The changeless glories of the Path of Truth
In their melodious joyful bursts of song:
On those bejewelled banks they tread in pride;
With gait majestic slow they strut about.
Amid such beautiful scenes I went down along the southern bank of the river, and after about eight miles’ walk I came to Kurum Namse, where I took lunch. I proceeded still further east along the same stream for about five miles, and found the river running north-east, while my road lay south-east into the mountain. I went up the hill about four miles, and stopped at Shab-Tontub.
On the following morning I went eastwards again along a clear stream, and after about four miles I could see from its banks a rocky mountain, at the foot of which there was a temple called Cham Chen Gompa (meaning ‘the monastery of the great image of Charity’, i.e., the Boḍhisaṭṭva of that name), where there was an image of the Buḍḍha Maiṭreya about thirty-five feet high. Boḍhisaṭṭva Maiṭreya (which name means ‘Charity’) is honored as next to Buḍḍha in rank, but in Tibet he is worshipped as a Buḍḍha who will hereafter appear again on earth. I worshipped at this temple, and then at the shrine of the divinities, and of Shākyamuni Buḍḍha beside the temple. Then I entered a lamasery. This temple, which is the largest between Lhasa and Shigatze, has two hundred dormitories, with three hundred priests. The chief priest of the house where I stopped was in great distress on account of some bad dreams which he had had on several successive nights. He had dreamed that he was dying, and this troubled him much, for he had immense wealth. So he asked me to read the Scriptures to him, so that he might be free from the supposed evil. I knew of no gospel specially suitable for such purposes, but I thought that the reading of the Buḍḍhist canon might do him good, so I told him that I would do as he wished, and from the following day began reading The Aphorisms of the White Lotus of the Wonderful Law and other Scriptures in Tibetan.
It was on the 28th of December, as I remember, that a priest was going to Kātmāndu in Nepāl, and I seized the occasion to send a letter home by him, addressed to my bosom friend Tokujuro Hige. I paid him a comparatively large sum of money and asked him to send it registered from the post office of Nepāl. The man was reputed so honest that he had never been known to tell a lie, but strangely enough the letter failed to reach its address, as I have since discovered.
During the afternoon of the 31st I was sped on my way by the head priest, who lent me a horse. I got on the horse, loaded it with my baggage, and going east for about three miles, came to Ta-mi-la, where I was asked to read the Scriptures. While riding to the village, I lifted up my thanks to Buḍḍha for the grace by which I had been saved through so many calamities and afflictions during the year, it being the last day of the 33rd year of Meiji according to the Japanese mode of reckoning (A.D. 1900). I did not know what adversities were yet in store for me, but I could not but think that I might be kept safe to do all I could for the cause of Buḍḍhism.
The New Year’s Day dawned, but I met with nothing special to mark the day, as the Tibetans use the old calendar. Still I got up early at three o’clock in the morning, and turning east, as I had done every New Year’s Day, I began the New Year’s reading of the Scriptures. For, as Buḍḍhism teaches us, it is our duty to pray for the health of the sovereign, and every Buḍḍhist reads the Scriptures on New Year’s Day, in however remote a place he may happen to be, and prays for the welfare of the Imperial Family. I read the Scriptures at the village till the 5th, and on the following day I proceeded seven miles to Omi, where I stopped for the night. In a temple of this village there was an image called in Tibetan Sung Chung Dolma (the Mother of Salvation who utters a command) which was about three feet high, and so beautiful that it seemed as if it might even speak. The Tibetans told me that the image at one time actually spoke. I read the Scriptures there for two days, and received many gifts. I had met the highwaymen, and had been robbed of my money, but money was constantly given to me, and my reading the Scriptures earned me so many gifts, that I had now laid by a considerable sum of money, and I was living on the food given to me by others.
On the 12th of January, at 5 o’clock in the morning, I set out on my journey with a coolie, who carried my baggage. We went on south-east along the bank of a stream flowing through the mountains. Here we found the snow turned into ice, and so slippery was the ground that we had to take great care, lest we should fall. Going on for about twelve miles, we found ourselves at Choe Ten, where there were many hot springs, three of them warm enough to bathe in. I do not know for what disease they might be really efficacious, though they seemed to me to be good for rheumatism. I saw several places in the stream where steaming springs could be seen boiling up. We took our lunch and again went on eastward for about nine miles, till we came in sight of a temple called Mani Lha-khang, in a willow plantation along the river. This temple was so called, because it enshrined a large bronze cylinder holding many pieces of paper each bearing the spell mani, consisting of the following six sounds ‘Om-ma-ni-pad-me-hum’ and meaning “all will be as we will.” The tube was beautifully wrapped in copper foil, and ornamented with gold and silver. It had an iron axle through it and was so formed that it would revolve from left to right. This temple is among the most famous in Tibet. The founder of the temple was Je Tsong-kha-pa, who started a new sect. His memory is held in great esteem in the country, and especially in this temple, mostly because he was the inventor of the “prayer-cylinder”.