Manifestations in Tartary
In 1844, the two Lazarist fathers, MM. Gabet and Hue, effected their adventurous journey through China, Tartary and Thibet to the mysterious city Lha-sa. On the account of their travels being published, none of the strange stories contained therein excited more incredulity and ridicule, tempered with scientific compassion, than the “barbarous ceremonial,” they report having witnessed in the Lamasery of Rache-Tchurin in Tartary. Encountering a great crowd of pilgrims journeying towards the Lamasery, they were told that a “Lama Bokte” would the next day manifest his power there; “Kill himself, yet not die.” The fathers accordingly resolved to witness the ceremony, and they describe it thus. On the appointed day, the pilgrims assemble in the great court of the Lamasery, where an altar is raised. The Bokte, who has been preparing himself for many days with prayer and fasting, abstaining from all communication, and observing absolute silence, at length appears, seats himself upon the altar, and takes from his girdle a large knife, which he places upon his knees. At his feet numerous Lamas, ranged in a circle, commence invocations; as they proceed the Bokte begins to tremble in every limb and gradually work himself up into frenzied convulsions. The Lamas become more and more excited, and their voices at last become a wild confused outcry. Then the Bokte suddenly throws aside the scarf which envelopes him, unfastens his girdle, and seizing the sacred knife, slits open his stomach in one long cut. While the blood flows in every direction, the multitude prostrate themselves, and presently the Lamas resume, but now calmly and gravely, the recitation of their prayers. The Bokte takes in his right hand blood from his wound, raises it to his mouth, breathes after it, and then throws it into the air. He next passes his hand rapidly over his wound, closes it, and everything resumes its pristine condition, no trace remaining of the diabolical operation. “These horrible ceremonies,” say the good Fathers, “are of frequent occurrence in the great Lamaseries of Tartary and Thibet, and we do not believe there is any trick or deception about them; for from all we have seen and heard, we are persuaded that the devil has a great deal to do with the matter.” Only the lower Lamas engage in them; the higher ranks, though disapproving, do not prohibit them, for much the same reasons as those alleged by the Sheikh at Damascus. Amongst other sie-fa (supernaturalism), the Lamas also “break irons red-hot, and lick them with impunity, and make incisions in various parts of the body, which an instant after leave no trace behind.”*
The foregoing instances are recent and of our own days; in noticing the curious similarities between the accounts it should be remembered that they occurred at opposite ends of Asia, and that the respective actors, dervishes and lamas, may be safely assumed never to have heard of one another. But wondrous as the accounts are, they are quite distanced and thrown into the shade by old narratives of trustworthy men, far separated by time and space, and who had assuredly never heard of one another.
* Travois in Tartary, Thibet and China, by M. Hue. Vol. I. chap. ix, English Translation.
Chinese Juggling Extraordinary
Old Ibn. Batuta of Aleppo, the well-known Moorish traveller, whose gravity, veracity, and intelligence are undisputed, and whose wanderings in India, China, and other countries of the far East are still quoted as the best evidence for the manners and customs of the courts in those countries between about 1340 and 1350 a.d, relates that, when at the court of the Viceroy of Khansa in China, he was present at an exhibition of jugglers held in the palacecourtyard. The performer took a ball, to which a long thong was attached, and threw the ball up in the air so high that it went out of sight altogether, only a little of the end of the thong remaining in his hand; he then desired one of the boys who assisted him to lay hold of it and mount. He did so, climbing by the thong, and went out of sight also I The performer then called to him three times, and getting no answer, lie snatched up a knife, as if in a great rage, laid hold of the thong and disappeared also. By-and-bye he threw down one of the boy’s hands, then a foot, then the other hand, then the other foot, then the trunk, and lastly the head! Then he came down himself, putting and panting, with his clothes all bloody, kissed the ground before the Viceroy, and said something to him in Chinese. The Viceroy gave some order in reply, and the performer taking the lad’s limbs laid them together and gave them a kick, then the boy got up and stood before the company. “All this,” says old Ibn Batuta, “astonished me beyond measure, and I had an attack of palpitation like that which overcame me once before in the presence of the Sultan of India when he showed me something of the same kind.”
Aerostatic Performancer in Batavia
Now compare with this the account given by Idward Melton, an Anglo-Dutch traveller, of the performance of a Chinese gang of conjurors which he witnessed at Batavia in 1670. After describing very vividly the well-known basket trick, he proceeds, “But now I am going <... continues on page 11-10 >
Editor's notes
- ↑ Manifestations in Tartary by unknown author, London Spiritualist, No. 437, January 7, 1881, pp. 8-9
- ↑ Chinese Juggling Extraordinary by unknown author, London Spiritualist, No. 437, January 7, 1881, p. 9
- ↑ Aerostatic Performancer in Batavia by unknown author, London Spiritualist, No. 437, January 7, 1881, pp. 9-10
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 437, January 7, 1881, pp. 8-9
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London Spiritualist, No. 437, January 7, 1881, p. 9