For the importance of Ti-tsang in popular Buddhism, which has perhaps been underestimated, see Johnston, chap. VII.
[872] I speak of the Old Imperial Government which came to an end in 1911.
[874] De Groot, l.c. p.51.
[875] See Kern's translation, especially pp. 379 and 385.
[876] See Nanjio, Nos. 138 and 139. The practice is not entirely unknown in the legends of Pali Buddhism. In the Lokapaññatti, a work existing in Burma but perhaps translated from the Sanskrit, Asoka burns himself in honour of the Buddha, but is miraculously preserved. See B.E.F.E.O. 1904, pp. 421 and 427.
[877] See I-Tsing, Records of the Buddhist Religion, trans. Takakusu, pp. 195 ff., and for Tibet, Waddell, Buddhism of Tibet, p. 178, note 3, from which it appears that it is only in Eastern Tibet and probably under Chinese influence that branding is in vogue. For apparent instances in Central Asian art, see Grünwedel, Budd. Kultst. p. 23, note 1.
[878] Branding is common in many Hindu sects, especially the Mâdhvas, but is reprobated by others.
[879] It is condemned as part of the superstition of Buddhism in a memorial of Han Yü, 819 A.D.