Occasionally, the lama had cliff. culties- with his deity. Frequently the god refused to function; he showed signs of being peevish, and then the lama had to humour him. This was done by sacrifice,.more meditation, and further. contemplat tion, It is true that the lama forced his "service and will upon the deity, but the deity also had a wi of his own and was not entirely subject to the arbitrary control of his temporary master. The great advantage to the lama in having. this deity from the spirit world deity could change For example, a caravan travelling along the Tibetan highway contained something that the lama desired, The deity merely approached the caravan, extracted the coveted object, and placed it before the Yama. "A certain house possessed something the lama long had desired; it simply disappeared and where it had gone no one kno Another advantage in having this deity to do the lama's will was that things were done quickly, Tt was summer and the days were hot. The next best thing to an iced drink was a piece of frozen meat. "Bring me a piece of frozen meat, said the lama.. This was rather a evere test, as the only frozen beef in Tibet was the heart of the god who inhabited the Major-congra, a very high mountain in the Ngolo country, along the Chinese border. The deity, being able to change himself at will, assumed the form of black crow, and in this guise he got near the god of the snow mountain and stole his heart. Bon-gra, being a more powerful deity, gave chase. The lama, looking up, saw the struggle between the crow and Bongra and inadvisedly said: "Gebnyen is defeated; the Bongra is victorious." So saying, Bongra regained his heart from the mouth of the crow.
'A New China Pony Sustaining this serious defeat did not make things easier between the Tama and Gehnyen. One day the priest said he would like to go to but he wanted to go in some.
iculous way and to get there in three steps.
In thig also Gehnyen was able to oblige him. Immediately changing unself into a horse, the deity offered his services to the priest. The lama apparently could hay Intercourse with his deity, but when the deity became some other thing the intercourse ceased. "When you get to Lhasa," said the deity," do take the horse into the city, but the it to a tree quite near Potala, and you will find it there when you come back. Again, I warn you not to look under the saddle clot With one giddy sensation, the] priest: found himself in the sacred city. So sudden had been the change that the lama wondered if he still were in the flesh. To make re he was, he went to a restaurant and ordered something to eat and to drink. 'Though thus assured that he was still in the flesh, he felt very unhappy. His mind was. not at ease. Lhasa' had no attraction for him. He wanted to get back to Nongel 1d his own little \home and the obliging services of deity.
Potala is only a short distance from the capital, nevertheless the Lama failed to see the horse. When Like a child with a new toy, the lama was determined to. turn Gehnyen inside out. Te as winter fud the days were cold, nevertheless the 1k deity to bring Proceeding "immediately to Dehwa-Jen, the lama's paradise, he secured the necessary flowers.' Later the Nebo called and.was surprised to see such beautiful and, wonderful flowers in the loma's room. People came with all kinds of diseases he' got near the tree, however, he saw the animal. What the deity had said about not looking under the saddlecloth rather perturbed him. Why not look under the saddle-.|eloth? What secret did it contain? Mounting the animal, he started off home. Curiosity getting the better him, he slightly removed the cloth. To his utter' disgust, the addle-cloth was resting on water, in which he saw all kinds of creeping things, fish, snakes, and frogs, and the lama merely, commanded be there in profusion. Instantly, the deity to heal the people. Enemies rose up and denounced the Jama, but he simply informed the the brute gave a lurch which nearly threw him to the ground. In great, distress, he prayed for the help of Gehnyen and the enemies were destroyed. The lama soon gained. a tremendous reputation in the coun-deity, and in a moment he found Himself back home and safe. He was. slowly discovering that the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.