CHAPTER XV.

MONASTERIES AT P'U-TO.

This establishment more modern than T'ien-t'ai and Wu-t'ai--Many Thibetan inscriptions--Frequent visits of Peking lamas--Dedicated to Kwan-yin--Gifts by K'ang-hi--Images--Caves--Pagodas--Inscriptions--Resident defenders of Buddhism--The Potala of Jehol in Mongolia--It is also the name of the palace--Temple of the Dalai Lama--In China an island was preferred to be the tau-ch'ang of Kwan-yin.

THIS island has long been known to foreigners as a celebrated spot, to which multitudes of zealous Buddhists make pilgrimages. It has of late years been a favourite summer residence of foreigners, and has been frequently described in recent books on China, so that its natural features need not be here repeated.

The peculiarities of the monasteries, however, need some remarks, for travellers have hitherto said nothing to explain them. Their interest is modern compared with that of some other celebrated seats of the Buddhist religion. For antiquities they cannot vie with T'ien-t'ai, or with Wu-t'ai shan in Shan-si. They are remarkable rather as forming a connecting link with the lama Buddhism of Thibet and Mongolia. This connection is seen in several circumstances. Kwan-yin is the patron deity of Thibet and also of P'u-to, leading to a peculiar arrangement of the images in the monasteries, and the substitution of this deity for Shakyamuni Buddha in the centre of the great hall. Lama priests at Peking have always been accustomed to visit the island, and perform worship

there till recently, of which Thibetan inscriptions still on the island are monuments. The monastic establishments now on the island date principally from the Mongolian dynasty in the fourteenth century, and the Manchu emperors have, from motives of policy, always shown favour to the national religion of their Western tributaries.