Word: lamas
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Even today, no one knows quite where fact leaves off and Pinto's fertile imagination takes over. His account of a meeting with the Dalai Lama is obviously grandiose fancy. His most disputed claim is that he was the first European to see Japan, and taught the Japanese how to use firearms. As Pinto tells it, he and two other Portuguese were on a Chinese ship which was blown off course and landed at an island off Kyushu. A Japanese prince sent for him, asked him if he knew of a cure for the gout. The prince was delighted...
...Thomases had a fairly uneventful trip on their muleback way from India to Lhasa, but in Lhasa things got more exciting. They had the rare enough distinction of being presented to the Dalai Lama, and while the spiritual head of millions of Lamaistic Buddhists had very little to say, the travelers had a good chance to talk with some of his advisers...
...hardest theocracy in the world. The sketches compose what may be one of the last close-ups of a strange ruling class, compound of enlightenment and cruelty, high spirituality and human self-seeking. The author plays some of his characters for discreet laughs -as when a high lama muses on the possible numbers of unrecognized reincarnations of the Buddha. "For instance," he reminded his guests, "take your own President-undoubtedly he is a living Buddha...
After a despairing conference with his advisers, Tibet's ruler, the 16-year-old Dalai Lama, made a hasty flight from his capital. Ahead of him went a thousand-mule train carrying 75 tons of the palace treasures. Before leaving, the Lama's government notified Chinese Communist headquarters that it was defenseless and ready to sue for peace. The new rulers of Tibet radioed back instructions to all government officers to stay...
...Dalai Lama reached Yatung, near the Indian border, where he secluded himself for prayer and meditation. Seventeen days later the court official reached India, "to seek," he said, "a peace...