TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST PART.

137

mercy,' men shall cut stuffs woven of cotton, and work it, when cut, to garments; when there they take meat; when there they buy and trade with goods; when the Gelongs break down inhabited places; when the astrologers invoke good fortune; when the Bonpo3 carry with them (listen to) the secret mystical sentences (Dharanis); when the Gebshi are the commanders in

1 This phrase is to be understood as a sort of prediction that the temples shall be desecrated by worldly negociations; for it is in the temples that are put up the three representatives (Tibetan Tensumni) of the Buddha, his precepts, and his mercy.

The Buddha is figured as a statue, a bas-relief, or a picture. The pictures hang down from the cross-beams of the roof, or are traced on the walls; the statues and bas-reliefs show him in a sitting attitude, and are placed behind the altar in a recess. The precepts which he bequeathed to man after his departure from earth, are symbolized by a book, which lies upon a lower step of the altar, or rests upon a shelf suspended from the roof. His mercy, or unlimited charity, which enabled him to obtain the sublime rank of a Buddha, in order to lead man to salvation, is signified by a Chorten, a pyramidal chest containing relics, which always occupies a prominent place upon the altar. See Csoma, "Grammar," p. 173, "Dictionary," voce rten;also Schmidt's Lexicon. For further details about images of gods see Chapter XIV.; for books, see p. 80; Chortens, Chapter XIII. For the place which these objects occupy in temples, I may refer to the Chapter on the temples, and to the view of the interior of the temple at Mangnáng, in Gnári Khórsum, by my brother Adolphe in the Atlas to the "Results of a Scientific Mission."

The term dge-slong is applied to ordained priests, who, however, are generally called by the more honourable title of Lama (bla-ma), a distinction strictly belonging only to the superiors of convents. The Gelongs must not care for riches or worldly prosperity; their breaking down inhabited places may mean, perhaps, their fighting against other monasteries or against rich men in general.

3 In Tibetan sngags-pa, one versed in charms.

In Tibetan gyang-'gugs; a ceremony of this nature will be noticed in a subsequent chapter. The allusion here is to the abuse of it as a substitute for prayers.

5 Bon-po is the name of the followers of the sect which adheres in the closest manner to the superstitious ideas transferred from the earlier Tibetan creed; comp. p. 74.

1

chief; when the learned and poor ( the priests) live in

2

and preside over the nunneries; when the Zhanglons3 amuse themselves with their daughters-in-law; when men destroy (eat) the meat destined for the manes of the dead; when the head Lamas eat the meat prepared for offerings; when men cut themselves off from the vital principle (commit suicide'); when bad actions increase upon earth; when the song Mani shall be returned in answer; when the calves of the Dzo' breed shall devastate (the fields); when men covet the goods of others; when the saints travel and establish trade;

8

Dge-bshes, abreviated from dge-bai-bshes-gnyen, in Sanskrit Kalyānamitra, meaning a learned priest, a friend to virtue. It is hardly necessary to say that the functions of a military chief do not agree very well with the clerical character. 2 The priests are not allowed to have intercourse with women, but the violation of this precept is but too probable by their dwelling under the same roof with nuns.

3 Zhang, "a maternal-uncle;" blon, "a magistrate, an officer, a nobleman;" the two words in connexion designate a man of superior rank.

4 The Tibetan has zan, which is explained in the dictionaries as "meat, a kind of thick potage, dough, or paste made of the meal or flour of parched grains." As an instance of its use for food in general see the details in Hermann's "Glossary," s. v. Zánkhar, in Vol. III., of the "Results," &c., and R. A. Soc., 1862.

5 Deliverance from existence is only the consequence of good actions; but suicide is also in the opinion of the Buddhists a bad action, and has a re-birth in a lower degree as one of its consequences, since the sins for the expiation of which the present existence had to be endured, are not yet atoned for, and also a new crime is committed. In the period of misery alluded to in the text, however, also this moral law will be overlooked.

By Mani the famous six-syllable prayer Om mani padme hum, "O, the Jewel in the Lotus: Amen," is to be understood; the allusion in the text refers to its conversion into a popular song.

7 mDzo, a mixed breed, the offspring of a Yak (bos gruniens) and a common common Indian Zhebu cow; in the language of the Himálaya tribes it is called Chubu. The Dzos are one of the few mixed species which are capable of propagation, and they outnumber in some valleys the pure Yaks.

* In Tibetan nal-jor, in Sanskrit Yogacharya, "a saint, a devotee," is also the name of a religious sect, which enjoyed the most favour in India until the seventh century A.D.-Respecting its history and religious tenets, see Chapter V.

TRANSLATION OF THE SECOND PART.

139

when fraud is committed with measure1 and weight; when the Chinese trade with little children (which they would obtain from the Tibetans); when under the gates (of the temples) illusory miracles (sorcery) shall be practised; when men eat and drink and care but for this actual existence; when there shall be no more gratuities; when the time shall arrive that old customs are disturbed (changed); when men shall be given up to the ravages of war and the enemy; when frost, hail, and drought shall spread (make general) famine; when men and animal beings shall have to suffer from bad actions: then, in this period of distress and misery this sDig-bshags-gter-chhos will be an ablution for every kind of sin which has been accumulated in the meantime; all animated beings shall read it, and on account of it all sins shall be wiped away."

Translation of the second part.

"Enshrined in the sacred box at the time of the uttering of benedictions."

"In this period of distress and misery, when many

The Tibetan bre, also pronounced pre, is, according to Csoma's Dictionary, "a dry measure, the twentieth part of a Tibetan bushel."

2 Some words are here illegible.

3 For the Buddhist theory on the influence of good and bad actions upon well-being, see p. 93.

The last four lines of the original text have been so much injured that only a few of the words could be deciphered, enough, however, remaining to give a clue to the meaning.

5 With reference to the religious rites and ceremonies connected with the erection of Chortens, see Chapter XIII.

living beings shall suffer and sigh for deliverance, these benedictions shall afford great advantages to sinners. The sins which arise from discord and dispute among the inhabitants of this monastery1 shall be taken away through them.

"These blessings, if recited on the 8th, 15th, and 30th of every month, purify most surely from the five great crimes, and from all sins, and deliver from the six kinds of hell. The 84,000 great emblems of the essence of the sublime doctrine shall be the same with every being. The mind of man shall become unchangeably directed towards attaining the sanctity of a Buddha; he shall gain the energetic will of the Buddha, and shall in the end obtain the advantages of a Buddha himself.

3

"This is the end of the Mahāyāna Sutra sDig-bshagsgser-gyis-spu-gri.

"All beings be blessed!"

1 The name of the monastery is not given in the original, which only says, dgon-pa "a monastery".

2 The five great crimes of the Buddhists are: 1. The taking of life; 2. Theft; 3. Adultery; 4. Lying; 5. Drunkenness. See Burnouf, "Lotus de la Bonne Loi," p. 447; Hardy, "Manual of Buddhism," Chapter X., p. 488.

3 This phrase refers, as may be seen from the sequel, to the inferior signs of a Buddha's beauty. They are generally stated to be 80 in number, but other books, as e. g. the Rgya-chher-rol-pa (translated by Foucaux, Vol. II., p. 108) give 84, which, in the present treatise, have been multiplied by 1000. The number of 84,000 is a most favourite one in Buddhist cosmogony and seems to be used in the same way as Khrag-khrig, "a hundred thousand millions" (p. 130), and the Chinese Wan, or 10,000 (Ideler, "Ueber die Zeitrechnung der Chinesen," p. 10), as the designation of an infinite number. The extent, thickness, and diameter of the sakwalas can always be divided by 8; the prolongation of the age of mankind continues for 84,000 years. See Hardy, "Manual," Chapter I.; Foe koue ki, p. 127.

TRANSLATION OF THE SECOND PART.

141

(Three Dharanis, in corrupt Sanskrit, now follow. The first Dharani is a mystic invocation of Dorjesempa, Sanskrit Vajrasattva (see p. 50); in the second Dharani is condensed the belief in the four truths (see p. 16); the third Dharani is recited at the inauguration of the temples; now the text continues: 1

"By means of these invocations the creatures become perfect in the two collections; they shall be purified from their sins and blessed with the dignity of a most perfect Buddha.

(A fourth Dharani follows).

"This (Dharani) is raised (granted) as a favour to the wanderers in the orb for not having paid reverence to parents-instead of thankfully remembering favours received nor to the holy Foundation-Lamas, who have obtained perfection by virtues.

4

"All sins committed by taking life, together with the transgressions accumulated in previous existences, the sins of lying, envy, and wickedness which proceed from the mind-all these sins are abolished by this sublime doctrine.

"Most perfect Sages, be gracious and clement, if I should not have rendered rightly the letters of the

The transcription of these three Dharānīs has been omitted from considerations of brevity.

2 In Tibetan ts hogs-gnyis; by this term is understood the combination of the highest perfection in the practice of virtues, and the highest degree of wisdom, both of which are reserved for the Buddhas; but simple men can attain this sublimest rank by following the path revealed by Sākyamuni and his acknowledged predecessors.

3 It delivers from the sins specified.

In Tibetan rtsa-vai-bla-ma; in a foregoing passage they were styled bla-ma-dam-pa-brgyud. See p. 136.