[51] Manning says (op. cit., p. 265), “The ceremony of presentation being over, Munshi and I sat down on two cushions not far from the lama’s throne, and had suchi [[168]]brought us. It was most excellent, and I meant to have mended my draught and emptied the cup, but it was whipped away suddenly, before I was aware of it.” Suchi is sol (gsol) ja, the polite term for “tea.” “Perfumed tea” is the Chinese hsiang pien ch’a.—(W. R.) [↑]
[52] Tonmi Sambhota introduced the alphabet of India into Tibet, and negotiated the king’s marriages with his two famous consorts. Gar (Mgar) was an equally famous general of the same epoch, and Prince Gungri gung-tsan is, I think, Srong-btsan gambo’s grandson. See Emil Schlagintweit, ‘Die Könige von Tibet,’ p. 47 et sqq.—(W. R.) [↑]
[53] There are seventy-five gods bearing this name. The gon-po (mgon-po) are the fiercest of the terrifying type of divinities.—(W. R.) [↑]
[54] On this famous Tibetan statesman (“Tisri vir ingenii sagacissimi,” as Georgi, op. cit., p. 329, calls him), see Georgi’s notice, loc. cit., and Jour. Roy. Asiat. Soc., xxiii. p. 186. [↑]
[55] Meaning “the ornament of the world.” [↑]
CHAPTER VII.
GOVERNMENT OF LHASA—CUSTOMS, FESTIVALS, ETC.
The Dalai lama’s[1] position resembles that held until lately by the Pope in the Christian world. He is believed by the Northern Buddhists to be the Buddha’s Vice-regent incarnate on earth, and the spiritual protector of Tibet. He is known as Tug-je chenpo Shenrezig, or the Most merciful Avalokiteswara. He never dies, though at times, displeased with the sinfulness of the world, he retires to the paradise of Gadan,[2] leaving his mortal body on earth. The ancient records of Tibet say that he has only appeared on earth fourteen times in the eighteen centuries from the time of the Buddha’s death to the beginning of the fifteenth century.
In the year 1474 Gedun-gyatso was born, an embodiment of Gedun-dub, who was an incarnation of Shenrezig, and the founder of the famous lamasery of Tashilhunpo.[3] Gedun-gyatso was elected head lama of Tashilhunpo in 1512, which office he resigned to fill the same position in Dabung, the chief lamasery of Lhasa. He had built at this latter place the Gadan phodang of Dabung, which since then has been famed as the principal seat of Buddhist learning.[4] He was the first of the line of Dalai lamas. [[172]]