si, the number being burned at the request of the ordinand; compare
　　　　  this with Prip-Moller's observation that nine was the usual number
　　　　  of burns for monasteries around Chengdu in the 1920s and 1930s and
　　　　  the fact that he saw only one monk with eighteen burns on his
　　　　  head.(25) Nine burns are clearly visible in the photographs of
　　　　  recently ordained monks in Prip-Moller's book.(26) The significance
　　　　  of the number of burns was explained to de Groot as follows: three
　　　　  for the Three Jewels (san bao, Sanskrit triratna); nine in the
　　　　  square of three, hence the power is redoubled; no one could explain
　　　　  the significance of twelve; and finally, eighteen represented the
　　　　  eighteen arhats.(27) Again, this would seem to be an example of oral
　　　　  ordination lore, since I have not seen the burns explained in any
　　　　  way in a Chinese source.
　　　　  Having had their heads marked, the ordinands knelt in front of
　　　　  tables, their heads were grasped from behind by an officiating monk,
　　　　  and a small pastille of dried pulp (gui yuan) from the fruit
　　　　  nephelium longan (longyan, "dragon's eye") was placed on each inked
　　　　  spot.(28) Then, cones of moxa were placed on top of the pulp.(29)
　　　　  Each cone was then lit with a burning stick of incense, and the
　　　　  cones were allowed to burn down into the skin. As this was
　　　　  happening, the ordinand recited the name of Amitabha, while the monk
　　　　  holding the ordinand's head pressed on his temples in order to
　　　　  lessen the pain.(30) If we imagine this procedure divorced from its
　　　　  context, it bears a remarkable similarity to a type of therapy that
　　　　  has been practiced in China for centuries, moxibustion.
　　　　  MOXIBUSTION
　　　　  "Moxibustion" is the term used in the West for the Chinese practice
　　　　  of burning moxa, that is, Artemisia tinder (ai), on or near the
　　　　  skin, for therapeutic or prophylactic purposes.(31) The traditional
　　　　  term in Chinese was ai rong jiu. The character jiu is the same as
　　　　  that which we have seen used by monks for burning at ordination,
　　　　  jiuxiang. There are three main methods of moxibustion, all of which
　　　　  are mirrored in ordination burning in China or Korea.(32) In the
　　　　  first technique, a small cone of moxa is allowed to burn down to the
　　　　  skin, resulting in a blister and leaving a scar. In some cases this
　　　　  was modified so that a layer of vegetable tissue was placed between
　　　　  the cone and the skin. This is precisely the technique used at
　　　　  ordination in China, which was described above and which is common
　　　　  in Taiwan today. The third technique was to use a burning cylinder