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BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.
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pictures or statues fill the courts, or cover the walls of the temples. The representation and worship of these idols, although not prohibited by anything in the religion of Buddha, is obviously incompatible with its spirit, and must be regarded as exotic corruptions; no such auxiliaries seem to be adınitted in those countries where the system exists in its greatest purity, as in Ava, Siam, and Ceylon, as, although the images in the temples are often exceedingly numerous, they are, with exception of subsidiary figures which are not worshipped, such as dragons and lions, all of the same character, representing Gautama or his disciples generally in a sitting posture, with the legs crossed, and the hands in the act of prayer or benediction; the indefinite multiplication of the images arising from its being considered an act of merit to set up a statue of a Buddha or of a Buddhist priest of reputed sanctity.
The organization of a regular priesthood from all classes, and their assemblage in Viháras or monasteries under a superior, is also one of the distinguishing features of Buddhism, as opposed to Brahmanism, although not wholly unknown to the institutes of the latter. The monastic system, however, does not seem to have originated with Śákya himself, for he and his immediate followers were migratory, passing from one part of central India to another, except during the rainy season, when they dispersed to their respective homes, reassembling after the rains; the organization commenced probably with the first convocation, and
