Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet Part 14

"Y'etant arrive, il presenta ses offrandes et p.r.o.nonca la benediction; le bouton s'ouvrit alors des quatre cotes, et au milieu apparut l'apotre de l'empire de neige, ne comme 'Khoubilkhan.' Il y etait a.s.sis, les jambes croisees, avait mi visage et quatre mains; les deux mains anterieures etaient jointes devant le coeur, la troisieme de droite tenait un rosaire de cristal, et la quatrieme a gauche une fleur de Lotus blanche, qui penchait vers l'oreille.

"Sur sa figure, dont l'eclat se repandait vers les dix regions du monde, se montrait un sourire qui penetra dans tous les coeurs.

"Le roi et sa suite porterent le 'Khoubilkhan' au palais, en poussant des cris de joie et entonnant des hymnes. Le roi se rendit devant le Bouddha eternel et lui demanda la permission d'adopter pour fils, le 'Khoubilkhan' ne dans la mer de lotus. Mais sa demande ne fut pas agree et il apprit, la veritable origine de ce 'Khoubilkhan.' Le Bouddha infiniment resplendissant posa alors sa main sur la tete de celui-ci et dit 'Fils d'ill.u.s.tre origine! Les etres qui habitent l'apre empire de la neige, qu'aucun Bouddha des temps pa.s.ses n'a pu convertir, qu'aucun du temps futurs ne convertira, et qu'aucun du temps present n'a converti, le seront par la force et la benediction de ton voeu. C'est excellant; c'est excellant! Khoutoukhtou![43]

" 'Aussitot que les habitans de l'apre empire de neige te verront et qu'ils entendront le son des six syllabes (Om mani padme houm) ils seront delivres des trois naissances de mauvaise nature, et trouveront la beat.i.tude par la renaissance comme etres d'une nature superieure. Les esprits malfaisans de l'apre empire de neige, ainsi que tous les etres donnant des maladies ou la mort, aussitot, Khoutoukhtou, qu'ils te verront et qu'ils entendront le son des six syllabes, ils quitteront la fureur et la mechancete qui les anime, et deviendront compatissans.

" 'Les tigres, les pantheres, les loups, les ours et autres animaux feroces, aussitot, O Khoutoukhtou! qu'ils te verront et entendront le son des six syllabes ils adouciront leurs hurlemens, et leur fureur sanguinaire se changera en douceur bienveillante. Khoutoukhtou! ta figure et le son des six syllabes ra.s.saiseront les affames et calmeront la soif des alteres; il tombera comme une pluie d'eau benite, et elle remplira tous leurs desirs. Khoutoukhtou! tu es l'etre gracieux destine a annoncer la volonte du Bouddha a cet empire de neige.

" 'Selon ton example, un grand nombre de Bouddhas s'y montreront, dans les temps futurs, et y repandront la foi.

" 'Les six syllabes sont le sommaire de toute doctrine et l'apre empire de neige, sera rempli de cette doctrine par la force de ces six syllabes --

Om ma ni pad me houm.'

"Apres cette consecration, le Khoutoukhtou s'agenouilla devant le Bouddha, joignit les mains et p.r.o.nonca le voeu suivant: 'Puisse-je etre en etat de pouvoir faire parvenir a la beat.i.tude les six especes d'etres vivans dans les trois royaumes! Puisse-je, avant tout, conduire sur le chemin du bonheur, les etres vivans de l'empire de neige (Thibet).

" 'Loin de moi le desir de retourner dans mon Empire de joie, avant d'avoir acheve l'oeuvre si difficile de la conversion de ces etres. Si une telle pensee, produite par le degout et la mauvaise humeur, s'empare de moi, que ma tete se fende en dix parties, et mon corps, comme cette fleur de lotus, en mille.'

"Apres ces mots, il se rendit dans le royaume de l'enfer, p.r.o.nonca les six syllabes et detruisit les peines des enfers frois et chauds. De la il s'eleva au royaume des animaux, p.r.o.nonca les six syllabes et detruisit la peine que leur produit la cha.s.se. Puis il se rendit dans l'empire des hommes, p.r.o.nonca les six syllabes et detruisit la peine de la naissance, de l'age, des maladies et de la mort. Il s'eleva apres a l'empire des genies du ciel, p.r.o.nonca les six syllabes et detruisit l'envie qui les tourmente pour se disputer et se combattre. Enfin, il aborda le grand Royaume de neige (le Tubet).

"Ici, il apercut la mer d' 'Otang' comme un enfer terrible, et il vit que derechef, plusieurs millions d'etres y'etaient, bouillis, brules, et martyrises.

"Le Khoutouktou se rendit au bord de la mer et dit: 'Oh! que tant de milliers d'etres qui se trouvent dans cette mer, ou ils souffrent des tourmens inexprimables par la chaleur, le froid, la faim, et la soif, puissent rejeter loin d'eux leur enveloppe funeste et renaitre dans mon paradis commes etres superieures. Om mani padme houm!'

"A peine le 'Khoutoukhtou' avait-il p.r.o.nonce ces mots que les tourmens des d.a.m.nes cesserent; leur esprit fut tranquillise, et ils se virent transportes sur le chemin du Bouddha. Le Khoutoukhtou ayant ainsi rendu propres a la delivrance les six especes des etres vivans dans les trois royaumes du monde, se trouva fatigue, se reposa et tomba dans un etat de contemplation interieure!

"Apres quelques temps il vit qu'a peine la centieme partie des habitans de l'empire de neige avaient ete conduits sur le chemin de la delivrance. Son ame en fut si douloureus.e.m.e.nt affectee qu'il eut le desir de retourner dans son paradis. A peine l'avait-il concu, qu'ensuite de ce voeu, sa tete se fendit en dix et son corps en mille pieces.

"Le Bouddha infiniment resplendissant lui apparut dans le meme moment, guerit la tete et le corps fendus du Khoutoukhtou, le prit par la main et lui dit: "Fils d'ill.u.s.tre origine! Vois les suites inevitables de ton voeu; mais parce que tu l'avais fait pour l'ill.u.s.tration de tous les Bouddhas, tu as ete gueri sur-le-champ. Ne sois donc plus triste, car quoique ta tete se soit fendue en dix pieces, chacune aura, par ma benediction, une face particuliere, et au-dessus d'elles sera place mon propre visage rayonnant. Cet onzieme visage de L'INFINIMENT RESPLENDISSANT, place au-dessus de tes dix autres, te rendra l'objet de l'adoration.

" 'Quoique ton corps se soit fendu en mille morceaux, ils deviendront, par ma benediction, mille mains qui representeront les mille Bouddhas d'un age complet du monde (en sanscrit Kalpa),[44] et qui te rendront l'objet le plus digne d'adoration.' "

Cette legende nous explique, non seulement l'extreme importance que les Bouddhistes du Tubet attachent a la formule "Om mani padme houm,"

mais elle nous demontre aussi que son veritable sens est celui que j'ai donne plus haut: Oh! le joyau dans le lotus; Amen! Il est evident qu'elle se rapporte a "Avalokites' vara" ou "Padma pani" lui-meme, qui naquit dans une fleur de lotus.[45]

Um Mani Panee.

As will be seen by the foregoing extract from M. Klaproth's explanation, the mystic sentence, instead of being as I have represented it, is in reality, "Om mani padme houm," or, in a form of spelling more English, if not more intelligible, "Om muni pudmay hoom," and the meaning, supposing its derivation from the Sanscrit to be beyond doubt, would, as therein translated, be, "Oh the jewel in the Lotus, Amen!" Almost every traveller who has mentioned the inscription in question appears to have followed M. Klaproth's p.r.o.nunciation as above; but this, although the one actually given by the value of the Thibetian letters, is certainly not that in use by the people among whom it is chiefly, if not alone, to be found. This I can vouch for, as the words were so incessantly in the mouths of all to whom I applied for information, that I had ample opportunity of hearing and remembering their sound; and having written them on the spot in the Persian character, the p.r.o.nunciation would not be open to the misapprehension or uncertainty to which, after the sounds themselves had been forgotten, the English form of spelling might have rendered them liable.[46]

A form, however, different from both these, is given by one who, with the exception perhaps of M. Hue, had better opportunities than most others for ascertaining the meaning of the words and hearing their actual p.r.o.nunciation: this was Captain Turner, who was nominated by Warren Hastings, in the year 1783, to undertake an emba.s.sy to the Court of Thibet, at La.s.sa.

He, however, makes no mention of the Sanscrit translation above given, and confesses his inability to obtain, even at the head-quarters of Thibetian Buddhism, a satisfactory explanation of the origin or import of the sentence. The following account, taken from Captain Turner's Report on his Mission, may be of interest, as it explains the circ.u.mstances under which an event so unusual as an emba.s.sy to the Court of Thibet was agreed to by the Grand Lama.

In 1772, a frontier warfare having broken out between the "Booteas,"

dependants of Thibet, and the English Government, in consequence of the aggression of the former, Teshoo Lama, at the time regent of Thibet and guardian of the Delai Lama, his superior in religious rank, united in his own person the political authority and the spiritual hierarchy of the country, subservient only to the Emperor of China. The Lama, interested for the safety of Bootan, sent a deputation to Calcutta, with a letter addressed to the governor, of which the following is a translation: -- "The affairs of this quarter in every respect flourish. I am, night and day, employed in prayers for the increase of your happiness and prosperity. Having been informed, by travellers from your country, of your exalted fame and reputation, my heart, like the blossoms of spring, abounds with satisfaction, gladness, and joy.

"Praise be to G.o.d that the star of your fortune is in its ascension! Praise be to Him that happiness and ease are the surrounding attendants of myself and family! Neither to molest, nor persecute, is my aim. It is even the characteristic of our sect to deprive ourselves of the necessary refreshment of sleep, should an injury be done to a single individual; but in justice and humanity, I am informed, you far surpa.s.s us.

"May you ever adorn the seat of justice and power, that mankind may, in the shadow of your bosom, enjoy the blessings of peace and affluence."

The Lama then enters into the subject of the disturbances between his dependants and the British Government, and concludes: -- "As to my part, I am but a Fakeer; and it is the custom of my sect, with the rosary in our hands, to pray for the welfare of all mankind, and especially for the peace and happiness of the inhabitants of this country; and I do now, with my head uncovered, intreat that you will cease from all hostilities in future. In this country the wors.h.i.+p of the Almighty is the profession of all. We poor creatures are in nothing equal to you. Having, however, a few things in hand, I send them to you as tokens of remembrance, and hope for your acceptance of them."[47]

The Lama being in this unusually agreeable frame of mind, the British Government yielded without hesitation to his intercession.

The governor himself readily embraced the opportunity, which he thought the occurrence afforded, of extending the British influence to a quarter of the world but little known, and with which we possessed hardly any commercial connexion.

In 1774 a deputation was sent to carry back an answer to the Lama, and to offer him suitable presents. It was furnished also with a variety of articles of English manufacture, to be produced as specimens of the trade in which the subjects of the Lama might be invited to partic.i.p.ate. The result was, that in 1779, when the Lama visited the Emperor of China at Pekin, desirous of improving his connexion with the Government of Bengal, he desired the British envoy to go round by sea to Canton, promising to join him at the capital. The Emperor's promise was at the same time obtained to permit the first openings of an intercourse between that country and Bengal, through the intermediate channel furnished by the Lama.

The death of both the Lama and the envoy, however, which happened nearly at the same time, destroyed the plans thus formed.

Soon after the receipt of the letters announcing the Lama's death, intelligence arrived of his reappearance in Thibet! His soul, according to the doctrines of their faith, had pa.s.sed into and animated the body of an infant, who, on the discovery of his ident.i.ty by such testimony as their religion prescribes, was proclaimed by the same t.i.tle as his predecessor.

Warren Hastings then proposed a second deputation to Thibet, and Captain Turner was accordingly nominated on the 9th January, 1783.

His mention of the sculptured stones and inscription is as follows: --

"Another sort of monument is a long wall, on both faces of which near the top are inserted large tablets with the words 'Oom maunee paimee oom' carved in relief. This is the sacred sentence repeated upon the rosaries of the Lamas, and in general use in Tibet. Of the form of words to which ideas of peculiar sanct.i.ty are annexed by the inhabitants, I could never obtain a satisfactory explanation. It is frequently engraven on the rocks in large and deep characters, and sometimes I have seen it on the sides of hills; the letters, which are formed by means of stones fixed in the earth, are of so vast a magnitude as to be visible at a very considerable distance."

M. Hue's account of an explanation of the formula, which he received from the highest authority at La.s.sa, is as follows: -- "Living beings are divided into six cla.s.ses -- angels, demons, men, quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles. These six cla.s.ses of beings correspond to the syllables of the formula, 'Om mani padme houm.' Living beings by continual transformations, and according to their merit or demerit, pa.s.s about in these six cla.s.ses until they have attained the apex of perfection, when they are absorbed and lost in the grand essence of Buddha. Living beings have, according to the cla.s.s to which they belong, particular means of sanctifying themselves, of rising to a superior cla.s.s, of obtaining perfection, and of arriving in process of time at the period of their absorption. Men who repeat very frequently and devotedly 'Om mani padme houm,' escape falling after death into the six cla.s.ses of animate creatures, corresponding to the six syllables of the formula, and obtain the plenitude of being, by their absorption into the eternal and universal soul of Buddha."

One traveller only I have been able to find who mentions the sentence as I have done. M. Jacquemont writes, in his "Letters from Cashmere and Thibet," in 1830: -- "I am returned from afar; I have often been very cold; I have had a hundred and eighteen very bad dinners: but I think myself amply recompensed for these trans-Himalayan miseries by the interesting observations and vast collections which I have been able to make in a country perfectly new. The Tartars are a very good sort of people. It is true that to please them I made myself a little heathen after their fas.h.i.+on, and joined without scruple in the national chorus, 'Houm mani pani houm.' "

Judging by the system of spelling he has adopted in other instances in his letters, this would be nearly -- as regards the two main words -- the same p.r.o.nunciation as I have given. He however, in another part, follows it still more closely, and at the same time shows that he is aware of a translation which, although probably the true one, has no connexion whatever with the words as he himself actually represents them.

He says -- "In Thibet they sing a good deal also -- that is, one or two inhabitants per square league -- but only a single song of three words -- 'Oum mani pani;' which means, in the learned language, 'Oh, diamond water-lily!' and leads the singers direct into Buddha's paradise.

"But, though composed of three Thibetian words, it is evidently of Indian origin, and I have proved it BOTANICALLY. The lotus is a plant peculiar to the lukewarm and temperate waters of India and Egypt. There is not one of its genus, or even of its family, in Thibet."

The words, however, are not, as M. Jacquemont says, Thibetian, but Sanscrit; and, although one of the characters in which they are clothed is the current Thibetian, it would appear that neither their true p.r.o.nunciation nor actual meaning is known to the people who thus make such frequent use of them.

The sentence itself is in the mouths of all. In the monastery of Hemis alone, probably as many as a hundred wheels are in continual motion, bearing it within their folds not less than 1,700,000 times. The very stones by the wayside present its well-known characters in countless numbers, and the hills repeat it, and yet to those into whose daily religious observances it thus so largely enters, it comes but as a vain and empty sound, without either sense or signification. The Lamas themselves, no doubt, believe that the doctrine contained in these marvellous words is immense, and the higher dignitaries of the Church may know their derivation; but, to the great majority, even the mystic meaning and dim legendary history which the true p.r.o.nunciation and rightful origin of the words would bring to their minds, are unknown, and they are thus deprived of that large amount of comfort and consolation which they would otherwise derive from the glowing and all-powerful sentence --

"Oh, the jewel in the lotus, Amen!"

CHAPTER C

A Sketch of the History of Cashmere.

A Mahomedan Writer, "Noor ul deen," who begins the history of Cashmere with the Creation, affirms that the valley was visited by Adam after the Fall; that the descendants of Seth reigned over the country for 1,110 years; and that, after the deluge, it became peopled by a tribe from Turkistan.

The Hindoo historians add, that, after the line of Seth became extinct, the Hindoos conquered the country, and ruled it until the period of the deluge; and that the Cashmerians were afterwards taught the wors.h.i.+p of one G.o.d by "Moses;" but, relapsing into Hindoo idolatry, were punished by the local inundation of the province, and the conversion of the valley into a vast lake.