30 



each time preceded by the words *1 keep friendship with", with 

 those mentioned in the Great Cloud-wheel Rain-asking sutra in 

 Seal's Catena, those found in the Saddharma Pundanha sutra 

 and those of Southern Buddhism. Nanda and Upananda, Anava- 

 tapta, Takshaka, Dhrtarashtra and Virupaksha are mentioned in 

 all these lists, Sagara (wrongly called Samharaka in the Mingai 

 MS.) in the three former, as well as Vasuki, while Varuiia and 

 Manasvin are not found in the Lotus and in Southern Buddhism. 

 Further, the MS. gives several other names, as Nairavana, Krshna, 

 Grautamaka, Mani, Dandapada etc. Dhrtarashtra and Virupaksha 

 are the regents of the East and the West, and also Naga kings; 

 as to Nairavana, this is, according to Morris, perhaps Vaicravana, 

 the regent of the North. Krshna and G-autamaka are mentioned 

 in the Divyavadana as two Naga kings. 



Prof. De Groot ' gives a very interesting description of the 

 whole rain ceremony, as it is performed in Chinese Buddhist 

 monasteries in times of drought, by order of the authorities or 

 of influential laymen. An altar is erected, mostly in the court-yard 

 before the great temple of the Triratna, but sometimes at the 

 foot of the mountain on which the monastery is situated; there 

 a Kwan-yin temple is often appointed for these ceremonies and 

 for the prayers for rain, sent up by the mandarins and the 

 people. Once or twice De Groot saw a shrine dedicated to Sagara 

 Nagaraja, the special sea-god of the Chinese Buddhists; it was 

 opened only in time of drought. 



The altar corresponds with the prescriptions of the sutra, 

 mentioned above ^ On the gates of the four sides dragons are 

 painted, two on each, with their heads turned to the inside. 

 The cow dung of the Hindus is replaced in China by a yellow 

 reddish clay, which is used for adorning the platform inside the 

 enclosure. The estrade upon this platform is covered with blue 

 silk, as well as the tables for the sutras, utensils, offerings, and 

 the chairs of the performing monks, of whom the leader looks 

 to the East, the others to the North and South. 



According to De Groot, the colour blue is chosen in China 

 because this is the colour of the East, from where the rain must 

 come; this quarter is represented by the Azure Dragon, the highest 

 in rank among all the dragons. We have seen, however, that 



1 Code du Mahayana en Chine, Ch. VIII, pp. 148 sqq. 



2 Of. also nr 177 of the Supplement of the Tripitaka (third volume of bundle 3), 

 p. 380 6 : -Jr ^ ^ iiflf 15^ 1® ^ , "Doctrine concernina the altar for nra vino- fnr 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



