Viewing page 43 of 187
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
40 robes. "A far bell in a side court sounded, again, again. The priest who acted as monitor for the day's vespers came in and bowed until his smooth head was pressed against the harsh fiber stool. Then, from each side, through tall doors, priests came, their hands folded, their eyes lowered, and over their shoulders the Robes of Renunciation, brown ones, tan ones, black and yellow, purple and grey; and the priests stood waiting until the Abbot [[strikethrough: unable to read]] came. "His robe was scarlet, and the central hassock, the large blue-covered round one with its special prayer cloth, was his. "The crimson drum sounded, a tinkling bell and a bronze bell rang, one voice rose in the minor music of the First Song of Praise to the One in the Heart of the Lotus, and all the voices joined it - slowly, deep tones from old men, and shrill, quicker pipings from those with children's faces. "The fragrance of the sandalwood lifted from the bronze censer. "The lonely wisp of sunlight wavered and went out again to lose itself in the beauty of the sunset beyond the valley of the Spirits' Rest." -------------------------------------- The service lasted for a full hour with its chanting, its processionals, and its ceremony. The abbot, a man not recently shaven, with the expression of a professional religionist, one whose business it is to be resigned and meek and whose mouth was carefully tucked in at the corners to show it, led most of the service, or at least took the central part. A young priest performed the more active ceremonies, the devotions before the images, the blessing of a cup of oil and the pouring of it in the proper receptacle outside. He seemed like a lad quick to learn, though not gifted with high prowess for his own part. These two alone had the special black-bordered prayer cloths with the red squares in the corners.
