Page 76 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
yang the male element, and the symbol carries the idea
of all the balancing factors in Nature, as the sun and
moon, light and shade, heat and cold, etc.
The Pa-yin ("Eight Musical Instruments"), which
are rarely found as a group and have not the importance
of many of the other groups.
The Shih erh chang (Twelve Symbols used on the
emperor's sacrificial robe), already discussed and illus-
trated (pp. 54-56; figs. 22, 23).

II. BuDDHIST SYMBOLS
The Pa pao ("Eight Precious Things") (fig. 25), also
called the Pa chi hsiang ("Eight Emblems of Happy
Augury") to distinguish them from the other sets of
Eight Precious Things got up by the Chinese in imita-
'tion of the Buddhist ones; they are the attributes and
symbols of the Buddha Perfectly Enlightened- that is
to say, the spiritual attributes.
r. The Parasol. The symbol of rna jesty which keeps
away the "heat of evil desires."
2. The Fish of Gold. Originally the emblem of Vish-
nu and Kama. The two fish together symbolize the join-
ing of happiness and utility and in China also symbolize
the yang and yin, or male and female elements.
3· The Vase. It contains the heavenly elixir called by
the Chinese "sweet dew." It is the "treasury of all the de-
. "
stres.
4· The Lotus. The symbol of divine purity. It is the
"pledge of salvation or Nirvana."
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