Show mrs 40 0 NA it 4 A rare books from chani in the library of congress prepared by the national geo society oy D C monastery on astery a and nd village of tot choul near the tibetan bord border er of china which was recently the scene or of a was massacre sacre ly by moslem M soldiers was as an outstanding typo type of the lama laina communities that dot western china and tibet the site of cliant Is in the southwestern part of hansu province though it avas the capital 0 of tile domain of the prince of chool it was merely a village of families RP approximately 2000 inhabitants the be natives of this region are of tibetan origin in fact there fire are few real chinese in the neighborhood the village was by far the best situated spot in kaisu province and the princes territory was waa the choicest bit of land nowhere else in karasu are there such forests and the scenery Is unsurpassed the village probably changed but little during the six centuries of its existence tile the too tao river which lows flows a third of a mile below the south agate furnished the water for the town und and tid lamasery women carried the wa ter in wooden buckets to the town own and the poorer monks conveyed it t ohp I 1 additional feet to the lamn serl little df this water was used for irlean cleansing sling purposes the monks there tore fore reeked of rancid butter and grease and their skin was block black from froin i the accumulated filth of years ewen cven lama ilama officials do not bathe although otheir thear faces appear washed their I 1 priestly garments of red lhasa cloth are un washable and since few of them have more than one garni garment ent the clothing Is saturated with odors so an I 1 stron strong that it Is difficult to expel the scent from a room after even een a short visit by a small group of lamas fal monastery Is extensive chont choal monastery moi astery or what remains of it is surrounded by a wall of loess a peculiar deposit of loam pierced by a large stone gate looking south upon the gate Is the inscription chi ssu chan ting ssu bestowed by imperial command temple of abstract tranquillity A memorial stone of 1730 1736 records cords that the tablet for tile the monastery was written by emperor king himself in 1710 as a favor to chin chih lion a chani priest who paid him a visit after his return to I 1 choal celb lien Is said to have contributed tri buted of silver a great earn at that time toward the building of temples and chanting halls in 1172 the monastery within the walls are buildings not including 10 large land and U small chanting halls during the reign of yung rung lo 10 the monastery housed monks but recently only have resided there of the 10 chanting halls in chani are fairly large the one most frequently used faces a square in which the lama inma dances are performed and the butter festival Is celebrated this hall Is flanked by three other buildings the largest chanting hall a structure probably years old Is immediately med lately back of the first it can accommodate about monks the roof la Is supported by 80 large pillars of wood lacquered red the annin idol in this hall Is alshan or chamby ang the god of learning the chinese wen shen god of literature on festive days this hull hall was beautifully decorated with brocades brocaded bro cades from tha calling were suspended long ceremonial umbrellas and the pillars were sheathed in magnificent hand noven carpets carpels the gift of the mongol king of the ma aja shan the hall was opened only on special occasions such ns as the feast fealt of lights when the monks assembled seni bled at night to chant the classics complete set of tibetan classics A building to the left of the main chanting hall ball contained a large octagonal prayer cylinder of wood with d doors s within it was kept a complete set of tile bandjur and Tand jur the chief tibetan classics the former comprising volumes the inter the commentary 1 2 volumes to the cylinder were attached slender bars with carved figures by means of which the M bicet co ild be set in motion with one revolution the devotee said the atie contents of f the vol unies indeed a quiet quick way of saying prayers priceless possessions of choal lam into asery aser y were printing blocks of both tile the ano and the Tand jur A number of other lamar erles such as derge nud and have blocks of tile the kand jur but rarely of the Tand jur in fact cbs choal Is said aid to have been the only montery monastery outside lhasa possess ing the Trind jur blocks and the claim la Is made that the books printed liera here are arc without mistakes the best edition known the printing blocks of both classics were te more than years old it took sixteen years to carve the blocks of the alone the cliona charit prince suggested movable type but the lamas refused to entertain the tha idea it took 45 monks three months montha to print the and nearly six months montha to print the Tand jur this does not include the time consumed in preparing the paper for the printers tile the paper used Is bought at kung chang in eastern hansu 11 days distant from chord it Is very thin and the monks posted pasted eight sheets together to make mak e one for the book when mien volumes aro are printed one can surmise the time and labor spent the library of congress in washington D 0 obtained a complete set of the two classics from the chont law lamasery asery these were packed in 02 92 boxes and sent by caravau seven days daya to hanchow Lan chow thence by parcel post to shanghai unfortunately they arrived at just before the gates of 0 that city closed there they remained through the whole siege of the town they did reach shanghai however after being more than a year on the ivay avay ceremonial dances great ceremonies conducted regularly each year in choal lar lamasery were few there was a dance on the 13 of the first moon the butter festival was MIS celebrated tn on the milli and another dance was as performed ou on the the sunning of the buddha took place in n tile lie spring on the 6 day of the sixth moon fell the old dance wa a pro probably bubly the most interesting of all the ceremonies there Is a dance on the of the moon followed on the hie by the feast of lights which commemorates the ibe ascension of Tsong kopa with yet another dance on the 2604 day every third year on the of the first moon alie chani lamas celebrate the installation of a new presiding priest by a peculiar festival known as le clion chon choker chaker the time between ceremonies was occupied by the monks in chantl chanting ng on certain days but otherwise mainly in loafing in case of illness of wealthy believers the lamas were asked to chant the classics believed to have a salubrious effect the charge for opening ithe the largest chanting hall bull was SOO taelor silver to expedite the reading of these voluminous works assembled lamas divided the pages and each rend read portion of the text a rather disconnected disconnect dd method but apparently it matters little if the beginning middle and end are read at the same time it was thus thua possible to read the volumes of 0 the bandjur in a day |