In the Land of the Compas

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 68, 11 June 1927, Page 19 (Supplement)

In the Land of the Compas

Leh. the capital ot Ladak, the Thibetan province of Sir Hari Singh, is 400 miles from the nearest railway station. To this city recently went an adventurous woman, Mrs. E. M. Stuart, who has written her experiences in “The World To-day.”

Leh is situated 11,000 ft. above sealevel, and corn actually ripens there about at an altitude of 15,000 ft. The climate is one of extreme heat by day and piercing cold at night. The jour ney from Sringar, in Kashmir, is one of weary days marching through sun scorched ravines and windswepi passes and over passes through snow and ice. The first of the great mon astries, or Gompas, is reached at Maui beck Chamber.

In the Thibetan language Gompa means a solitary place, and according to the teachings of Buddha, a monastery should be built on an elevated spot with a free outlook to the fiXst, thus separating its inmates from

the more mundane influences Delow. The rule is rigidly adhered to throughout the whole of Thibet. One of the most interesting, but dirtiest Gompas in Ladak is “The Shrine of the Mystic Cross.” an almost unearthly erection, perched on top of a cave-riddled rock at an altitude of over 13.000 ft. It belongs to the cult of "The Mystic Cross,” which was once universal ih Thibet, and is chiefly made up of magic, sorcery, and the worship of endless demon gods. Here is to be seen the Ramaism deity Cha-ra-zi. the far-seeing “Lord of Mercy,” with eleven heads and a thousand eyes, and of whom the reigning Dalai Lama claims to be a reincarnation.

The temples of Leh are dark and dirty places, with their walls covered with startling pictures of their many hells, their blood-thirsty demons, and cavilling saints. The whole religion is riddled with symbolism, which few, if any, understand, and turn their hid den meanings into the grossest forms of idolatory superstition.