[
    {
        "id": 214237,
        "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": 95,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "58\n\nseen in a comparatively modern temple near Taipei. A lengthy tunnel connects the main part of the Kuan Tu temple complex, to the North-west of Taipei, with the front entrance overlooking the Tamshui River. Some twenty-eight images stand in glass-fronted niches carved into the rock down the sides of the tunnel. These large individual images are of the Early Buddhas, the Ku Fo; the Buddhas of pre-history, the Buddhas who came before Sakyamuni, The Buddha. They have no altars and as there is an altar dedicated to the Thousand-arm and Thousand-Eye Kuan Yin P'u-sa at the river end of the tunnel they are not offered incense individually.\n\nSeveral aspects of the hagiography of the images in the cave/tunnel are intriguing. First of all, those holding weapons have them in their left hand. They are mostly dressed in gilded armour, and finally, their titles in Chinese, though Sinicised Sanskrit, have proved impossible to translate into the original Sanskrit and are therefore unidentified. Several of these unidentified deities have been depicted in Taiwanese religious literature but without any explanation apart from being listed under a general title of Supportive Incantations to Buddha, Ta Pei Chou Fo 大悲咒佛.\n\nThe following Vedic deities who have been noted in one or both of the temples in the Western Hills would seem not to be present in the cave/tunnel:\n\nMarici, Pancika, Hariti, Pippala [Bodhidruma], Laksmi, Prthivi, Surya, Candra, Vimalakirti, Nanda Upananda and Skanda/Veda.\n\nOf the scores of books, both the popular illustrated and monastic academic, produced over the last half century in Taiwan describing the Buddhas, bodhisattvas and the hundreds of minor deities of Buddhism, one at least has listed what they have called The Celestial Guardians Division. This list includes not only the Four Diamond Kings, the T'ien Wang, [Vaisravana, Dhrtarastra, Virudhaka and Virupaksa] but nine of the Deva seen in the Western Hills. These are Indra [Sakra-devanam], Brahma [Maha-Brahman], Marici, Laksmi [Sri-maha-devi], Sarasvati, Yamaraja, Guhyapati, Skanda [Wei T'o] and Gandharva.",
        "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": 214275,
        "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": 133,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "96\n\nAppendix E\n\nTHE LIST OF TWENTY DEVA\n\n十天\n\n+*\n\nIN SOOTHILL'S DICTIONARY OF CHINESE\n\nBUDDHIST TERMS\n\n  \n    Maha Brahman\n    - Brahma\n  \n  \n    Sakra devanam\n    - Indra\n  \n  \n    Vaisravana\n    \n  \n  \n    Dhrtarastra\n    \n  \n  \n    Virudhaka\n    \n  \n  \n    The Four Diamond Kings - Temple Guardians\n    of the Four Directions\n  \n  \n    Virupaksa\n    \n  \n  \n    Guhyapati\n    \n  \n  \n    Mahesvara\n    \n  \n  \n    Pancika\n    \n  \n  \n    Sarasvati\n    \n  \n  \n    Laksmi\n    \n  \n  \n    Skanda\n    \n  \n  \n    Prthivi\n    \n  \n  \n    Bodhidruma or Bodhivrksa\n    \n  \n  \n    Hariti\n    \n  \n  \n    Marici\n    \n  \n  \n    Surya\n    \n  \n  \n    Candra\n    \n  \n  \n    Sagara\n    \n  \n  \n    Yama-raja",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    }
]