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Show I Decapitated Buddhist Reincarnated by Imperial Decree I 3 J til I Special Cnblc to The Tribune. ' PEKING, Aujr. 20. Prom tamo to timo most curious impcrinl edicts arc .promulgated in the official government i organ, the Peking Gazette. Of course r all tilings are possible with tho ruler of the Celestial empire, the Son of Heav-S Heav-S en; and nobody oxcept ''barbarians" like myself was surprised to read a few days ago that tho prince regent, in tho t name of the 4-year-old emperor, had decreed that a certain hutu kotu, one of the high ecclesiastics of Thibet, decapitated de-capitated more than two 3'ears ago, was now to be reincarnated. This was the decree: Wo have received a memorial from the Imperial resilient In Thibet, Lien Yu. rj statln that In the twonty-Mth your of Kuangsu tho deposed Dalai Lama recom-1 recom-1 mended In a dispatch that the Saint of Titnu. A-Wang-Lo-Pu-Chans Chlng-Ll-Yao-Chlch. who engaged Lama Chan-Tul-Knng-Pa to make an attempt on his (the Dalai Lama's) life by sorcery, be dispossessed dispos-sessed of his titles of Saint and Cuing Shan Buddha. But, according to tho Joint petitions (received later) from the Lamas of other temples, it appears that the said Saint, who was freo from bod conduct, was falsely accused, and grace was asked In his behalf. As the circumstances of this case have been thoroughly Investigated bv Lien Yu, wo sympathize with the Saint ol Tlmu for having been accused without foundation, and It Is hereby commanded that his titles of Shan Buddha and Saint of Tlmu be restored to him and that lie be entitled to re-embodiment. . The property and estato in tho temple are to be returned to him, after an inventor!' in-ventor!' has been taken by the treasury department, so as to do him Justice and to protect the Yellow. (Buddhist) church. The proper board shall take note of this. Who Saint of Tlmu Is. There was evidcntlv more in the weird affair than tho edict divulged. 1 v sought, therefore, somopChincnofrien(ls who know the moaning of things in this peculiar country and also some Europeans Euro-peans wise in the ways of the Chinese ' fc government, fife It seems that the Saint of Timu was PRINCE REGENT OF CHINA, Holding tho Baby Emperor of the Flowery Land. one of those higher dignitaries of the Lama faith who arc entitled, like tho Dalai and Panshcu Lamas, to successive succes-sive reincarnation. 2s1 o sooner does his soul depart from one human form than it enters another. Hence tho curious wording of the edict, which gave no hint of the pressure put upon tho kutu-kelu kutu-kelu 's soul to depart from tho last body it had tho termed ty to occupy. Now, the ox-Dalai Lama tho 'temporal 'tem-poral ns distinct from tho religious head tho Panshen Lama of tho Thibetau faith, was evidently much of a rogue and deserved to be driven out. of tho country, as ho was some months ago by the Chinese troops. For one tiring, he caused this unfortunate hutuketu of many names to lose his head for no other reason than his failuro to fall in with a suggestion for sharing his 6poils. Tho hutuketu was very rich according accord-ing to my Chinese friends. It is, of courso, comprehensible to a western intellect .how a soul can be set free, but to re-establish one in mortal coils requires some little elucidation. For sonic centuries, and until comparatively compar-atively recent times, the relatives Contrived Con-trived by more or less open acts of fraud to indicate after his deccaso the individual whoni it suited them to select se-lect as the new incarnation. Determining Succession. It was in order to obviate proceedings proceed-ings of this kind, which had more than onco brought forward persons distasteful distaste-ful and dangerous to tho suzorain power, pow-er, that tho Emperor Kicn Lung ordained, or-dained, iir 1792, that thg succession to the august dignities should be determined deter-mined in tho following manner. At the decetfso of each Dalai Lama when, like all members of the class endowed en-dowed with tho privilege of successive births, he is said to have "entered upon tho perfection of rcposo" inquiries inquir-ies are made by the priests with reference ref-erence to miraculous signs which may have been observed in attendance upon the birth of children about that period. Particulars of tho required kind are always duly procured, and theso aro transmitted in proper form to the Chinese authorities at Lhasa. After scrutiny of tho documents and the sending send-ing of reports to Peking, a certain number of infants are brought with thoir parents to Lhasa. Here, on an appointed day, their names m aro inscribed in-scribed on slips of wood, which, aftor being carefully sealed, are deposited in n golden urn prescribed by the Eni-poror Eni-poror Kien Lung. Tho namo drawn from the urn is hailed amid universal rejoicing as that of tho new incarnation, and tho Dalai Lama is declared to have come forth in ro-cmbodiment. After a I short period of instruction the newly ac-1 claimed pontiff, at the ago of perhaps two or thrco years, is solemnly enthroned, en-throned, and during his long ensuing minority ho remnins. as a matter or course, a puppet in tho hands of tho ChincsQ imperial resident. Such was the manner of selection of the new Dalai Lama a few weeks ago. And in this way tho lessor ecclesiastical dignitary will bo called back to life, to receive again his titlos and his rich worldly possessions, in accordance with tho edict given above. But nB tho Dalai Lama, who fell into disfavor with the suzorain "power, has not yet shaken off his mortal coils, it would appear that ho is today simply a living body without a soul, having boon doprived of his soul by tho edict incarnating the present .ruling infnut. Still, as I said, all things are held to bo possiblo with tho Son of Heaven, According to the Peking papers the Chinese government intends to U3C tho present opportunity tho long minority Wm ' ' of tho now pontiff to separnte tho rule -!' of church nnd state in Thibet in othei Hh m. words, to limit the power of tho Dnhii HBL t " Lama to tho control of purely rcligiom K;K matters. It is stated that the Chinese Bf. ! govornmenl has informed the legation: BM- ' ; at Peking that it will not approve R'-B'- M agreements concluded between trt Kr;E 1 Dalai Lama and foreign nations, as a H; f V consequence of these now reforms. H. m, I |
