FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



them with true Chinese scepticism that at the installation of the 

 Tale Lama/ before the public seance at which the newly elect 

 has to pick out from a variety of objects exposed upon a board 

 those that belonged to him in a previous state of existence, 

 there is a private rehearsal to coach him in his part. 



As is well known, the sects of the Lamas are numerous. 

 The most ancient, as well as the most moral, is that of the 

 Peun-Bo (Red Hats) ; within the sphere of whose influence every 

 head of a family is Peun-Bo. Their books are very fine, and 

 their [)rincipal divinity is the Nam-la-kerbo (white god of the 

 sky). When the Lamas shave their heads they carefully preserve 

 the hair and hide it in a hole in the wall ; if they were to lose 

 it a great evil would overtake them. Some have wigs, which 

 they put on as a disguise when they wish to gad about in the 

 evening. 



The Thibetan invocation o^t mane pedmi houm ! is rendered 

 in Chinese by o mv to fou ! Father Dubernard's explanation of 

 the origin of the latter expression was the following : — The god 

 Fou, called also Che-kia Fou, was born in India in the year kia-yn, 

 on the first dav of the fourth moon. His father, Tsin-fou, was the 

 ruler of a small kino-dom. Fou issued from the ri^ht side of his 

 mother Moy4- and at his birth, pointing one hand on high and the 

 other to the ground, he proclaimed : " Of all things that are in 

 heaven and in earth, I, and I alone, am worthy of veneration!" 

 Married to a woman named Yeche, he had a son, Loheoulo. As 

 he was for ever occupied in the chase, he paid no regard to his 

 family. At the death of his father he became king, dissipated his 



* The Tale Lama is a Chinese term foi- what is called in Thibetan chang^uen diao 

 ri boche. 

 - .Maya. 



