260 L. A. Waddell — Description of Lhasa Cathedral. [No. 3, 
gabble of the priests, this record therefore cannot be considered to be 
true history in respect to the earlier periods. Thus his frequent state¬ 
ments that such and such an image ‘ was made or existed in the time 
of King Sroiptsan Gam-po (7th century A.D.) * must always be taken 
for what they are worth. As, however, the book is the official guide to 
the buildings and their contents, it may be considered fairly authentic 
and trustworthy in regard to the events which are alleged to have 
happened since say, about the 15th century A.D. 
It contains interesting accounts of the chief images, frescoes and 
other works of art 1 in this celebrated, though little known fane; which 
is deemed the centre of Tibet: to which all roads run, and from which 
all distances are calculated. Our account also mentions the principal 
benefactors of the building, some of whom are of historic interest. And, 
while it shows what a thorough paced idolatry Lamaism really is, it also 
shows how remarkably catholic is the form of Lamaism represented in this 
metropolitan temple. For although it is in the hands of the Gelug-pa, 
the now dominant sect, which retains the temporal government in its 
hands, and which openly despises and almost persecutes the other less 
fortunate sects; still this temple contains the images and deities of 
every one of the many sects of Lamaism, and it gives a very prominent 
place to images of Padma-sambhava, who I believe, was the founder of 
Lamaism, 2 but whom the Gelug-pas now endeavour to ignore altogether. 
Such unorthodox images appear to have been already in possession of 
the temple upon the accession of the Gelug-pas to supreme power in the 
17tli century ; but the latter seem to have endeavoured to swamp them 
as far as possible, by numerous later additions, restricted to saints and 
canonized monks of their own particular sect. 
Though the present account describes the condition of the temple 
shortly after the building had passed into the hands of the Gelug-pas, 
it is still fairly well descriptive of its present-day state, as almost all 
the images retain their original positions, and the additions have been 
almost exclusively those of Gelug-pa saints and the special tutelaries of 
that sect. Such additions I intend to indicate briefly in a supple¬ 
mentary article, hereafter. 
The general appearance of the cathedral of Lhasa has been des¬ 
cribed by me elsewhere 3 from the existing literature on the subject, 
1 There is also (says the Chinese account translated by Rockhill loc. cit ., p. 283) 
“ a collection of antique arms, two-edged swords five or six ch’ih long, fowling 
pieces from eight or nine clTih to a ch’ang long resembling the chin-tzii cannon of 
the present day, great bows and long arrows. They are all strange-looking objects.” 
» Buddh. of Tibet, pp. 24-33, 378-332, 519, 531, &c. 
3 Buddh. of Tibet, pp. 300 el seq. 
