an agreeable face, broad forehead, and dignified appearance. He asked me a few questions, examined my eyes and tongue, and then led the way into his house. We ascended two ladders, and thus reached the portico of his apartment. The old man sat for a while turning his prayer-wheel, and taking frequent pinches of snuff while he scrutinized me closely.[1] Then he gave me a powder to be taken in a little warm water, and ordered his cook to give me some weak tea (cha t'ang), after which, bearing the Lhacham’s letter in his hand, he went with Tsering-tashi to present it to the Khyabgong Dorje Phagmo.[2]
In the evening I was led to a house in the western end of the lamasery belonging to a monk called Gelegs namgyal, where I had to accommodate myself as best I could under the portico.
Tsing-ta, as Tsering-tashi was usually called, told me that he had asked the Dorje Phagmo to tell my fortune, and that she had made out that my illness would prove very severe but not fatal, but the performance of certain religious ceremonies was most urgently needed to hasten my recovery. She sent me word that, in view of the letter of introduction from the Lhacham I had brought with me, she would shortly be pleased to see me, and that we might have all we required while stopping in Samding.
The next day my companions asked me to give a "general tea" (mang ja) to the eighty odd monks of the convent, and to distribute alms to them at the rate of a karma (two annas) a head. I gave my consent, and at the same time my companions made, in my name, presents to the Dorje Phagmo and to the deities that were pointed out to them as best able to drive away the fiends of disease which surrounded me.
The Dorje Phagmo gave Tsing-ta a sacred pill (rinsel) containing a particle of Kashyapa Buddha’s relics, and the latter hastened to bring it to me, and insisted on my swallowing it forthwith.[3]
- ↑ Tibetan, Mongol, and Chinese doctors ask their patients but few, if any, questions. They are supposed to diagnose the disease by the general appearance of the patient and by his pulse and the condition of his urine.—(W. R.)
- ↑ Khyab-gong and Khyab-gong rinpoche are titles given all the higher incarnate lamas. The word means "protector."—(W. R.)
- ↑ Such pills are usually called mani rilbu. On the ceremonies performed in making them, I must refer the reader to my paper on the subject in Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, October, 1888, p. xxii. On the subject of "general teas," see Huc, 'Souvenirs,' vol. ii. p. 122; 'Land of the Lamas,' p. 104; and Waddell, 'Buddhism of Tibet,' p. 191.—(W. R.)
