CHINA--CONTINUED.
And yonder by Nankin, behold!
The Tower of Porcelain, strange and old,
Uplifting to the astonished skies
Its nine-fold painted balconies,
With balustrades of twining leaves,
And roofs of tile, beneath whose eaves
Hang porcelain bells that all the time
Ring with a soft, melodious chime;
While the whole fabric is ablaze
With varied tints, all fused in one
Great mass of color, like a maze
Of flowers illumined by the sun.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.
Fo (or Fuh) is the imperfect rendering of Buddha into the Chinese
language, as the initial sound of B is almost unknown in Chinese.
Buddhist missionaries visited China as early as 250 B.C., and in the
second year before Christ a number of Buddhist sacred books were
presented to the Emperor of China by an ambassador of the Tochari
Tartars. But it did not receive official recognition and did not really
take root in China until about the year 67 A.D. In the year 61 the
Emperor Ming-ti saw in a dream the image of a foreign god entering his
palace. Impressed with the singular vision, he sent, at his brother’s
suggestion, an embassy to secure Buddhist images, books and teachers.
An Indian Buddhist priest, named Kashiap-Madanga, accompanied the
embassy on its return. He translated some of the Buddhist books into
Chinese. The religion spread rapidly after it received the imperial
favor. This it did the more readily as, with India-rubber-like
elasticity, Buddhism stretched itself to include the greater part of
the ancient Chinese faiths. Native Chinese became Buddhist monks about
the year 335 A.D. The Emperor Hiau Wu erected a pagoda in his palace at
Nankin in 381 A. D. The ancient Chinese historians say that about this
time large monasteries began to be established and that nine-tenths of
the common people bowed to the faith of the saint and sage of India.
In 405 A.D., Kumarajiva, an Indian Buddhist, translated the principal
Buddhist books into the Chinese. He was assisted by 800 priests. More
than 300 volumes were thus prepared.
[Illustration: CHINESE IMAGE OF BUDDHA.]
[Illustration: BRONZE LIONS.]
[Illustration: A CHINESE MANDARIN.]
At this time the celebrated Chinese traveler, Fa Hien, was collecting
sacred books and visiting sacred places in India. He went by land as
far as Ceylon, and returned from that island by sea after an absence of
fifteen years.
This journey furnishes an illustration of the intelligent earnestness
of the Chinese Buddhists of this period. From the years 420 A.D. to
451, the Buddhists suffered opposition on the part of the ruling
Tartar family of the Wei dynasty. In the year 526 A.D., the famous
Bodhidharma came to Canton. He was received with great honor at the
court of the Emperor of Southern China. The emperor said to him: “From
my accession to the throne, I have been incessantly building temples,
transcribing sacred books, and admitting new monks to take the vows.
How much merit may I be supposed to have accumulated?” The reply was:
“None.” The emperor: “And why no merit?” The patriarch: “All this is
but the insignificant effect of an imperfect cause not complete in
itself. It is the shadow that follows the substance, and is without
real existence.” The emperor: “Then what is true merit?” The patriarch:
“It consists in purity and enlightenment, depth and completeness,
and in being wrapped in thought while surrounded by vacancy and
stillness. Merit such as this cannot be sought by worldly means.”
The emperor: “Which is the most important of the holy doctrines?”
The patriarch: “Where all is emptiness, nothing can be called
‘holy’ (_shing_).” The emperor: “Who is he that thus replies to
me?” The patriarch: “I do not know.” The emperor--says the Buddhist
narrator--still remained unenlightened.
[Illustration: CHINESE SALE OF PRAYERS, CONDUCTED BY THE
PRIESTS.]
[Illustration: PORCELAIN TOWER AT NANKING, CHINA.]
Bodhidharma, not being satisfied with the result of his interview with
royalty, crossed the river Yang-tsze into the Wei kingdom and remained
at Lo-yang. Here he sat with his face to a wall for nine years. The
people called him the “Wall-gazing Brahmin.” When it was represented
to the emperor of the house of Liang, that the great teacher, who
possessed the precious heirloom of Shakya, the symbol of the hidden law
of Buddha, was lost to his kingdom, he repented and sent messengers to
invite him to return. They failed in their errand. The presence of the
Indian sage excited the more ardent Chinese Buddhists to make great
efforts to conquer the sensations. Thus one of them, we are told, said
to himself: “Formerly, for the sake of religion, men broke open their
bones and extracted the marrow, took blood from their arms to give to
the hungry, rolled their hair in the mud or threw themselves down a
precipice to feed a famishing tiger. What can I do?” Accordingly while
snow was falling, he exposed himself to it till it had risen above his
knees, when the patriarch observing him, asked him what he hoped to
gain by it. The young aspirant to the victory over self wept at the
question, and said: “I only desire that mercy may open a path to save
the whole race of mankind.” The patriarch replied, that such an act was
not worthy of comparison with the acts of the Buddhas. It required, he
told him, very little virtue or resolution. His disciple, stung with
the answer, took a sharp knife, severed his arm, and placed it before
the patriarch. The latter expressed his high approval of the deed, and
when after nine years’ absence he returned to India, he appointed the
disciple who had performed this strange act to succeed him as patriarch
in China.
PAGODAS.
The word Pagoda has been applied by French and Portuguese authors
to temples where images are worshiped and priests live, but English
writers confine the word to the high, tapering polygonal structures
seen in China, which are called _tours_ by the French. Etymologically,
the word signifies “house of idols,” or “abode of God,” being derived
from the Persian words _but_, an idol, and _kadah_, a house, a temple.
Some of the pagodas are built upon hill-tops and other places for the
purpose of securing the prosperity of the locality by the laws of
geomancy. These latter are not used for worshiping in.
Some authors use interchangeably the words dagaba and pagoda. Exactness
with reference to Oriental terms is very difficult to attain. The same
word is not unfrequently used among the natives themselves, to denote
different objects, and travelers frequently confound the terms and use
them confusedly. We aim at the highest precision. Dagabas are lofty,
tapering, cylindrical buildings, erected over a relic of Buddha, though
sometimes pagodas also are used for keeping the relics of Buddha. The
pagoda at Tung Cho, near Peking, has thirteen stories, and is 150 feet
high; its base is forty feet in diameter. It stands near the northern
wall of the city, and is the most conspicuous object to be seen for
many miles around the place. Once a year it is the custom, in some
cities, to illuminate the pagodas. A large number of paper lanterns
are used, each having a lamp or common candle in it. The priests hang
the lighted lanterns at each corner of each story of the pagoda. At
Nanking there stood, a short time since, a celebrated pagoda, called
the “Porcelain Tower.” This tower was of equal stories, the lower one
being 120 feet around. It rested upon a solid foundation of brick work,
ten feet high, up which a flight of twelve steps led to the tower. A
spiral staircase led to the top, which was 260 feet from the ground.
The body of the tower was of brick; this was encased with tiles of
glazed porcelain of green, red, yellow and white, and various other
colors. The stories had projecting roofs, which were covered with green
tiles, and seventy-two bells were suspended from each corner. These
bells were rung by the wind, and sent their tinkling tones down among
the busy crowds below. In the interior were hundreds of little gilded
images. The tower was commenced 1430 A.D., and finished in 1449 A.D. It
was totally destroyed by the Tae-Ping rebels about 1860.
CHINESE BUDDHIST TEMPLES.
The temples of the Buddhists, in China, are of varied construction.
Very many of them bear evidences of neglect and decay. In the
cities and their suburbs, along the highways, standing alone by the
roadside or on the hill-tops, are thousands of these edifices, called
joss-houses by foreigners, in which are idols of every description,
before which incense is burning. These temples are devoted to the
worship of various deities, as the goddess of sailors, the god of war,
the gods of special neighborhoods or occupations. Generally at the
entrance of the temple drums or bells are placed. These are struck by
the worshipers as they enter, either to call the attention of the gods
to the worship about to be begun, or to summon the attendant priests.
Elijah taunted the priests of Baal, when they gashed themselves before
their altar on Mount Carmel, as they shouted to the sun, as it rose
majestically in the heavens, calling him to come and consume their
offerings. He suggested that perhaps their god, Baal, was asleep, and
needed to be awakened by a noise, or that he might be away on a journey
and needed to be recalled. So the Chinese worshipers seem to deem it
necessary to arouse their gods to hear their prayers. On entering the
temple, the worshiper faces the idols, which are generally in a sitting
posture, on a platform about five feet from the floor. Guarding the
entrance, generally, there are two gigantic images standing, facing
each other. Sometimes, as in the temple of the Kushan Monastery, there
are four statues; these represent the ministers of Buddha. The first
has black eyes, and a fierce countenance, intended to strike awe to the
heart; he holds a huge, drawn sword in his hands; a horrible, black,
dwarfish figure crouches beneath his feet. The second is a merry
god, playing on a guitar. The third stands with an unfolded umbrella.
The fourth holds in one hand a struggling serpent, in the other a ball.
Generally, there are three images of Buddha, seated side by side, in a
sort of pavilion; these are called the “Three Precious Ones,”--Buddha
past, present and to come.
[Illustration: BEATING ON A TEMPLE DRUM TO ATTRACT THE GOD.]
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE “THREE PRECIOUS BUDDHAS,” AT SAN
FRANCISCO. CAL.]
[Illustration: THE “THREE PRECIOUS BUDDHAS.”]
The Chinese who have come to America have brought with them their
idolatries, so that heathen temples have been opened for worship of
idols, even in this Christian land. As most of these Chinese are in San
Francisco, the largest Buddhist temple in America is to be found there.
The three idols of Buddha are seated under a lacquered canopy. Before
them is a sort of altar, on which is a vessel of ashes, in which the
incense-sticks are placed. Beside this is a shallow dish, filled with
pebbles and water, and the narcissus (daffodil) plant growing in it. In
front of the altar stands a large Chinese table, on which five bronze
vases are placed--the end ones for flowers, the central for the symbols
of the three Buddhas, and the others for candles. The central figure
of the three idols represents _the_ Buddha, the Intelligence;
the one to his right is Dharma, the Law, and the other is Sangha,
the Priesthood. Beside the main pavilion is the shrine of Kwan-Yin,
the goddess of mercy and the queen of Heaven. The idols in Chinese
temples range from six to twelve feet high, and are mostly made of
wood, covered with gilt. Sometimes they are of bronze, wood or stucco,
gilded, and of gigantic size. Crowds of secondary divinities are ranged
round the walls of the temples. The worship in the temples is very
simple. The worshiper first presents an offering of money or rice, then
prostrates himself on his mat, before the idols, rubbing the palms of
his hands together, telling his beads and mumbling his prayers. The
people are coming and going all the day long, for the temples are never
shut.
In Peking is a temple called the “Temple of the Thousand Lamas.”
In Canton is the “Temple of the Five Hundred Gods.” These are the
“Arhans,” or scholars of Buddha. As a temple, it is much like all the
other Chinese temples, but it differs from all in the images of the
deified disciples of Buddha. These are life-size, sitting on their
heels, in Oriental style, each exhibiting the wonderful act for which
he has been deified. The eyes of one are perpetually turned to Heaven,
and are supposed never to have winked. Another held his hand above
his head until it has become immovable. Another has held his hand out
so steadily and softly that a bird has come and built its nest in it.
Another became so holy that Buddha opened his breast and entered his
heart. They are made of clay, and gilded. Before each is a vessel of
ashes for the joss-sticks, and vases for flowers. This is one of the
most interesting places in Canton, and is one of the temples most
visited by foreigners.
[Illustration: WORSHIP OF BUDDHA IN THE TEMPLE OF THE
THOUSAND LAMAS, PEKING, CHINA.
One of the most splendid temples, and occupied by one of the
most devout assemblages of all heathendom.]
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF KWAN YIN, QUEEN OF HEAVEN, AT
CANTON, CHINA.]
THE WORSHIP OF KWAN-YIN.
Kwan-Yin, the goddess of mercy, is worshiped with great pomp on the
nineteenth day of the second month, which is the anniversary of her
birth, and also on the anniversaries of her death and canonization. The
story of the career of this canonized Buddhist nun is full of marvels,
and it is scarcely possible to enter her temples without finding women
and children in them. On her anniversaries, women resort to them in
large numbers, and light incense-sticks at the sacred lamp above the
altar. They carry the burning incense to their homes, as the smoke is
supposed to possess a purifying effect. Other votaries, who have sick
relatives, expose tea to the smoke, which rises in clouds from the
incense burning on the altar. On their return home they administer the
tea to the sick. Kwan-Yin is also much worshiped during the Tsing-Ming,
or Worshiping of Graves, as she is supposed to extend her protecting
care over the souls of departed ones. Paper representations of clothes,
houses, servants and sedan chairs, fashioned of the same material,
are at such a season burnt in front of her altars. The goddess is
supposed to convey these offerings to the departed spirits for whom
they are intended. The ceremony is usually performed at midnight. At
this season, also, ladies resort to her temples to pray for afflicted
husbands or children. The form of worship observed on such occasions is
conducted by Buddhist priests. Two tables are placed, about six feet
apart, in front of the idol, and fruits and flowers are arranged upon
them as offerings. The ladies sit or kneel near the tables, and the
priests march round them to slow music. The music quickens, and at last
the priests are found careering round the tables. This absurd service
is brought to a close by the priests rushing wildly toward the ladies,
and in most extravagant terms tendering them their congratulations.
[Illustration: COLOSSAL GILDED BUDDHA--Fifty feet high;
carved from the solid rock.]
[Illustration: ALTAR OF A CHINESE PAGODA, NEAR THE KIN-CHA
RIVER, WESTERN CHINA.]
The temples in honor of the Goddess of Mercy are very numerous
throughout the empire. In the most important of these, at Canton,
were at one time several ornaments of great value, which had been
presented to the goddess by the Emperor Taou-kwang, in return for
blessings which she was supposed to have conferred on the southern
portion of the empire. One of these was a jade-stone ornament of great
value, which was presented in acknowledgment of a victory which the
goddess was supposed to have given to the Chinese troops over the
British barbarians, as they are called, in 1841.
THE WORSHIP OF KUM-FA.
Another goddess who is popular with Chinese wives is Kum-Fa, the
tutelary goddess of women and children. A native of Canton, she
flourished during the reign of Ching-hwa, who ascended the throne A.D.
1465. When a girl of tender years, she was a constant and regular
visitor to all the temples in her immediate neighborhood. She is said
to have had the power of communing with the spirits of the departed.
Becoming at length tired of the world, she committed suicide by
drowning. In course of time, her body rose to the surface of the
water, and when it was taken out the air became impregnated with
sweet-smelling odors. It was placed in a coffin, and a sandal-wood
statue or idol of Kum-Fa rose apparently from the bed of the river,
and remained stationary. A temple was erected for the image, but an
iconoclast deliberately destroyed it by fire, and it is now replaced
by a clay figure. Her principal temple stands on the south side of the
river at Canton. Her votaries are mostly wives who desire to become
mothers. The list of the duties which her ministering attendants divide
among them is a complete summary of the art of rearing children. One is
considered to be the guardian of children suffering from small-pox. The
second presides over the ablutions of infants. The third superintends
the feeding of new-born babes and young children. The fourth is the
especial patroness of male infants. The fifth attends to the careful
preparation of infants’ food. The sixth watches over women laboring
with child. It is in the power of the seventh to bestow upon women
who have conceived, male or female children, in answer to their
prayers. The eighth can bless women with male offspring. The ninth
makes children merry and joyful. The tenth superintends the cutting of
the umbilical cord. The eleventh causes women to conceive. It is the
privilege of the twelfth to make children smile. The thirteenth has the
care of infants until they are able to walk. The fourteenth teaches
them to do so. It is the calling of the fifteenth to teach them how to
suck. The sixteenth watches over unborn babes. On the seventeenth, it
devolves to see that their bodies are, immediately before birth, free
from sores or ulcers. The eighteenth is regarded as the special
patroness of female infants. To impart strength to infants is the duty
of the nineteenth; and the twentieth is named Fo-shee-fa-fu-yan.
[Illustration: THE GODDESS MA-CHU AND HER ASSISTANTS.]
[Illustration: THIRTEEN-STORIED PAGODA AT TUNG-CHO, CHINA.]
IDOLS.
[Illustration: CHINESE IDOL.]
[Illustration: CHINESE IDOL.]
[Illustration: CHINESE IDOL.]
In some of the temples the idols are very numerous, and in Yang-chow
there is one in which there are said to be no fewer than 10,000. The
idols, which are very diminutive, are contained in one large hall, and
in their fanciful, but orderly arrangement, present a very singular
appearance. In the centre of the hall stands a pavilion of wood, most
elaborately carved, under which is placed a large idol of Buddha. The
pavilion, within and without, is literally studded with small idols,
which are different representations of the same deity. On each of the
four sides of the hall are small brackets, supporting idols of Buddha;
and a still larger number of these are placed on the beams and pillars
of the vaulted roof. Two are full-sized figures of the sleeping Buddha.
At Peking and Canton there are halls precisely similar. The hall of
10,000 idols, at Canton, is, like the monastery of which it forms a
part, in a most ruinous state, and the majority of the idols with which
its walls were at one time adorned have disappeared in ways not now
understood.
In the prefecture of Shu-hing, where marble quarries abound, idols are
in many cases made of that material. At Pun-new-chan, a market-town
on the banks of the Grand Canal, one sees in a ruined monastery three
large iron idols, representing the Past, Present and Future Buddhas.
There are in certain temples stone, earthenware and porcelain figures.
The three large idols in the Tai-fan monastery, at Canton, are said to
be made of copper, and many of the small idols of Buddha are also made
of the same material. Buddha is represented in a variety of postures,
and some of the figures have smiling countenances, whilst others appear
decidedly sorrowful.
THE TEMPLE OF HORRORS.
[Illustration: CHINESE BUDDHIST’S IDEA OF HELL.]
[Illustration: A CHINESE PICTURE OF THE GODDESS OF MERCY
DELIVERING A SOUL FROM PURGATORY BY THE SACRED LOTUS-FLOWER.]
Near the Temple of the Five Hundred Gods is the “Temple of Horrors,”
so called by foreigners, where are ten cells, in which are exhibited
the various pains of the Buddhist purgatory. The actual scenes are
exhibited in clay figures, about two-thirds life-size. The first cell,
about ten feet square, which is the measurement of each of them, is
the hall of judgment, where the poor wretches are tried. Then comes one
chamber where a man is receiving from the demons a terrible whipping,
being stretched on the ground face downward, by two men, while a
third is beating him with a paddle. The next cell exhibits a criminal
fastened in a frame, head downward, and being sawn in two, lengthwise.
In the next, another is suffering the tortures of slow burning; another
is supposed to be sitting under a red-hot bell. In the next there are
cages, and some chained with a Chinese _cangue_; in another they
are being beheaded; and, in another, they are ground in a mill and
pounded in a mortar. In the next they are boiling a poor fellow in
oil; and, in the last, some poor wretches, for having been guilty of
eating beef, are being themselves slowly transformed into oxen. Several
figures in this cell present the various steps of this transformation.
In all these cells numerous figures of demons are looking on with
expressions of diabolical satisfaction, and, strange to say, around the
sides of each of the cells are ranged in scenic manner mountain and
hillside retreats, on which are seen smaller figures of the good and
saved, seeming to take an equal delight in witnessing the pains of the
unhappy ones who have missed of paradise. Notwithstanding all these
horrors, booths are rented out before all these cells, and a lively
traffic is carried on, and the priests themselves drive a large trade
in selling fans, sacrificial money, etc., which are to be burned for
the use of these suffering wretches.
But a Buddhist may be sent by the judges to purgatory without being
obliged to remain there. The living relations, if they but pay enough
to the priests, and beg often and long enough to persuade the priests
to pray to Kwan-Yin, the goddess of mercy, to deliver their dead
friends from purgatory, it will be accomplished, so say the priests,
by means of the sacred lotus-flowers. The clay images in many of the
“Temples of Horrors” are sometimes made so as to move their limbs and
jaws, when a string is pulled by some unseen person. Occasionally the
people meet in great crowds for the purpose of worshiping Kwan-Yin,
and beseeching her to deliver from the ten departments of hell those
who have no friends to intercede for them; then a wholesale delivery
is supposed to take place. The priests are greatly enriched at such
seasons, and therefore these occasions are numerous.
MONASTERIES.
The monasteries are often embosomed among the hills, and surrounded
by groves of bamboo and other trees. These are sometimes in the
neighborhood of crowded cities; at other times, away in the lonely
wilds of the mountains. They are generally used as temples, as well as
dwellings for the priests. The monasteries have kitchens, eating-rooms,
sleeping apartments and libraries. Most of the larger monasteries own
land, or other property, from which annual rent, payable in crops or
money, is received. In connection with some of these monasteries are
large bells. These have no tongues, but are struck on the outside by
a ponderous swinging beam. In some few cases the sound of the bell is
not suffered to cease; relays of priests keep it always ringing. In
the monasteries generally, morning worship is held before daylight,
and evening worship about five o’clock in the afternoon. The service
lasts from an hour to an hour and a half. All the priests join in it.
The service consists, principally, of a chant or recitation of passages
from the Buddhist sacred books, the Sanskrit prayers in which have been
transliterated in Chinese characters. This is accompanied, not by
the music of organs, but by one or two of the priests beating the time
on a hollow “wooden fish.” The chant is impressive, though monotonous.
Often they move in slow processions about the room, chanting as they
march, and bowing when they pass and re-pass the image of Buddha.
[Illustration: MONUMENT OF A BUDDHIST LAMA, NEAR PEKING,
CHINA.]
In the monasteries great attention is paid to comfort. There are rooms
for the reception of officers, for the common people, study rooms and
the room for daily worship; in addition, a place is sometimes provided
for keeping living animals. These are not kept for food, but are
donated by devotees who send them there. It is a part of the Buddhist
faith not to kill any living creature, because, if one kills or injures
a horse, or any other animal, he may be inflicting suffering on his
mother, or some other friend. For the same reason, the Buddhist priests
of China sometimes take care of sick and wounded animals. No animal is
put to death, but permitted to die a natural death, and then is buried.
When you tell the priests that the air, water, vegetables or grain they
eat are full of tiny, living animals, and when you try to show them by
the help of the microscope, they refuse to believe that they are really
animals having organic life. The Chinese dislike the Buddhist priests,
because they disown the family relation, and yet they patronize them
and follow their teachings with an unquestioning faith and an implicit
obedience.
[Illustration: PRIEST AT A PRAYING-WHEEL.]
A MONK’S MONUMENT.
[Illustration: CHINESE BONZE, OR PRIEST.]
Within the grounds of an old Buddhist temple, about half a mile from
Peking, is a magnificent marble monument. A hundred years ago, or more,
the Teshu Lama of Thibet, a man of great sanctity, died. He died of
the small-pox. While his body was embalmed and sent back to Thibet,
over his clothing was built this great mausoleum. It is built of
beautiful marble, and from the base of the terrace to the large gilt
ball on the top is about ninety feet in height. Scenes from the life
of this Lama, distinguished for his piety and devotion, are sculptured
in _bas-relief_ on the monument. These include his birth, his
conversion to the Buddhist religion, his teaching his disciples and
his death. The carving is executed by the Chinese, with a high degree
of artistic taste and skill. On the top of the monument is a neat
marble urn, and on this a lotus-flower and a gilded marble globe. Not
only Chinese Buddhists, but even the Thibetans, greatly venerate this
monument. Often they may be seen measuring their length on the ground,
and in this way proceeding entirely around the monument.
CHINESE BUDDHIST BONZES.
The priests often go in companies of thirty and forty, dressed in
loose, yellow robes of cotton or silk, with a wide collar, with beads
around their necks, begging for the support of their monasteries. The
people will give them rice, or oil, or, perhaps, “cash,” which is the
name of the common round Chinese coin, having a square hole in the
centre. The priests shave the hair from their heads, and often spots
on their heads are burnt with coals of fire so that the hair will
never grow again; this is a badge of their profession. They never
marry, and they leave their homes forever. They never even sleep in
dwelling-houses with other people. They make no friendships, but shut
themselves off from the rest of mankind. They profess to have given up
the world and all its pleasures. They pass their time in chanting from
the Buddhist sacred books. They are employed in private families to
pray for the sick and dying, or for the dead, for which they are paid.
The ranks of the priests are recruited by buying boys who are trained
for the priesthood. Often, mandarins tired of business, or shop-keepers
unsuccessful in trade, or scholars failing to pass the examinations,
will enter the monasteries and become monks, or, perhaps, priests.
There are often priests who retire from the world altogether, for a
time; who receive their food through a hole in the wall of their cells.
These profess to give themselves entirely and only to meditation, and
so hope to become Buddhas when they die. The bodies of the priests are
usually burned with great ceremony and are not buried as is the custom
prevalent with us.
BUDDHIST DEVOTEES.
Many Buddhist devotees seek to subdue the flesh by inflicting painful
severities on their bodies. One will meet, frequently, a company of
priests, one of whom will pull up the sleeve of his coat and uncovering
an arm without a hand, beg for alms, assuring you that he had, by a
slow process, burned his hand to the stump, as an atonement for his
sins and as a recommendation for his promotion at some future time to
the state of Buddha-hood. At Peking a priest will often be seen sitting
in a sedan chair, the interior of which is thickly studded with sharp
nails and spikes, so that he can neither move nor sleep. He informs
those who stand round his penitential chair that the nails acquire a
heavenly virtue in proportion to the misery which they cause him, and
that he is prepared to sell them for a fair price each, as antidotes
against evil. He assures them that he had resolved to remain in the
sedan chair until every nail has been sold.
At Tien-tsin there formerly lived a priest who had passed through his
cheek a sharp skewer, to the end of which he had attached a chain. To
relieve him of its weight, some little boys held up the chain--an act
which was, of course, regarded as very meritorious. Sometimes these
devotees perform pilgrimages of penance to distant shrines, traveling
hundreds of miles on foot. It is remarkable that the Buddhists should
subject themselves to such self-torture, as Buddha himself, on one
occasion, preached a most powerful sermon against self-torture and all
such follies.
CEREMONY OF THE WATER-LAMPS.
Doolittle, in his work on China, says: Frequently a large number
of small and cheap earthen vessels, shaped somewhat like bowls, is
provided. A preparation of pitch and some other inflammable material,
or some oil, or a candle, is put in each. Around the top of the outside
of each are fastened paper imitations of lotus-flowers or some other
pretty plant. Early in the evening, these vessels are carried in a
procession of priests from the place where the principal ceremonies are
performed to the edge of the nearest running water, where, the pitch or
oil having been lighted, the vessels are placed carefully on the water
and allowed to float away. The object of this is explained to be, to
afford lights for the spirits that come or go by water. The priests
coming to the water and going from it, on this occasion chant their
classics, and clap their cymbals together, walking along slowly and in
single file. This ceremony is called _letting go the water-lamps_.
[Illustration: LETTING GO THE WATER-LAMPS.]
THE DO-NOTHING SECT OF REFORMED BUDDHISTS.
For about two hundred years there has existed a sect in China which
bears quite a close resemblance to Buddhism, and yet differs widely
from this faith in that it opposes idolatry. They are called the
Wu-Wei-Kiau, or “The Do-nothing Sect.” Their central doctrine seems
to be that religion does not consist in outward ordinances and
ceremonies, but in quiet meditation. They have temples but no idols.
In a discussion with some priests, who had brought a huge brass Buddha
to the court of the king, Lo-tsu, the founder of this sect, said: “A
brazen Buddha melts, and a wooden Buddha burns, when exposed to fire.
An earthen Buddha cannot save itself from water. It cannot save itself,
then how can it save me? In every particle of dust there is a kingdom
ruled by Buddha. In every temple the king of the law resides. The
mountains, the rivers, and the great earth form Buddha’s image. Why,
then, carve or mould an image?”
This sect worships, in addition to Buddha, a goddess called the Kin-mu,
or “golden mother.” She is believed to protect from dangers, from
sickness and from the miseries of the unseen world. This sect eat only
vegetables.
BOOLDO, THE BUDDHISM OF THE COREANS.
Corea is a country lying between China and Japan. Buddhism entered
it in 372 A.D., from China. The Coreans have two names for God; one,
a native name, Hannonim, meaning the Heavenly One; the other, the
Chinese name, Shang-te. Buddhism is called Booldo in Corea. The priests
or monks, called Joong, are very numerous; they are said to form
one-fourth of the whole male population. Their principal images are of
brass, the secondary ones of carved stone; they have none of clay. The
priests dress in black or gray, while the rest of the people generally
dress in white. They use rosaries. Confucius is worshiped twice a year
by the magistrate of each city in Corea. There are two very popular
gods--belonging to the old religion that existed in Corea before
Buddhism was introduced--they are the god of the mountains and the god
of rain. The Buddhists have four sects in Corea. In their doctrines
and general worship there is but little difference between the Corean
and the Chinese Buddhists. These few notices of Buddhism in Corea must
be taken with caution, for our information respecting that secluded
country is too imperfect to enable us to describe it fully or with
confidence.