CHINA _(continued)_
CHINESE BUDDHISM AT THE PRESENT DAY
The Buddhism treated of in this chapter does not include Lamaism,
which being identical with the religion of Tibet and Mongolia is more
conveniently described elsewhere. Ordinary Chinese Buddhism and
Lamaism are distinct, but are divided not so much by doctrine as by
the race, language and usages of the priests. Chinese Buddhism has
acquired some local colour, but it is still based on the teaching and
practice imported from India before the Yüan dynasty, whereas Lamaist
tradition is not direct: it represents Buddhism as received not from
India but from Tibet. Some holy places, such as P'uto and Wu-t'ai-shan
are frequented by both Lamas and Chinese monks, and Tibetan prayers
and images may sometimes be seen in Chinese temples, but as a rule the
two divisions do not coalesce.
Chinese Buddhism has a physiognomy and language of its own. The
Paraphrase of the Sacred Edict in a criticism, which, though
unfriendly, is not altogether inaccurate, says that Buddhists attend
only to the heart, claim that Buddha can be found in the heart, and
aim at becoming Buddhas. This sounds strange to those who are
acquainted only with the Buddhism of Ceylon and Burma, but is
intelligible as a popular statement of Bodhidharma's doctrine.
Heart[855] means the spiritual nature of man, essentially identical
with the Buddha nature and capable of purification and growth so that
all beings can become Buddhas. But in the Far East the doctrine became
less pantheistic and more ethical than the corresponding Indian ideas.
The Buddha in the heart is the internal light and monitor rather than
the universal spirit. Amida, Kuan-yin and Ti-tsang with other radiant
and benevolent spirits have risen from humanity and will help man to
rise as they have done. Chinese Buddhists do not regard Amida's vows
as an isolated achievement. All Boddhisattvas have done the same
and carried out their resolution in countless existences. Like the
Madonna these gracious figures appeal directly to the emotions and
artistic senses and their divinity offers no difficulty, for in China
Church and State alike have always recognized deification as a natural
process. One other characteristic of all Far Eastern Buddhism may be
noticed. The Buddha is supposed to have preached many creeds and codes
at different periods of his life and each school supposes its own to
be the last, best and all inclusive.
As indicated elsewhere, the essential part of the Buddhist Church is
the monkhood and it is often hard to say if a Chinese layman is a
Buddhist or not. It will therefore be best to describe briefly the
organization and life of a monastery, then the services performed
there and to some extent attended by the laity, and thirdly the rites
performed by monks on behalf of the laity, especially funeral
ceremonies.
The Chinese Tripitaka contains no less than five recensions of the
Vinaya, and the later pilgrims who visited India made it their special
object to obtain copies of the most correct and approved code. But
though the theoretical value of these codes is still admitted, they
have for practical purposes been supplemented by other manuals of
which the best known are the Fan-wang-ching or Net of Brahmâ[856] and
the Pai-chang-ts'ung-lin-ch'ing-kuei or Rules of Purity of the
Monasteries of Pai Chang.
The former is said to have been translated in A.D. 406 by Kumârajîva
and to be one chapter of a larger Sanskrit work. Some passages of it,
particularly the condemnation of legislation which forbids or imposes
conditions on the practice of Buddhism[857], read as if they had been
composed in China rather than India, and its whole attitude towards
the Hinayanist Vinaya as something inadequate and superseded, can
hardly have been usual in India or China even in the time of I-Ching
(700 A.D.). Nothing is known of the Indian original, but it certainly
was not the Brahmajâlasutta of the Pali Canon[858]. Though the
translation is ascribed to so early a date, there is no evidence
that the work carried weight as an authority before the eighth
century. Students of the Vinaya, like I-Ching, ignore it. But when the
scholarly endeavour to discover the most authentic edition of the
Vinaya began to flag, this manual superseded the older treatises.
Whatever external evidence there may be for attributing it to
Kumârajîva, its contents suggest a much later date and there is no
guarantee that a popular manual may not have received additions. The
rules are not numbered consecutively but as 1-10 and 1-48, and it may
be that the first class is older than the second. In many respects it
expounds a late and even degenerate form of Buddhism for it
contemplates not only a temple ritual (including the veneration of
images and sacred books), but also burning the head or limbs as a
religious practice. But it makes no allusion to salvation through
faith in Amitâbha and says little about services to be celebrated for
the dead[859].
Its ethical and disciplinary point of view is dogmatically Mahayanist
and similar to that of the Bodhicaryâvatâra. The Hînayâna is several
times denounced[860] and called heretical, but, setting aside a little
intolerance and superstition, the teaching of this manual is truly
admirable and breathes a spirit of active charity--a desire not only
to do no harm but to help and rescue.
It contains a code of ten primary and forty-eight secondary
commandments, worded as prohibitions, but equivalent to positive
injunctions, inasmuch as they blame the neglect of various active
duties. The ten primary commandments are called Prâtimoksha and he who
breaks them is Pârâjika[861], that is to say, he _ipso facto_ leaves
the road leading to Buddhahood and is condemned to a long series of
inferior births. They prohibit taking life, theft, unchastity, lying,
trading in alcoholic liquors, evil speaking, boasting, avarice, hatred
and blasphemy. Though infraction of the secondary commandments has
less permanently serious consequence, their observance is
indispensable for all monks. Many of them are amplifications of the
ten major commandments and are directed against indirect and
potential sins, such as the possession of weapons. The Bhikshu may not
eat flesh, drink alcohol, set forests on fire or be connected with any
business injurious to others, such as the slave trade. He is warned
against gossip, sins of the eye, foolish practices such as divination
and even momentary forgetfulness of his high calling and duties. But
it is not sufficient that he should be self-concentrated and without
offence. He must labour for the welfare and salvation of others, and
it is a sin to neglect such duties as instructing the ignorant,
tending the sick, hospitality, saving men or animals from death or
slavery, praying[862] for all in danger, exhorting to repentance,
sympathy with all living things. A number of disciplinary rules
prescribe a similarly high standard for daily monastic life. The monk
must be strenuous and intelligent; he must yield obedience to his
superiors and set a good example to the laity: he must not teach for
money or be selfish in accepting food and gifts. As for creed he is
strictly bidden to follow and preach the Mahâyâna: it is a sin to
follow or preach the doctrine of the Srâvakas[863] or read their books
or not aspire to ultimate Buddhahood. Very remarkable are the
injunctions to burn one's limbs in honour of Buddhas: to show great
respect to copies of the scriptures and to make vows. From another
point of view the first and forty-seventh secondary commandments are
equally remarkable: the first bids officials discharge their duties
with due respect to the Church and the other protests against improper
legislation.
The Fan-wang-ching is the most important and most authoritative
statement of the general principles regulating monastic life in China.
So far as my own observation goes, it is known and respected in all
monasteries. The Pai-chang-ch'ing-kuei[864] deals rather with the
details of organization and ritual and has not the same universal
currency. It received the approval of the Yüan dynasty[865] and is
still accepted as authoritative in many monasteries and gives a
correct account of their general practice. It was composed by a monk
of Kiang-si, who died in 814 A.D. He belonged to the Ch'an school, but
his rules are approved by others. I will not attempt to summarize
them, but they include most points of ritual and discipline mentioned
below. The author indicates the relations which should prevail between
Church and State by opening his work with an account of the ceremonies
to be performed on the Emperor's birthday, and similar occasions.
Large Buddhist temples almost always form part of a monastery, but
smaller shrines, especially in towns, are often served by a single
priest. The many-storeyed towers called pagodas which are a
characteristic beauty of Chinese landscapes, are in their origin
stupas erected over relics but at the present day can hardly be called
temples or religious buildings, for they are not places of worship and
generally owe their construction to the dictates of Fêng-shui or
geomancy. Monasteries are usually built outside towns and by
preference on high ground, whence _shan_ or mountain has come to be
the common designation of a convent, whatever its position. The sites
of these establishments show the deep feeling of cultivated Chinese
for nature and their appreciation of the influence of scenery on
temper, an appreciation which connects them spiritually with the
psalms of the monks and nuns preserved in the Pali Canon. The
architecture is not self-assertive. Its aim is not to produce edifices
complete and satisfying in their own proportions but rather to
harmonize buildings with landscape, to adjust courts and pavilions to
the slope of the hillside and diversify the groves of fir and bamboo
with shrines and towers as fantastic and yet as natural as the
mountain boulders. The reader who wishes to know more of them should
consult Johnston's _Buddhist China_, a work which combines in a rare
degree sound knowledge and literary charm.
A monastery[866] is usually a quadrangle surrounded by a wall.
Before the great gate, which faces south, or in the first court is
a tank, spanned by a bridge, wherein grows the red lotus and tame fish
await doles of biscuit. The sides of the quadrangle contain dwelling
rooms, refectories, guest chambers, store houses, a library, printing
press and other premises suitable to a learned and pious foundation.
The interior space is divided into two or three courts, bordered by a
veranda. In each court is a hall of worship or temple, containing a
shelf or alcove on which are set the sacred images: in front of them
stands a table, usually of massive wood, bearing vases of flowers,
bowls for incense sticks and other vessels. The first temple is called
the Hall of the Four Great Kings and the figures in it represent
beings who are still in the world of transmigration and have not yet
attained Buddhahood. They include gigantic images of the Four Kings,
Maitreya, the Buddha designate of the future, and Wei-to[867], a
military Bodhisattva sometimes identified with Indra. Kuan-ti, the
Chinese God of War, is often represented in this building. The chief
temple, called the Precious Hall of the Great Hero[868], is in the
second court and contains the principal images. Very commonly there
are nine figures on either side representing eighteen disciples of the
Buddha and known as the Eighteen Lohan or Arhats[869]. Above the altar
are one or more large gilt images. When there is only one it is
usually Śâkya-muni, but more often there are three. Such triads are
variously composed and the monks often speak of them vaguely as the
"three precious ones," without seeming to attach much importance to
their identity[870]. The triad is loosely connected with the idea of
the three bodies of Buddha but this explanation does not always apply
and the central figure is sometimes O-mi-to or Kuan-yin, who are the
principal recipients of the worship offered by the laity. The latter
deity has usually a special shrine at the back of the main altar and
facing the north door of the hall, in which her merciful activity as
the saviour of mankind is represented in a series of statuettes or
reliefs. Other Bodhisattvas such as Ta-shih-chi (Mahâsthâmaprâpta) and
Ti-tsang also have separate shrines in or at the side of the great
hall[871]. The third hall contains as a rule only small images. It is
used for expounding the scriptures and for sermons, if the monastery
has a preacher, but is set apart for the religious exercises of the
monks rather than the devotions of the laity. In very large
monasteries there is a fourth hall for meditation.
Monasteries are of various sizes and the number of monks is not
constant, for the peripatetic habit of early Buddhism is not extinct:
at one time many inmates may be absent on their travels, at
another there may be an influx of strangers. There are also wandering
monks who have ceased to belong to a particular monastery and spend
their time in travelling. A large monastery usually contains from
thirty to fifty monks, but a very large one may have as many as three
hundred. The majority are dedicated by their parents as children, but
some embrace the career from conviction in their maturity and these,
if few, are the more interesting. Children who are brought up to be
monks receive a religious education in the monastery, wear monastic
clothes and have their heads shaved. At the age of about seventeen
they are formally admitted as members of the order and undergo three
ceremonies of ordination, which in their origin represented stages of
the religious life, but are now performed by accumulation in the
course of a few days. One reason for this is that only monasteries
possessing a licence from the Government[872] are allowed to hold
ordinations and that consequently postulants have to go some distance
to be received as full brethren and are anxious to complete the
reception expeditiously. At the first ordination the candidates are
accepted as novices: at the second, which follows a day or two
afterwards and corresponds to the upasampadâ, they accept the robes
and bowl and promise obedience to the rules of the Prâtimoksha. But
these ceremonies are of no importance compared with the third, called
Shou Pu-sa-chieh[873] or acceptance of the Bodhisattva precepts, that
is to say the fifty-eight precepts enunciated in the Fan-wang-ching.
The essential part of this ordination is the burning of the
candidate's head in from three to eighteen places. The operation
involves considerable pain and is performed by lighting pieces of
charcoal set in a paste which is spread over the shaven skull.
Although the Fan-wang-ching does not mention this burning of the head
as part of ordination, yet it emphatically enjoins the practice of
burning the body or limbs, affirming that those who neglect it are not
true Bodhisattvas[874]. The prescription is founded on the
twenty-second chapter of the Lotus[875] which, though a later
addition, is found in the Chinese translation made between 265 and
316 A.D.[876] I-Ching discusses and reprobates such practices. Clearly
they were known in India when he visited it, but not esteemed by the
better Buddhists, and the fact that they form no part of the ordinary
Tibetan ritual indicates that they had no place in the decadent Indian
Buddhism which in various stages of degeneration was introduced into
Tibet[877]. In Korea and Japan branding is practised but on the breast
and arms rather than on the head.
It would appear then that burning and branding as part of initiation
were known in India in the early centuries of our era but not commonly
approved and that their general acceptance in China was subsequent to
the death of I-Ching in A.D. 713[878]. This author clearly approved of
nothing but the double ordination as novice and full monk. The third
ordination as Bodhisattva must be part of the later phase inaugurated
by Amogha about 750[879].
This practice is defended as a trial of endurance, but the earlier and
better monks were right in rejecting it, for in itself it is an
unedifying spectacle and it points to the logical conclusion that, if
it is meritorious to cauterize the head, it is still more meritorious
to burn the whole body. Cases of suicide by burning appear to have
occurred in recent years, especially in the province of
Che-Kiang[880]. The true doctrine of the Mahâyâna is that everyone
should strive for the happiness and salvation of all beings, but this
beautiful truth may be sadly perverted if it is held that the
endurance of pain is in itself meritorious and that such acquired
merit can be transferred to others. Self-torture, seems not to be
unknown in the popular forms of Chinese Buddhism[881].
The postulant, after receiving these three ordinations, becomes a full
monk or Ho-shang[882] and takes a new name. The inmates of every
monastery owe obedience to the abbot and some abbots have an official
position, being recognized by the Government as representing the
clergy of a prefecture, should there be any business to be transacted
with the secular authorities. But there is no real hierarchy outside
the monasteries, each of which is an isolated administrative unit.
Within each monastery due provision is made for discipline and
administration. The monks are divided into two classes, the Western
who are concerned with ritual and other purely religious duties and
the Eastern who are relatively secular and superintend the business of
the establishment[883]. This is often considerable for the income is
usually derived from estates, in managing which the monks are assisted
by a committee of laymen. Other laymen of humbler status[884] live
around the monastery and furnish the labour necessary for agriculture,
forestry and whatever industries the character of the property calls
into being. As a rule there is a considerable library. Even a
sympathetic stranger will often find that the monks deny its
existence, because many books have been destroyed in political
troubles, but most monasteries possess copies of the principal
scriptures and a complete Tripitaka, usually the edition of 1737, is
not rare. Whether the books are much read I do not know, but I have
observed that after the existence of the library has been
admitted, it often proves difficult to find the key. There is also
a printing press, where are prepared notices and prayers, as well as
copies of popular sûtras.
The food of the monks is strictly vegetarian, but they do not go round
with the begging bowl nor, except in a few monasteries, is it
forbidden to eat after midday. As a rule there are three meals, the
last about 6 p.m., and all must be eaten in silence. The three
garments prescribed by Indian Buddhism are still worn, but beneath
them are trousers, stockings, and shoes which are necessary in the
Chinese climate. There is no idea that it is wrong to sleep on a bed,
to receive presents or own property.
Two or three services are performed daily in the principal temple,
early in the morning, about 4 p.m., and sometimes in the middle of the
day. A specimen of this ritual may be seen in the service called by
Beal the Liturgy of Kuan Yin[885]. It consists of versicles, responses
and canticles, and, though strangely reminiscent both in structure and
externals (such as the wearing of vestments) of the offices of the
Roman Church[886], appears to be Indian in origin. I-Ching describes
the choral services which he attended in Nalanda and elsewhere--the
chanting, bowing, processions--and the Chinese ritual is, I think,
only the amplification of these ceremonies. It includes the
presentation of offerings, such as tea, rice and other vegetables. The
Chinese pilgrims testify that in India flowers, lights and incense
were offered to relics and images (as in Christian churches), and the
Bodhicaryâvatâra[887], one of the most spiritual of later Mahayanist
works, mentions offerings of food and drink as part of worship. Many
things in Buddhism lent themselves to such a transformation or parody
of earlier teaching. Offerings of food to hungry ghosts were
countenanced, and it was easy to include among the recipients other
spirits. It was meritorious to present food, raiment and property to
living saints: oriental, and especially Chinese, symbolism found
it natural to express the same devotion by offerings made before
images.
In the course of most ceremonies, the monks make vows on behalf of all
beings and take oath to work for their salvation. They are also
expected to deliver and hear sermons and to engage in meditation. Some
of them superintend the education of novices which consists chiefly in
learning to read and repeat religious works. Quite recently elementary
schools for the instruction of the laity have been instituted in some
monasteries[888].
The regularity of convent life is broken by many festivals. The year
is divided into two periods of wandering, two of meditation and one of
repose corresponding to the old Vassa. Though this division has become
somewhat theoretical, it is usual for monks to set out on excursions
in the spring and autumn. In each month there are six fasts, including
the two uposatha days. On these latter the 250 rules of the
Prâtimoksha are recited in a refectory or side hall and subsequently
the fifty-eight rules of the Fan-wang-ching are recited with greater
ceremony in the main temple.
Another class of holy days includes the birthdays[889] not only of
Sâkya-muni, but of other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the anniversaries
of events in Sâkya-muni's life and the deaths of Bodhidharma and other
Saints, among whom the founder or patron of each monastery has a
prominent place. Another important and popular festival is called
Yü-lan-pên or All Souls' day, which is an adaptation of Buddhist
usages to Chinese ancestral worship. Of many other festivals it may be
said that they are purely Chinese but countenanced by Buddhism: such
are the days which mark the changes of the seasons, those sacred to
Kuan-ti and other native deities, and (before the revolution) imperial
birthdays.
The daily services are primarily for the monks, but the laity may
attend them, if they please. More frequently they pay their devotions
at other hours, light a few tapers and too often have recourse to some
form of divination before the images. Sometimes they defray the
cost of more elaborate ceremonies to expiate sins or ensure
prosperity. But the lay attendance in temples is specially large at
seasons of pilgrimage. For an account of this interesting side of
Chinese religious life I cannot do better than refer the reader to Mr.
Johnston's volume already cited.
Though the services of the priesthood may be invoked at every crisis
of life, they are most in requisition for funeral ceremonies. A
detailed description of these as practised at Amoy has been given by
De Groot[890] which is probably true in essentials for all parts of
China. These rites unite in incongruous confusion several orders of
ideas. Pre-Buddhist Chinese notions of the life after death seem not
to have included the idea of hell. The disembodied soul is honoured
and comforted but without any clear definition of its status. Some
representative--a person, figure, or tablet--is thought capable of
giving it a temporary residence and at funeral ceremonies offerings
are made to such a representative and plays performed before it.
Though Buddhist language may be introduced into this ritual, its
spirit is alien to even the most corrupt Buddhism.
Buddhism familiarized China with the idea that the average man stands
in danger of purgatory and this doctrine cannot be described as late
or Mahayanist[891]. Those epithets are, however, merited by the
subsidiary doctrine that such punishment can be abridged by vicarious
acts of worship which may take the form of simple prayer addressed to
benevolent beings who can release the tortured soul. More often the
idea underlying it is that the recitation of certain formulæ acquires
merit for the reciter who can then divert this merit to any
purpose[892]. This is really a theological refinement of the ancient
and widespread notion that words have magic force. Equally ancient and
unBuddhist in origin is the theory of sympathetic magic. Just as by
sticking pins into a wax figure you may kill the person represented,
so by imitating physical operations of rescue, you may deliver a soul
from the furnaces and morasses of hell. Thus a paper model of
hades is made which is knocked to pieces and finally burnt: the spirit
is escorted with music and other precautions over a mock bridge, and,
most singular of all, the priests place over a receptacle of water a
special machine consisting of a cylinder containing a revolving
apparatus which might help a creature immersed in the fluid to climb
up. This strange mummery is supposed to release those souls who are
condemned to sojourn in a pool of blood[893]. This, too, is a
superstition countenanced only by Chinese Buddhism, for the punishment
is incurred not so much by sinners as by those dying of illnesses
which defile with blood. Many other rites are based on the notion that
objects--or their paper images--ceremonially burnt are transmitted to
the other world for the use of the dead. Thus representations in paper
of servants, clothes, furniture, money and all manner of things are
burned together with the effigy of the deceased and sometimes also
certificates and passports giving him a clean bill of health for the
Kingdom of Heaven.
As in funeral rites, so in matters of daily life, Buddhism gives its
countenance and help to popular superstition, to every kind of charm
for reading the future, securing happiness and driving away evil
spirits. In its praise may be said that this patronage, though far too
easy going, is not extended to cruel or immoral customs. But the
reader will ask, is there no brighter side? I believe that there is,
but it is not conspicuous and, as in India, public worship and temple
ritual display the lower aspects of religion. But in China a devout
Buddhist is generally a good man and the objects of Buddhist
associations are praiseworthy and philanthropic. They often include
vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol and drugs. The weakness of
the religion to-day is no doubt the want of intelligence and energy
among the clergy. There are not a few learned and devout monks, but
even devotion is not a characteristic of the majority. On the other
hand, those of the laity who take their religion seriously generally
attain a high standard of piety and there have been attempts to
reform Buddhism, to connect it with education and to spread a
knowledge of the more authentic scriptures[894].
When one begins to study Buddhism in China, one fears it may be
typified by the neglected temples on the outskirts of Peking, sullen
and mouldering memorials of dynasties that have passed away. But later
one learns not only that there are great and nourishing monasteries in
the south, but that even in Peking one may often step through an
archway into courtyards of which the prosaic streets outside give no
hint and find there refreshment for the eye and soul, flower gardens
and well-kept shrines tended by pious and learned guardians.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 855: [Chinese: ] For a specimen of devotional literature
about the heart see the little tract translated in China Branch,
_R.A.S._ XXIII. pp. 9-22.]
[Footnote 856: [Chinese: ] For text translation and commentary, see
De Groot, _Code du Mahâyâna en Chine_, 1893, see also Nanjio, No.
1087.]
[Footnote 857: De Groot, p. 81.]
[Footnote 858: The identity of name seems due to a similarity of
metaphor. The Brahmajâla sutta is a net of many meshes to catch all
forms of error. The Fan-wang-ching compares the varieties of Buddhist
opinion to the meshes of a net (De Groot, _l.c._ p. 26), but the net
is the all-inclusive common body of truth.]
[Footnote 859: See, however, sections 20 and 39.]
[Footnote 860: See especially De Groot, _l.c._ p. 58, where the
reading of the Abhidharma is forbidden. Though this name is not
confined to the Hînayâna, A-pi-t'an in Chinese seems to be rarely used
as a title of Mahayanist books.]
[Footnote 861: The Indian words are transliterated in the Chinese
text.]
[Footnote 862: More accurately reading the sûtras on their behalf, but
this exercise is practically equivalent to intercessory prayer.]
[Footnote 863: [Chinese: ]]
[Footnote 864: The full title is [Chinese: ] Pai Chang is apparently
to be taken as the name of the author, but it is the designation of a
monastery used as a personal name. See Hackmann in _T'oung Pao_, 1908,
pp. 651-662. It is No. 1642 in Nanjio's Catalogue. He says that it has
been revised and altered.]
[Footnote 865: See _T'oung Pao_, 1904, pp. 437 ff.]
[Footnote 866: It is probable that the older Chinese monasteries
attempted to reproduce the arrangement of Nâlanda and other Indian
establishments. Unfortunately Hsüan Chuang and the other pilgrims give
us few details as to the appearance of Indian monasteries: they tell
us, however, that they were surrounded by a wall, that the monks'
quarters were near this wall, that there were halls where choral
services were performed and that there were triads of images. But the
Indian buildings had three stories. See Chavannes, _Mémoire sur les
Religieux Eminents_, 1894, p. 85.]
[Footnote 867: [Chinese: ] or [Chinese: ] For this personage see the
article in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1916. No. 3, by Péri who identifies him with
Wei, the general of the Heavenly Kings who appeared to Tao Hsüan the
founder of the Vinaya school and became popular as a protecting deity
of Buddhism. The name is possibly a mistaken transcription of
Skandha.]
[Footnote 868: [Chinese: ]]
[Footnote 869: [Chinese: ] See Lévi and Chavannes' two articles in
_J.A._ 1916, I and II, and Watters in _J.R.A.S._ 1898, p. 329, for an
account of these personages. The original number, still found in a few
Chinese temples as well as in Korea, Japan and Tibet was sixteen.
Several late sûtras contain the idea that the Buddha entrusted the
protection of his religion to four or sixteen disciples and bade them
not enter Nirvana but tarry until the advent of Maitreya. The
Ta-A-lo-han-nan-t'i-mi-to-lo-so-shuo-fa-chu-chi (Nanjio, 1466) is an
account of these sixteen disciples and of their spheres of influence.
The Buddha assigned to each a region within which it is his duty to
guard the faith. They will not pass from this life before the next
Buddha comes. Piṇḍola is the chief of them. Nothing is known of
the work cited except that it was translated in 654 by Hsüan Chuang,
who, according to Watters, used an earlier translation. As the Arhats
are Indian personalities, and their spheres are mapped out from the
point of view of Indian geography, there can be no doubt that we have
to do with an Indian idea, imported into Tibet as well as into China
where it became far more popular than it had ever been in India. The
two additional Arhats (who vary in different temples, whereas the
sixteen are fixed) appear to have been added during the T'ang dynasty
and, according to Watters, in imitation of a very select order of
merit instituted by the Emperor T'ai Tsung and comprising eighteen
persons. Chavannes and Lévi see in them spirits borrowed from the
popular pantheon.
Chinese ideas about the Lohans at the present day are very vague.
Their Indian origin has been forgotten and some of them have been
provided with Chinese biographies. (See Doré, p. 216.) One popular
story says that they were eighteen converted brigands.
In several large temples there are halls containing 500 images of
Arhats, which include many Chinese Emperors and one of them is often
pointed out as being Marco Polo. But this is very doubtful. See,
however, Hackmann, _Buddhismus_, p. 212.]
[Footnote 870: Generally they consist of Śâkya-muni and two
superhuman Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, such as O-mi-to (Amitâbha) and
Yo-shih-fo (Vaidûrya): Pi-lu-fo (Vairocana) and Lo-shih-fo (Lochana):
Wên-shu (Manjuś-ri) and P'u-hsien (Śamantabhadra). The common
European explanation that they are the Buddhas of the past, present
and future is not correct.]
[Footnote 871: [Chinese: ] and [Chinese: ]. For the importance of
Ti-tsang in popular Buddhism, which has perhaps been underestimated,
see Johnston, chap. VII.]
[Footnote 872: I speak of the Old Imperial Government which came to an
end in 1911.]
[Footnote 873: [Chinese: ]]
[Footnote 874: De Groot, _l.c._ p.51.]
[Footnote 875: See Kern's translation, especially pp. 379 and 385.]
[Footnote 876: See Nanjio, Nos. 138 and 139. The practice is not
entirely unknown in the legends of Pali Buddhism. In the Lokapaññatti,
a work existing in Burma but perhaps translated from the Sanskrit,
Asoka burns himself in honour of the Buddha, but is miraculously
preserved. See _B.E.F.E.O._ 1904, pp. 421 and 427.]
[Footnote 877: See I-Tsing, _Records of the Buddhist Religion_, trans.
Takakusu, pp. 195 ff., and for Tibet, Waddell, _Buddhism of Tibet_, p.
178, note 3, from which it appears that it is only in Eastern Tibet
and probably under Chinese influence that branding is in vogue. For
apparent instances in Central Asian art, see Grünwedel, _Budd.
Kultst._ p. 23, note 1.]
[Footnote 878: Branding is common in many Hindu sects, especially the
Mâdhvas, but is reprobated by others.]
[Footnote 879: It is condemned as part of the superstition of Buddhism
in a memorial of Han Yü, 819 A.D.]
[Footnote 880: See those cited by De Groot, _l.c_. p. 228, and the
article of MacGowan (_Chinese Recorder_, 1888) there referred to. See
also Hackmann, _Buddhism as a Religion_, p. 228. Chinese sentiment
often approves suicide, for instance, if committed by widows or the
adherents of defeated princes. For a Confucian instance, see Johnston,
p. 341.]
[Footnote 881: See _e.g._ Du Bose, _The Dragon, Image and Demon_, p.
265. I have never seen such practices myself. See also _Paraphrase of
the Sacred Edict_, VII. 8.]
[Footnote 882: [Chinese: ] This word, which has no derivation in
Chinese, is thought to be a corruption of some vernacular form of the
Sanskrit Upâdhyâya current in Central Asia. See I-tsing, transl.
Takakusu, p. 118. Upâdhyâya became Vajjha (as is shown by the modern
Indian forms Ojha or Jha and Tamil Vâddyar). See Bloch in
_Indo-Germanischen Forschungen_, vol. XXV. 1909, p. 239. Vajjha might
become in Chinese Ho-sho or Ho-shang for Ho sometimes represents the
Indian syllable _va_. See Julien, _Méthode_, p. 109, and Eitel,
_Handbook of Chinese Buddhism_, p. 195.]
[Footnote 883: For details see Hackmann in _T'oung Pao_, 1908.]
[Footnote 884: They apparently correspond to the monastic lay servants
or "pure men" described by I-Ching, chap. XXXII, as living as
Nâlanda.]
[Footnote 885: _A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese_, pp.
339 ff.]
[Footnote 886: The abbot and several upper priests wear robes, which
are generally red and gold, during the service. The abbot also carries
a sort of sceptre. The vestments of the clergy are said to be derived
from the robes of honour which used to be given to them when they
appeared at Court.]
[Footnote 887: II. 16. Cf. the rituals in De la Vallée Poussin's
_Bouddhisme et Matériaux_, pp. 214 ff. Târanâtha frequently mentions
burnt offerings as part of worship in medieval Magadha.]
[Footnote 888: I do not refer to the practice of turning disused
temples into schools which is frequent. In some monasteries the monks,
while retaining possession, have themselves opened schools.]
[Footnote 889: It is not clear to me what is really meant by the
_birthdays_ of beings like Maitreya and Amitâbha.]
[Footnote 890: _Actes du Sixième Congres des Orientalistes_, Leide,
1883, sec. IV. pp. 1-120.]
[Footnote 891: _E.g._ in Dipavamsa, XIII; Mahâv. XIV. Mahinda is
represented as converting Ceylon by accounts of the terrors of the
next world.]
[Footnote 892: The merit of good deeds can be similarly utilized. The
surviving relatives feed the poor or buy and maintain for the rest of
its life an animal destined to slaughter. The merit then goes to the
deceased.]
[Footnote 893: It may possibly be traceable to Manichæism which taught
that souls are transferred from one sphere to another by a sort of
cosmic water wheel. See Cumont's article, "La roue à puiser les âmes
du Manichéisme" in _Rev. de l'Hist, des Religions_, 1915, p. 384.
Chavannes and Pelliot have shown that traces of Manichæism lingered
long in Fu-Kien. The metaphor of the endless chain of buckets is also
found in the Yüan Jên Lun.]
[Footnote 894: See Francke, "Ein Buddhistischer Reformversuch in
China," _T'oung Pao_, 1909, pp. 567-602.]