THE BUDDHIST PRIESTS.

97

anxious countenances, pouring out the burdens of their hearts before idol gods, and bowing down and striking their foreheads on the paved floor so as to make a sound audible at some little distance. The impression produced upon my mind by that visit, and the conflicting emotions excited, I shall never forget. These retired solitudes, thronged with the living and peopled with the dead; the bright sky, the balmy air, luxuriant nature, and a beautiful landscape, and this scene of beauty overspread with a pall of moral darkness which might be felt; sin, sorrow, disease, death; man, the noblest work of God, blinded, debased, perverted, without one ray of light, without any knowledge of the only living and true God and Jesus Christ, the only name "under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

The priests of Buddhism generally become such at an early age, either because they have lost their parents, or because their parents are unable to support them, or because they are born under an unlucky star, and fortune-tellers predict that they will be delicate and short-lived. Of those who become priests in after-life some are led to this step by the loss of their parents, or of their wives and children; some by domestic difficulties, some by idleness, and some take advantage of the retirement and disguise of the priesthood to escape the punishment of their crimes. The number of those who really understand and believe the doctrines of Buddhism, and enter the priesthood to obtain any advantage except that of having rice to eat, is very small. Accordingly, they show little attachment to their order, and generally apologize for becoming priests by saying they had brothers to take care of their parents; and for continuing such by saying that they have now no other way to obtain a living. When a child enters a monastery as a priest he is placed under the charge of an older priest as his preceptor, whose duty it is to teach his pupil letters. In rare instances priests attend to this duty themselves; sometimes they send their pupils to study for a time with other children in the schools of the country. The most of priests, however, grow

E

up unacquainted with letters, and exceedingly ignorant. They generally assent to every thing we say, and only defend their own religion by saying that it is, after all, identical with ours. They take vows of celibacy, profess to live on a vegetable diet, and wear no clothes made of wool or the skins of animals, as

BUDDHIST PRIEST.

they consider it a crime to take away animal life. They also shave the whole head, and wear garments peculiar to their order. Many of them have marks burned upon their heads or arms, as the means and evidence of merit. Not a few have one of their fingers burned off for the same reason. There are unimportant distinctions in different schools of priests, with slight differences in dress and forms of worship, which it is not worth while to mention here particularly.

Each large monastery has its superior and overseer, which stations are filled by priests distinguished for their influence and intelligence. They are chosen by persons outside of the priesthood, who act as a board of managers. Some of the younger priests are engaged to a certain extent in servile employments about the monastery or in tilling the soil, but these duties are for the most part performed by hired laborers, while the priests lead a life of ease and indolence. Some spend the most of their lives in the same monastery, but not a few have a roving propensity, and have travelled over the most or all of the eighteen provinces. They easily beg their way as they go, and find convenient lodgings in the monasteries of their own order. They generally carry with them a passport or recommendation from a superior with whom they are acquainted. Without this, however, the laws of their or

INCOMES OF THE MONASTERIES.

99

der give them the privilege of stopping at any place for rest and refreshment. When they choose to remain for a time at any monastery, they can do so if there is a vacant place for them, and they are sufficiently well recommended to obtain it.

The best recommendation consists in qualifications for earning money. Each monastery is regarded as a large household. The wants of all are provided for by the superior, and, when priests earn money, part of it goes to the establishment, and part is kept by themselves. In consequence of the travelling propensities of these priests, large monasteries present striking instances of the confusion of tongues, and oftentimes priests can not understand each other without a third person to act as interpreter. The number of priests in these establishments varies from one to several hundreds, and is regulated by the size and resources of each particular monastery.

The incomes of the monasteries are derived from the voluntary contributions of the people, money paid to the priests in remuneration for their services at funerals, etc., the proceeds of public worship in the monastery, and the proceeds of the lands with which many of them have been endowed. The specific duties of the priesthood are chanting and performing different ceremonies in the temples, performing idolatrous ceremonies among the people, and begging.

The chanting of regular formal services is performed morning and evening, partly in the native and partly in the Sanscrit tongue, and is learned from books and by imitation. It is carried on in connection with the burning of incense and candles, prostrations, the beating of drums and bells and balls of wood, etc., and pacing backward and forward in front of the idols. The whole exercise lasts about an hour. In case a monastery is out of repair, or money is needed for any other purpose, priests are often sent to raise subscriptions from door to door. Wealthy individuals, and sometimes officers, give large sums for repairing temples, influenced partly by a desire to be seen and praised of men, and partly by the hope of securing happiness in a future state.

Connected with most of the large Buddhist establishments there are some priests, distinguished from their class by living in rude huts or caves among the hills in the greatest retirement and austerity. Their time is spent in keeping the taper lighted before their gods, reciting their chants, cooking their simple meals, and idleness. While professing to seek this retirement for the sake of meditation, they seem almost to lose their power of thinking, and spend their time in listless indifference to every thing around them. They are supported by the contributions of friends and temple-worshipers, and supplies from the monastery with which they are connected. It is commonly reported and believed that those who live thus attain to great longevity, and require very little sustenance to support life.

There are other priests who spend their time in closed rooms or cells. These are found principally in the larger monasteries. They commence their secluded life with considerable formality. On an appointed day they enter the room or rooms which are to be their future abode, and all the doors are sealed by numerous strips of paper, on which are written large characters, stating the day when the confinement commenced and how long it is to continue. Only one small hole is left in the wall, through which articles are handed in and

out.

Here the blind devotee immures himself for years, and perhaps for life. Priests sometimes take refuge in these cloistered cells to escape punishment after having broken their vows by the commission of crimes. Rich men, believing it important to lay up a store of merit, and at the same time being too much engaged in laying up other treasures to do it for themselves, sometimes make an arrangement with a priest as follows: The man of wealth agrees to give him a certain amount of money for living in a state of confinement for a stipulated time, providing him at the same time with his food: the priest on his part promises to perform numberless prayers and prostrations, and at the expiration of the prescribed period

"THE YOUNG PRIEST."

101

part of the merit is made over to his employer, and part of it is retained by himself. Priests of this class are favored with many visits from curious people, who visit the temple and carry on no small amount of gossip with them through the hole of their prison. There is a class of persons who escape the vows and austerities of the priesthood by the following compromise. Numbers are devoted by the fortune-teller to the life of a recluse, whose parents are too superstitious to disregard the decree, and have too much parental affection to give up their child. In such cases the parents choose a priest who is willing to sustain the relation of master to the child: the child as pupil pays his respects and worship to his chosen teacher; presents are exchanged; and the boy is henceforth regarded as nominally the disciple of the priest. He is permitted, however, to stay at home, and live in all respects as ordinary men, except that he is often called, by way of pleasantry or ridicule, "the young priest," and occasionally exchanges presents with his master.