And women came to it even from the
provinces.
Every day the crowd in the monastery was comparable with mountains
or the sea, and the place was filled with the gayest hubbub. They no
longer kept any reckoning of the offerings of every kind which flowed
in upon them. When the women were asked how, during the night, the
P'u-sa had made his answer intelligible, some answered simply that Fo
had told them in a dream that they would have a son. Others said that
they had dreamed that a lo-han had come and lain beside them. Others
asserted that they had had no dream. Others again blushed and declined
to answer. Some women never repeated this kind of prayer a second
time: others, on the contrary, went to the temple as often as
possible.
You will tell me that this story of a Fo or of a P'u-sa coming every
night to the monastery is in no way short of preposterous. But it must
be borne in mind that the people of that district had a greater faith
in sorcerers than in doctors, and could not distinguish the true from
the false. Consequently they continued to send their wives to the
temple.
As a matter of course these bonzes, whose outward behavior was so
laudable and correct, were wholly and unreservedly gluttons within,
both for luxury and debauch.
Although the cells were apparently quite close, each really had a
secret door.
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