900: The dates given are 111 B.C.-939 A.D.]

[Footnote 901: French scholars use a great number of accents and even
new forms of letters to transcribe Annamite, but since this language
has nothing to do with the history of Buddhism or Hinduism and the
accurate orthography is very difficult to read, I have contented
myself with a rough transcription.]

[Footnote 902: This is the common orthography, but Chiao Chih would be
the spelling according to the system of transliterating Chinese
adopted in this book.]

[Footnote 903: It is said that the story of the Ramayana is found in
Annamite legends (_B.E.F.E.O._ 1905, p. 77), and in one or two places
the Annamites reverence statues of Indian deities.]

[Footnote 904: The most trustworthy account of Annamite religion is
perhaps Dumoutier, _Les Cultes Annamites_, Hanoi, 1907. It was
published after the author's death and consists of a series of notes
rather than a general description. See also Diguet, _Les Annamites_,
1906, especially chap. VI.]

[Footnote 905: Maitreya is called Ri-lac = Chinese Mi-le. The
equivalence of the syllables _ri_ and _mi_ seems strange, but certain.
Cf. A-ri-da = Amida or O-mi-to.]

[Footnote 906: Pelliot (Meou-Tseu, traduit et annote, in _T'oung Pao_,
vol. XIX. p. 1920) gives reasons for thinking that Buddhism was
prevalent in Tonkin in the early centuries of our era, but, if so, it
appears to have decayed and been reintroduced. Also at this time
Chiao-Chih may have meant Kuang-tung.]

[Footnote 907: Diguet, _Les Annamites_, p. 303.]

[Footnote 908: Maybon et Russier, _L'Histoire d'Annam_, p. 45.]

[Footnote 909: Dumoutier, _Les Cultes Annamites_, p. 58.]

CHAPTER XLIX

TIBET

INTRODUCTORY

The religion of Tibet and Mongolia, often called Lamaism, is probably
the most singular form of Buddhism in existence and has long attracted
attention in Europe on account of its connection with politics and its
curious resemblance to the Roman Church in ritual as well as in
statecraft. The pontiffs and curia of Lhasa emulated the authority of
the medieval papacy, so that the Mings and Manchus in China as well as
the British in India had to recognize them as a considerable power.

Tibet had early relations with Kashmir, Central Asia and China which
may all have contributed something to its peculiar civilization, but
its religion is in the main tantric Buddhism imported from Bengal and
invigorated from time to time by both native and Indian