Farewell to Nepal and its Good Kings.
I had asked my host Buḍḍha Vajra to make a translation of my petition
to the Dalai Lama into Nepālese. He had finished the translation, taken
both copies to the palace and handed them to the King Chandra Shamsher.
He had come home and was talking to me:
“Never before in my life,” said he, “have I felt so pleased as I did
to-day!”
“Pray, what happened?”
“When I handed up the petition and its translation, the King wanted to
know who had composed your Tibetan petition. I told His Highness that
you were your own author--which was nothing but truth--and he appeared
to be well pleased. I then said that His Highness might judge the high
merit of your composition by reading my translation of it, which was
but a poor effort. The King took up my translation and began to read
it. When he had finished going over the concluding part, where you
said: ‘The Dalai Lama of Tibet is the incarnation of the God of Mercy
and knoweth all. The fact that Ekai Kawaguchi, a priest of Japan,
was allowed personally to wait on and be taught by Your Holiness who
knoweth all, proveth that our Lord Buḍḍha willed that it should be even
so; not only that, but the same fact proveth that the Gods guarding the
four points of Your Holiness’ palace all willed so. Twenty years have
elapsed since Your Holiness’ country adopted the policy of absolute
seclusion, and no foreigner has been allowed to enter it during that
interval; and the fact that I alone was suffered to visit it proveth
that the Gods guarding the frontiers of your country had permitted me
to do so. Furthermore I discern something profoundly significant in
the combination of events which led Your Holiness that knoweth all
generously to overlook Ekai’s entry into your land and impart to him
the grand mysteries of your religion. Your Holiness knoweth as well as
I that the only two countries in the world that maintain the Mahāyāna
teaching of Buḍḍhism are the Empire of Japan and Tibet. There are
others indeed, but they are insignificant and are in decadence now.
The time is come when these two countries of Mahāyāna Budḍḍhism shall
become acquainted and open intercourse with each other, and join in
sending forth to the world the light of true Buḍḍhism. I think it was
the advent of this new epoch that paved the way for my entrance into
Tibet, and gave me an opportunity, most difficult to obtain, of being
initiated into the grand mysteries even by your Holiness.’ The King was
enraptured with the force and eloquence of your argument.”
I was well pleased that things were so, and I praised our Lord Buḍḍha,
for by His protection and assistance my purpose in coming to Nepāl was
accomplished.
I had to wait till about the 10th of March, in order to secure the
promised royal gift. I thought it unwise to spend the interval in doing
anything that would give an appearance of my being engaged in secret
observations; so openly obtaining permission, I made a trip to the
famous Nāgar Zong peak, a place sacred to Buḍḍhism.
On the 12th of March, a few days after my return from the trip, I was
once more and for the last time summoned to the palace. I took with
me then a red and a white piece of crape, which had arrived in the
meantime from Japan, and presented them to the King, who accepted them
only after much protest. His Highness then caused the Samskṛṭ Texts to
be brought in and gave them to me. He at the same time signed to one of
his English interpreters and through him said in an authoritative tone
of voice:
“Mr. Kawaguchi, these are rare volumes; I have been able to collect
only forty-one parts of the Scripture. I hope you will accept them from
me as a mark of my appreciation of your presents to me.”
I tendered to His Highness my most heartfelt thanks and took leave of
him after a most respectful farewell. The volumes were forwarded for me
to Buḍḍha Vajra’s house, borne by two men.
Everything was done to oblige me, even to passing all my luggage--which
had by that time become quite considerable--through the customs-house
in advance at Kātmāndu instead of at Tispanī or Chisapani, which is the
usual place where all outgoing freights are examined.
On the 16th of March I left Kātmāndu, reached Raxaul station in the
night of the 21st, and on the following night arrived at Calcutta,
where I was met by my friend Mr. Omiya, who scolded me for spending
money recklessly. I spent some days in Calcutta, doing a good deal
of preaching among my countrymen residing there. Thence I went to
Bombay early in April, and there received a most hearty welcome.
There too I did some preaching and also lecturing, on one occasion
before an assembly of Japanese gentlemen resident in the port and on
another before the members of the local branch of the Asiatic Society.
Contributions and gifts given me in money during my stay there amounted
to a considerable sum, and with that money I purchased my passage home,
besides paying back the debts I owed to my friends in Calcutta. On the
24th of April I embarked on the _Bombay Maru_, and sailed for home.
On May 19, 1902, the good ship passed Moji, and the next day she
came along side the Kobe pier, where from a considerable distance I
discerned the figures of my friends, relatives and members of my former
flock, with eyes that grew dimmer and dimmer as the distance shortened.