Page:The Visit of the Teshoo Lama to Peking.djvu/30

20 inscription had been prepared by Ch‘ien Lung, is also in commemoration of the event. As appears from the text of the inscription, this Dagoba contains only the garments, shoes, and prayers of the Lama.

It may be of some interest to refer in this place to the custom which prevails throughout China of burning the bodies of the chiefs and other wealthly priests of both Buddhist and Lamaist monasteries.

The cremation takes place in court yards, (塔院兒) assigned for the purpose outside of towns. In Peking, for instance, there is the 桑穆荅庵 for the head priests of 雍和宮, the 老爺廟 for those of the 嵩祝寺 the 西番堂 for those of the 西黃時. Then there is the 萬壽寺 near 豆腐閘 for the Buddhists. The corpse is seated in an iron chair in the "meditation" attitude, as prescribed by Buddha and is placed in the centre of the courtyard. Faggots are heaped around it, which are lighted at midnight by the pupils. The next morning an investigation is made by the pupils to see whether the bones have turned yellow or black. The first color indicates that a life of unsullied purity has been lived by the deceased, and this intimation is greeted with great rejoicing by the pupils and bystanders, who instantly do the fragments homage. If the bones are discovered to have turned black, this unfortunate circumstance, indicating that the departed priest has been a man of evil character, is received with great sorrow and reviling, though the fragments are always collected in small urns of pottery or porcelain, to be enshrined in 塔 or Dagobas.