The sun., 1905-09-10

tianity, but he urged that It was not a falr
test jnasmuch 40 war stirred up the wo,se
passions In mems hearts; and, after ALL tne
British nation did not want a war win
Tibet; that. on the contrary, 1t was tne
Regents people who had fred the first shot
besides, they. too, had trained their mon
a we'll as they could, to take life IN war.
1T Is not only your military, rejoined tho
Regent, shut all your people, even tnoso
who ara not military; you are all the same.
except The added, spologetically. out OF
Difference to his intsrviewers feelings! you
doctors, of whose humane work have
heard; all tho others are utterly devo'o OF
religion
After hearing that Buddha was not nen-
toned by name In the Christian Scri ptures,
the Regent OF Tibet did not evinoe greas
desire to know more about the salient points
OF Christianity, but seemed Interested IN
hearing that one great point OF difference
was that under the Christian dispensat'on
man was to be saved, not by his own its
but by the saving grace Of God, his suns
being atoned for by the sacrifice made oy
Christ. This idea was quite foreign to all
the Regents conceptions, as he had been
educated in the strict traditions OF Bud
dhism, with it's ethical doctrine OF retribution'
or Karma, which teaches that each soul has
towork out its own salvation, and to counter
balance in the present life by oorrespona-
ing number OF good deeds all the misdeeds
accumulated by him In the past, before tho
latter will be forgiven bT the inexoraole
Judge OF the Dead
The Regent surprised his visitor by In
sisting that the objections OF the IHbetans
to the coming Of the English to Lhasa were
more religious than political. This asser-
ton he was unable to reconcile with the
extensive admission OF Mohammedans into
the sacred city. Regarding Hindus, ne
maintained that they differed but little from
Buddhists, pointing out that their Scrip
lures contain reference to Buddha by name
as one OF the deities to be worshiped.
"They both," he said, were striving 70
reach the same goal, and any apparent op-
position or divergence in their course was
due to their seeking their object from dif-
ferent directions and by different paths.
To make his meaning clear to his visitor,
the Regent drew a diagram. In circle
representing the world he placed at the
center a dot to indicate the common des-
within the circle, the Hindu and Buddhist
set out. Missing their objective IN mist,
they each swerved considerably TO one
side, and so chanced to meet one another
below the goal, although they had followed
different roads. Thereupon the Hindu
asks the Buddhist where he IL going. and
is told: 'To the great goal" to which the
Hindu replies: "You are on the wrong
path l, too, am going thither." In reality,
the Regent said. Both are wrong. or
rather. both are right, and, when the mist
lifts they will find the haven quite near
to them" This allegory recalled to our
author Clough's poem about the two home
ward bound ships that met only once in
their long voyage:
One port. methought. alike they sought
One purpose hold whereer they fare.
bounding breeze and rushing seas.
At last. at last, unite them there.
Regarding the so-called "Mahatmas,'
our author elected the fact that this Car
dinal ono Of the most learned and profound
scholars In Tibet was, like the other cru
dite LAmas whom he had interrogated on
the subject, entirely ignorant Of any such
beings. Nor had he ever heard Of any
secrets OF the ancient world having been
preserved in Tibet. The LAnas, it seems,
are only interested in .The Word OF Bud
dha )" and Place no value whatever on an
cient secular annals. No Lama, the
Cardinal declared, nor any OF the great
monasteries in Lhasa, the greatest in all
Tibet, possessed he was certain, any ao-
count OF even the ancient history Of India,
though this was the native land OF Buddha
himself, beyond such fra gments as were
to be cleaned from the orthodox scriptures, ,
OF which every mona stery has q copy.
Books about ancient secular history. he
said, had only an interest for the laity, tho
old nobility and lay officials who were
concerned in mundane matters. This dec
laration Of the Cardinal was confirmed
by all the inquiries made by Col. Waddell
OF all the Lamas most likely to be we'll in
formed and by actual examination OF
many of the larger libraries. The outcome
OF these investigations is that, apparently,
the Lamas possess no historical works
except the quasi-authentic chronicles Of
their own kings and monasteries subse-
quent to the seventh century A. D., when
their langiia Sc was first reduoed to writing,
and few fragmentary accounts OF India
during the Buddhist period, compiled
from Indian and Chinese sources during
the period corresponding to Furope's mid
die ages with possibly few Indian Bud
dhist manuscripts Of the same epoch which
II they exist at all, are likely to be found
at Tashilhumpo and Sakya monasteries
in western Tibet. and at Samya, in the
lower Tsungpo valley, the first mon astery
ever built in Tibet. There is thus" our
author is sorry to say, little hope to hold
out to those who fondly fancied that the
lost secrets Of the beginnings OF the ca rli-
eet civilization Of the world, anterior to
that Of ancient Egypt and Assyria, which
perished with the sinking Of Atlantis in
the Western Ocean, might still be carefully
preserved in that forbidden land. which is
no longer wholly unknown"
M. W. H.
Mosquitoes Carried by Cars.
From the Baltimore Srn.