BEYOND THE HIMALAYAS
CHAPTER FIVE
After we crossed the Kyu La Pass, which is nearly 16,000 feet above sea level, and after all the excitement we had with our gentlemen friends, the bandits at the foot of the pass, it was rather late when we reached the rest hut at a place called Damtang, 11,000 feet above sea level.
The floor of Tibet averages between 10,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level, with towering snowclad mountains on all sides, accessible only over passes 15,000 to 20,000 feet high, many of them impassable in winter. Tibet covers an area of over 600,000 square miles in which about two million people live. Some of these merely exist, but others are relatively wealthy. The contrast is very evident.
Although it was late in the evening it was still daylight. The sun was setting over the mountains behind Tenchen Monastery which lay hidden in the mountainside about five miles away. I decided that we would remain in the hut for the night and get to Yangtang about ten o'clock next morning; so my bearer got out the cooking utensils, lit a fire, and cooked a satisfying meal of roast chicken and roast potatoes. We had come a long way and eaten very little that day, and naturally I was hungry, and ate with relish; it seemed to me the best meal I ever had.
My bearer happened to be clever with his accordion and I got him to play some of his own songs. These sounded romantic and fitted in with the surroundings.
Where the hut was situated there was a deep gorge to the front and a mountain at the back. This produced a distinct echo, more distinct than I have heard anywhere in the world. It sounded as if two people were playing at the same time, one away in the distance. The chanting melodies seemed to dovetail into each other as if one was answering the other. It was well after 11 p.m. before we went to bed. I was tired and slept like a log.
In the morning when I awoke the sun was just rising. I never miss the rising of the sun or its setting if I can help it. On this occasion the sunrise seemed to do something to me. The wonderful panorama of colouring awakened in me the inner mysterious feeling which Tibet held for me, for Tibet is shrouded in mystery; the most superstitious and the most sublime are side by side. Indeed, Tibet is a land of extremes, with the darkest ignorance and the greatest wisdom, where miracles seem as easy as breathing. There is the wildest of the wild - the rugged in Nature, and the most beautiful, the mountains and the valleys. There are the great and the small, the storms and the calm, the heat of the day and the cold of the night. These follow one another; as one moves in, the other moves out, almost at the same time. There is the filthiest and the most meticulous, the worst and the finest, in human character. It is truly a country of contrasts.
As these thoughts passed through my mind the sun's rays were striking the portals of the Tenchen monastery. I could hear, in the distance, the chonghas booming out their long deep tones and the booming of the great gongs while the lamas' deep voices chanted Om Mani Padme Hum.
As I looked down the valley the shadows of the mountains were disappearing. It was a strange feeling that I had, a feeling of sheer wonderment. The air was crisp with cold of the night and the wind was coming our way wafting the scent of the incense. This gave further enchantment to the scene - the sun rising over the mountains, the rushing river threading through the valley, the glittering spray reflecting colours like a rainbow, the weird music, the lamas' deep voices and the incense, these things alone were worth coming for.
Some monasteries have great incense jars which stand above the portals of the monastery facing the valley, in which incense is kept continually burning. As the sun rose, the whole atmosphere gave me that feeling which comes to one in anticipation of the revelation of some mysterious force hidden for thousands of years.
Three monasteries were within a few miles of each other, Tenchen, Gyamdu and Yangtang. I knew that Yangtang was the furthest of the three and was the monastery of the yellow sect which I had to contact first.
We moved down the path that led down the side of the rushing river and the spray was blown on our faces by the wind that was now forced up the valley, the mountains creating a funnel through which the wind blew forcibly, causing even the stones on the path to be flicked in our faces.
We came to a flimsy bridge held together by bamboo rope, and, as I stepped on it, it swayed from side to side. It was suspended from both sides of the river, where the water rushed between two great rocks, forming a deep gorge. One snap of the bamboo rope and I would be no more, for nothing could live in that great torrent of glacier water with its blue-white foam lashing against the sides of the rocks as it rushed through.
We got to the other side and made our way up a steep grade for about two miles to the monastery of Yangtang.
It must have been a strange sight to the lamas to see us coming up the steep steps that had been hewn out of the rock upon which the monastery stood, for nothing like it had happened before. I felt a little queer, for I did not have my friend with me to speak to me, and I had to introduce myself with the letter Geshi Rimpoche had given me.
When we reached the monastery my interpreter spoke for me. He told the lama who came to meet us that I had a letter from Geshi Rimpoche to Geshi Dar Tsang. I had already learned patience, as nothing moves quickly in this isolated land of mystery, and in the meantime I obtained permission to look round the monastery.
The conducting lama was an old man with a very intelligent face. I can well remember the look he gave me - it was one of deep wonderment. I could imagine what his thoughts were, such as "What do you want here?" "Where have you come from?" "What sort of a world do you live in?" "What is in that letter from Geshi Rimpoche?"
The walls of Yangtang Monastery were built of great boulders roughly hewn. The total weight of the massive building was impossible to estimate. The walls were about seven feet in thickness, and the great boulders were put together with great skill. How it all had been done was a mystery to me.
The roof was covered with slate about two inches thick, coloured yellow, this being one of the yellow sect monasteries.
The way the roof and walls are coloured, I was told, was by making great quantities of coloured wash and pouring it over the roof; the walls were treated in the same way, but in a white wash.
I entered on the ground floor through a great central hall. Around on all sides were the store-rooms. Around the sides above the store-rooms were small chapels used as shrines for the deities. In these shrines were many images of gold and silver, their value beyond estimation.
Above the main temple hall were the various rooms containing the monastic paraphernalia, and surrounding the great main building were other buildings, the living quarters of the lamas.
The main hall door was of immense size, like that of Lingmatang, draped on the sides with massive curtains of rich brocade tasselled with gold. Around the main hall were murals of exquisite beauty. These were the guardian deities and demons of the locality. On the left side was the wheel of Life, and on both sides were large prayer-wheels filled with countless numbers of prayers, mostly with the formula Om Mani Padme Hum. The prayer wheels were about eight to ten feet in height and about five to six feet in diameter.
They are turned with a crank handle and each time it revolves a bell rings. This is a sign that your sins have been forgiven. Around the walls of the temple were smaller prayer-wheels, and, as a lama passed one, he gave it a turn with his hand. This, by the way, is the means by which he builds up his virtue!
I saw numbers of images in gold, studded with precious jewels, probably worth thousands of pounds, and many silken banners, some of them priceless.
The temple had galleries all around, the ceiling was supported by mighty wooden pillars almost twice the thickness of my body, and long silken streamers of rare design hung around them. These are all worked by the lamas, depicting their Buddhas and saints as well as deities who guarded the monastery.
At the far end of the temple hall was the altar and at the foot were hundreds of butter lamps in gold and silver. These were burning and the lama present was refilling them with yak butter (they must be kept burning continuously). On the top of the throne of the altar, which is used only by the Dalai Lama, was suspended a beautiful silken brocade canopy. On the right side was a seat lower, this being the seat of the director of ceremonies, and on the left were similar ones where the abbots sat. The director of ceremonies directs the service and the abbots instruct the lamas.
In front of this were other seats for the high lamas, and then came many long rows of seats about six inches off the floor, all facing one way, up and down the hall (not across as we have them). Each lama sat in Buddha fashion behind one another. A service was in progress, and there were intervals during which tea was served by the tea distributors, each lama carrying his own teacup.
Tea is drunk at all hours, all day, I was told. The tea was brought from the black dingy kitchens where there were large iron pots, some about five feet high and four feet in diameter, into which are put a brick of Chinese tea, a large chunk of rancid butter and a quantity of salt. This is kept simmering day and night, and water and other ingredients are added when required.
I was told that several million pounds weight of tea are imported each year into Tibet. The average cups consumed each day by one person amounts to between twenty and thirty cups. Tea seemed to be served all the time the service was going on.
In the centre of the hall were the chonghas and gongs. The chonghas were about ten feet or more in length, and the large gongs were about five to six feet in diameter. The chonghas were supported on stands covered with gold plating, and the gongs were supported on two pillar stands similarly plated.
The chonghas were blown in such a way that one set of lamas would "take up" before the other set finished, with the result that a continuous booming note was heard, and at intervals the gongs were struck sounding a deep boom through the whole of the temple. This happened when the lamas reached the Om and the Hum of Om Mani Padme Hum. Intermingling with this were hundreds of tiny bells tinkling at intervals. All this seemed to be directed by the director of ceremonies.
My letter had at last reached Geshi Dar Tsang, for, during the time that I was so deeply interested in what was going on in the Temple Hall, a lama came to escort me to Geshi Dar Tsang's private quarters.
I was surprised to see a very young-looking man. He spoke to me in Hindustani, which I knew well. His knowledge of Hindustani was extremely good and we got on excellently, and I was glad that I could speak without the use of an interpreter.
He was glad to see me; I took it that he was pleased with Geshi Rimpoche's letter. I did not know what Rimpoche said, not even today, for it was written in Tibetan, but it must have carried something very pleasing about me, otherwise I would have received the cold shoulder which is meted out to anyone who tries to visit the sanctum of the most high.
I asked him how he had learned Hindustani and he told me that the Yogi who taught him was an Indian Yogi. I was interested to hear this, for I had been with the Indian Yogi myself.
I said: "I see many much older lamas than you in the monastery; how is it that you, being so young, are at the head of this great monastery?"
He replied: "I am older than any of them, though I do not look it."
Then I asked: "With your knowledge and experience, you do not believe in all this deity and hell business, do you?"
"Oh no," he replied, "but all these people have been brought up to know nothing else. My students who have mastered the art of Tumo know that ritual and superstition are merely to impress the mind, but, as you know, I could not teach that to everyone - my life would not be worth living. In fact, I would not be allowed to live! That is what religion is like in this country. We are at present where the West was at the time of the Spanish Inquisition."
I was surprised that he knew about the brutality of the priesthood. I said: "Perhaps if it was not for the law we might still have persecution? A great many people now have far out-distanced the religious bigots we have even today; that is why our churches are mostly empty."
"Mankind," I went on, "is divided by religion, by nationality, by groups, by beliefs, by ideas, only because man will not see how false they all are. Once he sees how false these things are he will drop them; then, and then only, will he realise that we are all one. Then man will free himself through the Truth of the One Life in each being, which is the only Real and the only Truth that will set him free."
"You have put it into a nutshell," he said, and he continued: "Ideas are presented to the conscious mind and are received and passed on to the unconscious. Immediately they are accepted or rejected according to the ruling belief or idea held. This is not understanding it is ignorance, but few will see it, because a belief or an idea is a reality to them. They have not yet come to know what an idea is, or how it is formed in the mind by environment, by imitation. So we have confusion and antagonism in the world which leads to war and misery."
"I agree with you," I said, "I have seen leaders, religious and otherwise, make statements which the unthinking masses accept. So they wave flags and shout. This is the ignorant mob, people who are not capable of examining what is said and it is happening everywhere. Leaders steeped in religious bigotry and extreme nationalism are the curse of our civilisation. It is these people that should be put out of harm's way, for they are the cause of much suffering to unenlightened humanity."
"That is very true," he said, "but the worst of all is that people pray to a God of Love while they are steeped in hatred. Their prayers are idolatrous. Only when they understand how hatred has arisen will they know how to pray to a God of Love.
"Those who live in separation pray to a false god of their own making who hears them not. Is this not the teaching of the false prophets we have in our midst all over the world? Each separate religious group claims its religion to be the only true one, and blazons forth the dire penalties that will happen to those who do not accept; hence man is kept in ignorance and is confused and fearful through superstition."
I had found another friend and we made good progress together.
"I think it would be advisable for you to wear the robe of a teacher while you are here," he said, and he handed me a purple robe which I put on. "Geshi Rimpoche tells me in his letter that you are a master of prana yama and master of the healing arts."
I said that I had done much healing all over the world and I had been more than successful, but I attributed that to a power that is beyond myself.
"Yes," he concurred, "only when we know that we are nothing then does the Spirit, which is all, manifest in and through us."
He took down a book with notes in his own handwriting in Tibetan, and he turned over the pages till he came to the words he had written there: "He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who gives up his life for My sake will retain it."
"In this book," he said, "I have all the sayings of the great Masters, and these sayings I have found to be true."
Then he suddenly changed the subject. "You have come here to know something about Tumo, the control of the elements, of heat and cold. You have allowed yourself a very short time for this. It is one of the more difficult occult Sciences, because the sense of feeling comes into it so much."
"Yes," I said, "I know my time is limited, but I do not want to be really master of the Science of Tumo as long as I can understand it, and by practice I may be able to become at least adaptable."
"Then," he said, "there is no time like the present, so let us begin."
He took me into his inner sanctuary where we sat on very comfortable cushioned stools.
"Then," he began in the tone of the master, "it is not merely an idea to you that Life alone lives, that the body does not live apart from Life. Life alone has consciousness, and the only consciousness the body has is the Life that permeates it by the means of the nervous and vaso systems."
I was amazed at his thorough knowledge of the human frame and told him so. He replied: "The practice of Tumo demands this," and he went on: "Every form arises out of invisible matter, which is the basis of all forms; there is no form separated from it. Now we know that invisible matter can be condensed into a solid mass by a change in consciousness in regard to it. So can solid matter be dissolved into invisible matter by the same process in reverse, but the trouble with most people is that their consciousness is not trained, and feeling interferes with its direction."
I listened very carefully to what he said.
"You know well enough," he continued, "in your healing work that feeling and fear hinder the healing process in the patient."
I replied: "I know that only too well, and it requires a change in consciousness to get beyond it."
"Right," he said. "So when considering the cause and cure of any disease, whether it be of mind or body, we must bear in mind that matter is plastic to our thoughts and feelings and this is even more important to you in the practice of Tumo. By completely understanding the mental process you will be able to dissolve any condition that is the result of error."
"That is so," I said.
"Well," he continued, "heat and cold do not exist in Reality; these 'conditions' exist only in the mind. Spirit, which is the basis of all things, is not affected by heat or cold. When you bring heat and cold together both disappear."
"I understand that," I said.
"Well," he went on, "this is done by breathing exercises with the use of the sound vibrations of the 'Aum' so that it vibrates through the whole of your body. You pass into a subjective state wherein you control the elements; therefore the elements of heat and cold are controlled as well."
I said: "I am beginning to see daylight now."
"Yes, but that is not all. By the constant repetition of the sound of Creation 'Aum,' the subjective consciousness becomes aware of the power of both creation and disintegration because they are one, and not two separate principles. The sound 'Aum' can be heard in all creation and every form in mineral, vegetable, animal and human spheres. This is the basic sound; the only difference is the difference in vibration."
"Now," he added, "the ether wave and the sound wave mingle together because you sound the 'Aum' while you are aware that the creative force is in your consciousness; then your thought becomes electro-magnetic, which is the controlling factor in both invisible and visible matter. The sound wave is the wave of ponderable matter; therefore you can play with it up and down the scale, from the invisible to the visible - there is no division between them, it is only apparent. Creative thought being in the Consciousness is sending forth into the ether the invisible waves while the sound reduces them to the visible, and here you have what is called materialisation and the opposite is dematerialisation. You comprehend that, don't you?"
"Yes," I answered, "and I know also that those who chant rituals know little of what they are doing. I also know," I said, "that the therapeutic power of sound in harmonious vibrations exercises an influence on the mind and body, for one is but the product of the other."
"It is the colour of the sound that creates the effect," he said. "Colour affects the ethereal and astral sheaths that penetrate the body, and if the 'Aum' is sounded with understanding and accuracy while the breath of Life is performed it will harmonise all the cells of the body and keep you young. When this is generally known a great civilisation will arise."
"It will be seen," he said, "that the only power comes from the Spirit which is Whole and is everywhere and everpresent, and is the source of all things including man. For 'Now' is eternity; there is no such thing as time in the everpresent. The past and the future do not exist outside man's mind."
"Now," he said, "breathe as I direct and sound the 'Aum' as you let the breath out. The sound must be your own tone, which is on the Key A."
So I began to breathe as he directed. (This I cannot give here because of the danger to the uninitiated.) A semi-trance state was induced.
"Now, again sound the 'Aum' as you breathe out - the sound flowing from head to foot; and as you feel its vibrations send a current of Life, by being conscious of It, through your body, and you will feel that your body is on fire. The feeling of the heat helps you. Now, do you understand?"
"Yes, I do" I said, for I felt as if my body was on fire, and I added, "Now I can see that the basis is feeling."
After several practices I was given the opportunity of doing the real thing.
One morning we started climbing the mountain, reaching the snow line at about 9 p.m. (we had climbed nearly all day). When the sun went down it began to freeze several points below zero. I sat between two of his pupils who were proficient in the Science of Tumo. I started the practice as I was instructed. The heat was terrific and the snow began to melt around me,running away in rivulets.
I asked if this was caused by my own efforts or by those on each side of me.
He said: "You did exceptionally well; I put the others on each side only to help you."
I was quite pleased with the result, but I knew that it would take years of practice to be a master of Tumo.
I wanted to know how it was done, and I was satisfied. I continued the practice for another ten days till the usual great yearly ceremony at the monastery took place. Then I saw what could really be done with the elements of heat and cold.
Dar Tsang and two of his best pupils took out of a blazing fire white hot bars of iron and put them in their mouths. I could hear the sizzling that came from the moisture in their mouths. They bent these pieces of white hot iron into loops while still in their mouths. There was not a mark or a burn to be seen. I could not go near these bars of iron, so fierce was the heat.
Crowds of lamas from other monasteries, people from all the villages around, came to see the parades and the religious dances of the lamas.
Later, Geshi Dar Tsang took a thick piece of solid steel and turned it into a knot. He did this by means of dematerialisation. The material became pliable in his hands, and like a piece of wire he turned it into a knot and tied it.
When I took this knotted steel in my hands, with all my strength I could not even move it.
Shortly afterwards Dar Tsang took it again and untied the knot and made the steel rod straight again. Yes, it was hard to believe.
I knew it took years to perform such feats; even after years of practice few succeed. But the fact that I saw it done with my own eyes convinced me that the seemingly impossible was possible.
Controlling the heat element was much the same as combating the cold, but it took much longer to master. The "state" was the main thing, one had to get a deep subjective state consciously, so that fear and feeling were completely overcome; thus control was obtained.
To the outside world these feats seem impossible, only because the outside world has never seen these things done. Yet the fact remains that these things are done. Those who deny that about which they know nothing expose their ignorance. Yet there are some people who will tell you that Jesus fed the multitude, walked upon the water, disappeared from among the crowd, turned water into wine, healed the sick, as easily as he breathed. They accept all this, but the next moment will deny that it is possible.
Jesus was a great Master and did things far greater than we know of. But the same power that existed then, exists now and will continue to exist because It is Eternal and Ever-present.
If we can only get rid of the idea of the solidity of matter and the idea of our own impotence, we could work wonders. Jesus knew this, otherwise he would not have said: "These things I do, greater things shall you do if ye will but understand." He also said faith would move mountains.
But your faith must not be like that of the person who had a knoll in front of her house which hid the view of the sea. When she read, "If ye have sufficient faith ye can say to this mountain, Be buried in the sea and it shall be done," she went to her window, looked at the knoll and said, "Ye shall be buried in the sea." When she got up the next morning she went to the window and saw that the knoll was still there. She exclaimed, "I knew it would be there all the time."
Wonders have been done in healing all over the world through what we call "Faith." Thousands of so-called incurable cases have been healed through the agency of Faith. The many miraculous cures attributed to me alone run into many hundreds, but this I know, "I of my own self am nothing, it is the Spirit of the Father within that does the work," the same Life being in the healer and the one being healed.
This, however, must not be a mere platitude but a living experience at the moment, beyond time, beyond ideas, beyond mind. For what is in the mind is but an idea of It, or a belief in It, but that is not It. The word "God" is not God, what you make up in your mind about God is not God, and only when you see the falseness of words, ideas, beliefs, that are hiding the Real, will the Real manifest.
Then the Livingness that is not of time is renewed in your every moment of time.
To try to recapture the moment that is past is useless, because the moment that is past has become a memory which is not the "Living Now." The "Now" is a Livingness that is Eternal and you cannot make an image of It because you do not know what It is - you only know that It is.
To imagine It will come again is like "tomorrow," which never comes: it is always tomorrow. Trying to become is seeking something that is ever-present and therefore you can never realise It. Only by living It, can It be experienced.
Being It Now! Living moment to moment in the Everpresent, and experiencing It every moment through the expression of Love and Affection, which is Reality. At that moment there is no right or wrong, no past or future, only the Eternal "Now."
"The Father and I are One." Therefore the self that stands in the way must be dissolved before the Real comes into Being.
"I am the Life, and Life is Love and Love is Reality."
To love your neighbour as yourself you must love your Real Self that is in your neighbour because there is no division in Reality.
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