The San Francisco call., 1905-03-26
RULER CHOSEN
BY BIRTH SIGNS
In Grand Lama of Thibet
Is Supposed to Dwell Soul
OF His August Predecessor
HOLY CHILD HONORED
Supreme Vicegerent of Budd-
ha on Earth Has Grand Pal
ace-Invisible to Strangers

NO nVin8 White man, unless Colonel
Younghusband has found him, has
even seen the grand lama of Thibet.
who has shut himself up, the kilograms
say, for three years.
Dominating the mysterious city, the
forbidden land whose gates are open
Ing to the world, is the palace of the
young priest king. Set on a hill which
cannot be hid, rising in the center nine
stories high. the golden roofs of the
! Potala palace would draw the first
gaze of the first white man who car
ried the British flag to this corner of
the earth. In which it had never before
been unfurled
The world has heard little of him
except that he loves Russia, hates
China and has great contempt for Eng
land. He has no authority for sitting
among the worlds kings save that q
Buddhist theory puts him there
Humbly born, 28 years old, with no
great gifts of his own, Tubdangyamtso
Is ruler of Thibet because a strange
sign at his birth, real or imagined,
marked hiR out as the child in whom
the soul of the previous ruler had been
reborn. So. not long ago, the little
son Of q poor fuel seller came to the
throne Of Thfbet; so for centuries have
the dest1nies of the mountain kingdom
fallen into the hands Of little child
BUDDHIST LEGENDS.
Long ago, when Charles Stuart was
being driven from his throne in Eng
land, dalai lama was raised to the
throne Of Thibet by Mongol prince
whom he had called in to conquer the
land. The Chinese Emperor let go his
hold on Lhasa and gave the ambitious
priest the title which his successors
| have kept ever since-the title of dalai
I ~
When the grand lama died his soul,
the Buddhists say, was born again in
another child, and so from age to age
the eternal life of the dalai lama goes
on.
Almost before his eyes were opened,
though his mother and father knew it
not. the dalai lama was destined for
the palace on the red hill Some sign
at his birth-7once it was the sound of
! music, at another time the dropping
of milk upon the pillars of the house
determined the choice. But there were
other signs and other children and for
few wears it was not known in
Thfbet whether Tubdangyamtso would
be dalai lama or a common Thibetan's
son.
Then the names of the three chill
dren whose births had been attended
with miraculous signs were placed in
an urn. each inscribed upon a slip in
Chinese and Thibetan characters, and
at solemn service in the presence
of the people and all the lamas the
dalai lama was chosen by lot, placing
1t beyond a doubt that the actual and
genuine embodiment of the dalai lama
has appeared in the world, and the
yellow church has ruler for it's gov
ernance.''
Henceforth the childs home was at
the palace, the palace into which no
woman must go. His parents were
given a residence for life about a mile
away, the mother seeing her son in GER
tain hours, the father being raised to
high rank. At years old the dalai
lama was enthroned; at s he was or
dained monk and head Of the church;
at Is he took into his own hands the
reins of government. For ten years
Tubdangyamtso has ruled in Lhasa,
yet he IS still a youth of %.
There are not many more pathetic
sights on earth than the sight of a
dalai lama seated on his throne For
generations the grand lamas have been
mere boys; many of them are said to
have died mysterious deaths. 1t is, at
best, sad enough life. Manning, the
last Englishman to see grand lama
now ninety years ago, could think of
nothing else but the beautiful face Of
the doomed child. He could feel, he
said, the tears in his eyes. Yet this
child was ruler of Thibet, with a pal
ace bigger than the Vatican and an
environment as gorgeous as that of a
King.
There Is a man living in India who
has seen the dalai lama. the first and
last man to enter his presence in dis
guise. and he brought away from the
forbidden city the same sad picture as
the Englishman.
IMPRESSIVE SCENE.
He sat three rows from the throne
at a reception by the dalai lama in
the grand hall in which the state Of
f1cials walked from left to right with
a gravity becoming their exalted rank
in the presence Of the supreme vice
gerent of Buddha on earth The
dalai lama was years old, seated on
a great altar, pillared on lions Of
carved wood and covered with costly
silk scarfs. He wore a yellow miter
over his head, his body was robed in
yellow mantle and the child sat
cross-legged with the palms Of his
hands joined in blessing.
Sarat Chandra Dass, in the few mo-
ments he stood before the king-child,
was filled with sorrow for him. The
child had "a really bright and fair
complexion with rosy cheeks"
His eyes were large and penetrating.
The thinness of his person was prob
ably owing to the fatigues Of the cere-
monies at the court, of his religious
duties and of ascetic observances to
which he had been subjected since TAX
ing the vows of monkhood.
A steward poured tea into the dalai
lamas golden cup from a golden tea
pot and before he lifted the cup to
his lips grace was solemnly chanted.
Then the steward placed a golden dish
full of rice in front of the child, which
he barely touched before the rice was
distributed.
After grace had been said the holy
child chanted a hymn in a low, indis-
tinct voice, and a venerable gentleman
rose from the middle of the first row
of seats and. addressing the grand
lama as the Lord Avalokita incarnate
recited many deeds Of mercy which
that patron saint of Thibet had vouch-
safed toward it's benighted people. At
the conclusion he thrice Frustrated
himself before his holiness, when a
solemn pause followed, after which the
audience rose and the grand lama re-
tired.
The dalai lama in truth, Is an au-
tocrat hardly less absolute on his tiny
ct q Ca than fhe Czar