The following is from a manuscript by Mr. W. W. Rockhill, entitled “The Lamaist Ceremony called the Making of the Mani Pills:”—
“Certain indestructible particles of the bodies of the Buddhas and saints, as well as certain other bodily remains, have ever been considered by Buddhists to enjoy certain properties, such as that of emitting light, and of having great curative properties. The travels of Huein-Tsang and of Fa-hsien are filled with accounts of the discovery of such treasures, and of the supernatural properties which they possessed. Among Thibetans, the first class of these relics is known as ‘pedung’ (upel-gedung), the second as ‘dung-rus’ (gdung-rus). They say the pedung are minute globules found in the bones of Buddhas and saints, that they possess wonderful brilliancy, and that sometimes they may be seen on the exterior of some saintly person, when they have the appearance of brilliant drops of sweat. While these pedung have most potent curative properties, they become also the palladium of the locality fortunate enough to have them. By a natural extension of the idea of the power of pedung, Thibetans have come to think that if one preserves and carries about on one’s person even a little of the excretions, or of the hair or nail-trimmings of a saint who is known to have pedung, such, for instance, as the Tale-Lama, or the Panchan-Rimpoche, they will shield him from gun or sword wounds, sickness, etc.; hence the extraordinary objects one so often finds in Thibetan charm-boxes (Ka-Wo).
“The properties of pedung have also given rise to another belief, with which this paper is more properly concerned,—that of manufacturing pills, to which the god Shourizog, at the supplication of the officiating lamas, imparts the properties of his own divine body, and then imparts to them the curative and protective properties of real pedung. These pills are known as mani-rilbu, or ‘precious pills,’ and are in constant use as medicine among the people of Thibet and Mongolia. Large quantities of them are also sent by each tribute-bearing minion to the Emperor of China. In Chinese, they are called ‘Tsu-mu-yas,’ or ‘thih-ma-yao,’ and must not be confounded with a liliaceous plant of same name (Hanbury’s Anemarhena asphodeloides), the rhizome of which is used in medicine, and which is also a product of Thibet.
“Perhaps the better name for ‘mani-rilbu’ is ‘tzu-sheng-wan,’ ‘dilated pills,’ which I have heard used for them in Pekin, as will be better seen after reading the following account of the manner in which they are manufactured.
“The greater part of the account here given of the process of making the pills is taken from a Thibetan work containing a minute account of the ceremony, together with the prayers to be recited, etc., the title of which is ‘Ceremony of Making Mani Pills’ (Mani Rilbu grub gi choga), in seven leaves.
“Verbal explanations from the lamas who explained the text to me are incorporated wherever necessary.
“Seven days prior to the commencement of the ceremony the lama who is to conduct it and the priests who are to take part in it commence to abstain from the use of meat, spirits, garlic, tobacco, and other articles of food held impure, or which are bad-smelling, and during the progress of the ceremony, which is twenty-one, forty-nine, or one hundred days in length, none of the above articles are allowed in the temple, nor are unclean persons or those who are partaking of the above prohibited substances.
“The ceremony begins by making the pills, and the process is described, in the work mentioned above, as follows: “The Lama, his head clean-shaved, and his vestments being as they should be, grinds into fine flour some roasted grain, then mixing it with pure and sweet-scented water, he makes the necessary amount of paste; the pills are then made and coated over with red. When all this has been done, a vase is taken which is dry and without any flaw or blemish, and which is also perfectly clean, and in it the pills are poured until it is two-thirds full. The vase is then wrapped in a silk cover, which is tied on with a silk thread, and sealed. The vase, after this, is put on a stand, in a perfectly upright position, and around the latter are arranged bowls of water and other offerings, two by two. The most revered image of Tug-je-chon-po (i. e., Shouresig) which the lamasery possesses is then clothed in its robes, and placed on top of the vase; then, without shaking the vase, a dorje (a marginal note explains that this is the Thunder-bolt or Sadjra of Indra: it is in constant use in all the Lamaist ceremonies, and is generally held in the right hand, between the thumb and index, while prayers are being read. In the left hand the lama usually holds a bell), wrapped in a clean piece of cotton or woollen stuff, is tied to the string around the neck of the vase. After an interval of meditation and prayer, offerings are made of ‘water, flowers, incense, lamps, perfumes, food, etc., ... while music plays.’ Then the help of the god is invoked ‘to impart the necessary virtues to the pills, ... for this world is sunk in sin and iniquity, and Shouresig alone can help it, and drag it out of the mire.’ As a means thereto he is now besought, in his great mercifulness, to bless these pills, so that they may free from the orb of transmigration those who shall have attained maturity of mind, to impart to them by absorption the peculiar flavor of his resplendent person, so that they may become indistinguishable from it, like water poured into water, etc., etc.
“This ceremony, which is a most expensive one, and most trying on the Lamas, is not at all common in the Lamaseries of China or Mongolia, and is confined to the larger one in Thibet; the only one at Pekin, where it is sometimes performed, is the Shih-fang-tang, to the west of the Hsi-huang-tsu, outside of the north side of the city.”
The above ceremony describes a symbolical alvine dejection, and the most plausible explanation is, that the lamas, finding trade good and the Buddhist laity willing to accept more “amulets” than the Grand Lama was able, unaided, to supply, hit upon this truly miraculous mode of replenishing their stock.