other
monasteries of the province. West of the principal temple, there is a
vast garden surrounded by a peristyle. In this is the printing
establishment. Numerous workmen, belonging to the Lamasery, are daily
occupied in engraving blocks, and printing Buddhist books. Their process
being the same as that of the Chinese, which is sufficiently understood,
we shall dispense with describing it. The Lamas who pay their annual
visit to the festival of the Lha-Ssa-Morou, take the opportunity to
purchase the books they require.

In the district of Lha-Ssa alone, they reckon more than thirty large
Buddhist monasteries. {219} Those of Khaldhan, of Preboung and Sera, are
the most celebrated and the most populous. Each of them contains nearly
15,000 Lamas.

Khaldhan, which means in Thibetian "celestial beatitude," is the name of
a mountain situated east of Lha-Ssa about four leagues. It is on the
summit of this mountain that the Lamasery of Khaldhan stands. According
to the Lamanesque books, it was founded in the year 1409 of our era, by
the famous Tsong-Kaba, reformer of Buddhism, and founder of the sect of
the yellow cap. Tsong-Kaba fixed his residence there, and it was there
he quitted his human envelope, when his soul was absorbed in the
universal essence. The Thibetians pretend that they still see his
marvellous body there, fresh, incorruptible, sometimes speaking, and, by
a permanent prodigy, always holding itself in the air without any
support. We have nothing to say about this belief of the Buddhists,
because the too short stay we made at Lha-Ssa did not permit us to visit
the monastery of Khaldhan.

The Lamasery of Preboung (ten thousand fruits) is situate two leagues
west of Lha-Ssa; it is built on the site of a lofty mountain. In the
centre of the monastery, rises a sort of kiosk, magnificently ornamented,
and all shining with gold and paintings. It is reserved for the
Tale-Lama, who repairs thither once a year, to explain to the monks the
contents of the sacred volumes. The Mongol Lamas, who come to Thibet to
perfect themselves in the science of prayer, and to obtain the degrees of
the Lamanesque hierarchy, generally fix themselves at Preboung, which, on
that account, is sometimes called in the country a Monastery of the
Mongols.

[Picture: The Tortche, or Sanctified Instrument]

Sera is situated north of Lha-Ssa not more than half a league from the
town. The Buddhist temples and the re