and Taoism.  But the arrangement of the images is subject to much variation and the laity hardly know who are the personages represented.  At side altars there are generally statues of Quan-Am, guardian deities, eminent bonzes and other worthies.  Representations of hell are also common.  Part of the temple is generally set apart for women who frequent it in the hope of obtaining children by praying to Quan-Am and other goddesses.  Buddhist literature is sometimes printed in these Chua and such works as the Amitayurdhyanasutra and collections of Dharanis are commonly placed on the altars.

Quan-Am (Kuan-Yin) is a popular deity and the name seems to be given to several goddesses.  They would probably be described as incarnations of Avalokita, if any Annamite were to define his beliefs (which is not usual), but they are really legendary heroines who have left a reputation for superhuman virtue.  One was a daughter of the Emperor Chuang of the Chou dynasty.  Another (Quan-Am-Thi-Kinh), represented as sitting on a rock and carrying a child in her arms, was a much persecuted lady who passed part of her life disguised as a bonze.  A third form, Quan-Am-Toa-Son, she who dwells on the mountains, has an altar in nearly every temple and is specially worshipped by women who wish for sons.  At Hanoi there is a small temple, rising on one column out of the water near the shore of a lake, like a lotus in a tank, and containing a brass image of Quan-Am with eight arms, which is evidently of Indian origin.  Sometimes popular heroines such as Cao Tien, a princess who was drowned, are worshipped without (it would seem) being identified with Quan-Am.

But besides the Chua there are at least three other kinds of religious edifices:  (i) Dinh.  These are municipal temples dedicated to beings commonly called genii by Europeans, that is to say, superhuman personages, often, but not always, departed local worthies, who for one reason or another are supposed to protect and supervise a particular town or village.  The Dinh contains a council room as well as a shrine and is served by laymen.  The genius is often represented by an empty chair and his name must not be pronounced within the temple. (ii) Taoist deities are sometimes worshipped in special temples, but the Annamites do not seem to think that such worship is antagonistic to Buddhism or even distinct from it. (iii) Temples dedicated to Confucius (Van mien) are to be found in the towns, but are generally open only on certain feast days, when they are visited by officials.  Sometimes altars dedicated to the sage may be found in natural grottoes or other picturesque situations.  Besides these numerous elements, Annamite religion also includes the veneration of ancestors and ceremonies such as the worship of Heaven and Earth performed in imitation of the Court of Peking.  To this must be added many local superstitions in which the worship of animals, especially the tiger, is prominent.  But a further analysis of this composite religion does not fall within my province.