32 . 



drought and a prayer for rain, followed by an invocation of the 

 Triratna. Then some moments of profound silence allow the offi- 

 ciating monk to sink into dhyana and to see by his mental eyes 

 the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, dra,gon-kings and saints descending 

 and listening to the prayers. On awakening he orders to recite 

 seven times the dharani of the "Light-king of the Great Wheel" 

 (i. e. the sun), in order to correct the mistakes which might be 

 made in the ritual. Thereupon the monks invoke by name all 

 the 187 Naga kings mentioned in the sutra and thrice recite the 

 first kind of dharams, given by the Buddha to these kings 

 according to the same holy text. These magic formulae are accom- 

 panied by the sound of vajra bells, and followed by a terrible 

 noise of drums and cymbals in order to make them more power- 

 ful. Then follows the invocation of all the 54 rain-giving Tatha- 

 gatas, enumerated- in the sutra, each monk having a small incense- 

 burner in his hand, which they also used in invoking the Naga 

 kings. After a second dhyana of the leading monk having rendered 

 efiBcacious the second kind of dharani, given by the Buddha and 

 recited by the monks in the same way as the former, the cere- 

 mony is closed by expressing the hope that the rain may soon 

 come, sent by the Triratna and the dragon kings. A little later, 

 in the course of the forenoon, the offerings, placed on the altar, 

 are solemnly presented to the dragons, and songs and prayers 

 are sent up to them, as well as to the Triratna and all the devas. 

 Often a paper figure of one of the Taoistic "Celestial Generals", 

 with a written request for rain in his hand, is burned, that he 

 may take it to Heaven. 



In the afternoon the leading monk with the abbot and as 

 many other monks as they want take their seats upon the altar 

 and recite the Great-Cloud-Wheel stitra. All these ceremonies are 

 daily repeated till it rains sufficiently. If the drought lasts too 

 long, Kwan-yin's dharams and prayers for rain are continued 

 night and day, small groups of monks relieving one another in 

 all the buildings of the monastery. The main point of the ceremony 

 is the purity of the altar and of the priests themselves ; for the 

 drought, like all calamities caused by some crime of men, can only 

 be stopped by pure ceremonies performed by pure priests. Especially 

 because they never eat animal food, the monks are religiously 

 cleaner and therefore much more able to make rain than laymen. 



As to the ceremonies for stopping too abundant rains, called 

 "praying for good weather" ', these are described by De Groot 



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