Huntsville gazette., 1890-06-28
RELIGION IN ThjBET.
WlAd-Mills With Prayer Wheel Attach.
ments Make Worship yery Easv

ments Make Worship Very Easy.
l bought prayer-wheel from Thibet
at Darjeeling, in the Himalaya mount
aims. 1t was little machine about a
foot long, shaped much like a baby's
rattle, save that the head was as large
round as tin cup. This head moved
on pivot and inside the cup there was
whole string of prayers. By giving
the handle twist the cup would re-
volve, and every time that it went
around prayer was said to Buddha.
This is one of the economical methods
of praying among the Thibetans. Every
man, woman and child has his prayer
wheel, and he keeps it going from morn
ing till night. In some parts of the
country there are wind-mills with this
prayer-wheel attachment to them, and
man can have his prayers going on
day or night, no matter what he may be
doing The most common prayer among
the Thibetans is made up of four words:
Om Mani Padmi Hum, which means:
''Oh, the Jewel in the Lotus Amen"
You hear this everywhere on the borders
of Thibet, and the syllables are the
drawl which every Thibetan mutters
hundreds of times daily. They are the
"Now l lay me down to Sleep and the
"Our Father who art in Heaven" of the
whole country, and it is the first prayer
that the child learns ana the last words
that the dying man utters. The Thib-
etan language is different from the Chi
nese, and their literature Is almost alto
gether theological. The priests are the
only educated men of the country, but
some of the women can write. The
women are business women to large
extent, and the people are naturally
traders. They send great deal of
wool, skins, musk, gold and silver and
torquoises to India and China, and saw
great many jewels in India which |
was told came from Thibet. Such tor
quoises as were offered in the Himalayas
were not very good, and the prices
asked for them were exorbitant. Thibet
is very interesting country for every
one who is interested in the Buddhist
religion, and Madame Blavetsky claims
that she wandered for year or 50 in
Thibet in order to study Buddhism.
She was told by the priests that she
might get to the capital, Lassa, but if
she once entered it she could never be
permitted to depart. She said she looked
upon its sscred walls and then turned
back to the flesh-pots Of this world and
moved on down again to India. As for
myself, l do not believe that she was
ever in Thibet, and I was told by trav-
elers in India who knew her perfectly
that she was fraud of the first water
and that her stories by no means hung
together. The truth about the Thibet-
an religion seems to be that it is the
most degraded and most superstitious
form of Buddhism, and that the land is
priest-ridden. 1t has immense monas-
teries everywhere, and while the dwell
ings of the poor are made of unhewn
stones rudcly piled together without
cement, the monasteries are elegant
and their interiors contain wonders in
silver and gold. In one monastery there
is noted Lama of the past in coffin of
gold, and there is an image of him in
gold near by this coffin. The mauso-
leum over the coffin is in the shape of
pyramid, and the sides of this pyramid
are silver plates, and on the steps are
jewels and other costly things which be-
long to the Lama. Such Lamas as
met seem to be pretty well-fed fellows,
and / have yet to see priest in the
East who was lean.-F. G. Carpenter.