WHITE HORSE, THE MONASTERY OF THE. The oldest monastery in China is called " the Monastery of the White Horse." A. Lloyd says that in Japan also the White Horse is held in reverence. In several temples a white horse is kept constantly. In certain Japanese provinces in which As'vaghosha is regarded as the patron saint of silk culture, " he is said to have appeared as a thousand white horses, to have made a thousand white birds sing, to have assumed the forms of countless silk worms, to have spun thousands of cocoons, to have saved many thousands of living creatures " (Lloyd). In any case, the White Horse played an important role in the development of religion in China. In 64 A.D. the Chinese Emperor Ming-ti is said to have dreamed night after night that he saw standing before him a man clothed in golden raiment. He held in his hand a bow and arrows and pointed to the West. Ming-ti was so much impressed that he decided to send men to the West to search for " the true man " who had appeared to him. His mes sengers started for India. On their way they met two monks who were leading over the mountain passes a white horse laden with Scriptures and Buddhist images. Ming-ti's messengers felt that they had found what they wanted, and that it was unnecessary to continue their journey. The monks accompanied them to the Chinese capital and were lodged in a monastery which has since been known as " the Monastery of the White Horse." One of the books which the two monks are supposed to have brought with them is known as the " Sutra of the Forty-Two Sections," a collection of look' or short pithy sayings. The origin of the collection is not certain. It has even been suggested that the two monks were not Buddhist missionaries, but Christian disciples of St.
Thomas. The suggestion is supported by A. Lloyd, who urges several considerations in support of it. Although we know of such logic among early Christians, there are no similar logic, Lloyd believes, " in the whole range of Buddhist Sutra literature, except those which were com piled about this period for like purposes." On the whole the main contents of the collection will be found " to be not in disagreement with Christian doctrines, and far more suitable for Christian purposes than the Epistle of St. James (which has been claimed as a Buddhist writing) would be for the use of disciples of S'akyamnni." The component parts of the character which was intro duced to represent Buddha are said to represent a man with a bow and arrows. Lloyd suggests that the char acter is capable of another signification besides the one usually given—" the three first letters of the name of the Perfect Man. our cherished monogram 'He. the man with the bovis and arrows! " Curiously enough, in the Book of Revelation (vi. 2) we read : " And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon had a bow; and there was given unto him a crown: and he came forth conquering and to conquer." The mission of the White Horse was not followed up by the Buddhists of India, a fact which seems to A. Lloyd to point to " its not having been a Buddhist mission at all, for the Buddhists would surely not have neglected to follow up so gracious an invitation from so powerful a monarch as Ming-ti." See Arthur Lloyd.