The sun., 1905-09-10

and asses. Written characters being un-
known to them. they made use Of notched
pieces Of wood and knotted cords for the
recording of events. The still current
dced OF agreement by means Of broken
stone, OF which each contracting party
keeps half. as lovers used TO do In Eng
land with broken sixpence, Is survival
Of the pre-Buddhist period Of Tibetan
history. By the origin which they claimed
for themselves the Tibetans forestalled
Darwin's hypothesis Of the descent OF
man. Their first parent, they say, was
q monkey which crossed the HlmAlayas
and there married she devil Of the noun
tains. The resultant progeny ate some
magical grains. given to them by the C'm-
passionate Spiri. Of the Mountains (after-
ward supposed to be incarnated in the
Grand Lana), and the result was that
their tails and hair grew shorter and shorter
and finally disappeared. They began to
speak--in other words, they became men,
and, noticing the change, they clothed
themselves with leaves. They account for
their chief traits Of character and dis
position by tradition that from their
fathers side they got their love for piety,
while from their mother they inherited
cruelty, forocity ana ueceN.
In the early part OF the seventh century
OF our era the Tibetans overran upper
Burmah and western China, and imposed
upon the Chinese Emperor humiliating terms
OF peace. One condition was that the King
OF Tibet should receive Chinese princess in
marriage. According to the Chinese an
nalists, it was from this date that Chinese
civilization gradually filtered into Tibet.
Contemporaneously Buddhism entered the
country. The Chinese princess. like q
Nepalese wife Of the King, was an ardent
Buddhist The two between them converted
their husband to their religion. and pre-
vailed upon him to introduce 1t into Tibet.
He sent for Buddhist priests from Northern
India, where Buddhism was still fourishing,
and got them to reduce the Tibetan language
to writing In the Indian alphabet, which then
became and has continued till now to be
the script OF Tibet. Into these written
characters he caused to be translated sew
eral of the moro important Buddhist books,
brought from India and China 1t should
be observed that the form OF Buddhism then
prevalent in Northern India had already
been much corrupted. and when trans
planted across tho Himalayas it became
ship, by which the Tibetan was placed in
constant fear Of his life from the attacks
of malignant spirits, to avert which he was
called upon to make endless payments
Of money to the priests The 1-amas, as
Buddhist priests we're called In the Tibetan
tongue, multiplied rapidly under the patron
ago Of tho royal convert and his successors.
They soon usurped the substance OF au-
thority in matters OF State, and after
struggle with the old nobility for supremacy
they gained the ascendency and reduced
the kings to puppets. Ultimately, as had
happened in Egypt about 900 BIC, the priests
threw aside the kings altogether and openly
assumed the throne. Priest kingship in
Tibet as in Egypt, brought about decline
In civilization. The I.amas ruled the coun-
try entirely in their own interests. They
never preached to the laity or educated
them, but kept them in ignorance and SER
vitude with the result that the Tibetans
have become the most priestridden people
In the world, and, sapped Of their vigor
and spirit, have gone steadily down.
The first priest king OF Tibet was the
high priest of the red cap" Lamasery at
Sakya in western Tibet. Already lord of
his own district he was raised to the king
ship Of the whole of Tibet in 1852 A. d. by
the Mongol Emperor Of China, Kublai
Khan, In return for becoming that
sovereign's official consecrator and coro-
rator, just as the Christian Pope, having
anointed Charles the Great, Emperor OF
the West received by way Of reward
large accession OF authority. Kublai Khan.
well known to Europeans through the
writings Of Marco Polo and Others in his
search for a religion which should weld
together the more uncivilized portions OF
his empire, called to his court distinguished
LAmas, as well as representatives of the
Christian and several other faiths. After
investigation. he fixed upon Lamaism for
himself and his people as having more
in common with the popular creeds al
ready prevalent in China and Mongolia
than had Confucianism. Mohammedanism
or Christianity. According TO Buddhist
tradition. he exacted from the Christian
missionaries who had been sent to him
by the Pope the performance Of a miracle
as proof Of the superiority Of the Christian
religion, warning them that If they failed
and the Lamas succeeded In making a
demonstration Of supernatural power he
would adopt Buddhism. The legend is
that in the presence Of the missionaries,
who were unable to comply with Kublai's
demand, the Iamas caused the Emperor's
wine cup TO rise miraculously to his lips.
Thereupon Kublai adopted the Iamaist
religion and conferred on the Grand Lama,
or Pope. Of sakya Monastery, royal honors,
a jade zeal and a Chinese title. 1t ia an
interesting fact that on the downfall Of
the Mongol dynasty in China it's Kalmuck
princes fed to outer Mongolia, on the bor-
der Of Siberia, where, cut OF from Tibet
as they now were by almost impossible
deserts, they set up for themselves Grand
Lama Of their own. who at the present
day has his capital at Urga, near the great
Lob Nor Lake where he is in close political
relations with resident Russian official.
The Sakya Pontin and his red cap sue
cessors continued to rule over the greater
part OF Tibet for nearly four centuries.
although divers Chinese Emperors, in order
to curb their power. gave jade seals and
royal titles to the head priests Of the chief
monasteries OF rival orders. About 1871,
however, an ambitious high priest Of the
vigorous competitive sect OF Lamas, the
yellow caps" or so-caled "Virtuous
Order, snatched the temporal rule out OF
the hands OF the red caps He persuaded