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prestige since the Tang dynasty. I shall return to this point later

Genealogies that are available now are the result of many updates and only then prefaces can be dated. Some of those in the collection of Luo, op. cit. contain a preface dated 1269 (p. 363), another a preface dated 1406 (p. 48), another was first compiled during the same period (p. 67). As the prefaces do not usually dwell on the many different names of ancestors, we cannot expect prefaces to indicate ordination names as such. The earliest dated preface in the collection to mention ordination names was written in 1780. It drew attention to early ancestors whose achievements as officials are not known but are immortals in the celestial count, referred to by their religious names. It would be useful to examine unabridged genealogies to find mention of ordination names in early prefaces.

1. Check the Golden Lotus for ordination of a male child. Ordination in a funeral seems to appear in the famous Qing novel, the Red Chamber.

NJ

Hu Bo'an's *Zhonghua Chuanguo Lingji*, reprinted 1990, Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou Guji Chubanshe, *shang bian*, j. 1, p. 82 describes a practice in Tianjin province of Buddhist ordination; the child will later become a layman again in a rite to be carried out at the age of 12.

21 Qu Dajun, *Beijing: Zhonghua*, 1985, pp. 302–303. The passage is repeated by Yihe Dong Biji, written around the 18th century (the author Li Diaoyuan obtained his Jinshi degree during the Qianlong period, 1736-1795). If the passage in *Guangdong Xinyu* was copied from some earlier book, the original would not have been written before 1569, when Yong'an was first established as a separate county.

"The Third Gazetteer of Yong'an, j. 1, p. 207 in the reprint by Chengwen Chubanshe, 1974.

The Changle County Gazetteer, j. 4, p. 247 in a reprint in the 70s (2) in Taiwan. According to the *Gongguo Difang Zhi Zonghe Mulu* ('Comprehensive Catalogue of Chinese Gazetteers'), the earliest version, of circa 586 and circa 663 respectively, still exist.

21 The passage does mention that the area has Yao and Liao minorities, but the sentence about the sorcerers seems to refer to Han villagers. See Hu, op. cit., *shang bian*, j. 8, p. 50.

24 Op. cit., j. 1, pp. 8b-9a.

1

Jl,

* Michel Strickmann, in 'The Longest Taoist Scripture', in *History of Religions*, 1978, p. 349, suggests that the appearance of the name Satan here attests to the influence of Manichaeism in Southeastern China. The Satan was worshipped by some circles of agnostics, according to the entry in Mircea Eliade, ed., *The Encyclopedia of Religion*, New York: Macmillan, 1987.

26 Interpreted as King of Skanda by Strickmann, op. cit.

27 In some cases written as Mei Shan, Mei Shan, Lu Shan, or Lu Shan.

* Li and Huang, ed., *Liannan Bapai Yanjiu Ziliao*, published by Guangdong Sheng Shehui Kexueyuan in the 1980s. See, for example, p. 554 and p. 564 for King of Asura, p. 433 for
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him by priests he has been regarded by some foreigners as the patron deity of monks: he was and still is, however, the protector of the Buddhist Law before whom lots were drawn during the selection of the new abbot.

Skanda, son of Shiva and brother of Ganesh [Tunhuang fresco] is a major protector, a destroyer of demons and a god of war, identical with Karttikaya.

Wei T'o in Japan is known as Idaten, whilst in Tibetan and Lamaist Buddhism he is known as Skanda: Wei T'o T'ien-shen ## [or in transliterated Chinese: Ssu-chien-t'o].

Although the image in the Ta Pei Ssu is labelled in Chinese, Wei T'o; the well-produced and colourful Chinese guide to the Hall of the Bodhisattvas produced in Taiwan gives the title in Chinese as Wei T'o and in English as Skanda. Skanda according to Werner is the Hindu mythological god of war, usually known as Karttikaya. He is represented riding a peacock, holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.

He has numerous appointments, all protective. Originally he was one of the Thirty-two Generals under the command of the Four Celestial Kings - Ssu Ta T'ien-wang (see 23 below). One such appointment is his rôle as Commander of the Heavenly Hosts, the head of the Heavenly Guard [one of the Twenty or Twenty-four Devas], the protective spirit or spirits of Buddhism and its sanctuaries. In the biographies of Hsüan Tsang, Wei T'o is described as the leader of all the kuei-shen [minor deities], and was charged by the Buddha who was at that moment on the point of entering Nirvana, with the protection of the Law.

Officially he is neither a Buddha nor a bodhisattva though commonly he is referred to as the latter and it is often claimed that for his zeal he was promoted to bodhisattva when he became the commander of the Four Diamond Kings [Chin-kang: see below]. His title would appear to be the Chinese form for the Sanskrit term "Veda", the body of sacred writings brought to India by invaders and from which Hinduism developed. However, it is generally said that his origin is uncertain even though, for example, Vitasoka, the younger brother of King Asoka
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Appendix B

THE DEVA WITHIN THE BODHISATTVA HALL IN THE PI-YUN SSU PEKING'S WESTERN HILLS

The Chinese titles of these the Deva within the Bodhisattva Hall in the Pi-yun Ssu are as follows together with their standard Sanskrit name:

Fan T'ien
Brahma
[Mahabrahman]

Ti-shih
Indra
[Sakra Devaran]

T'o-wen Tien-wang
Vaisravana
(Guardian of the North)

Ch'ih-kuo T'ien-wang
Dhrtarastra
(Guardian of the East)

Tseng-ch'ang T'ien-wang
Virudhaka
(Guardian of the South)

Kuang-mu T'ien-wang
Virupaksa
(Guardian of the West)

) the Four
) Guardians
) of the
) Entrance
) to
) Buddhist
) Temples**

Mi-chi Chin-kang
Guhyapati
Another Diamond King Guardian

Mo-hsi-shou-lo
Siva
[Mahesvara]

Pan-chih Ta-ching
Pancika

Pien-ts'ai T'ien
Sarasvati

Chi-hsiang T'ien-nü
Laksmi

Wei-t'o
Skanda or Viharapala

Chien-lao-ti-shen
Prthivi

P'u-t'i Shu-shen
Bodhidruma or Pippala

Kuei-tzu Mu
Hariti
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