Odd Tibetan Devils in Lamaism

1915

Lamas Draw Frightful Pictures of the Fiends

F. N. Nicholas, reporting to the Geographical society on lamasery life in Tibet, says:

Fantastic and absurd as lamaism is, there is, with one exception, nothing in Cho that is immoral or repugnant to western ethics. That one exception is the belief in the "Dre" or devils. Somewhere in the lowest hell, Sangee has chained the chief devil, whose name is Sa-nin-ize or Sa-tin-tze (not very far from Satan). Pictures of this fiend are in every temple. They are made as horrible and revolting as Tibetan ingenuity will permit. Although Sa-tin-tze is a prisoner, he has under his control legions of lesser devils whose business it is to harass humanity.

Lamaist devils do not tempt men as the Christian devil does. Temptation according to the lamas, is merely the result of a man turning his back on Sangee. The devils of Tibet injure, molest and destroy mankind. All the misfortunes of life are the work of the "Dre" sickness. Business, misfortune and calamities, both individual and national, are caused by devils. They are not only "personal," but also rampant and omnipresent. Almost every lama has seen a devil and has had a personal encounter with him. Devils hate lamas because of their piety, and take especial delight in attacking them. Devils are greatly afraid of guns. During the devotional exercises a Tibetan rifle was fired three times every day to scare the devils. They may be fought and killed with swords. More than one lama has told me how he has slain a devil. My only unpleasant experiences in the lamasery have resulted from the belief in devils.

Sudenye suddenly ran amuck one afternoon. He stripped himself to the waist, drew his sword and shouted that devils were fighting against Cho. The Kenpo and I were compelled to sit on Sudenye's chest for nearly an hour before he returned to a normal state. I promptly discharged him and sent him to Ta Chien Lo. The direct cause of the outbreak was his secret smoking of opium in celebrating New Year's day, but his hallucinations and his peculiar manner are traceable, I believe, to the morbid talk of the lamas about devils and incarnations and ma-na-ga, and all the rest of it.

My other servant, Yichi, walked in his sleep one night and fell down stairs. On the following evening, when Kenpo dropped in for a little chat around the hopen, Yichi turned to him as to a father confessor and told him how a devil had gripped him by the throat and then had hurled him downstairs. The Kenpo looked worried and said that the Dre were evidently at their old tricks again and were hovering about the lamasery. He advised me to fire my rifle three times. I did so, and this greatly reassured the Kenpo and Yichi.

Later Yichi described to me the devil's appearance. It was precisely the same as the horrid picture of the Sa-tin-tze that is pasted on the wall of the residence of the Living Buddha. Yichi had looked and shuddered at the picture so often that it had at last developed into a nightmare. Lamasery life is almost certain to get on the nerves of any man who takes it too seriously. If the average American believed as lamas do and lived their sort of life, he would be a candidate for a lunatic asylum within six months.