and with him, therefore, the dynasty of
the Urga Pontiffs must cease. However, on hearing this the Bogdo Khan
himself did some research work and found in the old Tibetan manuscripts
that one of the Tibetan Pontiffs was married and his son was a natural
Incarnated Buddha. So the Bogdo Khan married and now has a son, a
very capable and energetic young man, and thus the religious throne of
Jenghiz Khan will not be left empty. The dynasty of the Chinese emperors
disappeared from the stage of political events but the Living Buddha
continues to be a center for the Pan-Asiatic idea.

The new Chinese Government in 1920 held the Living Buddha under arrest
in his palace but at the beginning of 1921 Baron Ungern crossed the
sacred Bogdo-Ol and approached the palace from the rear. Tibetan riders
shot the Chinese sentries with bow and arrow and afterwards the Mongols
penetrated into the palace and stole their "God," who immediately
stirred up all Mongolia and awakened the hopes of the Asiatic peoples
and tribes.

In the great palace of the Bogdo a Lama showed me a special casket
covered with a precious carpet, wherein they keep the bulls of the Dalai
and Tashi Lamas, the decrees of the Russian and Chinese Emperors and the
Treaties between Mongolia, Russia, China and Tibet. In this same casket
is the copper plate bearing the mysterious sign of the "King of the
World" and the chronicle of the last vision of the Living Buddha.

CHAPTER XLV

THE VISION OF THE LIVING BUDDHA OF MAY 17, 1921

"I prayed and saw that which is hidden from the eyes of the people. A
vast plain was spread before me surrounded by distant mountains. An old
Lama carried a basket filled with heavy stones. He hardly moved. From
the north a rider appeared in white robes and mounted on a white horse.
He approached the Lama and said to him:

"'Give me your basket. I shall help you to carry them to the Kure.'

"The Lama handed his heavy burden up to him but the rider could not
raise it to his saddle so that the old Lama had to place it back on his
shoulder and continue on his way, bent under its heavy weight. Then from
the north came another rider in black robes and on a black horse, who
also approached the Lama and said:

"'Stupid! Why do you carry these stones when they are everywhere about
the ground?'

"With these words he pushed the Lama over with the breast of his horse
and scattered the stones about the ground. When the stones touched the
earth, the