LIFE AMONG THE PEOPLE OF EASTERN TIBET 



300 



Photograph by Dr 



the: audience at an historical play IN BATANG, TIBET 



course, in the main, by the remainder of 

 the population. 



The lamas have acquired much money 

 and' land. They add to their incomes 

 from contributions by lending money to 

 the common people, renting them land, 

 and in time of sickness and death giving 

 medicines and saying prayers. 



Some of the priests in the local mon- 

 asteries are fairly well educated, accord- 

 ing to the standards of the country, hav- 

 ing spent some years in Lhasa at the 

 great monasteries. After returning to 

 their native homes they are looked upon 

 as very holy men. 



The towns of Tibet are in most cases 

 small groups of dwelling-houses and a 

 few shops in valleys at the foot of steps 

 and winding paths leading to some mon- 

 astery that towers above on the steep 

 mountain side. 



In the lamaseries is to be found what- 

 ever there is of art in Tibet, most valu- 

 able objects eventually finding their way 

 into the hands of the priests, who on the 

 death of a person may take much of his 

 personal property in payment for prayers 

 on his behalf. 



The strong hold which lamaism, with 

 its great privileges accorded to the priests, 

 has upon the Tibetans is due to the fact 

 that the inhabitants of this mountain- 

 rimmed country are perhaps the most 



religious people on earth. Their faith is 

 nominally Buddhism, but in reality it is 

 more truly a veneer of Buddhism over 

 the old Bon religion, a religion of devil- 

 worship. They are exceedingly super- 

 stitious, believing in ghosts and in the 

 daily interference of devils in their 

 affairs. 



One day the old man who taught me 

 the Tibetan language came in limping. I 

 asked the cause of his lameness. 



"Why," said he, in a matter-of-fact 

 way, "a devil just now hit me on the 

 ankle out there and I sprained it." 



"Don't you think in reality you just 

 stepped on a stone and turned your 

 ankle," I said. "Wasn't that what hurt 

 you ?" 



"Don't you think I know when a devil 

 hits me?" he rejoined, with the tone of 

 one defending the most obvious of com- 

 mon-sense statements. 



In its form of government, Tibet is 

 one of the few remaining theocracies in 

 the world. The Dalai Lama of Lhasa 

 combines in his person the functions of 

 head of the lamaist church and supreme 

 temporal ruler of Tibet. His chief gov- 

 ernmental assistants are also priests. 



The lamas, even the ordinary monks, 

 occupy a privileged position, constituting 

 in effect a class to themselves. 



Next in rank to the ruling lamas are 



