s on his
white robes and goes to pray in his shrine. Then all the gates of the
palace are shut and all the Lamas are sunk in solemn, mystic fear; all
are praying, telling their rosaries and whispering the orison: "Om!
Mani padme Hung!" or turning the prayer wheels with their prayers or
exorcisings; the fortune tellers read their horoscopes; the clairvoyants
write out their visions; while Marambas search the ancient books for
explanations of the words of the Living Buddha.

CHAPTER XLI

THE DUST OF CENTURIES

Have you ever seen the dusty cobwebs and the mould in the cellars of
some ancient castle in Italy, France or England? This is the dust of
centuries. Perhaps it touched the faces, helmets and swords of a Roman
Augustus, St. Louis, the Inquisitor, Galileo or King Richard. Your heart
is involuntarily contracted and you feel a respect for these witnesses
of elapsed ages. This same impression came to me in Ta Kure, perhaps
more deep, more realistic. Here life flows on almost as it flowed eight
centuries ago; here man lives only in the past; and the contemporary
only complicates and prevents the normal life.

"Today is a great day," the Living Buddha once said to me, "the day of
the victory of Buddhism over all other religions. It was a long time
ago--on this day Kublai Khan called to him the Lamas of all religions
and ordered them to state to him how and what they believed. They
praised their Gods and their Hutuktus. Discussions and quarrels began.
Only one Lama remained silent. At last he mockingly smiled and said:

"'Great Emperor! Order each to prove the power of his Gods by the
performance of a miracle and afterwards judge and choose.'

"Kublai Khan so ordered all the Lamas to show him a miracle but all were
silent, confused and powerless before him.

"'Now,' said the Emperor, addressing the Lama who had tendered this
suggestion, 'now you must prove the power of your Gods!'

"The Lama looked long and silently at the Emperor, turned and gazed at
the whole assembly and then quietly stretched out his hand toward them.
At this instant the golden goblet of the Emperor raised itself from
the table and tipped before the lips of the Khan without a visible hand
supporting it. The Emperor felt the delight of a fragrant wine. All were
struck with astonishment and the Emperor spoke:

"'I elect to pray to your Gods and to them all people subject to me must
pray. What is your faith? Who are you and from where do you