534 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



also certain ideas connected with the conception of certain attri- 

 butes, snch as Love, Mercy, Justice, War, etc., and each figure 

 has been made to convey the idea of his specialty. 



For example, the Love symbol is shown as a fat, jolly-tempered 

 man surrounded with little children at play. Justice sits with a 

 face utterly devoid of all traces of sympathy, and with eyelids 

 drawn down and lips firmly closed, and, with drawn sword, sym- 

 bolizes the fate of the evil-doer. Thus, each figure is intended to 

 impress the observer with a proper observance of the graces in- 

 culcated in the religion. But they are not worshiped. Nor has 

 Buddha been deified in any proper sense, but is looked upon as 

 the founder and best example of the faith. So far as I can judge, 

 no prayers are offered to him as such, but, while he occupies the 

 post of honor in all temples, he is merely venerated as above indi- 

 cated. 



Morning and evening services are observed in the temples, 

 which consist of a certain number of strokes upon a great bell 

 and a similar number of taps on a huge drum, which sometimes 

 consists of a section of a hollow trunk of a tree, with rawhide 

 fastened across one end; and this noisy demonstration is pre- 

 ceded and followed by repetition of ritual, and bowing and kneel- 

 ing in turn in front of the central altar. Nothing can be more 

 weird than to listen to the beating on the drum and bell in the 

 stillness of a mountain gorge at sunset, where no sound except 

 the occasional howling of tigers near by comes to break the mo- 

 notony of the mountain stillness. I can well understand how it 

 affects the minds of ignorant worshipers, inspiring in them an 

 awe equal to that produced by the most profound ceremonies of 

 the churches on the minds of the worshipers. 



They have no set days for the people to come to the temples to 

 worship. The priests keep up the service above named at sunrise 

 and sunset of each day, and the laity may come to the temples at 

 any time they see fit. Prayers are said for the people, or rather 

 by the people, in a sort of lottery scheme. A joint of bamboo, 

 open at one end, is kept in the temples, in which are an assort- 

 ment of prayers and omens good and bad. The worshiper ( ?) se- 

 lects one of these by chance, much as we sometimes see children 

 pulling straws for the longest or shortest to decide some question 

 in dispute. If the first effort gets an undesirable " prayer," it is 

 put back and another drawn. This is repeated until the wor- 

 shiper gets one that suits him, and then he goes on his way, feel- 

 ing sure that the blessings of Heaven will rest upon his under- 

 takings. 



There are monasteries and convents in addition to the temples, 

 and these are carried on for the same purposes and very similar in 

 all respects as the Roman institutions of the same nature. 



