to be observed by the _Sramanas_ or monks, by fasting, confession, and
listening to the reading of the law
The institutes of ancient Buddhism set apart the days of new and full moon
to be observed by the _Sramanas_ or monks, by fasting, confession, and
listening to the reading of the law. It became usual for the laity to take
part in the observance, and the number of days was increased to three and
then to four, whilst Hiuen Tsang himself speaks of ‘the six fasts of every
month,’ and a Chinese authority quoted by Julien gives the days as the
8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, 29th, and 30th. Fabian says that in Ceylon
preaching took place on the 8th, 14th, and 15th days of the month. Four is
the number now most general amongst Buddhist nations, and the days may be
regarded as a kind of Buddhist Sabbath. In the southern countries and in
Nepal they occur at the moon”s changes. In Tibet and among the Mongol
Buddhists they are not at equal intervals, though I find the actual days
differently stated by different authorities. Pallas says the Mongols
observed the 13th, 14th, and 15th, the three days being brought together,
he thought, on account of the distance many Lamas had to travel to the
temple–just as in some Scotch country parishes they used to give two
sermons in one service for like reason! Koeppen, to whose work this note
is much indebted, says the Tibetan days are the 14th, 15th, 29th, 30th,
and adds as to the manner of observance: ‘On these days, by rule, among
the Lamas, nothing should be tasted but farinaceous food and tea; the very
devout refrain from all food from sunrise to sunset. The Temples are
decorated, and the altar tables set out with the holy symbols, with
tapers, and with dishes containing offerings in corn, meal, tea, butter,
etc., and especially with small pyramids of dough, or of rice or clay, and
accompanied by much burning of incense-sticks. The service performed by
the priests is more solemn, the music louder and more exciting, than
usual. The laity make their offerings, tell their beads, and repeat _Om
mani padma hom_,’ etc. In the _concordat_ that took place between the
Dalai-Lama and the Altun Khaghan, on the reconversion of the Mongols to
Buddhism in the 16th century, one of the articles was the entire
prohibition of hunting and the slaughter of animals on the monthly fast
days. The practice varies much, however, even in Tibet, with different
provinces and sects–a variation which the Ramusian text of Polo implies
in these words: ‘For five days, or _four days_, or _three_ in each month,
they shed no blood,’ etc.
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