The Tdiijirr is "a collection of treatises in 225 vol- umes, elegantly printed at Pekin, containing transla- tions from Sanskrit and Prakrit, on dogmas, pliilosophj', grammar, medicine, and ethics, with Amara's Rosha or ^•ocabulary, and fragments of the Mahabharata and of other C[)ic poems. The work of the great reformer, the history of I5uddhism, lives of saints, and all sorts of works on theology and magic, till the libraries. But the Thibetans also possess annals, genealogies, and laws, as, for instance, the 'Mirror of Kings' (translated into Mongolic by Ssanang Ssetscn, and into German by Schmidt), or I'.odhimor (' Wiiy to Wisdom'), and works on astmiioniy and chronology" (Appleton).
Among tlie native sacred literature of Thibet is the historical bimk called Maui Kambiim, containing the legendary tales of Padmapani's propagation of Buddh- ism in Thibet, and the origin and appUcation,of the sa- cred formula " Om ^[am I'adma Hum." It contains a description of the wonderful region Sukhavati, where Amitabha sits enthroned, and where those are who most merit blissful existence ; a history of creation ; prayers
to Padmapani, and the advantages of frequent repetition of Ora ]Slani; the meaning of that sacred sentence; an account of the tigurative representations of Padmapani, and of his images, which represent him with faces varj-- ing from three to one thousand. It contains, moreover, the ethics and religious ordinances of Buddhism ; biog- raphy ; a description of the irresistible power of " Om Mani," etc., and tells how it secures deliverance from being reborn ; legends, translations of sacred books, etc. This has been translated into Mongolian.
Grades of Initiation, — The Buddhist community is divided into three classes. The first or highest is known in Thibet as True Intelligence, or Chang Chhuh, mean- ing " the perfect" or " accomplished ;" and Chang Chhtib Sempali, or " Perfect Strength of I\Iind," because the graduate has accomplished the grand object of life, which is the perfect suppression of all bodily desire and com- l)lete abstraction of mind. These are the Bodhisatwas of Sanskrit (or, in Chinese, Pitsas), who are incipient Buddhas, rising by self-sacritice and their good influence over their fellow-men to the highest goal. Every age produces a number of these Bodhisatwas. The second class comprises those having "individual intelligence" or self-intelligence, the Pratyel-a, who turn not out of the way. The third is the Sravaka or auditor (lis- tener).
Orders of Beings. — The self-existent Adi Buddha, by five spontaneous acts of divine wisdom, and by five ex- ertions of mental reflection {dhyan^, projected from his own essence five intelligences of the iirst order, known as the Pancha Dhgdiii- Buddha, or " P'ive celestial Buddhas," whose names are Vairochana, Akshobi/a, Ratna Sambhara, Amitabha, and Anwgha /Siddha, These five intelligences of the first order created " five inteUigences" of a second order, or Bodhisatwas, who "become creative agents in the hands of God, or serve as links uniting him with all the lower grades of crea- turely existence." The Lohesicaras ( Jigtcn Baugchuk), or " Lords of the World," are also acknowledged in Thi- betan Buddhism. All these are celestial beings, the spontaneous emanations from the Deity, who have never been subject to the pains of transmigration.
Inferior to these are the created or mortal beings, di- vided into six classes, named JJroba Rihlnil', or " Six advances or progressors," because their soids advance by transmigration from one state to a better one, until they finally attain absorption, and are no longer subject to transmigration. These six are: ]. Lhd, or gods; 2. Lha Via gin. Titans ; o. Jli, which equals man ; 4. iJu- dro, brutes i 5. Yidvk, goblins; G. Mgalho, the damned.
The hells are eight cold and sixteen hot, and are fa- vorite subjects of Chinese and Thibetan painters. The punishment is not everlasting, but after expiation the person may be born again.
Objects of Worship. — In early periods Lamaism con- fined its worship to the triad Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha ; and pious reverence was shown to the relics of former Buddhas, as well as to those of Sakya himself and his principal disciples; but there is no mention of the elaborate system of Dhyani Buddhas, Padmapani, etc., earlier than about A.D. 400. Primitive Buddhism is now stated to have been undoubtedly atheistic, but was in later ages greatly modified.
/Sakyamuni is worshipped in Ladak as " Shakya Thub- ba," yet there is a legend to the effect that at the end of twenty-five centuries from the present time he is to be superseded by a more benign Buddha, called Mai- trcga, or Mi-le. The people, however, worship others equally with Sakya, though there is reason to believe that tiie worshij) is of later date, as Fa Hian is the first who makes mention of it. He speaks of it as extant at the time of his visit in A.D. 400. These other deities are Padmapani. Jamya, and Chanrazili (or Padmapani, Manju Sri, and Ava Lokiteswara") ; and though the peo- ple still confirm an oath by appealing to the three su- premacies of the liuildhist triad, yet. when they under- take any enterprise or begin a journey, their prayers for
LAMAISM
201
LAMAISM
success are almost invariably addressed to Padmapani. The mystic sentence " Om Muni Pmlma Hiini" is re- peated in worship, and is constantly heard as one moves through the country. It has been variously translated as "Oh, the jewel in the lotus!" and "Hail to him of the jewel and the lotus!" and " Glory to the lotus-bear- er Hum !"