The Catechism of the Shamans, or the Laws and Regulations of the Priesthood of Buddha, in China (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1831 edition. Excerpt: ...the different musical instruments after the number of their strings, as a three-stringed, a six-stringed, etc. The Naou (7909) is a kind of trumpet. They have peculiar musical notes, and songs and notes printed together to be sung in society. Their music sounds very bad to the ear of an European, as it wants both harmony and variety. (3). Every body who intends to go into a monastery must have the permission of the civil authority, a regulation which cannot please the priesthood, as it is their desire to bring the whole empire under the Law of Buddha. (See some regulations concerning the priesthood, in Staunton's Penal Laws of China, p. 42,83, 118.) (4). The game of chess must have been very old in this part of the world, it is mentioned as early as in Mencius. THE EIGHTH LAW. Thou Shalt Not Sit oa Lye On A High And Large Couch. Commentary. The couch must be conformable to the rules of Buddha; the couch of him who reigns now over the world1) was not higher than eight che: (2) surpassing this measure is a crime. Also, it is not becoming to use boards, which are varnished, adorned with flowers or finely carved, nor silken mats. In former times people used to sit down on grass, and in the night-time they lay under a tree; now that we have beds and chairs, they should not be made high and large to gratify the sensual feeling of the body. Hee-tsun the honourable perseverance, never sat on a mat/3) Kao fung sheao chen sse, The master of the high, sublime, and abstract contemplation, stayed three years, and never asked for a bed, or chair. A priest in the monastery, Woo ta the sublime Understanding/4) was destroyed by incense on his seat (which was only two cubits too high). If such a man was unfortunate, how were it possible that we should not...