The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-19

tried In vain 20 find out something about
the private life Of the Grand Lama All
questions on the subject proved frultless
The Tibetan potentate remains DOGGY
a riddle, undivinAble, impersonal' remote
The Tibetan people know nothing about
him. They have bowed before the throne
as men come out Of the dark into binding
light. Scrutiny, in their view, would be
vain and blasphemous. Even the abbots
OF the three great monasteries will reveal
nothing; they will not or they dare not.
When Col Younghusband put the question
directly to a head Lama in open durbar,
sHave you news Of the Dalai Lamar Do
YOU know where he isp" the monk looked
slowly to left and right, and answered;
Il know nothing The ruler OF your
country leaves his palace and capital and
you know nothingf' asked the Commits
sioner. Nothing answered the monk,
shuffiing his feet. but without changing
color.
1t appears TO have been the opinion OF
some Of the leading members OF the British
expedition that the Dalai Lama had lost
his prestige by his deserton OF his capital
Our author. for his part, thinks the oracle
that counselled the rulers flight wiser
than those who deem 1t political mistake
Imagine the Grand Lama, he says, dragged
into durbar as signatory, stared at by
eyes profanus the target OF few Gays
gossip and comment, then sinking into com
monpace stripped OF his mystery, IKE
his holy City, through which we now saunter
listlessly, wondering when we shall start
again for the wilds. To escape this ordeal
he has fed, and 10 our eyes, at least, his
flight has deepened the occultness that
envelopes him and added to his dignity
and aloofness; to thousands Of mystical
dreamers II has preserved the efulgence
OF his godhead, unsoiled by contact with
the unhallowed world
Who knows. moreover, whether the Grand
Lama would not have risked his life, as
we'll as his prestige, by remaining in Lhasa
TO face the invaders2 Held responsible. as
he would have been, for the sacrilegious
occupation Of his capital, could he have
found safety even in the hidden depths
OF the Potala? Would he not have been
secretly sacrificed to the interests OF the
theocracy7 IL Is true that within the pre-
oincts of Lhasa the taking OF life in any
form is sacrilege. Buddha's first law was,
thou shalt not kill and life is held so
sacred by his pious followers that they
are careful not to destroy the smallest in
sect. Yet the superb hill-palace. where
dwells the divine incarnation Of the Bodhi-
sat. the head Of the Buddhist Church,
must have witnessed more murders and
instigations to homicide than the
most blood-stained castle OF medieval
Europe. since the assumption Of tempo
raj power by the fifth Grand Lama in the
middle OF the seventeenth century, date
almost identical with the execution OF
Charles 1.-The whole history Of the Tibetan
hierarchy has been a record OF bloodshed
and treason The fifth Grand Lama,
the first to receive the title OF Dalai. was
most INSCRIPTIONS ruler, who secured
the temporal power by melting an invasion
OF Tibet by the Mongols. from whom he
received as his reward the kingship. He
then established his claim TO the godhead
by tampering with Buddhist history and
scripture. His successor, the sixth in
carnation Of the Bodhisat, was executed
by the Chinese on account Of his profligacy.
The seventh was depoeed by the Chinese
az having been privy to the murder OF the
regent OF that day. After the death OF
the Ell ghth incarnation. concerning whom
our author could learn nothing, the tables
seem to have been turned the regents
systematically murdered their charges.
and the crime Of the seventh Dalai Lama
was visited upon four successive incarna-
tons. The ninth, tenth, eleventh and
twelfth all died prematurely, assassinated.
it Is believed. by their respective regents.
How were they made away with2 There
are our author found. mo legends OF
malmsey butts, secret smotherings and
hired assassins. The children disappeared
They were absorbed into the universal
essence. They we're literally too good to
live. Their regents and protectors, monks
only less sacred than themselves, saw to 1t
that the spirit in It's warnings for the next
state Of being should not be long detained
in its mortal husk No questions were
asked How could the devout trace the
comings and goings Of the divine Avalokita,
the Lord OF Mercy and Judgment. who
ordains into what heaven or he'll, god, hero,
demon, ape or mollusk, the spirits Of men
must enter according to their sins?'