31 



the original sutra already prescribed to use the blue colour and 

 to face the East. Moreover, the Azure Dragon has nothing to 

 do with Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhists only copy an ancient 

 Indian rite. Indra, the raingod, is the patron of the East, and 

 Indra-colour is nila, dark blue or rather blue-black, the regular 

 epitheton of the rain clouds '. If the priest had not to face the 

 East but the West, this would agree with the fact that the 

 Nagas were said to live in the Western quarter and that in India 

 the West corresponds with the blue colour. , Facing the East, 

 however, seems to point to an old rain ceremony in which Indra 

 was invoked to raise the blue-black clouds. 



On the eastern, southern, western and northern tables tablets 

 are placed on which the principal dragons of these quarters, 

 whose Indian names are mentioned above, are painted, with 

 three, five, seven and nine heads instead of the crests or hoods 

 of the ISTagas. Often other tablets representing attendants of these 

 great dragons stand at their sides. All the dragons have waves 

 at their feet and clouds above their heads. Finally, twenty eight 

 black poles with long blue flags, each with a burning oil lamp 

 between four flower vases filled with fresh flowers, represent the 

 twenty eight constellations. We find these twenty eight blue 

 banners mentioned on p. 21a of the Chinese text of the sutra 

 (Nanjo, nr 186); Bendall's translation of the Sanscrit text, however, 

 speaks only of one blue banner ^. De Groot explains the fact that 

 all the poles are black by the connection of this colour with the 

 North, with Yin and the water I This may be right, as the sutra 

 itself does not mention the colour of the poles, so that the Chi- 

 nese in this respect could follow their own ideas. 



In the morning of the first day of the ceremonies the leading 

 priest with the abbot and the highest authorities of the monastery 

 offer incense in the great temple of the Triratna, and, while the 

 dharanis of Kwan-yin are recited, the temple and the rain altar 

 are purified by sprinkling pure water upon them (as amvta). 

 Now the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, dragon-kings and saints may 

 descend upon the altar without contaminating themselves. The 

 leading monk and the abbot rise from their seats and offer incense ; 

 at the same time the choir thrice sings a lamentation about the 



1 Professor Spever had the kindness of pointing this out to me. One of the many 

 passages where a blue-black colour is mentioned is Mahabhamfa, Book III, 16, 13. 



2 Pp. 303, 309. 



3 Black horses were the principal offerings to the rain gods of Japan, see below, 

 Book II, Ch. Ill, § 2. 



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