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In individual apartments also of a monastery, priests bathe an image every day so carefully that no ceremony is omitted. Now as to the flowers, any sort, either from trees or from plants, may be used as offer- ing. Fragrant flowers blossom continually in all seasons, and there are many people who sell them in the streets. In China, for instance, during summer and autumn, pinks and lotus-flowers flourish here and there; in spring the ‘ golden thorns,’ peaches, and apricots blossom everywhere. The althea, pomegranate, red cherry, and plum flower one after another in season. The garden hollyhock, the fragrant grass in the forest and such like must, be picked, brought in, and arranged, ready to be offered. They ought not to be left in the orchards to be simply looked at from afar, which appears to be allied to the Chinese Hing (Karma). The Pali equivalent is Bhattuddesako,’ To Beal, the sound ‘ Wei-na’ seems to have been only a guide in finding out the originale. The Chinese rendering, ‘ Chi-sse,’ i. e. ‘he who knows things,’ does not well support Beal’s conjecture, because ‘ Chi-sse’ is a common name for an officer in charge. This term Karma-dana similarly puzzled some of the Chinese priests. The commentator, Jiun Kasyapa, mentions that some have taken Wei-na as pure Sanskrit, end explained it by ‘keeping the Order (Vinayin ?), or ‘pleasing the Sangha’ (Venya ?), It is difficult to admit any explanation but T-tsing’s, i.e. Wei-na stands for Karma-dana, which is practically the same as those of Julien and the com- mentator Kasyapa. Besides, Vena is very un-Buddhistic to range with Vihara- pala or Vihdrasv4min. “150 A RECORD OF BUDDHIST PRACTICES. XXXL But sometimes in the winter one may not be able to procure flowers at all; fn’ this case one may make artificial flowers by cutting silks and anointing them with good scents, and may offer these before the image of the Buddha. This is a very good way. Copper images, whether large or small, are to be brightened by rubbing them with fine ashes or brick-powder, and pouring pure water over them, until they become perfectly clear and beautiful like a mirror. A large image must be washed in the middle and the end of a month by the whole assembly of priests, and a small one every day, if possible, by individual priests. By so doing, one may gain greatgmerit at small expenditure. If one take up with two fingers the water with which an image -has been washed, and drop it on the head, it is called the ‘water of good omen’ by ‘which one may wish for good luck, One should not smell the flowers that have been offered to an image, nor should one trample on them even when taken off, but.put them aside in a clean place. It should never happen that a priest should neglect to wash the holy image during his whole life, and Ae is to be blamed if he do not even care to offer those beautiful flowers which are to be found everywhere in the fields. He must not be inactive and remiss, resting and simply looking at the gardens and pond, avoiding the trouble of picking flowers and bathing images, nor should he lazily finish his worship by simply opening the hall and doing general homage. If such be the case, the successive line of teacher and pupil will be broken, and the method of worship will not be according to authority. The priests and the laymen in India make Kaityas or images with earth, or impress the Buddha’s image on silk or paper, and worship it with offerings wherever they go. Sometimes they build Stdpas of the Buddha by making a pile and surrounding it with bricks. They sometimes form these Stipas in lonely fields, and leave them to fall in ruins. Any one may thus employ himself in making the objects for worship. Again, when the people make images and Kaityas which consist of gold, silver, copper, iron, earth, lacquer, bricks, and stone, or when they heap up the snowy sand (lit. sand-snow), they put in the images or Kaityas two” kinds of Sartras. 1. The relics of the Great Teacher. 2. The Gath of the Chain of Causation. RULES OF DECORUM. I51 The Gatha is as follows :— 1+ All things (Dharmas) arise from a cause. The Tathagata has explained the cause, This cause of things has been finally destroyed; Such is the teaching of the Great Sramava (the Buddha)” If we put these two in the images or Kaityas, the blessings derived from them aré abundgiat: -This is the reason why the Satras ® praise in para- bles the merit @fymaking images or Xaityas as unspeakable. Even if a-mfan make an image as small as a grain of barley, or a Kaitya the size of a@mall jujube, placing on it a round figure, or.a staff like a small pin, a special cause for good birth is obtained thereby, and will be as limitless as the seven seas, and good rewards will last as long as the coming four births. The detailed account of this matter is found in the separate Sitras 8. Teachers and others should always be attentive to this point. The washing of the holy image is a meritorious deed which leads to a 1 Kasyapa gives the original as follows :— ‘Ye dharma hetuprabhavastesh4m hetum tathagata uvata | Tesham &a yo nirodha evamvad? mahdsramanah w’ This famous stanza is given in Burnouf’s Lotus, P. §22, and is identical with our verse here. The PAli version is given in Mahavagga I, 23, 5 and 10; and it is called ‘ Dhammapariydya ’:— : “Ye dhamma hetuppabhava tesam hetum tathagato &ha - Tesa® ka yo nirodho evamvadt mah&samano,’ Professors Oldenberg and Rhys Davids translate as follows :-— ‘Of all objects which proceed from a cause, the Tathagata has explained the cause, and he has explained their cessation also; this is the Doctrine of the Great Samana.’ The translators add that this stanza doubtless alludes to the formula of the twelve Nidanas, which explains the origination and cessation of what are called here ‘Dhamma hetuppabhava.’. See Mahavagga I, 23, 5, 5S. B. E., vol, xiii, Instances of this stanza being buried or carved on the stone in the StOpa are seen in Burnouf’s note (Lotus, Pp. §22). ? See below. * The Sftras which recommend the making of the images, &c., are numerous, and Kasyapa gives six of them (e.g. Nanjio, No. 52 3). 152 A RECORD OF BUDDHIST PRACTICES, XXXL. meeting with the Buddha in every birth, and the offering of incense and flowers is a cause of riches and joy in every life to come. Do it yourself, and teach others to do the same, then:you will gain immeasur- able blessings. In the eighth day of the fourth month?, I saw somewhere in China several priests or laymen bringing out an image to the roadside; they washed the image properly, but did not know how to rub it, and left it to be dried by the wind and sun, without regard to the prdper rules, CHAPTER XXXII* THE CEREMONY OF CHANTING.. THE custom of worshipping the Buddha by repeating his names has been known in the Divine Land (China) as it has been handed down (and practised) from olden times, but the custom of praising the Buddha by reciting his virtues has not been in practice. (The latter is more im- portant than the former), because, in fact, to hear his names only does not help us to realise 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 perform the worship of a Kaitya * and the ordinary service late in the afternoon or at the evening twilight. All the assembled priests come out of the gate of their monastery, and walk three times round a Sttipa, offering incense and flowers. They all kneel down, and one of them who sings well begins to chant hymns describing the virtues of the Great Teacher with a melodious, pure, and sonorous voice, and continues to sing ten or twenty slokas. They in succession return to the place in the monastery where they usually assemble. 1 This day is kept up as the Buddha’s birthday. The custom of bathing the Buddha still exists in Japan. 2 A French translation by M. Fujishima, a Japanese priest, will be found in the Journal Asiatique (Nov.—Dec.), 1888, p. 416. 8 The text has ‘ Kaitya-vandana,’ Kaitya being the name of the sacred build- ings containing relics of the Buddha or saints. For J-tsing’s explanation of this word, see chap. xxv, p. 121 (there, Ait = adj.), and for the names of the eight Xaityas of the Buddha, see chap. xx, p. 108. THE CEREMONY OF CHANTING. 153: When all of them have sat down, a Sitra-reciter, mounting the Lion- seat (Simhdsana), reads a short Stra. 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 Asvaghosha. The first part containing ten slokas consists of a hymn in praise of the three ‘ Honour- able Ones*’ (Triratna). The second part is a selection from some scriptures consi8ting 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 slokas, being prayers that express the wish t® bring one’s go6d merit to maturity. ” These three sections follow oné another consecutively, from which its name—the Three-part Service—is derived. When this is ended, all the assembled priests exclaim ‘Subhashita!’ that is, ‘well-spoken, from su = well, and bhashita = spoken*, By such words the scriptures are extolled as excellent. They sometimes exclaim ‘Sadhu‘!’ signifying ‘well done!’ instead of the other. After the Sdtra-reciter has descended, the head priest rising bows to the Lion-seat. That done, he salutes the seats of the saints 5, and then * Lit. the ‘ thrice-opened serviée.’ * The ‘Three Honourable’ Ones’ are not Amitabha, Avalokitesvara, and Mahasthama, as M. Fujishima supposed (p.