Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/140

128 the subject as found among the Chinese we will notice the practices peculiar to the Tibetans.

A Tibetan sorcerer is called man (蠻) tuan kung. The idol worshipped by him and used in his practice is a full-dressed lama or Buddhist Tibetan high priest.

When a demon is being exorcised a boiler is made red-hot and the afflicted person made to stand in it; it is believed that if his feet do not blister there is no hope of his recovery; or a red-hot chain is put round his neck with the same cheerful hope of blisters.

The sorcerer opens a vein in his own body and lets blood flow on to a cloth, which is given to sick persons to carry as a charm, k‘an hsüeh fu (砍血符).

In Chinese sorcery an altar is set up, shê sung (設送), for the taking away of a disturbing demon from a sick person, and paper money is burned.

It is customary to worship a person's natal star in order to avert calamity or death. Each person is believed to have a star which influences him through life; and the stars are believed to be governed by the Dipper (tou), which is largely invoked by Taoist priests and sorcerers to avert death or other calamity, jang hsing li tou (禳星禮斗). When a person comes to a certain period in his life believed by fortune tellers and others to be unlucky, a sorcerer is called in to bridge over this difficult time. For people who have had an accident, or for homes where something unlucky has happened, also when a person has reached a great age, the friends and neighbours get up a subscription and present him with a night's incantations; they also present a joint petition to the king of Hades and stand surety for the person's good character and beg that many years may be added to his life. In this ceremony a tablet is written to the local god who joins the bridge of longevity (接限壽橋土地); to this tablet the younger generations ko t‘ou. The work of the sorcerer is all done in the night. When chanting for the living, cow-horn trumpets are employed; but in wakes for the dead the conch-horn or sea-shell is used.