of to-day being a holiday to get himself admitted into the tu-kham tsan order of monks. He invited the Panchen from Kun-khyab ling, and presented to 3800 monks a tanka each, making also large presents to the Grand Lama (of Lhasa?), his court, and the College of Incarnate Lamas. At about 8 a.m. his holiness, the Panchen,[1] arrived, and was received with due honours by the monks and State officials. The road for about 300 yards was lined with red broadcloth and banners. Some old lamas stood in a profoundly reverential attitude on either side of the road, bearing divers sacred objects to receive the Panchen's chyag-wang (blessing[2]). Chinese trumpets, melodious flutes (gyaling), and great resounding horns (dung ch'en) sounded in his honour. He took his seat on an altar in the grand hall of worship (Tso khang), to preside over the inaugural ceremonies. By 10 o'clock the ceremony was over, and we saw the monks returning cheerfully to their cells, each bearing a large flat cake, sticks of candy, and strings of beads. The new incarnation, now admitted as a novice in Tashilhunpo, had gone through the usual course of moral discipline and study like any other monk. Within a year from the date of admission, every monk is required to pass an examination in selections from the sacred books, of which he must repeat from memory, and without a single mistake, 125 leaves. Candidates coming from outside Tibet are generally allowed three years to prepare for their final admission, which gives them the privileges of a resident monk, with an allowance of food. Any one failing to pass the final examination forfeits his rights to residence and his allowances. Once admitted, the monk may rise, by dint of industry and study, to the various degrees of lamahood.[3]
- ↑ During his first visit to Tashilhunpo, Chandra Das was received by the Panchen rinpoche. He describes him as follows: "The Grand Lama is twenty-six years of age, of a spare frame and middling stature. He has a remarkably broad forehead and large eyes, slightly oblique. The expression of his face, although highly intelligent, is not engaging, and lacks that sympathy and dignity so conspicuous in the minister's countenance. The old monks of Tashilhunpo informed me that, unlike his predecessor, the present Grand Lama was more feared than liked, on account of his cold and self-reliant spirit. He is strict in the observance of ceremonies and in the administration of justice, and slow to forgive." Kun-kyab ling is the name of the residence of the Panchen lama, the great lama of Tashilhunpo.—(W. R.)
- ↑ Bogle thus describes the ceremony of blessing by the Panchen rinpoche: "Upon the gylongs, or laymen of very high rank, he lays his palm; the nuus (anni) and inferior laymen have a cloth interposed between his hand and their heads; and the lower class of people are touched, as they pass by, with the tassel which he holds in his hands."—C. R. Markham, 'Narrative of the Mission of Geo. Bogle,' p. 85.
- ↑ For further details on the subject see S. C. D.'s 'Indian Pundits in the Land of Snow,' and Waddell, 'Buddhism of Tibet,' p. 173.
