The
Great River, Whose Waves Roll To Martaban (The Lu-Kiang Or Salwen), Is Not
More Than 200 Or 300 Paces Distant....
Besides the infernal paintings on
the walls, eight or nine monstrous idols, seated at the inner end of the
pagoda, were calculated by their size and aspect to inspire awe.
In the
middle was Tamba-Shi-Rob, the great doctor of the sect of the Peunbo,
squatted with his right arm outside his red scarf, and holding in his left
the vase of knowledge.... On his right hand sat Keumta-Zon-bo, 'the All-
Good,' ... with ten hands and three heads, one over the other.... At his
right is Dreuma, the most celebrated goddess of the sect. On the left of
Tamba-Shi-Rob was another goddess, whose name they never could tell me. On
the left again of this anonymous goddess appeared Tam-pla-mi-ber,... a
monstrous dwarf environed by flames and his head garnished with a diadem
of skulls. He trod with one foot on the head of Shakia-tupa [Shakya
Thubba, i.e. 'the Mighty Shakya,' the usual Tibetan appellation of Sakya
Buddha himself].... The idols are made of a coarse composition of mud and
stalks kneaded together, on which they put first a coat of plaster and
then various colours, or even silver or gold.... Four oxen would scarcely
have been able to draw one of the idols." Mr. Emilius Schlagintweit, in a
paper on the subject of this sect, has explained some of the names used by
the missionary. Tamba-Shi-Rob is "bstanpa gShen-rabs," i.e. the
doctrine of Shen-rabs, who is regarded as the founder of the Bon religion.
[Cf. Grenard, II. 407. - H. C.] Keun-tu-zon-bo is "Kun-tu-bzang-po,"
"the All Best."
[Bon-po seems to be (according to Grenard, II. 410) a "coarse naturism
combined with ancestral worship" resembling Taoism. It has, however,
borrowed a good deal from Buddhism. "I noticed," says Mr. Rockhill
(Journey, 86), "a couple of grimy volumes of Boenbo sacred literature.
One of them I examined; it was a funeral service, and was in the usual
Boenbo jargon, three-fourths Buddhistic in its nomenclature." The Bon-po
Lamas are above all sorcerers and necromancers, and are very similar to
the kam of the Northern Turks, the bo of the Mongols, and lastly to
the Shamans. During their operations, they wear a tall pointed black
hat, surmounted by the feather of a peacock, or of a cock, and a human
skull. Their principal divinities are the White God of Heaven, the Black
Goddess of Earth, the Red Tiger and the Dragon; they worship an idol
called Kye'-p'ang formed of a mere block of wood covered with garments.
Their sacred symbol is the svastika turned from right to left [Symbol].
The most important of their monasteries is Zo-chen gum-pa, in the
north-east of Tibet, where they print most of their books. The Bonpos Lamas
"are very popular with the agricultural Tibetans, but not so much so with
the pastoral tribes, who nearly all belong to the Gelupa sect of the
orthodox Buddhist Church." A. K. says, "Buddhism is the religion of the
country; there are two sects, one named Mangba and the other Chiba or
Baimbu." Explorations made by A - - K - - , 34.
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