An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet - Prajna Quest

306 T r n e t.This appellation is said to have been given it, on account of the coldnessof the climate, by the teachers who first came from India, andwho promulgated the religion which prevails among them,I shall, for very obvious reasons, decline entering into any formaldiscussion respecting the nature of this religion. It is evidently asubject, toacquire a competent knowledge of which, necessarily demandsa long residence in the country, and an accurate and criticalacquaintance with its language. I shall therefore content myself, as Ihave hitherto done, with communicating faithfully, such superficialinformation as I was enabled to obtain, respecting the refigion of Tibet,and with delineating what occurred to my own immediate observation,respecting itsexternal forms.Itseems, then, to be the schismatical offspring of the religion of theHindoos, deriving its origin from one of the followers of that faith, adisciple of Budh, who firstbroached the doctrine which now prevailsover the wide extent of Tartary. It is reported to have received itsearliest admission, inthat part of Tibet bordering upon India, (whiciifrom hence became the seitt of the sovereign Lamas) to have traversedover Mantchieux Tartary, and to have been ultimately disseminatedover China and Japan. Though it differs from the Hindoo in many ofits outward forms, yet it still bears a very close affinity with the religionof Brahma, in many important particulars.The principal idol inthe temples of Tibet is Mahamoonie', the Budha of Bengal, who isworshipped under these and various other epithets, throughout thegreat extent of Tartary, and among all the nations to the eastward of* This term is Sanscrit, and literally signifies Great Saint.