SEARCH FOR NEW RULER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

SEARCH FOR NEW RULER

CUSTOM OF ANCIENT TIBET Tibet, the vast and mysterious tableland that has defied the conquerors of all the ages, is looking for a baby who shall be a god. A new Dalai Lama must be found. He is, according to Buddhist belief, a reincarnation of the former holder of the office. The leading prelates of Tibet search for a baby boy who was born as nearly as possible at the time when the Dalai Lama died. It is the ambition of every Tibetan woman to give' birth to a boy who shall become the Dalai Lama. She and all her family are forthwith ennobled. Estates are granted to them by the Tibetan Government. There is never any lack of candidates when the chance presents itself. A weeding-out process soon reduces the choice to about a dozen babies. It is then that the serious task begins of deciding which of these interesting infants possesses the soul of thfe Dalai Lama who has died. The chief test is a close scrutiny of a certain mark that every boy in Tibet bears on his shoulder blade. It is a sun burn produced by a burning glass, but interposed between the burning glass and the child's shoulder is a disc of metal held at an angle which represents the shape of the moon at the time the baby was born. The child with the moon mark nearest to the known shape of the moon when the Dalai Lama died is judged to be his reincarnation.

The lucky j'oungster is then taken from the custody of his parents and carefully trained by prelates for his high office. The parents are usually poor peasants, but so long as their son, the new Dalai Lama, lives they enjoy the title of "The New Patrimony." When he dies they, or such of his next of kin who survive, select a new name and enter the ranks of the nobility. The highest form of blessing bestowed by the Dalai Lama is the placing of both his hands on the head of the person he blesses. The lowest blessing is just a flick with a tassel.

All women have to be content with this lowest blessing except one, and she is entitled to bo blessed b.y the Dalai Lama placing one hand on her head. This woman is the only member of her sex who is deemed by the Tibetans to bo a reincarnation.