This Volume forms a sequel to the author's Tibet: Past and Present and The People of Tibet. Like them, it is in part an historical account, in part a description of conditions in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Sir Charles Bell traces the history of the introduction of Buddhism of the resistance of the developments which have taken place within Tibetan Buddhism itself. The latter part of the book deals more particularly with the religious organization, with life in the great monasteries and with the religious customs and beliefs of the people. The illustrations are from the author's own photographs taken in Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan.

About the Author:

SIR CHARLES BELL was born in Calcutta in 1870 and educated in England at Winchester and Oxford. He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1891 and was transferred to Kalimpong, Sikkim in 1901, where he began his lifelong relationship with Tibet. He twice acted as Political Officer for Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet and eventually held that post for ten years before retiring in 1919. He was recalled to duty, however, and in 1920 headed a successful diplomatic mission to Lhasa.

He wrote several books about Tibet, her people and her language; few since, and certainly none before, have written so well about Tibet.

Preface

This book attempts to describe firstly how Buddhism in a late and strange from came to Tibet and was there developed to suit the needs of an exceptional country and people and secondly how for several centuries and down to the present day it dominates the Tibetan nation. About three fourths of the material set out in these pages is new i.e. valuable books and manuscripts given me by the Dalai Lama the Pan chen Rim-po-che and others as well as conversations with leading Tibetans in Lhasa and elsewhere. So many are inner workings of its Tibetan adaptation that the subject may perhaps prove acceptable to a circle of readers.

I write Tibetan names and other words as they are pronounced in the central province round Lhasa. Tibetan spelling does not represent the modern pronunciation in any part of Tibet. But for a few of the names &c the more important ones I have entered the spelling in Tibetan script in the footnotes. There are several competing systems of transliteration into the roman character but none are quite satisfactory and students of things Tibetan may therefore prefer to have these words in Tibetan itself.

The illustrations except one are my own. This one the frontispiece I owe to his holiness the pan chen Lama himself. My indebtedness in other fields is I hope made clear in the text.

Contents

I	A Hidden Land	3
	An Inaccessible country with a cold climate has kept others out - Homogeneous - A race of Nomads - has not progressed in material civilization - Turns to religion - And to trade and Brigadage - Instinct for orderliness - but religion the strongest force - living beliefs
II	The Old Faith	8
	The nature of Pon the old faith - Shamanism - magical tambourines - human sacrifices - inference form Mongolia - And from toehr nations forming part of the Mongolian branch of the human race - Tantrik practices - nature and the worship of Nature in Tibet - No monks no nuns, no temples - Lepchas, Limbus Lolos, Mosos - ponist
III	Gotama the Buddha	21
	House and Parentage - was the Buddha an Indian - Early strivings for the Truth - Gains Enlightenment - the Bodhi tree - The first sermon conduct - The noble eightfold path - the Four noble Truths - A Religion of conduct - Intellectual not emotional - karma - the chain of causation - desire as to the form of one’s rebirth - Arhat, Nirvana - Not definable - Buddhism nor pessimistic or selfish - position of women in Buddhism - daily life of the Buddha- Tolernace - arouses no Violent opposition - Reasons why Buddhism has endured - the Buddha did not teach interference in politics - did not recognize prayer or sacrificer - The abominable doctrine of to forgiveness of sins -the social virtues prescribed to laymen - Buddhism in India
IV	Buddhism Comes to Tibet	29
	Changes in Buddhism - Great Vehicle and little Vehicle (Mahayana and Hinayana) - Bodhisattvas - Buddhas and deities - worship of the sacred Books - Spells - Metaphysical discussions - Nagarjuna - Abstract of teaching in the great Vehicle - Differs greatly from the Buddha’s teaching - Buddhism declines within India but remains strong in the north west - Nalanda and Vikramashila - Hindu influence on Buddhism - Tantrism - Nirvana and Sexual union - this later Buddhism comes from India to Tibet - King To-to-ri - king Straight strong deep - king Ti-song de - tsen - Teaching from China and from Ladakh - Shanti Rakshita - Tibetans teacher comes - why Indian rather than Chinese teachers preferred - Padma Sambhava subdues evil spirits and found Sam-ye Monastery - teaching from the Little Vehicle introduced - The first monks - his two wives - the lotus and exotic emblem - Opposition of Pon and banishment of Padma Sambhava - But Buddhism Progresses under other teachers - Disputes between Indian and Chinese schools - Kamala Shila - Chinese expelled - Madhyamika doctrine prescribed - Kamala shila killed - His mummy - Lang Dar-ma succeeding to the throne is superseded - Ral-pa-chan - Promotes Buddhism - Organizes the clergy - Foreign conquest - Records from the Tarim Basin - Murdered by points Ministers - Dar-ma is a gain made king - foreign teachers - Tibetan translators - The Buddhist Bible - The Commentaries - Accuracy of the translations - Their great value at the present day
V	Expulsion and return	47
	Both the Great and the Little Vehicle represented in Tibetan Buddhism - Sarvastivadins - Tantrism - Lang Darma’s repressive measures - Lang-dar-ma killed - Shaktism - Suppression of Buddhism for seventy years - Revival begins in Am-do - Translation work resumed - A stranded pandit - Indian love of religion - The great Kashmiri Pandit - A Prince held to ransom - Searching the sacred books - Tibetan conquests in Turkistan and China - But Buddhism puts an end to their military prowess - Pandits from Bengal, Nepal, and Kashmir - Atisha - comes to Tibet as an old man - meets and reprove good Gem - Questioned regarding his accomplishment - Gives secret initiation - writes religious commentary - initiates with Tantrik rites but restrainedly - Careful of his own reputation - Drom-ton becomes his intimate disciple - Great spread of Buddhism in Tibet - Atisha visits Lhasa and Sam-ye - welcomed by Chen-re-zi in the Form of a white man - helps in translation of sacred books - lives in the Rock of purity - My visit to his monastery - Atisha’s death and tomb - his successor and the new sect
VI	Buddhism Becomes the National Religion	60
	Monastic Strongholds - Re-ting Monastery - Drom-ton - Po-to-wa - Meeting of all the learned Lamas - Widespread Zeal - Indian Buddhists come tot Tibet for Instructions - Mar-pa - A Quarrelsome genius - Stays three years in Nepal - Learns Tantras in India - Sets up as a Tantrist in Tibet and takes fees - Visits India Again - Inaugurates the Ka-gyu sect - visits India for the third time - A riddle to his neighbours - Though appearing worldly drunk, and avaricious still a Boddhisattva - Teaching or asceticism - Ngok the translator - Cotton Clad Mi-La - Sa-kya - Growth of priestly power - Sa-kya Hierarchs invited to court of Mongol Emperors - Asked to Introduce religion and writing among the Mongol - Mongol invasions into Tibet - Dri-kung and Ta-lung - Pandits from Kashmir and Swat - Internecine struggles - Tibetans become highly learned - Tantrism and Shaktism - How monastic libraries were formed - Painstaking revisions - Si-tu or Pak-mo-tru - Compromise between Buddhism and pon - Conflict between a Buddhist and Ponist priest - And between a Buddhist priest and a Hindu yogi - ponist converted through actions in his former life - Buddhist study ponist faith - Most translations influenced by the old faith - Lines on which Buddhism developed in Tibet - Scope of the Tibetan histories of religion - Rim-po-che kar-ma-pa Lion - Married saints - Shooting and fishing for - bidden - high standard of Tibetan learning marital decline Mongol invasions - Fighting warfare - Religion connexion between Tibet and Nepal - Tibet’s strong national Church - Her administrative ability - Buddhas and priests gods and demons all one organizations - the fighting spirit in religion
VII	Cotton-Clad Mi-La	80
	Mi-la’s wide appeal - His date - His biography and songs their value in religion history and literature - Da-wa Sam-Trup - Mi-la’s early life - Defrauded by uncle and aunt - learns sorcery - Thus kills most of his enemies and destroys their crops - Repentance - Comes to Mar-pa - Long and hard penance - Drunkeness of a living Buddha - Mar-pa’s wife lightens Mi-la’s hardships - His sore back treated like a donkey’s - two fold object of Harships - Initiation - Consecrated wine a human skull - Religious training - Goes to his home - Uses his mother’s bones as a pillow - Asceticism - Lives on nettles - Hyms of perseverance - Internal warmth - Hunters - Declines to rob the maggots powers - Avoids popularity - Seeks solitude near mount everst - Takes Karma as the root of his religion - Voidnes - Toal abnegation of self - The familiar spirit of Evil - Prays for a solitary death - A sermon on prudishness - Pe-ta’s partial conversion - wicked aunt’s repentance - Mi-la was Tantrik and occult - Condemns Ka-dam-pa teachings - Praises the Mystic Doctrine - Instruction to his disciples - Tibetan Buddhists and Christian Gnostics compared - His nirvana - Mi-la’s place in history
VIII	The Yellow Hats	95
	Tsong-ka-pa - His wide studies - Reforms Tibetan Buddhism - The Virtuous way - The Great prayer - Esoteric Doctrines - Invitation to China declined - the Nine brother sprites - Mongol soldiers and the new priesthood - Influence of Tsong0ka-pa - His tomb - Anniversary of his death - official winter - Lotus thunderbolt founder of the line of Dalai Lamas - Childhood and youth - Takes the name of Ge-dun Trup-pa - the great dre-pung and se-ra monasteries founded - Meditation as a cure for illness - Ge-dun Trup-pa builds Ta-shi lhun-po monastery - Things deposited in the image of Gotama Buddha - Image of Ge-dun Trup-pa himself - the coming Buddha absorbs in it - visible inspiration - Last illness - A goddess weeps - His last instructions - Passes into Buddhahood - Dissension as to successor - Gr-dun Trup-pa’s characters and life work - the system of reincarnation in Tibet - focused on the succession of spiritual sovereignty - The system succeeds and is extended
IX	Buddhism Captures Mongolia	110
	So-nam Gya-tso - System of reincarnation firmly established - Identifies the property &c of his former existence - Seeks spiritual strength by meditation - Spreads Tsong-ka pa’s teaching in Tibet - Accepts Altan Khagan’s invitation to visit Mongolia - Tibetan Buddhism introduced into Mongolia three centuries earlier - witnessed by William de Rubruquis - But had faded away - Mongol opposition to So-nam overcome by miracles - meeting between king and lama - Chinese deputation to Lama -the latter proclaims the law - his political value of recognized by China - Effect on Mongolia - so-nam shrewd use of reincarnation and karma - the Title dalai Lama introduced - So-nam Gya-tso visits China and south eastern Tibet - Appoints yon-ten Gya-tso as his delegate in Mongolia - ponist opposition in eastern Tibet - Altan Khagan is restored to health but dies a year latter - So-nam returns to Mongolia - Invited again to China but falls ill and dies - Body Speech, and ming - Reborn as Altan’s grandson and named Yon-ten Gya-tso - Thus Mongolia takes her Buddhism solely from Tibet
X	The Priest Enthroned	119
	De-si Tsang-pa - His humble origin and rise to power - Portuguese Jusuits come to Bhutan and shigatse - Jesuit mission in western Tibet - Description of De-si Tsang-pa - how letters are conveyed in Tibet -Difficulties of the young fifth Dalai Lama - Appeals to Gushi Khan the Mongol who conquers Tibet and makes it over to him - But is unsuccessful in his attack on Bhutan - An occasional autocracy - Tsang-pas descend the rope Lhasa’s yearly precaution - fifth Dalai Lama and De-si Tasang-pa enter into realitons with emperor of China - General political position in the middle of the seventeenth century - incarnations or living Buddhas - Potala built - description of exterior and interior - Dalai Lama moves into Potala and lives in seclusion - His apartments in Dre-pung preserved as a sacred bequest - The Regent Sang0gye Gya-tso - Festival of the Great prayer enlarged - Dalai Lama visits Chinese Emperor - Golden tablet - Establishment of soverign power of Lhasa - Sang-gye Gyat-tso conceals Dalai Lama’s death - The new incarnation - Fifth Dalai Lama is a turning point in Tibetan history - Tibetan veneration for his memory
XI	Christian Missionaries in Lhasa	137
	How Young Dalai Lama are brought up - Sixth Dalai’s love for women wine and song - Chinese and Mongols wish to depose him - sang-gye gya-tso killed - his services to Tibet - His image in Lhasa police court throne preserved in Potala court of justice - Mogols and Chinese seize sixth Dalai Lama and take him towards peking but he dies on the way - dispute as to fresh incarnation and consequent fighting - Tibetan nominee accepted but Chinese gain power in Tibet - Capuchin priests in Lhasa - Tibetan opposition - civil war - Mission Commander in chief and regent - Gives regent an exposition of Christianity - A Tibetan history’s refernce to the life of Christ - Quits Tibet after living there for five years - His description of Lhasa - almost the same to-day - Capuchins come again to Lhasa - Final collapse of Mission - Hue and Gabet - Tibetan priesthood has always prevented Christine priests from starying in Tibet - Mob violence learning asceticism - Mission relic in Lhasa
XII	Modern Times	154
	Tibetan dislike of alien rule - Fresh uprising against Chinese - China’s policy in Tibet - Pan-Chen Lama visits Chinese court - Gurkha invasion of Tibet - Lord Cornwallis - Attempts to control the next world - Rules for choosing incarnations - manning sees a boy Dalai Lama - Four Dalai Lamas in succession die young - An intriguing abbot and a strong Regent - Tibetan Explanation of the early deaths of these four - An angry goddess passion - the ball of great price - how a young Dalai Lama is identified - Mausolea of the Dalai Lamas - Anniversary of the death of the ninth - Present Dalai Lama - Attempt to kill by witchcraft - ponist element even among high Lamas of the reformed sect - Appearance and character of the Dalai Lama - Religions and secular events in his reign - The work washing abbot - Dalai Lama offers soldiers to fight for the British in the world war
	Part Two How it Rules
XIII	The Power of the Monasteries	169
	Power of the monks - Monastery in revolt - Monks seldom liable to secular jurisdiction - Twice yearly assume the powers of the Lhasan magistracy - Dalai Lama restrains them - Priests govern districts - Presents gives to Monasteries to gain their support - Dalai Lama reduces the power of the monasteries - Monks in personal employ of Dalai Lama - China and the three seats - Chinese government and the Tibetan priesthood - Monastery in revolt - Shut them up with their lice - relations between priests and laymen - power of the priesthood
XIV	Priests as Civil and Military officers	175
	Priests in civil military employ - method of recruitment - The ecclessistaical School - varied duties of priest officials - Two or three officials working jointly - The three treasuries - The Barley flour Takers - Custodians of the temple and of the chapets in the potala - Priest officials work hard - The court of the grand secretaries - Smallness of official salaries - Independent attitude of the priest officials - A Lama in military employ - The lord Chamberlain - A Living Buddha made a tu-trung - fate of a living Buddha who became a king - Civilian appointed to command a regiment - Priest made a lay official - the presence tea - A priest in Diplomacy - Priests work as military officers - Let them dance as they will
XV	A Deity as King	184
	The Regent - How chosen - The enthroned of gan-den - A Layman as regent - Dalai Lama’s regent - Spiritual sovereignty - Great power of Dalai Lama - Control of the monks - Outbreaks in religious festivals - a Bankrupt merchant - Dalai Lama monastic policy - secular sovereignty - Judical work - Decree against Prime Minister - Removal of checks on Dalai Lama’s power - Jurisdiction in criminal cases - Capital Punishment - Important cases - Unauthorized appeals to his holiness - An autocratic ruler - Influence in Mongolia - Heaviness of his work - Relations with Ta-shi Lhun-po and Bhutan - Dalai Lama and the reply to them - Dalai lama tells china that Tibet is independent of her - His religious devotions - omni science - writing on mountain sides - reverence accorded to Dalai Lama

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