Great Indian Religion

SR No.: 007305
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G T Bettany
Publisher: Ward Lock Bowden and Co
Publication Year: 1892
Total Pages: 312
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 42 MB

Page 241

MONASTERIES AND MONKS.
229 another, but great importance is attached to minutiæ. The Lin-tsi school was founded by a teacher mata
der The Lin-tsi. who died in 868, and had a great reputation for magical powers; it is now very widely spread in China and in Japan. It teaches that Buddha is within the believer if he only be recognised. “What is Buddha? A mind pure and at rest. What is the law ? A mind clear and enlightened. What is Tao? In every place absence of impediments and pure enlightenment. These three are one." Discipline is strictly maintained by means of three blows with the hand or with the cane, three successive reproofs, and the alternation of speech with silence. We cannot particularise the other varied schools of Chinese Buddhism, but they are as numerous as the principal dissenting bodies in England.
The monasteries need not be particularly described, after what we have said of Buddhist monasteries in other countries. They all have a temple or worship- Monasteries hall attached. Most of the larger establishments and monks. own land or other property, but not often sufficient for all expenses, which are met by mendicant expeditions, the offerings of worshippers, and voluntary presents sent to them. The procession of monks walks through the streets to receive alms beating a gong or cymbal at intervals, and often reciting Buddhist formula. The monks druss very differently from the Chinese people. In officiating they usually wear yellow garments of silk or cotton, with a wide turn-down collar and huge sleeves; at other times their clothes are mostly of an ashy grey. Their heads are closely shaven two or three times a month, and many have one or more places on the scalp burnt with red-hot coals. Their celibacy appears to be strict, and they do not own any relationships in the outside world, and show very little sociability in their intercourse with the people. They spend much of their time in chanting their sacred books, mostly in a form which represents the sound without the sense of the Hindu or Tibetan originals. Some monasteries keep their large bells constantly tolled day and night, so that the sound never ceases.