There is very little known among the
common people about these divinities, and
they are very seldom wnraishipped by them.
Tanist, priests of both classes universally
worship the Three Pure Ones" (Doolitae,
Social Ufr of the CMnem, i, 249). 4. BvddhcL— The third religion of Chma
is that of Fo, or Buddha, introduced from
India about the year A.D. 65, which, how- ler, became commingled with the re-
. mains of the old Chinese religion and vrith
the maxims of Confucius. With the great
majority of the people it his sunk into a
ooaise idoktry. The Dahu Lama is in
China replaced by the Bwn^dicki-ii^-er-d^
s( as the spiritual head. • ThepriuU are
called bonzes (Chinese Seng or Bo^kang),
and number more than one million. The
lower orders of prierts are ignorant, live in convents, and go about begging ; the higher orders (Ta-ho-thcmg) are educated, and obliged to study their religious books. There are also female bonzes, living in convents like the Bomanist nuns. The fesipfef are either mere chapels, or else Ivge edifices surrounded by columns, at the end of which is a haU (7Vf^) contain- ing the unage of the god. The larger tem- ples are merely a reunion of several small- « ones, having in the comers pavilions two stories hi^^ in which the image of the god is kept, and which are surmount- ^ by pynmidal octagonal towers (Joa) 7 Wonblpping
to 10 stories in height, each story being separated from the next by a cornice projecting in imitation of a Chi^ nese roof, and from each angle of which depend dragon- heads and bells. By the dde of the hall are the cells of the bonzes, and accommodations for a number of animals. On occasions of great ceremony, such as the feast of the temple of TV-en (Heaven) and Te (Earth), at Pekin, the New Tear's day offering, the equinox, the processions of July and August in honor of rain, the feast of the dead, and the emperor's plowing (which u also considered as a religious ceremony), the emper- or officiates as high-priest. Buddhism, although the religion of the emperor, is not the religion of the state, and is actually only tolerated, like the Tao-^ge. Both systems have been so much altered by the influence of the doctrine of Confucius that the three religions can morally be considered as but one.
Beligion (so far as professing it is concerned) is in China confined principally to the educated classes, some- what like science in other countries. The great mass of the people live on without making any distinction be- tween the different religions, and pray in any temple with- out inquiring as to its form of worship. But the only worship which really seems to carry the minds and hearts of the people with it is the fil- ial worship of ancestors.
"The hall of ancestors is found in the house of almost every member of the fiimily, but always in that of the eld- est son. In rich families it is a separate building, in others a room set apart for the purpose, and in many a mere shelf or shrine. The tablet consists of a board called chin eku, i. e. house of the spirit, about twelve inches long and three wide, placed upright in a block, and having the name, quality, and date of birth and death carved in the wood. A receptacle is often cut
the Ancestral Tablet in its Niche.— (From DooUttle^s China.)
CHINA
250
CHINA
in th« back, containing pieces of paper bearing the names of the higher ancestors, or other members of the family. Incense and papers are daUy bomed be- - fore them, accompanied by a bow or act of homage, forming, in fact, a sort of fieunily prayer. The tablets are ranged in chronological order, those of the same generation being placed in a line. When the hall is large and the £unily rich, no pains are spared to adorn it with banners and insignia of wealth and rank ; and on festiyal days it serves as a conyenient ^lace for firiends to meet, or, indeed, for any extraordinary fkm- Oy occasion. A person residing near Macao spent abont $1500 in the erection of a hall, and on the dedi- cation dny the female members of the fkmUy assem- bled with his sons and descendants to assist in the ceremonies. The portraits of the deceased are also suspended in the hall, bat effigies or images are not now made.
" In the first part of April, daring the term called igmg-mng, a general worship of ancestors, called pai than^ or * worshipping at t)n hills,* is observed. The whole population, men, women, and children, repair to their family tombs, carrying a tray containing the sacrifice, and libations for offering, and the candles, paper, and incense for burning, and there go through a variety of ceremonies and prayers. The grave is also carefully repaired and swept, and at the close of the service tiiree pieces of turf are placed at the back and trout of the grave, to retain long strips of red and white paper ; this indicates that the accustomed rites have been performed, and these fugitive testimonials remain fluttering in the wind long enough to announce it to all the friends, for when a grave has been neglect- ed three years it is sometimes dug over and the land lesold" (WiUUms, Middle Kingdom, ii, 268, 269).