DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



would then be manifested to him. On this the Taoist, 

 bursting into anger, cried vehemently, ' I am indeed keeping 

 my vows. If not, why should I have come hither to see the 

 Buddha ? ' Then said the Buddha, ' If this be verily so, look 

 up into the sky.' The Taoist raised his head and perceived 

 in the sky a glow of five-coloured light together with clouds 

 of five colours. In the heavens he saw the ' hah-pah ' dog 

 transformed into a mighty lion with the Buddha riding upon 

 his back. The Taoist had affinity with Buddha in a previous 

 incarnation, and consequently was enabled to see the true 

 Buddha* 



It is of interest to note that St. Thomas the Apostle, who 

 is believed through the traditions of the early Church to 

 have propagated Christianity in India, High Asia and to the 

 Walls of China, is represented by Indian tradition as having 

 come to India riding upon a lion and accompanied by two 

 dogs.f 



The association of a god with a canine assistant dates from 

 the time of Anubis worship in Egypt. In Asia it can be 

 traced back to a period anterior to the separation of the 

 Persians and Hindus, the myth being found in the religions 

 of both peoples. The dog of Mithras, god of the sky and a 

 divinity of light, was venerated as the companion of the deity 

 by the Persians. The worship of Mithras, deified before 

 405 B.C., was modified later by the star-worship of the 

 Chaldeans, who identified Mithras with Shamash, god of the 

 sun, by the Armenian religion, and by that of the Greeks of 

 Asia Minor, who identified Mithras with Helios. About 

 60 B.C. the worship of Mithras was brought to Rome, and it 

 became so fashionable that during the second and third 

 centuries A.D. it constituted a formidable rival to Christianity. 

 Mithras slaying the " earth-bull " with the help of his dog 



* Tibetan " Yuan Liu " Ching. f Marignolli, 1338. 



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