Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-13
LAMA A11t HIS PALACE
RESIDENCE AT PoTALA, THE
VATICAN OF TIE BuDDHIsTa
Many subterfuges Resorted to in
Years Passed to Gain Access to
the Strange City.

lust at this time Tibet Is attracting no
small degree Of attention because OF Its
invasion by the British. Because of its
isolation from the outside world and the
fact also that very few foreigners have
ever entered Lhassa. the forbidden capi-
tai. anything about lama and his palace
will be Interesting.
Some years ago an agent Of the Indian
government, Chandra Das, succeeded IN
reaching the Buddhist sacred city and re-
manned there about two weeks disguised
as a lama A Japanese priest, Ekat ka-
waxuchi in the role of Chinese physi-
clan. also penetrated to the capital IN
1900 and stayed there two years and two
months, when his secret leaked out and
he had to escape secretly to save his lie.
He had an audience with the Dalai Lama
at Potala palace, where he was taken by
the court doctor
The palace consists of an imposing mass
of buildings on hill to the northwest or
the city which commands view Of the
great plain surrounded by mountains, on
which cluster innumerable temples and
monasteries. The rooms are richly deco
rated in Chinese style, Tibet being NOM
inally fief of the Manchu dynasty at Pc
king.
His sublimity the Dalai Lama is for the
first time for century the de facto ruler
of the country, instead of a junta of Bud
Ghist priests, who have hitherto govern
ed Tibet, keeping the Dalai Lama in their
hands as an infant or puppet whom they
represented a mysterious incarnation
of the deity
Personality Of the Lama.
The present Dalai Lama is believed to
be the first in a long line of the nominal
heads of the Buddhist religion who has
escaped the fate of an early death. He Is
now twenty-eight years old and has as
sumed the actual prerogatives of his Of
fee in the way of personal government.
He is described as having fine, intelli-
gent COuntenanCe. He wears the yellow
Tartar hood. or priests cowl, and robes
of yellow silk and red WOOL with many
under robes of parti-colored silks. He
uses a rosary of beads from the fruit of
the pipul or DO tree.
The raison d'etre of the Tibetan gov
eminent is the preservation and MAIN
tenance of Buddhism. and the policy of
the closed door and Seclusion was orig
inally adopted for the same reason. To
such an extent was this idea fostered
that the ENJOYS of the lamas who met
Col. Younghusband's mission on it's APP
proach begged him not to proceed to the
city. as the very presence of the foreign
ers at its gates might cause the death of
the Dalai Lama
Potala is the monastery which is the
winter residence of the Dalai Lama, and
corresponds to the Vatican. Tibet which
has been the least-known country in the
world. has been the only one where an
actual theocracy held sway. While Potala
is the headquarters of the real supreme
power of the Buddhist pontiff there is an
other monastery-that of Tachi-Slonpo-
about 1871 miles west of Lhassa of which
the head is the Pantchen Lama who is
held in even higher veneration than the
Dalai Lama, being considered the rein
carnaton of the deity as the father. while
the Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the
son.
Influence of the Buddhist Head.
For more than fouE centuries the Bud
dhlst head has exercised in Asia an infu-
ence analogous to that of the pope of
Christendom in the middle ages To this
and to the support of the Tibetan monas-
terles the Manchurian dynasty reigning
III emma largely owes it's continued exist
ence between the Vatican of I.hassa ard
the palace of Peking there has existed a
KIND OF concordat stipulating that the
clergy should support the interests of
the dynasty, while the Chinese emperor
in return should guarantee to the theo-
cratic state of Tibet it's territorial integ-
llty ana the maintenance of a MONOPOLY
from the tea revenues, which form the
principal source Of income for the mon
asteries.
The concordat existed up to 1890 when
Great Britain annexed Sikkhim a Hima-
laEan state inhabited by Tibetans Tibet
considered this as an infringement of its
integrity, and as China did not effectuaIIv
iestore the former state of affairs consid-
eieu the secular alliance between the
buddhist priesthood and the Chinese dv
nasty fallen into allegiance. From that
time began the Dalai Lamas efforts to-
ward political independence of China
whose representative, the amban at Lhas
Sd gradually lost his influence The Rrit
lsil ihulah government however endeay-
oreo TO negotiate with the amban and
entered into negotiations with the inn
% ipS~
power. This explains the flight of tho
Dalal Lama and the direct negotiations
now proceeding between Col. Youngbus.
band and the amban.