102 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



fierce gods treading on the prostrate forms of their dead enemies. 

 Some wear necklaces made of the skulls of their dead enemies. Some 

 have many heads, many hands, and several pairs of legs and feet, and 

 a few have a third eye in their foreheads. What seems most strange 

 and shocking to many Orientals and Occidentals is the sight of great 

 gods embracing their saktis or spouses and actually copulating with 

 them in a standing position. 



9. Stipcrhiiman potency. — Very important is the belief in super- 

 human potency, a strange, uncanny and superhuman power. Used 

 rightly, it is very beneficial, but, like electricity, when used wrongly it 

 can do a great deal of harm. Numerous lamas and laymen are wizards 

 or shamans, who know the right techniques to make it beneficial to the 

 people. This power is also possessed by all the gods, by magic words 

 and formulas, by sacred implements, and by charms and incantations. 

 Religious ceremonies and festivals employ it and make it useful in 

 satisfying the needs of mankind — food, sex, shelter, honor, long life, 

 a happy rebirth in a future existence, or the attainment of Buddha- 

 hood in the Buddhist paradise, and protection from diseases, enemies, 

 and demons. 



While the Chinese have influenced Tibetan culture and Lamaism 

 from the seventh century, this influence has increased through social, 

 economic, and political contacts during the Manchu dynasty and 

 the time of the Chinese Republic. This influence has been accelerated 

 during the later years of the Republic by the establishment by the 

 Chinese government of schools among the Tibetans, the Hsi-fan, the 

 Chia-jung, and the Wa-ssus, in Sikang and in western Szechwan, in 

 which schools the Chinese language and Chinese culture have been 

 taught. 



Lamaism has also influenced the religions of China, especially 

 Chinese Buddhism, but it w^ould be very difficult to estimate how 

 much. The Chinese have come into contact with Lamaism in Sikang, 

 western Szechwan, Kansu, Kokonor, and Mongolia, and there are 

 Tibetan lamaseries in Peking and in Chengtu. Chinese officials have 

 sometimes paid lamas to conduct religious ceremonies in Chengtu and 

 in other cities of West China. In Chengtu and in other cities of the 

 China-Tibetan border Tibetan priests have occasionally given lec- 

 tures on Buddhism to the Chinese people. 



THE CHINESE 



THE ju t'an, or altar of the scholars 



Whether or not this religion spread from Szechwan into adjoining 

 provinces, and when and by whom it was originated, I have never 



