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country, particularly in the province of Syriga, in the neighbourhood of the high mountain Fusi Jamma; to the top whereof they are by the rules of their order obliged to climb every year, in the sixth month. Some few have mias, or temples, but, generally speaking, so ill provided for, that they can scarce get a livelihood by them.

The founder of this order was one Gienno Giossa, who lived about 1100 years ago. They can give no manner of account of his birth, parents and relations. Nor had he any issue. He was the first that chose this solitary way of life for the mortification of his body. He spent all his time wandering through desert, wild, and uninhabited places, which in the end proved no inconsiderable service to his country, insomuch, as thereby he discovered the situation and nature of such places, which nobody before him ventured to view, or to pass through, because of their roughness and wiid aspect. By these means he found out new, easier, and shorter roads, from places to places, to the great advantage of travellers. His followers, in process of time, split into two different orders. One is called Tosanfa. Those who embrace this, must once a year climb up to the top of Fikoosan, a very high mountain in the province Cusen, upon the confines of Tsikusen, a journey of no small difficulty and danger, by reason of the height and steepness of this mountain, and the many precipices all around it, but much more, because, as they pretend, it hath this singular quality, that all those who presume to ascend it, when fusios, that is, labouring under any degree of impurity, are by way of punishment for their impious rashness possessed with the fox (others would say, the devil,) and turn stark mad. The second order is called Fonsanfa.Those who enter into this, must visit in pilgrimage, once a year, the grave of their founder at the top of a high mountain in the province Jostsijno, which by reason of its height is called Omine, that is, the top of the high mountain.

Should any one presume to undertake this journey, without having first duly purified and prepared himself for it, he would run the hazard of being thrown down the horrid precipices, and dashed to pieces, or, at least, by a lingering sickness, or some other considerable misfortune, pay for his folly, and the contempt of the just anger of the gods. And yet notwithstanding all these dangers and difficulties, all persons, who enter into any of these two orders, must undertake this journey once a year. In order to this they qualify themselves by a previous mortification, by virtue whereof they must for sometime abstain from their wives, from impure

food, and other things, by the use of which they might contract any degree of impurity, though never so small, not forgetting frequently to bathe and to wash themselves in cold water. As long as they are upon the journey, they must live only upon what roots and plants they find on the mountain.

If they return safe home from this hazardous pilgrimage, they repair forthwith, each to the general of his order, who resides at Miaco, make him a small present in money, which if poor, they must get by begging, and receive from him a more honourable title and higher dignity, which occasions some alteration in their dress, and increases the respect that must be shown them by their brethren of the same order. So far is ambition from being banished out of these religious societies.

Of the Budsdo, or Foreign Pagan Worship, and its Founder. -Budsdo, in the literal sense, signifies the way of foreign idols, that is, the way of worshipping foreign idols. The origin of this religion, which quickly spread through most Asiatic countries to the very extremities of the East, must be looked for among the Brahmins. There are strong reasons to believe, both from the affinity of the name, and the very nature of this religion, that its author and founder is the very same person, whom the Brahmins call Budha, and believe to be an essential part of Vishnoo, or their Deity, who made its ninth appearance in the world under this naine, and in the shape of man. The Chinese and Japanese call him Siaka. He lived seventy-nine years, and died on the fifteenth day of the second month in the year before Christ 950.

The most essential points of his doctrine are as follows :The souls of men and animals are immortal: both are of the same substance, and differ only according to the different objects they are placed in.

The souls of men, after their departure from their bodies, are rewarded in a place of happiness or misery, according to their behaviour in this life,

The place of happiness is called Gokurakf, that is, a place of eternal pleasures. As the gods differ in their nature, and the souls of men in the merit of their past actions, so do likewise the degrees of pleasure and happiness in their Elysian fields, that every one may be rewarded as he deserves. However the whole place is so thoroughly filled with bliss and pleasure, that each happy inhabitant thinks his portion the best, and far from envying the happier state of others, wishes only for ever to enjoy his own.

Amida is the sovereign commander of these heavenly sta

tions. He is looked upon as the general patron and protector of human souls, but more particularly as the god and father of those who happily transmigrate into these places of bliss. Through his sole mediation, men are to obtain absolution from their sins, and a portion of happiness in a future life.

Leading a virtuous life, and doing nothing that is contrary to the commandments of the law of Siaka, is the only way to become agreeable to Amida, and worthy of eternal happiness.

The five commandments of the doctrine of Siaka, the standing rule of the life and behaviour of all his faithful adherents, are called Gokai, which implies as much as the five cautions or warnings: they are,

Se Seo, the law not to kill any thing that hath life in it.
Tsu To, the law not to steal.

Sijain, the law not to whore.

Mago, the law not to lie.

Onsiu, the law not to drink strong liquors; a law which Siaka most earnestly recommended to his disciples, to be by them strictly observed.

All persons, secular or ecclesiastical, who, by their sinful life and vicious actions, have rendered themselves unworthy of the pleasures prepared for the virtuous, are sent after their death to a place of misery, called Dsigokf, there to be confined and tormented, not indeed for ever, but only during a certain undetermined time. As the pleasures of the Elysian fields differ in degrees, so do likewise torments in these infernal places. Justice requires that every one should be punished according to the nature and number of his crimes, the number of years he lived in the world, the station he lived in, and the opportunities he had to be virtuous and good. Jemma, or with a more majestic character, Jemma 0, (by which same name he is known also to the Brahmins, Siamites, and Chinese,) is the severe judge and sovereign commander of this place of darkness and misery. All the vicious actions of mankind appear to him in all their horror and heinousness, by the means of a large looking-glass, placed before him, and called ssofarino kagami, or the looking-glass of knowledge. The miseries of the poor unhappy souls confined to these prisons of darkness are not so considerable and lasting, but that great relief may be expected from the virtuous life and good actions of their family, friends, and relations, whom they left behind. But nothing is so conducive to this desirable end, as the prayers and offerings of the priests to the great and good Amida, who by his powerful intercession, can pre

vail so far upon the almost inexorable judge of this infernal place, as to oblige him to remit from the severity of his sentence, to treat the unhappy imprisoned souls with kindness, at least so far as it is not inconsistent with his justice, and the punishment their crimes deserve, and last of all, to send them abroad into the world again as soon as possible.

When the miserable souls have been confined in these prisons of darkness a time sufficient to expiate their crimes, they are, by virtue of the sentence of Jemma O, sent back into the world, to animate, not indeed the bodies of men, but of such vile creatures whose natures and properties are nearly related to their former sinful inclinations, such as, for instance, serpents, toads, insects, birds, fishes, quadrupeds, and the like. From the vilest of these, transmigrating by degrees into others, and nobler, they at last are suffered again to enter human bodies, by which means it is put in their power, either by a good and virtuous life to render themselves worthy of a future uninterrupted state of happiness, or by a new course of vices to expose themselves once more to undergo all the miseries of confinement in a place of torment, succeeded by a new unhappy transmigration.

These are the most essential points of the doctrine of Siaka.

Christianity was introduced into the empire of Japan, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, by missionaries of the church of Rome, and, for a number of years, made a very rapid progress. These Missionaries, who were mostly Jesuits, required little more than a nominal profession of the Christian name, with an admission of the supremacy of the Pope; and, while they presented Christian images to be adored, those idolaters saw nothing essentially opposed to their own religious usages, with which they had long been familiar. As they were not required to submit to the self-denial and holy righteousness of the Gospel, and being promised eternal happiness on an acceptance of the new religion, it soon became popular and numbered its thousands of nominal converts. In this scene of prosperity, the Jesuits were detected in some intrigues in the affairs of the governmeat, which produced an order from the jealous and arbitrary emperor, in the year 1615, for the entire suppression of the new religion. The foreign missionaries were banished from the empire, and the acknowledgment or worship of Christ was made a capital offence. Although a great part of the nominal converts easily renounced their religion, there were a considerable number who would not, and the imperial order

led to one of the most furious persecutions of modern times. It is highly probable that there are traits of Christianity, and perhaps some faithful worshippers of the true God and Saviour in Japan at this day.

Since that period, a violent prejudice has existed among the Japanese, against every thing bearing the Christian name. To perpetuate this prejudice, and for a memorial of the suppression of Christianity, an annual festival is regularly celebrated at the close of the year, at which all persons are obliged to declare, upon oath, that they not Christians. After which, an image of the Saviour on a cross, and an image of the Virgin Mary are presented and laid on the ground, and every one is required to trample them in the dust.

SECTION IV.

THE

RELIGION AND CEREMONIES

OF THE

CHINESE AND RUSSIAN TARTAR TRIBES.

It is a mixture of Lamaism, Islamism, and Gentooism, partaking, in some cases, also of a resemblance of the corruptions of the Greek and Roman churches. The idolatrous tribes principally follow the worship of the Grand Lama; but even a grosser species of idolatry is followed by some of the Tartars, particularly some of the Cossacks, who inhabit the borders of China.

Some of them are the grossest idolaters, and worship little rude images, which generally consist of a small bit of wood a few inches in length; the upper part is rounded off, and adorned with some rude marks to resemble the human features, and being thus prepared, the figure is dressed up in rags. In fine weather and prosperous seasons, they caress these ragged deities, but are apt to treat them very roughly when the contrary happens.

Others of the Tartars profess a belief in the existence of one Supreme God, the Creator of all things, who has divided the government of the world, and the destiny of men, among a great number of subaltern divinities, who are left to act ac

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