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Woodwara, “ Pictures of Buddhist Ceylon” — CHAPTER XXIV THE CEREMONY OF CHANTING The custom of worshipping the Buddha by repeat- ing his names has been known in the Divine Land (China) as it has been handed down (and practised ) frow olden times, but the custom of praising the Bud- dha by reciting his virtues has not been in practice. (The latter is more important than the former), because, in fact, to hear his names only does not help us to real- ise the superiority of his wisdom; whilst in reciting his virtues in descriptive ,hymns, we may understand how great his virtues are./ In the West (India) priests per- form the worship of a Caitya and the ordinary service late in the afternoon or at the evening twilight. All the assembled priests come out of the gate of their 96 BUDDHISM IN ENGLISH monastery, and walk three times round a Stiipa, offer- ing incense and flowers. They all kneel down, and one of them who sings well begins to chant hymns de- scribing the virtues of the Great Teacher with a melodious, pure, and sonorous voice, and continues to sing ten or twenty clokas. They in succession return to the place in the monastery where they usually assemble. When all of them have sat down, a Sitra-reciter, mounting the Lion-seat ( Simhasana), reads a short Siitra. The Lion- seat of well-proportioned dimensions is placed near the head priest. Among the scriptures which are to be read on such an occasion the ‘Service in three parts’ is often used. This is a selection by the venerable Acvaghosa. The first part containing ten clokas con- sists of a hymn in praise of the Three ‘Honourable Ones’ (Triratna). The second part is a selection from some scriptures consisting of the Buddha’s words. After the hymn, and after reading the words of the Buddha, there is an additional hymn, as the third part of the service, of more than ten clokas, being prayers that express the wish to bring one’s good merit to ma- turity. These three sections follow one another consecutively , from which its name—the Three-part Service — is de- rived. When this is ended, all the assembled priests exclaim ‘Subhasita!’ that is, ‘well spoken,’ from su= well, and bhasita =sporken. By such words the scriptures are extolled as excellent. They sometimes exclaim THE SEREMONY OF CHANTING 97 ‘Sadhu!’ signifying ‘well done!’ instead of the other. After the Stitra-reciter has descended, the head priest rising bows to the Lion-seat. That done, he salutes the seats of the saints, and then he returns to his own. Now the priest second in rank rising salutes them in the same manner as the first, and afterwards bows to the head priest. When he has returned to his own seat, the priest third in rank performs the same ceremonies, and in the same manner do all the priests successively. But if a great crowd be present, after three or five persons have performed the above ceremony, the remaining priests salute the assembly at one and the same time, after which they retire at pleasure./ The above is a de- scription of the rites practised by ‘the priests in Tamralipti in the Eastern Aryadeca(E. India). In the Nalanda monastery the number of priests is immense, and exceeds three thousand; it is difficult to assemble so many together in one place. There are eight halls and three hundred apartments in this monas- tery. The worship can only take place separately, as most convenient to each member. Thus, it is customary to send out, every day, one precentor to go round from place to place chanting hymns, being preceded by monas- tic/lay servants and children carrying with them incense and flowers, He goes from one hall to another, and 98 BUDDHISM IN ENGLISH in each he chants the service, every time three or five clokas in a high tone, and the sound is heard all around. At twilight he finishes this duty. This precentor generally is presented by the monastery with some special gift. In addition there are some who, sitting alone, facing the shrine, praise the Buddha in their heart. There are others who, going to the temple, (in a small party ) kneel side by side with their bodies up- right, and, putting their hands on the ground, touch it with their heads, and thus perform the Threefold Salu- tation. These are the ceremonies of worship adopted in the West (i.e. in India). Old and infirm priests are allowed to use small mats whilist worshipping. Though, (in China), the hymns in praise of the Buddha have long existed, yet the manner of using them for a practi- cal purpose is somewhat different from that adopted in India. The words which begin with ‘Praise be to the signs of the Buddha,’ and are used when worshipping the Buddha (in China), should be intoned in a long monotonous note, and the rule is to proceed thus for ten or twenty clokas at one time. Further, Gathas such as the one beginning with, ‘O Tathagata!’ are really hymns in praise of the Buddha. It is true that, when the note is much lengthened, it is difficult to understand the meaning of the hymn sung. <A delightful thing it is, however, to hear a skilful person recite ‘The Hymn in one hundred and LAMASERIES OF AMDO 99 fifty verses,’ ‘that in four hundred verses,’ or any other song of praise at night, when the assembled priests re- main very quiet on a fasting night. In India numerous hymns of praise to be sung at worship have been most carefully handed down, for every talented man of letters has praised in verse whatever person he deemed most worthy of worship. —J. Takafusu,“ A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Praciised in India and Malay Archipelago— CHAPTER XXV LAMASERIES OF AMDO The lamaseries of Amdo nearly all belong to the Gélupa sect; which is called by the Chinese ‘“yellow- capped sect,” its followers wearing yellow hats in church ceremonies, to distinguish them from the followers of the old church, who have red ones. At the present time, dark red clothes are almost universally worn, except by the lamas of high degree, the reason for this change being that red does not soil as rapidly as yellow, and, moreover, there is no yellow to be had in Tibetan cloth, the stuff of which lamas’ clothes are made. Some of the principal lamaseries receive annual sub- 100 BUDDHISM IN ENGLISH sidies from the emperor; and in these all the lamas en- tered on the registers, comprising only those whose in- struction enables them to take part in the church cere- monies, receive an allowance of flour and grain, not enough, however, to feed them during the year. The gifts of the laity, of families and -friends, the pay they receive for the reading prayers for laymen, or rich lamas who prefer to perform their religious duties vicariously, and numerous other perquisites add very considerabiy to their revenues, The houses in which the lamas live be- long to them, and those who have large ones increase their means by renting a part of them to visitors or to other lamas. Another important source of revenue is money-lending, which is practised extensively by the lamas in Amdo, and, in fact, in all other countries where they are found; the usual rate of interest is two per cent. a month. In Amdo the lamaseries do not own as much property as they do in Tibet, but many of the lamas are quite wealthy; they are enterprising traders, and make frequent journeys to Peking, Urga, Lh’asa, or Hsi-an Fu, where they purchase all the articles most readily sold in their country. At the head of every lamasery is an abbot (#’ango), who is either sent from a large lamasery to fill this office or, in a few cases, is chosen by the lamas. Under him are acertain number of officers, of whom some act as magistrates and provosts or censors, others LAMASERIES OF AMDO 101 attend to the temporal affairs of the convent, and still others superintend the ceremonies. In a few of the larger lamaseries there is an official appointed by the Amban who assists the lama officials (seng wan) in enforcing discipline, but whose principal duty consists in odserving the spirit animating the convent, whether it is friendly or hostile to the Chinese government, and keeping the Amban duly posted. This official is styled Erh lao-yeh, or “the second gentleman” by the Chinese. The rules of the larger lamaseries are very strict, and, while crimes can usually be compounded by the _ payment of fines, the misdemeanors of the lower-class lamas are punished by whipping, solitary confinement, or expulsion. The ecclesiastical authorities have, even within the limits of China, power of life and death over the lamas of their convents; the civil authorities can not, or rather do not choose to, assail these prerogatives, and generally submit without demur to the decisions of the ecclesiastical courts. In nearly all the large convents there are certain dignitaries who do not take part in the administration nor in most of the ceremonies, but who, by their presence and superior sanctity, add to the fame of the establish- ments, and thus cause the laity to increase their offerings marvelously. There are forty-eight of these living saints, or rather incarnations of former saints, in Amdo, the Koko-nor, and the er thirty of them are Religion ’, Pen ahs 102 BUDDHISM IN ENGLISH from Kumbum, while only a very few are born in central Tibet. They are divided into three classes, accord- ing to their greater or lesser degree of holiness; the most holy of all resides in the great lamasery of Kuei-te, and, strange as it must appear, there is none at Kumbum. They are supposed to be in constant prayer for the welfare of the locality where they reside; and are fre- quently consulted by the iaity as to the success of any undertaking, for as fortune-tellers they are supposed to be ‘‘equaled by few, excelled by none.