SEARCH FOR A GOD

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 September 1943, Page 6

SEARCH FOR A GOD

TIBET'S NEW LAMA

A little boy of five in the far west of China, afier playing happily with his peasant fellows and dreaming boyish dreams on his rough couch, woke up one day last week to be told of his glorious destiny (writes L. V. Keperi, in the “Sydney Morning Herald”). The priests of Tibet had decided he was their spiritual leader, the (body, into 'which one manifestation of the Buddha had consented to be born again. As- the grand Panchen Lama, rhe boy will be taken from Ins parents, ceremoniously enthroned, and given a lofty education as spiritual guide tor all professing the L,ainaist religion, It is more than five years since the previous Panchen Lama died, propped up in his traditional posture as a meditating Buddha, legs tucked under him and hands placed palm upwards in his lap. As his soul, which the priests surrounding him knew for the spirit of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, departed from his body the priests began lheir weary search for its next resting place, in a boy born at that same time and having divine grace. 'l'hey must have followed clues throughout the length and breadth of those mysterious Lamaist lands, the lofty mountains of Tibet and the bordering Himalayan and Chinese regions. If a child had the right birthday they must question his parents iwhether any celestial sign had been vouchsafed at birth, or whether he had any extraordinary spiritual gifts or physical marks of divine favour. Perhaps they might find a spiritual resemblance to the dead Llama, or find the child responding with intelligent recognition when shown some of his old symbols of office.

DIVINE HONOURS Tibet and the rest of the world of Lamaist Buddhism have traditionally \been ruled by two Grand Lamas, .with ill-deflned spheres of influence in temporal and spiritual activities. Temporal rule of the priestly caste dates back with some vicissitudes to a charter of the Kublai Khan, but a period of decay followed before the church was purified in the fifteenth century by an outbreak of vigorous reforming sects preaching monastic discipline, chastity, and abstemiousness. One of these sects was the Yellow Flats, founded by a man with the imaginative title of “Man from the Land of the Onions.” They soon eclipsed the other sects and seized the then single priest-kingship for themselves. It was a Grand Lama of this Order who conceived of consolidating his rule by composing divine legends. He had himself declared as the reincarnation of the most powerful king of Tibet, who in turn was the earthly incarnation of the cornpassionale spirit of the mountains, who had first given Tibetans the magic food to transform them from monkeys into m en.

Pleased with these divine honours, the Grand Lama in an outburst of magnanimity next turned to his old tutor, the abbot of the Tashi-Ihunpo monastery. He created the tutor an equal Grand Lama, and then decided that he too should have a divine pedigree, tracing from Amitabha, of The blissful paradise of the west. This new Larna. often known, from bis residence in the western capital as the Tashi Lama, became to the Tibetans the “Panchen Rinpohe,” or Tibetans the “Panchen Rinpoche,” or term “Dalai” usually prefixed to the original Grand Lnrna at Lhasa is given various honorific meanings, but according Io one Buddhist authority is simply a surname meaning “Ocean.”

Spiritually the system of Lamaistic succession has worked well. Whichever of I lie two Grand Lamas happened to be the older was able to guide the other’s early footsteps, and because the training began so .young saints could be made out of the least saintly of boyish material. The Swedish explorer ? Sven Hedin. who became friendly with the last Panchen Lama, described him as “wonderfully good and kind,” and Sir Charles Bell, who as British political representative in Tibet also knew the Lamas as friends, said of the Panchen Lama: “He has the quiet saintliness of one who prays and works for all mankind. It is not surprising that he should be loved by his people. It is good that there is such a man in Tibet. It is good that there are such men in the world.” It is natural that such spiritual

leaders could resolve their own spheres of influence without quarrelling, but it is equally natural that the'ir various regents, chamberlains, ministers, favourites, and other careerists thronging each court should often manage to egg one or other on to more authority. The setting has been ideal, too, for the secret fingers of international diplomacy to play one Grand Llama off as. a political puppet against the other, a fantastic game in which British suavity has acquitted itself with I good results. I In recent times,, among all these j romantic and shady intrigues, . the Dalai Kama and his followers gained such a large pi-oportipii of the temporal power that the Panchen Larna has had little else to do but apply himself strenuously to spiritual duties I but this has given him the spiritual i leadership. A . I Traditional background assisted ithis, for in the allocation of divine pedigrees it happened that the spiritual emanation of the Buddha which had taken human form in the Panchen Lama was actually the spiritual father of the emanation which had entered the Dalai Lama. His claim to greater holiness was therefore apparent. Conflict between the two courts did [come to one climax in recent years, (over the strangely unspiritual question of payment, for the maintenance lot an army for frontier defence. Outward instrument of the quarrel was a 'chief chamberlain who had been dismissed from the Panchen court for irregularities, and revenged himself after gaining favour with the Dalai [ Lama. The conflict led to the im- [ prisonment of some of the Panchen’s Ministers, and he himself was forced i I to make an undignified retreat across I the frontier, where the Chinese Go- [ vernment gave him sanctuary. i [ This Panchen Lama died after 13 1 years of exile, hovering on themorth,'eastern border of Tibet proper. His [ spiritual influence, however, was un- [ impaired. There was a general desire among the people for his return, and even the party around the Dalai Lama felt the propriety of his return [to the dignity of his own monastery. | Eut when "the invitation did come 'in 1937, the Panchen Lama appeared at the border with an escort of 500 (Mongolian soldiers, provided through [the “generosity” of the Chinese Government, which saw an opportunity Ito regain some of its old power in Tibet. It was an imposing array, and the Dalai authorities had again to return the Panchen Lama, reluctantly but hurriedly, to exile. The little boy from western China may well find his path a smoother 'one. In 1937, there was no Dalai La-| ma, and one fear of the priests at Lhasa was that the Panchen Lama would find one whom he could mould to buttress his own powers and reduce theirs. Since then they have installed lheir own nominee, and it is now clearly the duty of the new Panchen Lama to return to his spiritual home, where the Dalai Lama in i turn can train him. This time, too, China may be less able to spare even 500 troops as escort. So (lie people of Tibet, iwo-thirds of whom support the other third as I a swarming army of priestly mendi- I cants, should get another of their I we.eks-long festivals that make even j a lifetime ' of heavy tithes worth i while, I

It is only three years since they had such a festival to instal the new Dalai Lama, it is more than 50 years since they had a new Pancheon Rinpoche. Dressed in the coloured finery of lheir own holiday costume, they will see their new leader ride by in a great golden palanquin, borne by a (crowd of priests in red dresses and I yellow hats. It will drive through j lines of men in green uniforms, with (red hats and white plumes, and with ;it will go the great golden and pea- ; cock-green umbrellas. ;[ Nights of bonfire and carnival will [follow days of pageantry. Prayeriwheels will whir more rapidly, and I priestly drums and cymbals and 'tinkling temple bells ring out their gay messages. The remnants of deI monism and animism still overlaid on 1 the purity of Tibetan Buddhism give it a rare picturesqueness, and elaborate ritual and demons’ masks add to the excitement of the ceremony.

So the latest manifestation of the I Buddha of infinite light will be welcomed to his new earthly home, and 'our little boy will turn his back for 1 ever on his boyish amusements. I Perhaps, the spectacle of his new' inferiors poking out their tongues at him in the Tibetan gesture of respect may be some consolation for what he has lost in that direction.