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 The Prayer Hour at the Lama Temple

DHE weird services conducted daily in the great Prayer Hall of the 2 Lamas are among the most interesting to be found anywhere within the realm of the five religions of the capital The noming service is held at ten o'clock and is open to Chinese and foreign visitors alike, o The Prayer Hall, or main sanctuary, is a large structure, with a seating capacity of from six hundred to one thousand monks. On entering the latticed doors we find as a central figure, not some giant effigy, but a diminutive little Buddha "draped in a yellow satin cape and hood. He is not impressive, like the larger idols," comments Juliet Bredon in her description of the Yung Ho Kung, "but he is very, very sacred the most sacred Image within the walls." We scarcely have time to glance around the mammoth hall, when the deep "boom" of the drum in the tower announces the hour of worship, and soon the monks in pairs or in small groups silently file into the hall and take their places. A more picturesque gathering would be hard to find anywhere else in the world. With their deep vermilion robes and bright yellow helmet-shaped caps (supposed to have been copied from Chin Shan, the sacred peak of central Asia), they make an impressive picture. "When the abbot (see the opposite plate), who sits in the center of the community, lifts the bunch of peacock's feathers from a vase by his side, there is a sudden burst of strange music, a clashing of cymbals, a beating of drums, a blowing of trumpets and conch shells. He intones a kind of Gregorian chant, and the monks, facing each other like singing men in a choir, recite the litany, moving their hands and fingers in various mystic ways mean while. The endless repetition of the same prayer is supposed to have a beneficial effect in withdrawing the mind from worldly thought, but does in fact seem rather to deaden and hypnotize it. rendering the participant incapable of any serious meditation whatever. As the monks sway rhythmically, slouching on their kneeling cushions, it is plainly evident that the appearance of the visitors in the doorway interests them far more than their devotions. Still, despite their drowsy inattention, we must admit the service is impressive, especially on great festivals, when the magnificent litany of the Maidari is sung by the monks in perfect time and with extraordinary low devotional tones, acquired when the voice is breaking." But even at the greatest festivals only a hundred or so monks now gather to worship within these gilded walls. Impressive now, what must the service have been like a century, or even a few decades ago, when under the patronage of powerful emperors a thousand or more Mongol monks gathered here to join in those weird and terrific perorations against the spirit of evil - the enemies of the faith 1 Our photo shows the Lama Abbot dressed in his gorgeous pontifical robes, standing by the stairs of the mammoth Prayer Hall. (See paqe 74.)