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MODERN BUDDHISM. a narrow room, in which are images and paintings; but in many instances it is dark. Opposite the door of entrance there is another door, protected by a screen, and when this is withdrawn, an image of Buddha is seen, occupying nearly the whole of the apartment, with a table or altar before it, upon which flowers are placed. Like the temples of the Greeks, the walls are covered with paintings; the style at present adopted in Ceylon greatly resembling, in its general appearance, that which is presented in the tombs and temples of Egypt. The story most commonly illustrates some passages in the life of Buddha, or in the births he received as Bodhi-sat. The viharas are not unfrequently built upon rocks or in other romantic situations. The court around is planted with the trees that bear the flowers most usually offered. Some of the most celebrated viharas are caves, in part natural, with excavations carried further into the rock. The images of Buddha are sometimes recumbent, at other times upright, or in a sitting posture, either in the act of contemplation, or with the hand uplifted in the act of giving instruction. At Cotta, near Colombo, there is a recumbent image forty-two feet in length. Upon the altar, in addition to the flowers, there are frequently smaller images either of marble or metal. In the shape of the images, each nation appears to have adopted its own style of beauty, those of Ceylon resembling a wellproportioned native of the island, whilst those of China present an appearance of obesity that would be regarded as anything but divine by a Hindu. The images made in Siam are of a more attenuated figure, and comport better with our idea of the ascetic."
The cave temple at Damballa is one of the most perfect. One of its halls contains a gigantic recumbent figure of
Buddha in the solid rock forty-seven feet long; Cave Temples. at its feet stands an attendant, and opposite to the face is a statue of Vishnu, who is supposed to have assisted at the building; another has more than fifty figures of Buddha, and statues of several Brahmanic devas, Vishnu, Natha, etc. There is a handsome dagoba in this vihara, the spire nearly touching the roof. The
| SR No. | 007305 |
| Book Title | Great Indian Religion |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | G T Bettany |
| Publisher | Ward Lock Bowden and Co |
| Publication Year | 1892 |
| Total Pages | 312 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 42 MB |