8. Bede = Bhota, or Bothanga, the Indian name of Tibet. See Schmidt's
translation of the "History of the Mongols," by the native historian,
sSanang sSetsen.
Before proceeding farther it is necessary to say a few words
concerning the history, religions, and customs of Tibet and Mongolia,
to illustrate the local colouring the following Tales have received
by passing into Mongolia.
Buddhism nowhere took so firm a grasp of the popular mind as in Tibet,
where it was established as early as the 7th century by its greatest
king, Ssrong-Tsan-Gampo. No where, except in China, was its influence
on literature so powerful and so useful, for not only have we thus
preserved to us very early translations from the Sanskrit of most of
the sacred writings, but also original treatises of history, geography,
and philosophy. Nowhere, either, did it possess so many colleges and
teachers; it was by means of these that it was spread over Mongolia
in the 13th century; the very indistinct notions of religion there
prevailing previously, with no hierarchy to maintain them, readily
yielding at its approach. Mang-ku, grandson of Ginghis Khan [61],
added to the immense sovereignty his warlike ancestor had left him,
the whole of Tibet about the year 1248. His brother and successor,
Kublai Khan, who reigned from 1259 to 1290, occupied himself with
the internal development of his empire. He appears to have regarded
Christ, Moses, Muhammed, and Buddha as prophets of equal authority,
and to have finally adopted the religion of the last-named, because
he discerned the advantages to be derived in the consolidation of his
power from the assistance of the Buddhist priests already possessing
so great influence in Tibet. He was seconded in his design by the
eager assistance of a young Lama, named sSkja Pandita, and surnamed
Matidhvaga = "the ensign of penetration," whom he not only set over the
whole priesthood of the Mongolian empire, but made him also tributary
ruler of Tibet, with the grandiloquent titles of "King of the great
and precious teaching; the most excellent Lama; King of teaching in the
three countries of the Rhaghân (empire)." Among other rich insignia of
his dignity which he conferred on him was a precious jasper seal. He
is most commonly mentioned by the appellation, Phagss-pa = "the most
excellent," which has hence often been taken erroneously for his
name; his chief office was the coronation of the Emperor. The title,
Dalai Lama [62], the head of Tibetian Buddhism, is half Mongolian,
and half Tibetian. Dalai is Mongolian for "ocean," and Lama Tibetian
for "priest;" making, "a priest whose rule is vast as the ocean."
Of the four Khânats or kingdoms into which the Mongolian Empire
was divided, that called Juan bordered on Tibet, and to its Khâns
consequently was committed the government of that country; but they
interfered very little with it, so that the power of the people was
left to strengthen itself. The last of them, Shan-ti, or Tokatmar-Khân,
was turned out in 1368 by Hong-vu, the founder of the Ming dynasty,
who sought to extend his power by weakening that of the Lamas. In
order to this he set up four chief ones in place of one. Jong-lo who
reigned from 1403 to 1425, further divided the power among eight; but
this very subdivision tended to a return to the original supremacy of
one; for, while all bore the similar title of Vang = "little king,"
or "sub-king," it became gradually necessary that among so many one
should take the lead, and for this one the title of Garma or patriarch
was coined ere long.
The Tibetians and Mongolians receiving thus late the doctrines of
Shâkjamuni received a version of it very different from his original
teaching. The meditations and mystifications of his followers had
invested him with ever new prerogatives, and step by step he had
come to be considered no longer in the light of an extraordinary
teacher, or even a heaven-sent founder of religion, but as himself
the essence of truth and the object of supreme adoration. Out of
this theory again ramified developments so complicated as almost to
defy condensation. Thus Addi-Buddha, as he was now called, it was
taught was possessed of five kinds of gnâna or knowledge; and by five
operations of his dhjâna or contemplative power he was supposed to
have produced five Dhjâni-Buddhas, each of which received a special
name, and in process of time became personified and deified too,
and each by virtue of an emanation of the supreme power indwelling
him had brought forth a Dhjâni-Bodhisattva. The fourth of these,
distinguished as Dhjâni-Bodhisattva-Padmapâni, was the Creator, not
only of the universe, but also of Brahma and other gods whom Shâkjamuni
or his earlier followers had acknowledged as more or less supreme. And
as if this strange theogony was not perplexing enough, there had come
to be added to the cycle of objects of worship a multitude of other
deifications too numerous even to name here in detail.
Among all these, Dhjâni-Bodhisattva-Padmapâni is reckoned the chief
god by the Mongolians. The principal tribute of worship paid him
is the endless repetition of the ejaculation, "Om Manipadmi hum"
= "Hail Manipadmi O!" Every one has heard of the prayer-machine,
the revolutions of whose wheel set going by the worshipper count
as so many exclamations to his account. "The instrument is called
Tchu-Kor (turning prayer)," writes Abbé Huc. "You see a number of
them in every brook" (in the neighbourhood of a Lamaseri) "turned
by the current.... The Tartars suspend them also over the fireplace
to send up prayer for the peace and prosperity of the household;"
he mentions also many most curious incidents in connexion with this
practice. Another similar institution is printing the formulary an
immense number of times on numbers of sheets of paper, and fixing
them in a barrel similarly turned by running water. Baron Schilling de
Kanstadt has given us (in "Bulletin Hist. Phil. de l'Ac. des Sciences
de S. Petersburg," iv. No. 22) an interesting account of the bargain he
struck with certain Mongolian priests at Kiakhtu, on the Russo-Chinese
frontier. It was their great aim to multiply this ejaculation a hundred
million times, a feat they had never been able to accomplish. They
showed him a sheet which was the utmost reach of their efforts, but
the sum total of which was only 250. The Baron sent to St. Petersburg
and had a sheet printed, in which the words were repeated seventy
times one way and forty-one times the other, giving 2870 times, but
being printed in red they counted for 25 times as many, or 71,750;
then he had twenty-four such sheets rolled together, making 1,793,750,
so that about seventy revolutions of the barrel would give the required
number. In return for this help the Mongolian Lama gave him a complete
collection of the sacred writings in the Tibetian language; Tibetian
being the educated, or at least the sacred, language of Mongolia.
Concerning the meaning of this ejaculation, Abbé Huc has the
following:--"According to the opinion of the celebrated Orientalist
Klaproth, the 'Om mani padme houm' is merely the Tibetian transcription
of a Sanskrit formula brought from India to Tibet with the introduction
of Buddhism and letters.... This formula has in the Sanskrit a distinct
and complete meaning which cannot be traced in the Tibetian idiom. Om
is among the Hindoos, the mystic name of the Divinity, and all their
prayers begin with it. It is composed of A, standing for Vishnu, O,
for Siva, and M, for Brahma. This mystic particle is also equivalent
to the interjection O! It expresses a profound religious conviction,
and is a sort of act of faith; mani signifies a gem, a precious thing;
padma, the lotus, padme, vocative case. Lastly, houm is a particle
expressing a wish, and is equivalent to the use of the word Amen. The
literal sense then of this phrase is
"Om mani padme houm."
O the gem in the lotus. Amen.
In the Ramajana, where Vasichta destroys the sons of Visvamitra [63]
he is said to do so by his hungkara, his breathing forth of his desire
of vengeance, but literally by his breathing the interjection 'hum.'
"The Buddhists of Tibet and Mongolia, however, have tortured their
imagination to find a mystic interpretation of each of these six
syllables. They say the doctrine contained in them is so immense
that a life is insufficient to measure it. Among other things, they
say the six classes of living beings [64] correspond to these six
syllables.... By continual transmigrations according to merit, living
beings pass through these six classes till they have attained the
height of perfection, absorbed into the essence of Buddha.... Those
who repeat the formula very frequently escape passing after death
into these six classes.... The gem being the emblem of perfection,
and the lotus of Buddha, it may perhaps be considered that these
words express desire to acquire perfection in order to be united with
Buddha--absorbed in the one universal soul: "Oh, the gem of the lotus,
Amen," might then be paraphrased thus:--"O may I obtain perfection,
and be absorbed in Buddha, Amen!" making it a summary of a vast system
of Pantheism.
Buddhism, however, received its greatest and most remarkable
modification in this part of the world from the teaching of an
extraordinary Lama, named bThong-kha-pa, who rose to eminence in the
reign of Jong-lo, and is regarded with greatest veneration among not
only the Tibetians and Mongolians, including the remotest tribes of
the Khalmouks, but also by the more polished Chinese, and more or
less wherever Buddhism prevails.
Though subsequently pronounced to be an incarnation of Shiva he
was born in the year 1357, in the Lamaseri of ssKu-bun = "a hundred
thousand images," on the Kuku-noor, or Blue Lake, in the south-west
part of the Amdo country, several days' journey from the city of
Sining-fu. In his youth he travelled to gTsang-lschhn, or Lhassa,
in order to gain the most perfect knowledge of Buddhist teaching, and
during his studies there determined on effecting various reforms in
the prevailing ideas. He met with many partisans, who adopted a yellow
cap as their badge, in contradistinction from the red cap heretofore
worn, and styled themselves the dGe-luges-pa = "the Virtuous." Besides
introducing a stricter discipline his chief development of the Buddhist
doctrines consisted in teaching distinctly that Buddha was possessed
of a threefold nature, which was to be recognized, the first in his
laws, the second in his perfections, the third in his incarnations.
The supreme rule of the Buddhist religion in Tibet also received
its present form under the impulse of his labours. His nephew,
dGe-dun-grub-pa (born circa 1390, died 1475), was the first Dalai
Lama. He built the celebrated Lama Palace of bKra-schiss-Lhun-po,
thirty miles N. of Lhassa, in 1445. Under him, too, was established
the institution of the Pan-tschhen-Rin-po-tsche (the great venerable
jewel of teaching), or Contemplative Lama. Tsching-Hva, the eighth
Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established their joint authority as
superior to all the eight princely Lamas set up by Jo-long [65].
Abbé Huc, in the course of his enterprising missionary travels,
visited all the places I have had occasion to mention, spending a
considerable time at some of them. By local traditions, collected by
word of mouth and from Lamaistic records, he gives us a most fantastic
and entertaining narrative of Tsong-Kaba, as he calls the Buddhist
reformer: of the fables concerning his birth; of the marvellous
tree that grew from his hair when his mother cut it; of his mature
intelligence in his tenderest years; his supernatural call to Lha-sa
(Land of Spirits); and of the very peculiar mode of argument by which
he converted Buddha Chakdja, the Lama of the Red Cap. More important
than all this, however, is the light he throws on the mode in which
the great incorporation of Christian ideas and ceremonial into Buddhist
teaching came about. During his years of retirement Tsong-Kaba became
acquainted with a mysterious teacher "from the far West," almost beyond
question "one of those Catholic missionaries who at this precise period
penetrated in such numbers into Upper Asia." The very description
preserved of his face and person is that of a European. This strange
teacher died, we know not by what means, while Tsong-kaba was yet in
the desert; and he appears to have accepted as much of his doctrine as
either he had only time to learn or as suited his purpose, and this
in the main had reference "to the introduction of a new Liturgy. The
feeble opposition which he encountered in his reformation would seem
to indicate that already the progress of Christian ideas in these
countries had materially shaken the faith in Buddha.... The tribe
of Amdo, previously altogether obscure, has since this reformation
acquired a prodigious celebrity.... The mountain at the foot of
which Tsong-Kaba was born became a famous place of pilgrimage; Lamas
assembled there from all parts to build their cells [66]; and thus
by degrees was formed that flourishing Lamasery, the fame of which
extends to the remotest confines of Tartary. It is called Komboun,
from two Tibetian words, signifying ten thousand images. He died at
the Lamasery of Khaldan ('celestial beatitude'), situated on the top
of a mountain about four leagues east of Lha-Ssa, said to have been
founded by him in 1409. The Tibetians pretend that they still see his
marvellous body there fresh and incorruptible, sometimes speaking,
and by a permanent prodigy always holding itself in the air without
any support.
"Mongolia is at present divided into several sovereignties, whose
chiefs are subject to the Emperor of China, himself a Tartar, but of
the Mantchu race. These chiefs bear titles corresponding to those of
kings, dukes, earls, barons, &c. They govern their states according
to their own pleasure. They acknowledge as sovereign only the Emperor
of China. Whenever any difference arises between them they appeal
to Pekin and submit to its decisions implicitly. Though the Mongol
sovereigns consider it their duty to prostrate themselves once a year
before the 'Sun of Heaven,' they nevertheless do not concede to him
the right of dethroning their reigning families. He may, they say,
cashier a king for gross misconduct, but he is bound to fill up the
vacant place with one of the superseded prince's sons.... Nothing can
be more vague and indefinite than these relations.... In practice
the will of the Emperor is never disputed.... All families related
to any reigning family form a patrician caste and are proprietors of
the soil.... They are called Taitsi, and are distinguished by a blue
button surmounting their cap. It is from these that the sovereigns of
the different states select their ministers, who are distinguished
by a red button.... In the country of the Khalkhas, to the north
of the desert of Gobi, there is a district entirely occupied by
Taitsi, said to be descendants of Tchen-kis-Khan.... They live in
the greatest independence, recognizing no sovereign. Their wealth
consists in tents and cattle. Of all the Mongolian regions it is
this district in which are to be found most accurately preserved
patriarchal manners, just as the Bible describes them, though every
where also more or less prevailing.... The Tartars who are not Taitsi
are slaves, bound to keep their master's herds, but not forbidden
to herd cattle of their own. The noble families differ little from
the slave families ... both live in tents and both occupy themselves
with pasturing their flocks. When the slave enters the master's tent
he never fails to offer him tea and milk; they smoke together and
exchange pipes. Round the tents young slaves and young noblemen romp
and wrestle together without distinction. We met with many slaves
who were richer than their masters.... Lamas born of slave families
become free in some degree as soon as they enter the sacerdotal life;
they are no longer liable to enforced labour, and can travel without
interference." He further describes the Mongols in general as a hardy,
laborious, peace-loving people, usually simple and upright in their
dealings, devout and punctual in such religious faith and observances
as they have been taught, caring, however, little for mental studies,
occupied only with their flocks and herds, and continually overreached
by the Chinese in all their dealings with them.