Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-02-01
ami Of mystery has always

aeal of mystery has Always
e 1900 the personality OF the Da-
SUI ' ,0,no Of Tibet Hundreds OF pill
a. ,s from tibet, Mongolia and emma
sT'"' .n,,,ted every day to pay homage
are N.Y., ~, INT any unbelleyer who should
- D~ 10 enter his presence would
Az S so at the risk of his life .,..
Nv pnddhlst priest of Kalmuk origin
.aS subject of Russia has at last had
h"' .o,ttv 10 write an account OF his
on,Ion By the Grand Lama. This
sn ubose name il Baza- Bakehl, made
So pilgrimage to Lhosa about three
ye.rs ago and from his home near AS
,dkban, at the north end of the Cas-
plan sea.
The sun has already referred to the
hool, which he wrote ON his return
bome which has been translated from
lolmuk into Russian The book con.
,ains description OF the capital or
Tibet and gives an account OF the
nrsats Visit 10 the Grand Lamas, both
=, vbom are supposed TO be reincar-
Oetlons OF two of the disciples Of Bud
Aka when he was upon the earth.
The pantshen Lama is theoretically
enc splrlual successor of the great
tonnder of the faith but practically the
nalal Lama has the supremacy, owing
~ Ne residence at the capital He IL
coiIed Inc great king, while the other
GRAND Lama Is known az the great
teacher.
somehow or other the Dalai Lama al
ways dies young. At least, no writer
who has ever visited Lhasa has ever
spoken OF him as anything more than u
boy.
Colonel Hodlch has said that the Da~
lai Lamas of Tibet are invariably
children, and that they die as those die
whom the gods love Manning, who
visited l.hasa In 1911 In the gulse OF
A Hindoo doctor, said the Dalai Lama
was well.educated, prncely child
about years old.
Father Hue wrote In 1886 that the
Dalai Lama was then . years of age,
The Hindu Main Sing. wrote that in
1865 the Grand Lama was q fair and
handsome boy Of IS years, entirely
dominated by the gyalpo or temporal
ruler Of Lhasa.
There seems, accordingly, 10 be q new
Dalai Lama every few years, and II
would be interesting TO know why Il IL
that they never reach mature years.
Montgomere has rather darkly limited
that. Grand Lamas are made TO go
through their transmlgratiOns very
rapidly, the intervals being probably
IN inverse proportion to the amount OF
trouble they give TO the gyalpo.'
Chandra Das another Indian explor-
er who pretended TO be Buddhist, was
the latest authority on the Grand Lama
I'm the kalmuk Ra2a- Bakchi wrote his
book Chandra wrote of him as "a
child Of with bright and fair complex
ion ana rosy cheeks. His eyes are
large and penetrating, the shape Of his
face remarkably Aryan though marred
by the obllQuity Of his eyes.
THE thInness of his person was
probably due to the fatigue of court
ceremonies and to the religious duties
and acetic observances of his estate. a
yellow mlter covered his head, and It's
pendant appets hid his ears yellow
mantle draped his jointed palms"
II Is a curious fact that Baza- l3ak-
chi the latest observer To see the Dali
al Lama, fails to describe the appear
ance of the boy who Is now In that ex-
halted position, he compensates FOR
this strange omission, however, by Civ
Ing the first details yet published OF the
ceremony Of presentation at the daily
receptions which this Grand Lama
gives to the pilgrims who are constant
ly iockng to the holy city.
When BaZa- Bakchi was in Lhasa the
Dalai Lama was not in his famous
temple palace on the sacred hill OF Po-
taa for he had gone to his summer
palace NOrbu-Linka, charming abode
In the midst OF park few miles west
Of l.haSa, Thither the stream of pill
grlms was pouring, and the ceremony
Of presentation there Is said TO be iden-
teal with that at Potala.
The Qualntness Of Baza Bakohl's short
account can scarcely be reproduced from
the Russian version from which the
following has been translated for the
sun AZ far as known 1t is the only
report Of the Kalmuk narrative that
has yet been turned into English.
The Dalai Lama, writes ze-Bak-
chi, receives, every day, oil the pill
grlms who have arrived in the holy
city to pay him their homage. The
audiences are usually given at o'clock
In the morning, everybody from the no.
bles TO the common people being privi-
legged TO attend,
AT the time appointed for the au-