upon the Dalaï-Lama," omits to say that they are also the tributaries of his own State and have been now for over three centuries and a half. The Tda-shi Lamas were always more powerful and more highly considered than the Dalaï-Lamas. The latter are the creation of the Tda-shi Lama, Nabang-Lob-Sang, the sixth incarnation of Tsong-kha-pa-himself an incarnation of Amitabha, or Buddha. This hierarchy was regularly installed at Lha-ssa, but it originated only in the latter half of the seventeenth century.*

In Mr. C. R. Markham's highly interesting work above noticed, the author has gathered every scrap of information that was ever brought to Europe about that terra incognita. It contains one passage, which, to our mind, sums up in a few words the erroneous views taken by the Orientalists of Lamaism in general, and of its system of perpetual reincarnation especially. "It was, indeed," it reads, "at about the period of Hiuen-Thsang's journey, that Buddhism first began to find its way into Tibet, both from the direction of China and that of India; but it came in a very different form from that in which it reached Ceylon several centuries earlier. Traditions, metaphysical speculations, and new dogmas, had overlaid the original Scriptures with an enormous collection of more recent revelation. Thus Tibet received a vast body of truth, and could only assimilate a portion for the establishment of popular belief. Since the original Scriptures had been conveyed into Ceylon by the son of Asoka, it had been revealed to the devout Buddhists of India that their Lord had created the five Dhyani or celestial Buddhas, and that each of these had created five Boddhisatwas, or beings in the course of attaining Buddha-hood. The Tibetans took firm hold of this phase of the Buddhistic creed, and their distinctive belief is that the Boddhisatwas continue to remain in existence for the good of mankind by passing through a succession of human beings from the cradle to the grave. This characteristic of their faith was gradually developed, and it was long before it received its present form1; but the succession of incarnate Boddhisatwas was the idea towards which the Tibetan mind tended from the first." At the same time,

Says Mr. Markham in Tibet (p. XVII Preface): "Gedun-tubpa, another great reformer, was contemporary with Tsong-kha-pa, having been born in 1339, and dying in 1474" (having thus lived 135 years). He built the monastery at Teshu Lumbo (Tda-shi Hlum-po) in 1445, and it was in the person of this perfect Lama, as he was called, that the system of perpetual incarnation commenced. He was himself the incarnation of Boddhisatwa Padma Pani and on his death he relinquished the attainment of Buddhabood that he might be born again and again for the benefit of mankind. When he died, his successor was found as an infant by the possession of certain divine marks. 1 Its "present" is its earliest form, as we will try to show further on. A correct analysis of any religion viewed but from its popular aspect, becomes impossible-least of all Lamaism, or esoteric Buddhism as disfigured by the untutored imaginative fervour of the populace. There is a vaster difference between the "Lamaism" of the learned classes of the clergy and the ignorant masss of their parishioners, than there is between the Christianity of a Bishop Berkeley and that of a modern Irish peasant. Hitherto Orientalists have made themselves superficially acquainted but with the beliefs and rites of popular Buddhism in Tibet, chiefly through the distorting glasses of missionaries which throw out of focus every religion but their own. The same course has been followed in respect to Sinhalese Buddhism, the missionaries having, as Col. Olcott observes in the too brief Preface to his Buddhist Catechism, for many years been taunting the Sinhalese with the "puerility and absurdity of their religion" when, in point of fact, what they speak of is not orthodox Buddhism at all. Buddhist folklore and fairy stories are the accretions of twenty-six centuries.-ED. The Theosophist.

as Max Muller says:-"The most important element of the Buddhist reform has always been its social and moral code, not its metaphysical theories. That moral code, taken by itself, is one of the most perfect which the world has ever known; and it was this blessing that the introduction of Buddhism brought into Tibet." (p. XIV., Introduction.)

The "blessing" has remained and spread all over the country, there being no kinder, purer-minded, more simple or sin-fearing nation than the Tibetans, missionary slanders notwithstanding. But yet, for all that, the popular Lamaism, when compared with the real esoteric, or Arahat Buddhism of Tibet, offers a contrast as great as the snow trodden along a road in the valley, to the pure and undefiled mass which glitters on the top of a high mountain peak.2 A few of such mistaken notions about the latter, we will now endeavour to correct as far as it is compatible to do so.

Before it can be clearly shown how the Bhootanese were forcibly brought into subjection, and their Dharma Raja made to accept the "incarnations" only after these had been examined into, and recognized at Lha-ssa, we have to throw a retrospective glance at the state of the Tibetan religion during the seven centuries which preceded the reform. As said before, a Lama had come to Bhootan from Kam,—that province which had always been the stronghold and the hot-bed of the "Shammar" or hön rites,3-between the ninth and tenth centuries, and had converted them into what he called Buddhism. But in those days, the pure religion of Sakya Muni had already commenced degenerating into that Lamaism, or rather fetichism, against which four centuries later, Tsong-kha-pa arose with all his might. Though three centuries had only passed since Tibet had been converted (with the exception of a handful of Shammars and Bhöns), yet esoteric Buddhism had crept far earlier into the country. It had begun superseding the ancient popular rites ever since the time when the Brahmins of India, getting again the upper hand over Asoka's Buddhism, were silently preparing to oppose it, an opposition which culminated in their finally and entirely driving the new faith out of the country. The brotherhood or community of the ascetics known as the Byang-tsiub-the "Accom

The reader has but to compare in Mr. Markham's Tibet the warm, impartial and frank praises bestowed by Bogle and Turner on the Tibetan character and moral standing and the enthusiastic eulogies of Thomas Manning to the address of the Dalai Lama and his people, with the three letters of the three Jesuits in the Appendix, to enable himself to form a decisive opinion. While the former three gentlemen, impartial narrators, having no object to distort truth, hardly find sufficient adjectives to express their satisfaction with the Tibetans, the three "men of God" pick no better terms for the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetans than "their devilish God the Father" "vindictive devils" "fiends who know how to dissemble," who are "cowardly, arrogant, and proud" "dirty and immoral," &c., &c., &c., all in the same strain for the sake of truth and Christian charity!-ED. The Theosophist.

can

2 As Father Desideri has it in one of his very few correct remarks about the lamas of Tibet, "though many may know how to read their mysterious books, not one explain them"-an observation by-the-bye, which might be applied with as much justice to the Christian as to the Tibetan clergy.-(See App. Tibet p. 306.)-ED. The Theosophist.

3 The Shammar sect is not, as wrongly supposed, a kind of corrupted Buddhism, but an offshoot of the Bhön religion-itself a degenerate remnant of the Chaldean mysteries of old, now a religion entirely based upon necromancy, sorcery and soothsaying. The introduction of Buddha's name in it means nothing.-ED. The Theosophist.

plished" and the "Perfect"-existed before Buddhism spread in Tibet, and was known, and so mentioned in the pre-Buddhistic books of China as the fraternity of the "great teachers of the snowy mountains."

Buddhism was introduced into Bod-yul in the beginning of the seventh century by a pious Chinese Princess, who had married a Tibetan King, who was converted by her from the Bhön religion into Buddhism, and had become since then a pillar of the faith in Tibet, as Asoka had been nine centuries earlier in India. It was he who sent his minister-according to European Orientalists: his own brother, the first Lama in the country-according to Tibetan historical records-to India. This brother minister returned "with the great body of truth contained in the Buddhist canonical Scriptures; framed the Tibetan alphabet from the Devanagri of India, and commenced the translation of the canon from Sanskrit-which had previously been translated from Pali, the old language of Magadha, -into the language of the country." (See Markham's Tibet.)"

Under the old rule and before the reformation, the high Lamas were often permitted to marry, so as to incarnate themselves in their own direct descendants-a custom which Tsong-kha-pa abolished, strictly enjoining celibacy on the Lamas. The Lama Enlightener of Bhootan had a son whom he had brought with him. In this son's first male child born after his death the Lama had promised the people to reincarnate himself. About a year after the event-so goes the religious legend-the son was blessed by his Bhootanese wife with triplets, all the three boys! Under this embarrassing circumstance, which would have floored any other casuists, the Asiatic metaphysical acuteness was fully exhibited. The spirit of the deceased Lama-the people were told-incarnated himself in all the three boys. One had his Om, the other his Han, the thirdhis Hoong. Or, (Sanskrit :)-Buddha-divine mind, Dharmamatter or animal soul, and Sangha-the union of the former two in our phenomenal world. It is this pure Buddhist tenet which was degraded by the cunning Bhootanese clergy to serve the better their ends. Thus their first Lama became a triple incarnation, three Lamas, one of whom they say got his "body," the other his "heart" and the third, his-word or wisdom. This hierarchy lasted with power undivided until the fifteenth century, when a Lama named Duk-pa Shab-tung, who had been defeated by the Gyalukpas

1 A widely spread tradition tells us that after ten years of married life, with her husband's consent she renounced it, and in the garb of a nun-a Ghelung-ma, or "Ani,” she preached Buddhism all over the country, as, several centuries earlier, the Princess Sanghamitta, Asoka's daughter, had preached it in India and Ceylon.-ED. The Theosophist.

2 But what he does not say (for none of the writers, he derives his information from. knew it) is that this Princess is the one, who is believed to have reincarnated herself since then in a succession of female Lamas or Rim ani-precious nuns. Durjiay Pan-mo of whom Bogle speaks-his Tda-shi Lama's half-sister-and the superior of the nunnery on the Lake Yam-dog-ccho or Piate-Lake, was one of such reincarnations.--ED. The Theosophist.

of Gay-don Toob-pa,*-invaded Bhootan at the head of his army of monks. Conquering the whole country, he proclaimed himself their first Dharma Raja, or Lama Rimbo-chay-thus starting a third "Gem" in opposition to the two Gyalukpa "Gems." But this "Gem" never rose to the eminence of a Majesty, least of all was he ever considered a "Gem of Learning" or wisdom. He was defeated very soon after his proclamation by Tibetan soldiers, aided by Chinese troops of the Yellow Sect, and forced to come to terms. One of the clauses was the permission to reign spiritually over the Red Caps in Bhoctan, provided he consented to reincarnate himself in Lha-ssa after his death, and make the law hold good forever. No Dharma Raja since then was ever proclaimed or recognized, unless he was born either at Lha-ssa or on the Tda-shi Hlum-po territory. Another clause was to the effect that the Dharma Rajas should never permit public exhibitions of their rites of sorcery and necromancy, and the third that a sum of money should be paid yearly for the maintenance of a lamasery, with a school attached. where the orphans of Red-caps, and the converted Shammars should be instructed in the "Good Doctrine" of the Gyalukpas. That the latter must have had some secret power over the Bhootanese, who are among the most inimical and irreconcilable of their Red-capped enemies, is proved by the fact that Lama Duk-pa Shab-tung was reborn at Lha-ssa, and that to this day, the reincarnated Dharma Rajahs are sent and installed at Boohtan by the Lha-ssa and Tzigadze authorities. The latter have no concern in the administration save their spiritual authority, and leave the temporal government entirely in the hands of the Deb-Rajah and the four Pën-lobs, called in Indian official papers Penlows, who in their turn are under the immediate authority of the Lha-ssa officials.

From the above it will be easily understood that no "Dharma Raja" was ever considered as an incarnation of Buddha. The expression that the latter "never dies" applies but to the two great incarnations of equal rank-the Dalai and the Tda-shi Lamas. Both are incarnations of Buddha, though the former is generally designated as that of Avalokiteswara, the highest celestial Dhyan. For him who understands the puzzling mystery by having obtained a key to it, the Gordian knot of these successive reincarnations is easy to untie. He knows that Avalokiteswara and Buddha are one as Amita-pho1 (pronounced Fo) or Amita-Buddha is identical with the former. What the mystic doctrine of the initiated "Phag-pa or "saintly men" (adepts) teaches upon this subject, is not to be revealed to the world at large. The little that can be given out will be found in a paper on the "Holy Law" which we hope to publish in our next.

The builder and founder of Tda-shi Hlum-po (Teshu-lumbo) in 1445; called the "Perfect Lama," or Panchhen-the precious jewel from the words-Pan-chhen great teacher, and "Rim-bochay" priceless jewel. While the Dalai Lama is only Gyalba Rimbochay, or "gem of kingly majesty" the Tda-shi Lama of Tzi-gadze is Panchhen Rimbochay or the Gem of Wisdom and Learning.-ED. The Theosophist.

In Tibetan pho and pha-pronounced with a soft labial breath-like sound-means at the same time "man, father." So pha-yul is native land; Pho-nya, angel, messenger or good news; Pha-me, ancestors, &c., &c.

CONVERSATIONS ON OCCULTISM*

TUDENT.-Are there any rules, binding on all, in white

or good occultism? I mean rules similar to the ten

commandments of the Christians, or the rules for the protection of life, liberty, and property recognized by human law.

Sage. There are such rules of the most stringent character, the breaking of which is never wiped out save by expiation. Those rules are not made up by some brain or mind, but flow from the laws of nature, of mind, and of soul. Hence they are impossible of nullification. One may break them and seem to escape for a whole life or for more than a life; but the very breaking of them sets in motion at once other causes which begin to make effects, and most unerringly those effects at last reäct on the violator. Karma here acts as it does elsewhere, and becomes a Nemesis who, though sometimes slow, is fate itself in its certainty.

Student. It is not, then, the case that when an occultist violates a rule some other adept or agent starts out like a detective or policeman and brings the culprit to justice at a bar or tribunal such as we sometimes read of in the imaginative works of mystical writers or novelists?

Sage. No, there is no such pursuit. On the contrary, all the fellow-adepts or students are but too willing to aid the offender, not in escaping punishment, but in sincerely trying to set counteracting causes in motion for the good of all. For the sin of one reäcts on the whole human family. If, however, the culprit does not wish to do the amount of counteracting good, he is merely left alone to the law of nature, which is in fact that of his own inner life from which there can be no escape. In Lytton's novel, Zanoni, you will notice the grave Master, Mejnour, trying to aid Zanoni, even at the time when the latter was falling slowly but surely into the meshes twisted by himself that ended in his destruction. Mejnour knew the law and so did Zanoni. The latter was suffering from some former error which he had to work out; the former, if himself too stern and unkind, would later on come to the appropriate grief for such a mistake. But meanwhile he was bound to help his friend, as are all those who really believe in brotherhood.

Student-What one of those rules in any way corresponds to "Thou shalt not steal"?

Sage. That one which was long ago expressed by the ancient sage in the words, "Do not covet the wealth of any creature". This is better than "Thou shalt not steal", for you cannot steal unless you covet. If you steal for hunger you may be forgiven, but you coveted the food for a purpose, just as another covets merely for the sake of possession. The wealth of others includes all their

*This article was first printed by Wm. Q. Judge in The Path, January, 1895.