Part 3:THE LORD-DEMONS. (T., mGon-po; Skt., Natha.)These form a class of demon-generals, of the fiercest Drag-po type. Each Lamaist sect has chosen one as its defender, whom it claims to be pre-eminently powerful, thus: —
"The six-armed lord," T., mGon-po p'yag-drug, is the chief minister of the tutelary fiend of the established church.
"The lord of the black cloak," or "The four-armed lord," T., mGon-po Gur, is the general of the tutelary Samvara of the Kar-gyu-pa sect. And he is the fiend-general of the old unreformed sect — the Nin-ma-pa. He is figured at page 70.
These "lords" are said to number seventy-five. Several of them are referred to in regard to their masks in the chapter on the mystic play. The highest is the bird-faced Garuda...
Dakkinis, or Furies. (T., mkah-'gro-ma, or "Sky-goer"; Skt., Khecara.These Dakkinis are chiefly consorts of the demoniacal tutelaries, and the generals of the latter. Many of them seem to be of an indigenous nature like the Bon-pa deities...
GODLINGS AND ANGELS.The most favourite of the godlings is the god of wealth, Jambhala...
The Naga or Dragon-demigods are the mermen and mermaids of the Hindu myth and the demons of drought. They are of four kinds: (1) celestial, guarding the mansions of the gods; (2) aerial, causing winds to blow and rain to fall for human benefit; (3) earthly, marking out the courses of the rivers and streams; (4) guardians of hidden treasures, watching the wealth concealed from mortals.
The Nagas are usually given the form of snakes, as these inhabit the bowels of the earth, the matrix of precious stones and metals; while in their character of rain-producers they are figured as dragons...The Naga community, like the human, is divided into kings, nobles, and commoners, Buddhists and non-Buddhists...
The female Yaksha— the Yakshini— are the "witch-women," the stealer of children of general myths...
The Country-Gods...Goblins or Ghosts (Tsan), all male, red in colour. These are usually the vindictive ghosts of Lamas, discontented priests; and they are vindictive. They especially haunt temples.
Devils (bDud), all male, black in colour, and most malignant. These are the ghosts of the persecutors of Lamaism, and cannot be appeased without the sacrifice of a pig...
Mother-she-devils (Ma-mo), black coloured, the "disease mistresses" (nad-bdag). They are sometimes the spouses of the foregoing malignant demons, and cannot be very sharply demarcated from the other she-devils...
Local Gods and Genii. The truly "local gods" or Genii loci, the "foundation owners" of the Tibetans, are located to a particular fixed place, and seldom conceived of as separate from their places.
In appearance they are mostly Caliban-like sprites, ill-tempered and spiteful, or demoniacal...
In every monastery and temple the image of the genius loci, as an idol or fresco, is placed within the outer gateway, usually to the right of the door, and worshipped with wine, and occasionally with bloody sacrifice...
THE HOUSE-GOD...As he is of a roving disposition, occupying different parts of the house at different seasons, his presence is a constant source of anxiety to the householders; for no objects may invade or occupy the place where he has taken up his position, nor may it be swept or in any way disturbed without incurring his deadly wrath. Thus it happens that an unsophisticated visitor, on entering a Tibetan house and seeing a vacant place near at hand, sets there his hat, only, however, to have it instantly snatched up by his host in holy horror, with the hurried explanation that the god is at present occupying that spot.
It is some satisfaction, however, to find that all the house-gods of the land regulate their movements in the same definite and known order. Thus in the first and second months he occupies the centre of the house, and is then called "The Gel-thun house-god."
In the third and fourth months the god stands in the doorway and is called "the door-god of the horse and yak."
In the fifth month he stands under the eaves, and is called "ya-ngas-pa."
In the sixth month he stands at the south-west corner of the house.
In the seventh and eighth months he stands under the eaves.
In the ninth and tenth months he stands in the fire-tripod or grate.
In the eleventh and twelfth months he stands at the kitchen hearth, where a place is reserved for him. He is then called "the kitchen-god."
His movements thus bear a certain relation to the season, as he is outside in the hottest weather, and at the fire in the coldest.
Formerly his movements were somewhat different; and according to the ancient style he used to circulate much more extensively and frequently."
The other precautions entailed by his presence, and the penalties for disturbing him, are these: —
In the first and second months, when the god is in the middle of the house, the fire-grate must not be placed there, but removed to a corner of the room, and no dead body must be deposited there. While he is at the door, no bride or bridegroom may come or go, nor any corpse. Should, however, there be no other way of ingress or egress, such as by a window or otherwise, and there be urgent necessity for the passage of a bride, bridegroom, or corpse, then the images of a horse and a yak must be made with wheaten flour, and on each of them is placed some skin and hair of each of the animals represented. Tea and beer are then offered to the god, who is invited to sit on the images thus provided for him. The door is then unhinged and carried outside, and the bride, bridegroom, or corpse passes, and the door is restored to its place.
When he is at the kitchen fire, no part of the hearth can be removed or mended, and no corpse may be placed there, nor must any marriage then take place. And should any visitor arrive, he must be screened off from the fireplace by a blanket, and a scripture (the "ch'os-mge-khri") read to avert his wrath.
When he is in the verandah he gives very little trouble. Only at that time no one may whitewash or repair the outside of the house.
And as a general precautionary measure once every year, and at extra times, whenever any suspicion arises that the god may have been slighted or is offended, it is necessary to get the Lamas to propitiate him by doing "The water sacrifice for the eight injurers"...
Personal Gods or "Familiars."These are comparable to the daimon or familiar-spirits of the Greeks. But in Tibet the body of each individual is beset by a number of personal sprites.
Each Tibetan carries the following familiar spirits extra to the two Buddhist angels, good and bad, which sit upon the right and left shoulder respectively and prompt to good deeds or to sins, namely, the p'o, ma, z'an, da, or enemy (-defeating) god, vulgarly called dab-lha. This enemy-god sits on the right shoulder of every Tibetan.
Tantrik Wizard-Priests.T.'Grub-t'ob ch'en or "grub-c'hen (Skt., Siddha or Mahasiddha).This degraded class of Indian Buddhist priest is most popular with the Lamas. They are credited with supernatural powers, by being in league with the demons...
St. Padma-sambhava receives more active worship than any of the others. Indeed, he is deified. He is most commonly worshipped in the form shown in the centre of the plate on page 24. He sits dressed as a native of Udyana, holding a thunderbolt in his right hand and a skull of blood in his left, and carrying in his left arm-pit the trident of the king of death. The top of this trident transfixes a freshly decapitated human head, a wizened head, and a skull. And the saint is attended by his two wives, offering him libations of blood and wine in skull-bowls, while before him are set offerings of portions of human corpses...The Legendary History of the Founder of Lamaism...Then the king, whose sight has been miraculously restored, visits the lake, and, embarking in a boat, proceeds to see the shining wonder, and finds on the pure bosom of the lake a lotus-flower of matchless beauty, on whose petals sits a lovely boy of eight years old, sceptred and shining like a god. The king, falling on his knees, worships the infant prodigy, exclaiming: "Incomparable boy! who art thou? Who is thy father and what thy country?" To which the child made answer: "My Father I know! I come in accordance with the prophecy of the great Sakya Muni, who said: 'Twelve hundred years after me, in the north-east of the Urgyan country, in the pure lake of Kosha, a person more famed than myself will be born from a lotus, and be known as Padma-sambhava, or "the Lotus-born," and he shall be the teacher of my esoteric Mantra-doctrine, and shall deliver all beings from misery'"...
The youthful Padma-sambhava now kills several of the subjects, who, in their present or former lives, had injured Buddhism; and on this the people complain of his misdeeds to the king, demanding his banishment...
E-ka-dsa-ti.— When the Guru reached gNam-t'an-mk'ar-nag, the white fiendess of that place showered thunderbolts upon him, without, however, harming him. The Guru retaliated by melting her snow-dwelling into a lake; and the discomfited fury fled into the lake T'an-dpal-mo-dpal, which the Guru then caused to boil. But though her flesh boiled off her bones, still she did not emerge; so the Guru threw in his thunderbolt, piercing her right eye. Then came she forth and offered up to him her life-essence, and was thereon named Gans-dkar-sha-med-rDo-rje-sPyan-gcig-ma, or "The Snow-white, Fleshless, One-eyed Ogress of the Vajra"...
The ghosts of many deceased Lamas are worshipped in the belief that they have become malignant spirits who wreak their wrath on their former associates and pupils....
The twelve Tan-ma Furies...offered him their life-essence, and so were brought under his control...
Yar-lha-sham-po...offered up to the Guru his life-essence; and so this adversary was subjected.
Tan'-lha the great gNan...offered up his life-essence, together with that of all his retinue, and so he was subjected...
The Injurers...offered their life-essence and so were subjected...
SACRED SYMBOLS AND CHARMS.The extremely rich symbolism found in Lamaism is largely of Indian and Chinese origin. Its emblems are mainly of a conventional Hindu kind, more or less modified to adapt them to their Buddhist setting. Others are derived from the Chinese, and a few only are of Tibetan origin. These latter are mostly of a very crude kind, like the rebuses common in mediaeval England for the use of the illiterate...
The Lotus. — Most of the sacred emblems, as well as the images of divinities, it will be noticed, are figured upon a lotus-flower. This expresses the Hindu idea of super-human origin. The lotus upon the lake seems to spring from the body of the waters without contact with the sordid earth, and, no matter how muddy the water may be, the lotus preserves its own purity undefiled...
The Svastika, or "fly-foot cross," is a cross with the free end of each arm bent at right angles to the limbs. It is one of the most widely diffused of archaic symbols, having been found at Troy by Schliemann, and among ancient Teutonic nations as the emblem of Thor. In Buddhism, the ends of the arms are always bent in the respectful attitude, that is, towards the left; for the Lamas, while regarding the symbol as one of good augury, also consider it to typify the continuous moving, or "the ceaseless becoming," which is commonly called, Life. Sir A. Cunningham believed it to be a monogram formed from the Asoka characters for the auspicious words Su + Asti, or "that which is good." It was especially associated with the divinity of Fire, as representing the two cross pieces of wood which by friction produce fire. The Jains, who seem to be an Indian offshoot of Buddhism, appropriate it for the seventh of their mythical saints.
The heterodox Tibetans, the Bon, in adopting it have turned the ends in the reverse direction...The jewel of a Wife. "The Jasper-girl" who fans her lord to sleep, and attends him with the constancy of a slave...
The Seven (Royal) Badges...The Eight Glorious Offerings.The intestinal concretion (gi-ham or gi-'van found in the entrails of certain animals and on the neck of an elephant. The land-guarding elephant offered this to Buddha, and he blessed it...
The white turnip. — Vajrapani, "the Secret Lord," offered him a white turnip (yan-dkar), which he blessed as the demon-defeating turnip...
The Five Sensuous Qualities...A Buddhist adaptation of the Hindu "eight enjoyments" (Ashtabhoga), namely, a grand house, a bed, fine clothes, jewels, wives, flowers, perfumes, areca-nut and betel...
The Lamas have also incorporated the four greatest amongst the Chinese symbolic animals, to wit, the Tortoise, the Phoenix, Dragon, and Horse-dragon, as well as the Chinese Tiger, and the Bats.
The Tortoise symbolizes the universe to the Chinese as well as the Hindus. Its dome-shaped back represents the vault of the sky, its belly the earth, which moves upon the waters; and its fabulous longevity leads to its being considered imperishable...
The Phoenix (or "Garuda"). This mythical "sky-soarer" is the great enemy of the dragons, and has been assimilated to the Indian Garuda, the arch-enemy of the Nagas. And anyone who has, like myself, seen the bird popularly called Garuda (namely the Adjutant or Stork) devouring snakes, must realize why the Indians fixed upon such a homely simile to represent their myth. It seems to be analogous to the Thunder-bird of the North American Indians. In a more mystic sense the Lamas, like the Chinese, believe it to symbolize the entire world; its head is the heaven, its eyes the sun, its back the crescent moon, its wings the wind, its feet the earth, its tail the trees and plants...
But the commonest use of sacred symbols is as talismans to ward off the evils of those malignant planets and demons who cause disease and disaster, as well as for inflicting harm on one's enemy. The symbols here are used in a mystical and magic sense as spells and as fetishes, and usually consist of formulas in corrupt and often unintelligible Sanskrit, extracted from the Mahayana and Tantrik scriptures, and called dharani, as they are believed to "hold" divine powers, and are also used as incantations...
The eating of the paper on which a charm has been written is an ordinary way of curing disease, as indeed it had been in Europe till not so many centuries ago, for the mystic Rx heading our prescriptions is generally admitted to have had its origin in the symbol of Saturn, whom it invoked, and the paper on which the symbol and several other mystic signs were inscribed constituted the medicine, and was itself actually eaten by the patient. The spells which the Lamas use in this way as medicine are shown in the annexed print, and are called "the edible letters" (za-yig).
A still more mystical way of applying these remedies is by the washings of the reflection of the writing in a mirror, a practice not without its parallels in other quarters of the globe. Thus to cure the evil eye as shown by symptoms of mind-wandering and dementia condition — called "byad-'grol" — it is ordered as follows: Write with Chinese ink on a piece of wood the particular letters and smear the writing over with myrobalams and saffron as varnish, and every twenty-nine days reflect this inscribed wood in a mirror, and during reflection wash the face of the mirror with beer, and collect a cupful of such beer and drink it in nine sips.
But most of the charms are worn on the person as amulets. Every individual always wears around the neck one or more of these amulets, which are folded up into little cloth-covered packets, bound with coloured threads in a geometrical pattern. Others are kept in small metallic cases of brass, silver, or gold, set with turquoise stones as amulets, and called "Ga-u." These amulets are fastened to the girdle or sash, and the smaller ones are worn as lockets, and with each are put relics of holy men — a few threads or fragments of cast-off robes of saints or idols, peacock feathers, sacred Kusa grass, and occasionally images and holy pills. Other large charms are affixed overhead in the house or tent to ward off lightning, hail, etc., and for cattle special charms are chanted, or sometimes pasted on the walls of the stalls, etc...
Charm against Bullets and Weapons. —
The directions are as these: With the blood of a wounded man draw the annexed monogram (D (upside-down D) and insert in the vacant space in the centre of the aforesaid print of "The Assembly of the Hearts of the Lamas." The sheet should then be folded and wrapped in a piece of red silk, and tie up with a piece of string and wear around the neck or an unexposed part of your breast immediately next the skin, and never remove it.
Charm for Clawing Animals (i.e., tigers, cats, bears, etc.). —
On a miniature knife write with a mixture of myrobalans and musk-water the monogram (? ZAH) and tie up, etc. (Here the knife seems to represent the animal's claw.)
For Domestic Broils. —
Write the monogram (? RE) and insert in print and fold up and bind with a thread made of the mixed hairs of a dog, goat, sheep, and enclose in a mouse-skin, and tie, etc. (This seems to represent union of domestic elements.)
For Kitchen Cooking Smells offensive to the House-Gods. —
With the blood of a hybrid bull-calf write the monogram GAU ( = cow), and insert it in the print, and fold up in a piece of hedge-hog-skin. (Compare with the western Aryan myth of the Greek hearth-god Vulcan, whose mother Hera as Io is represented as a cow.)
For Cholera (or "the vomiting, purging, and cramps"). —
With the dung of a black horse and black sulphur and musk-water write the monogram (? ZA), and insert in the print, and fold up in a piece of snake-skin, and wear, etc. (Here the dung seems to represent the purging, the horse the galloping course, the black colour the deadly character, and the snake the virulence of the disease.)...
The huge Tibetan mastiffs are let loose at night as watch-dogs, and roaming about in a ferocious state are a constant source of alarm to travellers, most of whom therefore carry the following charm against dog-bite. It consists of a picture of a dog fettered and muzzled by a chain, terminated by the mystic and all-powerful thunderbolt-sceptre; and it contains the following inscribed Sanskrit mantras and statements: "The mouth of the blue dog is bound beforehand! Omriti-sri-ti swaha! Omriti-sri-ti swaha!"...
Charm for KILLING One's Enemy.The necromantic charms for killing one's enemy are resorted to mostly in inter-tribal feuds and warring with foreigners. I have given details of these rites elsewhere. They require the following objects: —
1. An axe with three heads, the right of which is bull-headed, the left snake-headed, and the middle one pig-headed.
2. On the middle head a lamp is to be kept.
3. In the pig's mouth an image of a human being made of wheaten flour (a linga). The upper part of the body is black and the lower part red. On the side of the upper part of the body draw the figure of the eight great planets, and on the lower part of the body the twenty-eight constellations of stars. Write also the eight parkha (trigrams), the nine mewa, the claws of the Garuda in the hands, the wing of the eagles and the snake tail.
4. Hang a bow and an arrow on the left and load him with provisions on the back. Hang an owl's feather on the right and a rook's on the left; plant a piece of the poison-tree on the upper part of the body, and surround him with red swords on all sides. Then a red Rgyangbu wood on the right, a yellow one on the left, a black one in the middle, and many blue ones on divers places.
5. Then, sitting in quiet meditation, recite the following:—
"Hum! This axe with a bull's head on the right will repel all the injuries of the Nag-pas and Bon-pos— sorcerers; the snake on the left will repel all the classes of plagues; the pig's head in the middle will repel the sa-dag and other earth-demons; the linga image in the mouth will repel all the evil spirits without remainder, and the lamp on the head will repel the evil spirits of the upper regions. O! the axe will cleave the heart of the angry enemy and also of the hosts of evil spirits!!! etc., etc., etc., etc.
During the Sikhim expedition of 1888, near Mt. Paul on the Tukola ridge, where the final attack of the Tibetans was made, there was found one of the mystic contrivances for the destruction of the enemy. It consisted of an obliquely carved piece of wood, about fourteen inches long, like a miniature screw-propeller of a steamer, and acted like the fan of a windmill. It was admittedly a charm for the destruction of the enemy by cleaving them to pieces, a device for which there are western parallels. And on it was written a long, unintelligible Bon spell of the kind called z'an-z'un, followed by a call for the assistance of the fierce deities Tam-din, Vajrapani, and the Gaaruda, and concluding with "phat, phat " — Break! Destroy! It may also be mentioned here that the bodies of all the Tibetans slain in these encounters were found to bear one or more charms against wounds, most of them being quite new; and some of the more elaborate ones, which contained in their centre figures of the other weapons charmed against, swords, muskets, etc., had cost their wearers as much as twenty-five rupees a-piece.
And for torturing one's enemy short of death, there is the same popular practice which is found amongst occidentals, namely, of making a little clay image of the enemy and thrusting pins into it.
The directions for this procedure are: —
Take some of the earth from his footprints; or better from the house of some wrecked person, and mixing with dough prepare a small figure of a man. On its head put thorns. Through the heart's region thrust a copper needle. Then say following spell: Om Ghate Jam-mo hamo hadsam; during the recital of which move the needle briskly over the region of the heart. If this process is long continued then the bewitched person will surely die within the day; but if done only for a time, and the needle and thorns are again withdrawn, and the image-body and needles are washed, the enemy who is thus bewitched will only suffer temporary anguish, and will recover (for it is against Buddhist principles to take life)...
"Prayer-Flags..."Everyone who has been in Burma is familiar with the tall masts (tagun-daing), with their streaming banners, as accessories of every Buddhist temple in that country. Each mast in Burma is surmounted by an image of one or more Brahmani geese, and the streamers are either flat or long cylinders of bamboo framework pasted over with paper, which is often inscribed with pious sentences. The monks whom I asked regarding the nature of this symbol believed that it was borrowed from Indian Buddhism.
Now, the resemblance which these posts bear to the Asoka pillars is certainly remarkable. Both are erected by Buddhists for the purposes of gaining merit and displaying aloft pious wishes or extracts from the law; and the surmounting geese form an essential feature of the abacus of several Asoka pillars...
The planting of a Lamaist prayer-flag, while in itself a highly pious act, which everyone practises at some time or other, does not merely confer merit on the planter, but benefits the whole countryside. And the concluding sentence of the legend inscribed on the flag is usually "Let Buddha's doctrine prosper" — which is practically the gist of the Asoka inscriptions...
The prayer-flags are used by the Lamas as luck-commanding talismans; and the commonest of them, the so-called "Airy horse," seems to me to be clearly based upon and also bearing the same name as "The Horse-dragon" of the Chinese.
This Horse-dragon or "Long-horse" is one of the four great mythic animals of China, and it is the symbol for grandeur. It is represented, as in the figure on the opposite page, as a dragon-headed horse, carrying on its back the civilizing Book of the Law.
Now this is practically the same figure as "The Lung-horse" (literally "Wind-horse") of the Lamaist flag, which also is used for the expressed purpose of increasing the grandeur of the votary; indeed, this is the sole purpose for which the flag is used by the Tibetan laity, with whom these flags are extremely popular.
And the conversion of "The Horse-dragon" of the Chinese into the Wind-horse of the Tibetans is easily accounted for by a confusion of homonyms. The Chinese word for "Horse-dragon" is Long-ma, of which Long = Dragon, and ma = Horse. In Tibet, where Chinese is practically unknown, Long, being the radical word, would tend to be retained for a time, while the qualifying word, ma, translated into Tibetan, becomes "rta." Hence we get the form "Long-rta." But as the foreign word Long was unintelligible in Tibet, and the symbolic animal is used almost solely for fluttering in the wind, the "Long" would naturally become changed after a time into Lung or "wind," in order to give it some meaning, hence, so it seems to me, arose the word Lung-rta, or "Wind-horse."
In appearance the Tibetan "Lung-horse" so closely resembles its evident prototype the "Horse-dragon," that it could easily be mistaken for it. On the animal's back, in place of the Chinese civilizing Book of the Law, the Lamas have substituted the Buddhist emblem of the civilizing Three Gems, which include the Buddhist Law. But the Tibetans, in their usual sordid way, view these objects as the material gems and wealth of good luck which this horse will bring to its votaries. The symbol is avowedly a luck-commanding talisman for enhancing the grandeur of the votary.
Indian myth also lends itself to the association of the horse with luck; for the Jewel-horse of the universal monarch, such as Buddha was to have been had he cared for worldly grandeur, carries its rider, Pegasus-like, through the air in whatever direction wished for, and thus it would become associated with the idea of realization of material wishes, and especially wealth and jewels. This horse also forms the throne-support of the mythical celestial Buddha named Ratna-sambhava, or "the Jewel-born One," who is often represented symbolically by a jewel. And we find in many of these luck-flags that the picture of a jewel takes the place of the horse. It is also notable that the mythical people of the northern continent, subject to the god of wealth, Kuvera, or Vaisravana, are "horse-faced"...
One lung-horse for each member of a household must be planted on the third day of every month (lunar) on the top of any hill near at hand, or on the branch of a tree near a spring, or tied to the sides of a bridge; and on affixing the flag a stick of incense is burned. And a small quantity of flour, grain, flesh, and beer are offered to the genius loci of the hill-top by sprinkling them around, saying, So! So! Take! Take!...
In the central disc over the junction of the cross Dor-je is written: "Om! neh ya rani jiwenti ye swaha! O! May this charm-holder be given the undying gift of soul everlasting (as the adamantine cross Dor-je herein pictured)."
In planting these luck-flags a special form of worship is observed. And the planting of these flags with the due worship is advised to be done whenever anyone feels unhappy and down in luck, or injured by the earth-demons, etc....
The credulous Lamas of north-eastern Tibet credited Mr. Rockhill with having captured the golden fish in the Tosu lake. "When I came back from Tosu-nor to Shang, the Khanpo (abbot), a Tibetan, asked me where I proposed going; 'To Lob-nor,' I replied, not wishing to discuss my plans. 'I supposed that was your intention,' he rejoined; 'you have caught our horse and fish of gold in the Tosu-nor, and now you want to get the frog of gold of the Lob-nor. But it will be useless to try; there is in the whole world but the Panchen Rinpoche, of Tashi-lhunpo, who is able to catch it"...
Worship and Ritual.WORSHIP and priestcraft had no place in primitive Buddhism. Pious regard for admirable persons, such as Buddha and the elders, and for ancient cities and sacred sites, was limited to mere veneration, and usually took the form of respectful circumambulation (usually three times), with the right hand towards the admired object, as in western ceremonial, and this veneration was extended to the other two members of the Buddhist trinity, namely, Buddha's Word or Dharma, and the Assembly of the Faithful.
After Buddha's death such ceremonial, to satisfy the religious sense, seems soon to have crystallized into concrete worship and sacrifice as an act of affection and gratitude towards the Three Holy Ones; and it was soon extended so as to include the worship of three other classes of objects, namely (1), Bodily relics (Saririka); (2), Images of Buddha's person, etc. (Uddesika; and (3), Vestments, utensils, etc. (Paribhogika). And in justification of such worship the southern Buddhists quote the sanction of Buddha himself, though of course without any proof for it...
But in Lamaism the ritualistic cults are seen in their most developed form, and many of these certainly bear a close resemblance outwardly to those found within the church of Rome, in the pompous services with celibate and tonsured monks and nuns, candles, bells, censers, rosaries, mitres, copes, pastoral crooks, worship of relics, confession, intercession of "the Mother of God," litanies and chants, holy water, triad divinity organized hierarchy, etc.
It is still uncertain, however, how much of the Lamaist symbolism may have been borrowed from Roman Catholicism, or vice versa. Large Christian communities certainly existed in western China, near the borders of Tibet, as early as the seventh century A.D.
Thus has it happened, in a system which acknowledged no Creator, that the monks are in the anomalous position of priests to a host of exacting deities and demons, and hold the keys of hell and heaven, for they have invented the common saying, "'without a Lama in front (of the votary), there is (no approach to) God." And so instilled is such belief in the minds of the laity that no important business is undertaken without first offering worship or sacrifice...
But there is no limit to the variety of things that are offered. Wealthy votaries offer art objects, rich tapestries, gold and silver vessels, jewels, and the plunders of war, including weapons. In Burma, some of the earliest knitting and embroidery efforts of young girls are devoted to Buddha's shrine, along with American clocks and chandeliers, tins of jam and English biscuits, sardines, and Birmingham umbrellas. And most of these, and still more incongruous objects, are offered on Lamaist altars; even eggs are sometimes given...
Many of the Lamaist offerings are of the nature of real sacrifice. Some of the objects are destroyed at the time of offering. Ceremonies to propitiate demons are usually done after dark, and the objects are then commonly thrown down "delibare." Frequently the sacrifice is given the form of a banquet...
A still more elaborate arrangement of food-offerings is seen in the banquet to the whole assembly of the gods and the demons, entitled Kon-ch'og-chi-du, or "sacrifice to the whole assembly of Rare Ones," which is frequently held in the temples. This feast is observed by Lamas of all sects, and is an interesting sample of devil-worship. The old fashion is here detailed, but it differs from that of the reformed or high church only in providing for a slightly larger party of demoniacal guests; the Ge-lug-pa inviting only the following, to wit, their chief Lama, St. Tson-K'a-pa, their tutelary deity Vajra-bhairava, Vajrasattva Buddha, the deified heroes, the fairies, the guardian demons of the Ge-lug-pa creed, the god of wealth, the guardian demons of the caves where the undiscovered revelations are deposited, the five sister sprites of mount Everest, the twelve aerial fiendesses (Tan-ma), who sow disease, and the more important local gods.
This sacrifice should be done in the temples for the benefit of the Lamas on the 10th and 15th of every month. On behalf of laymen it must be done once annually at the expense of every individual layman who can afford it; and on extra occasions, as a thanksgiving for a successful undertaking, and as a propitiation in sickness, death, and disaster...
"Ambrosia" (amrita), in Tibetan literally "devils' juice"...
Then a celebration called Lhak-dor is done, and the whole of these crumbs — the leavings of the Lamas — are contemptuously thrown down on to the ground, outside the temple-door to the starveling ghosts and those evil-spirits who have not jet been subjected by St. Padma or subsequent Lamas...
Tara's Worship...If you chant her hymn two or three or six or seven times, your desire for a son will be realized!...
On confessing to Thee penitently their sins
The most sinful hearts, yea! even the committers of the
Ten vices and the five boundless sins,
Will obtain forgiveness and reach
Perfection of soul — through Thee!...
and may all our desires be realized without exertion on our part...
The "Refuge-Formula" of the LamasThe "Refuge-formula" of the Lamas, which I here translate, well illustrates the very depraved form of Buddhism professed by the majority of Lamas; for here we find that the original triple Refuge-formula (Skt., Trisarana; Pali, Saranagamana) in the Three Holies, the Triratna— Buddha, The Word, and The Assembly — has been extended so as to comprise the vast host of deities, demons and deified saints of Tibet, as well as many of the Indian Mahayana and Yogacarya saints...
"Now! we — the innumerable animal beings — conceiving that (through the efficacy of the above dharanis and prayers, we have become pure in thought like Buddha himself; and that we are working for the welfare of the other animal beings; we, therefore, having now acquired the qualities of the host of the Gods, and the roots of the Tantras, the Z'i-wa, rGyas-pa, dBan and P'rin-las, we desire that all the other animal beings be possessed of happiness, and be freed from misery! Let us — all animals! — be freed from lust, anger, and attachment to worldly affairs, and let us perfectly understand the true nature of The Religion!...
The "Eucharist" of Lamaism...[E]very village must have it performed at least once a year for the life of the general community, and after its performance any prolongation of life is credited to this service: while a fatal result is attributed to the excessive misdeeds of the individual in his last life or in previous births...
The priest who conducts this ceremony for propitiation of Amitayus and the other gods of longevity must be of the purest morals, and usually a total abstainer from meat and wine. He must have fasted during the greater part of the twenty four hours preceding the rite, have repeated the mantras of the life-giving gods many times, 100,000 times if possible, and he must have secured ceremonial purity by bathing...
Everything being ready and the congregation assembled, the priest, ceremonially pure by the ascetic rites above noted, and dressed as in the frontispiece, abstracts from the great image of Buddha Amitayus part of the divine essence of that deity, by placing the vajra of his rdor-jehi gzun-t'ag upon the nectar-vase which the image of Amitayus holds in his lap, and applying the other end to his own bosom, over his heart. Thus, through the string, as by a telegraph wire, passes the divine spirit, and the Lama must mentally conceive that his heart is in actual union with that of the god Amitayus, and that, for the time being, he is himself that god. Then he invokes his tutelary-fiend, and through him the fearful horse-necked Hayayriva (Tamdin), the king of the demons. The Lama, with this divine triad (namely, the Buddha and the two demon kings) incorporate in him, and exhibiting the forms of all three to spiritual eyes, now dispenses his divine favours...
Here the Lama, assuming the threatening aspect of the demon-kings, who are, for the time being, in his body, adds, "Should you refuse to go, then I, who am the most powerful Hayagriva and the king of the angry demons, will crush you — body, speech and mind — to dust! Obey my mandate and begone, each to his abode, otherwise you shall suffer. Om sumbhani," etc. Now, the Lamas and the people, believing that all the evil spirits have been driven away by the demon-king himself, shout, "The gods have won! the devils are defeated!"...
ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION.LIKE most primitive people, the Tibetans believe that the planets and spiritual powers, good and bad, directly exercise a potent influence upon man's welfare and destiny, and that the portending machinations of these powers are only to be foreseen, discerned, and counteracted by the priests.
Such beliefs have been zealously fostered by the Lamas, who have led the laity to understand that it is necessary for each individual to have recourse to the astrologer-Lama or Tsi-pa on each of the three great epochs of life, to wit, birth, marriage, and death: and also at the beginning of each year to have a forecast of the year's ill-fortune and its remedies drawn out for them.
These remedies are all of the nature of rampant demonolatry for the appeasing or coercion of the demons of the air, the earth, the locality, house, the death-demon, etc.
Indeed, the Lamas are themselves the real supporters of the demonolatry. They prescribe it wholesale, and derive from it their chief means of livelihood at the expense of the laity...
The astrologer-Lamas have always a constant stream of persons coming to them for prescriptions as to what deities and demons require appeasing and the remedies necessary to neutralize these portending evils....
The days of the month in their numerical order are unlucky per se in this order. The first is unlucky for starting any undertaking, journey, etc. The second is very bad to travel. Third is good provided no bad combination otherwise. Fourth is bad for sickness and accident (Ch'u-'jag). Eighth bad. The dates counted on fingers, beginning from thumb and counting second in the hollow between thumb and index finger, the hollow always comes out bad, thus second, eighth, fourteenth, etc. Ninth is good for long journeys but not for short (Kut-da). Fourteenth and twenty-fourth are like fourth. The others are fairly good coeteris paribus. In accounts, etc., unlucky days are often omitted altogether and the dates counted by duplicating the preceding day...
The spirits of the seasons also powerfully influence the luckiness or unluckiness of the days. It is necessary to know which spirit has arrived at the particular place and time when an event has happened or an undertaking is entertained. And the very frequent and complicated migrations of these aerial spirits, good and bad, can only be ascertained by the Lamas...
A preliminary fee or present is usually given to the astrologer at the time of applying for the horoscope, in order to secure as favourable a presage as possible...
The Misfortune Account of the Family of __________ For the Earth-Mouse Year (i.e., 1888 A.D.)...The extravagant amount of worship prescribed in the above horoscope is only a fair sample of the amount which the Lamas order one family to perform so as to neutralize the current year's demoniacal influences on account of the family inter-relations only. In addition to the worship herein prescribed there also needs to be done the special worship for each individual according to his or her own life's horoscope as taken at birth; and in the case of husband and wife, their additional burden of worship which accrues to their life horoscope on their marriage, due to the new set of conflicts introduced by the conjunction of their respective years and their noxious influences; and other rites should a death have happened either in their own family or even in the neighbourhood. And when, despite the execution of all this costly worship, sickness still happens, it necessitates the further employment of Lamas, and the recourse by the more wealthy to a devil-dancer or to a special additional horoscope by the Lama. So that one family alone is prescribed a sufficient number of sacerdotal tasks to engage a couple of Lamas fairly fully for several months of every year!
A somewhat comical result of all this wholesale reading of scriptures is that, in order to get through the prescribed reading of the several bulky scriptures within a reasonable time, it is the practice to call in a dozen or so Lamas, each of whom reads aloud, but all at the same time, a different book or chapter for the benefit of the person concerned...
The cards used for most divination purposes are small oblong strips of cardboard, each representing several degrees of lucky and unlucky portents suitably inscribed and pictorially illustrated, and to each of these is attached a small thread.
In consulting this oracle, an invocation is first addressed to a favourite deity, frequently the goddess Tara, and the packet is held by the left hand on a level with the face, and, with closed eyes, one of the threads is grasped, and its attached card is drawn out. The best out of three draws is held to decide the luck of the proposed undertaking, or the ultimate result of the sickness or the other question of fortune sought after...
The set of fifteen squares is called "Gya-nag-sman-ch'u," or "The Chinese medicinal water." It consists of a triple series of five squares, with the numbers arranged as in the sketch...
The set of twenty-one squares is called "The twenty-one Taras," after the twenty-one forms of that obliging goddess. Above the centre of the diagram is a figure of that goddess, who is specially invoked in this divination. The numbers run as in the diagram here given. As a sample of the oracles I give here a few of the divination-results from Tara's series. If the black seed falls on 1,2, 8, or 9, the divination is as follows: —
No. 1. The Jewel. — If you do not go to sea then you will get the jewel. For merchants' and thieves' adventures it is good...
A most peculiar application of the dice is for determining the successive regions and grades of one's future re-births. Fifty-six or more squares of about two inches wide are painted side by side in contrasted colours on a large sheet of cloth, thus giving a chequered area like an ordinary draught or chess-board. Each square represents a certain phase of existence in one or other of the six regions of re-birth, and on it is graphically depicted a figure or scene expressive of the particular state of existence in the world of man, or beast, or god, or in hell, etc., and it bears in its centre the name of its particular form of existence, and it also contains the names of six other possible states of re-birth which ensue from this particular existence, these names being preceded by one or other of the following six letters: A, S, R, G, D, Y, which are also borne on the six faces of the wooden cube which forms the solitary dice for this divination.
Starting from the world of human existence, the dice is thrown, and the letter which turns up determines the region of the next re-birth. Then proceeding from it the dice is again thrown and the letter turned up indicates the next state of re-birth from this new existence, and so on from square to square ad infinitum...
The dice accompanying my copy of this board seems to have been loaded so as to show up the letter Y, which gives a ghostly existence, and thus necessitates the performance of many expensive rites to counteract so undesirable a fate...SORCERY AND NECROMANCY...Dwelling in an atmosphere of superstition, the Lamas, like the alchemists of old, do not recognize the limitation to their powers over Nature. They believe that the hermits in the mountains, and the monks in their cloisters, can readily become adepts in the black art, and can banish drought, and control the sun, and stay the storm; and many of their necromantic performances recall the scene of the "witches' cauldron" in Macbeth.
Magic, and this mostly of a sympathetic kind, seems to have crept into Indian Buddhism soon after Buddha's death. In the form of irdhi, or the acquisition of supernatural power, it is a recognized attribute of the Arhats, and even among the primitive Hinayana Buddhists. The Paritta ("pirit") rite of the Southern Buddhists is essentially of the character of exorcism, and portions of the text of the Saddharma Pundarika, dating to about the first century of our era, are specially framed for this purpose.
But the Indian cult does not appear ever to have descended to the gross devil-dancing and Shamanist charlatanism of the Lamas; though even the Lamas seldom, if ever, practise such common tricks as swallowing knives and vomiting fire, with which they have been credited. They find plenty of scope for their charlatanism in playing upon the easy credulity of the people by working themselves into the furious state of the "possessed," so as to oracularly deliver auguries, and by the profitable pursuits of necromancy and sorcery.
Every orthodox monastery in Tibet, even of the most reformed sects, keeps or patronizes a sorcerer, and consults him and follows his dictates upon most matters; and there are some cloisters near Lhasa specially devoted to instruction in this art. Such are, Moru, Ramo-ch'e, and Kar-mas'a.
The chief wizards are called "Defenders of the faith" (ch'os- skyon), and the highest of these, namely, Na-ch'un, is the government oracle, and is consulted on all important state occasions and undertakings. But every monastery of any size has its own sorcerer, who, however, in the case of the poorer sects, is not usually considered a member of the brotherhood, and he is allowed to marry. They possess no literature, and deliver their sayings orally.
Their fantastic equipment and their frantic bearing, as in figure at page 475, their cries and howls, despite their name, can scarcely be of Sivaite origin, but seem clearly to identify them with the Bon — the grossest of Shamanist devil-dancers. The belief both in ghosts and witchcraft and the practice of exorcism was so deep-rooted in the country, that Padma-sambhava gave it a prominent place in his system, and even Tson-K'a-pa could not do otherwise than take them over into his yellow sect...
The chief sorcerers are called "The revered protectors of religion," Ch'o-kyon or Ch'o-je, and are believed to be incarnations of the malignant spirit called "kings," who seem to be spirits of demonified heroes, and still the object of very active popular worship...
It will be interesting to find whether the dancing orgies of the Ceylon Buddhists are in any way related to those of northern Buddhism. The descriptions of Callaway are insufficient for this purpose. They show, however, that Yama the Death king figures prominently in the dances...
The Necromancer-in-Ordinary to Government. The Na-ch'un Oracle.The Necromancer-in-Ordinary to the government is the Na-ch'un sorcerer. The following details regarding him I have obtained from a resident of his temple, and also from several of his clientele.
This demon-king was originally a god of the Turki tribes, and named "The White Overcast Sky," and on account of his Turki descent the popular epic of the famous prince Kesar, who had conquered the Turki tribes, is not permitted to be recited at Depung, under whose aegis the Na-ch'un oracle resides for fear of offending the latter.
He was brought to Tibet by Padma-sambhava in Thi-Sron Detsan's reign, and made the Ch'o-Kyon or religious guardian of the first monastery, Sam-ya. There he became incarnate, and the man possessed by his spirit was styled "The Religious Noble" or Ch'o-je, and he married and became a recognized oracle with hereditary descent.
This demon-king is thus identified with Pe-har (usually pronounced Pe-kar) although other accounts make him the fourth and younger brother of Pe-har.
Many centuries later Pe-har's spirit is said to have transferred itself to Ts'al-gun-t'an, about four miles E.S.E. of Lhasa, on the way to Gah-dan, and thence in a miraculous manner to its present location.
In the time of the Grand Lama Nag-Wan, in the seventeenth century, when he extended the Ge-lug-pa order wholesale, he made the Na-ch'un ch'o-je a Lama of the yellow sect, and gave him the monastery called De-yang ta-tsan, and made him the state oracle. The reason alleged for the pre-eminence thus conferred is said to be that he frustrated an attempt of the Newars or Nepalese merchants of Lhasa to poison the tea-cistern at the great festival, by driving a knife through the vessel, and thus discharging the alleged poison.
Since his promotion within the ranks of the established church he and his successors have been celibate and educated. His monastery, which is richly furnished and surrounded by gardens, including a conservatory with stuffed birds, and leopards, and other animals, now contains one hundred and one monks, many of whom are real Ge-longs, observing the two hundred and fifty-three Vinaya rules, and from amongst these his successor is chosen — the succession passing by breath and not by heredity, and it is said that these sorcerers are very short-lived on account of their maniacal excitement; and they probably are addicted to Indian hemp. He has the title of Kung from the Chinese emperor, a title which is seldom bestowed even on the Sha-pe or governors (dukes) of Tibet...
This state-sorcerer proceeds in great pomp to Lhasa once a year, on the second day of the first month, attended by the magistrate of De-pung, and is accommodated in a special temple close to the east of the great Jo-wo temple, where he prophesies the events of the year. His rank is so high that he only visits the Dalai Lama. Government officials require to visit him when seeking information in regard to government projects, war, sickness, etc. And when he is at home his minister acts as the government go-between on ordinary occasions, and he and other sorcerers accompany troops to battle and interpret the portents of the omens of birds, animals, etc...
THE KARMA-SAR ORACLE.A more inferior type of sorcerer is the Lha-Ka (probably Lha-K'a or "God's mouth-piece," also called Ku-t'em-ba. Such are found frequently in western Tibet, and may be females, and in which case the woman may marry without hindrance to her profession. These wizards are especially resorted to for the relief of pain.
This exorcist puts on the mirror over the heart, the masker's cope, with the five Bats of Fortune, and the five-partite chaplet of the five Jinas, topped by skulls, a silken girdle (pan-den), and placing a cake on his head, he calls upon Buddha and St. Padma, and offers a libation and incense to the demons, and beating a large drum (not a tambourine or hautboy) and cymbals, calls on the several country-gods by name, saying: Na-K'an, dira c'e-den su-so-so! and the advent of the deity is believed to be seen in the mirror. The first to come is the tutelary, who then brings the Nagas, dragon-demi-gods and the Dre, which are the most malignant of all demons.
The divining-arrow is then taken from the plate of flour which had been offered to these demons, and its blunted point is put on the affected part. The Lha-ka exorcist now applies his mouth half-way down the shaft, and sucks forcibly. On this a drop of blood appears over the painful part, without any abrasion of skin, and evidently dropped by sleight of hand from the parti-coloured ribbons of the arrow. It is, however, considered a miracle, and the patient is led to believe that the demon has been expelled from the part...
Their special weapons for warring with the demons are: The Phurbu, a dagger of wood or metal to stab the demons...
A sash of human bones (rus-rgyan) carved with fiends and mystic symbols is also worn...
Barring the Door against the Earth-Demons.The local earth-spirits are named "Master Earth'' or "Earth-Masters,"' and are comparable to the terrestrial Nagas of the Hindus. The most malignant are the "gnan" who infest certain trees and rocks, which are always studiously shunned and respected, and usually daubed with paint in adoration...
The ceremony of "closing the door of the earth," so frequently referred to in the Lamaist prescriptions, is addressed to her.
In this rite is prepared an elaborate arrangement of masts, and amongst the mystic objects of the emblem the strings, etc.; most prominent is a ram's skull with its attached horns, and it is directed downwards to the earth...
The whole erection is now fixed to the outside of the house above the door; the object of these figures of a man, wife and house is to deceive the demons should they still come in spite of this offering, and to mislead them into the belief that the foregoing pictures are the inmates of the house, so that they may wreak their wrath on these bits of wood and so save the real human occupants.
Then when all is ready and fixed, the Lama turns to the southwest and chants: —
"O! O! ke! ke! Through the nine series of earths you are known as Old Mother Khon-ma, the mother of all the Sa-dak-po. You are the guardian of the earth's doors. The dainty things which you especially desire we herewith offer, namely, a white skull of a ram, on whose right cheek the sun is shining like burnished gold, and on the left cheek the moon gleams dimly like a conch-shell. The forehead bears the sign of Khon, and the whole is adorned with every sort of silk, wool, and precious things, and it is also given the spell of Khon (here the Lama breathes upon it). All these good things are here offered to you, so please close the open doors of the earth to the family who here has offered you these things, and do not let your servant Sathel ngag-po and the rest of the earth spirits do harm to this family. By this offering let all the doors of the earth be shut. O! O! ke! ke! Let not your servants injure us when we build a house or repair this one, nor when we are engaged in marriage matters, and let everything happen to this family according to their wishes. Do not be angry with us, but do us the favours we ask."...
Demons of the Sky.The demons who produce disease, short of actual death, are called She, and are exorcised by an elaborate ceremony in which a variety of images and offerings are made.2 The officiating Lama invokes his tutelary fiend, and thereby assuming spiritually the dread guise of this king evil, he orders out the disease-demon under threat of getting himself eaten up by the awful tutelary who now possesses the Lama. The demons are stabbed by the mystic dagger purba...