. New China and old : personal recollections and observations of thirty years. ive advantages to be expectedas the result of her piety and devotion, she wasstaggered by the enquiry ; and at last said that shehoped possibly to be born again as a man, which wouldbe esteemed by her high promotion ; or perchance toenter the body of some animal or bird, which wouldbe a step downwards, but still far from the Buddhisthells. Another woman, a beggar at Ningpo, full of gratitudefor kindness shown her by one of the Missionaries,and casting about for some possible way of manifestingher gratitude, exclaime
. New China and old : personal recollections and observations of thirty years. ive advantages to be expectedas the result of her piety and devotion, she wasstaggered by the enquiry ; and at last said that shehoped possibly to be born again as a man, which wouldbe esteemed by her high promotion ; or perchance toenter the body of some animal or bird, which wouldbe a step downwards, but still far from the Buddhisthells. Another woman, a beggar at Ningpo, full of gratitudefor kindness shown her by one of the Missionaries,and casting about for some possible way of manifestingher gratitude, exclaimed at last under the guidance ofBuddhist teaching— Sir, I can never repay you inthis life ! In the spirit-world you will be born again arich Mandarin ; I, poor sinful and wretched soul, haveno hope of reaching a higher form of existence than adog. But as a dog I will find you out, and keep thievesfrom your honours door. A Chinese shopkeeper or rich merchant in town orcountry, if a Buddhist devotee, would spend more thanordinary people on Buddhist rites, at the New Year, at. BiLcldhist Miracles. 169 the feast of the solstices, at the opening of a new shop,or on the occasion of any special event in his temple would be honoured with his patronage,and the priests, if clever and plausible, would find manymethods by which to persuade the merchant to spendhis money in devotion. But such a profession wouldadd little to his Confucian code of morality, neitherwould it diminish therefrom. It is immensely to thehonour of Chinese religions that no object of theirreverence or adoration, no sage of old, no deified man,no supposed incarnation of the deity, is in any sensean example or patron of immorality. Sir M. MonierWilliams, however, in his great work on Buddhism,informs us that examples occur sometimes in China, ofimages which do not represent Buddha as the ideal ofa man who has conquered his passions ; but ratherwith the figure and features of a self-indulgent
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