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Sampsan we were quickly set across, and landed at a stone pier near the gate of the temple. The grounds to this establishment, which is a Buddhist monastery, comprise perhaps fifty acres. Entering a long avenue shaded by fine old trees, we came to a flight of stone steps leading to a terrace, upon which is the principal temple, a very large building with projecting eaves and cornices richly carved with figures of dragons and other non-descript animals. The high curved roof and bright colors, as well as the general style of architecture, were similar to the Buddhist temple in Japan. On each side of the doorway was a huge, grotesque wooden image, armed with a club, to keep out bad spirits. Inside, upon a raised platform in the center were three idols, at least twenty feet high and sitting cross-legged upon a bed of lotus flowers. These, I was told, represented the Past, Present and Future. In front of the idols were burning many joss sticks, about the size of pipe-stems, made of sandal-wood and filling the building with fragrance. Worshippers were coming in and out, each one kneeling before the altar, bowing and muttering prayers, especially before the "Future," and lighting their votive joss sticks, which they stuck in little jars filled with earth. There are about sixty priests attached to this temple, and we walked through the wide stone cloisters and large open courts to the gardens, where there is a pond well stocked with fish, and a great variety of tropical fruits and vegetables. We looked into the spacious kitchen and dining room, and met several of the priests, who looked as well fed and jolly as any lot of monks to be found in a Christian country.
The Buddhists believe in the transmigration of souls, and that in the future life we may have to do penance for our sins, by a descent in the scale of creation, and being condemned for a time to occupy the bodies of animals. This is a most suggestive idea, and will account for certain qualities which sometime crop out in the character and action of persons we know. Illustrations of this will occur to every reader. It also leads to humanity in the treatment of animals, for who knows but the ass, horse, or the dog about him, may contain the imprisoned soul of some near relative. In the grounds attached to the temple, I was shown a dozen or more hogs, very fat and better fed than half the Chinese population. When I innocently poked them with my cane, they
