Beggars cannot be choosers, 30 the living-dying lama prepared to translate his soul into the dead Jama's body. This, in Tibetan, is Known as the translation of the soul, by the efficacy of charms, from tone body to another just vacated by death. The hermit told his servant carefully to wash the dead body, and, this done, he elaaped ins, nose to note, mouth to and commenced ' breathing. of the dead lama. This he continued doing for the space of one or two hours, and by and by the dead body igns of returning was very slight movement.
8 the dead body regained fe, the living hermit was slowly losing it. When the dead body was half alive and the living body half dead, the hermit called for the assistance of the servant, was king of Tibet, he instituted great reformation in the religion of the people, Up to that time, Bonbo was the only religious system, and that was reported to have been Very cruel and barbarous. ie was the original religion of the land, and was associated with the practice of Wwiteheraft and. demonology. eradiente this crude system, Trisong Introduced Buddhism. Bodeo Side translated Indian religious works {nto Tibetan, and Behama June put them into' circulation. Trisong, Bodee, and Behma thus were instramental in producing what is termed Lamaism, the religious system of 'Tibet at' the present day. If we accept the historical evidence of the Bonbos, this introduction was followed by a time of cruel suppression of the heterodox black sect.
Temples were destroyed, books were burned, and Bon lamas driven into exile. "Trisong, being king, had immense power; Bodes, being clever, had immense influence; and Behma, being earnest, had immense success.
In a very short time,*it would seem Bonism had disappeared and Lamaism had taken its place. Trisong is reported to have erected the great lamasery at Samyo. It was a serious time for the Bonbos, for extinction was the only alternative to submission. History has shown time and again that a man will: dare to die for his religion, even if it be a false one, The Bonbos, to save themselves from entire destruction, got together and instituted what is now known as. the translation of the soul. In this way, there has been retained in perpetuity the knowledge of the original religion of Tibet. There in living in Amdo at the present day a famous lama named Drongja Drugu, who is a living, walking encyclopedia of five generations of Bonbos. If we say that each lived seventy yea n this famous carries about with him a knowledge of the past 300 years. There must be others, of course, who are walking about lamaland fat the present time, with the entire religious history of Tibet tucked away somewhere inside their heads.
The Analgy of Jazz If Dr. Bidder informs us that the introduction of Jazz merely is a reversion to type, and that we are simply doing what our flagellite ancestors did ten thousand million and with this he slowly collapsed. 'The alarmed ser. vant blew for all he was worth, till the dead lama not only opened' his eyes, but was able to sit up and take' in his surroundings. By this time the poor hermit had passed hi beyond. It was now up. to the servant to complete the recovery of the old lama. In a short time, the translation had. completely place: the living hermit w alive in the dead lama.
When the body' of the hermit had Deen burnt and the ashes laid. to rest, the old lama explained to. the servant just what had taken place. The servant was surprised to find hat, though a physical change had taken place, the old lama before him atill was his old master. Their topics of conversation still were the same; here seemed to have been no break in the continuity: of their friendship. The time being still winter, and the ice still solid, a number of old friends came to call fon the hermit. Imagine their surprise on seeing: an old man with a Jong beard and bordering on the age of seventy. Greater, however, was their surprise when the old Jama introduced topics of conver tion which they formerly had with the hermit, Something years ago, then. why appear me credulous when the lama tells us of the translation of the soul? If I dance Jazz, I merely am proving my flagellite' inheritance, and that little speck of protoplasm simply translated its soul down through the ten thousand million years. The flagellite may have done that only to every extinction, and that is what the black lama has don In the translation of the soul, as practised by the Bonbos, there is 2 complete transference of all the past history and present knowledge from the one lama to the other.
Apparently, nothing is lost, if very little is gained. It is difficult to discover how far the system is maintained at the present day, as there is no active opposition tothe black sect at the present time. Their temples and lamaseries may be seen side by side with those of the yellow and red sects, and the Tibetans may call in a black doctor, zed priest, and a yellow lama. Some of the greatest scholars in Tibet at the present day belong to the black sect. Tt is difficult, however, to find one who is unbiassed: whatever he touches is black, whatever he explains is black, and whatever he teaches is black.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.