1882] 
of Jin or Buddhism m China. 
93 
peculiarities. Animal food is forbidden according to their custom. They 
do not ride nor drive such animals as are naturally intended for those 
purposes. They prefer the smallest kind of mendicant’s platter to the 
larger sizes. The mendicant’s raiment is sewn with depressions and 
loopholes, in the order and arrangement of birds’ feathers. In China, in fact, 
there is but one class of Buddhists, in consequence of which there is no 
necessity for the Hwashan to put marks on their dress, like the Tibetan 
Lamas of the present day and the Indian STamanas in ancient times, 
to distinguish the followers of one school from those of another. 
According to the established laws of China, yellow is the sign of 
royalty, red being the colour reserved for the ministers and nobles. The 
kings of that age, not liking to alter the ancient usage and also to 
give a distinctive appearance to the monkish dress, prescribed scarlet 
for the clergy. In China, people consider it a shameful matter to appear 
in public with naked arms. So they did not choose to adopt the mendi¬ 
cant’s raiment as prescribed in the sacred books. Unlike the Tibetan 
monks who are forbidden to use sleeves, the Chinese Hwashan wear 
them. 
In later times when Tibetan Lamas visited China, the question of 
uniformity in clerical dress arose. The Tibetan Lamas succeeded in 
preserving their own uniform, owing to the supremacy of the Tartar 10 
Emperors over China who tolerated national practices. Up to the present 
day, those customs remain unchanged. The Chinese Hwashan dress in 
scarlet with sleeved jackets, and the Tibetan Lamas dress themselves in 
red and yellow, each according to their national practice. 
II. Tantrikism. 
The first of all the Tantriks who came to China from India was 
Sthavira STi Mitra. He diffused the knowledge of Tantrikism by translating 
the Mahamayura and other Dharanis into the Chinese language. Although 
contemporaneously with him many other eminent Indian Tantriks came 
to China, yet very few books on Tantrikism were translated for the public. 
The sage Kumara STi also did not communicate his Tantrik lore to the 
general public, but only to one or two of his confidential disciples, so that 
Tantrikism made very little progress in China. The little progress that 
it made, was due to Yajra Bodhi, a learned Acharya of Malava, and to 
his pupil Amogha Vajra. These two arrived together in China during 
the reign of the Emperor Than-min hun. Yajra Bodhi instructed 
Shi-ye-she-thah-ye and Sherab-thah-ye, 11 the two great Hwashan, in 
mysticism. Amogha Yajra performed the ceremony of Yajra Garbha 
10 Mongol. 
11 These are Tibetan translations of Chinese names. 
