Word: lamas
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...also one of the most benighted. Tibet is one of the world's last theocracies: its culture centres about its religion, Lamaism, a form of Buddhism which was brought up from India through the Himalayan passes in the 7th Century. This hierarchical faith, with its priests, abbots, lamas (monks), hutukhtus ("Living Buddhas"), is headed by two infallible incarnations-the Panchen Lama, a spiritual teacher or "Buddha of Boundless Light," and the Dalai Lama, a temporal sovereign, the "Buddha of Mercy...
...hostile mandarins and officials had accepted the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War, to pick up useful military data for possible future use. The Mannerheim party traveled 8,750 miles on horseback, lost two Cossacks from the hardships of the journey, had many adventures. Colonel Mannerheim kept the Dalai Lama waiting to receive him while he carefully shaved and dressed, made his peace with the gift of a revolver, which he showed the Lama how to use. At Lhabrang Monastery he was hissed and stoned by pilgrims. The expedition took two years, gave Colonel Mannerheim a reputation as a scientist...
Into Lhasa, bleak Forbidden City of windswept Tibet, last week a swaying caravan brought home Tibet's "living god." This 14th Dalai Lama, sovereign pontiff of Tibet, a bright, intelligent lad of five named Tanchu, had been discovered in western China (TIME, Aug. 21). Instead of taking him direct to Lhasa, the caravan went some hundreds of miles out of the way to Chungking, China's capital, where an attendant held the button-eyed god aloft before the populace. Thence representatives of the Chinese Government accompanied the caravan to Lhasa...
...robed Je Chen, Tibet's regent until Tanchu reaches his majority at 18, greeted the reincarnated pontiff with due ceremony. From a golden bowl the regent drew one of numerous bamboo slips which, if a proper choice had been made, would bear the name of the new Dalai Lama. Sure enough, it bore Tanchu's. This ritual the visiting Chinese watched contentedly. By establishing a Chinese as Dalai Lama they had, for what it was worth, underscored the influence China has long claimed over chill, far, out-of-the-world Tibet...
...familiar Tibetan figure is the sinister Tzuren or poison-doctor, who practices his art to keep the ins in and the outs out. In modern times, only Dalai Lama who did not die mysteriously before reaching his majority has been Ngawang Lopsang Toupden Gyatso. In 1893, shortly before he took office, he thoughtfully ordered his regent and other advisers thrown into dungeons. As "Buddha of Mercy" he then had a long and prosperous life. If the 14th Reincarnation learns this much about the 13th, he may think it wise to do the same...