their tens or hundreds burn the crowns of their heads and burn off
　　　　  their fingers in sacrifice." Furthermore, "unless there is an
　　　　  immediate prohibition to check and control the various monasteries,
　　　　  there will inevitably be those who will cut off their limbs or slice
　　　　  up their bodies in making offerings which will pervert our customs
　　　　  and destroy normal usages, making us a laughing stock to the world.
　　　　  This would be no small matter."(42) Han Yu is not simply waxing
　　　　  rhetorical here, since there are accounts of laypeople burning the
　　　　  crown of the head (shao ding) and branding their arms (zhuo bi) when
　　　　  the relic of the Buddha was brought to Chang'an despite his
　　　　  protests, and the biography of Li Wei speaks of common people
　　　　  cutting off their fingers in 873 when the relic was again brought to
　　　　  the capital.(43) In fact, Tang sources never speak of any burning
　　　　  practice associated with the ordination of monks. Given what we know
　　　　  of Han Yu, had such ordination practices existed they would have
　　　　  been ideal ammunition for his anti-Buddhist polemic. If anything
　　　　  then, burning or branding of the head and arms is associated with
　　　　  what we might call overzealous cultic practice. It is not the
　　　　  sanctioned or controlled violence that occurs in ritual burning at
　　　　  ordination. Nor is there any evidence that burning the body was
　　　　  associated with ordination in the tenth century; witness, for
　　　　  example, this edict of 955 promulgated by the (Later) Zhou emperor
　　　　  Shizong: "Hitherto, samgha and laity have been practising
　　　　  self-immolation, burning their arms and igniting their fingers, or
　　　　  cutting off their hands and feet and then carrying them on pikes
　　　　  like flaming torches, hanging burning lamps from hooks ... all this
　　　　  must now cease. These are very serious offences as defined in the
　　　　  Vinaya."(44)
　　　　  This edict is reproduced in the later administrative compendium
　　　　  Zizhi tongjian (A Comprehensive Mirror for the Aid of Government),
　　　　  where it merits some informative annotation by Hu Sanxing (1230-87),
　　　　  the Yuan commentator. He writes, "Burning the finger (lian zhi)
　　　　  means wrapping incense around the finger and igniting it.(45)
　　　　  Hanging lamps (gua deng) means being naked and piercing the skin
　　　　  with small iron hooks, from which are suspended small lamps. The
　　　　  lamps are filled with oil and then lit. These are commonly known as
　　　　  `burning body lamps' (ran roushen deng)."(46) This indicates, to me
　　　　  at least, that such practices were either known in the Yuan and had