Photograph by John Claude White 

 CARVINGS ON THE LIMESTONE ROCKS ON THE LING-KOR ROAD: LHASA 

 These are all brilliantly colored and nearly all representations of Buddha (see page 275) 



The Tibetan believes that any failure on 

 his part to acquire merit in this world 

 will not result in immediate punishment, 

 but in a never-ending repetition or rein- 

 carnation in some form or other of life 

 in this world, when his struggles will 

 commence over again. 



Their religion teaches men to attend 

 only to their own salvation ; it teaches 

 nothing of any duty to the State or to 

 the well-being of the community and 

 leads to the deterioration of the nation as 

 a whole. 



It is the usual custom for the eldest 

 son of the family to enter a monastery, 

 and sometimes more than one son takes 

 to the religious life. In addition to being 

 considered an honorable profession, it is 

 an exceedingly lazy life and appeals to 

 many. They are required to do nothing, 



while they are clothed, housed, and fed 

 at the expense of the State. 



Many of the monasteries are supposed 

 to have schools, but they are of no use 

 and teach nothing of any practical value. 

 All kinds and conditions of men are ad- 

 mitted and the result is not satisfactory, 

 as the bulk of those I saw in the large- 

 monasteries were a degraded and in 

 many cases a bestial lot. 



ONE-SEVENTH OE THE PEOPLE ARE MONKS- 



The number of monks in Tibet is said 

 to be very large, nearly 500,000 housed 

 in 1,026 monasteries, and this out of a 

 population of about three and one-half 

 millions is a very large proportion and 

 affects very adversely the country's ma- 

 terial progress. 



The Tashi and Dalai Lamas never die„ 



288 



