TIBET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 767, 16 March 1910, Page 7

TIBET.

CAUSE OF CHINESE INTERFERENCE. PEOPOSED CHANGES. By Telejrt ph—Press Association—Oopyrlsht. Calcutta, March 14. The interference of China at Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, was due to the Dalai Lama sending envoys to St. Petersburg. 5 ' China proposes to separate the ecclesiastical and political functions of the Lhasa Pontificate.

THE TWO LAMAIST POPES. In his recently issued book, "TransHimalaya," Sven Hedin' writes:-—The functions of teacher and king are divided between the two Lamaist popes, the former being especially assigned to the Panchen, the latter to the Dalai Lama. And this is also signified by the titles of the two potentates, for the former is called I'anchcn I'inpocho, "the Great Precious Teacher," and the latter Gyalpo Rinpoche, "the Precious King." Iri consequence of this idea the Dalai Lama has at length become the temporal ruler of the greater part of Tibet, though he owes his position more to the situation and historical connections of his capital than to this scholastic theory of sanctity. The great teacher (the Tashi Lama) has therefore for the present to content himself with a comparatively small territory, with a reputation for sanctity | and omniscience, and the privilege of acting as tutor and guardian to an infant Dalai Lama. And .Waddell says of the respective two popes: 'The Tashi-lunpo Grand Lamas are considered to be, if possible, holier even than those of Lhasa, as they are' less contaminated with temporal government and worldly • politics and more famous for their learning." This relation between the two Lamaist •popes underwent great modifications in favour of the Tashi Lama during the period of my last journey. The expectations of the English, that they would gain influence in Tifyt through .the friendship of the Tashi Lama, were to a oertain extent justified; but they had not taken into consideration that the temporal power lost by the Dalai Lama- by no means passed over to the Tashi Lama, whose temporal authority was confined within the boundaries of the province Chang, and even there was limited by the universal supremacy of China. . The Dalai Lama accordingly had much to lose, the Tashi Lama little or nothing.