assembled, the priest, ceremonially pure by the ascetic rites above noted, ¹ and dressed as in the frontispiece, abstracts from the great image of Buddha Amitāyus part of the divine essence of that deity, by placing the vajra of his rdor-jehi gzuṅ-t’ag upon the nectar-vase which the image of Amitāyus holds in his lap, and applying the other end to his own bosom, over his heart. Thus, through the string, as by a telegraph wire, passes the divine spirit, and the Lāma must mentally conceive that his heart is in actual union with that of the god Amitāyus, and that, for the time being, he is himself that god. ²

Then he invokes his tutelary-fiend, and through him the fearful horse-necked Hayagrīva (Tamdin), the king of the demons. The Lāma, with this divine triad (namely, the Buddha and the two demon kings) incorporate in him, and exhibiting the forms of all three to spiritual eyes, now dispenses his divine favours. He takes up the Las-bum-va.se and consecrates its contents, saying,

 

” Om! namo Tathāgata Abhi-khita samayasriri hūṃ ! Nama candra vajra krodha

Amṛita hūṃ phat! ”

 

Then he sprinkles some of the water on the rice-offerings (gtor-ma) to the evil spirits, saying, “I have purified it with svabhava, and converted it into an ocean of nectar within a precious Bhum-bowl. Om akaromu-kham ! Sarva dharma nantyanutpanna tatto ! Om ! A !

Hūṃ ! phat ! Svāhā !  I now desire to bestow the deepest life-power on these people before me ; therefore, I beg you demons to accept this cake-offering, and depart without doing further injury.”

Here the Lāma, assuming the threatening aspect of the demon-kings, who are, for the time being, in his body, adds, ” Should you refuse to go, then I, who am the most powerful Hayagrīva  and the king of the angry demons, will crush you — body, speech and mind — to dust ! Obey my mandate and begone, each to his abode, otherwise you shall suffer.

Om sumbhani,” etc. Now, the Lāmas and the people, believing that all the evil spirits have been driven away by the demon-king himself, shout, ” The gods have won ! the devils are defeated ! ”

 

The Lāma then proceeds to secure for himself the benedictory power of life-conferring. He first meditates on “the guardian-deities,” murmuring thus : “The upper part (of the divine abode) is of thunderbolt tents and hangings;

1 He usually wears a mantle (stod-gyog), on which are embroidered mystic Chinese emblems of luck, including the 5 Bats, etc. See pp. 394, 396.  2 In southern Buddhism is found a very similar instance of ceremonial union with a Buddhist fetish. At the pirit (paritta) celebration ” a sacred thread, called the pirit nula, is fastened round the interior of the building, the end of which, after being fastened to the reading platform, is placed near the relic (of Buddha). At such times as the whole of the priests who are present engage in chanting in chorus, the cord is untwined, and each priest takes hold of it, thus making the communication complete between each of the officiating priests, the relic, and the interior walls of the building.” — HARDY’s E. Monachism, p. 241.

the lower part of earth-foundation and adamantine-seat ; and the walls are of thunderbolts. The entire building is a great tent, protected by precious charms, so that the evil spirits can neither destroy it, nor can they gain entry. Om! vajra rakhya rakhya sūtra tikhtha vajraye svā hā !”

Then the magic-circle (maṇḍala) is offered up, saying : —

” If I fail to refer to the successive Lāma-saints, my words and deeds will count for nothing. Therefore must I praise the holy Lāmas to secure their blessing towards the realization of my plans, O holy Padma-sambhava¹ in you are concentrated all the blessings of the present, past and future! You are the Buddha of the great final Perfection (Maha-utpanna) who beheld the Face of Lord Amitāyus. O Saint possessed of the gift of undying life, of life lasting till the worlds of re-births are emptied ‘. You hid away from us, in the snowy regions, the revelation upon the true essence of the five hundred ‘Obtainings of Life.’ The one which we now perform is ‘the iron palace of the attainment of life’ ( Ts’e-grub lc’ags-kyi-pho-braṅ), and is extracted from dKon-mchog-spyi-dus, It was discovered by the saint ‘Dsah-Ts’on-sñiṅ-po in the cave where you hid it ; and this mode of endowering a person with life has come down to me through many generations of saints. Now, O Lord Amitāyus and the host of radiant

gods ! I beg you to sustain the animal beings, vast as the starry host, who now, with

great reverence and praise, approach you. Om a hūṃ!  O holy shrine of our refuge !

Hri.”² O Hosts of the Bright World of Light! Pad-ma t’od-phreṅ-rtsal-vajrasa-

mayaja siddhi phala hūṃ .‘ ”

Then here is repeated ” Ts’e-‘gug” or “The Invoking of Life,” thus :

“0 Lord Amitāyus, residing in the five shrines whence glittering rays shoot forth ! Gandharva in the west ! Fama in the south ‘. Nāga rāja  in the west ! Yaksha in the north! Brāhma and Indra in the upper regions! and Nanda and Taksha in the lower regions ! And especially all the Buddhas and Bodhisatvas ! I beg you all to bless me and to gratify my wishes by giving me the gift of undying life and by softening all the injuries of the harmful spirits. I entreat you to grant life and implore you to cause it to come to me. Hrī! I beg your blessing, Buddhas of the three times. (Dipaṅkara, Ṣākya Muni and Maitreya).

At this stage the celestial Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and other gods are now supposed to have consecrated the fluid in the vase and transformed it into immortal ambrosia. Therefore the priest intones the following chant to the music of cymbals : “This Vase is filled with the immortal ambrosia which the Five celestial Classes have blessed with the best Life. May life be permanent as adamant, victorious as the kings-banner. May it be strong like the eagle (Gyuṅ -druṅ) and last for ever. May I be favoured with the gift of undying life, and all my wishes be realized.

“Buddha! Vajra! Ratna!

Padma! Karma, Kapalāmāla.

Hrī mahārinisaayu Siddhi phala hūṃ.’

Om A hūṃ vajra Guru Padma siddhi ayukke Hum nijā ! “

The priest now bestows his blessing as the incarnate Amitāyus as well as the other gods of longevity, by laying-on of hands, and be distributes the consecrated water and food to the assembled multitude. When the crowd is great, the votaries the past the holy Lāma.

 

1 A Lāma of the established church would usually invoke St. Tsoṅ-K’a-pa, and the subsequent prayer would be slightly different. 2 The Vija-mantra of Avalokita and Amitābha.

In smaller congregations the Lāma, with the Ti-bum vase in hand, walks along the rows of kneeling worshippers near the temple door, and pours a Few drops of the holy fluid into the hands of each votary. With the first Few drops the worshipper rinses his mouth, and with the next Few drops he anoints the crown of his head, and the third few drops are reverently swallowed.

Then the Lāma brings the vase of Life and places it for an instant on the bowed head of each of the kneeling votaries, reciting the spell of Amitāyus (Om Amarani jivantiye svāhā), which all repeat. Then the Lāma touches the head of each one with the power-conferring vase; and afterwards, in similar manner, with the divining-dagger, saying: ‘The life which you now have obtained is unfailing like the vajra-armour. Receive it with reverence! As the vajra is unchangeable, so now is your life. Vajra rakhya rakhya svāhā!  Worship Amitāyus, the god of boundless Life, the chief of all world-rulers ! May his glory come, with virtue and all happiness.” And all the people shout. ” Glory and all-happiness ! ”

Each worshipper now receives from the skull-bowl a drop of the sacred wine, which he piously swallows; and each also receives three of the holy pills, the plateful of which had been consecrated by the touch of the Lāma. These pills must be swallowed on the spot. They are represented as beads upon the vase which the image of the god of Infinite Life holds in his lap.

The Lāma then takes a seat on a low throne, and the votaries file past him offering him a scarf and any money presents they may have to make : the majority pay in grain, which is piled up outside the door of the temple. Each then receives a benediction from the Lāma, who places his hand on their heads and repeats the spell of Amitāyus , and on, its conclusion he throws over their shoulder a knotted white scarf (Tsim-tu) from a heap of consecrated scarves lying at his side. Tlie colours of the scarves are white for the laity and red for the priests.

Other ceremonies for prolonging life, especially resorted to in severe sickness, are -‘The Saving from Death ” (‘ch’i-bslu) ; the “Ransoming of another’s Lite” (srog-bslu) ; Substitution-offering to the devils of an effigy of the patient, or as a sacrifice for sin ( Ku-rim) ¹ as in the illustration given on the opposite page ; Libation of wine to the demons (gSer-sky ems); gyal-gsol, etc. All of these services are more or less mixed up with demonolatry.

Numerous other ceremonies have already been referred to in other chapter-, such as the Water Baptism ” (“Tui-Sol “), ² “The Calling lor Luck ” (Yaṅ-gug ), ³ etc.. -The Continued Fast ” (Ñuṅ-gnas).⁴

1 sKu-rim: cf. JAESCH., D., 22  GIORGI’s Alphab. Tib.,p. 442; ROCKHILL’s  L. p. 114.   2 bKrus-gsol = ablution + to pray or entreat ; see SCHLAGINTWEIT, Budd, p. 239 3 See p. 447 : also SCHLAG., p.263,    4  SCHLAG., p.240.

 

SACRIFICE-OFFERINGS TO DEVILS.

The rites for the attainment of supernatural powers, and for downright demonolatry, are detailed in the chapter on sorcery and necromancy. And it is evident that the Lāmas or professing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Guilt-Offering at Tankar.¹

Buddhists are conscious of the unorthodoxy of these practices, for the so-called reformed Lāmas, the Ge-lug-pa, do their demoniacal worship mostly after dark.

1 After Rockhill.

 

ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION.

“That mendicant does right to whom omens, planetary influences, dreams,

and signs are things abolished; he is free from all their evils.”

Samma Paribbājaniya Sutta, 2.

Like most primitive people, the Tibetans believe that the planets and spiritual powers, good and bad, directly exercise a potent influence upon man’s welfare and destiny, and that the portending machinations of these powers are only to be foreseen, discerned, and counteracted by the priests.

Such beliefs have been zealously fostered by the Lāmas, who have led the laity to understand that it Is accessary for each Individual to have recourse to the astrologer-Lāma or Tsi-pa on each of t he three great epochs of life, to wit, birth, marriage, and death : and also at the beginning of each year to have a forecast of the year’s ill-fortune and its remedies drawn out for them.

These remedies are all of the nature of rampant demonolatry for the appeasing or coercion of the demons of the air, the earth, the locality, house, the death-demon, etc. Indeed, the Lāmas are themselves the real supporters of the demonolatry. They prescribe it wholesale, and derive from it their chief means of livelihood at the expense of the laity.

Every large monastery has a Tsi-pa, ¹ or astrologer-Lāma, recruited from the cleverest of the monks.And the largest monasteries may have as astrologer a pupil of the great government oracle-Lāma, the Ch’o-c’on. The astrologer- Lāmas have always a constant stream of persons coming to them for prescriptions as to what deities and demons require appeasing and the remedies necessary to neutralize these portending evils.

The nature of these prescriptions of worship will best be illustrated by a concrete example. But to render this intelligible it is necessary to refer, first of all, to the chronological nomenclature current in Tibet, as it is used for indicating the lucky and unlucky times, as well as much of the worship. And it will be seen to be more Chinese than Indian in nature. The Chinese calendar is said to have been introduced by king Sroṅ Tsaṅ’s Chinese wife,but the first sixty-year cycle does not begin until 1026 a.d. ² The Tibetan system of reckoning time, derived from China and India, is based upon the twelve-year and sixty-year cycles of Jupiter. ³ The twelve-year cycle is used for short periods, and the particular year, as in the Chinese style, bears the name of one or other of the twelve cyclic animals : —

1. Mouse. 2. Ox. 3. Tiger. 4. Hare. 5. Dragon. 6. Serpent. 7. Horse. 8. Sheep.9. Monkey

10. Bird. 11. Dog.12. Hog.

And in the case of the sixty-year cycle these animals are combined with the five elements (namely : Wood, Fire, Earth, Iron, and Water), and each element is given a pair of animals, the first being considered male and the second female. I append a detailed list of the years of the current cycle as an illustration, and for reference in regard to the horoscopes which I shall translate presently.

1 rTsis-pa — the Chebu of HOOKER’s Himalayan Jours. 2 Csoma, Gr., 148. The Chinese ” Description of Tibet,” translated by KLAPROTH (Nouv. Jour., Asiat., iv., 138), states that the Chinese system was introduced by the Chinese wife of Sroṅ Tsaṅ Gampo, in 642 a.d.3 There is also a cycle of 252 years seldom used. Conf . Giorgi, 464-69. Huc, ii., 368, and Schlag , 284.

The Tibetan Chronological Table.

The table here given differs from that of Schlagintweit (op. cit., p. 282) in making the initial year of the current sixty-year cycle, namely, the fifteenth cycle (Bab-jun), coincide with the year 1867 A.D., as this is alleged by the learned astrologer Lāma of Darjeeling to be the true epoch, and not the year 1866.

Tibetan Era.				Tibetan Era.
Year A.D.	Cycle No.	Cyclical Year.	Year-Name	Year A.D.	Cycle No.	Cyclical	Year-Name
1858	XIV.	52	Earth-Horse	1890	XV.-	24	Iron-Tiger
1859	contd.	53	Earth-Sheep	1891	,,	25	Iron- Hare
1860	,,	54	Iron-Ape	1892	,,	26	Water-Dragon
1861	,,	55	Iron -Bird	1893	,,	27	Water-Serpent
1862	,,	56	Water-Dog	1894	,,	28	Wood-Horse
1863	,,	57	Water-Hog	1895	,,	29	wood-Sheep
1864	,,	58	Wood-Mouse	1896	,,	30	Fire-Ape
1865	,,	59	Wood-Ox	1897	,,	31	Fire-Bird
1866	,,	60	Fire-Tiger	1898	,,	32	Earth-Dog
1867	XV.	01	Fire-Hare	1899	,,	33	Earth-Hog
1868	contd.	02	Earth-Dragon	1900	,,	34	Iron-Mouse
1869	,,	03	Earth-Serpent	1901	,,	35	Iron-Ox
1870	,,	04	Iron-Horse	1902	,,	36	Water-Tiger
1871	,,	05	Iron-Sheep	1903	,,	37	Water-Hare
1872	,,	06	Water-Ape	1904	,,	38	Wood-Dragon
1873	,,	07	Water-Bird	1905	,,	39	Wood-Serpent
1874	,,	08	Wood-Dog	1906	,,	40	Fire-Horse
1875	,,	09	Wood-Hog	1907	,,	41	Fire-Sheep
1876	,,	10	Fire-Mouse	1908	,,	42	Earth-Ape
1877	,,	11	Fire-Ox	1909	,,	43	Earth-Bird
1878	,,	12	Earth-Tiger	1910	,,	44	Iron-Dog
1879	,,	13	Earth-Hare	1911	,,	45	Iron-Hog
1880	,,	14	Iron-Dragon	1912	,,	46	Water-Mouse
1881	,,	15	Iron-Serpent	1913	,,	47	Water-Ox
1882	,,	16	Water-Horse	1914	,,	48	Wood-Tiger
1883	,,	17	Water-Sheep	1915	,,	49	Wood-Hare
1884	,,	18	Wood-Ape	1916	,,	50	Fire-Dragon
1885	,,	19	Wood-Bird	1917	,,	51	Fire-Serpent
1886	,,	20	Fire-Dog	1918	,,	52	Earth-Horse
1887	,,	21	Fire-Hog	1919	,,	53	Earth-Sheep
1888	,,	22	Earth-Mouse	1920	,,	54	Iron-Ape
1889	,,	23	Earth-Ox	1921	,,	55	Iron-Bird

It is by giving a realistic meaning to these several animals and elements, after which the years are named, that  the Lāma-astrologers arrive at their endless variety of combinations of attraction and repulsion in regard to their casting of horoscopes and their prescriptions of the requisite worship and offerings necessary to counteract the evils thus brought to light. The animals are more or Less antagonistic to each other, and their most unlucky combinations are as follows : —

Mouse and Horse.               Hare and Bird.

Ox and Sheep.                 Dragon and Dog.

Tiger and Monkey.          Serpent and Hog.

But it is with the five elements that the degrees of affinity and antagonism are most fully defined, according to certain more or

Astrological Figures¹ (On the Tortoise.)

less obvious inter-relations of the elements. The recognized degrees of relationship are: (1) mother, or greatest affection; (2) son, or neutrality; (3) friend, or mediocre affection, and (4) enemy or antagonism. The relationships of the elements are thus stated to be the following : —

Wood’s  mother  is Water (for wood cannot grow without water).

Water’s mother   is Iron   (for water-channels for irrigation cannot be made, and therefore water cannot come, without iron).

Iron’s  mother is Earth (for earth is the matrix in which iron is found).

Earth’s mother is Fire (for earth is the ash-product of fire).

Fire’s mother  is Wood [for without wood (carbon) fire is not].

1 Modified from Sarat’s figure.

This is merely a reverse way of presenting the above details.

 Wood’s son is Fire

Fire’s son is Earth

Earth’s son is Iron

Iron’s son is Water

Water’s son is Wood

Wood’s  enemy  is Iron (as Iron instruments cut down wood).

Iron’s enemy is Fire (as fire melts iron and alters its shape).

Fire’s enemy is Water (as water extinguishes fire).

Water’s enemy is Earth (as earth hems in water).

Earth’s enemy is Wood (as wood grows at the expense of and im-

poverishes earth).

 

 

Wood’s friend is Earth (as wood can’t grow without earth).

 

Water- friend is Fire (as it warms water).

 

Fire’s friend  is Iron (as it absorbs heat, and thus assists the continuance of the fire).

 

Iron’s friend is Wood (as it supplies the handles to iron-weapons and is non-conducting).

 

The Tibetan year is lunar, and numbers nominally three hundred and sixty days-; so that in order to bring it into keeping with the moon’s phases one day is occasionally omitted, and as it is the unlucky day- which are omitted, and these occur irregularly, the Tibetan year and months do not always correspond exactly with the Chinese months and years. And the solar difference is compensated by inserting seven intercalary months (Da-s’ol) every nineteen ¹years.

The year begins in February with the rise of the new moon. The months (Da-wa) ² are named first, second, etc., and the word Da-wa prefixed thus. Da-wa-tang-po, ” first month.” The week is divided into seven days (Za), bearing, as with as (for the Lāmas adopted the Aryan system . the names of the sun. moon, and the five planets, two bring allotted to each day, and is represented by a symbol (see figure) which is a concrete picture of the name.

1 So says SCHLAG.,op.cit.288 The intercalary month seems to be added at less intervals. According- to the Baidyur-Kar-po in 1891 the duplicated month was the tenth. 2 Zla-wa = moon,

 

THE PLANET’S AND CALENDAR.

Name.	Celestial Body.	Its Symbol.
Sunday (Tib. , Nyima)	Sun	A sun.
Monday [Da va)	Moon	Crescent moon.
Tuesday (Mig mar)	Mars	A red eye.
Wednesday (Lh’ag-pa)	Mercury	A hand.
Thursday ( Ph’ur-bu)	Jupiter	A thunderbolt. /3 nails
Friday (Pā-saṅ)	Venus	A garter.
Saturday (Pen-ba)	Saturn	A bundle.

 

The different days of the week are associated with the elements ; thus Sunday and Tuesday with Fire,Monday and Wednesday with Water, Thursday with Air. and Friday and Saturday with Earth.¹

 

Each hour and day of the week possesses a lucky or unlucky character, and the days of the month according to their order introduce  

other sets of unlucky combinations.

Thus the individual days of the

week are divided : Monday and Thursday

are best. Sunday and Tuesday are

rather ” angry.” Saturday and Wednes-

day are only good for receiving things

(Yang-sa) and not for giving away.

Saturday is not quite so gloomy and

malignant as in Western mythology.

   The days of the month in their

numerical order are unlucky per se

 in this order. The first is unlucky for

starting any undertaking, journey, etc.

 The second is very bad to travel.

Third is good provided no bad

combination otherwise.

Fourth is bad for sickness and accident

(Ch’u-‘jag). Eighth bad. The dates

counted on fingers, beginning from

thumb and counting second in the

hollow between thumb and index finger,

the hollow always comes out bad, thus

second, eighth, fourteenth, etc. Ninth is good

for long journeys but not for short (Kut-da).

 Fourteenth and twenty-fourth are

1 According to the rhyme:

” Ñi-ma mik-mar me K’am : Da-wa lhak-pa Ch’u-r K’am ;

P’ur-bu dā-c’en luṅ-i K’am: Pasaṅ p’em-ba Sa-i K’am.”

like fourth. The others are fairly good caeteris paribus. In accounts, etc., unlucky days are often omitted altogether and the dates counted by duplicating the preceding day. ¹ Chinese geomantic figures, the Pu-Kwā (Par-k’a) and the Me-wa, enter largely into the calculations of the Lāma astrologer, and these are usually figured on the belly of a spread tortoise, as in the above figure, whose paws sometimes grasp a pole surmounted by or transfixing a frog. ²

The Pu-Kwā  or Par-k’a  symbolize the great productive and antagonistic powers of nature, as summarized in a most interesting manner by Dr. Legge.

The first character, pu, is the Chinese symbol for divining by the lines produced through a certain process on the back of a tortoise-shell. It consists of two lines, ³ which may possibly, says Dr. Legge, have been intended to represent the lines appearing on the shell. The second character, Kwā, was the symbol for divining by means of the eight famous trigrams of Fū-hsī, themselves called ” the eight Kwā ” They are not characters, but lineal figures composed of whole and divided lines, on which was built up the mysterious book called the Yī-Kiṅ, or “Book of Changes,” with its sixty-four hexagrams. The eight trigrams are here shown : —

 

 

The whole lines in the figures are styled “the strong,” and the divided lines “the weak.” The two represent the two forms of the subtle matter, whether eternal or created is not said, of which all things are composed. Under one form the mailer is active and is called

Yang; under the other it is passive, and is called Yin. Whatever is strong and active is of the Yang nature ; whatever is weak and passive is of the Yin. Eeaven and earth, sun and moon, light and darkness, male and female, ruler and minister, are examples of these antinomies.

The aggregate of them makes up the totality of being, and the Yi is supposed to give in its diagram a complete picture of the phenomena of that totality. It does not give us a sexual system of nature, though of course the antinomy of sex is in it ; but the lines on which it is constructed embrace other antinomies as well. Authority and power on one side ; inferiority and docility on the other.

1 KLAPROTH, iv.. 137 : HUC,II.,370 .  2 This maybe the sacred three-legged frog. Cf. also my article (Ind. Antiq., 1893)  on Frog Worship among the Newars.”  3 LEGGE’s The Relig. of China, p. 14, do. 15.

 

Further, the hidden operation in and through which the change takes place in nature is said to be that of the Kwei shan, ¹ usually meaning ” spirits,” but here held to be technical. ” Shan is Yang, and indicates the process of expanding ; Kwei is Yin, and indicates the process of

contracting.” The fashion of the world is continually being altered. We have action and reaction, flux and reflux, and these changes are indicated in the diagrams, which are worked in divination by manipulating a fixed number of stalks of a plant called shih (Ptarmica Sibirica), and, indeed, the form of the trigrams themselves is suggestive of divination by twigs.

 

The usual geomantic arrangement of the Par-k’a is given in figure. Individually they are named Heaven, Earth, Fire, Thunder, Mountains, Celestial Water, Terrestrial Water, though the fourth and eighth are sometimes called Iron and Tree. And Mountain, Iron, and Water are said to be sons of the Earth and Heaven, while Wind, Fire, and Tree are their daughters.

 

It is remarkable, however, that while the Chinese use only the hexagrams for divination purposes, the Tibetans use only the trigrams in this way.²

 

The Nine Mewa ³ are arranged in the form of a quadratic square

or circle, and the figures usually, as in a magic

square, so disposed as to give the same total

in all directions.

 

The spirits of the seasons also powerfully

influence the luckiness or unluckiness of the

days. It is necessary to know which spirit has

arrived at the particular place and time when

an event has happened or an undertaking is

entertained. And the very frequent and complicated migrations of these aerial spirits, good and bad, can only be ascertained by the Lāmas. The most malignant of these evil spirits are a black dog a monster with a dragon-tail, a man on horseback, and the fabulous Phoenix; and the seasons are specially assigned to these in the order of spring, summer, autumn, and winter respectively. ⁴

The almanac which the Lāmaist astrologer uses, gives for each

1 Legge, op.cit., p. 39.  2 Cf. Prof. DE LA COUPERIES’ Ancient Chinese Divination Manual— The Yi King- Paris, 1889.   3 sMe-ba = a blot. Cf. PALLAS, Mong., ii., 229 : Schlag., 297.   4 Schlag., 299.

 

 

day the six presiding influences. Thus the page of the almanack for the first day of the third month of 1891 (Iron-horse) gives: —

 

 

 

Cyclic Animal                           Par-kha                                            Nidāna

Tiger                                    Li                                                   Nāmarūpa

 

Week-day                                       Mewa                                             Star

5                                                    C’ikar                                                26

P’urba (Thursday)                                                                                 She-sa

(giving Wind).                                                                             (giving water).

 

And the general record for the particular month is: This month’s star is moderate and the celestial Mansion is the sheep. Nidāna, Avidya. Element is mid-summer, and named Great Fire-Horse. It is time for plants budding and marshes, thunder and birds. The empty vase is in the east (therefore do not go E.). On the 15th day the Teacher taught the Kālācakra ; it is a holiday. Thursday, Sunday, and Tuesday are good. Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday

are bad. The ” Yas ” road (i.e., the road on which cake and the devil’s image are to be thrown) is N.W. The “Zin-p’uṅ ” ( a kind of genius loci ) in the Ox and Sheep days at dawn passes from W. to E. (therefore at that time be careful).

Lāmaist Horoscopes.

The Lāmaist horoscopes or Tsis are of several kinds. Those most commonly sought are for:

(a) Birth ¹ (b) Whole-Life Forecast ² (c) Marriage ³ (d) Death ⁴ and the (e) Annual. ⁵

 

They are written in cursive characters on a long sheet of paper and attested by the stamp of the astrologer. Such manuscript divinations usually called Suṅ-ta, are in the case of the more

wealthy clients mounted on silk. A preliminary fee or presenl is usually given to the astrologer at the time of applying for the horoscope, in order to secure as favourable a presage as possible.

Each of the various horoscopes takes into account the conflict or otherwise of the elementary and astral influences dominant at the time of the person’s birth, as compared with the existing influences at the time consulted.

1 sKyed-rtsis 2 ts’-rabs las rtsis. 3 pag-rtsis 4 gs’in -rtsis. 5 sKag-rtsis. Other horoscopes for general and extra divinations are: Gab-tsi or “Concealed,” and Grub-tsi or “the perfect ” Astrology ; and the Chinese system is Termed Nak-tsi  in distinction to the Indian or Kar-tsi.

 

 

The ordinary horoscope is usually arranged under the following six heads, namely : —

 

1. The year of birth of the individual in its auspicious or inauspicious bearings.

2. His Park’a, influences.

3. His ” Reversed calculation ” of age (Log-men). This is evidently introduced in order to afford a further variety of conflicts.

4. ” The Seizing-Rope of the Sky.” — This seems to refer to a popular idea of ultimate ascent to the celestial regions by means of an invisible rope.

5. ” The Earth-dagger.” — This is an invisible dagger, and is for the individual the emblem of stability and safety so long as it is reported to be fixed firmly in the earth.

6. The Mewa.

And each of these several heads is separately considered in detail with reference to its conflicts in regard to — (a) the Life (or srog) ; (b) the Body (or lus) ; (c) the Power or capability (baṅ-t’aṅ) ; (d) the Luck-horse (or rluṅ-rta) ; and (e) the Intelligence (bla).

 

The particular Parkha and Mewa for the several times are found by reference to the Lāma’s almanac as above noted ; but the other details are elicited by diverse calculations made upon the astrologer’s board, ¹ and in consultation with the various manuals on the subject.

1 The astrologer’s board consists of a large napkin on which are drawn squares and

the other necessary geomantic figures, all in a definite and convenient relation to each

other. This napkin is spread on a table, and the calculations are made with coloured

buttons as counters which are kept in a bag— the several elements having each a

recognized colour: thus wood is green, fire is red, earth is yellow, iron is white, and

water is blue. These counters are placed on the coloured squares as in a chess-board,

and are moved according to rule, either transversely from right to left or vice versa, or

longitudinally over the requisite number of squares. In the top row of the board are

the sixty squares of the sixty-year cycle, all named and in the proper colour of their

elements. And the succeeding rows of squares are those of the Life, Body, Power,

Luck, and Intelligence series, each with its appropriate series of coloured elements.

The other divisions relate to the Parkhas and Mewas.

 

The calculations are made according to rule backwards or forwards a certain number

of years in the row of the sixty-year cycle squares, and the secondary results come out of

the vertical columns of the Life, Body, etc., series according to the conflict of their respective elements : the results being noted by white or black seeds or buttons, which have the following values : —

 

The seven recognized degrees of affinity or repulsion are expressed in the astrological

accounts by the following signs of circles and crosses, and during the calculation the

circles are represented by white buttons and the crosses by black buttons or seeds :—

When the conflict of the elements comes out — Mother, i.e., the best degree = OOO

Friend, i.e., the better degree = OO

 

{ Water + Water} i.e a harmless mixture

{Earth+ Earth    } and therefore good       =O

 

These manuals have their signs inscribed on the belly of a tortoise (see page 453), and the Mewa occupies the centre. With this explanation I now give here a sample of a horoscope

for one family for one year’s ill-luck, in which the prescribed worship is italicized. I have added in footnotes some further explanations which may be consulted by those interested in knowing

in more detail the methods by which the Lāmaist-astrologer makes his calculations.

 

 

 

The Misfortune Account of the Family of ______For the EARTH-MOUSE Year: (i.e., 1888 a.d.)

Salutation to MAÑJUṢṚĪ¹

 

A. For the Father of the Family.

 

I.— According to the Birth-conflict.

 

This male, aged 26 years, being born in the Water-Hog year, that year conflicts with the Earth-Mouse year (the present year) as follows : —

 

I.            Life = O, or good. ²

Body = OO, or better. ³

Power = XX, or worse.

Luck-horse = OOO, or best.

Intelligence =  X, or bad.

 

1. As modified by ” Parkha.” — His Park’a for the year is Khon, which gives the Earth-Sheep year and the following conflict :  Life = worse.  Body = better.

 

When the conflict of the elements comes out    Son, neutral        = OX

“”                    Wood + Wood}   i.e.,unmiscibility

Fire +Fire} and .: opposition

Iron +Iron} and bad = X

 Enemy, i.e., worse = XX

Deadly hate, i.e., worst = X X X

 

For example, water meeting iron, i.e., its ” mother” is the very best and . . = OOO

and the same would be true of fire meeting wood. But wood meeting earth would

= friend” and therefore = OO: but should earth meet wood, then it would be

“enemy” and therefore = XX; and water meeting wood = “neutrality ” or OX.

While fire meeting water = ” deadly hate,” and therefore = XXX. Then the average

of the total is taken as the average result of the conflict. And the several remedies

necessary to avoid each and all of the calamities thus foretold are specified categorically in the astrologers’ books.

1 The metaphysical Bodhisattva MAÑJUṢṚĪ is the presiding divinity of the astrologers, and be is always invoked at the head of astrologic prescriptions.

2 The year of hit birth being the Water-Hog,gives according to the astrologic table, Water as the srog for that year, and the present year being the Earth-Mouse year, its srog according to the table, is also Water. Therefore Water meeting Water = O, i.e. “good”

3 The lus of these two years are found by the table to give the elements respectively of Water and Fire. Therefore  Water meeting its friend Fire= OO or “better “,i.e. Good of the second degree.

Power = worse than bad.

Luck-horse = bad.

Intelligence = worse.

 

2. As modified by “Reversed Age Calculation.” — This gives a ” good ” result, ¹ .-. = O.

3. As modified by ” The Seizing-Rope of the Sky.” — -This gives “good,” ² = O

[If it were bad, then prescribed ” The closure of the door to the sky ” (spirits)]. ³

4. As modified by ” The Earth dagger” — This gives a medium average, [If it were bad would have to do ” The closure of the door to the earth ” (spirits)]. ⁴

 

 

Thus the summary of the year’s conflict as to birth, together with its prescribed remedies is : —

” Life ”    has black in excess ; therefore to procure long life read very much The Sutra and

             Dhāraṇīs for Long Life.

” Body ” has white in excess ; therefore the Body will be free from sickness (i.e., only as

regards this one aspect of the calculation).

“Power” has black in excess; therefore Food shall be scanty, and crops suffer, and cattle die or

be lost. To neutralize it (a) have read very much ” Yaṅ-gug ” or the Luck-Bestowing

             and ” Norzaṅ ” {the Best Wealth) ; (b) offer holy cakes; (c) also give food and

sweets  to monks and children.

” Luck ” has black in excess ; therefore be careful not to provoke a law-suit or go on a long

journey. To neutralize this (a) do “Du-kar“100 times : (h) plant as many” Luṅ-ta‘

           – flags” as years of your age ; (c) offer in the temple 13 lamps with incense, etc. ;

(d)  have read the “mDo-maṅ” very much; (e) make an image of yourself (of cooked

barley or rice) and throw it towards your enemy ; (f) also make an earthen Caitya.

“Intelligence” has black in excess; therefore have read the ” La-guk” or worship for recalling

the  Intelligence.

 

 

1 1. —According to PARK ‘A —

His Park’a for the year being ” khon,” he cannot during the year excavate earth or remove stones. The Nāgas and the Earth master-demons are opposed to him. He is especially liable to the diseases of stiffened joints and skin disorders In the second month he is especially subject to danger. The N. and E. and S. directions are bad for him ; he must not go there. For removing

1 This Log-men or ” Reversed + downwards ‘” is a more abstruse calculation according to the saying : — ā Ā ī Ī ū Ū ṛ Ṛ ṝ ḷ l ṅ Ṅ ñ Ñ ṭ Ṭ ḍ Ḍ ṇ Ṇ ś Ś ṣ Ṣ ṃ ḥ ē ō ṇḍ

” skyes-pa pu-yi stag t’og nas lo graṅs t’ur,

” bud-med ma-yi sprel-t’og nas lo graṅs gyen.”

For males — the sons of elements — begin from Tiger and count age downwards.

For females — the mothers — begin from Ape and count age upwards.

       Thus the birth-year of this individual being Water-Hog, and he being a male, and

the son of Water being Wood, gives us for his Log-men the Water-Tiger year (which =

1854 a.d.). And as he is male, en counting downwards from the Wood-Tiger the num-

ber of years of his age (i.e., 26), we get the year Earth-Hare (i.e., 1879 a.d.). And

according to the Log-men Manual, the Earth-Hare year is ” ‘byor-pa ” or Riches, which

is given the value of ” good,” i.e., = O- 2 This is calculated on the srog of the Log-men year,  minus five years. In this case we have seen Log-men year is the Earth-Hare year. Counting back to the fifth year gives the Wood-Hog, which has its srog the element water, and the sr-og of the

present 1888 a.d. year, viz., Earth-Mouse, being also Water, therefore = O or good for

the ” sky-seizing Rope.”3 See next chapter. 4 See next chapter.