ddhist high priest whose temple
is said to be not far to the east of Lanchau, which reminds me of Marco
Polo and Kublai Khan. This high priest is said to have the magic power of
attracting cups and plates to him from a distance, so that things fly
through the air into his hands." (_MS. Note_.--H. Y.)

The profession and practice of exorcism and magic in general is greatly
more prominent in Lamaism or Tibetan Buddhism than in any other known form
of that religion. Indeed, the old form of Lamaism as it existed in our
traveller's day, and till the reforms of Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), and as it
is still professed by the _Red_ sect in Tibet, seems to be a kind of
compromise between Indian Buddhism and the old indigenous Shamanism. Even
the reformed doctrine of the Yellow sect recognises an orthodox kind of
magic, which is due in great measure to the combination of Sivaism with
the Buddhist doctrines, and of which the institutes are contained in the
vast collection of the _Jud_ or Tantras, recognised among the holy books.
The magic arts of this code open even a short road to the Buddhahood
itself. To attain that perfection of power and wisdom, culminating in the
cessation of sensible existence, requires, according to the ordinary
paths, a period of three _asankhyas_ (or say Uncountable Time x 3),
whereas by means of the magic arts of the _Tantras_ it may be reached in
the course of three _rebirths_ only, nay, of one! But from the Tantras
also can be learned how to acquire miraculous powers for objects entirely
selfish and secular, and how to exercise these by means of _Dharani_ or
mystic Indian charms.

Still the orthodox Yellow Lamas professedly repudiate and despise the
grosser exhibitions of common magic and charlatanism which the Reds still
practise, such as knife-swallowing, blowing fire, cutting off their own
heads, etc. But as the vulgar will not dispense with these marvels, every
great orthodox monastery in Tibet _keeps a conjuror_, who is a member of
the unreformed, and does not belong to the brotherhood of the convent, but
lives in a particular part of it, bearing the name of _Choichong_, or
protector of religion, and is allowed to marry. The magic of these
Choichong is in theory and practice different from the orthodox Tantrist
magic. The practitioners possess no literature, and hand down their
mysteries only by tradition. Their fantastic equipments, their frantic
bearing, and their cries and howls, seem to identify