[122]This is the Sanskṛitvandya, ‘to be saluted.’ I cannot help thinking that Bante and Bandya may be the origin of the term Bonze, applied to monks or priests in China, though I believe Professor Legge connects Bonze with Munshī.[123]According to Dr. Schlagintweit the number of rules is 250, and they are detailed in the first or Dulva portion of the Kanjur.[124]One was a Nepālese princess (called Bribsun) and the other a Chinese princess (called Wenching). According to Koeppen, they were worshipped under the general name Dāra Eke—Dāra standing for the Sanskṛit Tārā and Eke meaning Mother.[125]Some write Lhāsa (strictly Lhasa). I prefer Lhāssa as best representing the pronunciation. It means ‘the city of the gods’ (lha or lhā).[126]Bakshi is probably a corruption of Bhikshu. Koeppen says it is Mongolian for Ton. Mr. Edgar (Report, p. 39) pronounces Brom Ton Domton.[127]Dr. Schlagintweit (p. 73) identifies this with the sect which wearreddresses, but this must surely be an error foryellow.[128]Through the Mongols Tibet gradually came under the power of China from 1255 to 1720. The dynasty in China is now Manchu.[129]It is remarkable that the expressionὁ καταβάςis said of Christ in the New Testament.[130]According to theTimesCorrespondent Lhāssa stands in no closer relation to China than the least dependent of Indian States to the British Empire; history, however, proves that China can, when her interests demand it, assume a very different position. The military power of China is not great, but that of the Lāma Government is nearlynil. The expulsion of the missionaries Huc and Gabet proves this.[131]It is said by some that even his excreta are held sacred. They are dried, ground to powder, and either swallowed or made use of as charms. Others deny this.[132]In theTimesnewspaper for June 15, 1888, is the following: ‘How the Grand Lāma of Tibet is appointed.—A recent number of thePeking Gazettecontains a memorial to the Emperor from the Chinese Resident at Lhāssa, stating that a certain Tibetan official called the Nominhan (seep. 286of this volume) had reported to him that he had found three young boys of remarkable intelligence and acuteness, into one of whom beyond a doubt the spirit of the late Lāma of Tashi Lunpo (one of the two supreme pontiffs) had passed. Thereupon the Chinese Resident sent a report to Peking, asking that the ceremony of selecting one of these three children might be permitted. By the time the authority arrived, the Nominhan with the children had reached Lhāssa, and a lucky day was chosen for the ceremony. The golden vase in which the lots are cast was brought and placed before the image of the Emperor. Prayers were chanted before the assembled Lāmas, and the children were conducted into the presence of the Resident and Tibetan authorities in order that their intelligence and difference from other persons might be tested.’[133]‘Cloven-headed’ seems a misprint for eleven-headed; but the account of the creation of Avalokiteṡvara atp. 487of this volume justifies ‘cloven-headed.’—Corr.[134]Article on Japan in the last edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.[135]According to one of my Japanese informants Butsu should he Bhutsu, and the formula should be translated, ‘Reverence to the Infinite Being.’[136]My quotations from the travels of Huc and Gabet have been made from excellent translations by Mrs. Percy Sinnet and W. Hazlitt, but I have been compelled to abbreviate the extracts.[137]Published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. Shway Yoe is an assumed name. The author’s real name is Scott.[138]I was told when in Ceylon, that many monasteries in the Kandyan provinces had misappropriated their endowments and dropped the schools, which they were bound to keep up.[139]Notes illustrative of Buddhism as the daily religion of the Buddhists of Ceylon, by J. F. Dickson, M. A. Oxon.[140]This is the derivation given by Childers; one might otherwise have been inclined to suspect some connexion with Preta, a ghost (pp.121,219of this volume).[141]The texts and commentaries of some of these were collected by M. Grimblot, and translated with notes by M. Leon Feer, in the Journal Asiatique. The Tibetan Pirit is said to consist of only thirteen Suttas.[142]A cold climate necessitates the addition of trousers, and boots and occasionally shoes are worn.[143]This is probably permitted with a view to prevent the study of Mongolian from entirely dying out. It is certain that, although the Buddhist sacred books have long been translated into Mongolian, Chinese, and Tungusic, only the Tibetan texts are esteemed as canonical.[144]The indomitable persevering Hungarian traveller, Alexander Csoma de Körös, already mentioned (atp. 70), was the first European to throw light on the Tibetan language. He had been impelled to acquire it by the task he had imposed on himself of searching out the progenitors of his race. More than eighty years ago he set out on his travels, and his search ultimately brought him to Tibet. There he devoted himself to the study of the Tibetan language and its sacred literature, taking up his abode in the monastery of Pugdal, in defiance of intense cold and other hardships. But his heroic energy did not end there. In 1831 he travelled from Tibet to Calcutta, and in that city, about the year 1834, published his Grammar and Dictionary of the Tibetan language, besides his table of contents of the Kanjur and the extra-canonical treatises. At length fancying himself qualified for the accomplishment of his self-inflicted task, he started off again, and died in Sikkim in April 1842. He is buried at Dārjīling. We Englishmen, who ought to have taken the greatest share in these linguistic conquests—so important in their bearing on the interests of our Indian frontier—have hitherto, to our great discredit, almost entirely neglected them. Meanwhile, St. Petersburg and Paris have founded chairs of the Tibetan language, and nearly all that has been effected for promoting the study of Tibetan has been due to Russian and French scholars, and to German and Moravian missionaries, especially to Jäschke and Hyde.I am glad, however, to see from the annual address delivered by the President of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and published in the Report for February, 1888, that this reproach is now being wiped out by our fellow-subjects in India. Babu Pratāpa Chandra Ghosha is bringing out in the Bibliotheca Indica the Tibetan translation of the Buddhistic work Prajñā-pāramitā, forming the second division of the Kanjur, while Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās, C.I.E., is editing the Tibetan version of the Avadāna-Kalpalatā (a store-house of legends of Buddha’s life and acts), and compiling a Tibetan-Sanskṛit-English Dictionary. Great credit is due to our Indian Government for the publication of Jäschke’s Tibetan-English Dictionary.[145]As corpses are exposed to be devoured by animals in Tibet human bones are easily obtained for this purpose.[146]As before stated (p. 306, note) I have been compelled to abbreviate the translator’s version and occasionally to vary the expressions, and have therefore felt it right to omit inverted commas.[147]According to Schlagintweit this sect (also called Brugpa,p. 272) are especially worshippers of the Dorje (seep. 322), and are therefore Tāntrikas.[148]This I heard from his own lips.[149]The abstract has been made by me from a copy of Sarat Chandra Dās’ Report kindly lent to me by Sir Edwin Arnold. But I learnt much from Mr. S. C. D. in personal conversations. In my numerous quotations I have ventured to make a few alterations in the English.[150]This is the Tibetan name of Avalokiteṡvara or Padma-pāṇi. It is often spelt Chenresi, or Chenresig, or Chenressig.[151]The Lion is an emblem of the Buddha, and he is called Ṡākya-siṉha, ‘the Lion of the Ṡākya tribe’ (see pp.23,394).[152]Seep. 321.[153]See these enumerated atp. 528.[154]See Mr. Clements Markham’s Tibet, p. cxiii.[155]This was the Buddha’s attitude when he died (see pp.50,241). He is called ‘a Lion.’ (Seenote 2, p. 332.)[156]See my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 367.[157]I found, when in the South of India, that an image of Bhavānī in a Hindū temple was very like that of the Virgin Mary in an adjacent Roman Catholic Church. I was told that the same Hindū carver carved both.[158]We know that Hindūism, in the end, adopted Buddha himself, and converted him into one of the incarnations of Vishṇu (see ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 114).[159]These good deities, according to Schlagintweit, are represented with formidable countenances and dark complexions, and a third eye in the forehead—probably the eye of wisdom, as in the Dhyāni-Buddhas (seep. 203of these Lectures).[160]See the account of the female demons called Tanma atp. 457of these Lectures.[161]The shape is not quite the same as that of the Phurbu, but there can be no doubt of its being a kindred weapon. I purchased my specimen at Dārjīling, and was assured that it came from Tibet, and was used by the Tibetans in the same way as the Phurbu.[162]See ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 345.[163]See my work on ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ pp. 357, 358, 370, etc.[164]See the translation of a horoscope given in ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 373.[165]According to Schlagintweit, those amulets which are curved round to a point are intended to represent the leaf of the sacred fig-tree.[166]In this it did good service, at least for a time; for the cost of marriage-ceremonies among the Hindūs often cripples the resources of a family for years. The marriage of the poorest persons sometimes entails expenses in gifts to the Brāhmans, etc., to the amount of 300 rupees.[167]Mr. Scott points out in his ‘Burman’ that this is especially the case in Burma.[168]Scott’s ‘Burman,’ p. 125.[169]My authority for this is Mr. J. F. Dickson’s pamphlet called ‘Notes and illustrations of Buddhism,’ etc.[170]Scott’s ‘Burman,’ i. 282.[171]The Dāgabas of laymen have no umbrellas at the top (seep. 505). This privilege is only accorded to the monkhood (Scott’s ‘Burman’).[172]This is mentioned by Huc as well as by Koeppen.[173]He is sometimes represented seated on a Lotus, or born from a Lotus.[174]Om is borrowed from the Hindūs. It is their most sacred syllable, symbolical of their triad of gods, Brahmā, Vishṇu, and Ṡiva, denoted by the three mystical letter A, U, M (see my ‘Brāhmanism,’ p. 402). When imported into Buddhism it may possibly symbolize the Buddhist triad. Om is sometimes translated by Hail! Hūm, as a particle of solemn assent, is sometimes translated by Amen! I prefer to treat both Om and Hūm as untranslatable ejaculations.[175]I had formed this opinion long before I saw the same view hinted at in one of Koeppen’s notes (see my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 33). It is certainly remarkable that the name Maṇi is applied to the male organ, and the female is compared to a lotus-blossom in the Kāma-ṡāstras. I fully believe the formula to have a phallic meaning, because Tibetan Buddhism is undoubtedly connected with Ṡaivism.[176]Some think, however, that the six syllables owe their efficacy to their symbolizing the six Pāramitās or transcendent virtues.[177]Dr. Schlagintweit mentions (p. 121) that when Baron Schilling visited a certain convent he found the Lāmas occupied in preparing 100 million copies of Om maṇi padme Hūm to be inserted in a prayer-cylinder. He also states that the inscription relating to the foundation of the monastery of Hemis in Ladāk (seep. 433of these Lectures) records the setting up of 300,000 prayer-cylinders along the walls and passages of the monastery.[178]TheMaṇi-padmeprayer is itself for shortness often called Maṇi.[179]Stūpas and Ćaityas are explained atp. 504.[180]So says Schlagintweit, but he adds that in some places passers by keep them to the right. Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās also mentions this.[181]According to Sir Richard Temple (Journal, p. 198) travellers walk first on one side and then on the other.[182]Schlagintweit (p. 253) says this is the horse which constitutes one of the seven treasures (seep. 528of these Lectures). It brings good fortune to the man who keeps it flying on a flag.[183]The gem called Norbu is another of the seven treasures.[184]Dr. Schlagintweit says that a Dhāraṇi to the following effect is often written on the flag: ‘Tiger, Lion, Eagle, and Dragon, may they co-operate Sarva-du-du-hom! (‘Tibetan Buddhism,’ p. 255).[185]The number 108 seems sacred, as the sole of Buddha’s foot is said to have that number of marks upon it.[186]Common people in Buddhist countries are satisfied with 30 or 40 beads.[187]This is a great Tibetan saint, author of a hundred thousand songs.[188]Translated for me by Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās, who was my companion during part of my sojourn at Dārjīling.[189]Hiouen Thsang says that this place is near Prayāga (the modern Allahābād), and that Aṡoka built a Stūpa there. (Beal, i. 231.)[190]General Sir A. Cunningham puts the date at aboutA.D.150.[191]See the account given in ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 442.[192]Many images and sculptures were abstracted by the Burmese, but many never reached Burma, for they accidentally fell into the Ganges in the process of being transported there. The colossal image found outside the temple is now in the Calcutta Museum (see the engraving opposite top. 466).[193]Mr. Beglar gave me specimens of the fragments, which I have still.[194]The umbrella is symbolical of supremacy. Seep. 523.[195]The lion is often associated with Buddha, who is called Ṡākya-siṉha (seep. 23), and whose throne is therefore called aSiṉhāsan.[196]This will be evident to any one who examines it attentively. The socket-hole of the umbrella-ornament may be easily detected.[197]The form of ritual observed was like that I witnessed at Gayā, and described in my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 310.[198]See my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 434.[199]That is, ‘the lord of deer.’ Sāraṅga is a kind of deer, and the Buddha was probably called so because he is fabled to have wandered about as a deer in this very place in one of his former births (seep. 111of this volume). The legend is that he was born eleven times as a deer, and on this account a deer is one of the sacred symbols of Buddhism. We learn from General Sir A. Cunningham (i. 105) that the name Sārnāth properly belongs to a temple dedicated to Ṡiva near the Buddhist monument, and the epithet ‘Lord of deer,’ is equally applicable to the god Ṡiva, who is often represented in the act of holding up a deer in his hand.[200]The name Dhamek may possibly be a corruption of Dhamma-ćakka (Dharma-ćakra).[201]Fā-hien says that the old city was girdled by five hills. These hills are now called Baibhār (on which are five Jain temples), Vipula, Ratna, Udaya, and Sona-giri. A long account of the place will be found in Cunningham’s ‘Ancient Geography of India,’ pp. 462-468, and in his ‘Archæological Report,’ i. 20. Bimbi-sāra seems to have built the town, which was afterwards improved by Ajāta-ṡatru, and the site of the new portion being not quite identical, the new town was called ‘new Rāja-gṛiha.’ Legge’s ‘Fā-hien,’ p. 81. There are several hot springs in this locality.[202]Ajāta-ṡatru seems first to have sided with Buddha’s enemy Deva-datta.[203]It may be mentioned here that any place or house in which the Buddha resided for a time was afterwards called Gandha-kuṭī (probably from the fragrance of the perfumed offerings always to be found in it). Hence the Bambu grove at Rāja-gṛiha, and the Jeta-vana at Srāvastī (p. 407), were both Gandha-kuṭīs.[204]A magnificent edition of this work in Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu, and Chinese came into the possession of the French Missionaries (Huc, ii. 74).[205]Here, therefore, there was a Gandha-kuṭī (seenote, p. 404).[206]Fā-hien says, ‘Here lived Buddha for a longer time than at any other place,’ and on that account, perhaps, was called Dharma-pattana (Beal’s ‘Records,’ ii. 1). It was at this place that the Brahmaćārīns killed a courtesan, and accused Buddha of adultery and murder (see Legge, p. 59; Beal, ii. 8).[207]Legge, pp. 57, 59; Beal, ii. 5.[208]Another statue, claiming to be the genuine sandal-wood image, was at Kauṡāmbī (seep. 412).[209]A kūṭāgāra is properly any building with a peaked roof (kūṭa) or pinnacle.[210]Cunningham (i. 301) gives a full account of the place.[211]The story is fully narrated in the second and third books of the Kathā-sarit-sāgara of Soma Deva. See my ‘Indian Wisdom,’ p. 511. King Udayana is said to have been a contemporary of the Buddha.[212]See my ‘Indian Wisdom,’ p. 486.[213]See Hiouen Thsang’s account of it,p. 471. Another similar image belonged to King Prasenajit at Ṡrāvastī, see pp.408,471.[214]The name is said to have been derived from that of a Nāga, who lived in a neighbouring tank. See the description in two Chinese Buddhist inscriptions found at Buddha-Gayā. R. A. S. Journal, vol. xiii.[215]This Utpalā must be the same as Utpala-varṇā (seep. 48of this volume).[216]A Yojana is variously estimated at 4 or 5 or 9 English miles.[217]Hiouen Thsang states that this name, which means a ‘hump-backed virgin,’ is derived from the fact that an old sage (Ṛishi), who possessed supernatural powers, cursed ninety-nine daughters of king Brahma-datta for refusing to marry him, and made them deformed (Beal, i. 209). A different legend is given in my Sanskṛit-English Dictionary.[218]This is very instructive in regard to the numerical proportion between Brāhmans and Buddhists at this place.[219]According to Cunningham, aboutB.C.450.[220]One for each of the 84,000 elements of the body (p. 499). The real number of Stūpas was 84, but, as usual, three ciphers have been added.[221]It is difficult to understand exactly what these Aḍḍhayoga, Prāsāda and Harmya were. In some Buddhist countries storied houses are considered objectionable, as no one likes to submit to the indignity of having the feet of another person above his head.[222]The objection to the hollow of trees was that spirits, ghosts, and goblins often took up their abode there.[223]The term Vihāra was afterwards usually applied to temples, or to buildings combining temple and monastery in one.[224]Some authorities place them in the sixth century of our era.[225]This is curiously illustrated in a recent letter from a resident in Burma to the Editor of theTimesnewspaper, in which it is stated that about six months after King Theebaw had been deported, some of his things were exhibited by us in the lower rooms of the Rangoon Museum, to the great disgust of his Burmese admirers, who asked, ‘how we dared place their king’s things in a lower room where people could walk above them?’[226]It is for this reason that in the Tibetan language they are called Gonpa.[227]So described in a pamphlet on Buddhist Monasteries in Lahoul, by a Moravian Missionary.[228]Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās gives the names of 1026 monasteries. Koeppen makes 3000 monasteries and 84,000 Lāmas.[229]A small river flowing into the Tsanpo or Brahma-putra.[230]The hill is called Potala, and the palace-monastery is named after it. Koeppen says it has three peaks, but the illustration in Markham’s account of Manning’s journey (p. 256) shows three long summits rather than peaks. The hill is called Buddha-la by Huc (ii. 140), but Koeppen (ii. 341) is more correct in stating that Potala is the name of a sea-port on the river Indus, called Pattala by the Greeks, and now Tatta. There is a tradition that this Potala was the original home of the Ṡākya tribe (seep. 21of this volume).[231]Koeppen translates this by the German sau, but says it may also mean ‘Hintere Berg.’[232]Messrs. Huc and Gabet failed in their attempt to obtain an interview with the Dalai Lāma of 1846.[233]It may also mean temple of Lhāssa and ‘abode of gods,’ in which case Lā would be for Lhā.[234]Huc says ‘four leagues;’ Koeppen ‘drei meilen,’ which is incorrect.[235]These are also mentioned by Sarat Chandra Dās and by Markham (p. 130, note 3), and again, differently spelt, at p. 264, note 1.[236]For his services as an explorer and surveyor Nain Singh enjoys a Government pension, and has been awarded the gold medal of the Geographical Society. Sarat Chandra Dās has been made a C.I.E.[237]My authority for all these details is Dr. Burgess’ Report.[238]Copies of these were made for me by a Sinhalese artist.[239]In this description I have chiefly followed Mr. Scott.[240]This description is based on Koeppen, ii. 234, and on the narrative of Sarat Chandra Dās’ journey in 1881, 1882.[241]Sarat Chandra Dās mentions a ‘flag-pole forty feet high, on which are some inscriptions, two tufts of yak hair, and several yak and sheep-horns.’ Possibly this may be the obelisk mentioned by Koeppen.[242]One of these is the terrific goddess Paldan (p. 491), worshipped by all Tibetans and Mongols, and identified with the goddess Kālī.[243]My authority for this is Bishop Edward Bickersteth, the present Bishop in Japan.[244]See my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism’ (published by Mr. Murray of Albemarle Street), pp. 2-20.[245]Another ancient statue but not so old, though of a highly interesting type, was procured by me (for the Indian Institute at Oxford) from Buddha-Gayā on the occasion of my last visit in 1884, through the kind assistance of Mr. Beglar. It is in the erect attitude.[246]See ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 214.[247]A good example of this tight-fitting robe is afforded by the ancient statue of the Buddha, mentioned atp. 467, note.[248]When Gautama renounced his family and caste, he doubtless discarded the cord, just as a true Sannyāsī is required to do (p. 78).[249]In the Jaina statues, the lobes of the ears, so far as I have observed, always touch the shoulders.[250]Some think that this represents the wheel of the Ćakra-vartī emperor, or the wheel of the law, or the cycle of causes, or the continual revolution of births, deaths, and re-births. Dr. Mitra maintains that a lotus, and not a wheel, is always intended, though the lotus is often so badly carved that it may pass for any circular ornament.[251]Dr. Rajendralāla Mitra considers that curly locks were given to Gautama Buddha because the possession of curls is believed to be an auspicious sign. Some have actually inferred from the curl-like knobs, that Buddha was a negro!
[122]This is the Sanskṛitvandya, ‘to be saluted.’ I cannot help thinking that Bante and Bandya may be the origin of the term Bonze, applied to monks or priests in China, though I believe Professor Legge connects Bonze with Munshī.
[123]According to Dr. Schlagintweit the number of rules is 250, and they are detailed in the first or Dulva portion of the Kanjur.
[124]One was a Nepālese princess (called Bribsun) and the other a Chinese princess (called Wenching). According to Koeppen, they were worshipped under the general name Dāra Eke—Dāra standing for the Sanskṛit Tārā and Eke meaning Mother.
[125]Some write Lhāsa (strictly Lhasa). I prefer Lhāssa as best representing the pronunciation. It means ‘the city of the gods’ (lha or lhā).
[126]Bakshi is probably a corruption of Bhikshu. Koeppen says it is Mongolian for Ton. Mr. Edgar (Report, p. 39) pronounces Brom Ton Domton.
[127]Dr. Schlagintweit (p. 73) identifies this with the sect which wearreddresses, but this must surely be an error foryellow.
[128]Through the Mongols Tibet gradually came under the power of China from 1255 to 1720. The dynasty in China is now Manchu.
[129]It is remarkable that the expressionὁ καταβάςis said of Christ in the New Testament.
[130]According to theTimesCorrespondent Lhāssa stands in no closer relation to China than the least dependent of Indian States to the British Empire; history, however, proves that China can, when her interests demand it, assume a very different position. The military power of China is not great, but that of the Lāma Government is nearlynil. The expulsion of the missionaries Huc and Gabet proves this.
[131]It is said by some that even his excreta are held sacred. They are dried, ground to powder, and either swallowed or made use of as charms. Others deny this.
[132]In theTimesnewspaper for June 15, 1888, is the following: ‘How the Grand Lāma of Tibet is appointed.—A recent number of thePeking Gazettecontains a memorial to the Emperor from the Chinese Resident at Lhāssa, stating that a certain Tibetan official called the Nominhan (seep. 286of this volume) had reported to him that he had found three young boys of remarkable intelligence and acuteness, into one of whom beyond a doubt the spirit of the late Lāma of Tashi Lunpo (one of the two supreme pontiffs) had passed. Thereupon the Chinese Resident sent a report to Peking, asking that the ceremony of selecting one of these three children might be permitted. By the time the authority arrived, the Nominhan with the children had reached Lhāssa, and a lucky day was chosen for the ceremony. The golden vase in which the lots are cast was brought and placed before the image of the Emperor. Prayers were chanted before the assembled Lāmas, and the children were conducted into the presence of the Resident and Tibetan authorities in order that their intelligence and difference from other persons might be tested.’
[133]‘Cloven-headed’ seems a misprint for eleven-headed; but the account of the creation of Avalokiteṡvara atp. 487of this volume justifies ‘cloven-headed.’—Corr.
[134]Article on Japan in the last edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.
[135]According to one of my Japanese informants Butsu should he Bhutsu, and the formula should be translated, ‘Reverence to the Infinite Being.’
[136]My quotations from the travels of Huc and Gabet have been made from excellent translations by Mrs. Percy Sinnet and W. Hazlitt, but I have been compelled to abbreviate the extracts.
[137]Published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. Shway Yoe is an assumed name. The author’s real name is Scott.
[138]I was told when in Ceylon, that many monasteries in the Kandyan provinces had misappropriated their endowments and dropped the schools, which they were bound to keep up.
[139]Notes illustrative of Buddhism as the daily religion of the Buddhists of Ceylon, by J. F. Dickson, M. A. Oxon.
[140]This is the derivation given by Childers; one might otherwise have been inclined to suspect some connexion with Preta, a ghost (pp.121,219of this volume).
[141]The texts and commentaries of some of these were collected by M. Grimblot, and translated with notes by M. Leon Feer, in the Journal Asiatique. The Tibetan Pirit is said to consist of only thirteen Suttas.
[142]A cold climate necessitates the addition of trousers, and boots and occasionally shoes are worn.
[143]This is probably permitted with a view to prevent the study of Mongolian from entirely dying out. It is certain that, although the Buddhist sacred books have long been translated into Mongolian, Chinese, and Tungusic, only the Tibetan texts are esteemed as canonical.
[144]The indomitable persevering Hungarian traveller, Alexander Csoma de Körös, already mentioned (atp. 70), was the first European to throw light on the Tibetan language. He had been impelled to acquire it by the task he had imposed on himself of searching out the progenitors of his race. More than eighty years ago he set out on his travels, and his search ultimately brought him to Tibet. There he devoted himself to the study of the Tibetan language and its sacred literature, taking up his abode in the monastery of Pugdal, in defiance of intense cold and other hardships. But his heroic energy did not end there. In 1831 he travelled from Tibet to Calcutta, and in that city, about the year 1834, published his Grammar and Dictionary of the Tibetan language, besides his table of contents of the Kanjur and the extra-canonical treatises. At length fancying himself qualified for the accomplishment of his self-inflicted task, he started off again, and died in Sikkim in April 1842. He is buried at Dārjīling. We Englishmen, who ought to have taken the greatest share in these linguistic conquests—so important in their bearing on the interests of our Indian frontier—have hitherto, to our great discredit, almost entirely neglected them. Meanwhile, St. Petersburg and Paris have founded chairs of the Tibetan language, and nearly all that has been effected for promoting the study of Tibetan has been due to Russian and French scholars, and to German and Moravian missionaries, especially to Jäschke and Hyde.I am glad, however, to see from the annual address delivered by the President of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and published in the Report for February, 1888, that this reproach is now being wiped out by our fellow-subjects in India. Babu Pratāpa Chandra Ghosha is bringing out in the Bibliotheca Indica the Tibetan translation of the Buddhistic work Prajñā-pāramitā, forming the second division of the Kanjur, while Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās, C.I.E., is editing the Tibetan version of the Avadāna-Kalpalatā (a store-house of legends of Buddha’s life and acts), and compiling a Tibetan-Sanskṛit-English Dictionary. Great credit is due to our Indian Government for the publication of Jäschke’s Tibetan-English Dictionary.
I am glad, however, to see from the annual address delivered by the President of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and published in the Report for February, 1888, that this reproach is now being wiped out by our fellow-subjects in India. Babu Pratāpa Chandra Ghosha is bringing out in the Bibliotheca Indica the Tibetan translation of the Buddhistic work Prajñā-pāramitā, forming the second division of the Kanjur, while Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās, C.I.E., is editing the Tibetan version of the Avadāna-Kalpalatā (a store-house of legends of Buddha’s life and acts), and compiling a Tibetan-Sanskṛit-English Dictionary. Great credit is due to our Indian Government for the publication of Jäschke’s Tibetan-English Dictionary.
[145]As corpses are exposed to be devoured by animals in Tibet human bones are easily obtained for this purpose.
[146]As before stated (p. 306, note) I have been compelled to abbreviate the translator’s version and occasionally to vary the expressions, and have therefore felt it right to omit inverted commas.
[147]According to Schlagintweit this sect (also called Brugpa,p. 272) are especially worshippers of the Dorje (seep. 322), and are therefore Tāntrikas.
[148]This I heard from his own lips.
[149]The abstract has been made by me from a copy of Sarat Chandra Dās’ Report kindly lent to me by Sir Edwin Arnold. But I learnt much from Mr. S. C. D. in personal conversations. In my numerous quotations I have ventured to make a few alterations in the English.
[150]This is the Tibetan name of Avalokiteṡvara or Padma-pāṇi. It is often spelt Chenresi, or Chenresig, or Chenressig.
[151]The Lion is an emblem of the Buddha, and he is called Ṡākya-siṉha, ‘the Lion of the Ṡākya tribe’ (see pp.23,394).
[152]Seep. 321.
[153]See these enumerated atp. 528.
[154]See Mr. Clements Markham’s Tibet, p. cxiii.
[155]This was the Buddha’s attitude when he died (see pp.50,241). He is called ‘a Lion.’ (Seenote 2, p. 332.)
[156]See my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 367.
[157]I found, when in the South of India, that an image of Bhavānī in a Hindū temple was very like that of the Virgin Mary in an adjacent Roman Catholic Church. I was told that the same Hindū carver carved both.
[158]We know that Hindūism, in the end, adopted Buddha himself, and converted him into one of the incarnations of Vishṇu (see ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 114).
[159]These good deities, according to Schlagintweit, are represented with formidable countenances and dark complexions, and a third eye in the forehead—probably the eye of wisdom, as in the Dhyāni-Buddhas (seep. 203of these Lectures).
[160]See the account of the female demons called Tanma atp. 457of these Lectures.
[161]The shape is not quite the same as that of the Phurbu, but there can be no doubt of its being a kindred weapon. I purchased my specimen at Dārjīling, and was assured that it came from Tibet, and was used by the Tibetans in the same way as the Phurbu.
[162]See ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 345.
[163]See my work on ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ pp. 357, 358, 370, etc.
[164]See the translation of a horoscope given in ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 373.
[165]According to Schlagintweit, those amulets which are curved round to a point are intended to represent the leaf of the sacred fig-tree.
[166]In this it did good service, at least for a time; for the cost of marriage-ceremonies among the Hindūs often cripples the resources of a family for years. The marriage of the poorest persons sometimes entails expenses in gifts to the Brāhmans, etc., to the amount of 300 rupees.
[167]Mr. Scott points out in his ‘Burman’ that this is especially the case in Burma.
[168]Scott’s ‘Burman,’ p. 125.
[169]My authority for this is Mr. J. F. Dickson’s pamphlet called ‘Notes and illustrations of Buddhism,’ etc.
[170]Scott’s ‘Burman,’ i. 282.
[171]The Dāgabas of laymen have no umbrellas at the top (seep. 505). This privilege is only accorded to the monkhood (Scott’s ‘Burman’).
[172]This is mentioned by Huc as well as by Koeppen.
[173]He is sometimes represented seated on a Lotus, or born from a Lotus.
[174]Om is borrowed from the Hindūs. It is their most sacred syllable, symbolical of their triad of gods, Brahmā, Vishṇu, and Ṡiva, denoted by the three mystical letter A, U, M (see my ‘Brāhmanism,’ p. 402). When imported into Buddhism it may possibly symbolize the Buddhist triad. Om is sometimes translated by Hail! Hūm, as a particle of solemn assent, is sometimes translated by Amen! I prefer to treat both Om and Hūm as untranslatable ejaculations.
[175]I had formed this opinion long before I saw the same view hinted at in one of Koeppen’s notes (see my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 33). It is certainly remarkable that the name Maṇi is applied to the male organ, and the female is compared to a lotus-blossom in the Kāma-ṡāstras. I fully believe the formula to have a phallic meaning, because Tibetan Buddhism is undoubtedly connected with Ṡaivism.
[176]Some think, however, that the six syllables owe their efficacy to their symbolizing the six Pāramitās or transcendent virtues.
[177]Dr. Schlagintweit mentions (p. 121) that when Baron Schilling visited a certain convent he found the Lāmas occupied in preparing 100 million copies of Om maṇi padme Hūm to be inserted in a prayer-cylinder. He also states that the inscription relating to the foundation of the monastery of Hemis in Ladāk (seep. 433of these Lectures) records the setting up of 300,000 prayer-cylinders along the walls and passages of the monastery.
[178]TheMaṇi-padmeprayer is itself for shortness often called Maṇi.
[179]Stūpas and Ćaityas are explained atp. 504.
[180]So says Schlagintweit, but he adds that in some places passers by keep them to the right. Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās also mentions this.
[181]According to Sir Richard Temple (Journal, p. 198) travellers walk first on one side and then on the other.
[182]Schlagintweit (p. 253) says this is the horse which constitutes one of the seven treasures (seep. 528of these Lectures). It brings good fortune to the man who keeps it flying on a flag.
[183]The gem called Norbu is another of the seven treasures.
[184]Dr. Schlagintweit says that a Dhāraṇi to the following effect is often written on the flag: ‘Tiger, Lion, Eagle, and Dragon, may they co-operate Sarva-du-du-hom! (‘Tibetan Buddhism,’ p. 255).
[185]The number 108 seems sacred, as the sole of Buddha’s foot is said to have that number of marks upon it.
[186]Common people in Buddhist countries are satisfied with 30 or 40 beads.
[187]This is a great Tibetan saint, author of a hundred thousand songs.
[188]Translated for me by Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās, who was my companion during part of my sojourn at Dārjīling.
[189]Hiouen Thsang says that this place is near Prayāga (the modern Allahābād), and that Aṡoka built a Stūpa there. (Beal, i. 231.)
[190]General Sir A. Cunningham puts the date at aboutA.D.150.
[191]See the account given in ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 442.
[192]Many images and sculptures were abstracted by the Burmese, but many never reached Burma, for they accidentally fell into the Ganges in the process of being transported there. The colossal image found outside the temple is now in the Calcutta Museum (see the engraving opposite top. 466).
[193]Mr. Beglar gave me specimens of the fragments, which I have still.
[194]The umbrella is symbolical of supremacy. Seep. 523.
[195]The lion is often associated with Buddha, who is called Ṡākya-siṉha (seep. 23), and whose throne is therefore called aSiṉhāsan.
[196]This will be evident to any one who examines it attentively. The socket-hole of the umbrella-ornament may be easily detected.
[197]The form of ritual observed was like that I witnessed at Gayā, and described in my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 310.
[198]See my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 434.
[199]That is, ‘the lord of deer.’ Sāraṅga is a kind of deer, and the Buddha was probably called so because he is fabled to have wandered about as a deer in this very place in one of his former births (seep. 111of this volume). The legend is that he was born eleven times as a deer, and on this account a deer is one of the sacred symbols of Buddhism. We learn from General Sir A. Cunningham (i. 105) that the name Sārnāth properly belongs to a temple dedicated to Ṡiva near the Buddhist monument, and the epithet ‘Lord of deer,’ is equally applicable to the god Ṡiva, who is often represented in the act of holding up a deer in his hand.
[200]The name Dhamek may possibly be a corruption of Dhamma-ćakka (Dharma-ćakra).
[201]Fā-hien says that the old city was girdled by five hills. These hills are now called Baibhār (on which are five Jain temples), Vipula, Ratna, Udaya, and Sona-giri. A long account of the place will be found in Cunningham’s ‘Ancient Geography of India,’ pp. 462-468, and in his ‘Archæological Report,’ i. 20. Bimbi-sāra seems to have built the town, which was afterwards improved by Ajāta-ṡatru, and the site of the new portion being not quite identical, the new town was called ‘new Rāja-gṛiha.’ Legge’s ‘Fā-hien,’ p. 81. There are several hot springs in this locality.
[202]Ajāta-ṡatru seems first to have sided with Buddha’s enemy Deva-datta.
[203]It may be mentioned here that any place or house in which the Buddha resided for a time was afterwards called Gandha-kuṭī (probably from the fragrance of the perfumed offerings always to be found in it). Hence the Bambu grove at Rāja-gṛiha, and the Jeta-vana at Srāvastī (p. 407), were both Gandha-kuṭīs.
[204]A magnificent edition of this work in Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu, and Chinese came into the possession of the French Missionaries (Huc, ii. 74).
[205]Here, therefore, there was a Gandha-kuṭī (seenote, p. 404).
[206]Fā-hien says, ‘Here lived Buddha for a longer time than at any other place,’ and on that account, perhaps, was called Dharma-pattana (Beal’s ‘Records,’ ii. 1). It was at this place that the Brahmaćārīns killed a courtesan, and accused Buddha of adultery and murder (see Legge, p. 59; Beal, ii. 8).
[207]Legge, pp. 57, 59; Beal, ii. 5.
[208]Another statue, claiming to be the genuine sandal-wood image, was at Kauṡāmbī (seep. 412).
[209]A kūṭāgāra is properly any building with a peaked roof (kūṭa) or pinnacle.
[210]Cunningham (i. 301) gives a full account of the place.
[211]The story is fully narrated in the second and third books of the Kathā-sarit-sāgara of Soma Deva. See my ‘Indian Wisdom,’ p. 511. King Udayana is said to have been a contemporary of the Buddha.
[212]See my ‘Indian Wisdom,’ p. 486.
[213]See Hiouen Thsang’s account of it,p. 471. Another similar image belonged to King Prasenajit at Ṡrāvastī, see pp.408,471.
[214]The name is said to have been derived from that of a Nāga, who lived in a neighbouring tank. See the description in two Chinese Buddhist inscriptions found at Buddha-Gayā. R. A. S. Journal, vol. xiii.
[215]This Utpalā must be the same as Utpala-varṇā (seep. 48of this volume).
[216]A Yojana is variously estimated at 4 or 5 or 9 English miles.
[217]Hiouen Thsang states that this name, which means a ‘hump-backed virgin,’ is derived from the fact that an old sage (Ṛishi), who possessed supernatural powers, cursed ninety-nine daughters of king Brahma-datta for refusing to marry him, and made them deformed (Beal, i. 209). A different legend is given in my Sanskṛit-English Dictionary.
[218]This is very instructive in regard to the numerical proportion between Brāhmans and Buddhists at this place.
[219]According to Cunningham, aboutB.C.450.
[220]One for each of the 84,000 elements of the body (p. 499). The real number of Stūpas was 84, but, as usual, three ciphers have been added.
[221]It is difficult to understand exactly what these Aḍḍhayoga, Prāsāda and Harmya were. In some Buddhist countries storied houses are considered objectionable, as no one likes to submit to the indignity of having the feet of another person above his head.
[222]The objection to the hollow of trees was that spirits, ghosts, and goblins often took up their abode there.
[223]The term Vihāra was afterwards usually applied to temples, or to buildings combining temple and monastery in one.
[224]Some authorities place them in the sixth century of our era.
[225]This is curiously illustrated in a recent letter from a resident in Burma to the Editor of theTimesnewspaper, in which it is stated that about six months after King Theebaw had been deported, some of his things were exhibited by us in the lower rooms of the Rangoon Museum, to the great disgust of his Burmese admirers, who asked, ‘how we dared place their king’s things in a lower room where people could walk above them?’
[226]It is for this reason that in the Tibetan language they are called Gonpa.
[227]So described in a pamphlet on Buddhist Monasteries in Lahoul, by a Moravian Missionary.
[228]Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās gives the names of 1026 monasteries. Koeppen makes 3000 monasteries and 84,000 Lāmas.
[229]A small river flowing into the Tsanpo or Brahma-putra.
[230]The hill is called Potala, and the palace-monastery is named after it. Koeppen says it has three peaks, but the illustration in Markham’s account of Manning’s journey (p. 256) shows three long summits rather than peaks. The hill is called Buddha-la by Huc (ii. 140), but Koeppen (ii. 341) is more correct in stating that Potala is the name of a sea-port on the river Indus, called Pattala by the Greeks, and now Tatta. There is a tradition that this Potala was the original home of the Ṡākya tribe (seep. 21of this volume).
[231]Koeppen translates this by the German sau, but says it may also mean ‘Hintere Berg.’
[232]Messrs. Huc and Gabet failed in their attempt to obtain an interview with the Dalai Lāma of 1846.
[233]It may also mean temple of Lhāssa and ‘abode of gods,’ in which case Lā would be for Lhā.
[234]Huc says ‘four leagues;’ Koeppen ‘drei meilen,’ which is incorrect.
[235]These are also mentioned by Sarat Chandra Dās and by Markham (p. 130, note 3), and again, differently spelt, at p. 264, note 1.
[236]For his services as an explorer and surveyor Nain Singh enjoys a Government pension, and has been awarded the gold medal of the Geographical Society. Sarat Chandra Dās has been made a C.I.E.
[237]My authority for all these details is Dr. Burgess’ Report.
[238]Copies of these were made for me by a Sinhalese artist.
[239]In this description I have chiefly followed Mr. Scott.
[240]This description is based on Koeppen, ii. 234, and on the narrative of Sarat Chandra Dās’ journey in 1881, 1882.
[241]Sarat Chandra Dās mentions a ‘flag-pole forty feet high, on which are some inscriptions, two tufts of yak hair, and several yak and sheep-horns.’ Possibly this may be the obelisk mentioned by Koeppen.
[242]One of these is the terrific goddess Paldan (p. 491), worshipped by all Tibetans and Mongols, and identified with the goddess Kālī.
[243]My authority for this is Bishop Edward Bickersteth, the present Bishop in Japan.
[244]See my ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism’ (published by Mr. Murray of Albemarle Street), pp. 2-20.
[245]Another ancient statue but not so old, though of a highly interesting type, was procured by me (for the Indian Institute at Oxford) from Buddha-Gayā on the occasion of my last visit in 1884, through the kind assistance of Mr. Beglar. It is in the erect attitude.
[246]See ‘Brāhmanism and Hindūism,’ p. 214.
[247]A good example of this tight-fitting robe is afforded by the ancient statue of the Buddha, mentioned atp. 467, note.
[248]When Gautama renounced his family and caste, he doubtless discarded the cord, just as a true Sannyāsī is required to do (p. 78).
[249]In the Jaina statues, the lobes of the ears, so far as I have observed, always touch the shoulders.
[250]Some think that this represents the wheel of the Ćakra-vartī emperor, or the wheel of the law, or the cycle of causes, or the continual revolution of births, deaths, and re-births. Dr. Mitra maintains that a lotus, and not a wheel, is always intended, though the lotus is often so badly carved that it may pass for any circular ornament.
[251]Dr. Rajendralāla Mitra considers that curly locks were given to Gautama Buddha because the possession of curls is believed to be an auspicious sign. Some have actually inferred from the curl-like knobs, that Buddha was a negro!