To exhaust one breath, is called "a repetition:" these repetitions must be according to the length of one's breathing. When the breath is quite out, that is the limit. The sound should be modulated according to the due medium. While repeating the name of Buddha, the worshipper is directed to be as serious as if going to execution, as if fleeing from a mortal enemy, or as if surrounded with floods and flames. The advantages said to accrue to the repeater are the following: all the gods of heaven will protect him; all the demi-gods will attend him; all the Buddhas will think of him; no devil can harm him; nor calamities afflict him; all his former crimes shall melt away, and he shall be delivered even from the crime of murder; his dreams shall be pleasant, and his heart always glad; the world will respect him; and when he dies he will see O-me-to Fŭh, and all the sacred ones, who will introduce him to the pure land.
During the Sung dynasty, they say, that one Hwang, a blacksmith, was in the habit of repeating the name of Buddha, with all his might, at every stroke of the hammer. One day, whilst at his work, he repeated the following verse:—
"Ting ting tang tang,
"Like the iron's clang:
"Peace is come to my breast,
"I am bound for the west,"
saying which he was instantly transformed into Buddha, and, as the story goes, flew away to heaven.
In addition to the name of Buddha, the adherents of this sect are in the habit of repeating prayers or charms, composed in some Indian language, the sounds of which
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