merit by the recitation of scriptures which have no special reference to the dead.  This merit is then formally transferred to them.  Doubtless Nestorianism, in so far as it was associated with Buddhism, tended to promote the worship of Bodhisattvas and prayers addressed directly to them, but this tendency existed independently and the Nestorian monument indicates not that Nestorianism influenced Buddhism but that it abandoned the doctrine of the atonement.

In 819 a celebrated incident occurred.  The Emperor Hsien-Tsung had been informed that at the Fa-men monastery in Shen-si a bone of the Buddha was preserved which every thirty years exhibited miraculous powers.  As this was the auspicious year, he ordered the relic to be brought in state to the capital and lodged in the Imperial Palace, after which it was to make the round of the monasteries in the city.  This proceeding called forth an animated protest from Han-Yu,[665] one of the best known authors and statesmen then living, who presented a memorial, still celebrated as a masterpiece.  The following extract will give an idea of its style.  “Your Servant is well aware that your Majesty does not do this (give the bone such a reception) in the vain hope of deriving advantage therefrom but that in the fulness of our present plenty there is a desire to comply with the wishes of the people in the celebration at the capital of this delusive mummery....  For Buddha was a barbarian.  His language was not the language of China.  His clothes were of an alien cut.  He did not utter the maxims of our ancient rulers nor conform to the customs which they have handed down.  He did not appreciate the bond between prince and minister, the tie between father and son.  Had this Buddha come to our capital in the flesh, your Majesty might have received him with a few words of admonition, giving him a banquet and a suit of clothes, before sending him out of the country with an escort of soldiers.

“But what are the facts?  The bone of a man long since dead and decomposed is to be admitted within the precincts of the Imperial Palace.  Confucius said, ’respect spiritual beings but keep them at a distance.’  And so when princes of old paid visits of condolence, it was customary to send a magician in advance with a peach-rod in his hand, to expel all noxious influences before the arrival of his master.  Yet now your Majesty is about to introduce without reason a disgusting object, personally taking part in the proceedings without the intervention of the magician or his wand.  Of the officials not one has raised his voice against it:  of the Censors[666] not one has pointed out the enormity of such an act.  Therefore your servant, overwhelmed with shame for the Censors, implores your Majesty that these bones may be handed over for destruction by fire or water, whereby the root of this great evil may be exterminated for all time and the people may know how much the wisdom of your Majesty surpasses that of ordinary men."[667]