Page:Peking the Beautiful.pdf/80

 Lamaism in Peking

HE most interesting ceremony which the traveler can see in Peking is the annual Devil Dance, which is held on the thirtieth of the first the Chinese moon, on which occasion a company of Lamas, dressed like the medicine men of savage tribes, and especially trained in their weird dance, proceed to rid the premises of the Yung Ho Kung of all evil spirits. This service is still largely attended-thousands of Chinese and many foreigners gather here each year to witness this strangest of all strange spectacles within the walls of the capital city. Juliet Bredon, in her notable work, Peking. describes this Devil Dance as follows: "After a long interval of waiting, patiently endured, several beings, half-human, half devil, suddenly hurt themselves into the very midst of the expectant throng. Their costumes are weird; death's-head masks cover their faces, painted flames lick their limbs from foot to knee, and in their hands they carry fearsome-looking long-lashed whips to be used in clearing a space for the dance. With demoniacal yells they dash about, pushing back the crowd and beating the unwary till they have made sufficient room. Then from the temple emerges a strange procession of dancers. They wear vestments of many colors and huge ghasily masks of bird or beast To the slow and measured cadence of unmelodious music, they advance in fours, boving and circling, their heads lolling from side to side with the time and the movements of their bodies. The perform ance lasts for hours to the immense delight of the crowd which, regardless of the attentions of the long-whipped devils, draws closer in an ever-diminishing circle in its eagerness to see, and culminates in the cutting up of an effigy of the Evil Spirit." In the tall, three-story hall nearest the northern wall we find the most notable sight within the walls of the Lama Temple- the "Big Buddha," or giant Maitreya, whose pindictive features loom seventy feet and more above us, his jeweled coronet being almost lost to view in the gathering shadows of the roof. In the olden days, whenever an emperor came to worship here, a large lamp over his face was lighted; but of late years he has remained in perpetual gloom-a darkness almost as impenetrable in its blackness as the faith he represents. This remarkable gilded image is said to have been carved from the trunk of a single Yünnan cedar, and represents the Buddha of the resurrection. His gigantic height of seventy elbows is symbolic, for it is the stature which, "according to the Lama belief, we shall all attain at our perfect reincarnation." There are many lesser shrines within the numerous halls, as well as some interesting prayer wheels, where, by mechanical effort, merit may be stored up for the future life. Our photo shows two Mongol monks in their picturesque attire, reading the sacred "Ching," or Lama scriptures, on the porch of the Main Sanctuary. [See paqes 64 and 154.]