The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-02
TIBET'S NEW LAMA.
Puo1IKs REC1rvxD DAILY IN
 HIS TEMPLE PALACE.
6s as Called the Great xjng-Thers se New Lama Every Fow Years, As the Head of the Buddhist
 Faith essms to be Always
 .. In His Youth.

NcW IOfk Sun.
 A great deal of mystery has always surrounded the personality of the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Hundreds of pilgrims from Tibet, Mongolia and China are per- mitted' every day to pay homage to him. but any unbeliever who should attempt to enter his presence would do so at the 4 Bud6hiet priest of Kalmuk origin, and a subject of Russia, has at last had reception by the Grand Lama. !. This man, whose name is Baxa-Bakchi, made the pilgrimage to Lhasa about three years ago from his home near Astrakhan, at ths ,n north sh end saS ot the Caspian . sea: .s. capital of Tibet, and gives an account of the priests visit to the Grand Lama, or the Dalai Lama, as he b diatinctively called. for there are two Grand Lamas, carnations of two of the disciples of Buddha when he was upon the earth.
 !he Pantshen Lama is theoretically the spiritual successor of the great founder Lama has the supremacy owing to his residence at the capital. He Is called the great king. while the other Grand Iama as known as the great teacher: .a. ways dies young. At least. no writer who has ever visited Lhasa has ever spoken of him as anything more than . boy.
 Colonel Holdich has said that the Dalai and that they die al those die whom the gods love. Manning who visited Lhasa in ls11 in the guise of a Hindu doctor. said the Dalai Lama was a we'll educated princely child about years old.
 Father Hue wrote in 1s4s that the Dalai Lama was then 2 years old. The Hindu. Main Sing, wrote that in 1866 the Grand Lama was a fair and handsome boy of B years. entirely dominated by the Gy- olYnn ar at Thdan
 There seems, accordingly. to be a new Dalai Lama every few years, and it would be interesting to know why 1t is that they never reach mature years Montsomss Lamas are made to go through their transmigrations very rapidly, the inter- vals being probably in inverse proportion to .he amount of trouble they give to the Gyalpo."
 Chandra Das. another Indian explorer. who pretended to be Buddhist, was the latest authority on the Grand Lama till the kaimuk Baza-Bakchi wrote his book with bright and fair complexion and rosy cheeks. His eyes are large and penetrat- ing, the shape of his face remarkably Aryan. though marred by the obliauity of his eyes.
 "The thinness, of his person was prob- ably due to the fatigue of court cere- monies and to the religious duties and as- cetic observances of his estate. A yellow aAttCi CONcTC0 HIS uCdQ, us ptuQeut tdU- pets hid his ears; yellow mantle draped his person. and he sat cross-legged, with joined palms."
 It is curious fact that Baza- Bakchi, fails to describe the appearance of the boy who is now in that exalted position he compensates for this strange omis- sion, however. by giving the first details ation at the daily receptions which this Grand Lama gives to the pilgrims who are constantly focking to the holy city.
 When Baza- -Bakchi was in Lhasa the Dalai Lama was not in his famous tenn pie palace on the sacred hill of PotaIa, for he had gone to his summer palace, Norbu- Lnka. a charming abode in the midst of a park a few miles west ol was pouring, and the ceremony of pre- eentation there is said to beidentica1 with
 The auaintness of Baza-Bakchfs short the Russian Version from TO Which the tiI fol. lowing has been translated. As far as known, it is the only report of the Kai- muk narrative that has yet been turned
 "The Dalai Lama,' writes Baza- Bak chi. receives every day all the pilgrims who have arrived in the holy city to pay him their homage. The audiences arr ang. everybody, from the nobles to the common people, being privileged to at tend.
 "At the time appointed for the audi ence the Dalai Lama enters the large hall and takes his seat on a throne that Is about feet In height As soon as he is seated about 200 functionaries, half of them officials in the Government and half monks from the monasteries. take their. places, a hundred to the right and a hundred to the left of the throne.
 Then the pilgrims and other devotees, who have been formed in line outside, be- gin to file into the hall. passing up be. tween the lines of attendants to the throne, where each in his turn stands face to face with the Dalai Lama.
 'Gpards. who are very conspicuous for their tall stature, enter the hall on either side of the line of of<pilgrims. The guards are provided with long whips, and 1t is their duty to prevent anything liYiseemly from occurring.
 "The Dalai makes distinction between the pilgrims according to the value of the presents they bring him. Those who come without any gifts receive, indeed, the benediction as well as the others, but they depart without the special honors conferred upon those who bring gifts Some offer gold, silver or copper plate engraved with a design of the universe in accordance with the Buddhistic ideas; others may offer a silk scarf or only a little tea or rice.
 Tt was on the morning of the third day of the month of the dog that went out from Lhasa to NOfbu-Iduka- l found the pilgrims already assembled