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XIX. Notes on the Disposal of Buddhist Dead in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

W. Perceval Yetts
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Extract

In China the corpse of a Buddhist priest is commonly disposed of by one of three methods, viz.: cremation, burial, or preservation by drying.

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Articles
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Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , July 1911 , pp. 699 - 725
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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1911

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References

page 699 note 1 It occurs in a chapter on funeral rites by the philosopher Mo (c. 500 b.c.), which Professor De Groot has translated. The passage runs thus: “And the people of I-khü, a state to the west of Ts'in, at the death of a relative piled up fuel and brambles, and converted the body into ashes, saying, when the smoke whirled up, that the deceased was ascending to distant regions: and they did not become fully qualified for the title of filial sons ere they had done this.” (Religious System of China, vol. ii, p. 680.)

page 699 note 2 Ibid., p. 682 et seq.

page 699 note 3 Ibid., vol. iii, p. 1393 et seq.

page 700 note 1 De Groot, , Religious System of China, vol. iii, p. 1411Google Scholar.

page 700 note 2 Ch. vii, pp. 144, 145.

page 700 note 3 Priests have assured me that occasionally their dying brethren are placed in the kang or other receptacle, and the lid closed actually before death. The Rev. Wilfrid Allan kindly contributes the fact that it is the custom at the Wu-ch'ang Monastery to place upon the pyre moribund monks seated upon a board. Just as the final release is about to happen, the pyre is kindled and fire is thus allowed to take the place of the man's spirit as it leaves the body, and also to help it on its journey to the “Western Heaven”. This idea seems curiously like that expressed in one of the hymns of the Ṛg-veda addressed to the god Agni. See Monier-Williams, , Indian Wisdom, 4th ed., p. 16Google Scholar.

page 700 note 4 It is the classical and ideal attitude of Buddhist devotees and saints, and one chosen as being the most helpful to meditation and to acquisition of mental as well as of bodily equilibrium.

page 701 note 1 Except in as far as it is dyed and occasionally patched, the chia-sha conforms to none of the stringent rules laid down in the Vinaya texts. The material is generally cotton, though sometimes silk is used in spite of the prohibition against wearing articles the preparation of which entails destruction of life. In colour the chia-sha varies: it may be blue-grey, black, brown, yellow, or crimson-vermilion; the first is the one most generally met with, while robes of the last-mentioned gorgeous hue are seen only on special occasions. To judge from a lengthy exposition on this subject, written in the seventh century by the famous pilgrim I-tsing, it appears that from the first the costume of the Chinese church was unorthodox. See I-tsing's, Record of the Buddhist Religion, , Takakusu's trans., pp. 53–82Google Scholar. In referring to the three orthodox garments I-tsing says (p. 54): “In the countries of the North these priestly cloaks are generally called Kāshāya from their reddish colour. This is not, however, a technical term used in the Vinaya.” Cf. De Groot, , Le Code du Mahāyāna en Chine, p. 74Google Scholar.

page 701 note 2 A head-covering was unknown to primitive Buddhism. Like much of the attire of Chinese priests, its adoption was necessitated by climatic conditions.

page 702 note 1 Vairocana is regarded as the Dhyāni-Buddha of the fabulous being who was the first in chronological order of the five chief human Buddhas of the present age. See note 4, infra. This metaphysical creation, held to be the personification of essential bodhi and absolute purity, is the highest of the Trikāya. See Eitel, , Handbook, pp. 178 et seq., 192Google Scholar.

page 702 note 2 Eitel, , Handbook, p. 190Google Scholar.

page 702 note 3 See De Groot, , Sectarianism in China, vol. i, pl. iiiGoogle Scholar, for a picture of this article.

page 702 note 4 In response to the instinctive craving of mankind for personal deities accessible to prayer, Northern Buddhism has invented Dhyāni- Buddhas as ethereal counterparts of earthly Buddhas, whose destiny is on attainment of their nirvāṇa to fade away beyond the ken of human petitions and sympathies. This special group of Five represents celestial reflexes of the human Buddhas allotted to the present age, viz., Gautama, his three fictitious immediate predecessors, and Mi-lê Fo (Skt. Maitreya), the Buddha-designate, whose advent on earth is expected when some five thousand years shall have elapsed since the death of Śākyamuni. Of these the historical Buddha occupies the place of chief importance, and likewise does his reflex in the domain of the spiritual, 0-mi-t'o Fo (Skt. Amitābha), who is, perhaps, the most popular figure in the Chinese Buddhist pantheon. 0-mi-t'o has lost his abstract nature as a Dhyāna-Buddha, and has materialized into a deity possessing the attributes of a personal saviour, the “Guide to the West” —to that glorious paradise which offers to the Chinese mind more tangible and attractive joys than does the negative bliss of nirvāṇa. For an excellent picture of the Five Dhyāni-Buddhas see Waddell, , Buddhism of Tibet, p. 336Google Scholar.

page 703 note 1 See Buddhism of Tibet, pp. 202–10, where the learned author fully describes the rosaries used in Tibet. Much of his account applies equally to those of China. Indeed, Chinese have informed me that their rosary originally came from Tibet. It is well known that to a Lamaist source is attributed the adoption during Manchu rule of the necklace worn as a part of the regulation costume of officials. The use of the rosary is not confined to the Buddhist among Oriental religions, for worshippers of Śiva and Vishṇu have the same custom. See Monier-Williams', essay, “Indian Rosaries,” in Modern India and the Indiana, p. 108Google Scholar.

page 703 note 2 Giles, Diet., No. 10,456.

page 704 note 1 James, Trans. As. Soc. Japan, vol. ix, p. 173.

page 704 note 2 Literally chu is the Chinese elk (Elaphurus Davidii), which is wrongly believed by some to furnish the hair for these whisks. See Williams, , Dict., p. 88Google Scholar; and Giles, Dict., No. 2,541.

page 704 note 3 Kullavagga, v, 23; SBE., vol. xx, pp. 131, 132 note.

page 704 note 4 See De Groot, , Le Code da Mahāyāna en Chine, pp. 138, 139Google Scholar.

page 704 note 5 A monk enclosed in a receptacle and awaiting cremation is referred to by the phrase .

page 705 note 1 Buddhism as a Religion, p. 229.

page 707 note 1 Often called ch'an k'an . It is said that the ashes of no more than 5,048 monks should be buried in one such receptacle.

page 707 note 2 See Chavannes, Mission Archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionale, pls. 385–7, for illustrations of these monuments.

page 707 note 3 A series of superimposed symbols is found with slight variations in the Buddhist grave monuments of China, Japan, and Tibet. In its simplest form it is composed of five symmetrical parts, which, it is said, represent the elements into which the body is ultimately resolved. The apex, pear-shaped and tapering upwards, is emblematic of ether; next below is a bowl-like figure—the inverted vault of heaven; this rests on a cone representing fire; next, a globe typifies water; and a square block for the base stands for solid earth. See Rémusat, , Foӗ kouӗ ki, pp. 91, 92Google Scholar.

page 707 note 4 Religious System of China, vol. i, p. 330.

page 708 note 1 SBE., vol. xxvii, p. 125.

page 708 note 2 Chinese Art, vol. ii, p. 6.

page 708 note 3 In view of the theory of the Chaldean origin of Chinese civilization, it is interesting to note that excavations in the Babylonian Plain have brought to light countless numbers of earthenware coffins. Though most of them bear evidence of having been used to contain the body during a process of partial cremation, yet some are found almost identical with the Chinese kind of the present day. Taylor, describing finds on the right bank of the Euphrates, , says: “In other trenches I exhumed numerous coffins, formed of two large jars, precisely of the same shape as the largest kind at present used in Bagdad for containing water, joined together by a bitumen cement. . . . In each was a skeleton” (JRAS., Vol. XV, p. 413, 1855Google Scholar; see also ibid., p. 414, where a woodcut is given of one of these coffins).

page 709 note 1 Nearly three years ago I found in the Tung-nêng Ssŭ at Wuhu two sealed funeral kang containing bodies of priests. They had been already some months in the temple, and were still there about a year and a half later. A correspondent informs me that they were buried recently.

page 710 note 1 This beautiful group of hills is in Anhui, about thirty miles due south of a small town on the River Yangtse, called Ta-t'ung , and nearly twice that distance east of the capital of the province. It is said that upwards of 80,000 pilgrims visit Chiu-hua Shan yearly. Its temples contain four or five “dried priests”. Except during wintertime it can be approached by boat from Ta-t'ung along a stream that winds through the most enchanting scenery.

page 710 note 2 Buddhism, p. 496.

page 711 note 1 See SBE., vol. xi, p. 91.

page 711 note 2 Introd. du Budd. Indien, p. 354.

page 712 note 1 In his account of O-mei Shan, Mr. R. F. Johnston mentions that there are several “dried priests” to be found on this sacred mountain. From Peking to Mandalay, p. 98. The author kindly informs me that one of these is reputed to be 500 years old.

page 713 note 1 This use of salt is a point in common with the process of embalming practised by the ancient Egyptians. An essential part of all the three methods described by Herodotus is the steeping of the body in a saline fluid. See Rawlinson's, Herodotus, vol. ii, p. 141Google Scholar. But the closest analogy to be found in the West is the method used till recently by the Capuchin Order to preserve their dead. The bodies were subjected for several months to the action of a clayey limestone soil (supposed to have been brought from the Holy Land) which had desiccating powers. The dried corpses were then arrayed in the clothes worn during life and arranged in life-like attitudes within a crypt. The best-known examples are to be found near Palermo.

page 713 note 2 Strict vegetarianism, the logical outcome of obedience to the commandment “Thovi shalt not kill”, is the chief principle of numerous semi-secret religious societies which probably owe their existence to the influence of Buddhism. The question of how far these sects can be said to come within the pale of the Buddhist Church is discussed by Professor De Groot in his Sectarianism and Religions Persecution in China.

page 714 note 1 The oil pressed from the nut of Eloeococca vernicifera (Williams, , Dict., p. 934)Google Scholar. When mixed with lime it forms the putty used by Chinese carpenters, which when dry becomes extremely hard and durable.

page 715 note 1 This emperor visited Nanking seven times between the years 1751 and 1789.

page 715 note 2 It was destroyed during the T'ai-p'ing Rebellion.

page 715 note 3 See Burnouf, , Lotus de la bonne Loi, appendix viii, pp. 568, 569Google Scholar.

page 715 note 4 It is interesting to note that an analogous process is practised in Burma in the disposal of dead members of the Buddhist clergy, though it is used but as a temporary expedient to preserve the body until cremation can take place. After death the viscera are removed and the cavity filled with hot ashes, sawdust, spices, or honey. The body is then swathed in strips of linen, and after being varnished is often gilded. Thus protected it may lie in an ornamented sarcophagus for weeks, months, or even more than a year. See Hardy, Spence, Eastern Monachism, pp. 322, 323Google Scholar; Bigandet, , Life of Gaudama, pp. 528, 529Google Scholar; Yoe, Shway, The Burman, pp. 578–83Google Scholar.

page 716 note 1 This tradition is mentioned in a recent article by M. H. Maspero, in which the writer quotes a passage from a Chinese work explaining the origin of the use of the character (ssŭ) to denote Buddhist edifices. According to this authority the building at Lo-yang, in which the incorruptible remains of the two Indian missionaries were housed, was one of the Government offices. At that time seŭ was the term used for buildings of that class. The repository of these relics was regarded as a shrine of the new religion, and hence it followed from this connexion that ssŭ came to be adopted as a generic term for the Buddhist temples that later sprang into being. See Bull, de Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, tome x, No. 1, p. 107, note 3.

page 716 note 2 Le T'ai Chan, p. 91. These are the remains of a Taoist priest. So far as can be judged from the short account of it given, this relic does not differ from the Buddhist kind.

page 718 note 1 Lo-han represents the Sanskrit arhat, and is a term applied to one who has attained distinction as a zealous follower of Buddha's teaching. It is also the stage of Buddhist enlightenment next below that of a bodhisattva. See Eitel, , Handbook, p. 16Google Scholar. Hermit and immured monks come under this heading.

page 718 note 2 This feature is not peculiar to Buddhist imagery. There is a saying current in China, “Both ears hanging to the shoulders,—a most illustrious man.” See Smith, , Chinese Proverbs, p. 306Google Scholar.

page 718 note 3 is the Chinese equivalent of Tathāyata, a Sanskrit title applied to Gautama as well as to other Buddhas.

page 719 note 1 This important and historic monastery (called also ) is the headquarters of the “Discipline School” . It is said to have accommodated no fewer than 1,800 monks previous to its destruction by the T'ai-p'ing rebels. Within recent years it has been rebuilt and has regained somewhat its former splendour. Many priests are still ordained there, and many pilgrims make it their goal. It is beautifully situated on a hill some 800 feet high, between Chinkiang and Nanking.

page 721 note 1 Eitel, , Handbook, p. 188Google Scholar. The ūrṇā is one of the thirty-two signs., characteristic of a great man. See Burnouf, , Lotus de la Bonne Loi, app. viii, p. 563Google Scholar.

page 723 note 1 This attitude is a rare one for Buddhist figures. There is a picture of a Japanese image of Padmapāṇi in a similar pose to be found in Grünwedel, , Mythologie des Buddhismus, p. 27Google Scholar.

page 723 note 2 This garment probably represents the Indian nivāsana, one of the “Thirteen Necessaries” that any priest is allowed to possess. See Takakusu, , I-tsing, p. 55Google Scholar.

page 723 note 3 Professor Parker kindly informs me that often occurs in the poetry of the T'ang dynasty in the literal sense of “bitter regrets”, the same meaning, in fact, that it has in colloquial use at the present day. He suggests that the expression refers to the remorse for his past life felt by Gautama at the time of the Great Renunciation, and thus in this particular instance to the abbot's regrets for his unregenerate days in imitation of the Buddha. Cf. used for Skt. tapasdhi, “Penitence,” one of the “Four Causes of Longevity”. See De Harlez, , T'oung-pao, vol. viii, p. 132, 1897Google Scholar.

page 724 note 1 On the other hand, there are officials who do all in their power to further Buddhist interests within their jurisdiction. In the Chüeh-t'a Ssŭ at Wuhu, which contains a “dried priest” (see Example No. 2), there is posted a long proclamation by the District Magistrate in which he places the shrine under his special protection. It concludes as follows: “All persons must understand that reverence and silence should prevail in a temple, and that rowdy behaviour cannot be allowed. After the issue of this proclamation, should any lawless characters, whatever their pretext, assemble and clamour loudly, or hustle the crowd, or create any other disturbance, the monk in charge is empowered always to report them by name to the Magistrate. Thus the matter may be inquired into, and the delinquents be arrested for severe punishment without lenience. Let all reverently obey! A special proclamation!”

page 725 note 1 For information concerning these customs see the following authorities: Markham, , Narratives, pp. 122, 339, 340Google Scholar; Horne, , JRAS., Vol. VI, pp. 28–35, 1873Google Scholar; Das, Chandra, Journey to Lhasa, pp. 255, 250Google Scholar; Schlagintweit, , Buddhism in Tibet, p. 269 et seq.Google Scholar; Hedin, Sven, Trans-Himalaya, vol. i, pp. 327, 369–73Google Scholar. The fullest account of the preservation process is given by Kawaguchi, , Three Years in Tibet, p. 389 et seqGoogle Scholar.

page 725 note 2 One writer states that salt after being used for this purpose is much prized as a panacea for all ills. Kawaguchi, op. cit., p. 395.