16 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
A beautiful and rich altar-piece is given on pi. 1, jig. 24. Many of the 
figures and attitudes in it recall to mind the pictures of the Virgin Mary 
with the infant Saviour in her arms, and the three Magi. 
Before we leave this subject, we must not forget to mention more par- 
ticularly the votive tablets, pl. 4, jigs. 38-36. They had their origin in a 
custom which was also not unknown to the Greeks and Romans, that of 
making vows on extraordinary occasions: for instance, in case of sickness, 
for the recovery of the patient; or when travelling, for a safe return home ; 
and in order to remember such vow, they wrote it upon a tablet, which 
they wore suspended around the neck until it was paid. Hence the name, 
from the Latin, tabule votive. 
After having thus touched upon all the most important points of 
Buddhism in general, we will now examine it in one of its special forms, 
Lamaism. 
3. LAMAISM. 
Lamaism is one of the many religions under which Buddhism disguised 
itself, when it entered as a refugeé the territories of those who gave it 
shelter. It derives its name from Lama, the title which the Thibetans, 
Mongolians, Tartars, and their kindred nations gave to their priests. They 
worshipped Buddha (considered by them the ninth incarnation of Vishnu) 
under the name of Shakia-munz, the supreme being, ruler of all things. 
The inferior gods held in great veneration by them were Dshaed-shik, who 
introduced Buddhism into Thibet, and Cenrese and Cadroma, two apes 
who were held to have been the first parents of the Thibetans. Pl. 3, 
jig. 19, exhibits another of their idols called Amida. It is generally found 
with a head like that of a dog, seated on a throne, its feet planted on the 
back of a lion, who stands upon a corpse. Among the goddesses they 
assign the highest rank to Purha (jig. 14). She is always represented as 
a woman; one of the family of gods (Pusa), to which was assigned the 
guardianship of the minor affairs of life, and the members of which were 
interrogated as oracles in all ordinary transactions. It is very probable 
that this goddess was only a personification of nature, and hence we find 
her represented in different ways. Sometimes partially, at other times 
wholly dressed, she is seated upon the J/usnud, a seat in the shape of an* 
altar, and formed of several cushions laid one upon another, generally from 
five to seven feet high; her legs are crossed, and her neck and _ breast 
ornamented with a rosary. The cuticle of the palms of her hands and the 
soles of her feet is slit open in a circular or star-like form, and that of the 
nose in straight lines. 
They had also a number of other gods of less importance, a few of which 
are represented by jigs. 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 20, whose names and cha- 
racters have not yet been learned. 
The spiritual world of Lamaism embraced also a great many good and 
bad spirits: among the latter we mention the Asswrz, who were divided 
into four séctions, each governed by its own prince. 
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