Three Years in Tibet

by Ekai Kawaguchi

In each province there are two places where the collection of taxes is made for the Government, one of which is the temple, and the other the Local Government office; for the people are divided into two classes: (1) those who are governed by the temple and (2) those who are governed by the Local Government. They pay their taxes to the Central Government through their respective Governors. In each local district, there is what is called a Zong. This was originally a castle built for warlike purposes, but in time of peace it serves as a Government office, where all the functions of Government are carried on, so taxes are also collected there. The Zong is almost always found standing on the top of a hillock of about three hundred feet and a Zongpon (chief of the castle), generally a layman, lives in it. He is the chief Governor of the district and collects taxes and sends the things or money he has gathered to the Central Government. The Zongpon is not paid by the Central Government directly, but subtracts the equivalent of his pay from the taxes he has collected. The Central Government does not send goods or money to the Local Government except on such few occasions as need special help from the national Treasury. The people under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Government are sometimes made to pay a poll-tax. The people who belong to the nobility and the higher class of priests are of course assessed by their landowners, but there is no definite regulation as to their payment to the Central Government; the people of some districts pay, while others are exempt.

Part of the work done by the Tibetan Minister of the Treasury is the management of the subscriptions of the people. Everything offered to the Buḍḍhist Temple and given to the priests at the time of the Great Assembly is at once paid into the Treasury, to be given out only by the order of the Minister of that department. Another business taken by the Minister is the household expenses of the Pope. These expenses are not fixed, and the Pope can draw out as much as he pleases within the limit of usage, and his own moderation. It is said that since the accession of the present Pope both the expenditure and the revenue have been greatly increased. The Minister of the Treasury has also to pay all the salaries of officials and priests in the service of the Papal Government. These expenses for salaries are very small, as compared with those of other countries, but the officials and priests derive an additional income from the land in their own possession.

Officers and priests in Tibet can each borrow fifteen hundred dollars from the Government at an interest of five per cent a year and they can lend it again at fifteen per cent, which is the current rate of interest in Tibet, though usurers sometimes charge over thirty per cent. Thus any officer can make at least ten per cent on fifteen hundred dollars without running much risk. If an officer or priest fails to repay the loan the amount is not subtracted from his next year’s loan. Compound interest is unknown in Tibet however long the debtor may prolong his payment; it is forbidden by the law. Another subsidy given by the Government is six dollars extra pay per annum to each priest of the Three Great Temples. In this connexion it must also be stated that the Three Great Temples just mentioned receive a vast amount of mal from the Government.

The supplementary resources of the Pope’s revenue are subscriptions from the members and laymen, the leases from meadow-lands in his personal possession, and profits acquired by his own trading, which is carried on by his own caravans. The Pope’s caravans must be distinguished from those of the Treasury Department.

The Treasury of the Grand Lama is called Che Labrang, which means the Lama’s kitchen on the hill, because the Lama’s palace is located on a hill. It is called Potala and the place is a castle, a temple, and a palace at once. As a castle it has no equal in Tibet, in view of the strength of its fortifications; as a temple, it can look down upon all other lamaseries of the country for elegance and gaudiness. As a palace, of course there is no building that surpasses it. But in spite of all this, there is a deplorable defect in its water supply. Within the high walls that defend the dwellers from the attacks of an enemy there is no well or spring whatever. The people have to go far away to get a bucket of water from a well which can only be reached by descending a hundred and fifty feet of stone steps and crossing another hundred and fifty feet of level ground. To reach the top of the hill one has to climb another three hundred feet, making the journey three quarters of a mile altogether. It is of course no easy work for the residents to carry water so far, and there are therefore many workers who make it their business to do this for them, charging about twelve cents per man a month. The aristocratic priests, who bear the title of Namgyal Tatsang, live in one part of the castle and number one hundred and sixty-five. They represent the highest type of the Tibetan priesthood and are all selected with great care, even physique and physiognomy being taken into consideration. They live in good style at the Pope’s personal cost.

The property of the Grand Lama, after his death, is divided in the following way: One-half of the property (in fact a little more than half) has to be divided among his relatives in his native place, and the remaining half is distributed as gifts among the priests of the Great Temples and those of the New Sect. In the case of an ordinary priest, if he leaves property worth five thousand dollars about four thousand is used in gifts to the priests and for the expense of lights, and almost all the remaining thousand is used for his funeral expenses, leaving perhaps three hundred to his disciples. In cases when a priest leaves very little money, his disciples are obliged to borrow money to supply the want of gifts and money for lights in his honor—a custom entirely foreign to the laity.

[CHAPTER LXXVIII.]
Future of the Tibetan Religions.

The Tibetans are essentially a religious people. Foreigners call them superstitious, and indeed my own observation also testifies that their faith is veritably a mass of superstition. Yet it would be inaccurate to say that there is no truth in their religion. A small but precious jewel is often found among useless rubbish; wise men will not throw away the jewel along with the rubbish, even though it may not be found at the first glance. I can find at least two precious things in the creed of the Tibetans. One of them is that they recognise the existence of a superhuman being who protects us. They are also sure of the possibility of communication with this being by dint of religious faith. It is true that they have several unreasonable rites of worship, which may be compared to the rubbish round the jewel, but in the midst of them they know that Buḍḍha is all love, that He removes calamities from us, and makes us happy at length. They also recognise the existence of deities subject to the emotions of anger, and ready to punish those that offend them; but even ignorant Tibetans know the difference between the Gods and the Buḍḍha, the former to be feared, and the latter simply an object of gratitude.