Future of the Tibetan Religions.
The Tibetans are essentially a religious people. Foreigners call them
superstitious, and indeed my own observation also testifies that their
faith is veritably a mass of superstition. Yet it would be inaccurate
to say that there is no truth in their religion. A small but precious
jewel is often found among useless rubbish; wise men will not throw
away the jewel along with the rubbish, even though it may not be
found at the first glance. I can find at least two precious things
in the creed of the Tibetans. One of them is that they recognise
the existence of a superhuman being who protects us. They are also
sure of the possibility of communication with this being by dint of
religious faith. It is true that they have several unreasonable rites
of worship, which may be compared to the rubbish round the jewel, but
in the midst of them they know that Buḍḍha is all love, that He removes
calamities from us, and makes us happy at length. They also recognise
the existence of deities subject to the emotions of anger, and ready
to punish those that offend them; but even ignorant Tibetans know the
difference between the Gods and the Buḍḍha, the former to be feared,
and the latter simply an object of gratitude.
The other precious thing I can point out is their belief in the law
of cause and effect. According to this law, each deed is rewarded
according to its deserts; whatever vices one commits will be followed
by suffering; on the other hand, every man shall enjoy the result of
the good that he has done. They also believe that the law of cause
and effect is everlasting, the seed making the fruit, and the fruit
the seed, and so on for ever. In the same way, they think, our mind
is imperishable, and often reproduced in the world. Thus far their
faith is worthy enough, but the doctrine of transmigration, of which
they have a too firm conviction, is apt to lead to superstition. The
Tibetans often really think such and such Lamas have been born again
in such and such places. But the precious Buḍḍhist creed that one’s
mind and body are everlastingly in accordance with the law of cause and
effect and self-compensation is so thoroughly taught to every Tibetan
from his childhood by his mother, that the home lessons of the Tibetan
children almost always take the form of sermons on their mythology and
miscellaneous stories connected with Buḍḍhism. In sooth, Buḍḍhism is
so deeply ingrained in the country that no other religion can exist in
Tibet, unless it be explained by the light of Buḍḍhism. Thus, the Old
Bon religion has been greatly modified and has indeed entirely lost
its original form and been replaced by the New Bonism, which resembles
the Ryōbu Shinto of Japan, in which the Sun God is interpreted as
the incarnation of Buḍḍha; but the Tibetan goes further than the
Ryōbu Shintoist did. By Bon is meant Shinnyo or Truth, or rather the
incarnation of Shinnyo, and it is considered to be one branch of
Buḍḍhism.
One of the things which most struck me was that Muhammadanism is
found in Tibet, mostly among the Chinese and the descendants of the
immigrants from Kashmīr. They number about three hundred in Lhasa and
Shigatze, cling pertinaciously to their doctrines, and have two temples
in the suburbs of Lhasa, with two cemeteries on the side of a distant
mountain. One of the temples is for the Musulmāns from Kashmīr, and the
other for the Chinese. It is rather strange to see the calm existence
of Muhammadanism in a country where Buḍḍhism is so predominant. One
thing that the Musulmāns in Tibet say is very striking. They declare
that according to their religion there exist previous and future
worlds, but that man is reborn as man, never as a lower animal, as
Buḍḍhism says, and that the final destiny of the human soul is the
Kingdom of Heaven or Hell. I once argued with some of the Muhammadans
that no such doctrine as transmigration is to be found in the _Koran_,
in which mention is made of the future world, but none about the past.
Then I suspected that it might have been adopted from the Christian
religion, for in the bible the subject is just touched on. But I
doubted whether any doctrine of that sort had ever been pronounced upon
by the Muhammadan Kalifate. When they heard me speak thus they simply
said: “There is, there really is, the doctrine of future and previous
worlds in the Muhammadan religion,” and they said it with a straight
face. They really seemed to think so, but I think it a modification
derived from Buḍḍhism.
Of late Christian missionaries have been trying to introduce their
religion into Tibet, and I can but admire their undaunted spirit. But
the country does not admit any foreigners, so their utmost efforts
have no effect on the interior. They attempt therefore to convert
the Tibetans who come to Darjeeling, or those who live about Sikkim.
For these purposes hundreds of thousands of dollars have already
been spent, and the bible and many other religious books have been
translated into the Tibetan language. There are also many books
written in Tibetan against Buḍḍhism. As soon as Darjeeling was opened
to foreigners, the first pioneers to the town were the Christian
missionaries, and ever since they have been preaching their religion
with utmost zeal.
Notwithstanding all their endeavors, Christian missions have been so
far a failure. The so-called members are false members, and the more
earnest are not genuine Tibetans, but Sikkimese who pretend to be
Tibetans. It can truly be said that there is not a single Tibetan from
the interior of the country who really believes in Christianity, though
there are a few who declare themselves Christian because they can thus
get a living. Go to the house of a reputed Christian and you will
always find in some inner room of his house the image of Buḍḍha, before
which butter-lamps are burned in secret day and night. When he goes
out he pretends to be a Christian, and on Sunday he carries his bible
and goes to church! Such a Christian of course quickly turns his back
upon Christ when his pocket is full, or he is not likely to receive
any more. The missionaries make a mistake if they think that they can
easily convert a Buḍḍhist into a Christian; for the reverse is the
case. Let me state some fundamental differences between Christianity
and Buḍḍhism. By the ‘Enlightenment’ of Buḍḍhism one obtains absolute
freedom; the greatest spiritual freedom is to be attained by one’s
self, while in Christianity there is an infinite power called God who
prevents one from attaining absolute freedom. Again the nature of
cause and effect is not clear in the Christian religion. I read in the
bible “A good tree will bear good fruits and a bad tree will bear bad
fruits.” Therefore I cannot say that the doctrine of cause and effect
is not alluded to at all in this religion, but its scope is limited.
If they would extend the text and make it applicable to previous and
future lives, then I think they might open the way for Christianity to
reach the Tibetans. Furthermore the sentence “Thy faith has saved thee”
of Christ means exactly what Buḍḍha meant: “Of one’s own deeds, one’s
own reward.” But it seems to me that the true meaning of the words
of Christ is not fully developed and that its application is far too
narrow. I think this is one cause of the unpopularity of Christianity
among the Tibetans, who have a very deep belief in the theory of
“receiving according to one’s own deeds.” These are the chief reasons,
I believe, why Christianity obtains so few followers among the Tibetans
after so many years of hard work by scores of missionaries at the cost
of millions of dollars.
To sum up what we have seen: The predominant religion at present is
Buḍḍhism, and the others are the Bon, the Muhammadan and the Christian.
We have seen how the old pre-Buḍḍhist Bon religion has been transformed
into the New Bon, which is now looked upon as a sect of Buḍḍhism, and
how the Muhammadan religion existing within a very small sphere of
influence has shown a gradual approach to Buḍḍhism, though unnoticed
by themselves. As to the Christianity of Tibet, it does not seem
probable that it can flourish in this land unless the present sectarian
prejudices of the Churches are entirely removed and a new form and
attitude be given it, so as to adapt it to the Tibetan people. The
present Tibetan Buḍḍhism is corrupt and on the road to decay; still
it has some jewels in it, and is almost naturally inherent in every
Tibetan, and it is probable that it will continue to be predominant in
the country by its own _vis inertiae_ until a great man comes to the
front to undertake the work of religious reformation and to restate the
truths of the Great Freedom of Buḍḍha.