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Hui-néng, or Ta-chien (& HE. 7 #2) In all great monasteries there is a special hall where “+ homage is given these six fathers. Other Indian fathers (from among the earlier twenty-seven) also appear in the hall of the patriarchs (Tsu-shih t‘ang ii fii 4). Their birthdays are celebrated with especial pomp and glory. The Fourth Class This group is composed of the so-called tutelary deities (ch‘ieh-lan, fim #) and is quite a motley and international assemblage. One finds them all gathered in the well-known group of twenty-four devas (Chinese: chu-t‘ien, # *%) who are set up, twelve on either side of the large temple hall, but several of them also appear independently in one or other sphere of activity in the temple, and one will therefore often see duplicates. Naturally, however, when they are set up separately ors: “Recherches sue les superstitions,” Vol. VII, p. 243. Also - Johnston: “Buddhist China.’? a xe [193] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM as “heads’’ over one or other department, their statues are larger in dimension and much finer in appearance. This is especially the case with the leader of the twenty-four devas (Wei-t‘o, # &k), and the four heavenly kings (ssti ta T‘ien-wang, PY A K =). This collection of gods, angels, and archangels are named as follows: 1. Tséng-ch‘ang Tien-wang 13. (3 KE) 2. Yen-lo T‘ien-tzi (AJ BATF) 14. 3. Chien-chai T‘ien-shén (f 3 15. KK ith) 4, Hsing-king Tsun-t‘ien (2 16. = HR) 5. P‘u-t‘i Shan-nu (SHS) 17. 6. Mo-i Ttien-shén (¥% 4: X ith) 18. 7. Wei-t‘o Tsun-shén (#% EB 19. EF ih) 8. Jih-kung T‘ien-shén (H @ 20. K ih) 9. Ta-pan Ts‘ai-shén (K # 21. Dit) 10. Kung-t8 Tsun-shén (3) # 22. & iit) 11. Ta-fan T‘ien-shén (K 3 23. R iit) 12, Ch‘ih-kuo Tien-wang (3 Bl 24. XK ¥) As one will notice, there are Kuang-mu T‘ien-wang (i HX 4) Lung-wang Shui-shén (i =E Ak iit!) Hu-chieh Lo-wang (% fill #8 =E) O-ni T‘i-nan (fi We wit 1) Kuéi-tzu Mu-shén (% + EE if) Mo-li Wen-wang (0) 3¢£) Chien-lao Ti-shén (#2 # 3 ii) Yiieh-kung Tsun-t‘ien (H = EL) San-chih T‘ien-shén (Ht 38 X iit) Mi-chi Tsun-shén (& & ith) Ti-shih Tsun-shén (#* © EX i) To-wén T‘ien-wang (2 FH) here, besides the four heavenly kings (T‘ien-wang, * =), also such Indian [194] THE BUDDHIST PANTHEON IN CHINA gods as Brahma (Ta-fan T‘ien-shén) and Indra (Ti- shih Tsun-shén), likewise the great judge in hades (Yen-lo T‘ien-tzu); even the “kitchen god’ appears under his Buddhist title of Chien-chai T‘ien-shén. All these devas have a part in the protection of the Buddhist society and its sanctuaries. Acting with diplomacy and tolerance, the Buddhists put Confucius and the god of literature, Wén-ch‘ang (3¢ &), into this group. They have also placed here the god of war, Kuan-shén (ff ii), beloved by the people. The four heavenly kings (sst' ta T‘ien-wang, KR sE) grouped together, run as follows: 1. Tséng-ch‘ang T‘ien-wang (3@ 3. Kuang-mu T‘ien-wang (& KF) HX £) 2. Ch‘ih-kuo T‘ien-wang (3 4. To-wén Tien-wang (4 R #) % #) Along with them must also be mentioned the two fierce guardians, standing at the outside temple door (Héng Ha érh chiang, " hy = Hf). 1. Héng (1) 2. “Ha (0) A subdivision of this class is the group of guardian angels, also called cherubs (Chin-kang Shén, 4 fill jif) known from “The Diamond Scripture” (‘Chin-kang Ching,” 4 #8] #) and other writings. Of these cherubs there are eight who, each in his own fashion, serveg those who draw near to Buddha with a sincere heart. Their names are: [195] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM 1. Ch‘ing-ch‘u-tsai (# RX) 5. Chtih-shéng-huo (A # x) 2. P*i-tu (kF #) 6. Ting-ch‘ih-tsai (7 # X) 3. Huang-sui-ch‘iu (# BER) 7. Tzit-hsien 3 %) 4, Pai-ching-shui (4 # 7) 8. Ta-shén (X iit) Four great “Chin-kang p‘u-sa” (4 Bil 3% BE). 1. Chiian (#) 3. Ai (B) 2. So () 4, Yii (# Further, it may also be mentioned that these four angels sometimes are portrayed with different ex- pressions of countenance in order to show the four great qualities of Buddha’s nature: 1. Tz‘u (3%)—mercy 3. Hsi (#)—love 2. Pei (#k)—sympathy 4, Shé (3)—liberality As one will notice, the quality of mercy is the one which is all-dominating in a Buddha. Quite true, he is holy, wise, thoughtful, and just, but the most important thing about him is that he is full of mercy. He is not concerned with vindicating the authority of the law, the punishment of sinners, etc. These func- tions are left to the great objective powers of the universe, represented by the impersonal powers working through the tao (34), logos, or quite vaguely through a heavenly god like Indra, and an archangel like Wei-to. The laws of life work entirely impersonally. They go their way and there is no encouragement to attempt to disturb them. But it is necessary that people, on life’s journey, meet the good powers as they reveal themselves in the great and merciful Buddha spirits. [196] THE BUDDHIST PANTHEON IN CHINA As already mentioned, there is an endless number of named and unnamed Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and great “masters”? (mo-ho-sa, #€ #J BE) who are wor- shipped during the long masses. The outward forms of worship, however, are determined mainly by those ‘described above, since it is their images which are generally seen in the temples. One formula very much used to reach the many unnamed bodhisattvas is the following: “Nan-mo ch ‘ing-ching ta-hai chung p‘u-sa— Bi 4 YF YE EEE “Hail, ye pure and peaceful bodhisattvas round about in the great ocean!” The Trinity Groups From the very earliest times of Buddhist history, the trinity groups have been prominent. Without doubt, Hinayana itself took over this arrangement from the oldest representations of the Indian religions, Not that there were in the beginning any images which were represented as a trinity, but the ideas and thoughts about the supernatural, the divine, almost of their own accord divided themselves from the first into three. Nothing was more natural, therefore, than that Buddhism, even during the lifetime of the historical Buddha, was considered as a synonym for the “three values” (san-pao, = ¥; Sanskrit: trikaya), Buddha, the doctrine, and the society. Ordination and the daily worship in Buddhism therefore came to be connected with the well-known triad which, in simpler or more complicated form, has been repeated again [197] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM and again: “Kuei-i Fu, kuei-i fa, kuei-1 séng”’ (fix K Hh, WR UK We, WE UK 1), “I dedicate myself to Buddha, to the doctrine, to the society.” Buddha, Sakyamuni is usually set as the representa- tive of “Fu,” but Amitabha can also take his place. The “doctrine” (fa) is represented by Vairocana (P‘- lu-ché-na, F% I #€ 3S) and the “society”? (séng, {#) by Loshana (Lu-shé-na, IZ & if). After Mahayana came into power and images and pictures of the gods (shén-hsiang, jf! 1%) became the fashion, these “three values’? each received a re- splendent image. It is seldom that one sees these three statues together in the main hall, however. Vairocana’s statue stands, as a rule, in the lecture and education hall, and Loshana is rarely to be found. The reason for this is that the “society” is supposed to be represented most logically by the group of monks who go in and out of the monastery. Some- times, however, one finds his statue as the central figure in the main hall, as, for example, in the famous old monastery of Pao-hua Shan (#f 4 11) belonging to the Legalistic School in Nanking, while Kasyapa (Chinese: Chia-yeh, 3 3) and Upali (Yu-p‘u-li, (i 2 Hi), another of Buddha’s disciples, stand as the side figures. It sometimes happens, too, that Sakyamuni stands alone with his two favourite disciples, Ananda and Kasyapa, a little in front of him, like heralds. Their statues are then much smaller, so that evidently no idea of a real trinity is thought of. In all temples of the Meditation School (Ch‘an- mén, jiff FJ) one finds Sakyamuni Buddha as the central [198] THE BUDDHIST PANTHEON IN CHINA figure, with Yao-shih Fu (i fifi #%) on his right and Amitabha on his left side. It has become the fashion, probably since the appearance of Herr Hackmann’s book, “ Buddhism as a Religion,” to deny that in this grouping the idea of the three great periods of time, past, present, and future, is involved. Even Couling’s ~ otherwise so exact “‘ Encyclopedia Sinica’? denies the correctness of this idea. Nevertheless one cannot get away from it so easily. It cannot be denied that many of the cleverest “fa-shih” (}: fii), interpreters of the law, within the Buddhist society, firmly maintain that in this grouping, besides other considerations, the periods of time within the world era are thought of. Yao-shih Fu, then, is looked upon as the king from the East. Indeed, I have heard him described as the king of the lost Eastern Paradise,” although this is sharply denied by others. Buddha Sakyamuni, as is so often emphasized in the scriptures, is the king or lord in this present world of sorrow (so-p‘o shih-chieh, Y % jt 5R), and Amitabha is the king of the “ Western Paradise,” the future “kingdom of god” into which he has pledged himself to draw all creatures. In this connection, we ought to say a few words as to the resemblances between the Christian and the Buddhist ideas of the trinity. There certainly is a resemblance, but the differences are also quite apparent, as Dr. Hodous has stated in his last book on “ Buddhism and Buddhists in China,” 1924 (page 60): ‘We should note that the first person of the Buddhist trinity would correspond to God as the absolute or the impersonal background of universal Being.