has deviated so far from the original form of Sâkya's doctrine, would be worthy of more careful study than they have yet received. And this study might, possibly, suggest wholesome considerations to some well-meaning persons among our countrymen just now.
In its older forms Lamaism was a kind of Buddhism corrupted, on the one hand by the aboriginal Shamanism, and on the other hand by Sivaite magic and mysticism. It also allowed, at least in certain cases, of the marriage of priests, under varying conditions and limitations, kindred to those which strictly belonged to the character of the pure Brahman. Thus, certain of the hierarchy were allowed to live in the married state until an heir was born; others until the son also had an heir. And the sacred dignities were thus often hereditary in the literal sense.
In the middle of the fourteenth century arose the great reformer of Lamaism in the person of Tsongkaba, born in the province of Amdo, at the spot now marked with consequent sanctity by the great monastery of Kunbum.[1] Tsongkaba was a reformer, manifestly, not in the spirit of Luther or Calvin, but rather in that of Francis or Dominic; but we are not in a position to indicate very clearly the scope of his reforms. He did, however, evidently make some considerable effort to revert to the original practices of Buddhism. And the most visible and external of his reforms, the substitution of the yellow cap and robe for the red which had characterized the older Lamas, was an instance of this. Such also was the more important measure of recalling the priesthood to a strict and universal profession of celibacy. The old Indian Buddhism did recognise wedded persons under certain secondary vows as lay brothers and lay sisters, but knew no such persons as married sramanas, or full members of the Church. Tsongkaba also greatly checked, or strove to check, the intervention of magical practices among the faithful. These were excessively prevalent among the older Lamas,—as,
- ↑ sKu-bum (pronounced Ku-bum, or Kun-bum), 'the 100,000 images,' some thirty or forty miles south of Sining.
