Buildings and ]\[onuments. — The priests live in mon- asteries, each of which receives a religious name. The architecture is similar to that of the houses of the wealth}'. The entrance faces either the south or east. They are always decorated Avith Hags. They sometimes consist of one large house, several stories high, and in other cases of several buildings with temples attached. In their exterior appearance they are much inferior to those of other countries.
The temples have nothing imposing about them. The roofs are fiat or slojiing, with square holes for win- dows and skylights. The walls are towards the quar- ters of the heavens. The north side should be colored green, the south side yellow, the east side white, the west red. They are not always, however, in this order. The interior of the building is generally one large room, with side halls decorated with paintings, images, etc. The side halls contain the library, the volumes of which are on shelves, and sometimes wrajiped in silk. In the corners are ,statues of deities, the religious dresses of the priests, musical instruments, and other articles of sacred appointment. " The Lamaic temples are of Indo-Chinese form, square, fronting the east in Thibet and the south in Mongolia. They are often cruciform. There are three gates, and three interior divisions, viz., the en- trance-hall, the body of the edifice with two parallel rows of columns, and the .sanctuary with the throne of the high lama" (Appleton), For a descrijition of two of the largest lama temples in China, see Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, ii, 457 sq.
The Chodiens are monuments from eight to fifteen feet, or even sometimes forty feet high. They are re- ceptacles for the offerings of the people, and reposito- ries of relics, and are very much revered by the lamas. They are set up in the temples, and are moulded from metals, or even of clay and straw.
The Man is a wall six feet long and four or five feet broad, of sacred use. Derchoks and lapchas are sacred flags and heaps of stones. Prayers are inscribed on the flags, and the people seem ever eager to make new lap- chas.
Images, etc. — The representations of deities and other sacred personages arc copied everj'where. From the earliest period relics and images of Puddha have been honored and worshipped with simple ceremonies, as pros- trations, presentation of flowers, jierfumcs, praj'ers, and hymns. At the present day, Buddhas preceding Sakya- muni, as well as the Dhyani Buddhas, a host of gods, spirits deified, priests of local reputation, are all repre- sented in images or pictures. The " (iallery of Por- traits" has drawings of over tliree hiuidred saints.
The lamas have a monopoly of the manufacture of these, as they are efficacious only after the jierformance of certain ceremonies at many junctures in their prepa- ration, and these the lamas alone know how to perform. Pictures must be commenced on prescribed days; on certain other days the eyes must be painted, etc. Draw-
LAMATSM
203
LAMAISM
ings and paintings arc traced with pinholes, through which powder is sifted ; they are bordered by several strips of silk, of blue, yellow, red, and other colors. Stat- ues and bass-reliefs of clay, papier-mache, bread-dough, or metals, or even of butter run in a mould, are made. The best executed contain relics, as aslies, bones, hair, rags, and grain ; these arc sometimes contained in a hole in the bottom of the image.
The images and statues of the Buddlia, Bodhisat- twas, and the Dragsheds differ greatly from each other. Saki/amuni is represented in many attitudes, -with one hand uplifted or holding an alms-bowl, as sitting, or as recumbent. Padmapani has sometimes eleven faces and a thousand hands. "MeUia, the god of tire, when driving away evil spirits, rides a red ram, and has a hor- rible countenance ;" but he is represented in many other attitudes. The Bodhisattwas have a shining counte- nance, and are seated on a lotus-Hower. The Dragsheds who protect against evil spirits are fierce-looking, of dark complexion, and sometimes have a third eye in the Ibrehead, to represent their wisdom. They are almost naked, but wear a necklace of human skulls, and have rings on tlieir arms and ankles. They have in their hands various instruments symbolic of their power. The Doije, or thunderbolt, '' may best be represented by four or eight metallic hoops joined together so as to form two balls," which are on a staff, with points projecting. The P/iurbu, or "nail," the Beckon, "club," and Zar/pa, or " snare" to catch evil spirits, and the Kajialu, or drinking-vessel, which is a human skull, are among these sacred instruments.
Forms of Worship. — The religious services consist of singing, accompanied with instrumental music, offerings, prayers, etc. The offerings are of clarified butter. Hour, tamarind- wood, flowers, grain, peacock feathers, etc. There are no blood-offerings, as any sacrifices entailing injury to life are strictly forbidden in the Buddhistic faith. Drums, trumpets made of the human thigh-bone, cymbals, and flageolets, are among the sacred musical instruments.
The Prayer cylinder is an instrument peculiar to the Buddhists. It is called "kliorben" (Hardy says hdarlas or Tchukor, according to liuc = turninff-prcri/er). It is generally of brass, enveloped, in wood or leather. A wooden handle passes through the cylinder, fomiing its axis, around which is rolled the long strip of clotli or paper on which is the prayer of printed sacred sentences. A small pebble or piece of metal, at the end of a short chain, facilitates the rotation of the cylinder in the hand. Large cylinders near the monasteries are kept in motion by persons employed for the purpose, or by being at- tached to streams of running water like a mill-wheel. Each revolution, if made slowly, and from right to left, is equivalent to the repetition of the sentences inclosed. Generally the inscription is oidy a repetition of the sen- tence " Om mani padma hum." There is also a sacred drama.