The sun., 1905-09-10

tan6 tDe IOOQ Wnlcn tIau5Ioihoe SAASA''
from monkeys into men. This Compass
sionate Spirit was identified with the most
popular OF all the divinitiee OF the later
Buddhists, namely, the Lord OF Mercy
supp. sed to be a potential Buddha, VINO
relinquished his prospect Of becoming a
Buddha and Of passing out OF the worlo
of existence into the Nirvana OF extinction,
in order to remain In heaven and thus %
at hand to assist the inhabitants OF earth'
who might call upon him TO deliver them
from earthly dangers and help them TO
reach paradise and escape hell. All OF theee
objects may, as the Tibetans believe DO
easily secured by the mere utterance OK
the mystic spell OF this Lord OF Mercy,
namely "On! ma-ni pdd-me Hung!" Hail!
Jewel in the Lotus Flower 1t is not even
necessary to utter this spell to assure ito
efficacy. The mere looking at 1t IN Its
written form is Of equal benefit. Hence
the spell Is everywhere made to revolve
before the eyes. 1t Is twirled in myriads
Of prayer wheels, incised on stones, IN
cairns, carved and painted on buildings,
as well as uttered by every lip throu ghout
Tibet, Mongolia, Ladak and the Hima-
layan Buddhist States down to bhotan'
Having concentrated upon himself the
most popular legends and traditions OF the
Tibetans. and appropriated the most
revered OF all the mystic spells-4Oml
ma-ni pad-me Hun,i"-the first Dalai
Lama constructed for himself super
natural genealogical tree, and to prove
its truth discovered" book OF 'Revela-
tions, in which all that he chose to assert
purported to have been written down
propheticaly a thousand years before by
the venerated king who relgned in $40 A. ID.
In presence OF such convincing proof the
majority Of the Tibetans. priests and laity,
accepted the supernatural origin ana
character claimed for himself by the Dalai
lama. The incredulous priests OF rival
sects who ventured to reject the story
were promptly put to death. Thus 1t has
happened that the fiction Of the priesthood
at Lhasa has held its ground up to the
present day. The only other person whom
the Dalai Lama permitted to share with
him divine honors to some extent was
the abbot OF the large monastery OF his
own yellow cap order at the Western capi-
tai. Tashilhumpo. This abbot had the
privilege OF examining and approving
newly born candidates for the Lhasa
Dalai IAmaship, and OF ordaining the
candidates selected for the new reincarna-
ton. The same Offices were in turn per-
formed for him by the Dalai Lama. This
monastery Of Tashilhumpo, which had been
built about two hundred years before, had
itself begun to regulate the succession OF
its high priests by the reincarnn ton theory.
The Pontiff Of Tashilhumpo. is known
to Europeans as the @Taehi' (vulgarly
"TeshuO Lama. after his place OF resi-
dence. Col. Waddell found that as this
dignitary has practically no temporal
duties to distract him beyond those OF
supervising the estates handed over for the
endowment Of his monasteriee, he devotes
himself more absorbingly to spiritual
matters than his brother Grand Lama
at Lhasa
After reigning as Pope king Of Tibet for
thirty five years, firmly establishing his
pretensions to divinity, and building for him
self new palace on the hill Of Potala, out
side the city the first sovereign Dalai Lama
of Lhasa retired, in 1879 A. D., into her
mitage and handed over the temporal power
to his natural son as Regent. This son.
masterful and ambitious man, concealed
his fathers death for sixteen years, and sub
sequently set upon the throne as Grand
Lama a dissolute 20, tn who outraged
everybody's feelings by his profigacy.
In l708 the Regent was murdered by the
Tatar military commander Of Lhasa, and
the vicious young Dalai Lama, not mending
his ways was with the consent Of the Chinese
Emperor. deposed. exiled and shortly after
ward put to death, notwithstanding his
professedly divine nature.
After this assassination. the Tibetan
priesthood, scandalized at the results OF
the method Of succession by the theory Of
rebirths. revolted. They threw over the
reincernaton theory and chose one Of them
selves as Dalai Lama, an aged priest fromthe
medical school Of Lhasa, whose election
was confirmed by the Chinese Emperor.
ring to the theory Of rebirths, procured a
young child born shortly after the murder
Of the dissolute Dalai and brought it forth
as the genuine claimant Of the throne.
For a time the pretender waa kept by his
supporters in China on the border Of Tibet,
but after the capture of Lhasa by Tatar
invaders in ITO the Emperor Kangshi sent
an army to restore order, and reestablished
the rule of succession by reincarnations,
installing as Dalai Lama the claimant above
mentioned. Only spiritual authority was
vested in him. however, an old Prime Minister
being clothed with the temporal power.
Kangshi, in fact. formally assumed suzer-
ainty over the country, and placed two
Chinese mandarins at Lhasa rs political
residents or Ambans, with large supervisory
functions.
The new Dalai Lama having caused his
Prime Minister to be murdered in 1927, the
Chinese Emperor sent another army to
Lhasa cast the Dalai Lama into prison, and
appointed as nominal Regent an old and
respected monk, but deprived him Of all
temporal power, which was transferred
to a Mayor of the Palace. While the Da lai
Lama was languishing In confinement
the Regent displaased the Chinese Ambans
and was killed by them in 1850. whereupon
the people flew to arms and massaored
the Chinese Once more punitive Chinese
army was sent to Tibet, this time by the
Emperor Chenlung, and Chinese asoendenoy
being thus restored, the influence of the
Ambans was so enormously increased
that they kept the appointment Of Regents
in their own hands. They even regulated
the selection Of new Dalai Lamas, II they
were not actually privy to the policy Of