IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| India and Tibet : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
DISCUSSION REGARDING RELIGION 241
The British Government had spent a considerable amount
of money in clearing away forests, and the town in which
Buddha was born was actually discovered. W e did not
believe that every religion except our own was wrong. On
the contrary, we believed that the same God whom we all
worshipped could be approached by many diffèrent roads,
and we were ready to respect those who were travelling to
the same destination, though by a different road to that
which we ourselves were following.
The delegates expressed their satisfaction that we
should have studied their religion, but the conversation
soon returned to the more pressing question of our advance
to Lhasa. The Chamberlain was the most sensible,
practical man we had so far met, and I was specially polite
to him, as in the event of the flight or murder of the
~t Dalai Lama he might be a possible Regent. But even he
had evidently very little power, and while he was nervous
throughout the interview, was clearly more nervous of his
own people than of us.
After the interview had lasted three and a half hours, I
ie asked them to report my words to the Dalai Lama, and I
ô~ told them that I should be very glad to see them again
W'! whenever they liked, either to discuss further official
business, or, putting official matters aside, to pay me a
friendly private visit. 'l'hey took one of my 'Tibetan
Munshis with them, and gave him a special present of silk
it for Captain O'Connor, and also told the Munshi that the
Yi man who had brought all this trouble on Tibet was the
Tung-yig-Chembo (the Chief Secretary), who was at
Khamba Jong, Gyantse, and Nagartse, but who was not
present at this interview. It was satisfactory to find that
{ two such influential men as the Chamberlain and the
yi Ta Lama had discovered this, and I thought that if the
man was now cast aside, our chance of getting on terms of
I friendship with high Tibetan officials would be vastly
increased.
I now accepted the silk which the Dalai Lama had sent
me through the Tongsa Penlop, but which I had at the time
refused to accept unless accompanied by a letter or handed
to me by one of the Dalai Lama's own officials. The
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