Such a recumbent figure, perhaps the prototype of these, was
seen by Hiuen Tsang in a Vihara close to the Sal Grove at Kusinagara,
where Sakya entered that state, i.e. died.
The stature of Buddha was, we
are told, 12 cubits; but Brahma, Indra, and the other gods vainly tried to
compute his dimensions. Some such rude metaphor is probably embodied in
these large images. I have described one 69 feet long in Burma
(represented in the cut), but others exist of much greater size, though
probably none equal to that which Hiuen Tsang, in the 7th century, saw
near Bamian, which was 1000 feet in length! I have heard of but one such
image remaining in India, viz. in one of the caves at Dhamnar in Malwa.
This is 15 feet long, and is popularly known as "Bhim's Baby." (Cathay,
etc., pp. cciii., ccxviii.; Mission to Ava, p. 52; V. et V. de H. T.,
p. 374: Cunningham's Archael. Reports, ii. 274; Tod, ii. 273.)
["The temple, in which M. Polo saw an idol of Buddha, represented in a
lying position, is evidently Wo-fo-sze, i.e. 'Monastery of the lying
Buddha.' It was built in 1103 by a Tangut queen, to place there three
idols representing Buddha in this posture, which have since been found in
the ground on this very spot." (Palladius, l.c. p. 10.)
Rubruck (p. 144) says, "A Nestorian, who had come from Cathay told me that
in that country there is an idol so big that it can be seen from two days
off." Mr. Rockhill (Rubruck, p. 144, note) writes, "The largest stone
image I have seen is in a cave temple at Yung kan, about 10 miles
north-west of Ta t'ung Fu in Shan-si. Pere Gerbillon says the Emperor K'ang
hsi measured it himself and found it to be 57 chih high (61 feet).
(Duhalde, Description, IV. 352.) I have seen another colossal statue in a
cave near Pinchou in north-west Shan-si, and there is another about 45
miles south of Ning hsia Fu, near the left bank of the Yellow River.
(Rockhill, Land of the Lamas, 26, and Diary, 47.) The great recumbent
figure of the 'Sleeping Buddha' in the Wo Fo ssu, near Peking, is of clay."
King Haython (Brosset's ed. p. 181) mentions the statue in clay, of an
extraordinary height, of a God (Buddha) aged 3040 years, who is to live
370,000 years more, when he will be superseded by another god called
Madri (Maitreya). - H. C.]
[Illustration: Great Lama Monastery]
NOTE 3. - Marco is now speaking of the Lamas, or clergy of Tibetan
Buddhism. The customs mentioned have varied in details, both locally and
with the changes that the system has passed through in the course of time.
The institutes of ancient Buddhism set apart the days of new and full moon
to be observed by the Sramanas or monks, by fasting, confession, and
listening to the reading of the law. It became usual for the laity to take
part in the observance, and the number of days was increased to three and
then to four, whilst Hiuen Tsang himself speaks of "the six fasts of every
month," and a Chinese authority quoted by Julien gives the days as the
8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, 29th, and 30th. Fabian says that in Ceylon
preaching took place on the 8th, 14th, and 15th days of the month. Four is
the number now most general amongst Buddhist nations, and the days may be
regarded as a kind of Buddhist Sabbath. In the southern countries and in
Nepal they occur at the moon's changes. In Tibet and among the Mongol
Buddhists they are not at equal intervals, though I find the actual days
differently stated by different authorities. Pallas says the Mongols
observed the 13th, 14th, and 15th, the three days being brought together,
he thought, on account of the distance many Lamas had to travel to the
temple - just as in some Scotch country parishes they used to give two
sermons in one service for like reason! Koeppen, to whose work this note
is much indebted, says the Tibetan days are the 14th, 15th, 29th, 30th,
and adds as to the manner of observance: "On these days, by rule, among
the Lamas, nothing should be tasted but farinaceous food and tea; the very
devout refrain from all food from sunrise to sunset. The Temples are
decorated, and the altar tables set out with the holy symbols, with
tapers, and with dishes containing offerings in corn, meal, tea, butter,
etc., and especially with small pyramids of dough, or of rice or clay, and
accompanied by much burning of incense-sticks. The service performed by
the priests is more solemn, the music louder and more exciting, than
usual. The laity make their offerings, tell their beads, and repeat Om
mani padma hom," etc. In the concordat that took place between the
Dalai-Lama and the Altun Khaghan, on the reconversion of the Mongols to
Buddhism in the 16th century, one of the articles was the entire
prohibition of hunting and the slaughter of animals on the monthly fast
days. The practice varies much, however, even in Tibet, with different
provinces and sects - a variation which the Ramusian text of Polo implies
in these words: "For five days, or four days, or three in each month,
they shed no blood," etc.
In Burma the Worship Day, as it is usually called by Europeans, is a very
gay scene, the women flocking to the pagodas in their brightest attire.
(H. T. Memoires, I. 6, 208; Koeppen, I. 563-564, II. 139, 307-308;
Pallas, Samml. II. 168-169).
NOTE 4. - These matrimonial customs are the same that are afterwards
ascribed to the Tartars, so we defer remark.
NOTE 5. - So Pauthier's text, "en legation." The G. Text includes Nicolo
Polo, and says, "on business of theirs that is not worth mentioning," and
with this Ramusio agrees.
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