CHINA. 



253 



Religion, rites, snd magical practices, which frequently vary ac- 

 v V*' cording to the fancy or skill of the actor. They act al- 

 so the part of fortune-tellers, in which they are sufficient- 

 ly expert, representing the figure of their chief in the air, 

 causing the pencil to write the oracular response of itself, 

 shewing the figures of persons in a bason of water, &c. 

 They attend at funerals, to drive away evil spirits ; pro- 

 fess to cure the sick by their incantations or intercessions ; 

 and pronounce a benediction upon the ships, when first 

 launched into the sea. They run about the streets lash. 

 ing themselves, as an expiation for the sins of their vota. 

 rL>, and collecting money as the price of their services. 



The priests of Fo lire also in a state of celibacy, and 

 in large convents, which the Chinese call Poo-ta-la, 

 which is the mode in which they pronounce the word 

 Buddhalaya, that is, the habitation of Buddha. They 

 shave their heads, and wear long gowns, generally of a 

 yellow or black colour, to which on days of ceremony 

 they add a red bonnet and scarf. They have a kind of 

 chaplet round their necks, consisting of a number of 

 beads ; and in some of their acts of worship they march, 

 like the Tao-tse, round the altar, counting these beads 

 as they move, at every bead bowing the head respect- 

 fully, and repeating the word O mi to-fo; and when the 

 whole string is finished, they make a mark with chalk, 

 in order to register the number of their ejaculations to 

 the god Fo. They eat no flesh, fish, or onions, drink 

 no wine, and lead, in short, a very abstemious life; but 

 are nevertheless, it has been observed, sufficiently fat and 

 well grown. 



The bonzes are generally regarded with contempt, as 

 persons who deprive their country of that personal la- 

 bour, which is counted in China as a sacred duty ; and 

 k is only persons advanced in life, or of the lowest class 

 of people, who join their society. Hence it is their 

 practice to purchase young children to learn and to per- 

 petuate their system ; and, to attract the greater respect 

 and confidence, they employ every possible mode of ac- 

 quiring riches, and securing reverence. When consult- 

 ed with respect to the most fortunate spot for building 

 a house or erecting a sepulchre, they have generally a 

 secret understanding with the proprietor of the ground, 

 which they pronounce to be the most desirable, and 

 share with him the price of the purchase. To secure 

 the protection of the emperor or chief mandarins, they 

 place them among the number of their divinities ; and 

 to draw the populace to their temples, they announce 

 prodigies of various kinds, and threaten dreadful trans- 

 migrations to those who neglect to bring offerings, and 

 Scrd of- to secure the benefit of their prayers. In these offer- 

 fcring--. ings, animal victims are now rarely seen, on account of 

 the great scarcity of sheep and the value of hogs ; but 

 fruits and roasted fowls are the principal gifts. Even 

 these, however, are seldom left for the idol or the priests, 

 but are carried away by the worshipper, after the invo- . 

 cation has been performed ; and, in their stead, a sum of 

 money is given to the bonzes of the temple. In these 

 acts of devotion, it has been remarked that the Chinese 

 appear to be actuated rather by a dread of some evil in 

 this life, than the fear of punishment in another ; that 

 they perform their sacred rites more with a view to ap- 

 pease an angry deity, and to avert impending calami- 

 ties, than from any hope of obtaining a positive good ; 

 that they rather consult or inquire of their gods what 

 may happen, than petition them to accomplish or aveit 

 it ; that a Chinese can scarcely be said to pray, but 

 while he may be grateful when the event proves favour, 

 able, is petulant and peevish when it i.s adverse. They 

 kold the different idols in more or less estimation, ac- 



cording to the favours, which they are supposed to have Religion.^ 

 conferred upon their votaries ; and when, after repeated ~~ "'>""" 

 applications, their suit is not granted, they abandon the 

 spirit of that temple as a god without power, or per- 

 haps pull down the edifice, and leave the statues exposed 

 in the open air. Numbers of temples are thus seen in 

 ruins, their bells lying on the ground, their monstrous 

 idols standing unsheltered, and their bonzes wandering 

 in quest of alms or a more fortunate asylum. Some- 

 times the fallen deity is treated with the utmost outrage 

 and Contempt. " Thou dog of a spirit," the enraged 

 votaries will say, " we lodge thee in a commodious 

 temple ; thou art well gilt, well fed, and receivest abun- 

 dance of incense ; and yet, after all the care bestowed 

 upon thee, thou art ungrateful enough to refuse us ne- 

 cessary things !" Then, tying the idol with cords, they 

 drag it through the kennels, and bespatter it with filth. 

 But should they happen, during this scene of vengeance, 

 to obtain, or to fancy that they have obtained, their ob- 

 ject, then they carry back the insulted divinity to its 

 place with great,ceremony, wash it with care, prostrate 

 themselves before it, acknowledge their rashness, sup- 

 plicate forgiveness, and promise to gild it again, upon 

 condition that what, is past be forgotten. Sometimes 

 those, who have found all their gifts and worship un- 

 availing, have brought the idol and its bonzes to a so- 

 lemn trial before the mandarins, and procured the divi- 

 nity to be dismissed as useless, and its priests to be 

 punished as impostors. 



Among the Chinese superstitions, pilgrimages are not Pilgrims- 

 wanting ; and on certain mountains in every province are 8 e8> 

 holy places, more or less revered, to which the more de- 

 vout worshippers repair from immense distances, and 

 which they are required to ascend by dragging them- 

 selves along on their bended knees. Such as are unable, 

 by age, infirmities, or urgent avocations, to make their 

 sacred journeys, commission their friends to bring them 

 a consecrated leaf filled with various characters, and 

 stamped by the bonzes, in the centre of which is a 

 figure of the idol Fo, surrounded with a number of 

 circles. Every time that they count over their beads at 

 seasons of devotion, they make a red mark upon one of 

 these circles ; and this leaf, which is the register of their 

 prayers, is occasionally laid before the bonzes, that they 

 may attest the number of circles thus marked, and im- 

 print their seal upon the record to render it authentic. 

 This important memorial, which it requires considerable 

 sums to render duly formal, is carried with great so- 

 lemnity at the funeral procession of its possessor, depo- 

 sited in a small sealed box, and considered as his passport 

 to the other world. 



Every trouble in China is attributed to the influence 

 of some evil spirit, which every one's imagination frames 

 to himself, and which he places, as it pleases him, in an 

 idol, an old oak, a lofty mountain, or at the bottom of 

 the sea. These mischievous spirits are considered by 

 some as the souls or purified aerial substances of animals, 

 such as of foxes, apes, frogs, &c.; and these creatures 

 are supposed to have the power, after living a certain 

 number of years, to divest themselves of the grosser parts 

 of their nature; and, after becoming pure essences, to 

 take delight in tormenting human beings, especially by 

 exposing them to diseases. Hence, in time of sick- 

 ness, the principal remedy is to send for the bonzes, 

 to banish, by their noises and incantations, those malig- 

 nant spirits. 



In every possible circumstance of life, the Chinese im- 

 plore the protection and aid of some deity. Should a 

 countryman be about to raise some large stone, or to at- 



