THE CLOISTER OF LIVING DEATH

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 19, 6 February 1937, Page 9

THE CLOISTER OF LIVING DEATH

An Episode in Tibet

rpHE HOLY CLOISTER dog, gaunt and hungry, roved endlessly about 1 th® small courtyard eurrounding the i cave-dwelling, wTites Sven , Hedin in "Adventures in Tibet." He knew that there was meat behind those stone walls", but if he ~is still waiting for it, he is a singulariy patient^dog. The cave had neither windows nor doors; only a small tunnel running under the wall near the ground conn.ected it with the outer world. A natuial spring bowed into its interior, providing water to the man inured within. For inside the cave dwelt a lonely, self-imprisoned lama. No ain was he atoning, like a prisoner in a dungeon, but voluntarily he had bidden eteinal farewell to the world of man to enter this living tomb of darkness. 1 turned to one of the men who had accompanied ma into the cloister-vailey. "What is his name?'' I asked. "He is namelees. We only know him as Lala Rinpoche, the holy monk." "Whence did he come " "He was born in Ngor in Naksang." "Has he relatives?" "We don't know. His next of kin cannot, know he is here.'» "How long has he been imprisoned?" "Three years." "How long will he remain " "Until he dies." "You mean he will never see daylight again?" "No. He made a holy row to leave the cave only as a corpae." "How old ia he?" "We don't know. He looked about 40 when he came." "But what would ha do if he were to fall-ill. " "He would die or perhaps hoeome well again in the course of time." "And you never hear how he is gctting on?" "Every day they ahove him a bowl of 'tsamba' and perhaps some tea and butter through the tunnel. If he were not to touch the food for rix days, we would suppose him to be dead, and we would break open the entrance to the cave." "Has this ever occurred?" "Yes. Three years ago a lama who had lived in a crypt for twelva years

died, and flfteen yares ago there wat one. who went in at.the age of twenty and remained there for forty years." "Does the monk who takes him his food never speak to him?" , "Oh no. Lama Rinpoche wotild bring upon himself eternal damnation if he were to exehange one word with any living man, and the three years he spent entombed could not be put down to his eredit." "We are only a few steps away» Can he hear what we are saying?" "No. The walls are too thick." When this strange man had come to Linga in the cloister-valley of the Tibetean Sangpo three years before, he had vowed before the assembled monkfc to enter into the darkness of the cave for ever. In a body they «cnv» ducted him to his *olnntary grave slowly, step by step, as if desiiing to prolong his last few moments in the sun, the solemn procession maTched aeross the rugged hills to the chosen spot. The entrance to the cavera stood open. A few priests went It after him, spread a rag caTpet on the ground, placed npon it several hcfiy idols, murmur words of prayer, and de-t parted. Goodbye to light and eolonr, goodbye to the trees and hillsl Heavy blocks of stone wero rolled forward and piled np with the aid of levsm* Soon every crevice, every little hme was filled in, and the sound of hunsaa voices died away; ... For the mohks who now return Bflect* ly to their cloistor to resume theiij usual occupations, this man Is already dead.. Only once a day they provffie him with his scanty nourishment, and for the Test, it ia as if he no lenget existed. One. shudders at the thought of such . seemly nnaccountable, and nn neceerary bnt nevertheless exalted he* hayiour. Who among ns would care to endure even a single hour in a dask, musty cave? But Lama Rinpoche ro* mains there* willingly, nay, ea'gwdy until the day he dies. Endless irigb.*-f f or how should he know when the sun bnrsts over the horizon in all its spleiv dour, hathing the valley in a showcr of gold? Nor can he count the days. Only when summer comets, and the warmih penetrates through to him at last, he knows that anothey year has passed., Day in, day ont, year in, year out, he sits in his ghastly tomh rosary in his hand, telling his beads, veciting his prayers. And with the paSsing of time he withdraws more and moro from his earthly memories. Gradually ho forgets the life outside his prison, t>e> comes ohlivious to all but his desire for death and union with the inflnite. TT-i* sojourn in the cave ' become# for him merely a single epteode, dazzling in its rapidity, like a second eompared with eternal blessedness. ' (But death, seems in no. huny » t ■