[ { "id": 211523, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 240, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "216\n\nwelcomed Greeks as government servants, mercenaries and artisans. Among many mutual influences between the two cultures one of them was that the Eastern countries imitated Greek coinage and did so even before Alexander. For example, under the occupation of the Persians in Judaea, imitations of Attic coins were minted, adding on them the word “Yahud\" i.e. \"Jewish\". Our coin is a good instance of the use of Greek currency, either genuine or imitated.\n\nThere is evidence of relations between Greece and India, as early as the 10th century B.C., in the Epic of Ramayana, where we find the counterpart of the Greek Centaur, Kinnara of the Sanskrit, and in that of the Bharatas (Mahabaratas) in the similarity between Arjun and Karna and Achilles and Hector of the Illiad of Homer. In philosophy the cynicism of Diogenes of Sinope pervaded the system of the Pasupatas of India. And we find the name of the Indian hero Lakulisa borrowed from that of the Greek hero Heracles (semantically Laku means club; Lakulisa is the cognate of (H)erakle).\n\nThis present coin was found in Papua New Guinea. It must have been brought there by some one from Asia, i.e. India, Malay or other Asian countries. This, in fact, is not only possible but even probable because of the extent of the Greek connections with all these countries in ancient times.\n\nIt would be impossible to know who owned this bracelet with the coin. A probable owner would have been an Indonesian, as these neighbouring Malays used to organize frequent expeditions into New Guinea, looking for gold, paradise-bird feathers and slaves. In that case, we may be allowed to speculate that the coin could have been a significant symbol to the owner.\n\nThe Greek figure could have represented for him Iskandar i.e. Alexander the Great, the alleged ancestor of the Malay race. The word TAPA could have been taken for a Malay word denoting asceticism in the sense of body training, yoga, endurance, etc. On the other hand, the dolphin or porpoise, “lumba\" in Malay, is synonymous with, and a symbol of, play, competition, contest. So, if my speculation is correct, this object would have been a sportsman's token, an emblem of effort in sportsmanship, or ... a simple commercial ornament. In any event,\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214231, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 89, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "52\n\nSsu and the Pi-yun Ssu. They were first placed there some three hundred years ago, towards the end of the last fully Chinese dynasty, the Ming and before the overthrow of the Ming by the non-Chinese Manchus.\n\nThe Two Temples in the Western Hills\n\nThe old Kuan Yin Hall of the Ta Pei Ssu X, the fourth of the Eight Great Places in the Western Hills of Peking, is sealed off and not available to the general public. It contains a modern image of the major deity, the bodhisattva Kuan Yin with a Thousand Arms and a Thousand Eyes together with old but refurbished images of the Deva with their name in Sinicised Sanskrit but without providing any hint as to their origins and legends. The statues of the Deva were originally made during the Ming, ca. 1500 AD, and consist of clay reinforced with hemp. They are referred to in temple literature as the Group of 28 Great Immortals +. The image of the Thousand Arm and Thousand Eye Kuan Yin was replaced by the Japanese after the Second World War in an attempt to make amends for having taken the original and melted it down for the brass content during the War.\n\nThe Kuan Yin Hall in the Ta Pei Ssu contains in addition to the one bodhisattva, Kuan Yin, twenty-eight images, which can be categorised as follows: twenty-six deities with Sanskrit titles including the five T'ien-wang [Guardians] together with two Chinese folk religion deities. Of the twenty-six, five are deities specifically referred to separately in the Eight Classes of Supernatural Beings? [Deva, Mahoraga, Kinnara, Asura and Gandharva]\n\nIt is lamentable that the Kuan Yin Hall is closed to the public; however, fortunately, there is also a Hall of Bodhisattvas in the second temple, the Pi-yun Ssu #, some five kms. to the north of the Ta Pei Ssu, which is open to the general public and it too contains the Twenty-eight Deva; however, the images here have all been made within the past fifteen years, probably replacements for the original images destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and yet again without any signs to indicate that they are anything other than Chinese deities. The fact that all but three were originally Hindu deities brought to China by Buddhism is not explained in temple literature, though the monks un-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214235, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 93, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "56\n\nYin in the other temple, the Pi-yun Ssu, depicts her with only two arms sitting cross-legged on a recumbent blue lion. Her assistants are an unnamed dark-faced elderly minister who appears to be South Asian, standing holding a tablet before his chest and dressed in a long blue robe. Her other attendant is the Red Youth, Hung Hai-eh, standing on her left hand with his hands held together before his chest, and dressed in a red robe over green trousers with a flowing scarf-like halo.\n\nTaking the three groups, the twenty Deva listed in Soothill, and the two groups in the Ta Pei Ssu and the Pi-yun Ssu, we have twenty deities common to all three.\n\nThese are:\n\nBrahma, Indra, Pancika, Sarasvati, Laksmi, Skanda [Wei T'o], Prthivi, Hariti, Marici, Surya, Candra, Siva, Yamaraja, Bodhidhruma, Guyapati, Kinnara and the four T'ien-wang guardians Vaisravana, Dhrtarastra, Virudhaka and Virupaksa.\n\nIn the Ta Pei Ssu we also have five additional Deva not present in the Pi-yun Ssu, the Asura, Vimalakirti, Nanda Upananda and Mahoraga. A further two Deva images are seen only in the Pi-yun Ssu. These are Lei Kung and Sagara.\n\nTaking each of the deities in turn, we shall examine their background and in particular their Brahmanist [or Vedic] origins, their role in the Chinese pantheon and any ambiguities or contradictions we encounter. The important three Brahmanist deities are known in Sanskrit as the Trimurti:\n\nthe creator\n\nBrahma\n\nthe preserver\n\nVishnu\n\nthe destroyer\n\nSiva\n\nBrahma and Siva are indeed included in the two temples whilst Vishnu is not3. Though a major Hindu deity today Vishnu was not so during the Vedic era of the second millennium BC. His particular task", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214251, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 109, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "72\n\n17] Kinnara known in Chinese as Chin-na-lo The heavenly musicians\n\nListed as one of the twenty Deva in Soothill, and also one of the Eight Classes of supernatural beings in the Lotus Sutra. They are a group who, in Java for example, are portrayed as half-bird and half-human, and known in their plural as Kinnari. They are also one of the twelve spirits connected with the cult of Yao-shih Fo, the Buddhist Master of Healing. Another version claims that they are the musicians of Kuvera, with bodies of humans and heads of horses. In yet another version they dwell in the tall trees which grow on Gandhamadana, Incense Mountain.\n\nThere are images of a Kinnara in both the Ta Pei Ssu and in the Pi-yun Ssu. In the former he is portrayed as a military figure, standing in armour and helmet and with a scarf swirling round the back of his head and down across his arms. His hands are clasped before his chest and his face, pink and friendly, has a short black beard and mutton-chop moustache. In the Pi-yun Ssu the image has a similar friendly face but this time he is wearing robes and cap of an official and not those of a soldier.\n\n18] Mahoraga known in Chinese as Mo-hu-lo\n\nMahoraga is one of the twelve spirits connected with the cult of Yao-shih Fo, the Master of Healing and the Buddha of Medicine. He is one of the twelve guardian spirits each of whom is associated with one of the twelve hours of the day. The twelve include Vajra, Indra and Kinnara.\n\nAn image of the Mahoraga has only been seen in the Ta Pei Ssu and not in the Pi-yun Ssu. He is portrayed as an extremely ugly, ferocious inhuman demon with black skin. Dressed merely in a decorated and multi-coloured skirt he is standing and has a swirling scarf behind his head and a snake held in his right hand. He has spiky hair on either side of his head protruding like small snakes, and his large protruding jaw and upper lip and his sloping forehead make his face almost animal. The hair on the head is pulled up into a high point, with two ear-pressing tufts one on either side. His eyebrows are like white flames, and his", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214252, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 110, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "73\n\nlarge, wide, gaping mouth has but four small teeth showing, these being normal human-size incisors top and bottom. Finally, he has three small white skulls across his forehead held in place by a pink band.\n\n19] Gandharva known in Chinese as Kan-t'a-p'o\n\nThe Gandharva are one of the eight classes of supernatural beings referred to in the Lotus Sutra. They are Indra's musicians and also in the retinue of Dhrtarastra [they are the same as or similar to the Kinnaras]. They do not eat meat nor drink wine but feed on incense and fragrance.\n\nAn image of the Gandharva is in the Ta Pei Ssu but not in the Pi-yun Ssu. His image portrays him standing, dressed in multi-coloured robes over armour, a helmet over black spiky hair, and is clean shaven. His face is semi-demonic, with large protruding eyes. He has no unique characteristics.\n\n20] Nanda Upananda known in Chinese as Nan-t'o Pa-nan-t'o 跋難陀\n\nLittle seems to be known about Nanda Upananda apart from being a protector of Magadha [near Bihar]. His image has only been seen in the Ta Pei Ssu and not in the Pi-yun Ssu. It depicts him as an elderly man but with a semi-demonic face. He has round eyes, small ugly protrusions on his cheeks, a gaping mouth and fang-like eye-teeth, no moustache but a short pointed beard, and is wearing decorated robes and cap. His hands are held together as if holding a tablet [which may well be missing].\n\n21] Skanda, Viharapala or Veda' known in Chinese as Wei T'o #BE\n\nWei T'o, a Hindu deity, the Deva Protector of the Dharma, guards the sanctuary of virtually all Chinese Buddhist temples. He stands with his back to the main entrance in the inner temple hall facing the main altar and back-to-back with the Laughing Buddha of the Future, Mi-lo Fo, who greets visitors with his smiling welcome. Wei T'o is also to be seen guarding many a folk religion temple, though only very rarely does he appear on a household altar. Because of the prayers offered to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214269, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 127, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "90\n\nChun-t'i P'u-sa\n\nMarici\n\nJih T'ien-tzu\n\nSurya\n\nYüeh-kung T'ien-tzu\n\nCandra\n\nLung Wang\n\nSagara\n\nYen-mo-lo\n\nYamaraja\n\nAh Su-lo\n\nAsura\n\nKan Ta-po\n\nWei Mo-chi\n\nNan-t'o\n\nMa-hu-lo\n\nTzu-wei Ta-ti\n\n \n\nChin na-lo\n\nGandharva\n\nVimalakirti\n\nNanda\n\nMahoraga\n\na Chinese deity\n\nKinnara\n\nTung Yueh Ta-ti\n\nA Chinese deity", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214270, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 128, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "91\n\nAppendix C\n\nTHE TWENTY-SEVEN SO-CALLED DEVA WHOSE IMAGES STAND IN THE TA PEI TIEN, ONE OF THE BA DA CHU [THE EIGHT GREAT SITES] IN PEKING'S WESTERN HILLS\n\nAsura\n\nCandra\n\nDhrtarastra\n\nGandharva\n\nGuhyapati raja\n\nHariti\n\nKinnara\n\nKsitigarbha\n\nLaksmi devi\n\nMaha Isvara\n\nMahabrahman - Brahma\n\nMarici\n\nNanda Upar Nanda\n\nPancika\n\nPippala", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214272, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 130, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "93\n\nAppendix D\n\nTHE TWENTY-EIGHT BUDDHAS OF YORE\n\nTwenty-eight images of the Early Buddhas, the Ku Fo; the Buddhas of pre-history, the Buddhas who came before Sakyamuni, The Buddha, are to be seen in the Kuan Tu temple complex, to the north-west of Taipei. These 28 'Old Buddhas' are:\n\nTa Fan T'ien Wang 大梵天王\n\n[Maha Brahman - Brahma]\n\nP'i-p'o Chia-lo Wang 毘婆迦羅王\n\n[Vipasyin: the first of the Seven Buddhas of antiquity]\n\nKan-ta-p'o Wang 乾達婆王\n\n[Gandharva: the gods of fragrance and music: the musicians of Indra]\n\nTi-shih T'ien 帝釋天\n\n[Indra]\n\nTa Pien-ts'ai 大辯才\n\n[Sarasvati]\n\nMa-hsi-shou-lo 摩醯首羅\n\n[Siva: Mahesvara]\n\nTa Hai Lung Wang 大海龍王\n\n[Sagara - Lung Wang]\n\nChien-na-lo Wang 監那羅王\n\n[Kinnara]\n\nWu Pu Ching 五部凈\n\nChin-p'i-lo Wang 金毘羅王\n\n[Yama - as protector of the 1000 arm Kuan Yin]\n\n[Kumbhira - a Yaksha king, who was converted and became a guardian of Buddhism]", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214276, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 134, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "97\n\nNOTES\n\nMacGowan J : Men and Manners of Modern China: T Fisher Unwin: London 1912\n\n2 Werner in his Dictionary of Chinese Mythology gives the Eight Classes of Dragon Kings as follows:\n\n3 Deva naga, Yaksha, Gandharva, Asuras, Garudas, Vinnaras, Mahonagas and Rakshas Soothill in his Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms lists the Eight Classes of Supernatural Beings as follows: Deva, Naga, Yaksha, Gandharva, Asura, Garuda, Kinnara and Mahoraga.\n\nMajor well known Brahmanist deities not included in the groups of Deva in the Western Hills of Peking include Hanuman, Parbati and Ganesh.\n\n* A Student Interpreter: Where Chineses Drive : English Student Life in Peking Wm Allen & Co : London: 1885\n\n6 As with a number of titles the romanised spelling varies depending upon the form used and, as examples, we have Siva and Shiva, Pancika and Panchika. He is the esoteric cult Deva, a masculine form of the wife of Siva. He is the tutelary god of Mongolian Lama Buddhism, and is also said to be an incarnation of Vairocana for the purpose of destroying demons.\n\n7 Werner, ETC: A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology:\n\n8\n\n9 x stands for an illegible character. Although images iconographically look like the standard Buddhist image of the Temple Guardian, Wei T'o, they have been identified as being one of three Vedic deities. Lessing in his Yung-Ho-Kung [Stockholm 1942] and the Taiwanese guide to The Guan Yin Hall of the Ta Pei Ssu both identify Wei T'o's origin as Skanda whilst Soothill claims that he is Viharapala.\n\n10 Occasionally Yüeh T'ian-wang, that is the 12th century hero Yüeh Fei, takes the place of Li Yüan-shuai.\n\n\"Chin-se are the Five Primary Colours permutated in various ways to represent various ideas; also, a five coloured emblematic cord, a Brahman sign worn on", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 } ]