聖武記 records that the Emperor had built in anticipation of his arrival in Jehol a temple modelled after the Temple of Happiness and Longevity on the Mount Sumeru[1] in Tashi-lhunpo [須彌福壽之廟] This Imperial munificence is alluded to in the inscription and in the report of Porungheer Gosein. Mr. Mayers in "Chinese Government" likewise mentions it. Edkins asserts, that one of the monasteries in Jehol is modelled after Potala, the residence of the Dalais at Lhassa. (Edkins Chinese Buddhism p. 266) As the wording of the inscription refers to the temple (or palace) of the Pan-ch'an in Tashi-lhunpo and the above statement of the 聖武記 likewise confirms this, it seems to me probable that Edkins had confounded this palace with the Potala in Lhassa.
The Emperor met the Pan-ch-an at first in the 避暑山莊之澹泊誠敬殿
In order to converse with the Pan-ch‘an intimately, the Emperor had previously learned the language of the 唐古特 Tang-ku-tê (Tanguths.) The 聖武記 gives an interesting enumeration of the polyglot accomplishments of Ch‘ien Lung, which is worthy of repetition: "At first he learned Mongolian, then, after the pacification of the Mussulman tribes and the 金川 (The settlements of the miao-tazü in Ssu-Ch‘uan are called 大金川 and 小金川 Arab and Tibetan). Now that the Pan-ch‘an was coming to see the Emperor, he learned 唐古特 "to avoid the transmit-
- ↑ 蘇彌述盧山唐云妙高山舊名須彌山 according to the 法苑珠林.
