LAND OF MYSTERY.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18137, 30 September 1930, Page 10

LAND OF MYSTERY.

BEYOND THE HIMALAYAS.

TIBET’S DOORS CLOSED. MISSIONARY LIFE ON BORDER. Tibet Is still closed to all Inquirers. No one Is allowed to , penetrate into this queer mouni':' tain country beyond the snows of the Himalayas.. Those Europeans who have done so and come out again oould almost be numbered on the fingers .of the hands, even In these days of international reciprocity and Intercommunication of ideas, and many who have ventured daringly have paid the penalty of their curiosity. Visiting Wellington at present is Rev. R. Cunningham, ■ of Edinburgh, who has been serving the China inland Mission for the last twenty years in the province of Sze-Chuan, that province of China, with its 60,000,000 inhabitants, which lies along the eastern border of Holy Tibet, the impeneThough primarily Mr Cunningham’s work lies among the Chinese, he has been brought into contact almost continually with these curious nomadic people, and has among them assiduously in an bndeavour to show them the Light, with slight success among the populace, and absolutely none among the .Lamas (the priests), with which the country is overrun. ) Mr Cunningham says that to begin to understand the Tibetans one must Lamaism is a domestic religion—a heterodox form of Buddhism —in a heteredox form of Buddhism —in a more intense form than is known in any other country. If a woman has two sons one at least becomes a Lama, possibly both, and one frequently finds cases where one woman has five or six sons all priests. Those devoted to this debased religion leave the parental vhome, if one may call it that (for the Tibetans are wholly nomadic), at the "age of six or seven, and it is expected that the mother should keep them in the lamassaries —the great monasteries which are scattered throughout th« country. To realise that possibility, too, it has to be remembered that the mother is the head of the household. She is the commercial md financial head, and does all the family management,’ which indicates that probably feminism has its rise beyond the lofty Himalayas. Then the fare is most frugal. It consists almost entirely for the 365 days of the year of a queer mixture of yak butter and tea. The tea comes from China, .and. after being boiled in water for three or four hours is mixed with a little salt and soda and a great chunk of rancid butter made from the milk of the yak. This, with ground, roasted barley, forms almost exclusively the fare of 'the Tibetans. The greater part of the country was of an altitude of 13,000 feet or more, and little grows there save grass, and that but -scantily. Still, the people-seem to be quite as healthy as others, and are just about as long-lived, on the average. Temples and Tents. ' ' To what an extent religion is practised may he learned from the fact that in Dureliang there is a lamas- . sary with 7700 priests, celibates, demoted to a religion founded' on the Phallic principles. This seems strange, for Tibet is surrounded by countries peopled by, either polygam- . ous tribes, in which a man takes as many wives as he is able to keep, or polyandrous folk, where one woman sometimes has five or six husbands. These people will not tolerate foreigners in the country, and it is a difficult, not to say dangerous, business to' try to gain entrance to this land of mystery. Refined Cruelty. **We do not work alone for Christianity in Sze-Chuan,” said Mr- Cunningham. “There is a fine Roman Catholic mission there, and in times of common danger the Europeans come very close together. There is a real danger at times. You will realise that by the fate of Father Devanas, a young French priest, who was captured on the border at Damo by some Lamas, taken to one of their temples, and there tied to a stake. Father Devanas had a luxuriant beard, and his punishment was to have one hair of it phicked out .by each priest as he entered or left the temple each day. This refinement of torture continued for five weeks, when Bishop Valentine

v> organised a rescue and brought the man back into the province. The V sisters did what they could to succour him_ but the strain' of the dreadful torture he had undergone for such a time had completely broken his spirit. He had no further desire to live — and he died.” ..Mr Cunningham explained that only ' : the' priests-were so cruel. The no- ; jmadic people were quite possible to get on with, and by the printing of the New Testament in Tibetan, and setting a Christian example, some progress had been made in misisonary work. In Talsiendu (Sze-Chuan), the town where he was located, which was only 9200 feet above sea level, they had quite a good variety of food, including plenty- of vegetables. On the other hand, Tibet was wholly pastoral —there was never an acre of land ploughed there. It was formerly part of Tibef, but had been subjugated by the Chinese, and was known as subjugated territory. Know Nothing of the War. Talsiendu was far remote from the civil wars of the northern and eastern provinces, and no one worried much in Sze-Chuan whether Marshal Feng or General Chiang were on top. They simply knew nothing about it, and : wanted to know nothing. It was a six-weeks’ journey from Sze-Chuan to Shanghai—twelve days by sedan .chair or pony, - four or five days by native boat, and the rest by steamer. This was, however, a very expensive journey to a missionary. The Yang-tse-kiang extended 2000 miles into China, .besides which within a comparatively brief area arose the Bramapootra and the Irawadi, which is served for 1000 miles by fine steamers with Scotch engineers.

, The Dalai Lama. Although Mr Cunningham has been for the last twenty years on the border of Tibet engaged in missionary ,\vork on behalf of the China Inland . Mission he has never set eyes on the mysterious Dalai Lama,, who rules, financially, commercially and religiously over Tibet. Probably there never was a ruler more absolute than this person. His word is law in everything.. . . ,; “How does he happen—is he elected?’,' he was asked. : -- ; “Oh, no,” said Mr Cunningham.

“He is a, reincarnation. I think the present Dalai Lama is the fifteenth reincarnation of the one being. I do not know exactly' how they arrive at it, but the head priests cast, spells or draw lots in ordejf-tp find the new Dalai when one' dihs. It might be a baby, a child of six or„. seven, or a young man; but ■once' chtfsen he reigns Ijmeme. and ail do hfih>homage.”