The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-11-13
CURIOUS LAMAS.
Subjecting Themselves For Years to
Senscless and Acute Torture.


Once in Tibet we passed two
y"un" lamaS from Khan. writes
Sven IIcdim in IIarprr'~ Magazine.
They did not walk like ordinary pill
-rm>. hul literally measured off he
distance with their own b"dicS Ivin"
down full length on ihc ground they
would join their hand over their
heads and read prayer. then make
Il mark on III" road. arise. Join their
bands together a~alm over their
beads. and. mltlrrim~ prayer. take
Il few steps forward 10 the mark. TO-
, fall full length once again and re-
peat the entire ceremony all the way
round the mountain. Performed -
this manner by 'prnStraiion. the
journey took twenty days. The two
lanla> we SAW had only dome about
half tn" distance. and they cnntrm.
plated dom" the whole journey twice.
One Of them was 10 return there af-
| Ter havim" completed his duty IL rl-
@rim. The other he WAS barely
twenty years old--waS to pass the
remainder of his earthly life in II
dark "r"tto ON the banks Of thc Up
per TSangpo.
Few forms Of Standardization
are Of such value rs this life spent in
the dark. TINS absolute separation
from the world. from ones follow
men and the Ii @ht Of the sun. In
In"a- -gunpa ! obtained much valu-
able information regarding" this eur
i"uS custom. In the prayer @rotto at
that placr-a little stone hut at the
foot Of Il cliff---was then a lama who
had already been immurcd for three
years. No one knew him. no one
knew whence he came nor what his
name was. and even were one to
know his name it was forbidden to
mention it before human beings. But
they told me that The day he went
int" the "rotto he was followed in
most solemn procession by all the
red monks of the monastery. and
when all the ceremonies prescribed
in the holy books had been gone
through. the narrow entrance into the
gr"tto had been closed up again We
' were standing outside il. asked the
head lama whether he could hear us
talk. He replied. "Oh. no. he cal,
neither hear nor see: he is sunk night
and dav in profound mcditation.'
: "llow do you know that he is alivc?'
'Thc food (Samba) which is pass,
cd IN I" him once day through an
underground passage is eaten up b,
the morning, but should we find the
dish untnrhcd one morning, then W,
should understand that he had died. y
\ stream flows through the cave in
the day time: by this means he -cts
water.
How Wonderful. For .lavS and
weeks could NOT drive the pictur,
OF tins lama ont Of my mind. Never
I" hear u hrmnn voice. never uci :;
glimpse of thr sun. never to see thc
difference between NIGHT and dav. on.
~ I" know of the npurnach Of win.
ter by The lowering Of the tcmpcra-
tnr". ! pictured Ia myself the day
when he WAS rntnmhcl in the cave
tie sat there alone and watched them
fill up the opcning with blocks of
stone. the LIGHT growing continually
less till finally only Il inv little hole
VAS left. Through this he took his
last farewell Of The sum- and when
that. too. was finally closed up he
remained IN complete and utter dark.
ness. Since that time three wears
had now elapsed. Tn another tenn.
plr. like Lin"a absolutely mknow,
NV Europeans. Il lama had lived i'm.
INJURED in this manner for sixtv-nint
years
STATE or SOUTH CAROLINA.