the religion of the people of Thibet. The _Delai Lama_, Grand
Lama,” is at once the high priest, and the visible object of adoration,
to this nation, to the hordes of wandering Tartars, and to the
prodigious population of China. He resides at Patoli, a vast palace on a
mountain near the banks of the Burampooter, about seven miles from
Lahasse. The foot of the mountain is surrounded by twenty thousand
lamas, or priests, in attendance on their sovereign pontiff, who is
considered as the viceregent of the Deity on earth; and the remote
Tartars are said to regard him absolutely as the Deity himself, and call
him God, the everlasting Father of heaven. They believe him to be
immortal, and endowed with all knowledge and virtue. Every year they
come up from different parts to worship, and make rich offerings at his
shrine. Even the emperor of China, who is a Mantchou Tartar, does not
fail in acknowledgments to him in his religious capacity; and entertains
in the palace of Pekin an inferior lama, deputed as his nuncio from
Thibet. The grand lama is only to be seen in a secret place of his
palace, amidst a great number of lamps, sitting cross-legged on a
cushion, and decked all over with gold and precious stones; while, at a
distance, the people prostrate themselves before him, it being not
lawful for any so much as to kiss his feet. He returns not the least
sign of respect, nor ever speaks, even to the greatest princes; but only
lays his hand upon their heads, and they are fully persuaded that they
thereby receive a full forgiveness of their sins. The _Sunniasses_, or
Indian pilgrims, often visit Thibet as a holy place; and the lama
entertains a body of two or three hundred in his pay. Beside his
religious influence and authority, he is possessed of unlimited power
throughout his dominions, which are very extensive. The inferior lamas,
who form the most numerous as well as the most powerful body in the
state, have the priesthood entirely in their hands, and, beside, fill up
many monastic orders, which are held in great veneration among them. The
whole country, like Italy, abounds with priests; and they entirely
subsist on the rich presents sent them from the utmost extent of
Tartary, from the empire of the great mogul, and from almost all parts
of the Indies. The opinion of the orthodox among the Thibetians is, that
when the grand lama seems to die, either of old age or infirmities, his
soul, in fact, only quits a crazy habitation to enter another, younger
and better; and is discovered again in the body of some child, by
certain tokens, known only to the lamas, or priests, in which order he
always appears. Almost all the nations of the east, except the
Mohammedans, believe the _metempsychosis_, or transmigration of the
soul, as the most important article of their faith; especially the
inhabitants of Thibet and Ava, the Peguans, the Siamese, the greater
part of the Chinese and Japanese, and the Monguls and Kalmucks.
According to their doctrine, the soul no sooner leaves her old
habitation than she enters a new one. The _delai lama_, therefore, or
rather the god Foe or Fuh, residing in the _delai lama_, passes to his
successor; and he being a god, to whom all things are known, the grand
lama is therefore acquainted with every thing which happened during his
residence in his former bodies. This religion, which was early adopted
in a large part of the globe, is said to have been of three thousand
years’ standing; and neither time, nor the influence of men, has had the
power of shaking the authority of the grand lama. This theocracy, which
extends as fully to temporal as to spiritual concerns, is professed all
over Thibet and Mongalia; is almost universal in Greater and Less
Bucharia, and several provinces of Tartary; has some followers in the
kingdom of Cashmere, in India; and is the predominant religion of China.
It has been observed that the religion of Thibet is the counterpart of
the Roman Catholic, since the inhabitants of that country use holy
water, and a singing service. They also offer alms, prayers, and
sacrifices for the dead. They have a vast number of convents filled with
monks and friars, amounting to thirty thousand, and confessors chosen by
their superiors. They use beads, wear the mitre, like the bishops; and
their _delai lama_ is nearly the same among them as the sovereign
pontiff was formerly, in the zenith of his power, among the Roman
Catholics. So complete is the resemblance, that, when one of the first
Romish missionaries penetrated Thibet, he came to the conclusion that
the devil had set up there an imitation of the rites of the Catholic
church, in order the more effectually to destroy the souls of men.
Captain Turner, speaking of the religion of Thibet, says, It seems to be
the schismatical offspring of the religion of the Hindoos, deriving its
origin from one of the followers of that faith, a disciple of Bouddhu,
who first broached the doctrine which now prevails over the wide extent
of Tartary. It is reported to have received its earliest admission in
that part of Tibet, or Thibet, bordering upon India, which from hence
became the seat of the sovereign lamas, to have traversed over
Mantchieux Tartary, and to have been ultimately disseminated over China
and Japan. Though it differs from the Hindoo in many of its outward
forms, yet it still bears a very close affinity with the religion of
Brumha in many important particulars. The principal idol in the temples
of Tibet, or Thibet, is Muha-Moonee, the Booddhu of Bengal, who is
worshipped under these and various other epithets, throughout the great
extent of Tartary, and among all nations to the eastward of the
Brumhapootru. In the wide-extended space over which this faith prevails,
the same object of veneration is acknowledged under numerous titles:
among others, he is styled Godumu, or Gotumu, in Assam and Ava, Shumunu
in Siam, Amida Buth in Japan, Fohi in China,” &c.
Lama,” is at once the high priest, and the visible object of adoration,
to this nation, to the hordes of wandering Tartars, and to the
prodigious population of China. He resides at Patoli, a vast palace on a
mountain near the banks of the Burampooter, about seven miles from
Lahasse. The foot of the mountain is surrounded by twenty thousand
lamas, or priests, in attendance on their sovereign pontiff, who is
considered as the viceregent of the Deity on earth; and the remote
Tartars are said to regard him absolutely as the Deity himself, and call
him God, the everlasting Father of heaven. They believe him to be
immortal, and endowed with all knowledge and virtue. Every year they
come up from different parts to worship, and make rich offerings at his
shrine. Even the emperor of China, who is a Mantchou Tartar, does not
fail in acknowledgments to him in his religious capacity; and entertains
in the palace of Pekin an inferior lama, deputed as his nuncio from
Thibet. The grand lama is only to be seen in a secret place of his
palace, amidst a great number of lamps, sitting cross-legged on a
cushion, and decked all over with gold and precious stones; while, at a
distance, the people prostrate themselves before him, it being not
lawful for any so much as to kiss his feet. He returns not the least
sign of respect, nor ever speaks, even to the greatest princes; but only
lays his hand upon their heads, and they are fully persuaded that they
thereby receive a full forgiveness of their sins. The _Sunniasses_, or
Indian pilgrims, often visit Thibet as a holy place; and the lama
entertains a body of two or three hundred in his pay. Beside his
religious influence and authority, he is possessed of unlimited power
throughout his dominions, which are very extensive. The inferior lamas,
who form the most numerous as well as the most powerful body in the
state, have the priesthood entirely in their hands, and, beside, fill up
many monastic orders, which are held in great veneration among them. The
whole country, like Italy, abounds with priests; and they entirely
subsist on the rich presents sent them from the utmost extent of
Tartary, from the empire of the great mogul, and from almost all parts
of the Indies. The opinion of the orthodox among the Thibetians is, that
when the grand lama seems to die, either of old age or infirmities, his
soul, in fact, only quits a crazy habitation to enter another, younger
and better; and is discovered again in the body of some child, by
certain tokens, known only to the lamas, or priests, in which order he
always appears. Almost all the nations of the east, except the
Mohammedans, believe the _metempsychosis_, or transmigration of the
soul, as the most important article of their faith; especially the
inhabitants of Thibet and Ava, the Peguans, the Siamese, the greater
part of the Chinese and Japanese, and the Monguls and Kalmucks.
According to their doctrine, the soul no sooner leaves her old
habitation than she enters a new one. The _delai lama_, therefore, or
rather the god Foe or Fuh, residing in the _delai lama_, passes to his
successor; and he being a god, to whom all things are known, the grand
lama is therefore acquainted with every thing which happened during his
residence in his former bodies. This religion, which was early adopted
in a large part of the globe, is said to have been of three thousand
years’ standing; and neither time, nor the influence of men, has had the
power of shaking the authority of the grand lama. This theocracy, which
extends as fully to temporal as to spiritual concerns, is professed all
over Thibet and Mongalia; is almost universal in Greater and Less
Bucharia, and several provinces of Tartary; has some followers in the
kingdom of Cashmere, in India; and is the predominant religion of China.
It has been observed that the religion of Thibet is the counterpart of
the Roman Catholic, since the inhabitants of that country use holy
water, and a singing service. They also offer alms, prayers, and
sacrifices for the dead. They have a vast number of convents filled with
monks and friars, amounting to thirty thousand, and confessors chosen by
their superiors. They use beads, wear the mitre, like the bishops; and
their _delai lama_ is nearly the same among them as the sovereign
pontiff was formerly, in the zenith of his power, among the Roman
Catholics. So complete is the resemblance, that, when one of the first
Romish missionaries penetrated Thibet, he came to the conclusion that
the devil had set up there an imitation of the rites of the Catholic
church, in order the more effectually to destroy the souls of men.
Captain Turner, speaking of the religion of Thibet, says, It seems to be
the schismatical offspring of the religion of the Hindoos, deriving its
origin from one of the followers of that faith, a disciple of Bouddhu,
who first broached the doctrine which now prevails over the wide extent
of Tartary. It is reported to have received its earliest admission in
that part of Tibet, or Thibet, bordering upon India, which from hence
became the seat of the sovereign lamas, to have traversed over
Mantchieux Tartary, and to have been ultimately disseminated over China
and Japan. Though it differs from the Hindoo in many of its outward
forms, yet it still bears a very close affinity with the religion of
Brumha in many important particulars. The principal idol in the temples
of Tibet, or Thibet, is Muha-Moonee, the Booddhu of Bengal, who is
worshipped under these and various other epithets, throughout the great
extent of Tartary, and among all nations to the eastward of the
Brumhapootru. In the wide-extended space over which this faith prevails,
the same object of veneration is acknowledged under numerous titles:
among others, he is styled Godumu, or Gotumu, in Assam and Ava, Shumunu
in Siam, Amida Buth in Japan, Fohi in China,” &c.