The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-26
THE GRAND LAMA OF THIRET.

The most Interesting paper in the last num-
Der of the Royal ASidtic Societys Journal,
by Mr.. w. F. Mayer, of the British Consular
service in China, dispels much of the mys-
terry which has enveloped the Lamaistic
hierarchy of Thibet. Mr.. Mayors materials
are drawn from the official reports of former
Chinese Commissioner at Lhassa, which de-
scribes the ceremonials attendant upon the
selection and installation of new Dalai
Lama. He Says
'In the fourteenth century after Christ the
religion of Thibet was Buddhism more than
half obscured by Indian Sivaism and indigo
nous Turanian superstitions. Caste and other
Brahminical institutions hourished side by
side with monastic celibacy and the essential
observances of the Buddhist creed. The
Ssakia hierarchy, SO called from their seat of
government, was priestly sovereignty feuda-
tory to the Mongol conquerors of China In
the early part of the fifteenth century 1418-
1470) a young monk named Tsungk aba
emerged from an obscure convent somewhere
upon the China frontiers and began to de-
nOunce the corruptions which had crept into
Buddhism. Glad in the yellow robes sacred to
Buddha, he went from place to place preaching
the pure doctrines of Buddhism. Such was
his success that before his death the ''Yellow
Church" had taken the place of the corrupt
faith, and the red-clothed Ssakia dynasty had
sect still fingers under the designation of the
Red Church in parts of Thibet and Mongolia.
There were many points in Tsungk aba 8
teaching which resembled in striking man
ner the dogmas and ritual of the Roman
Church, and there is NO doubt that European
missionaries had penetrated into Thibet about
the time of his appearance. When Tsung-
k'aba died he bequeathed his authority,
spiritual and temporal, to his two disciples,
louinO fhap1 ha bat
should be born again, generation after gene
ration, to practise the doctrines of the Great
Conveyance. The soul of Tsungb'aba him
self is believed to have passed into the elder of
the two. Hence arose the double hierarchy.
That of the elder Lama was called Dalai
or Ocean The other was known as the
Panshen Erdeni or Precious Teacher. This
two-fold division of power has still been
maintained. Mr.. Mayer would distinguish
the one as the Head of the Church. the
other as the 'Primate;' but no accurate, paral-
lei can be drawn from any other system. The
Panshen Erdeni, though inferior in both
spiritual and secular authority to the Dalai
Lama, is more completely abstraoted from
worldly affairs, and, therefore, accounted
more sacred than his co-regent.
His residence is on Tashi Jumbo,
the Mountain of Good Fortune, while the
Dalai has his residence upon Mount Potala-
name, doubtless, connected with Pattala,
the country of Sakyamuni's ancestors. Dis
tinguished laymen are sometimes honored
with the title of Nomen Han or Prince of the
Church. The next grade of Importance is
the Hutubchtu or saints, about 100 in num-
Der, who would probably correspond to the
College of Cardinals in the Roman hierarchy
They possess the gift of re-embodiment, and
are chosen in the same way as the Lamas."
The Commissioner Meng Pao describes at
full length the selection and installation of
the Dalai Lama in 1871.