Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-07-01

HhaSd ouly dLHOuluS 10 ABOUT 10,UOO,
Of whom 5000 are women, who,
strange to say. carry on practically
the whole of the trade done. The re-
naming 5000 males are about 5000
Tibetans and 5000 foreigners =
Chinese, Nepalese, Kashmeris, etc.
The monks are very picturesque in
their somber red robes, perhaps not
quite so much in evidence in the town
itself, as there Is more hustle and life
and people are more occupied with
trade thar with the saving OF their
souls. The streets are full Of laden
animals, bringing in the everyday
supplies, and caravans arriving from
Mongolia and eastern Tibet. The
people look we'll and cheerful and
the town is not nearly so dirty az
might be expected.
Of the other buildings in Lhass
the school of medicine, situated on a
smaller hill on the same ridge as the
Potala, stands out prominently. There
is very little of interest connected with
it, and the inmates or students hardly
know even the names of common use
full herbs.
One of the prettiest spots in all the
valleys is the Lu-Kang garden, where
there is a beautiful pool of water sur
rounded by lofty trees and willows
half concealing an island in the center.
The legend runs that the island is the
abode of a snake, which must be pro-
pitiated or the waters of the under
ground lake which lie beneath the
Jo-khang will overflow and submerge
Lhasa.
The Tashl and Dalai Lamas never
DIE, as their souls on departing the
life are reincarnated in the body of
some infant, who, by some. miraculous
sign such as the recognition of a
rosary, an article of clothing belong
ing to the deceased or something of
that sort, establishes his claim.
Modified Devil Worship.
This is not Buddhism as one finds
1t in Burma or Siam. The truth is
that in Tibet Buddhism has been
grated onto the earlier devil worship
of the people and a religion has been
evolved better expressed as Lamaism,
or modified devil worship, so that in
addition to the Buddhas and Bodisats
there have also come to be tutelary
and guardian. deities of a terrifying
and malignant aspect, whose duty it is
to defend the faith and the faithful
people from external attack. These
deities are depicted in grotesque and
terrible forms in all the monasteries,
generally in violently cOlored fresco
paintings at the entrance.
The credulous peasants, STEPPED in
superstition. look up and pray to
these monstrosities for their deliver
ance from evil, from the lures and
prosecutions of the demons and
sprites, by which every Tibetan re-
CARDS himself as surrounded.
The common folk believe, too. in
mischievous and malignant gods, some
in the shape of gnOmes, some hob
COLLINS, others with such long slender
necks and small mouths they can
swallow nothing. and in their at
tempts writhe TO such an extent their
struggles cause earthquakes. Another
belief is that rainbows are formed by
innumerable sprites, or small folk,
sliding down into water, sprites who
live only on smells and twang guitars
as they slide; and that drinking the
water will give fever. Others living
on the tops Of hills or passes send
down avalancheS and give travellers
mountain sickness and DerhanS the
most dreaded of all are the "shri,"
who attack children.
All these beliefs are more or less
the religions Of the common people,
combined with the hope of being per-
haps reincarnated into higher sphere
and of ultimately being admitted into
Nirvana