The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-05-09
A LIVING nuppHA sEnN
An English ofnoer Met me Holy Man OF
the Plains Of Mongolia


aa
A search for Coleridges xanadn. tn,
city Of Kubia Khan. and the pursuit oi
game had brought Father Gyeen OF The
Belgian mission and myself on 70 tni
steppes Of Mongolia and we stood nea,
what remains of this ancient city. II
must have been larger than Pcking
the ruins Of three cities rolling for
miles and miles, the walls inclosins
traces q mausoleums. iombs, domes
end mtasvre lekeg now the haunt Of
the wild ducl a2d the hars. There
stand ruined walls and towers and
there still flows the sacred river
near which the wild Mongol has raised
a memorial close 70 a sacred pool.
Half mile from here our living
Buddha was encamped. his surround.
ings Of nobos (cairns placed on knolls,
and worahiped by the Mougols) form.
ing suitable setting to his camp. We
party Of four-two Europeans and
two Chinese, one speaking
Roman Catholic convert, and the Other
my mafu (groom) rode up to IT, !
was riding an Arab, the remainder of
the party were on Mongolian ponies.
From group OF Thibetan and Mongol
lamas we learned that it was the
camp Of the Living Buddha on tour Of
Lhassa,
In the middle OF the encampment We
saw large Mongol felt tent, which
was pointed out as being that Of the
living Buddha. now at his devotious.
Po our question whether we might ppy
ouT respects to him, the lamas replied
Wait bit" Nothing possesses such
q fascination for a Mongol as a horse
and very soon my Arab. on account OF
his size and appearance, became IN
center of an admiring crowd. Seizng
this opportunity ! rapidly sketched
the camp, but the desire to see what
was doing quickly brought number
OF repulsive-looking lamas round me
AT this point the Christian convtrt
said to Father Gysen, in Latin. "Thcy
are deceiving you. He does not wan.
to see you" Father Gysen and con
suited and decided to insist IN an if-
terview.
We therefore proceeded toward tie
tent door. over which screen OF bam-
boo was hanging. To the lama o.
guard we said that we were anxious to
pay our respects to the Living Buddhs
He disappeared into the tent and com
ing out shortly after, invited us to en-
ter. lifting up the screen. We threS
aside our whips-obligatory with Mon
gols on going into e. reception tent
and entered the sacred presence. The
Living Buddha was an amiable. pleas
ant-looking man, with Mongol type
of face, high cheekbones and large
ears. He WAS dressed in an undergar-
ment OF yellow, with dark-red robe
over il. He was seated in the usual
lama attitude We greeted him in
Chinese fashion and signs were made
10 us by the two lsmas present TO Sit
down.
Fortunately for us a Chinese-speak-
ing lama came in and through the
medium of another who spoke Thioo
tan we were enabled TO converse with
the Living Buddha How many Ii "a
III" Is one-third Of a mile) of is your
country" was the first question. Our
reply, About 10000 Ii, caused much
surprise to the questioner How did
you come here?" he asked. and we an
swered, In ship" He then asked if
we had ridden to the camp on Mon
golian ponies and we explained that
one was on a Mongolian pony and the
other on an Arab. To further enlight-
en- the Buddha the interpreter demon
strated with his hands the size OF The
Arab pony. We were then permitted
10 put IA few questions to the Living
BGddha. In reply TO cur fret inquiry
he stated that his headquarters We're
at Lhassa. but that he travelled most Of
the year He had just come from Tor
ranor llama Mao, about days jour-
ney distant, where there is an enor-
nous lamasery) lie had, he told us.
been staying at Lama Mao and was
then returning 70 Lhassa. He inform
ed us that he was 36 years Of age.
/ During the conversation glanced
around the tent II was lined with
dark red; above the Living Buddha s
head was red canopy and hung
around were deaths heads painted on
paper. We were then presented with
brown sugar and II was hinted TO us
that the interview was at an end. Ne
accordingly withdrew. Outside the