smples Where Magnificence to Deity

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 5 (Supplement)

smples Where Magnificence to Deity

or "Enzed Junior"

courts. Imagine being visited by a deputation of the mischievous animals when trying hard to concentrate on things religious. The outcome can easily be imagined, and presents an amusing sidelight on our Lour of the East. "The building is red in colour and has often been referred to as the monkey temple, on account of its playful visitors. The beautiful white mosques of the Indian Mohammedans are splendid examples of the Persian type of architecture. The Mohammedan religion centres around the existence of one god whom they say is the judge of all men. Allah is the name of that supreme and merciful being, and Mahomet is held to be the greatest of his many prophets. Five times a day the call to prayer rings forth from the balconies of the minarets. The devout Mohammedan ceases whatever he may be doing at the time, spreads out his prayer rug and commends himself to Allah, "the one god."

A similar type of worship ia to be found in the religion of the Parsees, a race which was driven from ita

original home by Mohammedan conquerors hundreds of years ago. The outcasts found shelter in Bombay, where many of their descendants to be found to this present day. Like their Mohammedan masters, they to.> believe in the power of one god, also in an evil spirit which wakes war continually on that which is good. In company with otlver peoples of the East, they hold the life-giving power of the sun to be a symbol of their god, and the sacred fire burns day and night upon their altais. We now pass from the beautiful and sublime in * religion to those strange people who are regarded as holy mainly because of their supreme indifference to bodily pain. The East has been full of these fakirs as they are called from time immemorial, and tourists have been fascinated by their displays of faith. Some of their methods of devotion seem very strange to us, as, for example, piercing their bodies with sharp Instruments, or sitting for hours on a bed of thorny spikes. Stranger still, some of these fakirs are quite sincere in their beliefs, but for the greater part the majority of them trade on the simple credulity of the common people. The Chinese have been described as being an exceedingly superstitious race, so that it is not surprising to find that their religion takes the form nf fnn.tont ninnltiaH™ U y

gods. In company with other races of the East, the Chinese believed that to arouse the displeasure of their god would be to incur the deepest ill fortune. Coneequently it was advisable to "play safe," as we would say, and make regular offerings at the various shrines. Fortune favoured the devout worshipper, but woe betide the unlucky recipient of godly displeasure, in olden times it must have been extremely irksome to have to keep up this elaborate form of pretence, but men will go to strange ends to obtain their desires. Moreover, it was imagined that the gods were possessed of great wealth, which they bestowed liberally upon .ill those who found favour in their eyes. Should the worshipper slacken his obser- *" ' * -■ *"•* * varices he would be visited by a ! very virulent form \ of misfortune. China abounds ■ with evidences of j religious super- ; stition. Take the roofs of their houses, for ex- I ample. They are j srowded with numbers of miniature I figures of men, all portrayed in the most fantastic attitudes. When

we look closer still we notice that these strange creatures are armed with bows, with which they appear to be shooting at the sky. There is a reason for this, of course, as there are reasons for many seemingly inexplicable things whidi we see in foreign lands. These miniature bowmen are supposed to be fighting the invisible forces that are flying through the air. These mysterious spirit* are seeking for an opportunity to enter people's homes, and visit the occupants with all kinds of plagues and diseases. Were it not for the valiant little defenders it is believed that life could not exist and that happy homes would be filled with sorrow and death. To ensure being protected from the inside as well, every Chinese home has its own household god, sometime* a whole collection of them. The cult of ancestor worship is now generally believed to have departed altogether with a lot of other obsolete customs, but at one time it was a very potent factor in Chinese life. It had its beginnings in the so-called power of the "dead hand," a phrase which seems to require a fuller explanation. The power to invest a family with misery or happiness was thought to rest entirely with the deceased members of that family, and not, as might be expected, with the influence of the gods. Although a man may have been poor and worthless during his life, death invested him with * new wealth and power. This, in conjunction with the unseen forces which hovered round his grave, helped him to pour power and riches

upon his previous home. In some mysterious way the dead were thought to be capable of changing the destinies of the living, should they so desire. To what extent they did this would depend wholly and solely on the offerings mac'a to them at regular intervals. Countless examples of how a rise to wealth has been credited to the "dead hud" could be recounted here.

Chinese cities abound with temple* dedicated to well known and popular gods. These temples are often erected at great expense, and are dependent on the offerings of worshippers for any necessary repairs. The whole inhabitants of a village turn out annually to witness a performance in honour of their favourite god*. The air is filled with the noise of fire crackers and the smatterings of many tongues.

In our journeyings through the provinces wo will come across many monasteries, each with their attendant resident priests. We must not forget either the little wayside shrines dotted all over the countryside. The gods of Nature still hold sway on the simple imaginations of the people, and red prayer papers and incense still smoulder before the favoured ones. With all her multitude of gods it is etrange that the most universally worshipped <l#itv should not be Chinese at all. Kwan-Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, Is the inofct popular of them all, but she was first of all a foreigner and the daughter of an Indian prince.