20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Ceremony of bathing the Buddha statue in a Manchu shamanic shrine 653praying to the spirits with a shamanic sward. Several questions arise whenreading this description:1. What is the meaning of this Buddhist ceremony?2. Why it is inserted into the shamanic ritual?3. What is the meaning of the sacrificial items?First, I tried to find the roots of this ceremony. It is an accepted fact thatthe Manchus borrowed Buddhism from the Mongols, which means that theypracticed Mahayana Buddhism or Buddhism in its Tibetan and Mongolianvariant. Strangely enough, but Northern variant of Buddhism does nothave the Ceremony of washing the Buddha statue. It is not mentioned inthe rituals performed in the Qing dynasty Buddhist monasteries in Peking.However, it exists in Hinayana – southern version of Buddhism. It iscommon for the Tai people of the Yunnan province and is registered inHong-Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korean Buddhism. The statue of standingor sitting Buddha is put amidst the lotus flowers. In front of the statue isa bowl of water. The praying people come to the statue, take a scoop andpour water on the head and shoulders of the statue and pray.Why honey water is used for this ceremony? Honey is mentioned inIndian orthodox tradition where alongside with the ritual drink called “somajuice” honey is considered a drink of immortals. According to the Manchuceremony’s description, the statue of Buddha is washed in the basin withhoney water. This ceremony most probably has the meaning of purificationand gives eternal life. The text of the Manchu invocation proves that theBuddha and spirits are asked for longevity of the clan people.The second part of the ceremony with the shaman’s kneeling on a swardis typical shamanistic. The sward symbolizes the steps of the shamanicladder on which he climbs to the upper world. In this way, he reaches theworld of spirits and calls for their support.Most probably, the ceremony of washing the Buddha statue wasborrowed by the Manchus from Koreans 4 , since it is not registered inthe Mongolian Buddhism. It could have happened on the early stage offormation of Manchu shamanic ritual when the Jurchens were still livingamong the Koreans in the Changbaishan area in the 15 th -16 th centuries.It should be mentioned that the whole ceremony is conducted in stateimperial way, which is done according to the Confucian ritual with eunuchs,ceremonial entourage, by three times kneeling with nine bows.Thus the description of the Ceremony of washing the Buddha statue is4Buswell, R.E. Jr. 1992: 43-46.