HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 21 
Confucius attached no idea of personality to the Deity, and prohibited his 
followers from making images or representations of him ; and seems to have 
worshipped him rather as a power or principle pervading all nature, and 
acting by means of his creatures the sun, the moon, and the elements. To 
these he ordered adoration to be paid, joining them all in one under the 
name Zien (heaven). 
As a teacher of morals he was in advance of his age and country. The 
main features of his moral code were: love all mankind, execute justice, be 
upright in all dealings with men, and observe the laws and customs 
sanctioned by the authorities. 
His disciples, who were chiefly the nobles and the educated, revered him 
therefore as a saint. 
Buddhism, which we have shown to be the foundation of Lamaism, was 
also the basis upon which the religion /o is built. But here the original 
assumed a far more varied and amplified form than with the followers of 
Lama. 
This system of religion has the greatest number of professors in China. 
Many of the doctrines of Confucius and the ancient Chinese have been 
incorporated in it, while the features which it has borrowed from Lamaism 
served to degrade it into a common idolatry. 
But it is the religion of the emperor and of the people. Many if not 
most of the Chinese idols are little more than adaptations of Indian deities, 
or the persons of their remote ancestors invested with the characteristics of 
these gods. Pl. 4, fig. 3, represents one of these, 7shing-Hoang, receiving 
the offerings of his worshippers, and jig. 4 another, Zotwr, or as he is some- 
times called Vinifo. 
The priests, who are very numerous, are called Lonzes, and are divided 
into different classes. They inhabit convents called Poo-ta-la. This word 
is derived from Buddhalaga (the dwelling of Buddha), the Chinese not being 
able to pronounce the original word. In jig. 6 we give a representation of 
some priests in the dresses belonging to their respective ranks. The chief 
priest is here called Bandshiun Hrdem, and like the Dalai Lama is absolute 
head of the priesthood throughout the empire. The priests of the higher 
classes are educated, and in duty bound constantly to study their religious 
books; but the lower classes are very ignorant, and live in convents, where 
they pass their time in modest retirement, fasting, and penitential exercises. 
Foism has also its female Bonzes, who live together in convents like nuns. 
The temples dedicated to the worship of the idols are either mere chapels, 
being areas inclosed by colonnades, at one end of which is an apartment 
called Zing for the idol; or they are large temples, consisting of several 
such inclosures, the whole surrounded by one colonnade, ornamented at the 
corners with pavilions two stories high, and surmounted by high towers. 
These temples always contain several idols, each of which has its own apart- 
ment in it. 
The worship of the Foists consists mainly of prayer, music, and offerings. 
Pl. 5, jig. 1, represents the interior of the temple of Fo in Canton during 
worship ; pl. 4, jig. 5, the worship in the temple at Honan near Canton ; 
ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPZDIA.—VOL, IV. 16 ! 241 
