hy

AS IT WAS!



Dedicated to The City of Calgary,
where I have had peace and quiet
and freedom from interference in
my personal affairs Than! you,
City of Calgary





AS IT WAS!

"oo! #ne $ As it was in the "eginning

Book Two - The First Era

"oo! Three $ The "oo! of Changes

"oo! %our $ As it is &ow!







%#'(W#'D




All )the *est+ *oo!s have a %oreword, so it is very
necessary that T,IS *oo! have one After all, Authors are
quite entitled to regard their own *oo!s as The "est -et
me start The "est with an e.planation of W,/ I chose
my title
)As It Was!+ &ow why would he use such a silly title0
,e says in other *oo!s that he A-WA/S writes the truth
Sure, sure, you shall have your e.planation, so 1ust 2eep
Calm 3should *e in si.$inch capitals4 and '(AD #&
All my *oo!s A'( true, and I have maintained that
fact in face of relentless persecution and calumny "ut
throughout the ages sane, sensi*le people have *een perse$
cuted and even tortured and !illed for telling it As It was!
A 5ery Wise 6an was almost *urnt at the sta!e for daring
to assert that the (arth revolved around the Sun instead
of$as the 7riests taught$that the (arth was the centre
of Creation and all planets revolved around it The poor
fellow had a terri*le time, *eing stretched on the 'ac! and
all that, and saved *eing coo!ed only *y recanting
Then there have *een people who inadvertently levi$
tated at the wrong moment in front of the wrong people
with the wrong results8 they have *een *umped off in vari$
ous spectacular ways for letting it *e !nown that they were
different from the common horde Some of )the horde+
A'( common, too, especially if they are pressmen!
,umans of the worst type9you !now who T,(/ are!
91ust -#5( to drag everyone down to the same level8
they 1ust cannot *ear to that anyone is different from
they, so, li!e maniacs, they cry )destroy! destroy!+ And
instead of trying to prove a person right9they must al$
ways try to prove him wrong The 7ress in particular li!e
to start witch$hunting and persecute a person so that sen$

:
sation may *e stirred up The morons of the 7ress lac! the
wits to thin! that there 6I;,T *e )something in it after
all!+
(dward Davis, )America<s Toughest Cop,+ wrote in
True 6aga=ine dated >anuary ?:@A )The 6edia in gen$
era? is really composed of a *unch of frustrated fiction
writers 7utting it another way, >ournalism is filled with
7icasso types who get out their paint *o.es and construct
a picture thats supposed to *e me, *ut which no*ody
recogni=es e.cept the guy with the tar *rush and feathers+
6r Davis, it is very clear, does not li!e the 7ress &or do
I "oth of us have good reason not to A pressman said to
me )Truth0 Truth never sold a paper Sensation does We
do not *other with truth8 we sell sensation+
(ver since the pu*lication of )The Third (ye+9a
T'B( *oo!9 strange creatures have crawled out of the
woodwor!+ and with pens dipped in venom have written
*oo!s and articles attac!ing me Self$styled )e.perts+ de$
clared T,IS to *e false, while others of the genre declared
T,IS to *e true *ut T,AT false &o two )e.perts+ could
agree
Itinerant )investigators+ toured around interviewing
people who had never met me, fa*ricating wholly imagi$
nary stories The investigators never met me either
7ressmen, desperate for sensation, concocted CinterviewsC
which never too! place, 6rs 'ampa, in an entirely fa*ri$
cated CinterviewC was quoted9misquoted9as saying the
*oo! was fiction She did not say it She has never said it
We *oth say$pal my *oo!s are T'B(
"ut neither press, radio, or pu*lishers, have (5('
permitted me the opportunity of giving my side of the
matter &ever! &or have I *een as!ed to appear on T5
or radio and tell the Truth! -i!e many *efore me I have
*een persecuted for *eing )different+ from the ma1ority
So ,umanity destroys those who could help 6an!ind with
special !nowledge, or special e.periences We, the Bn$
usual, could, if allowed, push *ac! the %rontiers of
2nowledge and advance man<s understanding of 6an
The press report me as small and hairy, *ig and *ald,

?D
tall and short, thin and fat Also9according to )relia*le+
press reports, I am (nglish, 'ussian, a ;erman sent to
Ti*et *y ,itler, Indian, etc )'(-IA"-(+ press reports!
A&/T,I&;9anything at all e.cept the Truth$*ut that
is contained within my *oo!s
So many lies have *een told a*out me So much dis$
torted imagination has *een e.ercised, so much suffering
has *een caused, so much misery9"ut here in this *oo!
is Truth I am telling it

As It Was!





























??

















7A;( ?E I&T(&TI#&A--/ -(%T "-A&2

































"##2 #&(

As it was in the *eginning




























7A;( ?F I&T(&TI#&A--/ -(%T "-A&2

















C,A7T(' #&(


The old man leaned *ac! wearily against a supporting
pillar ,is *ac! was num* with the pain of sitting long
hours in one cramped position ,is eyes were *lurred with
the rheum of age Slowly he ru**ed his eyes with the *ac!
of his hands and peered around 7apers9papers, nothing
*ut papers littered the ta*le *efore him 7apers covered
with strange sym*ols and masses of cra**ed figures
Dimly seen people moved *efore him awaiting his orders
Slowly the old man clim*ed to his feet, fretfully thrust$
ing aside helping hands Sha!ing with the weight of years
he moved to a near*y window Shivering a little *y the
opening, he tuc!ed his ancient ro*e tighter around his
sparse frame "racing his el*ows against the stonewor! he
stared around Cursed with the a*ility to see afar when his
wor! demanded that he see near, he now could see to the
farthest limits of the 7lain of -hasa
The day was warm for -hasa The willow trees were at
their *est, with leaves showing the youngest green Small
cat!ins, or pussy$willow, lent a pleasant myriad of yellow
strea!s to the green and *rown *ac!ground %our hundred
feet *elow the old man the colours *lended most har$
moniously with the gleam of the pellucid water showing
through the lower *ranches
The old Chief Astrologer mused on the land *efore him,
contemplated the mighty 7otala in which he lived and
which he so rarely left, and then only for the most pressing
matters &o, no, he thought, let me not thin! of T,AT
yet8 let me rest my eyes *y en1oying the view
There was much activity in the 5illage of Sho which
clustered so snugly at the foot of the 7otala "rigands had
*een caught while ro**ing traders in the high mountain
passes and had *een *rought to the ,all of >ustice in the

?A
5illage >ustice had already *een dispensed to other of$
fenders8 men convicted of some serious crime or other
wal!ed away from the ,all, their chains clan!ing in tune
with their steps &ow they would have to wander from
place to place *egging for their food, for, chained, they
could not easily wor!
The old Astrologer ga=ed wistfully toward the ;reat
Cathedral! of -hasa -ong had he contemplated a visit to
renew *oyhood memories8 his official duties had for too
many years prevented any diversions for pleasure alone
Sighing, he started to turn away from the window, then he
stopped and loo!ed hard into the distance "ec!oning to
an attendant, he said, )Coming along the Dodpal -inga,
1ust *y the Caesar, I seem to recogni=e that *oy, isn<t it the
'ampa *oy0+ The attendant nodded )/es, 'everend Sir
that is the 'ampa *oy and the manservant T=u, The *oy
whose future you are preparing in that horoscope+ The
old Astrologer smiled wryly as he loo!ed down on the
figure of the very small *oy and the immense almost seven$
foot tall manservant from the 7rovince of 2ham, ,e
watched as the two ill$matched figures, one on a small
pony and the other on a large horse, rode up until an
outcrop of roc! from the 6ountain hid them from view
&odding to himself, he turned *ac! to the littered ta*le
)So T,IS+ he murmured, )will *e square with T,AT
,mmn, so for more than si.ty years he will have much
suffering *ecause of the adverse influence of 9 ) ,is
voice lapsed into a low drone as he rifled through count$
less papers, ma!ing notes here, and scratching$out there
This old man was the most famous astrologer of Ti*et, a
man well versed in the mysteries of that venera*le art, The
astrology of Ti*et is far different from that of the West
,ere in -hasa the date of conception was correlated with
the date of *irth A progressed horoscope also would *e
done for the date on which the complete )wor!+ was to *e
delivered The Chief Astrologer would predict the -ife
7ath of the famous, and of significant mem*ers of those
families The government itself would *e advised *y as$
trologers, as would the Dalai -ama "ut T,IS was not the

?G
astrology of the West, which seems to *e prostituted to the
sensational press
At long, low ta*les, priest$astrologers sat cross$legged
chec!ing figures and their relationship to each other
Charts were drawn of the heavenly configurations e.tant
at the time of conception, time of *irth, time of delivery of
the horoscope reading, which was !nown well in advance,
and for every year of )the life of the su*1ect+ a full chart
and annual delineation was prepared Then there was the
*lending of the whole into one very large report
Ti*etan paper is all handmade and forms quite thic!
held in a pile *etween two sheets of wood In the West
sheets roughly eight inches from top to *ottom *y a*out
two feet to two feet si. *road Western paper for writing is
longer from top to *ottom than it is *road8 Ti*etan paper
is the opposite The pages of *oo!s are not *ound *ut are
such *oo!s would soon *e ruined, with pages lost or torn
In Ti*et paper is sacred and is treated with e.treme care8
to waste paper is a serious offense and to tear a page was
to waste paper9hence the e.treme care A lama would *e
reading, *ut he would have a small acolyte to stand *y
him The wooden top sheet of the *oo! would *e removed
with great care and would *e placed face down on the left
of the 'eader Then, after reading the top sheet, the page
would reverently *e removed *y the acolyte and placed
face down on the top cover After the reading was fin$
ished, the sheets would *e carefully leveled, and the *oo!
would *e tied together with tapes
So was the horoscope prepared Sheet after sheet was
written on or drawn upon The sheet was put aside to
dry$for it was an offense to waste paper *y smudging
Then, at last, after perhaps si. months, for time did not
matter, the horoscope was ready
Slowly the acolyte, in this case a young mon! with
already several years of e.perience, reverently lifted the
sheet and placed it face down upon its companion on the
leaf The old Astrologer lifted the new sheet thus e.posed
)Tch, tch,+ he grum*led, )this in! is going a *ad colour
*efore it is even e.posed to the light We must have this

?@
page written+ With that he pic!ed up one of his )scri*$
*le stic!s+ and made a hasty notation
These scri**le stic!s were an invention dating *ac!
many thousands of years, *ut they were made in precisely
the same manner as they had *een made two or three
thousand years *efore There was, in fact, a legend to the
effect that Ti*et had once *een *y the side of a shining sea
and support was lent to the legend *y the frequent finding
of sea$shells, fossili=ed fish, and many other items which
could have come only from a warmer country then *eside
the sea There were *uried artifacts of a long$dead race,
tools, carvings 1ewelry All these, together with gold,
could *e found in great profusion *y the side of the rivers
that ran through the country
"ut now the scri**le stic!s were made in e.actly the
same way as they had *een made previously A large mass
of clay was o*tained and then mon!s sallied forth and
pic!ed from willow trees suita*le saplings, thin pieces of
twig a*out half as thic! as one<s little finger and perhaps
a foot long These were very carefully gathered and then
were ta!en *ac! to a special department of the 7otala
,ere all the twigs would *e carefully e.amined and graded,,
the straight flawless ones would have particular care de$
voted to them, they would *e peeled and then wrapped in
clay, much caution *eing e.ercised to ensure that the twigs
were not *ent
Those twigs which had a slight *end or twist were also
wrapped in clay *ecause they would *e suita*le for 1unior
mon!s and acolytes to use in their own writings The *un$
dles of clay, each with a seal$impression showing which
was super class 3for the highest lamas and the Inmost #ne
himself4, and then first class for high class lamas, and
second class for ordinary use, would have a very small
hole made through the clay so that steam generated during
a heating process could escape and thus o*viate the *urst$
ing of the clay wrapping
&ow the clay would *e laid on rac!s in a large cham$
*er %or a month or so they would 1ust lie there with the
moisture evaporating in the low$humidity atmosphere

?H
Sometime *etween four to si. months later the clay *un$
dles would *e removed and transferred to a fire$the fire
would also *e used for coo!ing purposes, heating water,
and things li!e that9and carefully placed so that they
were right in the reddest part of the fire %or a day the
temperature would *e maintained and then that fire would
*e permitted to die out When it was cold the clay *undles
would *e *ro!en open, the waste clay thrown away, and
the car*oni=ed willow stic!s 3charcoal4 would now *e
ready for the highest use which is the dissemination of true
!nowledge
The willow stic!s which had *een determined as unsuit$
a*le for conversion into charcoal stic!s would have *een
used to help the fires drying out the clay of the *etter
stic!s The fires were of well$dried ya! dung and any odd
wood which happened to *e around "ut again, wood was
never used for *urning if it could *e of use for some other
)more no*le+ purpose *ecause wood was in very short
supply in Ti*et
Scri**le stic!s, then, were that commodity which in the
Western world are !nown as charcoal stic!s and which are
used *y artists in their *lac! and white drawings "ut in!
also was required in Ti*et, and for that another sort of
wood was used, again wrapped in clay This was heated
much longer and su*1ected to a much higher temperature
Then, after several days when the fires were e.tinguished
and the clay *alls ra!ed from the now cold fire*ed and
*ro!en open, a very *lac! residue would *e found inside8
almost pure car*on
The car*on would *e ta!en and very, very carefully
e.amined for anything which was not *lac! car*on Then
it would *e put in a piece of fairly coarse mesh cloth
which would *e tightened and tightened over a piece of
stone which had a depression in it, which had, in effect, a
trough in it The trough would *e possi*ly eighteen inches
*y twelve inches and perhaps two inches deep 6on!s of
the domestic class would pummel the cloth in the *ottom
of the trough so that gradually a very fine car*on dust was
formed (ventually that would *e mi.ed with a hot gum

?:

from certain trees which grew in the area, it would *e
stirred and stirred and stirred until the result was a *lac!
gooey mass Then it would *e allowed to dry in ca!es
afterwards when one wanted in! one 1ust ru**ed one of
these ca!es in a special stone container and a little water
would *e added to it The result would *e an in! which
was of a rusty$*rown colour
#fficial documents and the highly important astrologi$
ca? charts were never prepared from in! of this common
*ase, instead there was a piece of very highly polished
mar*le which was suspended at an angle of a*out forty$
five degrees, and *elow it there would *e perhaps a do=en
*utter$lamps sputtering away, the wic!s would *e made
too long9too high9so that the lamps gave off a thic!
*lac! smo!e The smo!e would hit the polished mar*le
and would immediately condense into a *lac! mass
(ventually when a suita*le thic!ness had *uilt up a young
mon! would tip the plate of mar*le and scoop off all the
accumulation of )lamp *lac!+ *efore restoring the plate to
its forty$five degree angle so that more car*on could *e
collected
%rom trees a resinous gum would *e collected and
would *e put in a container which would *e very thor$
oughlly heated so that the gum acquired the consistency of
water and *ecame much clarified %rom the to of the
gum, merrily *oiling and seething away, a thic! residue of
scum would *e scraped leaving an a*solutely clear,
slightly yellow, liquid Into that would *e stirred a whole
mass of )lamp *lac!+ until the result was a fairly stiff
paste Then the stuff would *e ladled out and spread on
stone to cool and solidify %or the highest lamas and off$
cials the lumps would *e cut into rectangles and made into
a fairly presenta*le mass, *ut the lower echelon of mon!s
were glad to get any shape of in! sla* This was used as
was the first type, that is, a special piece of stone with a
recess, or small trough, was used, and into it was scraped
some of the small *loc! of in! Then it was mi.ed with
water until a suita*le consistency was o*tained
There were, of course, no steel pens in Ti*et, no foun$

ED
tain pens, no *all pens, instead willow twigs were used
which had *een carefully s!inned and made smooth and
the ends slightly fluffed so that, in effect, they were li!e
*rushes with very, very short *ristles The stic!s were then
carefully dried$very carefully indeed to avoid crac!ing or
warping$and then when they were dry enough to prevent
splitting they were put on hot stone which had the effect of
fire9hardening them so that they could *e handled with
impunity and so that they would last quite a long time
Ti*etan writing, then, is more Ti*etan *rushing *ecause
the characters, the ideographs, are written with a *rush$
form in somewhat the same way as Chinese or >apanese
people write
"ut the old Astrologer was muttering away a*out the
poor quality of in! on a page ,e continued reading, and
then found that he was reading a*out the death of the
su*1ect of the horoscope Ti*etan astrology covers all as$
pec!s, life9living9death Carefully he went through his
predictions, chec!ing and re$chec!ing, *ecause this was a
prediction for the mem*er of a very important family, a
prediction for a person who was important not merely
*ecause of his family connections *ut important in his
own right *ecause of the tas! allotted to him
The old man sat *ac!, his *ones crea!ing with wear$
nests With a shudder of apprehension he recalled that his
own death was precariously near This was his last great
tas!, the preparation of a horoscope is such detail as he
had never done *efore
The conclusion of this tas! and the successful declaim$
in of his reading would result in the loosening of the
*onds of the flesh, and the early termination of his own
life ,e wasn<t afraid of death8 death was merely a period
of transition as he !new8 *ut transition or no transition it
was still a period of change, change which the old man
loathed and feared ,e would have to leave his *eloved
7otala, he would have to vacate his coveted position of
Chief Astrologer of Ti*et, he would have to leave all the
things that he !new, all the things which were dear to him,
he would have to leave and, li!e a new *oy at a lamasery,

E?
he would have to start again When0 ,e !new that!
Where0 ,e !new that too! "ut it was hard leaving old
friends, it was hard ma!ing a change life, *ecause there
is no death, that which we cal? death is merely transition
from life to life
,e thought of the processes ,e saw himself as he had
seen others so often9dead, the immo*ile *ody no longer
a*le to move, no longer a sentient creature, *ut 1ust a
mass of dead flesh supported *y a mass of dead *ones
In his imagination he saw himself thus, *eing stripped
of his ro*es and *undled up with his head touching his
!nees and his legs *ent *ehind In his mindIs eye he saw
himself *eing *undled on the *ac! of a pony, wrapped in
cloth, and ta!en away *eyond the outs!irts of the City of
-hasa where he would *e given into the care of the Dis$
posers of the Dead
They would ta!e his *ody and they would place it on a
*ig flat roc!, specially prepared for that purpose ,e
would *e split open and all his organs would *e ta!en out
The Chief of the Disposers would call aloud into the air
and down would come swooping a whole fioc! of vul$
tures, well accustomed to such things,
The Chief Disposer would ta!e the heart and throw it
toward the chief vulture who would gulp it down without
much ado, then the !idneys, the lungs, and other organs
would *e cut up and thrown to the other vultures
With *lood$stained hands the Disposers would rip off
the flesh from the white *ones, would cut the flesh into
strips and throw them too to the vultures who were clus$
tered around li!e a solemn congregation of old men at a
party
With all the flesh stripped off and all the organs dis$
posed of, the *ones would *e *ro!en into small lengths
and then would *e pushed into holes in the roc! Then
rods of roc! would pound the *ones until they *ecame 1ust
a powder The powder would *e mi.ed with the *lood
from the *ody and with other *ody secretions and left on
the roc!s for the *irds to eat Soon, in a matter of a few
hours, there would *e no trace of that which had once

EE
*een a man &o trace of the vultures either8 they would
have gone away$somewhere$until called for their grisly
service on the ne.t occasion
The old man thought of all this, thought of the things he
had seen in India where poor people were disposed of *y
throwing the weighted *odies into the rivers or *y *urying
them in the earth, *ut the richer people who could afford
wood would have their *odies *urned until only the fla!y
ash remained and then this would *e thrown into some
sacred river so that the ash, and perhaps the spirit of the
person, would *e called *ac! to the *osom of )6other
(arth+
,e shoo! himself roughly and muttered, )This is no
time to thin! of my transition, let me finish my tas! while
I prepare the notes on the transition of this small *oy+
"ut it was not to *e, there came an interruption The old
Astrologer was murmuring instructions for the whole page
to *e rewritten in *etter in! when there came the sound of
hasty footfalls, and the slamming of a door The old man
loo!ed up fretfully, he wasn<t used to having interruptions
of this !ind, he wasn<t used to having noise in the Astrolog$
ical Department This was an area of calm, of quietude, of
contemplation where the loudest sound was the scraping
of a fire$hardened twig across the rough surface of hand$
made paper There came the sound of raised voices )I
6BST see him, I 6BST see him this instant, the Inmost
#ne demands+ Then there came the slap slap of feet upon
the ground, and the rustle of stiff cloth A lama of the
Dalai -ama<s household appeared clutching in his right
hand a stic! in a cleft of which, at the distal end, a piece
of paper was seen to *ear the writing of the Inmost #ne
himself The lama came forward, made a customary half
*ow to the old Astrologer, and inclined the stic! in his
direction so that he could remove the written missive ,e
did so, and frowned in dismay
)"ut, *ut9) he muttered, )how can I go now0 I am in
the midst of these calculations, I am in the midst of these
computations If I have to stop at this instant9+ "ut
then he realised that there was nothing for it *ut to go )on

EJ
the instant+ With a sigh of resignation he changed his old
wor! ro*e for a tidier one, pic!ed up some charts and a
few scri**le stic!s, and turned to a mon! *eside him say$
ing, ),ere, *oy, carry these and accompany me+ Turning
he wal!ed slowly out of the room in the wa!e of the
golden ro*ed lama
The golden ro*ed lama moderated his step so that the
aged one following him should not *e unduly distressed
%or long they traversed endless corridors, mon!s and
lamas scurrying a*out their *usiness stood respectfully
aside with heads *owed as the Chief Astrologer went *y
them
After a considera*le wal!, and mounting from floor to
floor, the golden ro*ed lama and the Chief Astrologer
reached the topmost floor wherein were the apartments of
the Dalai -ama himself, the Thirteenth Dalai -ama, the
Inmost one, the one who was to do more for Ti*et than
any other Dalai -ama
The two men turned a corner and encountered three
young mon!s *ehaving in an apparently riotous manner8
they were s!ating a*out with their feet wrapped in cloth
'espectfully they ceased their gam*ols and stood aside as
the two men passed These young men had a full$time 1o*8
there were many floors to *e !ept spotlessly polished, and
the three young mon!s spent the whole of their wor!ing
hours with heavy cloths around their feet, they wal!ed and
ran and slid across the vast areas of flooring, and as a
result of their efforts the floor had a wondrous gleam to$
gether with the patina of antiquity "ut9the floor was
slippery Considerately the golden ro*ed lama stepped
*ac! and too! the arm of the old Astrologer, !nowing full
well that a *ro!en leg or a *ro!en arm at his age would *e
virtual sentence of death
Soon they came to a large sunny room in which the
;reat Thirteenth himself was sitting in the lotus position
ga=ing out through a window at the panorama of ,im$
layman mountain ranges stretching *efore him and, in fact,
all around the 5alley of -hasa
The old Astrologer made his prostrations to the ;od$

EF
2ing of Ti*et The Dalai -ama motioned for the at$
tendants to leave, and soon he and the Chief Astrologer
were alone sitting face to face on the seat$cushions used in
Ti*et in place of chairs
These were old acquaintances, well versed to the ways
each of the other The Chief Astrologer !new all the af$
fairs of State, !new all the predictions a*out Ti*et for he,
indeed, had made most of them &ow the ;reat Thir$
teenth was loo!ing most serious *ecause these were mo$
mentous days, days of stress, days of worry The (ast
India Company, a "ritish Company, was trying to get gold
and other items out of the country, and various agents and
leaders of "ritish military might were toying with the idea
of invading Ti*et and ta!ing over that country *ut the
threat of 'ussia in the near *ac!ground prevented that
drastic step *eing ta!en It will suffice to say, though, that
the "ritish caused much turmoil and much trou*le for
Ti*et at that stage, 1ust as in much later years the Chinese
Communists would do So far as the Ti*etans were con$
cerned there was little to choose *etween the Chinese and
the "ritish, the Ti*etans merely wanted to *e left alone
Bnfortunately there was another more serious pro*lem
in that in Ti*et at that time there were two sets of priests,
one was !nown as the /ellow Caps and the other was
!nown as the 'ed Caps Sometimes there were violent
disputes *etween them, and the two leaders, the Dalai
-ama who was the head of the /ellow Caps, and the
7anchen -ama who was the head of the 'ed Caps, had no
love whatever for each other
'eally there was little sympathy *etween the two sects
The Dalai -ama<s supporters at the time had the upper
hand, *ut it had not always *een so, at other times the
7anchen -ama$who was soon to *e forced to leave Ti*et
$had *een in the forefront and then the country had *een
plunged into chaos until the Dalai -ama had *een a*le to
reinforce his claims with the aid of the Tartars and *e$
cause on religious grounds the /ellow Caps had what one
might term )superior sanctity+
The Inmost #ne9the Dalai -ama who was given that

EA
title, and was well !nown as The ;reat Thirteenth$made
many questions concernipg the pro*a*le future of Ti*et
The old Astrologer fuln*led around in the portfolio he had
with him and produced papers and charts, and together
the two men pored over them
)In less than si.ty years,+ said the Astrologer, )Ti*et as
a free entity will *e no more The hereditary enemy, the
Chinese, with a new form of political government will
invade the country and will virtually do away with the
#rder of 7riests in Ti*et+
At the passing of the ;reat Thirteenth, the Dalai -ama
was told, another would *e chosen as a palliative to Chi$
nese aggression A child would *e pic!ed as *eing the
'eincarnation of the ;reat Thirteenth, and irrespective of
the accuracy of the choice it would first and foremost *e a
political choice *ecause what would *e !nown as the
%ourteenth Dalai -ama would come from Chinese held
territory
The Inmost #ne was most gloomy a*out the whole
affair, and tried to wor! out plans of how to save his
*eloved country, *ut, as the Chief Astrologer so ac$
curately pointed out, much could *e done to circumvent
the *ad horoscope of an individual *ut there was no
!nown way of su*stantially altering the horoscope and the
destiny of a whole country A country was composed of
too many different units, too many individuals who could
not *e moulded, nor commanded, nor persuaded to thin!
along the same lines at the same time for the same pur$
pose So the fate of Ti*et was !nown The fate of the Wise
Sayings, the ,oly "oo!s and the ,oly 2nowledge was not
yet !nown, *ut it was thought that *y suita*le means a
young man could *e trained, given special !nowledge,
given special a*ilities, and then sent forth into the world
*eyond the confines of Ti*et so that he could write of his
!nowledge and of the !nowledge of Ti*et The two men
continued tal!ing, and then at last the Dalai -ama said,
)And this *oy, the 'ampa *oy, have you yet prepared the
horoscope for him0 I shall want you to read it at a special
party at the 'ampa household in two wee!s from this

EG
day+ The Chief Astrologer shuddered Two wee!s0 ,e
would not have *een ready in two months or two years if
he had not *een given a firm date So, in a quavering
voice, he replied, )/es, /our ,oliness, all will *e ready
*y two wee!s from this day "ut this *oy is going to have
most unfortunate conditions during his life, suffering and
torture, disowning *y his own countrymen, illness9every
o*stacle that one can imagine is *eing placed in his way
*y evil forces and *y one particular force which I, as yet,
do not completely understand *ut which appears to *e
connected in some ways with the newspaper wor!ers
The Dalai -ama sighed noisily, and said, )Well, let us
put that aside for the time *eing *ecause what is inevita*le
cannot *e altered /ou will have to go through your charts
again during the ne.t two wee!s to ma!e a*solutely sure
of that which you are going to declaim %or the moment$
let us have a game of chess, I am tired of the affairs of
State+
A silver *ell was tin!led, and a golden ro*ed lama came
into the room and received the order to *ring the chess set
and the chess *oard so that the two men could play Chess
was very popular with the higher intellects of -hasa, *ut it
is a different sort of chess from that which is played in the
West In the West when a game is started the first pawn of
each party moves two steps instead of the normal one as
in Ti*et, and in Ti*et there is no such thing as castling in
which when a pawn reached the *ac! line it could *ecome
a castle, nor was the stalemate status used, instead it was
considered that a state of *alance or stasis had *een
reached when the !ing was left alone without a pawn or
without any other piece on the *oard
The two men sat and played with endless patience, each
in the warm glow of love and respect which had grown
*etween these two, and a*ove them on the flat roof 1ust
a*ove the Dalai -ama<s quarters the prayer flags flapped
in the high mountain *ree=e %urther down the corridor
the prayer wheels clattered, churning out their endless
imaginary prayers #n the flat roofs gleams *lindingly
golden shot from the tom*s of the previous Incarnations

E@
of the Dali -ama, for in Ti*etan *elief each Dalai -ama
as he died merely went into transition and then returned to
(arth in the *ody of some small *oy In Ti*et transmigra$
tion was such an accepted fact of religion that it was not
even worthy of comment So up on the flat roof twelve
*odies lay in twelve golden tom*s, each tom* having an
intricately designed roof with many spirals, whorls, and
convolutions designed to delude and throw off )evi? spir$
its+
%rom the golden tom*s one could see across to the
gleaming *uilding of the College of 6edical Science
Cha!pori on Iron 6ountain, the home of medicine for
Ti*et "eyond there was the City of -hasa, now on this
day shining *right under the high noon sun The s!y was a
deep purple, and the mountains ringing the 5alley of
-hasa had spumes of pure white snow *lowing from their
pea!s
As the hours rolled on, mar!ed *y the growing shadows
from the Western mountain range, the two men in the
State apartments *elow sighed and reluctantly pushed
aside their chess pieces for now was the time of worship,
the time when the Dalai -ama had to attend to his devo$
tions, the time when the Chief Astrologer had to return to
his computations if he were to meet the dead line imposed
*y the Dalai -ama of two wee!s
Again the silver *ell was tin!led, again a golden ro*ed
lama appeared, and with a few muttered words was di$
rected to assist the Chief Astrologer to return to his own
quarters three floors *elow
The Chief Astrologer rose crea!ily to his aged feet,
made his ritual prostrations, and left the presence of his
Spiritual Chief







EH



C,A7T(' TW#



)#o$ee! #o$ee! Ay$yah! Ay$yah!+ said the voice in the
dus! of that pleasant day )Did you hear a*out that -ady
'ampa0 She<s at it again!+ There was the shuffling of feet
on the road, the sound of little pe**les *eing rolled under$
foot, and then a sigh )-ady 'ampa0 What has she done
now0+
The first voice answered with ill$disguised glee It seems
that for a certain type of woman, no matter her class, no
matter her nationality, if she *e a *earer of tidings9pref$
era*ly *ad9her day is made
)6y step$son<s aunt has heard a strange tale As you
!now, she is going to get married to that customs man
who wor!s down at the Western ;ate ,er *oy friend has
*een telling her that for months past -ady 'ampa has
*een ordering all manner of things from India, and now
the traders in their caravans are *eginning to deliver the
goods ,ave you heard anything a*out it0+
)Well, I did hear that there was a special going to
*e held in their gardens in the near future, *ut you must re$
mem*er that the ;reat -ord 'ampa was our 'egent when
the Inmost #ne went to India during the invasion of the
"ritish that did so much harm I suppose its only natural
that one of the leading ladies of our country should want
that, do you0+
The informant e.haled gustily and then drew a deep
to order something I don<t see what she<s doing wrong in
*reath and declaimed, )Ahh! "ut you don<t !now the
whole of it, you don<t even !now the half of it! I<ve heard
tell from one of my friends who serves one of the waiting$
mon!s down at the 2esar9he comes from the 7otala, you
!now9that a very very thorough horoscope and life read$

E:
ing is *eing prepared for that little fellow, you !now the
little runt who<s always getting into trou*le and who seems
to *e such a sore trial to his father I wondered if you had
heard anything a*out that0+
The second lady thought a moment and then she re$
plied, )/es, *ut you must remem*er that 7al1or died
recently9I saw his *ody *eing carried out with my very
own eyes The "ody "rea!ers carried him out very rev$
erently from the house, and the two priests accompanied
h?m as far as the gate, *ut with my very own two eyes I
saw that as soon as the two priests turned *ac! the poor
little *ody was unceremoniously dumped, *elly down, on
the *ac! of a pony and was ta!en off to the 'agya* so
that the Disposers of the Dead could *rea! him up and
feed him to the vultures ,e had to *e disposed of+
)&o, no, no!+ e.postulated the e.asperated informer,
you miss the whole point$you cannot have much e.$
perience of these social matters8 with the death of the
older *oy that little fellow, -o*sang, is now the heir to the
-halu family estates and fortunes, they are millionaires
you !now They<ve got money here, they<ve got money in
India, and they<ve got money in China I thin! they must
*e our wealthiest family And this little fellow, why should
he inherit it all0 Why should he have such a life of lu.ury
*efore him when we have to wor!9my hus*and said to
me that, never mind, one of these days there will *e a
change, we shall ta!e the residences of the upper parties
and we shall live in lu.ury and they wil? wor! for us We
shall see what we shall see if we only live long enough,
praise *e the day
There had *een the sound of slow footsteps coming
through the gloaming, &ow a faint *lur of face could *e
discerned and the *lac!, *lac! tresses of a Ti*etan woman
)I could not help hearing what was said,+ the newcomer
announced, )*ut we have to remem*er that this little lad
-o*sang 'ampa, he<s going to have a hard life ahead of
him *ecause all those with money have a very, very hard
life indeed+
)#h well then,+ replied the informer, )all of us should

JD
have a very very easy time indeed We<ve no money at all,
have we0+ With that she *urst into cac!les of witch$li!e
laughter
The newcomer went on, )Well, I<ve heard it said that a
*ig affair is *eing planned so that the ;reat -ord 'ampa
can proclaim his son, -o*sang, to *e his heir I<ve heard
too, that the *oy is going to *e sent off to India to *e
trained, and the trou*le then will *e to !eep him out of the
hands of the "ritish *ecause the "ritish are trying to get
control of our country, you !now, and loo! at the damage
they<ve done "ut, no, that *oy, rich or poor, he<s got a
hard life ahead of him, you mar! my words9you mar!
my words+ The voices drifted off as the three women
went carefully along the -ing!or 'oad, passing along *y
the Sna!e Temple, passing along *y the 2aling Chu to
cross the Chara Sanpa "ridge
>ust a few yards away9or perhaps a few yards more
than that!$ the su*1ect of their discussion, a small *oy
not yet seven years of age, tossed restlessly on the hard
hard floor of his room ,e was asleep more or less, having
fitful dreams, having also frightful nightmares8 he was
thin!ing of !ites and how awful it would *e if it was ever
found out that he was the one who was flying the !ite that
swooped down on the travellers and scared their ponies so
much that one of the riders fell off and rolled straight into
the river, such an important man that rider was, too, as
assistant to an A**ot of one of the -amaseries The poor
*oy turned and writhed in his sleep as in his dream$state
he thought of all the dire punishments that would *e in$
flicted upon his protesting *ody should he ever *e revealed
as the culprit
-ife was quite hard for young *oys of the leading fame$
lies in -hasa Those *oys were supposed to set an e.ample
to others, they were supposed to endure hardship to
toughen them for the *attles of life, they were supposed to
have greater hardship than those of lowly *irth, to act as
an e.ample, to show that even the sons of the wealthy,
even the sons of those who ruled the country, could en$
due pain, suffering, and privation And the discipline for

J?
a *oy not yet even seven years of age was something
which Western *oys of any age would never endure
%rom *eyond the "ridge there came the mum*le, mum$
*le of female voices as the three women stopped for a last
chat *efore each departed to her own home There came
on errant *ree=es the words )'ampa,+ )/asodhara,+ and
then a mum*le of voices until at last the gravel *eneath
their feet stirred restlessly as the women *ade each other
goodnight and went each her own respective way
In the great -halu residence, whose massive front gate
had so well withstood the assaults of the "ritish infantry
that they could gain access only *y *reaching the stone
wall, the family were asleep, all e.cept the );uardians of
the &ight+, those who stood watch and called out the
night hours and the state of the weather so that any who
*y chance should *e awa!e should !now of the progress of
the night
Ad1acent to the chapel of -halu residence were the
Stewards< quarters The highest class Ti*etan officials
maintained their own chapels in their residence staffed *y
one or two priests8 the 'ampa residence was of such im$
portance that two priests were considered a*solutely nec$
essary (very three years the priests9mon!s from the
7otala9would *e replaced *y others so that those in
household service should not *ecome too effete through
their domestic domicile #ne of the lamas, for these
mon!s were indeed lamas, had *ut recently 1oined the
household The other was soon to leave to return to the
stern discipline of the lamasery, and the latter was tossing
restlessly, wondering how he could prolong his stay for it
was indeed the chance of a lifetime to see the heir of a
great family have his horoscope proclaimed to the pu*lic
so that all might !now in advance what manner of man he
would grow up to *e
This was a young lama, one who had come to the -halu
estate with high recommendations from his A**ot, *ut he
had proved to *e a sorry disappointment ,is amusements
were not wholly ecclesiastical, not wholly priestly, for he
was one of those who had that which is termed )the wan$

JE
dering eye,+ and his glances strayed ever and again to the
young and comely mem*ers of the domestic staff The
Steward who lived to the left of the chapel had noticed this
and had registered a complaint, and so the poor young
lama was facing dismissal in some disgrace ,is successor
had not yet *een appointed and the young man was won$
dering how he could delay matters so that he could have
the fame of *eing one of the participants in the cele*ra$
tions and religious services to follow
The poor wretched Steward, also, was having much dis$
tress -ady 'ampa was indeed a difficult woman, very
harsh in her 1udgment at times, apt to condemn without
giving a man a chance to e.plain that some of these diffi $
culties were not of his ma!ing &ow he had goods on
order for some three months, and$well, everyone !new
how slow the Indian traders were9*ut -ady 'ampa was
ma!ing a terri*le commotion and saying that the Steward
was endangering the success of the whole enterprise *y his
inefficiency in getting supplies )What can I do0+ he mut$
tered to himself as he tossed and turned on his *lan!et on
the floor ),ow can I persuade the dealers to *ring the
goods on time0+ So muttering he rolled over on to his
*ac!, his mouth fell open, and he emitted such horrendous
snores that one of the night watchmen loo!ed in to see if
he was dying!
-ady 'ampa was turning restlessly too She was very
socially$conscious She was wondering if the Steward was
a*solutely sure of the order of precedence, wondering if
all the messages had *een written, all the invitations on
the special hand$made paper tied up with ri**on and then
placed in a cleft stic! which fast riders would carry
mounted on their ponies It had to *e done 1ust right, she
thought, one could not have an inferior receiving an invi$
tation *efore his superior had received one These matters
lea! out, there are ever people an.ious to pull down a
hard wor!ing hostess who is trying to do the *est for her
family prestige -ady 'ampa twisted and turned, wonder$
ing a*out the food supplies, wondering if *y any chance
things would not arrive on time

JJ
&ear*y in a little room, sister /asodhara was fretting
*it ,er mother had already decreed what she would wear
at the party and it wasn<t at all what /asodhara wanted to
wear, she had different ideas altogether After all, as she
said to herself, this is the one time in the year to really
loo! over the *oys and see which one of them would *e
suita*le as a hus*and in later years, and to loo! over the
*oys meant that she too must have something to attract
them$clothing, it must *e suita*le clothing, her hair must
*e well *rushed with ya! *utter, her clothes must *e
dusted with the finest of 1asmine She had to do everything
possi*le to attract what she hoped would *e a good hus$
*and for the future, *ut her mother9mothers never
understood, they were of a *ygone age, they didn<t under$
stand at all how young girls had to go along nowadays,
they had forgotten such things /asodhara lay *ac! and
thought and thought, and planned could she add a ri**on
here or a flower there, how could she improve her appear$
ance0
As the night grew older and older and the new dawn,
the dawn of a new day, was ready to *e *orn the *ooming
of conches and the *lare of trumpets awa!ened the fitfully
sleeping household The youngest 'ampa opened a sleep$
*leared eye, grunted, and turned over again to *e fast
asleep *efore the turning motion was completed
Down near the Steward<s office the night watchmen
were going off duty while a fresh shift were ta!ing their
places The most menial of the servants awa!ened with a
start at the *laring noises from the surrounding temples
and 1umped to their feet, struggling into half$fro=en
clothes Theirs was the tas! of seeing that the smoldering
fires were ra!ed and stirred into fresh life, theirs was the
tas! of polishing the rooms, cleaning the place, *efore
the family got down to see it in its over$night state of
untidiness
In the sta*les where the many horses were !ept, and in
the farm *uildings at the *ac! where the ya!s were
housed servants rummaged around, scooping up the ma$
nure deposited there *y the animals overnight Dried and

JF
mi.ed with a few scraps of wood this would provide the
staple fuel of Ti*et
The coo!s reluctantly turned out to face another day,
they were tired, they had *een *usy for several wee!s past
preparing food in fantastic quantities and having the addi$
tional tas! of trying to protect the food from the depreda$
tions of light$fingered small *oys and light$fingered small
girls, too They were tired, they were sic! of the whole
affair, they were saying to each other, )Why doesn<t this
thing get started and finished so that we can have some
peace again The 6istress has gone off her head even
worse with all the preparations+
The 6istress9the -ady 'ampa9had indeed *een
*usy %or days she had *een in her hus*and<s office plagu$
ing his secretaries to provide lists of all the most important
people living in -hasa, and some chosen few from other
near*y centres As well she made the hard demand that
suita*le foreigners who could *e of *eneficent influence
later *e invited, *ut here again there was the question
protocol and the order of seniority, who came *efore
whom, who would *e insulted in T,IS position when they
felt that they should *e in T,AT position It was all a
great tas!, a great trial a great tri*ulation, and the serv$
ants were tired of getting a list one day and finding that
the ne.t day a fresh list would supersede the one issued
the day *efore
%or days now the whole place had *een scoured, fine
gritty sand had *een used to shine up stonewor! mellowed
*y age, strong men servants with cloth around their feet
and heavy *loc!s of stone wrapped in cloth trudged
around the house pushing their heavy stone *urden across
floors that were already mirror$*right
In the gardens weary gardeners on hands and !nees
went over the ground removing weeds, even removing lit$
tle stones which were of the wrong colour The mistress of
the house was a hard tas! mistress indeed, this was the
high point of her life, the son and heir of the -halu esta*$
lishment, one who could *e a prince or9what09was to
*e launched and only the astrologers would tell what was

JA
to *e his life, *ut the astrologers would give no hint, would
give no forewarning of what their 'eading would reveal
The lady of the house, the wife of one of the most
powerful men in lay$life of Ti*et, hoped and hoped that
her son would leave the country and *e educated else$
where, she hoped that she would *e a*le to persuade her
hus*and that she should ma!e frequent visits to her son
studying in a different country She hoped to visit different
countries, for long she had surreptitiously glanced at
some of the maga=ines *rought to -hasa *y itinerant trad$
ers She had her plans, she had her dreams and her am*i$
tions, *ut everything depended on the verdict of the Chief
Astrologer and everyone !new how uncaring of oneIs so$
cial position astrologers could *e
&ow the time was fast approaching when this great
7arty was to *e held Traders were entering *y the West$
ern ;ate and ma!ing fast footsteps toward the -halu resi$
dence, the wiser ones9or those with greater *usiness
acumen9!new that the -ady 'ampa would soon fall prey
to their wiles if they could produce something new, some$
thing that hadn<t *een seen in -hasa *efore, something
which would ma!e her neigh*ors and social competitors
e.claim in feigned awe which really concealed frustration
and 1ealousy that They had not had it first
So many a trader made his slow way from the Western
;ate along the -ing!or 'oad, around the *ac! of the
7otala, past the Sna!e Temple to the -halu residence,
there to attempt to *eguile the lady of the house with
strange e.otic items with which she could entertain and
ama=e her guests Some too! their ya! trains and *rought
their whole stoc!$in$trade to the residence so that the lady
in person could see precisely what they had to sell, and of
course for such an important occasion the prices must *e
inflated *ecause no lady who was indeed a lady would
even dare to *argain or qui**le at the prices as!ed for fear
that the traders would mention to the neigh*ors that
-ady 'ampa could not pay the proper price *ut wanted a
discount, or concessions, or samples
Day after day the ya! trains went *y, day after day the

JG
men from the sta*les scooped up the *ounty from the ya!s
and added it to the pile of fuel which was so rapidly
growing, and indeed much e.tra fuel would *e needed for
the coo!ing, for the heating, and for the *onfires, *ecause
who could possi*ly have a good party without a good
*onfire0
The gardeners, having satisfactorily cleared the ground
of all weeds, turned their attention to the trees, ma!ing
sure that there were no *ro!en *ranches, ma!ing sure that
there were no dead *ranches which could appear unsightly
and lead to an accusation of an ill$!ept garden (ven more
disastrous would *e if some small *ranch fell upon some
no*le lady and disarranged her hairstyle which over hours
would have *een piled on a special lacquered wooden
framewor! So the gardeners were tired of parties, tired of
wor!, and yet they dare not slac! for the -ady 'ampa
seemed to have eyes everywhere, no sooner would a man
sit down for a moment to rest an aching *ac! than she
would appear screaming with rage that he was delaying
things
At last the order of precedence was decided upon and
approved *y the ;reat -ord 'ampa himself who person$
ally affi.ed his seal to each of the invitations as they were
carefully prepared *y mon!$scri*es The paper was spe$
cialy made for the occasion, it was thic! paper with a
rough edge, almost a dec!le$edge, in fact (ach sheet was
roughly twelve inches wide *y two feet long These invita$
tions did not follow the normal si=e or pattern as used in
lamaseries8 in lamaseries the paper is wider than it is long,
*ut when there were very important invitations they were
written on a narrower paper which was a*out twice as
long as it was wide *ecause after the invitation was ac$
cepted the paper would *e fastened to two *am*oo rods
richly decorated at the ends, and then the invitation would
*e carefully suspended from a string and used as a decora$
tion to show how important the recipient was
The -ord 'ampa was one of the Bpper Ten families in
-hasa The -ord 'ampa himself was actually one of the
Bpper %ive, *ut -ady 'ampa was one of the Bpper Ten,

J@
otherwise they could not have married In view of the fact
that each of them had such high social status two seals
had to *e affi.ed to the invitation, one for ,is -ordship
and one for ,er -adyship, and then *ecause they were
married and had such an e.tensive estate they had a third
seal which was !nown as the (state Seal, and that too had
to go upon the document (ach seal was of a different
colour, and the -ady 'ampa and the Steward were in a
state *ordering on fren=y lest the messengers were clumsy
and did something which would crac! the fragile, *rittle
seals
Special message$stic!s were prepared These had to *e
of e.actly the same length and very nearly the same thic!$
ness, each had a special slot at one end which would
receive and hold the message Then 1ust *elow that slot
there was a piece fi.ed on which *ore the family coat of
arms "elow the coat of arms there were narrow strands of
a very tough paper on which were printed prayers, hoping
for protection for the messenger and for a safe delivery of
the messages, and hoping that the recipient would *e a*le
to accept the invitation
%or some time the messengers were carefully drilled in
the most imposing manner to ride and deliver the mes$
sages They sat upon their horses waving their message
stic!s in the air as if they were spears, then on the signal
they would charge forward and one *y one would ap$
proach the Captain of the ;uard who was drilling them
,e, pretending to *e the householder or the householder<s
steward, would graciously accept the message from the
message stic! which was e.tended and inclined toward
him ,e would with great respect ta!e the message and
*ow toward the messenger who was, after all, the repre$
sentative of )the family+ The messenger would *ow *ac!,
would wheel his horse, and would gallop off from whence
he came
When all the messages, or invitations, were prepared
they were placed in order of precedence, and the most
imposing messenger too! the most important message, and
so on, and then off they galloped to deliver the invitations

JH
#ther messengers would come forward, each ta!e a mes$
sage, and lodge it in the cleft of the stic! and gallop off
Soon they would return and the whole procedure would *e
gone through again until, at long last, all the invitations
had gone out, and now was the trying time when the
Steward and the others had to sit *ac! and wait and wait,
and wonder how many would accept the invitations ,ad
they too much food0 ,ad they not enough0 It was most
wearing to the nerves
Some of the guests would *e content to stay in the
gardens, particularly if they were not of sufficient social
status to *e accepted into the house itself, *ut others$
well, they were more important and they would have to
enter the house, and the representatives of the clergy
would also want to see the chapel So all the lacquer was
stripped from the altars and from the altar rails, and men
wor!ed with handfuls of cloth which were dipped in moist
sand and scraped, and scraped, and scraped until the
wood *eneath the lacquer was *right and as new Then a
special priming coat was put on, and when that was dry
lacquer, many layers of it, was most carefully painted on
to the altars and the railings so that in the end the surface
shone li!e the surface of still water on a sunny day
The poor wretched servants were each called *efore the
lady of the house and the Steward, and they were carefully
inspected to see that their clothing was suita*le and to see
that everything was clean If their clothing did not pass
muster then it had to *e carefully washed, for which pur$
pose great cauldrons of hot water were prepared At last,
when the tension was reaching its height, all the invita$
tions were answered, all the servants had *een inspected,
and all their special clothing had *een put aside, not to *e
worn until The Day So a tired household sat *ac! in the
late evening to await the dawn of a new day when %ate
would *e revealed
Slowly the sun san! *ehind the Western mountains
sending up a myriad of scintillating points of light from the
ever$present spume *lowing from the highest pea!s8 the
snow glowed *lood$red, and then dar!ened to *lue, and on

J:
to purple At last there was only the faint loom of the
dar!ness of the s!y and the glittering pin$points of light
which were the stars
At the -halu residence mysterious points of light ap$
peared amid the well$!ept trees A chance traveller along
the -ing!or 'oad slowed his step, hesitated, made as if to
go on again, and then turned and wal!ed *ac! so that he
could see what was afoot, or, more accurately, what was a$
tree!
(.cited voices came from the gardens, and the wayfarer
1ust could not resist the temptation to pursue the matter
further and to find out what it was that was causing such
raised voices and what was, apparently, an altercation As
quietly as he could he shinned up the rough stone wall and
rested his chest on the top with his arms supporting him,
then he could see a novel sight indeed There was the lady
of the house, -ady 'ampa, plump, short, almost square,
in fact At either side of her she had two tall servants,
each carrying a lighted *utter lamp and trying to shield the
wavering flame so that it should not *e e.tinguished and
arouse ,er -adyship<s ire
Disgruntled gardeners moved disconsolately amid the
trees fi.ing little *utter lamps to certain of the lower
*ranches, and then with flint and steel spar!s ignited the
tinder 5igorous *lowing produced a flame, and from the
flame a piece of well$soa!ed$in$*utter stic! was used to
transfer the flame to the *utter lamps The lady was not at
all sure where she wanted the lamps, there was endless
fum*ling a*out in the dar!ness with the little flic!ering
lights merely intensifying the purple night At last there
was a commotion and a very large figure came prancing
out, shouting with rageK )/ou<re ruining my trees, my
trees my trees9you re ruining my trees I will not have
this nonsense (.tinguish those lamps immediately The
-ord 'ampa was mighty proud of his wonderful trees,
trees and gardens which were famed throughout -hasa
,e was indeed in a fren=y of e.citement in case damage
should have *een caused to some of the newly *udding
flowers on the trees

FD
,is wife, ,er -adyship, turned to him with lofty mien
and said, )/ou are indeed ma!ing a spectacle of yourself,
my lord, in front of the servants Do you not thin! I am
capa*le of managing this affair0 It is my home as well as
yours Do not distur* me+ The poor -ord snorted li!e a
*ull, one could almost imagine fire coming from his nos$
trils ,e turned angrily on his foot, and hurried away *ac!
to the house, there was the sound of a door slamming, a
sound so intense and heavy that any less su*stantial door
would surely have *een shattered with the shoc!
)The incense *ra=ier, Timon, the incense *ra=ier Are
you altogether stupid man0 7ut it over there, never mind
a*out lighting it now9put it over there+ 7oor Timon,
one of the housemen, struggled along with a heavy *ra=ier,
*ut it was more than one *ra=ier, there were several The
night grew dar!er and dar!er, and still the lady of the
house wasn<t satisfied "ut at last the wind *lew chill and
the 6oon appeared and cast a frosty light over the pro$
ceedings The man peering over the wall chuc!led to him$
self and dropped down to the road to continue his 1ourney
muttering to himself, )Well! well! If that is the price of
*eing a no*le, then glad I am indeed to *e merely a hum$
*le trader+ ,is footsteps died away in the dar!ness, and
in the garden the *utter lamps were e.tinguished one *y
one The staff and the lady of the house departed In the
garden a night *ird sniffed the strange unusual smell which
came from one of the *utter lamps, the wic! of which
was still smoldering, and flew off with a startled cry of
protest
In the house there was sudden commotion8 the *oy had
disappeared, the heir to the estates, the young princeling
9where was he now0 ,e was not in his *ed There was
panic The mother thought he must have run away, *eing
frightened *y the severity of his father The father thought
he must have run away, *eing frightened *y the anger of
mother, for that day nothing that the poor *oy did was
right ,e had *een in trou*le the day long, first for getting
then for tearing his clothes, then for not *eing where
should have *een at a certain time, then for not *eing

F?
present punctually for meals8 everything was wrong for
him
Servants were roused, the grounds were searched, *utter
lamps flared, and flint and tinder smo!ed A procession of
servants went around the gardens calling for the young
6aster, *ut without avail, he wasn<t to *e found Sister
/asodhara was awa!ened to as! her if she could account
for the movements of her *rother, *ut9no9she wiped
her *leary eyes with the *ac! of her hand, lay down again
and was asleep while she was still sitting
Servants hurried down the road in the dar!ness to see if
the *oy had gone away #ther servants searched the house
from top to *ottom, and eventually in a storeroom -o*$
sang was found, asleep on a *ag of grain with a cat at each
side of him, and all three were snoring mightily "ut not
for long! The father rushed forward with a roar of rage
which almost seemed to shatter the walls, certainly it
made the dust from the grain *ags 1ump and dance in the
air The lamps carried *y servants flic!ered, and one or
two went out The poor *oy was grasped tightly *y the
nec! while one mighty hand lifted him up high The
mother rushed forward e.postulating, )Stop!, Stop! "e
very sure you don<t mar! him *ecause tomorrow he will
*e the cynosure of all the eyes of -hasa >ust send him to
*ed+ So the poor *oy was given a hearty thump and
pushed forward so violently that he fell on his face #ne of
the men servants pic!ed him up and carried him away #f
the cats there was no sign
"ut in the great 7otala, at the level assigned to the
Astrologers, the activity still continued The Chief Astrolo$
ger was carefully chec!ing his figures, carefully chec!ing
his charts, rehearsing what he was going to say, practicing
the intonation which he would find necessary Around him
lama$astrologers too! each sheet of paper and with two
other lamas chec!ing every sheet was placed in its correct
order, there could *e no possi*ility of error here, no pos$
si*ility of reading from the wrong page and *ringing the
College of Astrologers into disrepute As each *oo! was
completed its wooden cover was placed on top and the

FE
*oo! was held together with twice the customary num*er
of tapes 1ust so that everything would *e dou*ly sure
The mon! assigned to *e the personal attendant of the
Chief Astrologer was carefully *rushing his *est ro*e,
ma!ing sure that the =odiacal signs with which it was
em*ellished were *right and fi.ed on securely Then, as he
was an old man, he used two stic!s and those two stic!s
were carefully e.amined for any unsuspected flaws or
crac!s, after which they were passed to a polishing$mon!
who polished them until they shone li!e *urnished copper
%rom the temple areas the gongs *oomed, the trumpets
*lared, and there was a susurration of scurrying feet as the
religious mon!s went a*out their first night service The
astrological mon!s had *een e.cused attendance *ecause
of the importance of the tas! allotted to them, *ecause
they could not ris! dropping everything to go to service
and then finding on the morrow that some error had crept
in
So at last the *utter lamps were e.tinguished one *y
one Soon there was no light e.cept the light of the heave$
en, the starlight and the moonlight, *ut the starlight and
the moonlight were augmented *y the *rilliant reflections
from the la!es and rivers which traversed and criss$crossed
the 7lain of -hasa (very so often a da==ling sheet of
water would cascade in a *urst of glittering silver, li!e
molten silver, as some great fish rushed up to the surface
for a gulp of air
All was silent e.cept for the croa!ing of *ull frogs and
the cries of night *irds in the distance The 6oon sailed in
solitary splendor across the purple s!y, the light of the
dimmed as clouds from India o*scured their glim$
mer &ight was upon the land, and all those e.cept the
creatures of the night slept






FJ


C,A7T(' T,'((



The first faint light appeared over the 1agged (astern ho$
ri=on ;reat mountain ranges stood up in the star!est
*lac! and *ehind them the s!y was *ecoming luminous
#n the topmost floor of the lamaseries mon!s and
lamas stood ready to greet the new day, the topmost floor
9the roof9in each case had a special platform or para$
pet on which great conches and trumpets some fifteen to
twenty feet long stood on stands
The 5alley of -hasa was a pool of in!y *lac! The
6oon had long since set, and the stars were diminished *y
the paling of the s!y *eyond the (astern mountains "ut
the 5alley of -hasa still slept, still lived in the deepest
dar!ness of night, not until the Sun lifted well a*ove the
mountains would the deep$lying lamaseries and houses
welcome daylight
,ere and there dotted randomly throughout the 5alley
infrequent pinpoints of light appeared as a lama or a coo!
or a herdsman had to prepare for a very early start to his
wor! The faint, faint gleams served merely to accentuate
the velvet *lac!ness, so *lac! that not even the trun! of
tree could *e distinguished
The light *eyond the (astern mountains increased %irst
there was a vivid flash of light, then a red *eam shot up,
followed immediately *y what appeared to *e an a*so$
lutely green shaft of light which was one of the features of
the early morning sunrise and the late night sunset Soon
there came *roader shafts of light, and within minutes
there was a startling golden glow outlining the high pea!s,
showing the ever$present snow reflecting off high glaciers
and pro1ecting down into the 5alley the first signs that the
day had appeared With the first appearance of the sun

FF
over the topmost edge of the mountains the lamas *lew
hard into their trumpets, and others sounded into the
conches so that the very air seemed to sha!e with the
sound There was no immediate reaction to the noise,
though, for the people of the 5alley were well used to the
sound of trumpets and conches and could ignore it 1ust as
people in cities can ignore the roaring of aircraft, the clat$
tering of gar*age collections, and all the rest of the noises
of )civili=ation+
,ere and there, though, a sleepy night *ird uttered a
startled chirp *efore putting his head *eneath his wing
again and going off to sleep &ow was the time of the
creatures of the day ;radually the day *irds came awa!e,
cheeping sleepily and then flapping their wings to get rid
of the stillness of the night ,ere and there a feather
drifted down and was *lown at the whim of the vagrant
*ree=e
In the waters of the 2yi Chu and at the Sna!e Temple
fish were stirring la=ily from their night time drifting near
the surface %ish in Ti*et could always rise near the sur$
face *ecause "uddhists do not ta!e life and there were no
fishermen in Ti*et
The old man twisted at the sound of the *ugles and the
roariug of the conches, twisted and sleepily sat upright
%rom his low angle he peered upwards at the s!y, and
then a sudden thought struc! him and he rose crea!ily to
his feet ,is *ones were aged, his muscles tired, so he rose
with circumspection and made his way to a window and
loo!ed out9loo!ed out across the now$awa!ening City of
-hasa "elow him in the 5illage of Sho little lights were
*eginning to appear, one after another, as *utter lamps
were *eing lit so that official who were going to *e *usy
this day would have ample time for their preparations
The aged Astrologer shivered in the early dawn chill,
and pulled his ro*e more tightly around him Inevita*ly
thoughts turned to the -halu estate which could not *e
seen from his vantage point for he loo!ed out over the
village of Sho and the City of -hasa, and the -halu resi$
dence was at the other side of the 7otala facing the wall

FA
with the carved figures which was so much an attraction
for wandering pilgrams
The old man slowly lowered himself again to his *lan$
!ets, and rested while he thought of the events of the day
This day, he thought, would *e one of the high points of
his career, perhaps the culminating point of his career
Already the old man could feel the hand of approaching
death upon him, he could feel the slowing down of his
*ody processes, he could feel that already his Silver Cord
was thinning "ut he was glad that there was yet one more
function he could perform and *ring credit to the office of
Chief Astrologer of Ti*et So thin!ing he do=ed off, to *e
awa!ened with something of a start as a lama *ustled into
the room e.claimingK ),onora*le Astrologer, the Day is
upon us, we have no time to lose, we have again to chec!
the horoscope and the order in which the points are to *e
presented I will assist you to rise, ,onora*le Astrologer+
So saying, he *ent down and put an arm around the
shoulders of the old man and gently raised him to his
feet
"y now the was increasing rapidly, the sun was
clear of the (astern mountain range and was reflecting
light to the Western side of the 5alley8 while those houses
and lamaseries right *eneath the (astern range were yet in
dar!ness, those on the opposite side were in almost full
daylight
The 7otala was coming awa!e There was the strange
stir which humans always ma!e when they are getting
themselves into motion at the *eginning of a day, there
was a feeling of awareness that here were humans ready to
continue the sometimes tedious *usiness of living -ittle
silver *ells were tin!ling, every so often there would come
the lowing of a conch or perhaps the *rassy *lare of a
trumpet The old Astrologer and the others around him
were not aware of the clan!ing and turning of the 7rayer
Wheels, these were so much a part of their everyday e.ist$
ence that they had long since failed to perceive the noise
the 7rayer Wheels made, 1ust as no longer did they notice
the 7rayer %lags which whipped to the morning *ree=e on

FG
the 7otala heights a*ove #nly a cessation of these noises
would have *een noticed *y the startled people
There was the scurry of feet along corridors, there was
the moving of heavy doors %rom somewhere came the
chanting of psalm, religious psalm, psalms again welcom$
ing the new day "ut the old Astrologer had no time to
notice things such as these for now there was the *usiness
of coming to full awareness and to attending to those
functions which are so necessary after a night of sleep
Soon he would *e having his morning meal of tsampa and
tea, and then he would have to go and attend to the ritual
of preparing for the 'eading which he was that day to
give
At the -halu family residence the servants were awa!e
-ady 'ampa, too, was awa!e And -ord 'ampa, after a
hasty *rea!fast, gladly mounted his horse and rode off with
his attendants to the offices of the government in the 5il$
lage of Sho ,e was indeed glad to get away from his wife,
get away from her *ustling officiousness and her over$
=ealous approach to the events facing them ,e had to
ma!e an early start to his wor! *ecause later in the day it
would *e utterly incum*ent upon him to return to play the
part of the gracious host who was a 7rince of -hasa
The heir to the 'ampa estates was awa!ened and came
to life most reluctantly Today was )his+ day, yet, he
thought with some confusion, how could it *e his day
when 6other was planning to ma!e such a social ad$
vantage from it If he had his way he would forget the idea
and disappear to the *an!s of the river so that he could
watch the *oatman ferrying people across the river, and
perhaps when there were not many people to *e ferried he
could manage to con the ferryman into giving him free
passage *ac!wards and forwards, always with the e.cuse,
of course, that he would help pole the ferry
The poor wretched *oy was most unhappy at the hard$
hearted man servant who was thoroughly smearing his
ai? with ya! *utter, and then plaiting a tight pig$tail with
curious twist in it The ya! *utter was !neaded into the

F@
pig$tail until the latter was almost as still as a willow
rod
At a*out ten in the morning there was the sound and
clatter of horses and a party of men rode in to the court$
yard The -ord 'ampa and his attendants had returned
from the government offices *ecause it was necessary that
the family should go to the Cathedral of -hasa to give
than!s for whatever mysteries were to *e revealed on this
day and, of course, to show to priests ever ready to *elieve
that )*lac!heads+ were irreligious that these were spe$
cially religious )*lac! heads+ In Ti*et mon!s have
shaven heads, while the ordinary people, the laity, had
long hair, most times it was *lac! hair, and *ecause of the
*lac! hair they were referred to as *lac! heads
7eople were waiting in the courtyard, -ady 'ampa al$
ready upon a pony, and her daughter /asodhara At the
last moment the heir of the family was gra**ed and un$
ceremoniously hoisted upon a pony who appeared equally
reluctant The gates were again opened and the party rode
out with the -ord 'ampa at the head %or a*out thirty
minutes they rode in strange silence until at last they came
to the small houses and the shops which surrounded the
Cathedral of -hasa, the Cathedral which had stood there
for so many hundreds of years to afford a place of worship
for the pious The original stone floors were deeply
grooved and scored *y the footsteps of pilgrims and sight$
seers All along the entrance to the Cathedral were lines of
7rayer Wheels$*ig things indeed$and as each person
went *y they turned the Wheel as was the custom so that a
most curious tin!ling clatter was set up which had an
almost hypnotic effect
The inside of the Cathedral was heavy9overpowering
in its heaviness9with the scent of incense and the mem$
ory of incense which had *een *urned during the past
thirteen or fourteen hundred years The heavy *lac!
*eams of the roof seemed to have clouds of incense grow$
ing from them, *luish smo!e, grey smo!e, and occasion$
ally a smo!e of a *rownish hue
There were various ;ods and ;oddesses represented in

FH
golden figures, wooden figures, and porcelain figures, and
*efore each were the offerings of pilgrims (very so often
the offerings would *e swept *ehind a metal net to protect
them from pilgrims whose piety was overcome *y the de$
sire to participate in the wealth of the ;ods
,eavy candles *urned and made flic!ering shadows
throughout the dim *uilding It was a so*ering thought
even to a small *oy not yet seven years of age to reflect
that these candles had *een !ept alight *y pouring on
*utter throughout thirteen or fourteen hundred years The
poor *oy ga=ing wide$eyed around him thought, )-et+s get
this day over and perhaps I shall *e a*le to go to some
other country, away from all this holiness+ -ittle did he
!now what was in store for him!
A *ig cat strolled lethargically forward and ru**ed
against the legs of the heir of the 'ampa family The *oy
stooped and dropped to his !nees to fondle the *ig cat
who roared with delight These were the guardian cats of
the temple, astute students of human nature who could tell
at a glance those who would *e li!ely to attempt to steal
and those who could *e trusted &ormally such cats would
never, never approach anyone other than their own par$
ticular !eeper %or a moment there was stunned silence
among the onloo!ers, and some of the mon!s faltered in
their chanting as their eyes wandered to the sight of the
*oy on his !nees *y the *ig cat The picture was soon
spoiled, however, *ecause the -ord 'ampa, his face suf$
fused with rage, *ent down and pic!ed up the *oy *y the
scruff of his nec!, shoo! him li!e a housewife sha!ing out
a duster, gave him a slap on the ear which made the *oy
thin! there was a thunderstorm, and then dumped him
on his feet again The cat turned toward ,is -ordship and
uttered a very long, loud hiss, and then turned with dignity
and strode away
"ut the time had come to return to the -halu residence
for soon the guests would start arriving 6any of the
guests came early so that they could get the pic! of what
was offered, and the pic! of what was offered included the
*est place in the garden So the party left the confines of

F:
the Cathedral and went out into the street again The *oy
raised his eyes and saw the flags fluttering over the road
which led to India, and he thought, )Shall I soon *e on
that road going to another count I shall soon !now I
suppose, *ut, my goodness, I would li!e something to eat
The party rode on retracing their footsteps, and after
twenty$five to thirty minutes they were again entering the
courtyard of the house where they were greeted *y an
an.ious Steward who thought that there might have *een
some delay and that he would have to e.plain to irate
guests that the host and hostess had *een unaccounta*ly
delayed at the Cathedral
There was time for a hurried meal, and then the heir to
the estates rushed to the window at une.pected noises
approaching up the road 6on!$musicians were arriving,
their musical instruments were clattering as they rode
along the road on their ponies (very so often a mon!
would give an e.perimental *low to his trumpet or clarinet
to ma!e sure that it was in tune &ow and again a mon!
would give a hearty *on! to a drum to ma!e sure that the
s!in was at the correct tautness (ventually they entered
the courtyard and went *y the side path into the gardens,
carefully depositing their instruments on the ground The
instruments deposited, they reached for the Ti*etan *eer
gladly The *eer was there in some profusion to prepare
them$to get them in the right mood to ma!e 1ovial music
instead of som*re classical stuff
"ut there was no time to deal with the musicians, the
first of the guests were arriving They came in a *ody It
seemed as if all -hasa was moving on to the -halu resi$
dence ,ere came a small army of men on horse*ac!, all
heavily armed, it was something li!e the invading army sent
*y the "ritish, *ut this army was armed only *ecause cere$
mony and protocol demanded it They rode with men on
the outside, and *etween the lines of men the women rode
where they were adequately protected from any imaginary
attac! The armed servitors had their spears and pi!es
gaily decorated with flags and with pennants ,ere and

AD
there, as a mon! was in the party, 7rayer %lags fluttered
from a staff
In the courtyard itself there were two lines of servants,
headed *y the Steward on one side and the Chief ,ouse$
hold 7riest on the other There was much ado with *ow$
ing, returning *ows, and *owing again as the guests were
ushered in (ach guest was helped off his horse as if$as
the heir to the household thought$they were all a lot of
paraly=ed dummies Their horses were led away and given
ample food Then, depending upon the status of the guests,
they were either shown into the garden and left to fend
for themselves, or shown into the house where they would
e.claim over this or that article, articles which had *een
put out especially to impress the guests! #f course, in
Ti*et scarves are given and received, and there was much
confusion as the arriving guests presented scarves and
then received scarves in return Sometimes there was a
most aw!ward incident when some *emused servant
would unthin!ingly hand *ac! to the guest the scarf which
he or she had 1ust presented, there would *e em*arrassed
smiles and muttered apologies, *ut soon the matter would
*e straightened out
-ady 'ampa was red of face and perspiring freely She
was terrified that the old Astrologer9the Chief Astrologer
of all Ti*et$must have died, or fallen into the river, or
*een trampled upon *y a horse, or some similar mishap
*ecause there was no sign of him, and the purpose of the
whole party was to have the 'eading of the future for the
heir to the household Without the Chief Astrologer that
could not *e done
A servant was dispatched at the run to ascend to the
highest point ?n the house and to loo! out toward 7otala,
to see if there was any sign of the approaching cavalcade
which would herald the impending arrival of the Astrolo$
ger The servant departed and soon was seen o the top$
most roof, he was gesticulating with his arms, and dancing
little 1ig in his e.citement
-ady 'ampa was furious, a*solutely frustrated, she had
no idea what the servant was trying to convey, it loo!ed as

A?
if he were drun! more than anything else So hastily she
sent a fresh servant to get a report as to what was happen$
ing Soon the two servants arrived together and e.plained
that the Astrological cavalcade was 1ust crossing the 7lain
of 2yi Chu That was the signal for increased fervor -ady
'ampa ushered everyone out of the house and into the
garden, telling them to ta!e their places *ecause the great
Chief Astrologer was arriving any moment The mon!$
musicians straightened up and started to play, ma!ing the
air sha!e and vi*rate with the e.citement that they put into
the event
The -halu estate gardens were large and very well !ept
There were trees from all over Ti*et, even some from
India, from "hutan and Si!!im "ushes, too, grew in great
profusion with e.otic *looms entrancing the eye "ut now
the wonderful showpiece of a garden was thronged with
avid sightseers, people who had no thought for horticul$
ture, people who were there for S(&SATI#& The ;reat
-ord 'ampa wandered disconsolately a*out, chewing on
his !nuc!les with an agony of anguished frustration and at
the same time trying to smile amia*ly at those people
whom he felt he should *eam upon
-ady 'ampa was almost wearing herself shorter *y the
amount of running a*out she was doing8 she was in a
continual *ustle, trying to see the -ord 'ampa wasn+t too
austere, trying to see what the heir to the estate was doing,
what the servants were doing$and !eeping a ready eye
for the arrival of the Chief Astrologer
There came the sound of horses+ steps The Steward
hurried to the main gate which was carefully shut *ehind
him ,e stood ready to order its opening at 1ust the right
moment to ma!e the ma.imum effect
;uests had heard the horses and were now streaming
from the garden into a very large room which, for the
occasion, had *een converted into a refectory$reception
room ,ere they found *uttered tea waiting for them and,
of course, delicacies from India, very sweet stic!y ca!es
which would effectively glue them up and prevent them
from tal!ing so much!

AE
There came the sound of a deep$toned gong, its voice
echoing and rever*erating around the *uilding, a mighty
gong some five feet high and which was only used on the
most solemn occasions &ow a highly placed man servant
was standing *y it giving it the special stro!es which he
had *een practicing on a smaller gong for days past
The gong *oomed, the gate swung open, and into the
courtyard wheeled a cavalcade of young mon!s, lamas,
and the Chief Astrologer ,e was an old man, wi=ened,
small, some eighty years of age Close *eside him, almost
leg to leg, in fact, rode two lamas whose sole duty it was
to ma!e sure that the aged man did not topple off and get
trampled underfoot
The horses came to a stop, !nowing full well that the
end of the 1ourney had come and now they would *e well
fed The two lama$attendants 1umped off their horses and
carefully lifted the old Astrologer Then the -ord 'ampa
came forward and there was the customary e.change of
scarves, the customary *owing, and *owing in return
Then the Chief Astrologer and the -ord 'ampa entered
the reception room where all the assem*led people *owed
%or a few moments there was a certain amount of con$
fusion and turmoil Then the Chief Astrologer, having po$
litely tasted the proffered *uttered tea, motioned to two
lamas who carried the notes and charts
The deep$toned gong sounded again, *oom, *oom,
*oom$*oom The far end of the reception room was
flung open and the Chief Astrologer and his two lama$
attendants wal!ed forward through the door, out into the
garden to where a great marquee9especially imported
from India$had *een erected #ne side of the marquee
was open so that the ma.imum num*er of people should
*e a*le to see and hear what was going on Inside the
marquee of dais had *een erected with rails on three sides
and near the front were four seats
The Chief Astrologer and his two lama$attendants ap$
proached the dais and then four servants appeared carry$
ing upright poles, or flam*eau, *ecause at the distal end

AJ
there were large flares showing that these men were re$
cognising that here in this marquee there were the flames of
!nowledge
%our trumpeters ne.t appeared They sounded a fan$
fare They were to draw attention to -ord and -ady
'ampa *ecause their son, the heir to the -halu estate, was
the cause of all the )commotion,+ as one onloo!er said
The -ord and -ady slowly mounted the dais, and stood
*ehind the four chairs
%rom another direction, and with their own retinue,
there came two very very old men from the -amasery of
the State #racle These two old men from the -amasery of
&echung were, after the Chief Astrologer, the most e.$
perienced astrologers in the country, they were colla*$
orators with the Chief Astrologer, they had gone over the
figures and charts and computations, and each of the
sheets of the horoscope contained the seals of approval of
each of these men
The Chief Astrologer stood The others sat Suddenly
there fell a hush upon the assem*led company The Chief
Astrologer ga=ed out at the throng, and *uilt up suspense
*y remaining quite silent for some moments, then at a
gesture the two lamas moved forward, one to each side of
him The one on the right held the assem*led *oo! of the
horoscope, the one on the left carefully removed the top
wooden plaque, and the Chief Astrologer read his re$
mar!s
7eople had to strain *ecause, with age, the Astrologer
had a thin, high voice which to those in the *ac!ground
*lended with the *irds who chirped in the topmost
*ranches
,is opening remar!s were the ritual remar!s on such
occasions8 );ods, devils, and men all *ehave in the same
way,+ he said, )so the future can *e foretold, *ut the
future is not immuta*le The %uture can, within certain
limits, *e changed Thus it is we can forecast only the
pro*a*ilities, and having forecast the pro*a*ilities, pre$
dicted the good and the *ad, then indeed we must leave
the rest to those whose horoscopes we are reading ,e

AF
stopped and loo!ed a*out him, and the lama on the left
removed the top sheet, leaving the second one e.posed
The Astrologer too! a deep *reath and continued, ),ere
we have the most remar!a*le horoscope that the three of
us have ever computed+ ,e turned and *owed slightly to
his two colla*orators Then, clearing his throat, he con$
tinued, )This is the horoscope of a young *oy 1ust si.
years of age It is the most difficult horoscope and the
hardest -ife which we have encountered+
-ord and -ady 'ampa shifted uneasily Certainly this
wasnIt turning out as they e.pected, they weren+t at all
happy "ut, with the training of their caste, they main$
tained an inscruta*le e.pression "ehind them the cause of
all the trou*le, the heir to the estate, -o*sang 'ampa, felt
gloomy indeed All this waste of time ,ow many people
would have *een crossing the river0 What was the *oat$
man doing0 Were the cats all right0 ,e felt he had to stand
there li!e a stuffed dummy while three ancient, almost
fossili=ed men decided what he would have to do with his
life Surely, he thought, he should have some say in what
he was going to do 7eople had *een telling him how
wonderful it was to *e the heir to such an immense estate,
saying what a credit he could *e to his parents Well, he
thought, he wanted to *e a ferryman, he wanted to loo!
after cats somewhere8 certainly he didnIt want to wor!
"ut the Astrologer was droning on, and there was a
complete silence from the audience, they were indeed en$
thralled )This *oy must go to the 6edical -amasery at
Cha!pori, he must do his penance and his homage *efore
he can *e permitted to enter, and having entered he must
start as the lowest of the low and wor! his way up ,e
must learn all the 6edical arts of Ti*et, he must for a time
do that which is almost unmentiona*le8 he must wor! with
the Disposers of the Dead that, in cutting up *odies, he
may understand the structure of the human *ody ,aving
done this he will return to Cha!pori, and study yet again
,e will *e shown the innermost mysteries of our land, of
our "elief, and of our Science+
The old man held out his hand, and an attendant

AA
quic!ly gave him a small silver *ea!er containing some
liquid which he loo!ed at and then swallowed The at$
tendant carefully too! *ac! the silver *ea!er and refilled it
ready for the ne.t demand
The Astrologer went onK )Then shall come the time
when no longer may he remain in this land of ours, instead
he must 1ourney to China to study medicine according to
the Western style, for there is a Western School of 6edi$
cine in Chung!ing At that School of 6edicine he shall
ta!e a fresh name for let it not *e !nown that the heir to
-haluIs shall *e dealing with the *odies -ater he shall
learn something which is quite incomprehensi*le to us at
present, it is something which has not yet come a*out,
something which is not yet properly invented To our e.$
perienced *rains it seems that he may do something which
entails flying through the air, yet which is not the levita$
tion which some of us can do here in -hasa So upon this
particular aspect I must *e o*scure *ecause indeed it is
most o*scure to the three of us The *oy, who then will *e
a young man, will have to wor! this out for himself, he
will fly through the air *y some means #ur pictures show
something li!e the !ites with which we are familiar, *ut
this particular !ite is not tethered to the ground *y rope,
instead it appears to *e controlled *y those who ride on
it+
There was much muttering and urgent whispering from
the congregation This was wonders piled on wonders,
never *efore had such things *een spo!en of %or a mo$
ment there was the uneasy shuffling of feet, and then the
Astrologer too! another drin! and turned *ac! to the, *y
now, diminishing sheets of paper
),e shall have immense suffering, immense hardship,
he shall enter a war against evil forces, he shall for some
years *e confined and undergo suffering such as few have
undergone, the purpose of which will *e to purify and to
drive away the dross of any sensuality, and to *uild the
power of the *rain to endure -ater he shall get away from
his captors after some immense e.plosion which throws a
whole country, or a whole world, may*e, into confusion

AG
,e shall travel *y means which we cannot identify across
a vast continent, and at the end of that travel he shall
again *e incarcerated un1ustly, suffering will come upon
him there with at least as great measure as it did in the
other confinement At last, *y the intervention of un$
!nown people, he shall *e released and forced out of that
great continent ,e shall wander into many countries,
meeting many people, seeing many cultures, learning
many things And then at last he shall go to a country
where once again he shall not *e welcomed *ecause of his
difference The suffering will have changed him enor$
mously so that he no longer seems of our own !ind, *ut
different And when humans meet anything which is differ$
ent they fear that thing, and that which they fear they hate
and try to destroy+
The old man was loo!ing tired At last the senior at$
tendant stepped forward, muttered to the Astrologer, and
then said, )We will have a few minutes rest while our
Chief Astrologer recuperates for the second half of this
'eading -et us, then, for the moment concentrate upon
that which has *een said so that we may the more easily
assimilate that which is to follow+ The Chief Astrologer
sat down, refreshments were *rought to him, and he
watched the throngs of people And as he sat watching the
throngs of people he thought of his *oyhood, he thought
of the times he had clim*ed the high mountains in the
deepest of the night so he could ga=e upon the stars ar$
rayed in the ,eavens a*ove ,e had pondered long upon
the significance of those stars, did they have influence on
people0 ,e decided to find out "y various means, and
pro*a*ly *ecause he was fated to do so, he entered the
-amasery of the State #racle and he was found to have
quite a*normal a*ility at Astrology, an Astrology, of
course, which is far superior to that of the Western world,
far more complete and far, far more accurate It includes
more varia*les and could *e pro1ected at greater depth
The young man who was destined to *e the Chief Astrolo$
ger of the whole of Ti*et progressed rapidly, studying,
studying, studying ,e o*tained the ancient te.ts of India,

A@
the te.ts of China, and almost re$wrote the Science of
Astrology in Ti*et As his s!ill rose his fame increased so
that he was called upon *y the heads of all the great
houses of -hasa, and then of other cities of Ti*et Soon he
was called upon to do predictions for the government and
for the ;reat Thirteenth himself Always he was strictly
honest If he did not !now, he said he did not !now ,e
had predicted the "ritish invasion, he had predicted the
departure of the ;reat Thirteenth to another country, and
his safe return, and he had made the prediction that there
would *e no real Dalai -ama after the Thirteenth had
gone to the state of transition8 there would *e another *ut
he would have *een selected as a matter of political e.$
pediency in an attempt to assuage the territorial am*itions
of the Chinese ,e had made the prediction that in si.ty
years, or so, there would *e the end of Ti*et as it was then
!nown, a completely fresh order would come into force
which would cause e.treme hardship and suffering, *ut
might, if it were handled correctly, have the effect of
sweeping away an out$moded system and *ringing, after a
hundred years or so, *enefits to Ti*et
The Chief Astrologer sipped his *uttered tea and loo!ed
at the people *efore him ,e watched the way some of the
young men loo!ed at the young women, and the way in
which the young women glanced *ac!, coyly, invitingly
,e thought of his long years as a celi*ate mon!, nearly
eighty years, he thought, and he hardly !new in which way
a woman differed from a man ,is !nowledge was of the
stars, of the influence of the stars, and of men and women
as they were affected *y the stars ,e loo!ed at comely
young women and wondered if it really was right for
mon!s to *e celi*ate Surely, he thought, man!ind should
consist of two parts, the male and the female principle,
and unless the two parts are united there cannot *e a
complete 6an ,e thought of all the tales he had heard of
how women were *ecoming more and more arrogant,
more trying to rule ,e loo!ed a*out at some of the older
women with their harsh faces, and he noted their domi$
neering attitude And then he thought, well, perhaps it is

AH
that the time is not yet ripe for man and woman to *e
united to form one whole, to form one complete entity
"ut that will come, although not until the end of this
'ound of e.istence So thin!ing, he gave up his cup to an
attendant, and signaled that he was ready to continue
A hush again fell upon the assem*ly, people were loo!$
ing up toward the dais As the old man was assisted to his
feet the *oo!s were again placed *efore him ,e loo!ed
around once more, and said, )Some of the e.periences
which will *efall the su*1ect of this 'eading are so far
*eyond our own e.perience that they cannot *e predicted
in a sufficiently accurate form to *e worthwhile It is
!nown definitely that this person has a great, great Tas! to
do, it is a Tas! which is of the utmost importance to the
whole of humanity, not of Ti*et alone It is !nown that
there are evil forces, very evil forces indeed, who are
wor!ing hard to negate that which he must do
),e will encounter hatred, he will encounter every form
of hardship and suffering, he will !now what it is to *e at
the point of death and have to undergo the ordeal of
transmigration into another *ody so that the wor! may go
forward "ut here in this other *ody fresh pro*lems will
arise ,e will *e disowned *y his own people *ecause of
that political e.pediency which I have already mentioned
It will *e considered to the *enefit of a people as a whole
that he *e disowned, that he *e not supported *y those
who should support him, *y those who could support him,
and I say again that these are pro*a*ilities *ecause it is
quite possi*le for our own people to support him and give
him an opportunity to spea! *efore the nations of the
world so that, first, Ti*et may *e saved, and secondly, that
great Tas! whose e.act nature may not *e mentioned may
*e the more speedily accomplished "ut wea! people in
temporary a*ridged authority shall not *e strong enough
to assist him and so he shall *attle alone against the forces
of evil, and against the uncaring people whom he is trying
to help+
The old man loo!ed around and motioned to the left$
hand attendant to remove the ne.t sheet The attendant

A:
*lushed a little at having to *e reminded, and speedily did
as he was *ade The Astrologer went onK )There is a
special association or group which gives information to
peoples of the world *eyond our confines They are of
insufficient spiritual stature to understand the Tas! which
has to *e accomplished, and their sensational hatred shall
ma!e the Tas! immeasura*ly more difficult As well as
this there is a small group of people who will *e filled with
*urning hatred and will do everything possi*le to ruin the
su*1ect of this horoscope and cause him every distress+
The old man paused and put his hand on the topmost
sheet as a signal that he had finished with the *oo!s Then
he turned and addressed the congregation, )With the years
of my e.perience I say to you this8 no matter how great
the struggle, no matter how severe the suffering, the Tas!
is worthwhile The only *attle that matters is the final
*attle It does not matter who wins or who loses, the wars
that continue until the final *attle, and in the end the final
*attle shall *e won *y the powers of good, and that which
has to *e done shall *e done+ ,e *owed three times to
the people, and then turned and *owed three times to the
-ord and -ady 'ampa Then he sat down to rest his legs
which were sha!ing with the weight of years
The audience, whispering among themselves, quic!ly
dispersed and went into the gardens in search of entertain$
ment, and there was much entertainment offered$music,
acro*ats, 1ugglers, and, of course, food and drin! After
the Astrologer and his two colla*orators had rested awhile
they rose and went into the great house where they had
more to say to the parents of -o*sang 'ampa They had
more to say to -o*sang as well, to say privately, alone
with him
Soon the Chief Astrologer departed on his way *ac! to
the 7otala, and his two colla*orators departed on their
1ourney to the -alnasery of the State #racle
The day wore on There came the dus!, and at the
warning of dus! the assem*led people wended their way
out of the great gate and along the roads so they may

GD
reach their own homes *efore night and the perils thereof
came upon them
The dar!ness fell and out in the road *eyond the great
gate a lonely little *oy stood loo!ing down the road at the
last of the departing guests and the carousing which they
were ma!ing ,e stood with hands clasped, thin!ing of a
life of misery which had *een predicted, thin!ing of the
horrors of war which he did not understand, thin!ing of
the insensate persecution yet to come ,e stood there
alone, alone in all the world, and no one had such a
pro*lem ,e stood there and the night grew dar!er, and
no one came to see! him and to lead him *ac! At last, as
the 6oon was full a*ove, he lay down *y the side of the
road$the gate was shut anyhow$and in minutes there
came a purring *eside his head and a great *ig cat lay
down *eside him The *oy put his arms around the cat,
the cat purred louder Soon the *oy drifted off to a trou$
*led sleep, *ut the cat was alert, watching, guarding
















So ends the %irst "oo!,
the "oo! of As It Was In The "eginning



G?











"##2 TW#

The %irst (ra























C,A7T(' %#B'


)#h -o*sang, -o*sang,+ quoth 6other, her face pale
with anger )/ou have *rought us a*solute disgrace, I am
ashamed of you /our %ather is ashamed of you, he is so
angry with you that he has gone to the office and will *e
there all day, that has upset all my engagements, and its
all you, -o*sang!+ So saying she turned a*ruptly and hur$
ried off as if she couldn+t *ear to loo! at me any longer
Ashamed of me0 Why should she *e ashamed of me0 I
didn+t want to *e a mon!, I didn+t want all the horri*le
things predicted for me Anyone with a grain of sense
would !now that The predictions of yesterday had filled
me with horror It had *een li!e the ice devils trailing their
fingers up and down my spine So she was ashamed of me,
was she0
#ld T=u hove into sight almost li!e a moving mountain,
he was so large ,e loo!ed at me and said, )Well, young
man, youIre going to have a rough life, arenIt you0 I thin!
youIll ma!e it If you could not have stood all the strains
and temptations you would not have *een chosen for such
a tas! The craftsman chooses his tools according to the
tas! to *e done 7erhaps9who !nows09the craftsman
who chose you to *e his instrument may have chosen
*etter than he !new+ I loo!ed at old T=u somewhat
cheered, *ut only )somewhat,+ and then I said, )"ut, T=u,
how have I disgraced 6other, how have I disgraced %a$
ther0 I havenIt done anything I didnIt want to *ecome a
mon! I 1ust donIt understand what they mean (veryone
today seems to *e full of hate for me 6y sister wonIt
spea! to me, my 6other reviles me, and my %ather wonIt
even stay in the house with me, and I donIt !now why+
#ld T=u painfully lowered himself to sit cross$legged on
the floor, his wounds inflicted *y the "ritish were sorely

GA
trou*ling him ,e had had damage to a hip *one and
now9well9he had pain all the time "ut he sat on the
floor and tal!ed to me
)/our 6other,+ he said, )is a woman of great social
am*ition She thought that as a son of a 7rince of Ti*et,
later to *e a 7rince in your own right, you would have
gone to a *ig city in India and there you would have
learned much of the affairs of the world /our 6other
thought that you would *e a social asset to her, she
thought that if you went to India and perhaps to other
countries, then she also could have gone on visits, and that
for years, even *efore your *irth, has *een her all$
consuming am*ition &ow you have *een chosen for a
special Tas!, *ut thatIs not what she wanted, its not what
your %ather wanted They wanted a shining figure in the
political arena, a socialite, not a mon! who is going to have
to struggle all his life, not a man who would wander the
face of the (arth li!e a pariah, shunned *y his fellows for
telling the truth ostraci=ed *y those around him *ecause
he was trying to do a Tas! at which others have failed+
#ld T=u snorted loudly
All this seemed too utterly strange for *elief Why
should I *e penali=ed, victimi=ed, for something I hadn+t
done and something I didnIt want to do0 All I wanted was
to hang around the *an!s of the river and watch the ferry$
men with their s!in *oats poling their way across the
waters All I wanted was to practice with my stilts and to
fly my !ites "ut now9well, I 1ust did not !now what to
ma!e of things, I did not !now why it had to *e 6(
The days sped all too quic!ly, and at last as foretold I
had to leave my home and go up the hill to the Cha!pori
-amasery There I had to undergo the ordeal of waiting,
waiting outside the cynosure of all eyes Small *oys clus$
tered around me as I sat cross$legged in the dust outside
the great gates The days were unendura*ly long, *ut I
endured The nights were un*eara*ly tedious, *ut I *ore
them until at last that ordeal ended I was admitted to the
lamasery as the lowest of the low, a new *oy, one who
was fair game, one who was there to *e pic!ed on, who

GG
could have any manner of 1o!e played upon him The
lowest of the low
Time crawled, and I was homesic! I missed my home,
I missed T=u, I m=ssed my sister /asodhara8 for the
6other who now had no love for me$well, I had strange
sensations a*out her %ran!ly, I missed her (ven more
fran!ly, I felt guilty ,ow had I failed0 Why were they so
disappointed with me0 ,ow could I help that an astrolo$
ger had said I should go and suffer this and endure that0 It
wasnIt my choice, no one in their right senses, I thought,
would pic! such a load of trou*le as that which had *een
allocated to me
I thought of my %ather the last time I saw him *efore
leaving home ,e loo!ed at me fro=en$faced, he spo!e to
me harshly as if I were a stranger now, no longer with a
home of my own, and no longer with parents of my own
,e treated me more severely than he would have treated a
convict who came to the door *egging for food ,e told
me that I had disgraced the family *y having such a
!harma that I had to *e a mon!, a lama, a wanderer,
who would *e moc!ed, sneered at and dis*elieved
/asodhara9well, I 1ust didnIt !now what to ma!e of
her attitude She changed We used to play together li!e
any normal *rother and sister, we used to get on passa*ly
well, 1ust, in fact, li!e normal *rothers and sisters do get
on )passa*ly well+ "ut now she gave me such strange
glances as if I were a stray dog that had crept in to the
house and left an unwanted gift in some corner The serv$
ants no longer showed me respect, the respect due to the
heir of the -halu estates To them I was 1ust something
which was lodged there for a few days until the seventh
*irthdate should come Then on the seventh *irthdate I
would wander off alone without a word of good$*ye from
anyone, up the long and lonely path leading toward a
career which I would not have wished upon my worst
enemies
At Cha!pori there was the constant ree! of drying
her*s, the constant swish of her*al tea ,ere much time
was devoted to the her*alist code, and less time to reli$

G@
gious disciplines "ut we had very good tutors, all of them
elderly men, some in fact had even *een as far away as
India
I remem*er one elderly mon!, or I should say lama,
who was giving us a lecture, and then he got on to the
su*1ect of transmigration )In the days of long ago,+ he
said, )in fact long *efore recorded history *egan, giants
wal!ed upon the (arth They were the ;ardeners of the
(arth, those who came here to supervise the development
of life on this planet, *ecause we are not the first 'ound of
(.istence here, you !now, *ut li!e gardeners clearing a
plot of land all life had *een removed and then we, the
human race, had *een left here to ma!e our own way, to
ma!e our own development+ ,e stopped and loo!ed
around to see if his pupils were at all interested in the
su*1ect which he was propounding To his gratified aston$
ishment he found that people were indeed deeply inter$
ested in his remar!s
)The 'ace of ;iants,+ he went on, )were not very suit$
a*le for life on (arth, and so *y magical means the 'ace
of ;iants shran! until they were the same si=e as humans,
thus they were a*le to mingle with humans without *eing
recogni=ed as the ;ardeners "ut it was often necessary
for a different senior ;ardener to come and carry out
special tas!s, it too! too long to have a *oy *orn to a
woman and then wait out the years of his *a*yhood and
childhood and teenage So the science of the ;ardeners of
the (arth had a different system8 they grew certain *odies
and made sure that those *odies would *e compati*le with
the spirit who would later inha*it them+
A *oy sitting in the front suddenly spo!e upK ),ow
could a spirit inha*it another person0+ The lama teacher
smiled upon him and said, )I was 1ust a*out to tell you
"ut the ;ardeners of the (arth permitted certain men and
women to mate so that a child was *orn to each, and the
growth of that child would *e most carefully supervised
throughout, perhaps, the first fifteen or twenty or thirty
years of life Then there would come a time when a highly
placed ;ardener would need to come to (arth within a

GH
matter of hours, so helpers would place the trained *ody
into a trance, into stasis, or, if you li!e, into a state of
suspended animation ,elpers in the astral world would
come to the living *ody together with the entity who
wanted to go to (arth, with their special !nowledge they
could detach the Silver Cord and connect in its place the
Silver Cord of the entity who was the ;ardener of the
(arth coming to the (arth The host would then *ecome
the vehicle of the ;ardener of the (arth, and the astral
*ody of the host would go away to the astral world 1ust as
he would do in the case of a person who had died
)This is called transmigration, the migration of one en$
tity into the *ody of another The *ody ta!en over is
!nown as the host, and it has *een !nown throughout
history, it was practised e.tensively in (gypt and it gave
rise to what is !nown as em*alming *ecause in those days
in (gypt there were quite a num*er of *odies !ept in a
state of suspended animation, they were living *ut unmov$
ing, they were ready for occupancy *y higher entities 1ust
as we !eep ponies waiting for a mon! or lama to mount
the animal and ride off somewhere+
)#h my!+ e.claimed one *oy, )I e.pect friends of the
host were mightily surprised when the *ody awa!ened and
the one they had thought of as their friend in the past was
possessed of all !nowledge 6y! I wouldn+t li!e to *e a
host, it must *e a terri*le feeling to have someone else
ta!e over oneIs *ody+
The teacher laughed and said, )It would certainly *e a
unique e.perience 7eople still do it "odies are still pre$
pared, specially raised so that if the need arises a different
entity can ta!e over a fresh *ody if it *ecomes necessary
for the good of the world as a whole+
%or days after the *oys had discussed it, and in the way
of *oys some of them pretended that they were going to *e
ta!ing over *odies "ut to me, thin!ing *ac! on that dread
prediction, it was no 1o!e, it wasnIt amusing to me, it was
an ordeal to even thin! a*out it It was a continual shoc!
to my system, so great a shoc! that at times I thought I
would go insane

G:
#ne tutor in particular was intrigued *y my love of cats
and the catsI o*vious love for me The tutor !new full well
that cats and I conversed telepathically #ne day after
school hours he was in a very good mood indeed, and he
saw me lying on the ground with four or five of our temple
cats sitting on me ,e laughed at the sight and *ade me
accompany him to his room, which I did with some ap$
prehension *ecause in those days a summons to a lamaIs
quarters usually meant a reprimand for something done or
not done, or e.tra tas!s to *e accomplished So I followed
him at a respectful distance, and once in his rooms he told
me to sit down while he tal!ed to me a*out cats
)Cats,+ he said, )are now small creatures, and they
cannot spea! in the human tongue *ut only *y telepathy
6any, many years ago, *efore this particular 'ound of
(.istence, cats populated the (arth They were *igger
they were almost as *ig as our ponies, they tal!ed to each
other, they could do things with their forepaws, which
then they called hands They engaged in horticulture and
they were largely vegetarian cats They lived among the
trees and their houses were in the great trees Some of the
trees were very different from those we now !now upon
the (arth, some of them, in fact, had great hollows in
them li!e caves, and in those hollows, or caves, the cats
made their homes They were warm, they were protected
*y the living entity of the tree, and altogether they were a
very congenial community "ut one cannot have perfec$
tion with any species *ecause unless there is some come$
petition unless there is some dissatisfaction to spur one
on, then the creature having such euphoria degenerates+
,e smiled at the cats who had followed me and who
were now sitting around me, and then he went on, )such
happened to our *rothers and sisters Cat They were too
happy, too contented, they had nothing to spur their am*i$
tion, nothing to drive them on to greater heights They had
no thought e.cept that they were happy They were li!e
those poor people we saw recently who were *ereft of
sanity, they were content 1ust to lie *eneath the trees and
let the affairs of the day ta!e care of themselves They

@D
were static, and so *eing static they were a failure As
such the ;ardeners of the (arth rooted them out as
though they were weeds and the earth was allowed to lie
fallow for a time And in the course of time the (arth had
reached such a stage of ripeness that again it could *e re$
stoc!ed with a different type of entity "ut the cats9well,
their fault had *een that they had done nothing, neither
good nor *ad They had e.isted and that alone9e.isted
And so they were sent down again as small creatures
li!e those we see here, they were sent to learn a
lesson, they were sent with the inner !nowledge that
T,(/ had once *een the dominant species, so they were
reserved, very careful to whom they gave their friendship
They were sent to do a tas!, the tas! of watching humans
and reporting the progress or the failures of humans so
that when the ne.t 'ound came much information would
have *een provided *y cats Cats can go anywhere, they
can see anything, they can hear anything, and, not *eing
a*le to tell a lie, they would record everything precisely as
it occurred+
I !now that I was quite frightened for the time *eing! I
wondered what the cats were reporting a*out me "ut then
one old tom, a champion of many a fight, gave a )'rrr+
and 1umped on my shoulders and *utted his head against
mine, so I !new everything was all right and they would
not report me too *adly
Sometime after I lay upon my face on my *lan!et on
the floor of the infirmary *ecause I had *een very *adly
*urned at the top of my left leg, the scars are with me yet,
and the disfunction occasioned *y the *urn is one from
which I still suffer I was lying upon my face *ecause I
couldnIt lie upon my *ac!, and a well$loved lama entered
and said, )-ater, -o*sang, when you are healed and mo$
*ile I am going to ta!e you to a certain pea! in the moun$
tains I have there something to show you *ecause, you
!now, the (arth has undergone many changes, the (arth
has changed, the seas have altered, the mountains have
grown I am going to show you things which not more
than ten people in the whole of Ti*et have seen during the

@?
past hundred years So hurry up and get *etter, hurry up
and heal, you have something of interest *efore you+
It was some months later when my ;uide, the -ama
6ingyar Dondup, who meant so much to me and who
was more than mother and father and *rother to me, led
me along a path ,e went a few feet ahead on a strong
horse, and I rode *ehind him on a pony who was as wary
of me as I was of him ,e recogni=ed me as a *ad rider
and I recogni=ed him as a horse who recogni=ed a *ad
rider We had what in later years I would have called an
armed neutrality, a sort of9well, if you donIt do anything
I wonIt either, weIve got to live together somehow "ut we
rode on, and at long last my ;uide stopped I leaned over
and slithered sideways off the pony The trail ropes were
dropped and the horse and pony would not then wander
away, they were too well$trained
6y ;uide lit a fire, and we sat down to a very sparse
supper There was desultory tal! for a time a*out the
wonders of the ,eavens spread out a*ove us We were in
the shadow of the mountains and strong purple patches of
dar!ness were sweeping across the 5alley of -hasa as the
Sun san! down *eyond the Western range At last all was
dar! e.cept for the faint twin!ling *utter lamps from a
myriad of houses and lamaseries, and e.cept for the glory
of the ,eavens a*ove which sent forth their faint twin$
!ling spec!les of light
At last my ;uide said, )&ow we must go to sleep,
-o*sang, there are no temple services tonight to distur*
you, no temple services in the morning for which you have
to awa!en Sleep well for on the morrow we shall see
things that you have never *efore dreamed possi*le+ So
saying, he rolled himself up in his *lan!et, turned on his
side9and went to sleep91ust li!e that I lay for a time
trying to scoop a hole in the roc! *ecause my hip *one
seemed to stic! out a long way, and then I turned on my
face for my scars were still causing pain, and then I too
eventually went to sleep
The morning dawned *right %rom our altitude in the
mountains it was fascinating to watch how the early morn$

@E
ing rays of the Sun seemed to shoot hori=ontally across the
valley and illuminate the pea!s on the Western hori=on
with what appeared to *e golden fingers of fire Indeed for
a time it loo!ed as if the whole mountain range was afire
We stood and watched, and then simultaneously we turned
and smiled at each other
After a light *rea!fast9the *rea!fast always seemed
too light for me!9we watered the horses at a small moun$
tain stream, and then, providing them with ample forage
which, of course, we had *rought with us, we tied them
together with a*out thirty feet space *etween them They
had plenty of room in which to roam and gra=e off the
sparse grass
The -ama 6ingyar Dondup led the way up the trac!$
less mountainside "y an immense *oulder which seemed
set immova*ly into the cliff face, he turned and said, )In
your travels you are going to see much which appears to
*e magic, -o*sang ,ere is a first sample of it+ Then he
turned, and to my horrified ama=ement he wasnIt there
any longer! ,e 1ust disappeared in front of my eyes Then
his voice came from )somewhere+ *idding me to step for$
ward As I did so I found that what appeared to *e a strip
of moss hanging on the cliff face was, in fact, some loose
liands I approached, and the lama held the fronds aside
for me so that I might enter ,e turned and I followed
him, ga=ing a*out me in awe This seemed to *e a wide,
wide tunnel, and light was coming in from some source
which I could not discern I followed his receding foot$
steps, chiding myself for my tardiness, for, as I well real$
ised, if I was going to *e too slow I might get lost in this
mountain tunnel
%or a time we wal!ed on, sometimes in pitch dar!ness
where I had to feel with a hand lightly *rushing the wall at
one side I was not *othered a*out pits or low hanging
roc!s *ecause my ;uide was very much larger than I and
if he had room, well then, there would *e room for me
After some thirty minutes of wal!ing, sometimes in a
stifling dead air atmosphere, and sometimes in a *racing
mountain *ree=e, we came to what appeared to *e a

@J
lighted area 6y ;uide stopped I stopped, too, when I
reached him and loo!ed a*out me I caught my *reath in
astonishment This seemed to *e a large cham*er, I sup$
pose fifty or si.ty feet across, and on the walls there were
strange carvings, carvings which I failed to understand It
seemed to *e very strange people dressed in remar!a*le
clothing which appeared to cover them from head to foot,
or, more accurately, from nec! to foot *ecause on their
heads they had a representation of what seemed to *e a
transparent glo*e A*ove us, as I loo!ed up, there seemed
to *e an immense cu*e, and at the end of that I could 1ust
discern a fleecy cloud floating *y
6y ;uide *ro!e into my thoughtsK )this is a very
strange area, -o*sang,+ he told me, )thousands and thou$
sands of years ago there was a mighty civili=ation upon
this (arth It was !nown as the time of Atlantis Some of
the people of the Western world to which in later years
you will go thin! of Atlantis as a legend, as an imaginary
place dreamed up *y some great story$teller Well,+ he
mused, )to my regret I have to tell you that many people
will thin! that you have dreamed up your own true e.peri$
ences, *ut never mind how much you are dou*ted, never
mind how much you are dis*elieved, you !now the truth,
you will live the truth And here in this cham*er you have
proof that there was Atlantis+
,e turned and led the way yet further into this strange
tunnel %or a time we wal!ed in a*solute in!y dar!ness,
our *reath coming hard in the stale, dead air Then
again there came the freshness, from somewhere a pleas$
ant *ree=e was *lowing The deadness vanished and soon
we saw a glimmer of light ahead of us I could see my
;uideIs figure *ul!ing in the tunnel, limmed *y light ahead
of me &ow with fresh air in my lungs I hurried to catch
up with him Again he stopped in a large cham*er
,ere there were more strange things Someone had
apparently carved great shelves in the roc!, and on those
shelves there were strange artifacts which were without
any meaning whatever to me I loo!ed at them, and gently
touched some of these things They seemed to me ma$

@F
chines There were great discs with strange grooves on
them Some of the discs appeared to *e of stone and they
were, perhaps, si. feet across with an undulating wave on
their surface and in the centre of the disc a hole It meant
nothing to me So I turned from fruitless speculation and
e.amined the paintings and the carvings which adorned
the walls They were strange pictures, large cats who
wal!ed on two legs, tree houses with curled cats inside,
there were things which seemed to *e floating in the air
and *elow on what was o*viously the ground humans
were pointing upwards at these things It was all so much
a*ove me that it made my head ache
6y ;uide said, )these are passages which reach to the
ends of the (arth The (arth has a spine, 1ust as we have
-o*sang, *ut the spine of the (arth is of roc! In our
spine we have a tunnel, it is filled with liquid in our case,
and our spinal cord goes through ,ere this is the spine of
the (arth, and this tunnel was man$made in the days of
Atlantis when they !new how to ma!e roc! flow li!e water
without generating heat -oo! at this roc!8+ he said, turn$
ing and rapping on a wall )this roc! is fused to almost
total hardness If you ta!e a great stone and slam it
against this roc! face you would do no harm whatever
e.cept to the stone which may shatter I have traveled
e.tensively and I !now that this roc!y spine e.tends from
the &orth 7ole to the South 7ole+
,e motioned that we should sit, so we sat cross$legged
upon the floor right *eneath the hole which e.tended up to
the open air and through which we could see the dar!ness
of the s!y
)-o*sang,+ said my ;uide, )there are many things on
this (arth which people do not understand, there are
things inside this (arth too *ecause, contrary to common
*elief, the (arth is indeed hollow and there is another race
of people living inside this (arth They are more devel$
oped than we are, and sometimes some of them come out
of the (arth in special vehicles+ ,e stopped and pointed
to one of the strange things in the pictures, and then he
continued, Lthese vehicles come out of the (arth and they

@A
fly around on the outside of the (arth to see what people
are doing and to ascertain if their own safety is 1eop$
ardised *y the folly of those whom they term the )out$
siders+
Inside the (arth, I thought, what a strange place to *e
living, it must *e frightfully dar! down there, I donIt li!e
the thought of living in the dar!, a *utter lamp is such a
comfort 6y ;uide laughed at me as he pic!ed up my
thoughts, and he said, )#h, its not dar! inside the (arth,
-o*sang They have a Sun something li!e we have *ut
theirs is much smaller and very much more powerful
They have much more than we have, they are very much
more intelligent "ut in the days *efore you, you shall
!now more a*out the people of the Inner (arth Come!+
,e rose to his feet and went off through a tunnel which
I had not seen, a tunnel diverging to the right, it sloped
down, down We seemed to wal! endlessly in dar!ness
Then my ;uide *ade me stop where I was I could hear
him fiddling and fum*ling a*out, and there was a clatter
that sounded li!e a roc! *eing moved Then there were a
few spar!s as he struc! the flint upon steel There came a
dull glow as the tinder ignited, he *lew upon it, and then
as the tinder *urst into small flame he thrust the end of
some sort of stic! into the flame where it *urst into *ril$
liant light
,e held his torch at armIs length slightly a*ove him
and called me to come to his side I did so and he pointed
to the wall in front of us The tunnel ended and in front of
us was an a*solutely smooth impenetra*le surface which
gleamed *rightly in the flic!ering light of the flare )that
-o*sang,+ said my ;uide, )is as hard as diamond, in fact
some of us came here years ago with a diamond and we
tried to scratch the surface and we ruined the diamond
This is a passage which leads to the world inside It was
sealed, we *elieve, *y the inside$worlders to save their
civili=ation during a great flood which struc! this (arth
We *elieve that if this was opened9that is, if we could
open it9people would come pouring out and overwhelm
us for daring to intrude upon their privacy We of the

@G
higher lama class have often visited this place and tried to
commune with those *elow *y telepathy They have re$
ceived our messages *ut they want nothing to do with us,
they tell us that we are warli!e, that we are as ignorant
children trying to *low up the world, trying to ruin peace,
they tell us *y telepathy that they are !eeping chec! on us
and if necessary they will intervene So we can go no
further here, this is the end, this is the *loc!ed line *e$
tween the upper and the inner worlds All right, we will go
*ac! to the cham*er+
,e carefully e.tinguished the flare, and we felt our way
*ac! to where the glowing light from the s!y a*ove shone
down through the hole in the roof
In that cham*er again the lama pointed in another di$
rection, and said, )If we had the strength and the time we
could wal! right away to the South 7ole *y following that
tunnel Some of us have covered miles and miles, *ringing
ample food with us and camping *y night, or what we
deemed to *e night We traveled endless miles over si.
months, and at times we came up through a tunnel and
found that we were in a strange land indeed *ut we dared
not show ourselves Always the e.its were very very care$
fully camouflaged+
We sat down and ate our small meal We had *een
traveling a long time and e.haustion was setting in for me
although my ;uide seemed to *e immune from e.haustion
or even ordinary tiredness ,e tal!ed to me and told me
all manner of things ,e said, )When I was *eing trained
as you are *eing trained now I too went through the
Ceremony of the Small Death, and I was shown the
A!ashic 'ecord, I was shown the things that had *een,
and I saw that our Ti*et was once a pleasant watering
place *eside a glittering sea The temperatures were warm,
perhaps even e.cessively so, and there was profuse foliage
and palm trees and all manner of strange fruits which then
meant nothing at all to me "ut from the A!ashic 'ecord
I saw a truly wondrous civili=ation, I saw strange craft in
the s!y, I saw people with remar!a*le cone$shaped heads
who wal!ed a*out, who had their entertainments, who

@@
made love, *ut also made war Then, as I saw in this
'ecord, the whole country shoo! and the s!y turned *lac!
the clouds were as dar! as night, their undersides lit with
flic!ering games The land shuddered and opened It
seemed that everything was fire Then the sea rushed in to
the newly opened land, and there were tremendous e.plo$
sions, e.plosion after e.plosion, it seemed that the Sun
stood still and the 6oon rose no more 7eople were *e$
coming overwhelmed *y tremendous floods of water, peo$
ple were *eing seared to death *y flames which appeared
from I !now not where, *ut the flames flic!ered with a vile
purplish glow, and as they touched people the flesh fell
from their *ones leaving the s!eletons to fall to the ground
with a clatter
)Day succeeded day and the turmoil increased, al$
though one would have said that such a thing was impos$
si*le, and then there came a ripping, searing e.plosion, and
everything turned dar!, everything was as *lac! as the
soot which comes from too many *utter lamps *urning
untrimmed
)After a time which I could not calculate,+ he said,
)the gloom *ecame lighter, the dar!ness was diminishing
and when the light of day finally appeared after I !now
not how long I loo!ed at the picture with utter terror &ow
I found that I was loo!ing at a vastly different landscape,
the sea was no more, a ring of mountains had sprung up in
the dar!ness and encircled what previously had *een the
city of a most high civili=ation I loo!ed a*out me in
fascinated horror, the sea had gone, the sea9well, there
was no more sea, instead there were mountains and ring
upon ring of mountains &ow I could tell that we were
thousands of feet higher, and although I was seeing the
A!ashic 'ecord I was sensing as well, I could sense the
rarity of the air, there was no sign of life here, no sign
whatever And as I loo!ed the picture vanished and I
found myself *ac! from whence I had started, in the deep$
est levels of the mountain of 7otala where I had *een
undergoing the Ceremony of the -ittle Death and given
much information+

@H
%or a time we sat there meditating upon the past, and
my ;uide said to me, )I see you are meditating, or at$
tempting to meditate &ow there are two very good ways
of meditating, -o*sang /ou must *e content, you must
*e tranquil /ou cannot meditate with a distur*ed mind,
and you cannot meditate with a whole gathering of people
/ou have to *e alone or with 1ust one person whom you
love+
,e regarded me, and then said, )/ou must always loo!
at something *lac! or at something which is white If you
loo! at the ground you may *e distracted *y a grain of
pe**le, or you may *e dou*ly distracted *y some insect
To meditate successfully you must always ga=e at that
which offers no attraction to the eye, either entire *lac! or
pure white /our eyes then *ecome sic! of the whole affair
and *ecome, as it were, disassociated from the *rain, so
then the *rain having nothing to distract it optically is free
to o*ey what your su*$conscious requires, and thus if you
have instructed your su*$conscious that you are going to
meditate$meditate you will /ou will find in that sort of
meditation that your senses are heightened, your percep$
tions more acute, and that is the only meditation worthy
of the name In the years which will come to you, you will
encounter many cults proffering meditation at a price, *ut
that is not meditation as we understand it nor is it medita$
tion as we want it It is 1ust something which cultists play
with, and it has no virtue+
So saying he rose to his feet e.claiming, )We must get
*ac! for the day is far advanced We shall have to spend
another night in the mountains for it is too late to start off
for Cha!pori+
,e set off down the tunnel and I 1umped to my feet and
scurried after him I had no desire to *e left in this place
where inside$worlders, or whatever they li!ed to call
themselves, could perhaps pop up and ta!e me down with
them I did not !now what they would *e li!e, I did not
!now how they would li!e me, and I certainly did not
want to stay alone in the dar! of that place So I hurried,

@:
and at last we reached again that entrance *y which we
had entered
The horse and the pony were resting peacefully, and we
sat down *eside them and made our simple preparations
for our meal The light was already far gone, much of the
5alley was in dar!ness At our altitude the Western Sun
was yet shining upon us, *ut the or* itself was dipping
ever more deeply *eneath the mountains on its path to
illumine other parts of the world *efore returning to us
After some small tal! we rolled ourselves in our *lan$
!ets again and committed ourselves to sleep




C,A7T(' %I5(


-ife at Cha!pori was hectic The amount of things I had
to learn really shoc!ed me8 her*s$where they grew, when
to gather them, and *e sure that if they were gathered at
the wrong time they would *e quite useless That, I was
taught, was one of the great secrets of her*alism The
plants, or the leaves, or the *ar!s, or the roots could only
*e gathered efficiently within the span of two or three
days The 6oon had to *e right, the stars had to *e right,
and then the time had to *e right also #ne must also feel
tranquil when gathering such her*s *ecause, so I was told,
one who gathered her*s when in a *ad mood would ma!e
the her*s not worth the ta!ing
Then we had to dry the things That was quite a tas!
#nly certain parts of her*s were useful Some needed to
have 1ust the tips of the leaves removed, others needed to
have stal!s or *ar!, and each plant or her* had to *e
treated in its own individual way and regarded with re$
spect
We too! the *ar!s and ru**ed them *etween hands
specially cleaned for the purpose9an ordeal in itself!9
and so the *ar! would *e reduced to a certain si=e, sort of

HD
granular powder And then everything had to *e laid out
on a spotlessly clean floor, no polish on this floor, 1ust ru*,
ru*, ru* until there was no dust, no stain, no mar! Then
everything was left out and left to &ature to )dry$seal+ the
virtues of the her* within that which we had *efore us
We made her*al tea, that is, infusions of steeped her*s,
and I could never understand how people could get the
no.ious stuff down their throats It seemed to *e an a.iom
that the worse the taste and the stronger the smell the
more *eneficial the medicine, and I will say from my own
o*servation that if a medicine is sufficiently evil$tasting the
poor wretched patient will get *etter out of fright rather
than ta!e the medicine It is li!e when one goes to the
dentist, the pain will have vanished so that one hesitates
on the doorstep wondering whether one should go through
with it It reminds me rather of the pallid and an.ious
young man$a recent *ridegroom who was accompany$
ing his very, very pregnant *ride to the hospital for )her
time was upon her+ As he turned *efore the 'eception
Des! he said, )#h gee, honey, are you sure you really
want to go through with this0+
As a special student, one who had to learn more, faster,
I was not confined only to Cha!pori 6y time was also
devoted to studies at the 7otala ,ere I had all the most
learned lamas, each to teach me his own specialty I
learned various forms of medicine I learned acupuncture,
and in later years, with the weight of many years of e.$
perience, I came to the inescapa*le conclusion that acu$
puncture was a wondrous thing indeed for those of the
(ast, those who have *een long$conditioned to acupunc$
ture "ut when, as I found in China, you get sceptical
Westerners to deal with9well, unfortunately, they were
hypnotised *y their own dis*elief of anything that didnIt
come from );odIs own country+
There were sacred passages to *e seen deep, deep *elow
the mountain of 7otala Down *elow there was an im$
mense cave with what seemed to *e an inland sea That, I
was told, was a remnant of the time so long ago when
Ti*et was a pleasant land *eside the sea Certainly in that

H?
immense cave I saw strange remnants, s!eletons of fantas$
tic creatures which much, much later in my life I recog$
nised to *e mastodons, dinosaurs, and other e.otic fauna
Then in many places one would find great sla*s of natu$
ral crystal, and in the natural crystal one could see !elp
different types of seaweed, and occasionally a perfectly
preserved fish completely em*edded in clear crystal These
were indeed regarded as sacred o*1ects, as messages from
the past
2ite flying was an art at which I e.celled #nce a year
we went into the high mountains to gather rare her*s and
to generally have recreation from the quite arduous life of
a lamasery Some of us9the more foolhardy of us9flew
in man$lifting !ites, and I thought first that here was that
which had *een descri*ed in the prophecy, *ut then I
came to my senses and reali=ed it could not *e a man$
lifting !ite *ecause these !ites were connected to the (arth
*y ropes, and should a rope *e *ro!en or escape from the
clutches of the many mon!s then the !ite would fall and
there would *e the death of the person riding it
There were quite a num*er of interviews with the In$
most #ne, our Thirteenth Dalai -ama, and I felt such love
and respect for him ,e !new that in a few more years
Ti*et would *e an enslaved state, *ut )the ;ods had fore$
told+ and the ;ods must *e o*eyed There could *e no
real form of resistance *ecause there were no real weap$
ons in Ti*et /ou cannot oppose a man with a rifle when
all you have is a 7rayer Wheel or a string of *eads
I received my instructions, my sacred orders, from the
;reat Thirteenth I received guidance and advice, and the
love and understanding which my own parents had com$
pletely denied me, and I decided that come what may I
would do my *est
There had *een times when I had seen my %ather (ach
time he had turned away from me fro=en$faced as if I was
the lowest of the low, *eneath his contempt #nce, almost
at the end of my stay in the 7otala, I had visited my
parents at home 6other sic!ened me *y her e.cess for$
mality, *y the manner in which she treated me purely as a

HE
visiting lama %ather, true to his *elief, would not receive
me and shut himself in his study /asodhara, my sister,
loo!ed at me as if I was some frea! or figment from a
particularly *ad nightmare
(ventually I was summoned again to the Inmost #neIs
apartments and told much that I do not propose to repeat
here #ne thing he did tell me was that on the very ne.t
wee! I would go to China to study as a medical student at
the Bniversity of Chung!ing "ut, I was instructed, I must
ta!e a different name, I could not use my own name of
'ampa or certain elements of a Chinese re*ellion would
sei=e me and use me as a *argaining tool There was in
e.istence in China at that time a faction devoted to the
overthrow of the government and who were prepared to
adopt any methods whatever to achieve their o*1ective
So9I was told to pic! a name
&ow, how could a poor Ti*etan *oy, one 1ust approach$
ing manhood, admittedly, *ut how could he pic! a Chi$
nese name when he didnIt !now anything a*out China0
I pondered on that awful question, and then un*idden,
une.pectedly, a name appeared in my mind I would call
myself 2uonSuo which in one dialect of China meant
priest of the hill Surely that was an appropriate name "ut
it was a name which people found difficult to pronounce9
Western people, that is9and so it soon *ecame shortened
to 2uIan
Well, the name was settled 6y papers were in order I
was given special papers from the 7otala testifying to my
status and to the standards I had reached *ecause, as I
was told and as I found to *e a*solutely correct later,
Western people would not *elieve anything unless it was
)on paper,+ or could *e felt or torn to pieces So my
papers were prepared and handed to me with great cere$
mony
Soon came the day when I had to ride all the way to
Chung!ing 6y ;uide, the -ama 6ingyar Dondup, and I
had a most sad farewell ,e !new I would not see him
again while he was in the *ody ,e gave me many assur$
ances that I would meet him often in the astral

HJ
I had a party of people going with me to protect me
from Chinese *rigands and to *e a*le to report my safe
arrival at Chung!ing We started off and rode steadily all
along through the ,ighlands of the 7lain of -hasa, and
then we descended to the -owlands, a place which was
almost tropical in the e.otic flora$wonderful rhododen$
drons We passed many lamaseries, and quite frequently
we spent the night in them if they happened to *e on our
path at a suita*le time I was a lama, actually I was an
a**ot, and a 'ecogni=ed Incarnation, thus when we went
to a lamasery we were indeed given special treatment "ut
I did not welcome such special treatment *ecause each
time it reminded me of the hardships of my life yet to *e
endured
(ventually we left the *orders of Ti*et and entered
China ,ere, in China, every large village seemed to *e
infested with 'ussian Communists$white men who were
standing up usually on an o. cart telling the wor!ers of
the wonders of Communism and how they should rise and
massacre those who were land$owners, telling them how
China *elonged to the people Well, now apparently it
does, and what a mess they have made of it!
The days passed, and our seemingly endless 1ourney
*ecame shorter It was quite annoying to *e accosted *y
certain of the Chinese peasants who gaped at me *ecause I
loo!ed somewhat li!e a Westerner I had grey eyes in$
stead of *rown, and my hair was very dar! *ut still not
shiny *lac!, so the story went a*out that I was a 'ussian
in disguise! &owadays, since my life in the West, I have
had all manner of strange tales told a*out me8 one tale
which amused me immensely was to the effect that I was
really a ;erman who had *een sent to -hasa *y ,itler so
that I could learn all the secrets of the occult and then I
would come *ac! to "erlin and win the war for ,itler *y
magical means Well, in those days I didnIt even !now
there was such a man as ,itler It is a most remar!a*le
thing how a Westerner will *elieve everything e.cept that
which is utterly true8 the more true a matter the more
difficult the Westerner finds it to *elieve "ut while on the

HF
su*1ect of ,itler and Ti*etans, it is a fact that a small
group of Ti*etans were captured *y the &a=is during the
war and were compelled to go to "erlin, *ut they certainly
did nothing to help him win the war, as history proves
At last we turned a corner in the road, and then we
came in sight of the old city of Chung!ing This city was
*uilt on high cliffs and far down *elow the river flowed
#ne of the rivers was particularly familiar to me, and that
was the Chialing So the high city of Chung!ing with its
stepped streets with many a co**le was washed at its *ase
*y two rivers, the /angtse and the Chialing Where the
two met a fresh *ranch was formed, and so the city ap$
peared from afar to *e an island
Seven hundred and eighty steps we clim*ed up to the
city itself We ga=ed li!e yo!els at the shops and what to
us seemed to *e *rilliantly lit stores containing articles
which were completely *eyond our understanding Things
in windows glittered, from many stores came noises, for$
eigners spea!ing to each other out of *o.es, and then
there came *lasts of music out of other *o.es It was all a
complete marvel to us, and I, !nowing that I would have
to spend a long time in such surroundings, *egan almost to
qua!e with fear at the thought
6y retinue were em*arrassing me *y the manner in
which they gaped (ach of the men was sha!ing with
nervousness, and each of them had his mouth open and
eyes wide open too I thought we must loo! a sorry *unch
of country *ump!ins ga=ing li!e this "ut then I thought
we werenIt here for that, after all I had to register at the
Bniversity and so we made our way there 6y companions
waited in the grounds outside while I entered and made
my formal appearance, producing the envelope which I
had so carefully safeguarded all the way from -hasa
I wor!ed hard in the Bniversity 6y form of education
had *een quite different from that which was demanded *y
the Bniversity system and so I had to wor! at least twice
as hard The 7rincipal of the Bniversity had warned me
that conditions would *e difficult ,e said that he had
*een qualified in the latest American systems and with his

HA
very capa*le staff he was *ringing a mi.ture of Chinese
and American medicine and surgery to the students
The academic wor! was hard *ecause I !new nothing
of (lectricity, *ut I soon learned! Anatomy was easy8 I
had studied that quite thoroughly with the Disposers of
the Dead in -hasa, and it amused me greatly when first we
were ushered into the dissecting rooms where dead *odies
lay a*out to find so many of the students turn a pale green
and *ecome violently sic!, while others 1ust fainted away
on the floor It was such a simple matter to reali=e that
these dead *odies would not feel anything *y our amateur$
ish efforts upon them, they were 1ust li!e a suit of old
clothes which had *een discarded and which would *e cut
up perhaps to ma!e other garments &o, the academic
matter was difficult at first, *ut eventually I was a*le to
ta!e my place quite near the top of the class
At a*out this time I noticed that there was a very very
old "uddhist priest who was giving lectures at the Bniver$
sity, and I made some inquiries and was told, )#h, you
donIt want to *other a*out him, heIs 1ust an old crac!pot,
heIs weird!+ Well, that persuaded me that I would have to
do e.tra wor! and attend the )old crac!potIs+ lectures It
was well worthwhile
I formally requested permission to attend and was
gladly accepted A few lectures later we were all sitting
down and our lecturer entered As was the custom we rose
and remained standing until he told us to *e seated Then
he said, )there is no death+ &o death, I thought, oh,
there is going to *e a lecture on the occult, he is going to
call death )transition+ which, after all, is what it is "ut
the old lecturer let us stew in our own impatience for a
time, and then he chuc!led and went on, )I mean that
literally If we only !new how we could prolong life in$
definitely -et us loo! at the process of aging, and then I
hope you will see what I mean+
,e said, )A child is *orn and follows a certain pattern
of growth At a varying age, it varies according to each
person, real development is stated to have stopped, real
worthwhile growth has stopped, and from then on there is

HG
what is !nown as the degeneration of old age where we get
a tall man *ecoming shorter as his *ones shrin!+ ,e
loo!ed a*out to see if we were following, and when he saw
my particular interest he nodded and smiled most amia*ly
,e continuedK9
)A person has to *e re*uilt cell *y cell so that if we get
a cut, part of the *rain has to remem*er the pattern of the
flesh *efore the cut, and then must supply identical, or
near$identical, cells to repair the defect &ow, every time
we move we cause cells to wear out, and all those cells
have to *e re*uilt, replaced Without an e.act memory we
should not *e a*le to re*uild the *ody as it was+
,e loo!ed a*out again, then pursed his lips, and said,
)If the *ody, or rather, if the *rain forgets the precise
pattern then the cells may grow wild, they grow according
to no previous pattern and thus those wild cells are called
cancer cells It means that they are cells which have es$
caped from the control of that part of the *rain which
should regulate their precise pattern Thus it is, you get a
person with great growths on his *ody That is caused *y
cells growing in hapha=ard fashion and which have es$
caped from the *rainIs control+
,e stopped to ta!e a sip of water, and then continued,
)-i!e most of us the growth and replacing centre of the
*rain has a faulty memory After reproducing cells for a
few thousand times it forgets the precise pattern and with
each succeeding growth of cells there is a difference so
eventually we have that which we call aging &ow, if we
could remind the *rain constantly of the e.act shape and
si=e of each cell to *e replaced then the *ody would al$
ways appear to *e of the same age, always appeal to *e
the same condition In short, we would have immortality,
immortality e.cept in the case of total destruction of the
*ody or damage to the cells+
I thought of this, and then it came to me in a flash that
my ;uide, the -ama 6ingyar Dondup, had told me the
same thing in somewhat different words and I had *een
too young, or too stupid, or *oth, to understand what he
really meant

H@
#ur lectures were interesting We studied so many su*$
1ects not studied in the West In addition to ordinary
Western type of medicine and surgery we studied acupunc$
ture and her*al remedies, *ut it wasnIt all wor! and no
play, although nearly so
#ne day when I was out with a friend we wandered
down to the shore of the rivers and there we saw an aero$
plane which had *een par!ed and 1ust left for some rea$
son The engine was tic!ing over and the propeller was
1ust revolving I thought of the !ites I had flown, and I
said to my friend, )I *et I could fly that thing+ ,e roared
with derision, and so I said, )All right, IIll show you+ I
loo!ed around to see there was no one a*out and I got in
that contraption and, to my own surprise and to the sur$
prise of many watchers, I did fly the thing *ut not in the
manner prescri*ed, my aero*atics were quite involuntary
and I survived and landed safely only *ecause I had
!eener refle.es than most
I was so fascinated with that highly dangerous flight
that I learned to fly9officially And *ecause I showed
more than average promise as an airman I was offered a
commission in the Chinese forces "y Western standards
the style and ran! granted to me was Surgeon$Captain
After I had graduated as a pilot the commanding officer
told me to continue my studies until I had graduated also
as a physician and surgeon That was soon done, and at
last, armed with quite a lot of official loo!ing papers, I
was ready to leave Chung!ing "ut there came a very sad
message concerning my 7atron, the Thirteenth Dalai
-ama, the Inmost #ne, and so, o*eying a summons, I
returned to -hasa for a very *rief time
Destiny called, however, and I had to follow the dic$
tates of those in authority a*ove me and so I retraced my
steps on to Chung!ing and then on to Shanghai %or a
time I was on the reserve as an officer of the Chinese
forces The Chinese were having a most difficult time *e$
cause the >apanese were trying to find an e.cuse to invade
China All manner of indignities were *eing heaped upon
foreigners in the hope that the foreigners would ma!e

HH
trou*le for the government of China 6en and women
were *eing stripped na!ed in pu*lic and given a *ody
search *y >apanese soldiers who said they were suspecting
the foreigners of ta!ing messages I saw one young woman
who resisted8 she was stripped na!ed and made to stand
for hours in the centre of a *usy street She was truly
hysterical, *ut every time she tried to run away one of the
sentries would prod her o*scenely with a *ayonet
The Chinese people watching could do nothing, they did
not want an international incident "ut then one old Chi$
nese woman threw a coat to the young woman so that
she could cover herself8 a sentry 1umped at her and with
one slash cut off the arm that had thrown the coat
It ama=es me now, after all I have seen after all I have
suffered, that people the world over seem to *e rushing to
the >apanese offering them friendship, etcetera, presuma*ly
*ecause they offer in return cheap la*our The >apanese are
a *light upon the (arth *ecause of their insane lust to
dominate
In Shanghai I had my own private practice as a doctor,
and a quite successful one too 7erhaps if the >apanese
war had not started I should have made my living in
Shanghai, *ut on the @th >uly, ?:J@, there was an incident
at the 6arco 7olo "ridge, that incident really started the
war I was called up and sent to Shanghai doc!s to super$
vise the assem*ling of a very large three$engine aeroplane
which had *een stored there ready for collection *y a firm
which had proposed to start a passenger airline
With a friend I went to the doc!s and we found the
aeroplane in pieces, the fuselage and the wings all sepa$
rate The undercarriage was not even connected, and the
three engines were separately crated "y dint of much
psychometry and even more attempts at the use of com$
monsense I managed to direct wor!ers to assem*le the
aircraft on a very large open space As far as I could I
chec!ed everything over, I e.amined the engines, made
sure they had the right fuel and the right oil #ne *y one I
started those engines and tried them out, let them idle and
let them roar, and when I was satisfied after many ad1ust$

H:
ments that they would !eep going, I ta.ied that three$
engined plane up and down that large tract of land so that
I would get used to the feel of the thing *ecause one
doesnIt stunt too long in a three$engined plane!
At last I was satisfied that I understood the controls and
could handle them quite well Then with a friend who had
a tremendous amount of faith in me, we got into the plane
and ta.ied to the e.treme edge of the wide open space I
had coolies put large choc!s in front of the wheels with
instructions to pul? on the ropes to move the choc!s im$
mediately I raised my right hand Then I opened all three
throttles so the plane roared and shoo! At last I raised
my hand, the choc!s were pulled out and we cavorted
madly across the ground At the last moment I pulled
*ac! on the control and we went up at what I *elieve was
a truly unorthodo. angle, *ut we were flying, and we flew
around for an hour or two to get the feel of the thing
(ventually we came *ac! to the landing space and I was
careful to note the direction of smo!e I came in slowly
and landed into the wind, and I confess that I was *athed
in perspiration8 my friend was, too, in spite of all his faith
in me!
-ater I was told to remove the plane to another area
where it could *e guarded day and night *ecause the inter$
national *rigade was *ecoming very active, and some of
these foreigners thought they could do 1ust what they li!ed
with the property of the Chinese We did not want our *ig
aeroplane damaged
At a secluded *ase the plane was altered 6uch of the
seating was removed and stretchers were put in on rac!s
At one end of the plane there was a metal ta*le fitted and
this was going to *e an operating theatre We were going
to do emergency operations *ecause now9at the end of
I :JH9the enemy were approaching the outs!irts of Shang$
hai, and I had instructions to close my practice which I had
still *een carrying on part$time I was told to ta!e the
plane to a safe area while it could *e re$painted all white
and with a red cross It also was to have )Am*ulance
7lane+ painted on it in Chinese and >apanese characters

:D
"ut when painted the paint was not destined to last very
long "om*s were dropping over Shanghai, the air was full
of the acrid stench of e.plosives, full of particles of grit
which stung the nostrils, irritated the eyes9and scoured
the paint from #ld A*ie, as we called our aeroplane Soon
there came a greater )crump+ and A*ie 1umped into the
air and collapsed flat on the underside of the fuselage, a
near *om* *urst had *lown off the undercarriage With
immense la*our and considera*le ingenuity we repaired
the undercarriage with lengths of split *am*oo, li!e put$
ting splints on a *ro!en lim*, I thought "ut with the
*am*oo lashed firmly in place I ta.ied up and down the
*om*$pitted ground to see how the ship would manage8 it
certainly seemed to *e all right
We were sitting in the plane when there was a great
commotion and an irate Chinese general9full of pomp
and self$assurance$came on to our airfield surrounded *y
su*servient mem*ers of his staff "rusquely he ordered us
to fly him to a certain destinationK ,e would not ta!e our
statement that the plane really was not fit to fly until fur$
ther repairs had *een carried out ,e would not accept our
statement that we were an am*ulance plane and were not
permitted *y international law to carry armed men We
argued, *ut his argument was stronger8 he 1ust had to say,
)ta!e these men and shoot them for failing to o*ey mili$
tary orders,+ and that would have *een the end of us We
would have gone flying off without him!
The troop of men clim*ed into the plane tossing out
medical equipment91ust scattering it out of the open door
9to ma!e room for their own comforts #ut went our
stretchers, out went our operating ta*le, our instruments,
everything They were 1ust tossed away as if they were
gar*age and would never *e wanted again As it happened
they werenIt
We too! off and headed toward our destination, *ut
when some two hours away from our point of departure
'ed Devils came out of the Sun, >apanese fighter planes,
hordes of them li!e a load of mosquitoes The hated red
sym*ol glowed *rightly from the wings They circled our

:?
am*ulance plane with the red crosses so prominently dis$
played, and then quite callously they too! turns to pump
*ullets in us Since that time I have never li!ed the >apa$
nese, *ut I was to have more fuel for the flame of my
disli!e in days to come
We were shot down and I was the only one left alive I
fell into a*out the most unsalu*rious place in China$a
sewage ditch where all the waste matter was collected
And so I fell into the sewage ditch and went all the way to
the *ottom, and in that incident I *ro!e *oth an!les
>apanese soldiers arrived and I was dragged off to their
headquarters and very, very *adly treated indeed *ecause
I refused to give them any information e.cept that I was
an officer of the Chinese services It seemed to annoy them
considera*ly *ecause they !ic!ed out my teeth, pulled off
all my nails, and did other unpleasant things from which I
still suffer %or instance, I had hoses inserted in my *ody
and into the water supply was put mustard and pepper,
then the taps were turned on and my *ody swelled enor$
mously and tremendous damage was caused inside That is
one of the reasons I suffer so much even now, all these
years later
"ut there is no point in going into detail *ecause an
interested person can read it all in )Doctor from -hasa I
wish more people would read that *oo! to let them see
what 3well, /#B !now what4 sort of people the >apa$
nese are
"ut I was sent to a prisoner$of$war camp for women
*ecause this was considered to *e degrading Some of the
women had *een captured from places li!e ,ong 2ong
Some of them were in truly shoc!ing condition *ecause of
continual rapes
It is worth mentioning that at this time there were cer$
tain ;erman officers who were )advising+ the >apanese,
and these officers were always provided with the *est loo!$
ing of the women, and the perversions$well, I have never
seen anything li!e it It does seem that the ;ermans e.cel
not merely at ma!ing war *ut at other things as well
After a time, when my an!les had healed and my nails

:E
had regrown, I managed to ma!e an escape, and I made
my slow painful way *ac! to Chung2ing This was not yet
in the hands of the >apanese and my medical colleagues
there did wonders in restoring my health 6y nose had
*een *ro!en "efore *eing *ro!en it had *een 9according
to Western standards9somewhat squat, *ut now through
the e.igencies of surgery my nose *ecame quite a large
affair which would have done credit to any Westerner
"ut war came to Chung!ing, the violent war of >apa$
nese occupation #nce again I was captured and tortured,
and eventually I was again put in charge of a prison camp
where I did the *est I could for patients among the pris$
oners Bnfortunately a senior officer was transferred from
another area, and he recogni=ed me as an escaped prisoner
All the trou*le started again I had *oth legs *ro!en in
two places to teach me not to escape Then they put me on
a rac! and pulled my arms and legs very tight indeed In
addition, I had such a *low across the lower spinal region
that grave complications were caused which even now are
ma!ing my spine degenerate, so much so that I can no
longer stand upright
#nce again, after my wounds healed, I managed to es$
cape "eing in an area where I was well$!nown I made my
way to the home of certain missionaries who were full of
)tut tutIs+ and great e.clamations of sorrow, compassion
9the wor!s They treated my wounds, gave me a nar$
cotic9and sent for the >apanese prison guards *ecause,
as they said, they wanted to protect their own mission and
I was not )one of them+
"ac! in the prison camp I was so *adly treated that it
was feared that I should not survive, and they wanted me
to survive *ecause they were sure I had information they
needed, information which I refused to give
At last it was decided that I escaped far too easily, and
so I was sent to the mainland of >apan to a village near
the sea, near a city called ,iroshima I was again put in
charge9as medical officer9of a prison camp for women,
women who had *een *rought from ,ong 2ong, Shang$
hai, and other cities, and who were *eing !ept there with

:J
some dim view on the part of the >apanese that they could
*e used as hostages when *argaining later *ecause the war
was going very *adly for the >apanese now, and the lead$
ers !new full well that they had no hope of winning
#ne day there was the sound of aircraft engines, and
then the ground shoo! and an immense pillar appeared in
the distance, a pillar the shape of a mushroom with rolling
clouds spreading high into the s!y A*out us there was
utter panic, the guards scattered li!e scared rats, and I,
ever alert for such an opportunity, vaulted over a fence
and made my way down to the waters edge A fishing *oat
was there9empty I managed to clim* a*oard and with a
pole 1ust had enough strength left to push the *oat into
deeper water Then I collapsed into the stin!ing *ilge The
*oat swept out to sea on the tide which was receding, *ut
I9up to my nec! in water in the *ottom of the *oat9
!new nothing a*out it until at last I di==ily awa!ened and
it came *ac! to me with a start that once again I had
escaped
7ainfully I dragged myself up a *it higher out of the
water and loo!ed an.iously a*out The >apanese, I
thought, would *e sending out speed*oats to capture a
many$time runaway "ut no, there were no *oats at all in
sight, *ut on the s!yline over the city of ,iroshima there
was a dull, evi? red, glow and the s!y was *lac!, and from
that *lac!ness there dropped )things+, *lood$red splotches,
sooty masses, *lac! greasy rain
I was aching with hunger I loo!ed a*out and found a
loc!er in the side of the *ul!head toward the *ows, and in
that loc!er there were pieces of stale fish which presum$
a*ly were meant to *e used as *ait They were sufficient to
maintain a certain amount of life in me, and I was most
grateful to the fisherman who had left them there
I lay *ac! across the seats of the *oat and felt great
unease *ecause the *oat was roc!ing in a most strange
manner, the sea itself seemed strange, there were waves of
a type I had not seen *efore almost as if there was an
underwater earthqua!e
I loo!ed a*out me and the impression was eerie There

:F
was no sign of life &ormally on such a day there would
have *een innumera*le fishing *oats a*out *ecause fish
was the staple food of the >apanese I felt a great sense of
unease *ecause *eing telepathic and clairvoyant I was o*$
taining remar!a*le impressions, so confused and so many
that I 1ust could not understand them
All the world seemed to *e quiet e.cept for a strange
sighing of the wind Then high a*ove me I saw a plane, a
very large plane It was circling a*out and through *eing
o*servant I could see the large lens of an aerial camera
pointing down #*viously photographs were *eing ta!en
of the area for some reason which I then did not !now
Soon the plane turned a*out and went off *eyond the
range of my vision, and I was alone again There were no
*irds in sight8 strange, I thought, *ecause sea *irds always
came to fishing *oats "ut there were no other *oats a*out
either, there was no sign of life anywhere, and I had these
peculiar impressions coming to my e.tra$senses At last I
suppose I fainted *ecause everything suddenly went *lac!
The *oat with my unconscious form drifted on into the
Bn!nown





C,A7T(' SIM


After what seemed endless days, and actually I had no
idea how long it was, *ut after this indeterminate period I
suddenly heard harsh foreign voices and I was lifted *y
arms and legs and swung in an arc and let go I landed
with a splash 1ust at the edge of the water and opened
*leary eyes to find that I had reached some un!nown
shore
"efore me I saw two men pushing frantically on the
*oat, and then at the last moment 1umping a*oard Then
sleep, or coma, claimed me again
6y sensations were rather peculiar *ecause I suddenly

:A
had the impression of swaying, and then a cessation of
motion After9I was told later9five days I returned to
the -and of the -iving and found myself in a spotlessly
clean hovel which was the home of a "uddhist priest I
had *een e.pected, he told me haltingly, for our languages
were similar yet not the same and we found difficulty in
ma!ing ourselves understood
The priest was an old man and he had had dreams 3he
called them dreams, anyway4 that he had to stay and
render assistance to a )great one who would come from
afar+ ,e was near death through starvation and age ,is
*rownish$yellow face loo!ed almost transparent he was so
under$nourished, *ut from somewhere food was o*tained
and over several days my strength was *uilt up At last,
when I was thin!ing that I must *e ma!ing my way on
through lifeIs path, I awa!ened in the morning to find the
old mon! sitting *eside me cross$legged9and dead ,e
was stone cold, so he must have died in the early part of
the night
I called in some of the people from the small hamlet in
which the hovel was and we dug a grave for him, and gave
him a decent *urial complete with "uddhist ceremonial
With that tas! done I too! what scant supply of food
was left and set out on my way
Wal!ing was awful I must have *een far wea!er than I
had imagined *ecause I found myself left sic! and di==y
"ut there was no turning *ac! I did not !now what was
happening, I did not !now who was an enemy or who was
a friend, not that I had had many friends in my life So I
pressed on
After what seemed to *e endless miles I came to a
frontier crossing Armed men were lounging a*out near a
frontier station, and I recogni=ed their uniforms from pic$
tures I had seen8 they were 'ussians, so now I could place
my location, I was on the road to 5ladivosto!, one of the
great 'ussian sea$ports of the far (ast
At the sight of me the frontier guards set great mastiffs they
loose and they came snarling and slavering at me, *ut
then, to the ama=ement of the guards, they 1umped at me

:G
with affection *ecause they and I recogni=ed each other as
friends Those dogs had never *een tal!ed to telepathically
*efore and I suppose they thought I was one of them
Anyway, they 1umped all around me and welcomed me
with wild yelps and *ar!s of 1oy The guards were most
impressed, they thought I must have *een one of them and
they too! me into their guard room where they gave me
food I told them that I had escaped from the >apanese,
so, as they were at war with the >apanese as well, I auto$
matically *ecame )on their side+
&e.t day I was offered a ride to 5ladivosto! so that I
could loo! after the dogs who were *eing ta!en *ac! to
the city *ecause they were too fierce for the guards ;ladly
I accepted the offer and the dogs and I rode in the *ac! of
a truc! After a rather *umpy ride we arrived at 5lad$
ivosto!
Again I was on my own, *ut as I was turning away
from the guard room in 5ladivosto! a tremendous noise
of screams, howls, and snarling *ar!s rent the air Some of
the dogs in the large compound had suddenly *een af$
flicted with *lood$lust and were attac!ing guards who
were trying to control them A Captain came and after
hearing what his frontier men had told him he ordered me
to control the dogs "y good fortune I managed to do 1ust
that, and *y telepathy I got the dogs to understand that I
was their friend and they would have to *ehave them$
selves
I was !ept in that camp for a month while the dogs
were *eing retrained, and when the month was over I was
permitted to go on my way again
6y tas! now was to satisfy that terri*le urge I had of
moving on, moving on %or a few days I hung a*out
5ladivosto! wondering how to reach the main city,
6oscow At last I learned a*out the Trans$Si*erian
railway, *ut one of the dangers here was that many escapees
wanted to get to 6oscow and for quite a distance *y the
sidings there were pits in which guards lay in wait so they
could see *eneath the trains and shoot off anyone clinging
to the rods

:@
At last one of the men from the 5ladivosto! *order
patrol with whom I had *een for the last month showed
me how to circumvent the guards, and so it was that I
went to 5oroshilov where there were no chec!s on the
railway I too! food with me in a shoulder *ag and lay in
wait for a suita*le train (ventually I managed to get
a*oard and I lay *eneath, *etween the wheels, actually I
tied myself to the *ottomside of the railroad car floor so
that I was quite high up a*ove the a.les and hidden *y the
grease *o.es The train started and for a*out si. miles I
endured *eing held *y ropes until I decided it was safe to
clim* a*oard one of the railroad cars It was dar!, very
dar!, the 6oon had not risen With e.treme effort I man$
aged to slide open one of the railroad car doors and pain$
fully clim* inside
Some four wee!s after, the train came to &ogins!, a
small place a*out forty miles from 6oscow ,ere, I
thought, was the *est place to get off, so I waited until the
train slowed for a *end and then I dropped safely to the
fro=en ground
I wal!ed on and on, and it was a distur*ing sight indeed
to see corpses *eside the road, the corpses of people who
had died from starvation An elderly man, tottering in
front of me, dropped to the ground Instinctively I was
a*out to stoop and see what I could do for him when a
whispered voice came, )stop Comrade, if you *end over
him the police will thin! you are a looter and will shoot
you 2eep on!+
In time I reached the centre of 6oscow, and was
ga=ing up at the -enin 6onument when suddenly I was
felled to the ground *y, I found, a *low from a rifle *utt
Soviet guards were standing over me 1ust !ic!ing me and
repeatedly !ic!ing me to get me to rise to my feet They
questioned me, *ut they had such a )*ig city+ accent that I
was completely una*le to follow what they were tal!ing
a*out, and at last, with two men guarding me, one at each
side, and a third man with a huge revolver po!ing into my
spine, I was marched off We reached a dismal *uilding,
and I was 1ust shoved into a small room ,ere I was

:H
interrogated with considera*le roughness, and I gathered
that there was a spy scare in 6oscow and I was consid$
ered to *e some sort of a spy trying to get into the 2rem$
lin!
After some hours of *eing !ept standing in a small
closet the si=e of a *room cup*oard, a car arrived and I
was ta!en off to the -u*ian!a 7rison This is the worst
prison in 'ussia, it is the prison of tortures, the prison of
death, a prison where they have their own *uilt$in crema$
torium so that all the evidence of a mutilated *ody could
*e *urned
At the entrance to -u*ian!a, or in a small vesti*ule, I
had to remove my shoes and go *arefooted The guards
with me put thic! woolen soc!s over their *oots and then
I was marched in dead silence along a dim corridor, a
corridor that seemed miles long There was no sound
A strange hiss sounded, and the guards pushed me in
the *ac! with my face against the wall Something was put
over my head so that no light could *e seen I sensed
rather than felt someone passing me, and after some min$
utes the cloth over my head was roughly 1er!ed away and
I was pushed forward once more
After what seemed to *e an impossi*le time a door was
opened in utter silence, and I was given a very violent
push in the *ac! I stum*led forward and fell There were
three steps *ut in the pitch dar!ness of the cell I could not
see them8 so I fell and !noc!ed myself unconscious
Time passed with incredi*le slowness At intervals there
came screams ululating on the quivering air, and dying off
with a gurgle
Some time later guards came to my cell They gestured
for me to go with them I went to spea! and was smashed
across the chee!s, while another guard put a finger to his
lips in the universal sign of )&o tal!!+ I was led out along
those endless corridors again, and eventually found myself
in a *rilliantly lit interrogation room ,ere relays of ques$
tioners as!ed me the same questions time after time, and
when I did not vary my story two guards were given spa$
cia? instructions8 I was given an a**reviated tour of the

::
-u*ian!a I was ta!en along the corridors and I was
shown torture rooms with poor unfortunate wretches
undergoing the tortures of the damned, *oth men and
women I saw such tortures, such *estial performances,
that I would not dare repeat them *ecause, !nowing West$
ern people, I !now that I would *e dis*elieved
I was shown into a stone room which had what ap$
peared to *e stalls %rom a *lan! wall stone stalls e.$
tended a*out three feet from the wall, and the guards
showed me how a man or woman was pushed na!ed into a
stall with hands upon the wall in front Then the prisoner
would *e shot through the *ac! of the nec! and would fall
forward, and all the *lood would run into a drain and so
no unnecessary mess was caused
The prisoners were na!ed *ecause, according to 'us$
sian thought, there was no point in wasting clothing, cloth$
ing which could *e used *y the living
%rom that place I was hurried out along another cor$
ridor and into a place which loo!ed li!e a *a!e$house I
soon saw that it was not a *a!e$house *ecause *odies and
pieces of *odies were *eing cremated As I arrived a very
*urned s!eleton was *eing removed from a furnace and
was then dumped into a great grinder which revolved and
ground up the s!eleton with a horrid crunching noise The
*one dust, I understood, was sent to farmers as fertili=er,
as was the ashes
"ut there was no point in !eeping on a*out all the
tortures that I underwent, *ut it will suffice to say that at
long last I was dragged *efore three high officials They
had papers in their hands which, they said, testified to the
fact that I had helped influential people in 5ladivosto!
and another that I had helped his daughter escape from a
>apanese prisoner$of$war camp I was not to *e !illed they
told me *ut would *e sent to Stry1, a city in 7oland
Troops were going there from 'ussia and I would go with
them as a prisoner and then in Stry1 I would *e deported
from 7oland also
(ventually after a lot more delay *ecause I was really
too ill to *e moved and so had to *e given time to recover

?DD
9eventually I was handed over to a Corporal who had
two soldiers with him I was marched through the streets
of 6oscow to the railway station The weather was free=$
ing cold, *itterly cold, *ut no food was offered although
the three soldiers wandered off one at a time to get food
A *ig detachment of 'ussian soldiers came into the
station, and a sergeant came across saying that the orders
had *een changed and I was going to -wow instead I was
loaded a*oard the train which went off with many a shud$
der and 1olt, and at long last we arrived at the city of
2iev
,ere I and some of the soldiers entered a troop carrier,
to *e accurate, forty soldiers and I were crammed into
one And then the troop carrier raced off, *ut our driver
was too fast and too ine.perienced, he caroomed into a
wall and the troop carrier e.ploded in fire from the *ro!en
fuel tan! %or quite a time I was unconscious When I did
recover consciousness again I was *eing carried into a
hospital ,ere I was M$rayed, and it was found that I had
three *ro!en ri*s, one *ro!en end had perforated my left
lung 6y left arm was *ro!en in two places, and my left
leg was *ro!en again at the !nee and at the an!le The
*ro!en end of a soldierIs *ayonet had penetrated my left
shoulder, only 1ust missing a vital place
I awa!ened from an operation to find a fat woman
doctor smac!ing my face to *ring me *ac! to conscious$
ness I saw that I was in a ward with forty or fifty other
men The pain I had was incredi*le, there was nothing to
ease the pain, and for quite a time I hovered *etween life
and death
#n the twenty$second day of my stay in the hospital
two policemen came to the ward, ripped the *lan!et off
my *ed, and *awled at meK ),urry up, you+re *eing de$
ported, you should have left three wee!s ago!+
I was ta!en to -wow and told that I would have to pay
for my hospital treatment *y wor!ing for a year repairing
and re*uilding the roads of 7oland %or a month I did
that, sitting *eside the road *rea!ing stones, and then *e$
cause my wounds were not properly healed I collapsed

?D?
coughing *lood, etcetera, and was ta!en off to a hospital
again ,ere the doctor told me that I would have to *e
moved out of the hospital as I was dying and he would get
into trou*le if any more prisoners died that month *ecause
he had )e.ceeded his quota+
So it was that I was deported and, once again, *ecame a
wanderer %or the first of many times I was told that I had
only a little while to live, *ut li!e many times since, I did
not die
Wal!ing along a road I saw a car in distress, with a very
frightened man standing *eside it Well, I !new quite a lot
a*out cars and aircraft engines, so I stopped and found
there was nothing much wrong with the car, nothing I
couldnIt put right, anyhow So I managed to get it going
and he was so e.tremely grateful that he offered me a 1o*
&ow, that is not so strange as it may seem *ecause that
car had passed me some time ago, we had *een crossing a
river *ridge together, crossing 1ust where the *order
guards were stationed ,e had *een stopped a long time,
and I suppose he had *een watching the pedestrians and
wondering what they were doing, where they were going$
anything to pass away idle moments I got over the *order
in very quic! time 9a*out the only time in my life that I
have! "ut, he offered me a 1o* and I could see *y his aura
that he was a reasona*ly honest man, as honest as he
could afford to *e, in other words ,e told me that he
needed to have cars ta!en to different locations, so I too!
his offer and it afforded me a truly wonderful opportunity
of seeing (urope
,e !new the location quite well and he had )contacts+
,e loo!ed at my papers and shuddered at the sight of
them, telling me that I couldnIt possi*ly get anywhere
e.cept prison if I had papers mar!ed )Deportee+ So he
left me *y the roadside for a time, after which he came
*ac! for me and drove me to a place9I will not say
where9where I was fitted out with fresh papers, a forged
passport, and all the necessary travel documents
So I drove for him ,e seemed to *e scared of driving
and it was fortunate for me that he was I drove to "ratis$

?DE
lava and on to 5ienna8 5ienna, I could see, had *een a
very wonderful city indeed *ut now it was !noc!ed a*out
a lot *ecause of the aftermath of war We stayed there two
or three days, and I loo!ed around the city as much as I
could although it wasnIt easy *ecause the people were
inordinately suspicious of foreigners (very so often a per$
son would sidle up to a policeman and there would *e
whispered conversation, and then the policeman would
ma!e sure his gun was in order and then he would ap$
proach me and demand, )7apers!+ It gave me a good
chance to chec! that my papers were quite )authentic+
*ecause there was never any query at all a*out them
%rom 5ienna we went to 2lagenfurt There was only a
slight delay there, I waited a*out eight hours and got thor$
oughly fro=en in the dri==ling rain which came teeming
down I also got quite hungry *ecause there was rationing
and I hadnIt got the right sort of coupons "ut hunger was
a thing to which I was well accustomed, so I 1ust put up
with it
We drove through the night to Italy and made our way
to 5enice ,ere, to my regret, I had to stay ten days,
unhappy ten days they were, too, *ecause I am gifted or
cursed with an a*solutely e.ceptional sense of smell and,
as possi*ly everyone !nows, the canals of 5enice are open
sewers After all, how can you have closed$in sewers when
the whole darn place is flooded0 So it certainly was not a
place to swim!
The ten days dragged, the place seemed to *e full of
Americans who were very ful? of money and drin! It was
an everyday sight for Americans to flash an immense roll
of money which would have !ept most of the Italians for a
year 6any of the Americans, I was told, were deserters
from the BS army or air force who had quite *ig *usi$
nesses in *lac! mar!et goods
%rom 5enice we went on to 7adua, a place rich in
history and redolent of the past I spent a wee! here, my
employer seemed to have a great amount of *usiness to do
and I was da==led *y the different girl friends he pic!ed up

?DJ
as other people pic! flowers *y the roadside &o dou*t it
was *ecause he had such a *ig *an! roll
In 7adua my employer had a sudden change of plans,
*ut he came to me one day and told me all a*out it, saying
he had to fly *ac! to C=echoslova!ia "ut9there was an
American, he said, who very much wanted to meet me, a
man who !new all a*out me, so I was introduced to this
man ,e was a great *eefy man with thic! *lu**er lips,
and a girl friend who did not seem to mind whether she
was draped or undraped The American was another man
dealing in cars, truc!s, and various other types of machin$
ery I drove a *ig truc! for a time in 7adua, my load was
different official cars, some ta!en from high$ran!ing &a=is
and others from %ascist officials who had lost life and
cars These cars9well, I 1ust could not understand what
was happening to them, *ut they seemed to *e e.ported to
the BSA where they fetched fa*ulous prices
6y new employer, the American, wanted me to ta!e a
special car to Swit=erland, and then ta!e another car to
;ermany, *ut, as I e.plained, my papers were not good
enough for that ,e pooh$poohed my arguments, *ut then
said, );ee, I got the very thing for you, I !now what we
can do Two days ago a drun!en American drove into a
concrete a*utment and he was splattered all over the place
6y men got his papers *efore they were even touched *y
the *lood which came out of him8 here they are+ ,e
turned and rifled through his *ig *ulging *riefcase and
fished out a *undle of papers I 1umped to instant alertness
when I saw that they were the papers of a ships Second$
(ngineer (verything was there, the passport, the 6arine
Bnion card, wor! permits, money9everything #nly one
thing was wrong8 the photograph
The American laughed as if he would never stop and
said, )7hotograph+0 Come on with me, weIll get that done
right away!+ ,e *ustled me out of the hotel room and we
went to some peculiar place which meandered down many
stone steps There were secret !noc!s on the door and
sort of password, and then we were admitted to a slea=y
room with a gang of men lounging around there I could

?DF
see at a glance that they were counterfeiters although I
couldnIt tell what sort of money they were forging, *ut
that was nothing to do with me The pro*lem was e.$
plained to them, and my photograph was speedily ta!en,
my signature was ta!en as well, and then we were ushered
out of the place
The following evening there came a !noc! on the hotel
door and a man entered carrying my papers I loo!ed
through them and I really could *elieve that I had signed
the things and filled in all the details with my own hand$
writing, they were so perfect I thought to myself, )Well,
now IIve got all the papers I should *e a*le to get a*oard
a ship somewhere, get a 1o* as an (ngineer and go off to
the BSA ThatIs where I have to *e, the BSA, so IIll do
what this fellow wants in the hope IIll get to some *ig
seaport+
6y new employer was delighted with my change of
attitude so the first thing he did was to give me a large sum
of money and introduce me to a 6ercedes car, a very
powerful car indeed, and I drove that car to Swrt=erland I
managed to get through Customs and Immigration, and
there was no trou*le at all Then I changed the car at a
special address and continued on to ;ermany, actually to
2arlsruhe, where I was told that I had to go on to -ud$
wigshafen I drove there, and to my surprise found my
American employer there ,e was delighted to see me
*ecause he had had a report from his contacts in Swit=er$
land that the 6ercedes had *een delivered without a
scratch on it
I stayed in ;ermany for some three months, a little
more than three months as a matter of fact I drove differ$
ent cars to different destinations, and fran!ly it simply did
not ma!e sense to me, I didnIt !now why I was driving
these cars "ut I had plenty of time to spare so I made
good use of it *y getting a lot of *oo!s to study marine
engines and the duties of a ships (ngineer I went to 6ari$
time 6useums and saw ship models and models of shipsI
engines, so at the end of three months I felt quite confi$

?DA
dent that I could turn my engineering !nowledge to
marine engineering also
#ne day my *oss drove me out to a deserted airport
We drew up in front of a disused aircraft hangar 6en
rushed to open the doors, and inside there was a truly
weird contraption which seemed to *e all yellow metal
struts, the thing had eight wheels and at one end was a
truly immense scoop 7erched at the other end was a little
glassed$in house, the driving compartment 6y employer
said, )Can you ta!e this thing to 5erdun0+ )I donIt see
why not,+ I replied )Its got an engine and its got wheels
so it should *e deriva*le+ #ne of the mechanics there
showed me how to start it and how to use it, and I prac$
tised driving up and down the disused aeroplane runways
An officious policeman rushed into the grounds and an$
nounced that the thing could only *e used at night and it
would have to have a man at the rear end to watch out for
coming traffic So I practiced while a second man was
found Then, when I was satisfied that I !new how to
ma!e the machine move and, even more important, I !new
how to ma!e the thing stop, my loo!$out and I set off for
5erdun We could only drive *y night *ecause of ;erman
and %rench road regulations, and we could not e.ceed
twenty miles an hour so it was a slow 1ourney indeed I
had time to watch the scenery I saw the gutted country$
side, the *urned$out wrec!s of tan!s and aircraft and
guns, I saw the ruined houses, some with only one wall
still remaining, )War,+ I thought, )what a strange thing it
is that humans treat humans so If people only o*eyed our
laws there would *e no wars #ur lawK Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you, a law which would
effectively prevent wars+
"ut I saw some very pleasant scenery too, *ut I was not
getting paid to admire the scenery, I was getting paid to
get that clattering hun! of machinery safely to 5erdun
At last we arrived at that city, and early in the morning
*efore there was much traffic I drove it into an immense
construction yard where we were e.pected ,ere a very
grim loo!ing %renchman who seemed to *e more or less

?DG
square rushed out at me, and said, )&ow ta!e this thing to
6et=!+ I replied, )&o, I have *een paid to *ring it here
and I am driving it no further+ To my horrified ama=e$
ment he whipped out one of those awful !nives which
have a spring9you press a *utton and the *lade slides out
and loc!s in place ,e came at me with that !nife, *ut I
had *een well trained, I wasnIt going to *e sta**ed *y a
%renchman, so I did a little !arate throw which sent him
down on his *ac! with one awful clatter, his !nife spin$
ning from his hand %or one awful moment he lay there
da=ed, then with a *ellow of rage he 1umped to his feet so
fast that his feet were moving *efore they touched the
ground, and he dashed into a wor!shop and came out with
a three foot *ar of steel used for opening crates ,e rushed
at me and tried to *ring the *ar down across my shoul$
ders I dropped to my !nees and gra**ed one of his legs,
and twisted I twisted a *it harder than I intended *ecause
his leg *ro!e with quite a snap at the !nee
Well, I e.pected to get arrested *y the police at least
Instead, I was roundly cheered *y the manIs employees,
and then a police car drove up with the police loo!ing very
grim indeed When they were told what had happened they
1oined in the applause, and to my profound astonishment
they too! me off for a good meal!
After the meal they found accommodation for me, and
when I was in that accommodation a man came along and
told me that he had heard all a*out me and did I want
another 1o* #f course I did, so he too! me out to a cafe
in which there were too elderly ladies o*viously waiting
for me They were very very old and very very autocratic,
they did a *it of the )my man+ tal! until I told them that I
wasnIt their man, I didnIt want anything to do with them
in fact And then one of them laughed outright and said she
really did admire a man with spirit
They wanted me to drive them in a very new car to
7aris Well, I was all for that, I wanted to go to 7aris, so I
agreed to drive them to 7aris even though there was the
stipulation that I must not e.ceed thirty$five miles an

?D@
hour That was no pro*lem to me, I had 1ust driven from
-udwigshafen at twenty miles an hour!
I got the two old ladies safely to 7aris and they paid me
very well for the trip, and gave me many compliments on
my driving, actually they offered to ta!e me in their ser$
ice *ecause they said they li!ed a man with spirit to *e
their chauffeur, *ut that was not at all what I wanted 6y
tas! had not yet *een accomplished, and I did not thin!
much of driving old ladies a*out at thirty$five miles an
hour So I refused their offer and left them to try to find
another 1o*
7eople with whom I left the old ladiesI car suggested
accommodation for me, and I made my way there arriving
1ust as an am*ulance arrived I stood outside waiting for
the commotion to end and I as!ed a man what it was all
a*out ,e told me that a man who had an important 1o*
ta!ing furniture to Caen had 1ust fallen and *ro!en his leg,
and he was worried *ecause he would lose his 1o* if he
could not go or find a su*stitute As he was carried out on
a stretcher I pressed forward and told him that I could do
his 1o* for him The am*ulance men halted a moment
while we tal!ed I told him I wanted to go to that city, and
if he could fi. it he could get paid for the trip and I would
go 1ust to get that transport ,e loo!ed over1oyed in spite
of the pain in his leg, and said that he would send a
message to me from his hospital, and with that he was
loaded into the am*ulance and driven away
I *oo!ed in at the lodging house, and later that night a
friend of the furniture remover came and told me that the
1o* was mine if I would go to Caen and help unload
furniture and load a fresh lot The man, he told me, had
accepted my offer that he would have the money and I
would have the wor!!
At the very ne.t day, though, I had to *e off again We
had to go to one of the *ig houses in 7aris and load up
this great pantechnicon We did so9the gardener of the
estate and I9*ecause the driver was too la=y ,e made
e.cuse after e.cuse to leave At last the pantechnicon was
loaded and we departed After we had done a*out a mile,

?DH
or less, the driver stopped and said, ),ere, you ta!e on
driving, I want to get some sleep+ We shifted positions,
and I drove on through the night In the morning we were
at Caen and drove to the estate where the furniture and
luggage had to *e unloaded Again one of the house staff
and I unloaded *ecause the driver said he had to go else
where on *usiness
In the late afternoon when all the wor! was done the
driver appeared and said8 )&ow we must go on and load a
fresh lot+ I got into the driving seat and drove on as far
as the main railroad station There I 1umped out, ta!ing
all my possessions with me, and said to the driver, )IIve
*een wor!ing all the time, now you do some for a change!+
With that I went into the station and got a tic!et for
Cher*ourg
Arrived at that city I wandered a*out a *it and eventu$
ally too! a room at the SeamenIs -odgings in the doc! area
I made quite a point of meeting as many ships (ngineers
as I could and ma!ing myself agreea*le to them, so with a
little prodding on my part I received opportunities to see
their engine rooms a*oard their ships, and I received
many many hints and pointers which could not easily *e
o*tained from te.t *oo!s
Day after day I went to shipping agents showing )my+
papers and trying to get a *erth as second engineer on a
ship going to the BSA I told them that I had come to
(urope on vacation and had *een ro**ed of my money
and now I had to wor! my way *ac! There were many
e.pressions of sympathy, and at last a good old Scottish
(ngineer told me that he would offer me a 1o* as third
(ngineer going that night to &ew /or!
I went a*oard the ship with him, and down the iron
ladders to the engine room There he as!ed me many
questions a*out the operation of the engines and a*out the
!eeping of records and watches (ventually he e.pressed
himself as entirely satisfied and said, )Come on up to the
6asterIs quarters, and you can sign the shipIs articles
We did that and the shipIs 6aster loo!ed a grim sort of
fellow8 I didnIt li!e him at all, and he didnIt li!e me either,

?D:
*ut we signed the articles and then the shipIs %irst (n$
gineer told meK );et your dunnage a*oard, you ta!e first
duty, we sail tonight+ And that was that And so, very
pro*a*ly for the first time in history a lama of Ti*et, and a
medical lama at that, posing as an American citi=en, too!
a 1o* a*oard an American ship as Third (ngineer
%or eight hours I stood engine room watch The Second
was off duty, and the %irst (ngineer had wor! to do con$
nected with leaving port, so I had to go immediately on
duty without any opportunity to have a meal or even to
change into uniform "ut eight hours duty in port was a
*lessing to me It ena*led me to get accustomed to the
place, to investigate the controls, and so instead of *eing
displeased and unhappy a*out it as the Chief e.pected me
to *e, really I was well content
After the eight hours was up the Chief (ngineer clat$
tered down the steel ladder and formally relieved me of
duty, telling me to go and have a good meal *ecause, he
said, I loo!ed famished )And *e sure,+ he commanded,
)to tell the coo! to *ring down cocoa for me+
It was not a happy ship *y any means The Captain and
the %irst #fficer thought they were commanding a first$
class liner instead of a *eat$up old tramp steamer, they
insisted on uniform, they insisted on inspecting oneIs
ca*in, an unusual thing a*oard ship &o, it was not a
happy ship indeed, *ut we thudded along across the At$
lantic, rolling and swaying in the &orth Atlantic weather
At last we reached the light$ship at the approach to &ew
/or! har*our
It was early morning and the towers of 6anhattan
seemed to *e agleam with reflected light I had never seen
anything li!e this *efore Approaching from the sea the
towers stood up li!e something out of oneIs fevered imag$
ination We steamed on down the ,udson and under a
great *ridge There I saw the world$famed Statue of -i*$
erty, *ut to my astonishment -i*erty had her *ac! to &ew
/or!, had her *ac! to the BSA This shoc!ed me Surely,
I thought, unless America was going to ta!e all and
sundry then the li*erty should *e in the BSA

??D
We reached our *erth after much shoving and towing
*y small tugs with a *ig )6+ on the funnel Then there
was the roaring of motors, great truc!s arrived, the cranes
started to wor! as a shore crew came a*oard The Chief
(ngineer came and *egged me to sign on, offering me
promotion to Second (ngineer "ut no, I told him, I had
had enough of that ship, some of the dec! officers had
indeed *een an unpleasant lot
We went to the shipping office and signed off, and the
Chief (ngineer give me a wonderful reference saying that
I had shown great devotion to duty, that I was efficient in
all *ranches of engine room wor!, and he made a special
note that he invited me to sign on again with him at any
time in any ship *ecause, he wrote, I was a )great ship$
mate+
%eeling quite warmed *y such a farewell from the Chief
(ngineer and carrying my heavy cases I went out of the
doc!s The din of traffic was terri*le, there were shouting
people and shouting policemen, and the whole place
seemed to *e a*solutely mad %irst I went to a ships hos$
tel, or, more accurately it should *e descri*ed as a sea$
menIs hostel ,ere again there was no sign of hospitality,
no sign of friendship, in fact with quite average politeness,
I thought, I than!ed the person for handing me the !ey to
a room ,e snarled *ac! at me, )DonIt than! me, I+m 1ust
doing my 1o*, nothing more+
Twenty$four hours was the limit that one could stay in
that hostel, forty$eight if one was going to 1oin another
ship So the ne.t day I pic!ed up my cases again, went
down in the elevator, paid off the surly reception cler!,
and wal!ed out into the streets
I wal!ed along the street *eing very circumspect *e$
cause I was, fran!ly, quite terrified of the traffic "ut then
there was a terrific uproar, cars sounding their horns, and
a policeman *lowing his whistle, and at that moment a
great shape mounted the sidewal!, hit me and !noc!ed me
down I felt the *rea!ing of *ones A car driven *y a
driver under the influence of drin! had come down a one$

???
way street, and as a last attempt to avoid hitting a delivery
truc! had mounted the sidewal! and !noc!ed me over
I awa!ened much later to find myself in a hospital I
had a *ro!en left arm, four ri*s *ro!en, and *oth feet
smashed The police came and tried to find out as much as
they could a*out the driver of the car9as if I had *een his
*osom friend! I as!ed them a*out my two cases and they
said quite cheerily, )#h no, as soon as you were !noc!ed
down, *efore the police could get to you, a guy slithered
out of a doorway, gra**ed your cases and went off at a
run We didnIt have time to loo! after him, weId got to get
you off the sidewal! *ecause you were o*structing the
way+
-ife in the hospital was complicated "ecause of the
ri* in1uries I contracted dou*le$pneumonia and for nine
wee!s I lingered in that hospital ma!ing a very slow re$
covery indeed The air of &ew /or! was not at all li!e
that to which I was accustomed, and everyone !ept all the
windows closed and the heat turned on I really thought I
was going to die of suffocation
At last I made enough recovery to get out of *ed After
nine wee!s in *ed I was feeling dreadfully wea! Then
some hospital official came along and wanted to !now
a*out payment! She said, )We found NEGD in your wallet
and we shall have to ta!e two hundred and fifty of that for
your stay here We have to leave you ten dollars *y law,
*ut youIll have to pay the rest+ She presented me with a
*ill for over a thousand dollars
I was quite shoc!ed and complained to another man
who had come in after her, a man who appeared to *e
some senior official ,e shrugged his shoulders and said,
)#h well, you+ll have to sue the man who !noc!ed you
down Its nothing to do with us+ To me that was the
epitome of foolishness *ecause how could I trace the man
when I hadnIt seen him0 As I said, I had more money in
my cases, and the only reply was, )Well, catch the man
and get your cases *ac! from him+ Catch the man9after
nine wee!s in hospital, and after the police apparently had
failed to ma!e any worthwhile attempt to catch him I was

??E
quite shoc!ed, *ut I was to *e shoc!ed even more The
man9the senior official9produced a paper and said,
)/ou are *eing released from hospital now *ecause you
have no money for any further treatment We canIt afford
to !eep you foreigners here unless you can pay Sign here!+
I loo!ed at him in shoc! ,ere was I, the first day out
of *ed for nine wee!s, I had had *ro!en *ones and dou*le$
pneumonia, and now I was *eing turned out of hospital
There was no sympathy, no understanding, and instead I
was literally9and I mean this quite literally9turned out
of hospital, and all I had was a suit of clothes I was
wearing and a ten dollar *ill
A man in the street to whom I e.plained my pro*lem
1er!ed a thum* in the direction of an employment agency,
and so I went there and clim*ed up many stairs At last I
got a 1o* with a very very famous hotel indeed, a hotel so
famous that almost anyone in the world will have heard of
it The 1o*$washing dishes The pay9twenty dollars a
wee! and one meal a day, and that one meal a day was
not the good stuff that guests had, *ut the *ad stuff left *y
guests or which was not considered fit for the guests #n
twenty dollars a wee! I could not afford a room, so I did
not *other a*out such things, I made my home wherever I
happened to *e, trying to sleep in a doorway, trying to sleep
*eneath a *ridge or under an arch, with every so often the
prod of a policemanIs night stic! in my ri*s, and a snarling
voice *idding me to get out of it and !eep moving
At last, *y a stro!e of luc!, I o*tained a 1o* with a
radio station I *ecame a radio announcer, tal!ing to the
whole world on the short waves %or si. months I did that,
and during that si. months I o*tained from Shanghai pa$
pers and *elongings which I had left with friends there
The papers included a passport issued *y the "ritish au$
thorities at the "ritish Concession
"ut, as I *egan to feel, I was wasting my time as a radio
announcer, I had a tas! to do, and all I was earning now
was a hundred and ten dollars a wee! which was a great
advance over twenty dollars a wee! and one meal, *ut I
decided to move on I gave the radio station adequate time
??J
to o*tain a suita*le replacement for me, and when I had
trained him for two wee!s I left
%ortunately I saw an advertisement wanting people to
drive cars, so I answered the advertisement and found that
I could ta!e a car and drive it all the way to Seattle There
is no point in recounting the 1ourney now, *ut I drove
safely to Seattle and got a *onus for careful driving and
for turning in the car without a single scratch on it And
then9I managed to go on to Canada



















So ends the second *oo!
The %irst (ra







??F











"##2T,'((

The "oo! of Changes













)-et not thy sorrows o*trude on to
those who have left this World of 6an+

)&ame no names, for to name those who
have passed *eyond this realm is to
distur* their peace+

)Wherefore it is that those who are
mourned suffer greatly from those who
mourn+

)-et there *e 7eace+


It also ma!es ;ood Sense,
the -aw of -i*el *eing what it is!
Wherefore I say unto you9
&ames shall not *e named

7AM 5#"ISCB6







C,A7T(' S(5(&


There is little point in descri*ing how I made my way
through Canada, all the way through the 'oc!y 6oun$
tains, and all along to Winnipeg, to Thunder "ay, 6on$
treal, and Oue*ec City Thousands of people9tens of
thousands of peope9have done that "ut I did have
some unusual e.periences which I may yet write a*out,
although that is not for this moment
In my 1ourney through Canada it was *orne upon me
that I should ma!e my way to (ngland I was convinced
that the tas! which I still had to do had to start in (ng$
land, a little place which I had seen only from afar from
the porthole of a ship leaving Cher*ourg and heading out
into the (nglish Channel *efore turning for the BSA
In Oue*ec I made inquiries and managed to o*tain all
necessary papers such as passport, wor! permit, and all
the rest I also managed to o*tain a SeamanIs Bnion card
Again, there is no point in going into details of how I
o*tained these things I have in the past told *ureaucrats
that their stupid system of red tape only strangles people
who have all papers legitimately8 in my own case I state
emphatically that the only time I have had any diffculty at
all entering a country was when my papers were in order
,ere in Canada, when I used to *e more mo*ile and could
go to the BSA, there was always difficulty with my pa$
pers8 there was always something wrong, something for
the Immigration officer to qui**le a*out So, *ureaucrats
are parasites who should *e eliminated li!e lice ,ey! That
would *e a good idea, too, wouldnIt it0
I made my way *ac! to 6ontreal and there, with my
papers perfectly in order I was a*le to get a*oard a ship as
a dec!hand The pay was not wonderful, *ut my own idea

??@
was that I wanted to get to (ngland, and I had no money
for a tic!et, therefore any pay was *etter than having to
pay
The wor! was not too hard, it consisted merely of re$
arranging cargo and then !noc!ing wedges into hold cov$
ers Soon we were steaming up the (nglish Channel, and
not too long after we turned into the Solent on our way to
Southampton I was off duty at the time and was a*le to
sit in the stern and loo! out across the (nglish scenery
which attracted me considera*ly, the (nglish scenery
seemed to me to *e of the greenest of greens9at that time
I had not seen Ireland which can *eat the (nglish scenery
any time9and so I was quite entranced
The 6ilitary ,ospital at &etley intrigued me vastly I
thought from the water that it must *e the home of a !ing
or someone of such status, *ut a mem*er of the crew with
quite a loud laugh soon told me that this was 1ust a hos$
pital
We went up past Woolston on the right, and Southamp$
ton on the left I was interested to see at Woolston the
home of the supermarine flying *oats which were ma!ing
very much of a name for themselves in the %ar (ast
Soon we doc!ed in Southampton, and officials came
a*oard, chec!ed the shipIs papers and e.amined the
crews+ quarters %inally we were given clearance to go
ashore and I was on the point of leaving *ut was called
*ac! for Immigration chec! once again The officer loo!ed
at my papers and was very friendly and approving when in
answer to his question, ),ow long are you staying0+ I
replied, )I am going to live here, sir+ ,e put the neces$
sary stamps on the passport and gave me directions for
seamenIs lodgings
I wal!ed out of the Immigration office and stood for a
moment ta!ing a last loo! at the old freighter on which I
had arrived from the &ew World to the #ld A Customs
officer started to move across with a smile on his face, and
then suddenly there was a stunning *low at my *ac!
and I reeled against a wall, dropping my two cases as I did
so

??H

;athering my scattered wits I turned around and saw a
man sitting at my feet ,e was a senior Customs officer
who had *een hurrying to wor! and had mis1udged his
distance trying to get in the door I went to help him up
and he struc! my outstretched hands with a fury of hatred
I recoiled in complete astonishment, the accident was not
my fault, I was 1ust standing there inoffensively "ut I
pic!ed up my cases to move on when he yelled at me to
stop ,e called two guards to detain me The Customs
officer I had seen in the office hurried out and said,
)Its quite all right, sir, quite all right ,is papers are
in order+ The senior official seemed to go *lac! in the
face with fury, and no one could get a word in #n his
orders I was ta!en to a room where my cases were opened
and everything thrown on to the floor ,e found nothing
wrong here So he demanded my passport and other pa$
pers I gave them to him and he leafed through them and
then snarled that I had a visa and a wor! permit and I
didnIt need *oth With that he tore my passport across and
threw it in the gar*age *in
Suddenly he stooped, pic!ed up all the papers and
crammed them in his poc!et so that, I suppose, he could
destroy them elsewhere
,e rang a *ell and two men came from the outer office
)this man has no papers,+ said the senior officer, )he will
have to *e deported + )"ut,+ said the officer who had
stamped my papers, )I saw them, I stamped them myself+
The senior turned to him enraged and said such things that
made the poor man turn pale And so eventually I was
ta!en to a cell and left there
The ne.t day a simpering young idiot from the %oreign
#ffice came, stro!ed his *a*y face and agreed with me
that I must have had the necessary papers "ut, he said,
the %oreign #ffice could not have trou*le with the Immi$
gration #ffice so I would have to *e sacrificed The *est
thing I could do, he said, would *e to agree that my pa$
pers had *een lost over*oard, otherwise I should *e
lodged in prison for quite a time and after the end of my
sentence I should still *e deported Two years in prison

??:
was a thought that did not suit me at all So I had to sign a
paper saying that my passport had *een lost at sea
)&ow,+ said the young man, )you will *e deported to
&ew /or!+ This was too much for me *ecause I had left
from 6ontreal and Oue*ec, *ut the answer was quic!8 I
had to go to &ew /or! *ecause if I went to the 7rovince
of Oue*ec and told my story the press might get hold of it
and ma!e a commotion, *ecause the press were always
avid for anything sensational9not from a point of view of
doing anyone any good *ut 1ust *ecause the press thrived
9and thrive9$on sensation and on trou*le
I was !ept in a cel? for a time, and then one day I was
told I was to *e deported the ne.t day In the morning I
was led out of the cell and the senior officer was there
*eaming with 1oy that he, petty little *ureaucrat that he
was9had managed to su*vert 1ustice to his own wishes
In the afternoon I was ta!en to the ship, and told that I
would have to do wor!, and it would *e the hardest wor!
a*oard ship, trimming coa? in the *un!ers of one of the
oldest of old coal *urners
Then I was ta!en *ac! to the cell *ecause the ship was
not yet ready to leave and the Captain could not accept
me a*oard until an hour *efore departure time Twenty$
four hours later I was ta!en to the ship and loc!ed in a
very small ca*in where I was !ept until the ship sailed
*eyond territorial limits
After a time I was released from the cell, for that is
what the small ca*in was, and then given a *attered shovel
and ra!e and told to clean out the clin!ers, etcetera
So I sailed *ac! across the Atlantic, *ac! toward &ew
/or!, and as the first loom of land appeared in the morn$
ing the Captain sent for me and spo!e to me alone ,e
told me that he agreed I had *een un1ustly treated ,e told
me that the police were coming a*oard to arrest me and I
would *e sentenced for illegal entry into the BSA, and
then after serving a sentence I would *e deported to China
,e loo!ed a*out him, and then went to a drawer in his
des! saying, )A man li!e you can easily escape if you
Pwant to The *iggest difficulty is the handcuffs ,ere is a

?ED
!ey which will fit American handcuffs, I will turn away
and you can ta!e the !ey As you can understand I cannot
give you the !ey, *ut if you ta!e it9well, I need !now
nothing a*out it+
So saying he turned, and I quic!ly poc!eted the !ey
That Captain was a very decent man indeed As the
BS police came a*oard chec!ing their handcuffs he told
them that I was not li!ely to cause any trou*le, he told
them that in his own opinion I had done nothing wrong
and I was 1ust *eing framed *y an unpleasant immigration
officer The senior policeman laughed cynically and said
that he quite agreed, every man was *eing framed *y
someone else, and with that he snapped the handcuffs on
my wrists and gave me a rough punch toward the >aco*Is
ladder9the ladder *y which pilots and policemen enter
and leave ships still at sea
With some difficulty I managed to get down the ladder
although the police were e.pressing hopes that I would fall
in and they would have to fish me out A*oard the police
launch I was roughly pushed down in the stern Then the
two policemen went a*out their 1o* of filling in a report
and turning their launch towards the shore
I waited my chance until the wharves were near, and
then when the police were not loo!ing in my direction I
1ust 1umped over the side
The water was dreadful There was a thin, scum of oil
and filth on the surface, filth which was the sewage of the
ships and liners doc!ed there, filth which had *lown off
the wharves, floating newspapers, floating *o.es, *its of
co!e, all manner of strange pieces of wood 1ust floating
*y I dived deep and managed to get hold of the !ey and
unloc! the handcuffs which I let drop to the *ottom of the
har*our
I had to come up for air, and as I *ro!e surface there
was a fuselage of shots quite close to me, so close that one
of the *ullets spattered water in my face So, with a quic!
gulp of air, I san! down again and struc! out not for the
closest ward$pilings, *ut one rather more distant with the

?E?
thought that the police would e.pect me to swim for the
nearest
Slowly I let myself rise to the surface until only my
mouth and chin were a*ove water Then again I too! a
deep *reath, and another, and another &o shots came my
way, *ut I could 1ust *arely see the police launch cruising
a*out in front of the nearer wharf
;ently I let myself sin! again and swam slowly9to
conserve my air supply9to the wharf
There was a sudden *ump, and instinctively my hands
went out and clasped on that which I had *umped my
head It was a mess of half$sun!en tim*ers which appar$
ently had fallen from the partly ruined wharf a*ove me I
clung to that with 1ust my face out of the water Slowly, as
I could hear no sound, I sat up and in the distance I could
see the police launch which had *een 1oined *y two others
prowling a*out *eneath the piles of the other wharf #n
top of the wharf armed police were dashing around
searching various *uildings
I !ept still *ecause suddenly a *oat came along with
three policemen in it They were rowing silently #ne of
the policemen had a pair of *inoculars and he was scru$
tinising all the wharves in the area Slowly I slid off the
*eam and let myself sin! in the water so that only my nose
and mouth were a*ove the surface (ventually I raised my
head a *it and the *oat was a long way away As I loo!ed
I heard a shout, );uess the guyIs a stiff *y now, weIll pic!
up his *ody later+
I lay again on the *eam shivering uncontrolla*ly in the
coldness of wet clothing and the stiff *ree=e which *lew
across me
When dar!ness was falling I managed to get on to the
top of the wharf and darted for the shelter of a shed A
man was approaching and I saw he was a -ascar, and he
loo!ed quite friendly so I gave a low whistle ,e strolled
nonchalantly on and, quite without purpose it seemed, he
edged toward my hiding place Then he stooped to pic! up
some pieces of paper which were lying a*out )Come out

?EE
cautious li!e,+ he said, )a coloured gentleman is waiting
with a truc!, he+ll get you out of this+
Well, eventually I did get out of it, *ut I was in a sorry
state indeed, I was suffering from e.haustion and from
e.posure I got into the gar*age truc!, a tarpaulin
stretched over me, and a whole load of gar*age dumped
on top!
The coloured man too! me to his home and I was well
loo!ed after, *ut for two days and nights I slept the sleep
of the totally e.hausted
During my e.haustion, while the physical *ody was re$
pairing itself, I made an astral 1ourney and saw my *e$
loved ;uide and friend, the -ama 6ingyar Dondup ,e
said to me, )/our sufferings have truly *een great, too
great /our sufferings have *een the sour fruit of manIs
inhumanity to 6an, *ut your *ody is getting worn out and
soon you will have to undergo the ceremony of transmi$
gration+
In the astral world I sat and my companion sat with me
I was told more
)/our present *ody is in a state of collapse, the life of
that *ody will not continue much longer We feared that
such conditions would prevail in the wild Western world
that you would *e impaired, and so we have *een loo!ing
a*out for a *ody which you could ta!e over and which in
time would reproduce all your own features
)We have determined that there is such a person ,is
*ody is on a very very low harmonic of your own, other$
wise, of course, a change could not ta!e place The *odies
must *e compati*le, and this person has a *ody which is
compati*le We have approached him in the astral *ecause
we saw that he contemplated suicide It is a young (n$
glishman who is very very dissatisfied with life, he is not at
all happy with life, and for some time he has *een trying
to decide on the most painless method of what he calls
Lself$destruction+ ,e is perfectly willing to leave his *ody
and 1ourney here to the astral world provided he doesnIt
lose *y it!
)We persuaded him a little time ago to change his name

?EJ
to that which you are now using, so there are a few more
things to *e settled and then9well, you will have to
change *odies+
It was very, very necessary, I was instructed, that I
should return to Ti*et *efore I could undergo the neces$
sary process of transmigration Careful instructions were
given to me and when I felt well enough I went to a
shipping office and too! passage to "om*ay #nce again
was su*1ected to all manner of harassment *ecause my
luggage consisted of 1ust one case "ut at last I got a*oard
the ship and when I was in my ca*in two detectives came
to visit me to find out why I had only one case Assured
that I had adequate luggage in India they smiled happily
and went away
It was most strange *eing a passenger a*oard ship
(veryone avoided me *ecause I was a pariah who had
only one case of luggage The others, of course, seemed to
have enough luggage to stoc! a whole store, *ut I9appar$
ently the poorest of the poor9must *e a fugitive from
1ustice, or something, to travel as I did, and so I was
avoided
The ship went from &ew /or! all the way up along the
coast of Africa and through the Straits of ;i*raltar Then
we made another stop at Ale.andria *efore entering the
Sue= Canal, and so on to the 'ed Sea The 'ed Sea was
terri*le, the heat was murderous, and I almost got heat
stro!e "ut finally we passed the coast of (thiopia
crossed the Ara*ian sea, and doc!ed at "om*ay The
noise and smell in "om*ay was terri*le, fantastic in fact,
*ut I had a few friends, a "uddhist priest and a few influ$
ential people, and so my wee!s stay in "om*ay was made
interesting
After the wee! in which I tried to recover from all the
shoc!s and strains I had had I was put on a train and
crossed India to the city of 2alimpong I managed to drop
off the train *efore it actually entered 2alimpong *ecause
I had *een warned that the place was a*solutely thronged
with Communist spies and newspaper men, and new ar$
rivals were stopped and questioned *y newspaper men

?EF
and as I found to *e true later9if one would not give an
interview the newspaper men )invented+ one without any
regard whatever to the truth
I !new 2alimpong slightly, certainly I !new enough to
get in touch with some friends and so )went underground )
away from spies and away from newspaper men
"y now my health was deteriorating very rapidly, and
there were serious fears that I would not live long enough
to undergo the ceremony of transmigration A lama who
had *een trained at Cha!pori with me was in 2alimpong
and he came to my assistance with very potent her*s
I moved on in the company of this medical lama 9and
after ten wee!s of hard travel we reached a lamasery over$
loo!ing the 5alley of -hasa It was high and inaccessi*le,
it was inconspicuous, and Communists would not *other
a*out such a small insignificant place ,ere again I rested,
I rested for some seven days in all #n the morrow, I was
told one day, I should 1ourney into the astral and meet the
astral *ody of the man whose physical vehicle I was going
to ta!e over
%or the present I rested, and mused upon the pro*lems
of transmigration This personIs *ody was not of much use
to me *ecause it was ,IS *ody and had a lot of vi*rations
incompati*le with my own In time, I was told, the *ody
would conform e.actly to my own *ody when at that same
age, and if Westerners find this a difficult matter to *elieve
or understand, let me put it li!e this8 the Western world
!nows a*out electro$plating, and the Western world also
!nows a*out electro$typing In the latter system an article
can *e immersed in a certain fluid and a special )connec$
tor+ is applied opposite the article, and when current is
turned on at the correct rate and amperage an e.act dupli$
cate of the original item is *uilt up This is !nown as
electro$typing
Again, it is possi*le to do electro$plating #ne can plate
in a variety of metals, nic!el, chromium, rhodium, copper,
silver, gold, platinum, etcetera #ne merely has to !now
how to do it "ut the current flows from one pole to
another through a liquid, and the molecules of one pole

?EA
are transferred to the other pole It is a simple enough
system, *ut this is not a treatise on electro$plating Trans$
migration and the replacing molecule *y molecule of the
)fa*ric+ of the host *y that of the9 what shall I say09
new occupant is very real, it has *een done time after time
*y those who !now how %ortunately those who !now
how have always *een people of relia*le character, other$
wise it would *e a terri*le thing indeed if one did 1ust ta!e
over another personIs *ody and do harm I felt rather
smug, foolishly so perhaps, when I thought that9well, I
am going to do good, I donIt want to ta!e over anyone
elseIs silly *ody, all I want is peace "ut it seemed there
was to *e no peace in my life
In passing, and as one who has studied all religions, I
must point out that Adepts did it for life after life The
Dalai -ama himself had done so, and the *ody of >esus
was ta!en over *y the Spirit of the Son of ;od, and it had
*een common !nowledge even in the Christian *elief until
it was *anned *ecause it made people too complacent
%rom my high viewpoint in this remote isolated lama$
sery I could loo! out upon the distant city of -hasa8 quite
a powerful telescope had somehow *een smuggled out of
the 7otala and *rought here, so one of my idle amuse$
ments was to use the telescope and loo! at the surly
Chinese guards at the 7argo 2aling I saw the troops rush$
ing a*out in their 1eeps, I saw through that telescope many
unspea!a*le things done to men and to women, and I
recalled with great horror that I had fought on the side of
the Chinese as had many others, and now the Chinese
were not *ehaving according to their promises, according
to their avowed principles All they thought of was vio$
lence
It was hard to *elieve, loo!ing out of the glassless win$
dow, that this was the same Ti*et, the same -hasa, that I
had !nown *efore ,ere the golden Sun still struc! gleam$
ing rays through ravines in the mountains, the silvery
6oon still traversed the *lac!ness of the night s!y, and
the distant pinpoints of coloured light which were the stars
still sta**ed down through the roof of ,eaven &ight *irds

?EG
did not call, though, as of yore *ecause the Chinese
Communists !illed everything on sight To my horror I
found that they were e.tinguishing the life of those crea$
tures I loved so much "irds, they say, ate the grain which
would cause humans to starve Cats were !illed, so no
longer, so I was told, were there any cats left in -hasa
Dogs were !illed and eaten *y the Chinese It seemed to
*e a Chinese delicacy So not only poor humans were
*eing su*1ected to death at the hands of the Chinese
Communists, animals too, the pets of ;ods, were *eing
e.terminated for no worthwhile reason I was sic! at heart
at all the horrors *eing perpetrated on a harmless, inno$
cent people As I ga=ed out at the dar!ening s!y I was
overcome with emotion, overcome with sorrow, and then I
thought, well I have this 1o* to do, much evil has *een
forecast in my life I hope I am strong enough to endure
all that which has *een foretold
%or some time I had *een dimly aware of much e.cite$
ment, of an air of e.pectancy, and my attention had *een
drawn again and again to -hasa The telescope was won$
derful "ut it was difficult loo!ing out through a slit win$
dow with such a cum*ersome article so I turned to a pair
of twenty magnification *inoculars which also had *een
*rought and which offered greater maneuvera*ility for
views *eyond the angle of the telescope in the window
6y attention was suddenly distracted from loo!ing out
for three men entered, two of them supporting the one
*etween them I turned and loo!ed at him in horror8 he
was *lind, his eyes had *een gouged out leaving red pools
,is nose was missing The two men with him gently
helped him to a sitting position, and in fascinated horror I
recognised him as one that I had !nown *efore, as one
who had helped me with my studies at Cha!pori The two
attendants *owed and left The lama and I were facing
each other, and he spo!e in a low voiceK )6y *rother,+ he
said to me, )I can well discern your thoughts /ou wonder
how I got in a condition li!e this I will tell you I was out
a*out my lawful occasion and I happened to glance up
toward Iron 6ountain A Chinese Communist officer sud$

?E@
denly turned from where he was sitting in his car and
accused me of staring at him and thin!ing evil thoughts
towards him &aturally I denied the charge for such was
not the truth, I was merely loo!ing at our *eloved home
"ut no, the officer said that all priests were liars and reac$
tionists, and he gave a*rupt orders to his men I was
sei=ed and !noc!ed down, and then a rope was put around
my chest and !notted *ehind my *ac! The other end was
tied to the rear of the car in which the officer sat Then,
with a whoop of 1oy, he drove off dragging me face down
on the road+
The old lama stopped and lifted his ro*e I gasped with
horror *ecause all the s!in and much of the flesh had *een
torn off from head to foot, shreds of flesh hung down, and
the inside of his ro*e was 1ust a *loody mess ,e carefully
lowered his ro*e again, and said, )/es, the roughness of
the road tore off my nose, it tore off other things too, and
now I am waiting to pass over to the -and "eyond "ut
*efore I can have that release I have one more tas! to
do+
,e paused for a moment or two, getting *ac! some
energy, and then said, )this matter of transmigration and
the possi*ility that we might have to use it has *een
!nown for many years, and I was in charge of the pro1ect,
I had to study the ancient manuscripts to find out as much
as I could a*out it I had to consult the A!ashic 'ecords
and I had to amass as much !nowledge as I could+ ,e
paused again, *ut then went on, )the Chinese eventually
released me from my *onds *ut the officer had one more
evil deed to do ,e !ic!ed me as I lay on my *ac! in the
dirt and said, )/ou stared at me and you wished me evil,
for that you shall stare no more+ #ne of his men pic!ed
up a sharp narrow flint from the roadway and stuc! it in
my eye*alls, one after the other, and 1ust flipped my eye$
*alls out so that they dangled on my chee!s Then with a
laugh they went away and left me as I was, with my nose
ripped off, my *ody ripped and torn, no longer would one
*e a*le to say if I was a man or a woman *ecause such
parts had *een torn off, and on my chee!s rested my

?EH
*linded eyes with the or*s perforated and the fluid spilling
out and running down to my ears
)When they were a*le to, shoc!ed people came to my
aid and I was lifted up and carried into a house I fainted,
and when I recovered consciousness I found that my eyes
had *een removed and I had *een well treated with her*al
pac!s Stealthily *y night I was carried up into the moun$
tains to await your coming, now I have to tel? you much,
and to accompany you into a 1ourney into the astral from
which I shall not return+
,e rested yet awhile that he might regain a little of his
strength, and then when a slight colour was returning to
his chee!s he said, )We must go into the astral+
So we went the familiar route again (ach of us was
sitting in the lotus position, that position which we of the
(ast find the easiest to maintain We said our suita*le
mantras with which our vi*rations were so heightened that
with the almost impercepti*le 1er! which accompanies
such transition we departed from our *odies, I temporarily
and my companion permanently
The greyness of (arth and the white of the eternal snows
departed from our sight "efore us there appeared a
veil, a veil which shimmered *luish$white, a veil which as
one first approached it appeared to *e an impenetra*le
*arrier, *ut those who !new how could enter without
hindrance This we did, and found ourselves in an area of
glorious light with impressions of 1oy
At that point of the astral world which we entered we
were upon a green sward, the grass was short and springy
*eneath our feet )Ah!+ *reathed the lama with me, ),ow
wonderful to see again, how wonderful to *e without pain
Soon my tas! will *e finished then I shall *e ,ome for a
time at least+ So saying he led me along a pleasant path
There were trees a*out, many many trees, all in green
and red and yellow leaf To the side of us there swept a
ma1estic river, mirroring in its watery surface the deep
*lue of the s!y a*ove %aint fleecy clouds drifted la=ily
across the s!y and there was an atmosphere of *u**ling
life, of vitality, of health, of happiness

?E:
In the trees *irds sang, *irds of a type which I had not
seen on (arth for these were glorious creatures indeed,
*irds of many different colours, *irds of many different
plumage
The old man and I wal!ed on among the trees, and then
we came to an open space which was indeed a garden, a
garden of *rilliant flowers, none of a type that could *e
recogni=ed *y me The flowers seemed to nod toward us as
if greeting us In the distance I could see people wandering
a*out as if they were lu.uriating in this glorious garden
(very so often a person would *end and sniff a flower At
times others would reach up s!ywards, and a *ird would
come and land on his outstretched hand There was no
fear here, only peace and contentment
We wal!ed on a while, and then *efore us we saw what
seemed to *e an immense temple It had a cupola of shin$
ing gold and the walls which supported it were of a light
fawn colour #ther *uildings stretched away from it, each
in a pastel shade, all in harmony, *ut at the entrance to
the temple a group of people were waiting Some of them
wore the ro*es of Ti*et, and another9I could not under$
stand what he was wearing for the moment, it loo!ed as if
he was wearing *lac! or something very dar! And then I
saw as we approached that it was a man of the Western
world attired in Western raiment
At our approach the lamas turned and spread their
hands in our direction, spread their hands in welcome I
saw that one of them was my ;uide and friend, the -ama
6ingyar Dondup, so I !new that all would *e well for this
man was good and good only Another figure I saw was
even more eminent when upon the earthly plane, *ut now
he was 1ust one of the welcoming )committee+ awaiting
us
#ur happy greetings were soon e.changed, and then as
one we moved into the *ody of the great temple, travers$
ing the central hall and moving further into that *uilding
We entered a small room the e.istence of which was not
easy to discern, it appeared as if the walls slid away and,
admitting us to its presence, closed solidly *ehind us

?JD
6y ;uide, o*viously the spo!esman, turned to me and
said, )6y *rother, here is the young man whose *ody you
are going to inha*it+ I turned and faced the young man
aghast Certainly there was no resem*lance at all *etween
us, he was much smaller than I, and the only resem*lance
*etween us was that he was *ald the same as I! 6y ;uide
laughed at me and shoo! an admonitory finger at my
noseK )&ow, now, -o*sang,+ he laughed, )not so quic!
with your decisions All this has *een planned, first I am
going to show you some pictures from the A!ashic 'eo$
ord+ And this he did
Bpon completing our viewing of the 'ecord he said,
addressing the young man, )&ow young man, I thin! it is
time that you told us something a*out yourself, for if one
is to ta!e over your *ody then it certainly is time for the
one ta!ing over to !now that with which he is faced+
The young man, so addressed, loo!ed very truculent
indeed and replied in sullen tones, )Well, no, I have noth$
ing to say a*out my past, it has always *een held against
me Whatever I do say a*out my past it will only *e used
to pull me down+ 6y ;uide loo!ed sadly at him and said,
)/oung man, we here have vast e.perience of these
things and we do not 1udge a man *y what his parentage is
alleged to *e *ut what that man is himself+ 6y ;uide
sighed and then said, )/ou were going to commit the
mortal sin of suicide, a sin indeed, a sin which could have
cost you dear in many many lives of hardship to atone
We offer you peace, peace in the astral, so that you may
gain understanding of some of those things which have
trou*led you throughout your life The more you cooper$
ate the more easily can we help you as well as helping that
tas! which we have *efore us+ The young man shoo! his
head in negation, and said, )&o, the agreement was that I
wanted to leave my *ody, you wanted to stuff someone
else in it, thatIs all the agreement was, I hold you to
it+
Suddenly there was a flash and the young man disap$
peared The old lama with me, who was now a young man
full health, e.claimed, )#h dear, dear, with such trucu$

?J?
lent thoughts he could not stay with us here on this astral
plane &ow we shall have to go to where he is sleeping in a
room alone "ut for this night we must let him sleep, we
do not want to in1ure the *ody, so I shall have to return
somehow to -hasa with you until the ne.t night+
Time passed, and I could see that the old lama was
failing rapidly, so I said to him, )time we went into the
astral+ )/es,+ he replied, )I shall not see this *ody of
mine again I must go, we must go, for if I die *efore I am
in the astral that will delay us+
Together we encountered that 1er! and soared on and
upwards, *ut not into the astral world we had visited *e$
fore This time we soared across the world to a house in
(ngland We saw in the physical the face of the man
whom I had previously seen only in the astral ,e loo!ed
so discontented, so unhappy We tried to attract his atten$
tion *ut he was sleeping very soundly indeed The old
lama whispered, )Are you coming0+ I whispered, )Are
you coming0+ And we !ept it up, first one and then the
other, until at last very very reluctantly the astral form of
this man emerged from his physical *ody Slowly it oo=ed
out, slowly it coalesced a*ove him in the e.act shape of
his *ody, then it reversed its position, head of the astral
*ody to the feet The form tilted and landed on his feet
,e certainly loo!ed very truculent and, I could see, he had
a*solutely no recollection of seeing us *efore This was
astounding to me, *ut my companion whispered that he
had *een in such a *ad temper and had slammed *ac! in
his *ody so violently that he had completely o*literated all
memories of what had happened to him
)so you want to leave your *ody0+ I as!ed )I most
certainly do,+ he almost snarled *ac! at me )I a*solutely
hate it here+ I loo!ed at him and I shuddered with appri$
hension and, not to put too fine a point upon it, with pure
fright ,ow was I going to ta!e over the *ody of a man
li!e this0 Such a truculent man, so difficult "ut, there it
was ,e laughed and said, )so /#B want my *ody0 Well
it doesnIt matter what you want, it doesnIt matter who you

?JE
are in (ngland, all that matters is who do you !now, how
much have you got+
We tal!ed to him for a time and he grew calmer and I
said, )Well, one thing, you will have to grow a *eard I
cannot shave my *eard *ecause my 1aws have *een dam$
aged *y the >apanese Can you grow a *eard0+ )/es, sir,+
he replied, )I can and I will+
I thought for a moment and then I said, )5ery well, you
should *e a*le to grow a suita*le *eard in a month In one
monthIs time, then, I will come and I will ta!e over your
*ody and you shall *e allowed to go to an astral world so
that you may recover your tranquillity and !now that there
is 1oy in living+ Then I said, )It would help us greatly,
greatly, if you would tell us your life story *ecause al$
though we have seen much in the astral *y way of the
A!ashic 'ecords there still is a *oon to *e derived *y
hearing the actual e.periences from the person concerned+
,e loo!ed dreadfully truculent again, and said, )&o, no
I cannot *ear to spea! of it, I am not going to say another
word+
Sadly we turned away and went into the astral world so
that we could again consult the A!ashic 'ecord to see
much of his life, *ut in the A!ashic 'ecord one sees all
that has happened, one does not necessarily get the un$
spo!en opinions of a person, we see the act *ut not the
thought which preceded the act
"ut let us now ta!e a leap forward from those days
many years ago The young man now, many many years in
the astral world, has mellowed somewhat and to some
small e.tent appreciates the difficulties with which we are
confronted ,e has, then, agreed to tell us his own life
story ,e upon the astral world, and I, -o*sang 'ampa,
here upon the world of (arth trying to write down pre$
cisely as dictated those things which the young man tells
We will have his story shortly, *ut it is necessary to em$
phasise that names will not *e given for they cause distress
to others This is not a story of vengeance, this is not a
story of *itterness Actually, it is a story in this *oo! of
triumph over seemingly impossi*le o*stacles There have

?JJ
*een many attempts to stop my *oo!s *ut I have ever
*een mindful of the way a man steps forth, even though
dogs *e yapping at his feet8 I have ever *een mindful that
a man can continue his wor! even though midges and
*lowflies swarm a*out him So I say, I have no need for
*itterness for that which I wanted to do is now possi*le,
and my present tas! is 1ust to complete the tas! of another
who )fell *y the roadside+
Again, I say with the utmost sincerity at my command
that all these *oo!s of mine are true, utterly true, they are
written without authors+ license, they contain the truth as
these things happened to me All the things that I write
a*out I can do, *ut not for pu*lic e.hi*ition *ecause I am
neither charlatan nor showman The things I do are for the
completion of my tas!
So now let us turn the page and read what there is that
the young man said




C,A7T(' (I;,T


This is the story of the life of the ,ost It is a story which
is difficult in the telling *ecause the teller is on the astral
plane and the one who has to transcri*e it is upon the
earth plane in the city of Calgary, Al*erta, Canada This
life story is out of conte.t, it interposes a *rea! *etween
that which has already *een written and the part which
naturally would continue, *ut when one is dealing with
affairs of the astral then one has to ma!e some conces$
sions in the matter of time *ecause time on the astral
plane is not the same as time on the earth plane ,ence
this life story is *eing given now, and the e.planation as to
why it is *eing now is made here to avoid a spate of letters
as!ing all manner of questions %rom this point on, then two
and until I so indicate everything written is dictated *y the
one whom we will call the ),ost+

?JF
;randfather was a very important man indeed8 at least
in the rural district of 7lympton which, so far as I remem$
*er, included 7lympton St 6ary, 7lympton St 6aurice,
Bnderwood and Cole*roo!, together with quite a num*er
of other su*$locations
;randfather was Chief of the Waterwor!s of 7lympton
(very day he used to go in pony and trap all the way up
the hill until a mile or so uphill he came to an enclosed
mound with a little hut on it, the reservoir was covered in
;randfather used to go up there with a four foot stic!, one
end of which was saucer shaped and the other rounded
,e used to wal! a*out with his ear to the saucer shaped
end, the other end he put in contact with the ground and
he could hear the water rushing through the pipes *elow to
feed the taps of 7lympton, Bnderwood, Cole*roo!, and
other districts
;randfather also had quite a thriving *usiness, employ$
ing several men and a lot of apprentices ,e taught them
plum*ing9hence the scurrilous tales which later were to
arise9tinsmithing, and general engineering In those days,
right at the start of the century, people did not rush to
supermar!ets to o*tain !ettles, saucepans, frying pans,
and all the rest of it8 these things were made *y hand, and
;randfatherIs men made them
;randfather lived at 6ayoralty ,ouse in 7lympton St
6aurice, the house really had *een the house of the
6ayor and it was right opposite the ;uildhall and the
7olice Station
6ayoralty ,ouse consisted of four to five acres of land
divided into three sections The first section a*utted from
the four story house and formed a walled garden of pro*$
a*ly 1ust under an acre In that garden near the house
there was a grotto *uilt of very large pe**les and with
windows of various coloured glasses #utside that there
was a small lawn with flowers and plants all along the
edges In the middle there was a large fish pond nicely
tiled and with a fountain and with waterwheels at the
ends A 1et of water could *e turned on and the water$
heels would spin around Then there was a little *o*

?JA
which went down into the water, and at certain times of
the day fish would pull on that *o* and a *ell would ring
and then they would *e fed
%acing the fish pond there were two large wall aviaries,
very carefully maintained and thoroughly cleaned In these
there were two dead trees fi.ed against the wall and it
provided an ideal spot for the very tame *irds The *irds
were so tame that when ;randfather went into the aviaries,
*y opening the doors of course, none of the *irds flew
out
%urther down to that first part of the garden there was a
greenhouse, one of ;randfatherIs 1oys And *eyond that a
small orchard
#utside that walled garden there was a private roadway
which left the main street and went down under part of
6ayoralty ,ouse9which went as a *ridge across that
roadway and at the *ottom there were what had *een
malthouses in days gone *y The malthouses were not
used when I !new them *ecause it was much cheaper,
apparently, to ship malt in to 7lympton from a few hun$
dred miles away
"y the malthouse there was the %ire Station ;rand$
father owned the %ire "rigade and he had horses which
drew the fire engines to the scene of the fire ,e did all this
as a pu*lic service, *ut if *usinesses or *ig households
were saved from *urning down then ;randfather, of
course, charged them a reasona*le fee "ut for poor peo$
ple he made no charge The fire engines were very well
maintained and they were manned *y volunteers or *y his
own staff
,ere, too, there were the yards where much of his out$
door equipment was !ept, wagons and things li!e that
,ere, too, he had two peacoc!s which were his pride and
1oy and which always came to him when he made certain
noises
#ne went through that yard and through a gate into a
garden which was, I suppose, a*out two and a half or
three acres in e.tent ,ere he grew vegeta*les, fruit trees,
and the whole garden was e.tremely well cared for

?JG
"eneath the house9*eneath that four story house9
there were wor!shops without any windows *ut seem$
ingly well ventilated ,ere master craftsmen, tinsmiths,
coppersmiths, and apprentices wor!ed, and they had to
wor! quite hard too
;randfather had two sons as well as a daughter "oth
sons were thrust willy$nilly into apprenticeship They had
to learn general engineering, tinsmithing, coppersmithing
9and the u*iquitous plum*ing, and they had to stay at
their studies until they could pass all the tests and get a
certificate of registration
6y %ather was quite a good engineer *ut after a time he
*ro!e away from ;randfather saying that ;randfatherIs
control was too strict, too domineering 6y %ather went
away to a different house still in St 6aurice *ut it was
called "ric! ,ouse *ecause it was the only red *ric!
house in that street %ather married and for a time lived in
St 6aurice %irst a son was *orn who shortly died, and
then a daughter was *orn, and quite a time after I was
*orn, and I have always *elieved that I was the unwanted
accident, certainly I was never favoured in any way, I was
never popular, never permitted to have friends (verything
I did was automatically wrong, everything my sister did
was automatically right It ma!es one rather disgruntled
after a time to always *e the unwanted one and to see the
favourite get everything, to see her with her friends and
her parties and all the rest of it (ven second *est was con$
sidered to *e too good for me
6other and %ather moved to 'idgeway in the 7arish of
St 6ary There they started a *usiness9no, not plum*ing
9an engineering *usiness which included electricity which
was only then coming into popular use 6y %ather was a
very nice man indeed so far as he could afford to *e a very
nice man ,e was a Scorpio, and my 6other was a 5irgo
She had come from an e.tremely good family in another
part of Devonshire The family had had a lot of money
previously and a lot of land, *ut her father and a neigh$
*our fell to quarreling over a right$of$way, and9well9
eventually they went to law A verdict was given and was

?J@
appealed, and so it went on until they had hardly any
money left, certainly they had no money to continue litiga$
tion, and so the land which had *een the cause of all the
trou*le was sold
6other and %ather did not get on 6other was too
domineering, she was !nown locally as Lthe -ady+ *e$
cause of her high am*itions She had *een made very
*itter *y the loss of the family fortunes Bnfortunately she
seemed to ta!e her *itterness out on her hus*and and on
me
;randfather had a *rother who was a most talented
artist, he was a 'oyal Academician and had made a very
satisfactory name for himself I remem*er one painting of
his in particular always enthralled me It was a picture of
the #ld "ar*ican, 7lymouth8 the "ar*ican as it was when
the 6ayflower sailed for the BSA This was a wonderful
picture, it glowed with living colour, it was mellow, and
one could loo! at it and actually soon find that one was
)there+ Bncle 'ichard, as we called him, always said that
that picture would go to one of us children It did, to my
sister and it is one thing which I really, really coveted, it
was the thing that I wanted a*ove all else e.cept a few
years later when I had *een promised a model train 9a
*lue train9and to my 1uvenile eyes it was the most won$
derful train in the whole world, I had *een solemnly prom$
ised it, and then on the day I was to have it I was told )#h
no you canIt have it /our sister wants a piano /our
%ather and I are going to get it now+ /es, I really wanted
that train as I wanted the picture
Things li!e that were always happening 6y sister had a
wonderful *icycle, I was left to wal! "ut that is not the
purpose of this writing, I am having to tell all this *ecause,
I am told, it was part of the agreement when I consented
to have my *ody ta!en over I was sic! of the damned
*ody anyhow It was all wrong
I was *orn sic!ly, and my *irth made my mother very
ill She seemed to get some sort of poisoning when I was
*orn, and for some strange reason it was held against me
1ust as if I had poisoned her There was nothing I could

?JH
do a*out it, I was too young to !now anything a*out it
Anyway she was very ill, so was I and I was ill all my life
on (arth I was sic!ly We had a doctor, Dr Duncan
Stamp, he was one of the real doctors, always studying,
always getting different letters after his name ,e hadnIt
much sympathy, *ut he had plenty of !nowledge ,e
didnIt li!e me and I didnIt li!e him "ut I remem*er one
e.traordinary thing8 one day I was9well, they said I was
dying This Dr Stamp came along to my *ed and he
seemed to hang something up from a light fi.ture and run
tu*es down to me To this day I donIt !now what he did
*ut I made a recovery, and I always thought of him after
as the miracle wor!er
I remem*er in the ;reat War, that is the %irst ;reat
War 6y parents and I and my sister were on &orth 'oad
Station, 7lymouth We had had to visit some*ody in an
area called 7enny$Come$Ouic! It was late at night and
suddenly we heard gunfire and searchlight *eams flic!ered
across the s!y, and in the *eam of searchlight I saw my
first Qeppelin It flew over 7lymouth and then went out to
sea again, *ut that is another incident I have never forgot$
ten, how that ship loo!ed in the crossed *eams of light
7lympton is an old old place full of history There is the
great church of St 6aryIs at the foot of Church ,ill As
one went down the hill the church spire seemed to *e still
higher than the top of the hill #ne went down and went
along *y the churchyard, and then turned left If one
passed the church one came to the priory and various old
religious houses, the use of which had *een discontinued
*y the clergy *ecause, apparently, some division of power
had ta!en place and the head offices of the church had
*een removed to "uc!fast
"ehind the priory there was a pleasant stream in which
there were reeds and osiers ,ere people used to get reeds
and rushes for the ma!ing of *as!ets and other containers
,ere, too, a hundred or so years *efore, they used to
ma!e mead which was the drin! of the time
The church was a most imposing place, of grey stone
with a great tower with four little pillars at each corner of

?J:
the tower The *ells were wonderful when properly played
and campanologists used to come from all over Devon to
ring the changes, as they called them, and the 7lympton
*ell ringers used to go around in their turn showing their
own s!ill
St 6aurice church was not so grand as that of St
6ary It was smaller and was o*viously a satellite church
In those days St 6aurice and St 6aryIs were separate
communities with hardly any social movement *etween
them Cole*roo! and Bnderwood had no churches, they
had instead to go to St 6aurice or St 6ary
7lympton had its share of great houses, *ut most of
them had *een *adly damaged *y #liver Cromwell and his
men 6any of them had *een demolished *y the order of
>udge >effreys, *ut 7lympton Castle, that was a place that
fascinated me There was a great mound with the rem$
nants of sturdy stone walls on it, and the walls were so
thic!, and some of us found that there was a tunnel going
through the walls lengthwise Some of the more hardy
*oys said they had *een in to a strange cham*er *elow the
walls in which there were supposed to *e s!eletons, *ut I
never got to *e that venturesome, I 1ust accepted their
word 7lympton Castle stood on an amphitheater, a *ig
round space with a raised *an! around it The raised *an!
was a very nice place as a promenade, *ut the sun!en
piece in$*etween9as if in the centre of a saucer9was
much used *y circuses and other forms of pu*lic enter$
tainment
I was sent to my first school to a place called9$of all
unli!ely names9Co$op %ields It was so named *ecause
originally it was property owned *y the 7lympton Co$
operative Wholesale Society The land had *een sold to
raise funds for other development and a few houses had
*een *uilt there, then a few more, and a few more, so that
in the end it *ecame a separate community, almost a small
village on its own And here I went to school It was9
well, I thin! it would *e called a Dames School It was
6iss ;illings and her sister Together they ran what pur$
ported to *e a school, *ut really it was more to !eep

?FD

unruly children from plaguing their unwilling parents The
wal! from 'idgeway right out to 6iss ;illings school was
a terri*le ordeal for me in my sic!ly condition, *ut there
was nothing I could do a*out it, I 1ust had to go After a
time, though, I was considered to *e too *ig to go to that
school any longer so I was transferred to a 7reparatory
School It was called 6r "eardIs school 6r "eard was a
nice old man, a really clever old man, *ut he could not
impose discipline
,e had retired from school life and then, getting *ored
with retirement, he had opened his own school, and the
only premises he could find was a *ig room attached to the
;eorge ,otel The ;eorge ,otel was at the top of ;eorge
,ill and was quite well !nown #ne entered under an
archway and the ground was paved, and then to get to 6r
"eardIs school one had to go all the way through the
courtyard, past all the former sta*les and coach houses
At the far side of the yard there were wooden steps going
up to a room which loo!ed as if it had *een an assem*ly
hall That was the first school where I started to learn
anything, and I did not learn much, *ut that was my fault
not the fault of old "eard Actually, he was far too gentle
to *e a schoolmaster, people too! advantage of him
After a time the 7lympton ;rammar school reopened
in a fresh location 7lympton ;rammar School was one of
the most famous ;rammar Schools of (ngland, many
famous people had *een there including >oshua 'eynolds
In the old ;rammar School in St 6aurice his name and
the names of many other very famous people were carved
into the des!s and into the woodwor!, *ut that school
*uilding had had to *e closed down *ecause the ravages of
time had attac!ed the *uilding and the upper floors were
considered to *e unsafe
After a long search a very large house was secured
which was in the shadow of 7lympton Castle, in the
shadow, actually, of that round part where the circuses
use to come
5ast sums were paid for its conversion, and I was one
of the first pupils to *e enrolled in that school I didnIt li!e

?F?
it a *it, I hated the place Some of the teachers had *een
demo*ili=ed from the forces and instead of treating chil$
dren as children they treated children as *loody$minded
troops #ne teacher in particular had a most vicious ha*it
of *rea!ing stic!s of chal! in half and throwing each half
with all his might at some offender, and although you
might thin! that chal! couldnIt do much damage I have
seen a *oyIs face lacerated *y the impact &owadays, I
suppose the teacher would have gone to prison for *odily
assault, *ut at least it !ept us in order
%or recreation we had to go to the playing fields of the
old ;rammar School which gave us a wal! of a*out a
mile, a mile there, then all the e.ercise, etcetera, a mile
*ac!
(ventually time came to leave school I hadnIt done
anything too good *ut, then, I hadnIt done anything too
*ad either In addition to schoolwor! I had to ta!e some
correspondence courses, and I got a few little *its of paper
saying I was qualified in this, that, or something else "ut
when the time came to leave school my parents, without
any such frivolities as as!ing me what I would li!e to *e,
apprenticed me to a motor engineering firm in 7lymouth
So almost to the day on which I left school I was sent to
this firm in #ld Town Street, 7lymouth They sold a few
cars, etcetera, *ut they were more concerned with motor$
cycles, in fact they were the South Devon agents for Doug$
las motorcycles Again, it was an unsympathetic place
*ecause all that mattered was wor! I used to leave
7lympton early in the morning and travel *y *us to
7lymouth, five and a half miles away "y the time lunch
time came I was famished, so whatever the weather I used
to ta!e my sandwiches9there was nothing to drin! e.cept
water9and went to a little par! at the *ac! of St An$
drewIs church, 7lymouth There I used to sit in the par!
and get my sandwiches down as fast as I could, otherwise
I should have *een late
It was very very hard wor! indeed *ecause sometime
we apprentices were sent out as far away as Crown ,ill to
fetch a heavy motorcycle Well, we went to Crown ,ill or

?FE

other places *y *us9only one of us to one place, of
course9and then we were faced with the pro*lem of get$
ting the *lasted *i!es *ac! We couldnIt ride them *ecause
they were faulty, so the only ride we got was going down$
hill
I remem*er one time I had to go to Crown ,ill to fetch
a very *ig ,arley Davidson motorcycle The owner had
telephoned in and said the *i!e could *e pic!ed up right
outside, so I went there, got off the *us, saw this motor
*i!e, pushed it off its stand and pushed it away I had
done a*out three miles when a police car pulled up right in
front of me Two policemen got out and I thought they
were going to !ill me! #ne gra**ed me *y the nec!, the
other gra**ed my arms *ehind me, and all so suddenly
was propped up *y the side of the road and I was *undled
into the *ac! of the police car and whis!ed off to Crown
,ill 7olice Station ,ere a shouting 7olice sergeant threat$
ened me with all manner of terri*le deaths unless I told
them who were my fellow gangsters
&ow, I wasnIt very old at this time and I 1ust didnIt
!now what he was tal!ing a*out, so he gave me a few
cuffs a*out the ears and then put me in a cell ,e wouldnIt
listen to my e.planation that I had come to fetch a motor$
cle as instructed
A*out eight hours later one of the men from the firm
came and identified me, and confirmed that I had *een
quite legitimately collecting a faulty motor *i!e The po$
lice sergeant gave me a cuff across the face and told me
not to get in trou*le again and not to *other them So I
donIt li!e policemen, I have had trou*le with police all
through my life, and I would swear thisK &ever have I
done anything which warrants police persecution (ach
time it has 1ust *een police slovenliness, such as that time
when they wouldnIt let me e.plain what had happened
The ne.t day, though, the owner of the *i!e came into
the firm and laughed li!e a maniac ,e was quite unsym$
etic, he didnIt seem to thin! what a shoc! it was to *e
hauled off and ta!en to a police cell

?FJ
#ne day I could hardly get out of *ed, I felt ill, I felt so
ill I 1ust wanted to die It was no good, my 6other insisted
on getting me out of *ed So eventually I had to go without
any *rea!fast, the day was wet and the day was cold She
went with me to the *us stop and shoved me on the old
Devon 6otor Transport *us so roughly that I fell to my
!nees
I got to wor!, *ut after a*out two hours there I fainted
and some*ody said I ought to *e ta!en home, *ut the man
in charge said they didnIt have time to run around after
apprentices in trou*le, so I was !ept there until the end of
the day, no *rea!fast, no lunch, nothing
At the end of the wor!ing day I made my way most
di==ily along the street toward the *us stop in front of St
AndrewIs church %ortunately there was a *us waiting
and I collapsed into a corner seat When I got home I 1ust
had enough strength to totter into *ed There wasnIt much
interest in any welfare, no*ody as!ed how I was feelings,
no*ody as!ed why I couldnIt eat my dinner, I 1ust went off
to *ed
I had a terri*le night, I felt I was on fire and I was wet
through with perspiration In the morning my 6other
came along and awa!ened me quite roughly9for I had
fallen into an e.hausted sleep9and even she could see
that I wasnIt well (ventually she phoned Dr Stamp ,alf
a day later he came ,e too! one loo! at me and said,
),ospital!+ So the am*ulance came9in those days the
am*ulance was run *y the local underta!er9and I was
ta!en off to the South Demon and (ast Cornwall ,ospital
I had very *ad lung trou*le
I stayed in that hospital for a*out eleven wee!s, and
then there was great discussion as to whether I should *e
sent to a Sanatorium or not *ecause IId got T"
%ather and 6other were opposed to it *ecause, they
said, they wouldnIt have time to come and visit me if I
was sent to a Sanatorium a few miles away So I stayed at
home and I didnIt get much *etter (very so often I had to
go *ac! to hospital Then my sight went wrong and I was
ta!en to the 'oyal (ye Infirmary, 6utley 7lain, which

?FF
wasnIt so far from the South Devon and (ast Cornwall
,ospital This was quite a pleasant hospital, if one can say
anything is pleasant when one is *lind "ut eventually I
was released from the hospital with greatly impaired sight
and I went home again
"y now wireless was well !nown9it used to *e wireless
*efore radio 6y %ather had a crystal set and I thought it
was the most marvelous thing I had ever seen in my life
%ather studied a lot a*out radio and he made vast radio
sets with many valves to them, and then he set up in
*usiness *uilding radio sets for people and doing electrical
wor! for people
At this time it was decided I should go away for a
change, and so, as sic! as I was, I was put on an old
*icycle and sent with a wor!man to -ydford where I had
an aunt I often wished that this aunt had *een my mother
She was a very good woman indeed, and I loved her as I
certainly did not love my 6other She loo!ed after me,
she really treated me as if I were one of her own children,
*ut, as she said, its not much to have a sic! child ride
twenty$five miles when he can hardly draw *reath "ut
eventually I had to return home and the 1ourney was much
easier this time -ydford is up in the Devonshire moors,
up in Dartmoor *eyond Tavistoc!, not too far from
#!ehampton, and the air was pure there and the food
good
"ac! at home in 7lympton I started studying other
correspondence courses, and then my 6other told me I
ought to wor! So my %ather had a lot of radio sets and
electrical stuff so I had to travel a*out selling the things to
small dealers I went all along (l*urton, 6od*ury,
#!ehampton, and other places li!e that selling accumu$
lators, radio parts, and electrical stuff "ut after a time the
very very harried life proved to *e too much for me and
my health *ro!e down I was driving a car at that time
and I went *lind &ow, it is a thoroughly unpleasant thing
to lose oneIs sight completely and utterly when driving
%ortunately I was a*le to stop the car without any damage
and I 1ust stayed where I was until some*ody came to see

?FA
what was happening and why I was *loc!ing traffic %or a
time I couldnIt convince people that I was ill and that I
couldnIt see, *ut eventually the police were called and they
had me ta!en *y am*ulance to hospital 6y parents were
informed and their first thought was a*out the car When
the car was driven home it was found that all the stuff I
had had in it was stolen, radio sets, *atteries, test equip$
ment, everything So I was not popular "ut a spell in
hospital put me right for a time, and then I went home
again
I studied some more and eventually it was decided that
I should try to get training as a radio operator So I went
to Southampton and outside Southampton there was a
special school which trained one to *e radio operator
a*oard aircraft I stayed there for some time, and passed
my e.aminations and got a license as a first$class wireless
operator I had to go to Croydon to ta!e the e.amination,
and I was successful At the same time I learned to fiy
aircraft and managed to get a license at that as well "ut9
I could not pass the medical e.amination for a com$
mercial license and so I was grounded *efore my career
started
"ac! at home I was *lamed quite a lot for having *ad
health and for wasting money in ta!ing these courses when
my health was so poor that I had *een re1ected I felt a *it
irritated *y that *ecause I was not to *lame for my *ad
health, I didnIt want to *e ill "ut there was a *ig family
conference and my parents decided something would have
to *e done, I was 1ust wasting my life
At that identical moment the local sanitary inspector
who was very friendly with my parents said there was a
great opening for smo!e inspectors, particularly in the *ig
cities, people were getting worried a*out the ecology and
there was too much smo!e pollution from factories and
industrial concerns so a new category of smo!e inspectors
had *een started There were, of course, sanitary inspec$
tors and sanitary inspectors who were meat inspectors, *ut
now there was a new category9smo!e inspectors The
chief sanitary inspector said it would *e 1ust the thing for

?FG
me, it was a good 1o*, well paid, and I would have to ta!e
a special course, naturally So a new correspondence
course had 1ust *een *rought out for smo!e inspectors I
studied it at home and passed very quic!ly, in three
months actually, and then I was told I would have to go to
-ondon to study with the 'oyal Sanitary Institute in
"uc!ingham 7alace 'oad So not too happily my parents
advanced the money and I went to -ondon (very day I
attended classes at the 'oyal Sanitary Institute, and often
we went out on field trips going to factories, power sta$
tions, and all manner of queer places At last, after three
months, we had to go to an immense e.amination hall
where there seemed to *e thousands of people milling
around We were all in little groups8 one who was going to
ta!e a particular e.amination would *e isolated from
others ta!ing the same type of e.amination Anyway, I
passed the e.amination and got a certificate as a smo!e
inspector
I returned to 7lympton *earing my certificate and thin!$
ing that now everything would *e plain sailing "ut it was
not to *e I applied for a 1o* in "irmingham, and I went to
"irmingham9to -o=elles9for interview There I was
told that I couldnIt get the 1o* *ecause I was not a resident
of that county
"ac! to 7lympton I went and tried for a 1o* in
7lymouth "ut the 7lymouth city council would not em$
ploy me for much the same reason e.cept I was in the
right county, *ut not in the right city So it went on, and
after a few years li!e this in which I did anything that I
could do9anything to *ring in enough money to !eep
*ody and soul together and to !eep me in some sort of
clothing9my %ather died ,e had *een in very poor
health for years 6ost of the time he had *een in *ed, and
a*out a year *efore he died his *usiness had *een sold off
and the shop had *een made into a doctorIs surgery The
glass windows were painted green and the shop itself was
the surgery with our living part *eing used as the consult$
ing room and dispensary 6y 6other and I lived in what
had *een our wor!rooms

?F@
"ut after %atherIs death the doctor$com*ine decided to
move to a fresh area and so we would have no income at
all 6y health was not at all good, so my 6other went to
her daughter, my sister, and I had *een a pri=e student of
a correspondence college so I got a 1o* with a surgical
appliance firm in 7erivale, 6iddlese. I was appointed
first as wor!s manager, *ut when the owner of the firm
found that I could write good advertising copy then he
made me advertising manager as well
I had to ta!e courses in surgical fitting, and after that I
*ecame a surgical fitter consultant
I was considered so good at this wor! that I was moved
from 7erivale to the heart of -ondon, and I was the chief
fitter in the -ondon offices
>ust *efore I left wor! at the -ondon offices war was
declared *etween (ngland and ;ermany (verything was
*lac!ed out and I found the 1ourney to -ondon from 7eri$
vale and *ac! every day to *e a*solutely e.hausting, it
tried my strength to the utmost, and during this time I got
married Well, I do not propose to say anything a*out this
*ecause I understand that the press on (arth have already
said too much, nearly all of it untrue I have *een as!ed to
tal! a*out my life, so I will confine myself strictly to my
life
We could not continue to live in 7erivale *ecause condi$
tions in traveling were too *ad, so we managed to find an
apartment in the 2nights*ridge area of -ondon It was a
*lessing to *e a*le to go on the tu*e every day to my
office
The war was hotting up, things were *ecoming difficult,
there was heavy rationing and food shortages "om*s
were dropping heavily on -ondon 6uch of my time was
spent on fire watch, I had to clim* rusty iron ladders going
to the top of *uildings and watch out for approaching
;erman *om*ers, and if I saw them in time I had to give
warning to the wor! people *elow
#ne day I was riding through ,yde 7ar! on my *icycle
going to wor! and I saw *om*ers approaching #ne
dropped *om*s which seemed as if they were going to

?FH
come uncomforta*ly close to me, so I dropped my *icycle
and ran for some trees The *om*s fell, they missed the
7ar! and landed in "uc!ingham 7alace where they did a
fair amount of damage
(verywhere, it seemed, *om*s were dropping #ne day
I was having to go out on a special surgical fitting case and
was approaching Charing Cross Station when suddenly
a great *om* dropped out of the clouds, went into the
station and right through the station to the Bnderground
which was crowded with people I can see even now the
cloud of dust and scattered pieces of9what09 that were
*lown out of the hole in the station roof
#ne night there was a terrific air raid and the place
where my wife and I lived was *om*ed We had to get out
in the night 1ust as we were %or a long time we wandered
a*out in the dar!ness, other people were wandering a*out
as well, everything was chaotic "om*s were dropping and
the s!y was lurid with the flames of the *urning (ast (nd
We could see St 7aulIs Cathedral outlined in flame and
great clouds of smo!e went up (very so often we would
hear the rat$tat$tat of machine$gun fire, and occasionally
spent cartridges would fall down around us (verywhere
there was shrapnel falling and we wore our steel helmets
cause the smo!ing fragments hurtling down would have
gone through an unprotected *ody
At last the dawn came and I phoned my employer to
say that I had *een *om*ed out ,e said, )&ever mind
a*out that, you must come to wor! #ther people are
*om*ed out too+ So, dirty and hungry, I got on a train and
went to my office At the approach of our street there I
found that it was cordoned off I tried to go past the
*arrier *ut a most officious policeman came up and ac$
cused me of looting9tempers were quite rough at that
time >ust at that moment my *oss stepped out of a car
and came up to me ,e showed his identification papers to
the policeman and together we crossed the *arrier and
went to our ofiice
Water was rushing out of everywhere The place had
*een hit *y a *om* and the water supply had *een *ro!en

?F:
to shards %rom the roof, many floors a*ove, water was
cascading over the stoc! The *asement was nec!$deep in
water and everywhere there was glass, everywhere there
were stone fragments, and we turned and found a *om*
casing lodged in a wall
It was a state of chaos There was not much worth
saving We managed to get out some records and 1ust a
few pieces of equipment and we all set to and tried to
clean up the place a *it, *ut it was hopeless9there was no
chance of getting the place wor!ing again (ventually my
employer said he was going to move to another part of the
country, and he invited me to accompany him I could not
do so *ecause I hadnIt the money It was very difficult
indeed to *uy things, and to have to set up a fresh home in
some remote part of the country was an e.pense which I
1ust could not contemplate So9*ecause I was una*le to
go I was out of a 1o*, unemployed in (ngland in wartime
I went to various la*our e.changes trying to get any
employment I tried to *ecome a wartime policeman, *ut I
could not pass the medical e.amination Conditions were
*ecoming desperate8 one cannot live on air, and as a last
resort I went to the offices of the correspondence school
where I had ta!en so many courses
It 1ust so happened that they wanted a man, some of
their own men had *een called up, and I had9so I was
told9an envia*le record, and so I was told that I could *e
given a 1o* in the advisory department The pay would *e
five pounds a wee!, and I would have to live at Wey*ridge
in Surrey &o, they said, they couldnIt advance anything to
help me get there I would have to go there first for inter$
view with one of the directors So I made inquiries and
found that the cheapest way was *y ;reen -ine "us, so on
the appointed day I went to Wey*ridge *ut there was a
terrific wait, the director had not come in I was told, )#h,
he never comes in the time he says, he might not *e in
until four oIcloc! /ou+ll 1ust have to wait+ Well, eventu$
ally the director did come in, he saw me and he was quite
affa*le, and he offered me the 1o* at five pounds a wee!
,e told me there was an unoccupied fiat over the garage

?AD
and I could have this *y paying what was really quite a
high rent, *ut I was in a hurry to get employment so I
agreed to his terms I returned to -ondon and we got our
poor things, such as they were, to Wey*ridge, up the worn
old wooden steps to the flat a*ove the garages The ne.t
day I started my wor! as a correspondence cler!, which is
what it really was, to a correspondence school
There are such a lot of high falutin terms8 we now have
gar*age collectors called sanitation e.perts when all they
are is gar*age collectors Some of the correspondence
cler!s cal? themselves advisory consultants or careers
consultants, *ut still all we did was correspondence cler!sI
duties
It seems to *e a crime to *e of a certain category I
have always *een told that my %ather was a plum*er8
actually, he wasnIt, *ut what if he had *een0 Certainly he
served an apprenticeship as a plum*er *ut, li!e me, he had
no choice I served an apprenticeship as a motor engineer
And anyway, how a*out the famous 6r Crapper, the
gentleman who invented water closets as they are today0
They have not *een improved since the day of old Crap$
per Crapper, if you remem*er, was a plum*er, a 1olly
good one, too, and his invention of the flush tan! and the
flush toilet endeared him to 2ing (dward who treated 6r
Crapper as a personal friend So, you see, a plum*er can
*e a friend of royalty 1ust as can a grocer8 Thomas -ipton
was alleged to *e a grocer Certainly he was, he had a *ig
grocery firm, and he was a friend of 2ing ;eorge 5
Surely it doesnIt matter what a personIs father was, why is
it such a disgrace to have a parent who was a tradesman0
&owadays daughters of royalty are married to tradesmen,
arenIt they0 "ut I am always amused *ecause >esus, it is
said, was the son of a carpenter ,ow was that a disgrace0
Well, all this is ta!ing me a long way from my story,
*ut I will 1ust say here and now that I would rather *e the
son of a plum*er than the son of those poor sic! people
who call themselves pressmen To me there is no sic!er
1o* than that of pressman A plum*er clears up the messes
of people A pressman ma!es messes of people

?A?
Since I have *een over here I have found various things
of interest, *ut one thing in particular which intrigues me
is this8 I *ear quite an honoured name not merely through
)Bncle 'ichard+ *ut through others who went *efore him
one who was a colleague of Sir >oshua 'eynolds, and
another was the -ord -ieutenant, or whatever they cal?
him, of the Tower of -ondon And it was at the time when
an attempt was made to steal the Crown >ewels, an at$
tempt which was thwarted
There is much to see over here, much to learn, and I am
told I have a lot yet to learn *ecause, they say, I have not
learned humility, not yet learned how to get on with peo$
ple Well, I am doing my *est in dictating all this stuff
which I will swear upon a stac! of "i*les is the truth and
nothing *ut the truth




C,A7T(' &I&(


-ife at Wey*ridge was not happy I *ecame an air raid
warden #ne other warden *ecame very 1ealous and did
everything he could to cause me harm I offered to resign
*ut it was not wanted for me to resign
#ne night there was an air raid while I was at Whey$
*ridge and after the air raid a policeman came to the door,
It seemed that a small light9hardly large enough for any
one to notice from a hundred feet away9was showing
There was a faulty switch in the flat, on the landing, it was
one of those old *rass switches with a great !no*, and I
suppose the vi*ration caused *y the *anging and all that,
had sha!en it 1ust to the )on+ position The policeman
could see for himself that if a fly snee=ed the light would
come on *ecause the spring in the tum*ler was defective
"ut, no, the light was showing, thatIs all there was to it So
there was a Court appearance and a fine And that is a
thing I have resented ever since *ecause it was so utterly

?AE
unnecessary, and )the enemy+ warden was the one who
had reported it After that I resigned from the A'7
*elieving that if people could not wor! together then it
was *etter to *rea! up )the party+
At Wey*ridge I was supposed to do everything, answer
letters, persuade people to ta!e correspondence courses,
maintain the *ossIs cars9and he was always changing the
darn things9act as unpaid messenger *oy and do anything
which came to hand All for five pounds a wee!!
7eople were getting called$up, conditions were *ecom$
ing more difficult, food was getting shorter and shorter,
and from the aircraft factory at "roo!lands there were
always strange noises #ne day a Wellington was *eing
flight$tested and it crashed 1ust *eside the village of Wey$
*ridge The pilot saved the village at the cost of his own
life *ecause he crashed that plane upon the electrified rail$
way line The plane was li!e a toy that had *een snapped
into a thousand pieces, it was scattered all over the place,
*ut the people of Wey*ridge were saved *ecause of the
self$sacrifice of the pilot
>ust at this time I received my call$up papers I had to
go *efore a "oard of 6edical (.aminers as a formality
*efore entering one of the Services
#n the appointed day I went to the great hall where
there were crowds of other men waiting to *e e.amined I
said to an attendant there, )IIve had T", you !now+ ,e
loo!ed at me and said, )/ou loo! a *it of a wrec!, I must
say lad Sit over there+ So I sat where directed, and I sat,
and I sat (ventually when nearly everyone else in the
place had *een e.amined, the panel of doctors turned to
me )WhatIs this0+ said one, )/ou say youIve got T" Do
you !now what T" is0+ )I certainly do, sir,+ I said )IIve
had it+ ,e as!ed me a lot of questions and then grumphed
and grumphed Then he had a word with his associates
At last he turned *ac! to me as if he was ma!ing the
greatest decision in the world
)I am sending you to 2ingston ,ospital,+ he said
)they will e.amine you there, they will soon find out if
youIve got T" or not, and if you havenIt9;od help

?AJ
you!+ ,e carefully filled out a form, sealed it, put it in
another envelope and sealed that, and then flung it at me
I pic!ed it off the floor and made my way home
&e.t day I told my employer that I had to go to hos$
pital for e.amination ,e appeared a*solutely *ored, I got
the impression that he thought, )#h why does the fellow
waste my time, why doesnIt he 1oin up and get out of my
sight+ ,owever, I got through my wor! that day, and the
day after, as directed, I too! the *us to 2ingston$on$
Thames I made my way to a hospital there I had all sorts
of tests and then I was M$rayed After the M$ray I was
shoved in a drying cup*oard where a lot of wet M$rays
were hung up to dry out After half an hour a woman
came and said, )#!ay, you can go home!+ That was all,
nothing more was said, so I 1ust went home
&e.t there came a summons to go to the T" Clinic at
Wey*ridge #f course, this was a*out three or four wee!s
later, *ut the summons came and off I went to the T"
Clinic li!e a good little *oy "y now I was heartily sic! of
the whole affair At the T" Clinic I was seen *y a most
wonderful doctor who was indeed all that a doctor should
*e ,e had my M$rays there, and he agreed with me that it
was utterly stupid that I should *e shunted from one de$
partment to another ,e said it was perfectly o*vious that
I had *ad lung scars through T", and, he said if I got in
the Army, I would *e a lia*ility, not an asset Surely (ng$
land hadn+ t come to a state when they are called upon to
enlist those who are o*viously ill )I shall send a report in
to say that you are unfitted for service of any !ind,+ he
said
Time went *y, and at last I received a card in the post
telling me that I would not *e required for military service
*ecause I was classed as ;rade %our9the lowest grade
there was
I too! the card to my employer and showed it to him
and he seemed to thin! that9well, heId got some*ody
to carry on with the wor! if all the others were called up
There was a frantic scram*le in those days of people trying
to get deferment, every*ody was trying to get deferment

?AF

The man who was manager under the employer left to get
another 1o* and another man was appointed as manager
*ut he and I didnIt get on at all, we 1ust did not at
all ,e was of a type that I thoroughly disli!ed and I
seemed to *e of a type that he thoroughly disli!ed ,ow$
ever, I did the *est I could, *ut things were *ecoming
more and more difficult *ecause there was more and more
wor! without any increase in pay It was o*vious that
someone was rushing around to the employer telling tales,
etcetera, not necessarily true tales either
#ne day after wor! I was 1ust meandering through the
garden We had a garden of three and a half acres and I
was passing through a little wooded copse It was evening
and growing dus! Somehow I tripped over an e.posed
root and went down with a horri*le thon! -iterally it
1er!ed me out of myself!
I stood upright, *ut then9;od *less my soul! I found
that )I+ wasnIt )me+ *ecause I was standing upright and
my *ody was lying flat on its face I loo!ed a*out in utter
ama=ement, and I saw some strange loo!ing people
around me 6on!s, I thought, what the devil are mon!s
doing here0 I loo!ed at them, and I loo!ed at9well, I
suppose it was my *ody on the ground "ut then I got a
voice or something in my head %irst I had the impression
that it was some strange foreign lingo, *ut as I thought
a*out it I discovered that I could understand what was
*eing said
)/oung man,+ the voice said in my head, )you are
thin!ing of an evil matter, you are thin!ing of doing away
with your life That is a very *ad thing indeed Suicide is
wrong, no matter the cause, no matter the imagined rea$
son or e.cuse, suicide is always wrong +
All right for you,+ I thought, )you havenIt any trou$
*les li!e I have ,ere I am in this9well, I had an awful
1o* not to put in words the e.act description of the place
9and I can t get a rise, and my *oss seems to have ta!en
a disli!e to me, why should I stay here0 There are plenty
of trees a*out and a nice rope to throw over+
"ut I am not saying too much a*out this *ecause a

?AA
thought was put in my mind saying that if I wanted to I
could get release from what I considered to *e the tortures
of (arth If I wanted to, if I was really serious, I could do
something for man!ind *y ma!ing my *ody availa*le to
some ghost or spirit which wanted to hop in almost *efore
I had hopped out It seemed a lot of ru**ish to me, *ut I
thought I would give it a whirl and let them tal! on %irst,
they said, as a sign of genuine interest, I had to change my
name They told me a strange name they wanted me to
adopt, *ut9well, I told my wife only that I was going to
change my name, she thought I was a *it mad or some$
thing and let it go at that, and so I did change my name
quite legally
Then my teeth started giving trou*le I had a horri*le
time At last I couldnIt stic! it any longer and I went to a
local dentist ,e made an attempt to e.tract the tooth *ut
it wouldnIt come ,e made a hole in the thing so he could
use an elevator9not the type people use to travel to dif$
ferent floors, *ut the type which is meant to elevate a
tooth *y leverage This dentist got on the phone to some
specialist in -ondon, and I had to go to a nursing home in
a hurry
6y wife told my employer that I had to go to a nursing
home, and she was met with the statement, )Well, I have
to wor! when I have toothache!+ And that was all the
sympathy we got So I went to this nursing home, at my
own e.pense, of course, there was no such thing as health
schemes li!e you seem to have now, and I had this little
operation which was not so easy after all The dentist was
good, the anesthetist was even *etter I stayed in the
nursing home a wee! and then returned to Wey*ridge
There were quite a num*er of unpleasant little inci$
dents, needlings and all that sort of thing, and un1ust
accusations There is no point in going into all the details,
ra!ing up muc!, *ecause, after all, I am not a pressman
"ut there were false accusations, so my wife and I tal!ed
it over and we decided that we couldnIt stic! it any longer,
so I handed in my notice %rom that moment I might have
*een a leper, or I might have had an even worse form of8

?AG
plague, *ecause for the rest of the wee! I sat in my office,
no one came to see me, they apparently had *een told not
to, and no wor! of any !ind was given to me I 1ust stayed
there li!e a convict serving out time At the end of the
wee! that was it, I was finished
We left Wey*ridge with 1oy and we went to -ondon
We moved a*out a *it, oh gracious, I forget how many
places we tried, and anyway it doesnIt matter, *ut then we
found that conditions were intolera*le and we moved on
to another place, a su*ur* of -ondon called Thames Dit$
ton
#h, I am so an.ious to get this silly affair over *ecause
I do not en1oy tal!ing a*out this, *ut I was in such a hurry
that I have forgotten one *it ,ere it isK I had *een told
sometime *efore that I would have to grow a *eard Well,
I thought, whatIs it matter0 >ust as well *e hung for a
sheep as a lam*, so while I was at Wey*ridge I grew this
*eard and was 1eered at quite a *it *y my employer and *y
those who wor!ed with me &ever mind, I thought, I
wouldnIt *e with them much longer
We moved to Thames Ditton8 for a very short time we
stayed in a lodging house which was run *y a funny old
woman who 1ust could not see dirt She thought she lived
in a ducal mansion, or something, and was quite incapa*le
of seeing immense co*we*s high up in the corners of the
stairway "ut she was too ladyli!e and so we loo!ed for
another place Down the road there was such a place, a
house which was *eing rented as an upper and lower flat
We too! the place, we had no thought of how we were
going to get money *ecause I had no 1o*, no 1o* at all
Instead I was 1ust doing anything to earn odd *its of
money to !eep us alive I went to the Bnemployment
(.change *ut *ecause I had left my employment instead
*eing fired I was not a*le to get any unemployment
*enefit So that never have I had any unemployment
money, I managed without, to this day I donIt !now how,
*ut I did
I had an old *icycle and I used to ride around trying to
get wor!, *ut no, no wor! was availa*le The war had

?A@
ended, men had come *ac! from the %orces, and the la$
*our mar!et was saturated It was all right for them, they
had unemployment *enefit and perhaps a pension8 I had
nothing
Then one night I was approached *y a group of men
They hoi!ed me out of my *ody, and tal!ed to me, and
they as!ed me if I still wanted to get out of my *ody into
what I then thought was 7aradise I suppose it is 7aradise,
*ut these people called it the astral world I assured them I
wanted to get out even more than *efore, so they told me
that the very ne.t day I must stay at home #ne man, he
was all done up in a yellow ro*e, too! me to the window
and pointed out ,e said, )that tree9you must go to that
tree and put your hands up on that *ranch, and go to pull
yourself up and then let go+ ,e gave me the e.act time at
which I must do this, telling me it was utterly vital to
follow instructions to the letter, otherwise I would have a
lot of pain, and so would other people "ut worse, for
me9I would still *e left on the (arth
The ne.t day my wife thought I had gone *on!ers or
something *ecause I didnIt go out as usual, I pottered
a*out And then a minute or two *efore the appointed
time I went out into the garden and wal!ed over to the
tree I pulled on a *ranch of ivy, or whatever it is that ivy
has, and reached up to the *ranch as directed And then I
felt as if I had *een struc! *y lightning I had no need to
pretend to fall, I did fall9whac! down! I fell down, and
then, good gracious me, I saw a silver rope stic!ing out
me I went to gra* it to see what it was *ut gently my
hands were held away I lay there on the ground feeling
horri*ly frightened *ecause two people were at that silver
rope, and they were doing something to it, and a third
person was there with another silver rope in his hand, and,
horror of horrors, I could see through the whole *unch of
them, so I wondered if I was seeing all this or if I had
dashed my *rains out, it was all so strange
At last there was a suc!ing sort of noise and a plop, and
then I found9oh 1oy of 1oy9I was floating free in a
*eautiful, *eautiful world, and that means that having

?AH
gone so far I fulfilled my part of the contract, I have said
all I am going to a*out my past life, and now I am going
*ac! to my own part of the astral world
I am -o*sang 'ampa, and I have finished transcri*ing
that which was so unwillingly, so ungraciously, told to me
*y the person whose *ody I too! over -et me continue
where he left off
,is *ody was upon the ground8 twitching slightly, and
I9well, I confess without too much shame, that I was
twitching also *ut my twitches were caused *y fright I
didnIt li!e the loo! of this *ody stretched out there in
front of me, *ut a lama of Ti*et follows orders, pleasant
orders as well as unpleasant ones, so I stood *y while two
of my *rother lamas wrestled with the manIs Silver Cord
They had to attach mine *efore his was quite disconnected
%ortunately the poor fellow was in an awful state of da=e
and so he was quiescent
At last, after what seemed hours *ut actually was only
a*out a fifth of a second, they got my Silver Cord attached
and his detached Ouic!ly he was led away, and I loo!ed
at that *ody to which I was now attached and shuddered
"ut then, o*eying orders, I let my astral form sin! down
on that *ody which was going to *e mine #oh, the first
contact was terri*le, cold, slimy I shot off in the air again
in fright Two lamas came forward to steady me, and
gradually I san! again
Again I made contact, and I shivered with horror and
of repulsion This truly was an incredi*le, a shoc!ing e.peri$
ence and one that I never want to undergo again
I seemed to *e too large, or the *ody seemed to *e too
small I felt cramped, I felt I was *eing squee=ed to death,
and the smell! The difference! 6y old *ody was tattered
and dying, *ut at least it had *een my own *ody &ow I
was stuc! in this alien thing and I didnIt li!e it a *it
Somehow9and I cannot e.plain this9I fum*led a*out
inside trying to get hold of the motor nerves of the *rain
,ow did I ma!e this confounded thing wor!0 %or a time I
lay there 1ust helpless, 1ust as if I were paraly=ed The
*ody would not wor! I seemed to *e fum*ling li!e an

?A:
ine.perienced driver with a very intricate car "ut at last
with the help of my astral *rothers I got control of myself
I managed to ma!e the *ody wor! Sha!ily I got to my
feet, and nearly screamed with horror as I found that I
was wal!ing *ac!wards instead of forwards I teetered and
fell again It was indeed a horrendous e.perience I was
truly nauseated *y this *ody and was in fear that I should
not *e a*le to manage it
I lay upon my face on the ground and 1ust could not
move, then from the corner of an eye I saw two lamas
standing *y loo!ing highly concerned at the difficulty I
was having I growled, )Well, you try it for yourself, see if
you can ma!e this a*omina*le thing do what you tell it to
do!+
Suddenly one of the lamas said, )-o*sang! /our fingers
are twitching, now try with your feet+ I did so, and found
that there was an ama=ing difference *etween (astern and
Western *odies I never would have thought such a thing
possi*le, *ut then I remem*ered something I had heard
while a shipIs (ngineer8 for ships in Western waters the
propeller should rotate in one direction, and for (astern
waters it should rotate in the opposite direction It seems
clear to me, I said to myself, that IIve got to start out all
over again So I !ept calm and let myself lift out of the
*ody, and from the outside I loo!ed at it carefully The
more I loo!ed at it the less I li!ed it, *ut then, I thought,
there was nothing for it *ut to try once again So again I
squee=ed uncomforta*ly into the slimy, cold thing which
was a Western *ody
With immense effort I tried to rise, *ut fell again, and
then at last I managed to scram*le somehow to my feet
and pressed my *ac! against that friendly tree
There was a sudden clatter from the house and a door
was flung open A woman came running out saying, )#h!
What have you done now Come in and lie down+ It gave
me quite a shoc! I thought of those two lamas with me
and I was fearful that the woman might throw a fit at the
sight of them, *ut o*viously they were completely invisi*le
to her, and that again was one of the surprising things of

?GD
my life I could always see these people who visited me
from the astral, *ut if I tal!ed to them and then some
other person came in9well, the other person thought I
was tal!ing to myself and I didnIt want to get the reputa$
tion of *eing off my head
The woman came toward me and as she loo!ed at me a
very startled e.pression crossed her face I really thought
she was going to get hysterical *ut she controlled herself
somehow and put an arm across my shoulders
Silently I thought of how to control the *ody and then
very slowly, thin!ing a step at a time, I made my way into
the house and went up the stairs, and flopped upon what
was o*viously my *ed
%or three whole days I remained in that room pleading
indisposition while I practiced how to ma!e the *ody do
what I wanted it to do, and trying to contain myself *e$
cause this was truly the most frightening e.perience I had
had in my life I had put up with all manner of torments in
China and in Ti*et and in >apan, *ut this was a new and
utterly revolting e.perience, the e.perience of *eing im$
prisoned in the *ody of another person and having to
control it
I thought of that which I had *een taught so many years
ago, so many years ago that indeed it seemed to *e a
different life )-o*sang,+ I had *een told, )in the days of
long ago the ;reat "eings from far *eyond this system
and "eings who were not in human form, had to visit this
(arth for special purposes &ow, if they came in their own
guise they would attract too much attention, so always they
had *odies ready which they could enter and control, and
appear to *e the natives of the place In the days to come,+
I was told, )you will have such an e.perience, and you
will find it to *e utterly shoc!ing+
I did!
%or the *enefit of those who are genuinely interested let
me say a few things a*out transmigration *ecause really I
have so much to tell the world, and yet *ecause of the
vilification of the press people have *een hocussed into
*elieving my story I will tell you more a*out that in the

?G?
ne.t "oo!, *ut one of the things I was going to do was to
show people how transmigration wor!ed *ecause there are
so many advantages to it Thin! of this, which I am going
to put to you as a definite possi*ility8 man !ind has sent a
messenger to the 6oon, *ut man!ind does not !now how
to travel in deep space In relation to the distances in the
Bniverse the 1ourney to the 6oon pales into utter insignifi$
cance It would ta!e many millions of years for a space
ship to travel to some other stars, and yet there is a much
simpler way, and I say to you a*solutely definitely that
astral travel could *e that way It has *een done *efore, it
is *eing done now *y creatures 3I say )creatures+ *ecause
they are not in human form4 who come from a completely
different gala.y They are here now at this moment, they
have come *y astral travel, and some of them occupy
human *odies such as did the Ancients of #ld
,umans, if they !new how, could send astral travelers
anywhere transcending time and space Astral travel can
*e as quic! as thought, and if you donIt !now how quic!
thought is I will tell you9it would ta!e a tenth of a sec$
ond to go from here to 6ars *y astral travel "ut in days
to come e.plorers will *e a*le to go to a world *y astral
travel and there, *y transmigration, they will *e a*le to
enter the *ody of a native of that world so that they may
gain first hand e.perience of what things are li!e &ow,
this is not science fiction It is a*solutely true If other
people on other worlds can do it, then (arth people can
do it also "ut sadly I have to say that purely *ecause of
the false dou*t which has *een cast upon my word this
particular aspect has not *een a*le to *e taught to people
Bnfortunately when one ta!es over a *ody there are
certain grave disa*ilities -et me give you an illustration8 I
found soon after I had ta!en over a *ody that I could not
write Sans!rit, I could not write Chinese #h yes, defi$
nitely I !new the language, I !new what I should *e writ$
ing, *ut9the *ody which I inha*ited was not )geared+
for ma!ing those squiggles which are Sans!rit or Chinese
It was only a*le to reproduce, say, letters such as (nglish,
%rench, ;erman or Spanish

?GE
It is all to do with muscular control /ou have had the
same things even in the West when you find that a well
educated ;erman with a *etter education than most (ng$
lish, let us say, still cannot pronounce (nglish as the
natives do ,e cannot )get his tongue around+ the sounds
So no matter how highly he is educated he still cannot say
the sounds correctly It is said almost universally that you
can always tell if a man is a native of a district or not *y
the manner in which he pronounces his words, that is, can
he manage his vocal chords as the native would, or does
ha*it *ring in certain disonances which the native lac!s
In transferring to a different *ody one can do all the
sounds, etcetera, *ecause the *ody is producing sounds
to which it is accustomed, (nglish, %rench or Spanish, for
e.ample "ut when it comes to writing that is a different
matter
-oo! at it this way8 some people can draw or they can
paint So let us say that these people9the artists9have
an a*ility to produce certain squiggles which have a defi$
nite meaning &ow, most people, even of the same race,
cannot do that, and even with training9even with im$
mense practice9unless a person is a )*orn artist+ the art
forms are not considered accepta*le The same type of
thing happens when an (astern entity ta!es over a West$
ern *ody ,e can communicate in speech and he can !now
all that could *e done in writing, *ut no longer can he
write in that which was his original language such as
Sans!rit or Chinese or >apanese *ecause it ta!es years of
practice, and his attempts are so fum*ling, so crude, that
the ideographs have no intelligi*le meaning
Another difficulty is that the entity is (astern and the
*ody or vehicle is Western If you find that strange let me
say that if you were in (ngland you would *e driving a car
with right hand controls so that you may drive on the left
hand side of the road, *ut if you are in America you drive
a car in which the steering wheel is on the left hand side,
and then you drive on the right hand side of the road
(veryone !nows that, eh0 Well, you ta!e some poor
wretch of a driver who has *een used to driving along the

?GJ
lanes of (ngland, suddenly lift him out and put the poor
soul slap into an American car and without any teaching
at all let him loose on the American roads The poor
fellow wouldnIt have much chance, would he0 ,e wouldnIt
last long All his *uilt$in refle.es which may have *een
trained for half a lifetime would scream at having to *e
reversed suddenly, and in the emergency he would imme$
diately drive to the wrong side of the road and cause the
accident which he was trying to avoid Do you follow that
clearly0 "elieve me, I !now this, it all happened to me So
transmigration is not for the uninitiated I say in all sin$
cerity, there could *e a lot done in transmigration if peo$
ple could get the right !nowledge, and I am surprised that
the 'ussians who are so far ahead in so many things have
not yet hit upon the idea of transmigration It is easy9if
you !now how It is easy9if you can have suita*le pre$
cautions "ut if you try to teach these things, as I could,
and you have a lot of mindless children, or press people,
then the whole thing *ecomes negated almost *efore one
can start
Another point which has to *e considered is o*taining a
suita*le vehicle or *ody, *ecause you cannot 1ust 1ump
into any *ody and ta!e over li!e a *andit entering a car
stopped at a traffic light #h no, it is much harder than
that /ou have to find a *ody which is harmonious to your
own, which has a harmonic somewhere, and it doesnIt
mean to say that the owner of the *ody has to *e good or
*ad, that has nothing to do with it at all8 it is to do with
the vi*rational frequency of that *ody
If you are interested in radio you will !now that you
can have, let us say, a super$heterodyne receiver which has
three tuning condensers &ow if the set is wor!ing prop$
erly you get one station clearly, *ut as you get on har$
monics you actually pic! up the same signal on different
wavelengths or different frequencies9it is all the same
thing In a frequency one 1ust counts the num*er of times
the wave changes from positive to negative, etcetera "ut
when you ta!e a wavelength you 1ust measure the distance
*etween ad1acent wave$crests It is the same as calling a

?GF
rose *y another name, *ut what I am trying to tell you is
is it possi*le, *ut it is going to *e an everyday thing in the
distant future here on (arth
"ut *ac! to Thames Ditton It was quite a nice little
place, one of the su*ur*ias of the great city of -ondon I
*elieve it is also called one of the dormitories of -ondon
There were a num*er of trees in the place, and every
morning one could see *usinessmen scurrying away to
Thames Ditton station where they would get a train ta!ing
them to Wim*ledon and other parts of -ondon so they
could do their daily wor! 6any of the men were from the
City of -ondon, stoc!*ro!ers, insurance men, *an!ers,
and all the rest of it Where I lived was right opposite the
Cottage ,ospital 6uch further on to the right one came
to a sort of sports ground, and ad1acent to the sports
ground was a *ig *uilding called the 6il! 6ar!eting
"oard
Thames Ditton was )*etter class+ and some of the
voices I could hear through my open window were too
much )*etter class+ *ecause I found some of the heavily
accented voices difficult indeed to understand
"ut speech was not easy for me I had to thin! *efore I
could utter a sound, and then I had to visuali=e the shape
of the sound I was trying to say Speech to most people
comes naturally /ou can *a**le forth without any diffi$
culty, without any great thought, *ut not when you are an
(asterner who has ta!en over a Western *ody (ven to
this day I have to thin! what I am going to say, and that
ma!es my speech appear somewhat slow and at times
hesitant
If one ta!es over a *ody, for the first year or two the
*ody is *asically the *ody of the host, that is, it was ta!en
over "ut in the course of time the *ody frequency
changes and eventually it *ecomes of the same frequency
as oneIs original *ody, and oneIs original scars appear It
is, as I told you *efore, li!e electro$plating or li!e electro$
typing *ecause molecule changes for molecule This
should not *e too difficult to *elieve *ecause if you get a cut

?GA
and the cut heals then you+ve got replacement molecules,
havenIt you0 They are not the same molecules that were
cut *ut new cells that were grown to replace the cut ones
It is something li!e that in transmigration The *ody
ceases to *e the alien *ody ta!en over, instead molecule
*y molecule it *ecomes oneIs own *ody, the *ody which
one has grown
>ust one last piece of information a*out transmigration
It ma!es one )different+ It gives associates a peculiar
feeling to *e close to one, and if a transmigrated person
touches another person une.pectedly that other person
may squea! with shoc! and say, )#h now youIve given me
goose pimples!+ So if you want to practice transmigration
you will have to consider the disadvantages as well as the
advantages /ou !now how strange dogs sniff around each
other, stiff$legged, waiting for the first move *y the other0
Well, that is how I have found people in the Western
world toward me They do not understand me, they donIt
!now what it is all a*out, they feel that there is something
different and they do not !now what it is, so often they
will have uncertainty a*out me They do not !now if they
li!e me or if they thoroughly disli!e me, and it really does
ma!e difficulties, difficulties which are made manifest in
the way that policemen are always suspicious of me, cus$
toms officials are always ready to *elieve the worst, and
immigration officers always want to inquire further as to
why, how, and when, etcetera, etcetera It ma!es one, in
effect, unaccepta*le to Lthe local natives+ "ut we must
get on to the ne.t "oo!, *ut *efore we do here is a final
word in case you find it difficult to understand that which I
have written a*out (asterners who have transmigrated
*eing a*le to write their own language8 if you are right$
handed write this paragraph with your right hand, then try
to do the same thing with your left!

So ends the third *oo!
The "oo! of Changes



?GG










"##2 %#B'

As it is &ow!




























C,A7T(' T(&


Sunlight glanced off the placid river sailing so ma1estically
*y, sweeping along down to the sea li!e the A!ashic 'ec$
ord sweeping along down to the sea of Bniversal 2nowl$
edge "ut here T,IS river was engaging my attention I
loo!ed through half$closed eyes at all the little spar!lets,
at the dappled surface as occasionally a leaf went floating
*y There was a sudden rustle and flutter, and three water
*irds alighted with great splashing on the surface of the
water %or some moments they splashed around, throwing
water over themselves, digging *eneath their wings and
generally having a good avian time Then, as if at a sud$
den signal, they spread their wings, paddled their feet and
too! off in formation leaving three increasing circles of
ripples *ehind them
Sunlight through the leaves of the trees put contrasting
spots of light and shadow on the waters edge *efore me
The sun was warm I lay *ac! and *ecame aware of a
*u==ing noise Slowly I opened my eyes and there right in
front of my nose was a *ee loo!ing at me with great
interest Then, as if deciding that I would not *e a suita*le
source of nectar, or whatever it is that *ees see!8 it *u==ed
the louder and veered off to some flower sheltering in the
shade of a tree I could hear it droning away there as it
*usily pro*ed into the flower, and then it came out *ac!$
wards and I saw that its legs and *ody were covered in
yellow pollen
It was pleasant here, reclining *eneath the trees *y the
side of the river Thames at Thames Ditton, facing the
great 7alace of ,ampton Court 6y attention wandered
and I suppose I do=ed Whatever it was I suddenly *ecame
aware of a noise in the distance I had visions of the 'oyal

?G:
"arge coming down from the Tower of -ondon and carry$
ing Oueen (li=a*eth the %irst with her then$favorite *oy$
friend and the retinue of servants which seemed inevita*le
in royal circles
There was music a*oard the 'oyal "arge, and it
seemed incongruous to me to have such music when com$
ing up the Thames, *ut I could hear the splashing of oars,
and the crea!ing of rolloc!s There was much giggling and
I thought to myself in my half$sleep state that surely peo$
ple in early (li=a*ethan days did not *ehave as modern
teenagers so
I opened my eyes and there 1ust coming around the
*end was a large punt filled with teenagers and with a
gramophone a*oard as well as a radio, *oth were *laring
out different tunes They rowed along chattering away,
everyone seemed to *e tal!ing on a different su*1ect, no
one was ta!ing any notice of anyone else They went along
past ,ampton Court and disappeared from my sight, and
for a time again all was peace
I thought again of the great Oueen (li=a*eth and of her
1ourneys from the Tower of -ondon to ,ampton Court8
nearly opposite to where I lay on the *an! was the site
where they used to have a landing 1etty The rowers used
to come close and then ropes would *e thrown and the
"arge pulled in gently so as not to upset the Oueens
*alance *ecause she was not a very good sailor, not even
on the Thames! ,ampton Court itself was a place that I
found fascinating I visited it often, and even under some
unusual conditions, and I could see clearly that the place
was indeed haunted with the spirits of those whose *odies
had so long ago departed
"ut there was much tal!ing going on *ehind me, and I
turned round and saw four people there )#h my good$
ness,+ said a woman, )you were so still9you havenIt
moved for the last ten minutes9that we thought you were
dead!+ With that they moved on, tal!ing and tal!ing and
tal!ing The world, I thought, had too much noise, every$
one had too much tal! and too little to say With that
thought in mind I glanced a*out me There were a few

?@D
*oats on the river Thames in front of me >ust down to the
left of me was an old man who loo!ed as if he might have
*een %ather Time himself ,e was stuc! there li!e an old
tree trun! ,e had a pipe in his mouth and a faint ha=e of
smo!e was coming from it Tied to a stic! in front of him
he had a fishing rod, the float of which9red and white9
*o**ed a*out 1ust in front of me I watched him for a
short time, he didnIt move either, and I wondered what
people really saw in fishing I came to the conclusion that
it was 1ust an e.cuse on the part of some elderly people so
that they could !eep still and meditate, thin! of the past,
and wonder what the future held for them
The future0 I loo!ed at my watch in alarm, and then
hurried to get to my feet and mount the old *icycle which
had *een lying *eside me on the *an!
With more haste than usual I pedaled off down the
road and around to the right, and so on the way to West
6olesey where the Bnemployment (.change was
"ut no, there was no employment for me, no offer of a
1o* It seemed there were too many people and too few
1o*s, and as one man told me so *luntly, )Well mate, you
left your 1o* and you didnIt have to, so as you left it and
you didnIt have to, you donIt get paid nothing, see So it
stands to reason that the government ainIt going to pay a
fellow what left Lis 1o* *ecause he had a 1o* *efore he left
it, so you wonIt get no dole, and so long as you donIt get
no dole this here (.change wonIt get you no 1o* The
(.change !eeps its 1o*s for those whoIve got dole *ecause
if they get the fellow a 1o* they donIt have to pay him dole
and so their statistics loo! *etter+
I tried commercial employment agencies, those places
where you go and pay money, and where in theory they
find you a 1o* 6y own e.perience may have *een particu$
larly unfortunate, *ut in spite of trying quite a num*er
none of them ever offered me a 1o*
I managed to get 1ust odd things to do around Thames
Ditton and the district I was a*le to do certain medical
wor! which the orthodo. physician could not do or would
not do and I thought9well, I am a fully qualified medical

?@?
man and I+ve got the papers to prove it so why donIt I try
to get registered in (ngland0
Sometime later I approached the ;eneral 6edical
Council unofficially Actually I went to their place and
told them all a*out it They told me that9yes, I had all
the qualifications *ut unfortunately Chung!ing was now in
the hands of the Communists and, they said, I 1ust could
not e.pect my qualifications to *e recogni=ed as they were
o*tained in a Communist country
I produced my papers, and shoved it straight under the
SecretaryIs nose I said, )-oo!, when these papers were
prepared China was not a Communist country, it was an
ally of (ngland, %rance, the BSA, and many other coun$
tries I fought for peace 1ust the same as people in (ngland
fought for peace, and 1ust *ecause I was in a different
country does not mean to say that I havenIt got feelings
the same as you have+ ,e hummed and hawed and
grunted around, and then he said, )Come *ac! in a
monthIs time We+ll see what can *e arranged /es, yes, I
quite agree, your qualifications are such that they should
*e recogni=ed The only thing impeding such recognition is
that Chung!ing is now a city in a Communist country+
So I left his office and went to the ,unterian 6useum
to loo! at all the specimens in *ottles, and I thought then
how ama=ing it was that humans everywhere were9
humans everywhere, they all functioned in roughly the
same way and yet if a person was trained in one country
he was not considered qualified to treat people in a differ$
ent country It was all *eyond me
"ut 1o*s were difficult indeed to o*tain, and the cost of
living at Thames Ditton was quite e.cessive I found that
as a married man, which in theory I was, e.penses were
far, far more than when I had to manage alone
At this stage of the *oo! perhaps I might ta!e a mo$
ment to answer some of those people who write to me
horri*ly offensively as!ing why should I, a lama of Ti*et,
live with a woman9have a wife Well, all you )ladies+
who write so offensively let me tell you this8 I am still a
mon!, I still live as a mon!, and possi*ly some of you

?@E
)ladies+ have indeed heard of celi*ate *achelors who have
a landlady or a sister with whom they live without neces$
sarily thin!ing of T,AT! So )ladies,+ the answer is$
no, I donIt!
"ut the time had come to leave Thames Ditton, and we
moved nearer into -ondon *ecause *y my own efforts I
had made a 1o* availa*le for myself I came to the conclu$
sion that as the *ody that I now occupied was living )over$
time+ there were no opportunities for it The former occu$
pant of the *ody, I saw *y the A!ashic 'ecord, really and
truly had *een going to commit suicide, and that would
have completed all the opportunities which his vehicle, his
*ody, would have had Thus, no matter how hard I tried I
could never ta!e a 1o* which another person could do8 the
only employment that I could ta!e would *e that which I
generated for myself &ow, I donIt propose to say what
employment that was, nor where I did it *ecause it is
nothing to do with this story, *ut it proved to *e adequate
to supply our immediate wants and to !eep us going "ut I
must tell you one thing which irritated me immensely,
again it was connected with my old enemies the police I
was driving through South 2ensington with an anatomical
figure in the *ac! of a car It was one of those figures
which appear in dress shops or which are sometimes pro$
vided for the training of surgical fitters This figure was in
the *ac! of the car, and when I had started out it had *een
covered up with cloth *ut I drove with the window open
and I suppose the draught had *lown part of the cloth off
the figure
I was driving along quite peacefully thin!ing of what I
was going to do ne.t when suddenly there was a loud
*lare *eside me, which nearly made me 1ump through
the roof I loo!ed in the mirror and I found two figures
gesticulating at me, pointing me to pull in to the side of
the road There were a lot of cars par!ed at the side of the
road so I drove in a little to try to find a place where I
could stop The ne.t thing was, this police car9for such it
was9tried to ram me thin!ing, they said, that I was at$
tempting to escape9at fifteen miles an hour in traffic!

?@J
Well, I stopped 1ust where I was, holding up the traffic,
and I couldnIt care less a*out how cross the people in the
other cars were, so I 1ust stopped there The police mo$
tioned for me to get out and come to them, *ut I thought
9no, they want to see me, I don t want to see them, so I
1ust sat (ventually one policeman got out with his
truncheon all ready in his hand ,e loo!ed as if he was
going to face a firing squad or something, he really did
loo! frightened Slowly he came up to my side of the car
wal!ing more or less sideways presuma*ly to ma!e less of
a target in case I started shooting Then he loo!ed into the
*ac! of the car and turned a *right red
)Well, officer, what is it0 What am I supposed to have
done0+ I as!ed him The policeman loo!ed at me and he
really did loo! silly, he loo!ed a*solutely sheepish )I+m
sorry, sir,+ he said, )*ut we were told that a man was
driving around and a na!ed womanIs legs were showing
through the *ac! window+
I reached in to the *ac! and pulled the cloth right off
the figure, and then I said, )Well, officer, show me any
sign of life in this model Show me how she has *een
!illed Ta!e a good loo! at her+ And then I covered the
figure more carefully The policeman went *ac! to his car
and all the cars *ehind us were hooting away as if they
were trying to fill a concert hall or something %eeling
thoroughly *ad tempered I drove off
There was another occasion with the police which may
raise a smile8 I had an office in -ondon and it was very
near an underground tu*e station 6y wife often used to
come and visit me round a*out lunch time, and when she
was leaving I used to loo! out of the window 1ust to see
that she safely crossed that *usy -ondon street
#ne day I was 1ust getting ready to finish up and go
home when there was a loud official !noc! at the door I
got up and went to the door and there were two very
large policemen #ne said, )We want to !now what you
are doing here+ I turned and let them come into my office
,e loo!ed a*out with interest and his associate got ready

?@F
to act as witness (verywhere the chief policeman loo!ed
his associate loo!ed also
I invited them to *e seated, *ut no, they would not *e
seated, they were there on official *usiness they told me
They said they thought I was engaged in some illicit activ$
ity and that I was giving signals to some gang
This really shoc!ed me, in fact I was almost stunned
with ama=ement, and I 1ust could not understand what
they were tal!ing a*out )Whatever do you mean0+ I e.$
claimed The chief policeman said, )Well, it has *een re$
ported to us that you ma!e strange signals at a*out mid$
day and we have !ept watch and we have seen those
strange signals To whom are you signaling0+
Then it dawned on me and I started to laugh I said,
)#h good ;od, whatever is the world coming to0 I am
merely waving to my wife when I watch to see that she
crosses the road safely and enters the tu*e station+
,e said in reply, )that cannot *e so, you cannot see
the station from here+ Without another word I got up
from my chair, opened the window which was 1ust to my
right, and said, )-oo! and see for yourself+ They loo!ed
at each other and then together they went to the window
and loo!ed out Sure enough, 1ust as I said, there was the
underground station opposite They *oth changed colour a
*it, and I said9to ma!e them change colour a *it more9
)#h yes, IIve seen you two fellows, you were in that *loc!
of flats opposite, I saw you trying to hide *ehind the cur$
tains I wondered what you were up to+
The chief policeman then said, )/ou occupy the floor
*eneath this office We have information that you are en$
gaged in se.ual activities in that fiat *elow+ I had had
enough of this, and I said, )All right, come downstairs
with me and see all the na!ed females for yourself+ They
were not at all happy with my attitude and they wondered
what they had done wrong
Together we went down a flight of stairs and I unloc!ed
a *ig showroom, the windows of which were heavily cur$
tained with e.pensive lace net
A*ove the curtained windows there were small venti$

?@A
lators a*out a foot square which, of course, were not cur$
tained
I went to one lay figure and pic!ed it up, and said,
)-oo!, if a person is carrying this around, putting it from
here to here+9I demonstrated9 )a prying nosey$par!er
of an old woman who lives in that flat opposite might
thin! it is a nude *ody+
I rapped on the figures and said, )All right, ta!e a loo!
at them, do they loo! o*scene to you0+
The policemen changed their tune completely, and the
senior one said, )Well, I am sorry you have *een trou*led,
sir, I really am most sorry, *ut we received a complaint
from the sister of a very senior police officer saying that
strange things are happening here We are quite satisfied
with what we have seen /ou will not *e trou*led again+
Well, I was! I had to go to my office one evening at
a*out seven o+cloc! and I unloc!ed the doors and went in,
as I had a perfect right to do I did the *it of wor! that I
had to do, and then left As I loc!ed the door *ehind me
two policemen sei=ed me quite roughly and tried to hustle
me to a police car "ut I !new my rights and I as!ed for
an immediate e.planation They told me that it had *een
reported 3yes, it was the same woman!4 that a sinister$
loo!ing man 3thatIs me!4 had *een seen to *rea! into the
*uilding, so they were waiting for me They would not
*elieve that I had a right to *e there, so I unloc!ed the
office again and we went in, and I had actually to call the
estate agent who had rented me the place, and he identi$
fied me *y my voice #nce again the police loo!ed silly
and departed without a word
Soon after that I decided that there was no point in
staying in such an office where it was o*vious that the old
*iddy opposite had nothing *etter to do with her time than
imagine that she was a policewoman reporting all manner
of imaginary criminal offences So I left that office and
went elsewhere
Again, I did certain psychological wor! among people
who could get no assistance from orthodo. medicine and I
did quite well, I really did I cured a num*er of people *ut

?@G
then one day there was a man who tried to *lac!mail me
So I learned that unless one was actually registered one
was too much at the mercy of people who would gladly get
all the assistance they could and then try to *lac!mail one
"ut the *lac!mailer9well, he didnIt get his way after all!
>ust at this time a young lady came into our life, came
into our life of her own accord, of her own free will We
regarded her as a daughter and still do, and she is still
with us "ut her destiny, she felt, was such that she had to
live with us, and that she did -ater the press were to
ma!e much of this, trying to say that it was a case of the
eternal triangle8 nothing could have *een firmer than the
truth We were standing )on the square+ instead of )in the
eternal triangle+
At a*out this time I was introduced to an authorsI agent
I thought I was going to get a 1o* with him reading and
commenting upon authorsI typescripts, *ut no, he !new a
*it of my story and very very much against my own will I
allowed myself to *e persuaded into writing a *oo! #ne
cannot *e too particular when starvation is 1ust around the
corner, you !now, and starvation wasnIt 1ust around the
corner, it was !noc!ing hard on the door
So I wrote a *oo!, and then certain authors who were
1ealous at my !nowledge of Ti*et tried to trace me up
They got all manner of detective agencies, and one agency
indeed put an advertisement in either The Times or The
Telegraph of -ondon advertising for -o*sang 'ampa8 he
should write to such$and$such an address where something
very good was waiting for him
I !new this was a catch, and so I told my agent, 6r
Cyrus "roo!s ,e got his son$in$law to phone to see what
it was all a*out /es, it was indeed a catch An author in
;ermany was mightily peeved that I had written a*out
Ti*et when he thought that was his own private inviola*le
province, and so he tried to have me traced up so that he
could decide what action he could ta!e against me
At a*out this time people connected with the young
lady who was living with us too! a disli!e thin!ing that I
had led her astray9I hadnIt9and they also had a private

?@@
detective trying to find out a*out me "ut this poor fellow
9well, it seems to me that he wasnIt very *right, he never
even tried to get in contact with me I wonder if he was
afraid or something "ut instead of as!ing me outright as
a man he relied on hearsay evidence, and as anyone
should !now, hearsay evidence is not legal evidence is it0
"ut the two sides came together and they went to some
press reporter who wasnIt very popular with his fellows
They tried a few traps which I saw through, *ut when later
we had moved to Ireland these people made a great cam$
paign against me in the press, saying that I was doing
*lac! magic rites in the *ottom of the house, that I had a
secret temple8 that I was guilty of all manner of se. orgies,
etcetera, and that at some time in my career I had *een in
trou*le with the police Well, that was easy, I had always
*een in trou*le with the police, *ut I had never *een
charged with anything, and I had never truly done any$
thing worth police attention "ut there is no point in stir$
ring up old trou*les and ra!ing up ashes which should *e
*urned out, *ut I want here to pay testimony to the hus$
*and of the young lady ,e was and is a gentleman, he is a
very good man, he is still our friend, and as he well !new
and, indeed, as he testified, the statements a*out me were
quite quite wrong
&o, I am saying no more a*out this, nothing a*out the
press, nothing a*out the relatives of the young lady She is
still with us, still with us as a loved daughter So there you
are, thatIs all there is to that
When all this happened we had moved to Ireland, and
one thing and another had conspired to ruin my health I
had coronary throm*osis, and it was thought that I was
going to die, *ut the press made life so hideous that we
had to leave Ireland, which we did with e.treme reluct$
ance I had many friends there, and I still have those self$
same friends
We left Ireland and went to Canada where we are now
We moved a*out Canada quite a lot, we went to different
cities, went to different provinces "ut at last we had a
letter in the mail which offered a lot

?@H
In the mail one day there came quite a thic! letter The
stamps were from a country of which I !new9at that
time remar!a*ly little It was from Bruguay, the country
in South America which rests *etween Argentina and
"ra=il
The letter was interesting It told me that the writer was
the head of a *ig company where they did printing, *oo!
pu*lishing9everything I was as!ed to go to 6ontevideo
at the e.pense of that company, and I could continue my
wor! there, I would *e provided with secretaries, typists,
translation services9in fact everything that I wanted The
writer sent me a photograph of himself loo!ing quite im$
pressive *ehind a *ig des! with an I"6 typewriter in
front of him, a lot of *oo!s *ehind him, and, I thin!, a
7hillips dictating machine there as well
We discussed it, )we+ *eing my wife and our adopted
daughter, and after quite a time we thought that it would
*e a good idea So we made all the necessary inquiries
and at long last, *ecause formalities too! a time, we got
on a train at %ort (rie, #ntario, Canada, for the trip to
&ew /or! We were told that we were going to *e pas$
sengers a*oard a 6oore 6cColmac! freighter, one which
normally too! twelve passengers
In &ew /or! everything, as usual, was *ustle and
commotion We stayed the night at one of the *ig hotels
and the ne.t morning we set off for the 6oore 6cCor$
mac! doc! in &ew /or! ,ar*our, and I was highly
amused when I found that that doc! was one right oppo$
site the one to which I had made my swim so many years
ago, it seemed ,owever, I said nothing, *ecause there is
not much point in ra!ing up *itter memories, *ut, I con$
fess, I !ept quite a loo! out for river police
We went a*oard the ship and found our staterooms,
and so late that night with four locomotives loaded a*oard
on the dec! we steamed away to first 5ittoria in "ra=il
There we went up a long inlet *efore we arrived at a very
picturesque, very hot little community That was our first
port of call Then we went down to a place near*y so that

?@:
the locomotives9they were diesel locomotives for the
"ra=ilian railroads9could *e unloaded
There were two or three more stops in "ra=il until we
were cleared for 6ontevideo in Bruguay "ut as we ap$
proached 6ontevideo, actually we were at 7unta del (ste,
the Captain was informed *y radio that we could not land
in 6ontevideo *ecause there was a doc! stri!e on, so we
went to "uenos Aires first and we stayed in that port for
a*out a wee! It was quite a *usy port, and we saw an
enormous num*er of foreign ships come in ;erman ones
seemed to *e the most popular ones, and quite a lot of
ships, it seemed, were going straight up the river which
forms the frontier *etween Argentina and Bruguay We
were told that a few miles further up there was a great
meat pac!ing plant, the plant of %ray "entos
At last, though, we were cleared to leave port and down
we went along the 'io de 7lata, and at long last we came
to 6ontevideo, our destination We got into the outer har$
*our and the ship had to drop anchor There had *een a
stri!e and a whole fleet of ships was assem*led, and they
had to *e attended to first *ecause they were there first, so
we stayed a*oard ship for a*out a wee! At last the ship
was allowed to enter har*our and we went ashore
#ur hopes were completely dashed, however, *ecause
we found that the man with an immense *usiness did not
have such an immense *usiness after all Instead9well, to
put it at its !indest, he was a man with ideas which did not
always wor! out
It was very e.pensive living in 6ontevideo They
seemed to have a peculiar idea there that everything had
to *e paid for in American dollars so, in effect, ta!ing into
consideration the rate of e.change, we were paying fantas$
tic sums for even *asic items ,owever we stayed there for
a year and a half, then we found there were all manner of
stri!es and increasing restrictions on foreigners, so we de$
cided to leave
It is most unfortunate that we had to leave *ecause
6ontevideo was a nice place indeed The people for the
most part9e.cept for the stri!ers!9were very pleasant,

?HD
very courteous, and it was li!e *eing in a (uropean city It
was a *eautiful city with a wonderful har*our and *eaches
%or a very short time we stayed at a place called Car$
rasco, quite near the airport This had one terri*le defect
in that very fine sand from the immense *eaches was al$
ways getting *lown into the houses, so as we were also too
far from the city centre we moved to an apartment *uild$
ing which overloo!ed the lighthouse
A few miles out in the approaches to the har*our there
was a wrec!ed ship It had *een a quite large passenger
liner and for some reason the ship had *een sun! 1ust off
the main entrance, and there it remained At low tide one
could 1ust see the main dec!, at high tide the *ridge and
the *ridge dec! was still a*ove water We saw quite a lot
of smuggling going on here *ecause the ship was used as a
)drop+ for smugglers
There were many *eautiful sights in 6ontevideo includ$
ing a high eminence 1ust across the other side of the har$
*our This was !nown as )the 6ountain+ and there was a
sort of fort, which was a local tourist attraction, right at
its pea!
The "ritish had done much to moderni=e 6ontevideo
They had started its *us service, and they had also started
the gas wor!s, and one of the advantages of that was that
so many people had a smattering of (nglish
#ne day when we had moved to yet another apartment
closer into the city centre the s!y turned *lac! and for a
time everything turned *itterly cold Then there came a
cyclone Three of us struggled to close our open window
and as we were there congregated, pushing our shoulders
hard against the window, we saw an ama=ing sight indeed8
the *us station roof 1ust *elow us suddenly vanished, all
the sheets of corrugated iron were flying through the air as
if they were made of tissue paper We loo!ed down and
saw all the *uses there and wor!ers were ga=ing up wide$
mouthed and with wide eyes
A really amusing sight9for us9was when hens, which
had *een !ept on the flat roofs of houses in 6ontevideo
were *lown straight up in the air and crossed street after

?H?
street in pro*a*ly the only flight they ever had in their
lives It really is an astonishing sight to see hens go flying
*y with their wings tight to their sides!
A sight which really made me amused was when a
whole clothes line laden with newly$washed clothes went
sailing *y The line was as tight and as stiff as an iron *ar,
and sheets and )unmentiona*les+ were hanging straight
down as if in still air I have seen many cyclones, whirl$
winds, etcetera, *ut this from my point of view was quite
the most amusing
"ut 6ontevideo was losing its charm, so we decided to
return to Canada *ecause of the various groups of Com$
munists who were ma!ing trou*le In many ways I am
sorry for it *ecause I thin! I would rather live in Bruguay
than in most other places They have a different mentality
there They call themselves the #riental 'epu*lic of
Bruguay It is a poor country with wonderful ideals, *ut
ideals so idealistic that they were impractical
We returned to Canada *y sea, and then there was the
question of ma!ing money so I had to write another *oo!
6y health was deteriorating a lot, and that was the only
thing I could do
During my a*sence I found that a person had written a
*oo! on material I had written for an (nglish maga=ine
some years previously ,e was a very peculiar sort of
person, whenever he was tac!led or threatened with a law
case he conveniently went *an!rupt and friends or rela$
tives )*ought+ his *usiness, so there was not much re$
dress, in fact there was none
#ne of the *ig trou*les I have had since )the Third
(ye+ is the num*er of people who write )Approved *y
-o*sang 'ampa,+ and 1ust put la*els to that effect on the
goods they supply All that is quite intense8 I do not )ap$
prove+ things 6any people, too, have impersonated me,
in fact, on quite a num*er of occasions I have had to call
in the police There was, for e.ample, a man in 6iami
who wrote to a *oo!seller in San %rancisco in my name,
he actually signed my name ,e wrote a lot of ),oly >oe+
stuff, which I never do, and he ordered a lot of *oo!s to

?HE
*e sent to him Ouite *y chance I wrote to the *oo!seller
at the same time from 5ancouver and he was so ama=ed
at getting a letter apparently from me and in "ritish Co$
lum*ia that he wrote to me and as!ed how I was moving
so quic!ly So it came out that this fellow had *een for
some time ordering goods in my name and not paying As
I said, if anyone is fool enough to ta!e as )me+ the go*$
*legoo! that this fellow had *een writing deserves to get
caught There have *een others such as the man who
retired to a mountain cave, sat cross$legged with darn little
clothing on him, and pretended to *e me ,e advised teen$
agers to have se. and drugs, saying that it was good for
them "ut the press, of course, sei=ed on such incidents
and made quite a commotion, and even when it was
proved that these impostors were impersonating me the
press never got round to reporting the actuality of what
happened I am utterly, utterly, utterly opposed to suicide
I am utterly, utterly opposed to drugs, and I am utterly,
utterly opposed to the press I thin! that the average
pressman is not fitted to report things on metaphysics or
the occult, they do not have the !nowledge, they do not
have the spirituality, and, in my opinion, they 1ust do not
have the *rain power
After a time in %ort (rie, to which we returned from
South America, we went to 7rescott, #ntario, where we
lived in a small hotel The 6anager of that hotel was an
e.tremely fine man indeed We stayed there a year, and
during the whole of that year there was never at any time
the slightest disagreement or slightest lac! of harmony
*etween )management+ and us ,is name was Ivan 6iller,
and he was a real gentleman and I wish I !new his
address now to again e.press my appreciation of all the
efforts he made ,e was a great *ig man, huge in fact, and
he had *een a wrestler, yet he could *e more gentle than
most women

?HJ



C,A7T(' (-(5(&


It was good to *e *ac! in Canada to get what was then a
relia*le mai? service There had *een quite a lot of trou*le
in Bruguay and one particular incident which really made
me foam with fury was when, as an author, I had a lot of
mail sent to me and the post office in 6ontevideo would
not let me have it I had my adopted name, and I also had
the name under which I wrote, T -o*sang 'ampa, and
the post office officials in 6ontevideo were quite adamant
in not letting me have mail for two names Their idea was
that a person must *e a croo! if they had to have two
names, and so I gave the matter much thought and came
to the conclusion that I was far *etter !nown as T -o*$
sand 'ampa Then I went to the post office and said I
wanted the mail for T -o*sang 'ampa and they could
retrain the rest
Then they had to see my papers 6y papers had the
wrong name on them, so I was una*le to get my mail
(ventually I had to go to a lawyer9an )a*ogado+9and
have a Change of &ame Deed drawn up It had to *e done
legally, and there were many many stamps on the docu$
ment, after which notice had to *e given in an Bruguayan
legal newspaper all a*out the name change When all
those formalities were completed then I could get mail in
the name of T -o*sang 'ampa *ut I was for*idden to
use the other name
&ow, of course, my name has *een legally changed in
Canada as well to T -o*sang 'ampa, and while we are
on the su*1ect of officialdom, *ureaucracy, etcetera I am
now a Canadian su*1ect I too! out Canadian naturali=a$
tion and, here again, the formalities were truly ama=ing
"ut there seem to *e formalities in everything nowadays, I
have *een trying to get the #ld Age 7ension, to which I

?HF
am entitled, *ut *ureaucracy is such that apparently I
cannot get it9or so the officials tel? me unless I give the
e.act address and the e.act dates of arriving and leaving
every place I have *een in Canada Well, I have *een to
an ama=ing num*er of places from Windsor to 7rescott, to
6ontreal, Saint >ohn, &ew "runswic!, ,alifa., all the
way on to 5ancouver *ac! to Calgary, etcetera, and I
should have thought that I was well enough !nown as a
Canadian citi=en and with a passport, etcetera, *ut appar$
ently that does not suit the *ureaucracy9mad officials So
the matter is )still pending+ It sounds more li!e a rotten
apple than anything else, doesnIt it0
-ast night I was very unwell indeed and late in the night
I awa!ened from an uneasy do=e and found clustered
around me a group of those who were my associates,
lamas from Ti*et They were in the astral, and they were
agitating for me to get out of the *ody and go over and
discuss things with them )What is the matter with you
all0+ I as!ed )If I feel any worse than I do now I shall *e
over there permanently+ The -ama 6ingyar Dondup
smiled and said, )/es, thatIs what we are afraid of We
want you to do something else first+
When one has done astral travel for as many years as I
have there is nothing to it, it is easier than stepping out of
*ed, so I 1ust slipped out of this *ody and went into the
astral Together we wal!ed to the side of a la!e on which
there were many water *irds playing ,ere in the astral,
you !now, creatures have no fear whatever of 6an, so
these *irds were simply playing in the water We sat on a
moss$covered *an!, and my ;uide said, )/ou !now,
-o*sang, there isnIt enough detail given a*out transmigra$
tion We wanted you to say something a*out peoples who
have used transmigration+ Well, the day in the astral was
too pleasant to *e much of a cross$patch, so I indicated
that on the morrow I would get to wor! again *efore the
*oo! was finished
It was very pleasant, though, *eing in the astral, away
from pain, away from worries and all the lest of it "ut, as
I was reminded, people do not go to (arth for pleasure,

?HA
they go *ecause they have something to learn or some$
thing to teach
Today, then, is another day, the day when I have to
write something even more a*out transmigration
In the days of Atlantis and9oh yes!9there really was
Atlantis, it is not 1ust a figment of a writerIs imagination8
Atlantis was real "ut, in the days of Atlantis there was a
very high civili=ation indeed 7eople )wal!ed with ;ods+
The ;ardeners of the (arth were ever watching develop$
ments on Atlantis "ut those who are watched are wary of
the watchers, and so it came a*out that the ;ardeners of
the (arth used the process of transmigration so that they
could !eep a more su*tle form of watch
A num*er of *odies of suita*le vi*rations were used *y
the spirits of ;ardeners, and then they could mingle with
humans and find out 1ust what the humans really thought
of the ;ardeners and were they plotting
The ;ardeners of the (arth who loo!ed after that mys$
terious civili=ation !nown as the Sumerians also had tutors
come to the (arth *y transmigration It was altogether too
slow to have great space ships cross the void ta!ing such a
long time "y transmigration it could *e done in a matter
of seconds
The (gyptians, also, were largely controlled and en$
tirely taught *y higher (ntities who entered into specially
cultivated *odies, and when those *odies were not actually
*eing used *y the (ntities they were carefully cleaned,
wrapped up, and put aside in stone *o.es The ignorant
(gyptian natives catching *rief glances of the ceremonies
came to the conclusion that the ;ardeners were preserving
the *odies, and so those who had witnessed such proceed$
ings rushed home to their priests and told all that they had
seen
The priests then thought that they would try such things,
and when a high enough person died they wrapped him up
in *andages, coated him with spices, and all the rest of it,
*ut they found that the *odies decayed Then they came to
the conclusion that it was the intestines, the heart, liver
and lungs which caused the decaying, so all those parts

?HG
were removed and put in separate 1ars It is a good thing
they were not preparing the hosts for incoming spirits *e$
cause the hosts would indeed have *een a gutless lot,
wouldnIt they0!
#f course, some of the em*alming9so called9was
when a sic! space man or space woman was *eing put into
the state of suspended animation so that he or she could
*e removed to a space ship and ta!en elsewhere for treat$
ment
There have *een quite a num*er of well$!nown leaders
on this (arth who were (ntities transmigrated into (arth$
*odies, A*raham, 6oses, ;autama, Christ, and then that
well$!nown genius of geniuses, -eonardo da 5inci The
inventions of -eonardo da 5inci are legend, and he en$
hanced the !nowledge of this world very very greatly ,e,
as I suppose anyone would agree, possessed s!ills and
sciences far *eyond the !nowledge of (arth people The
person !nown as -eonardo da 5inci had *een an illegiti$
mate child without any special advantages Who !nows0
,e might even have *een the son of a plum*er! The *ody
of the person who *ecame -eonardo da 5inci was of such
a degree of vi*ration that a very high (ntity could ta!e it
over and do all those things which no human could have
done
In all seriousness, I say that if the people of this world
would only listen to those who can actually do transmigra$
tion there would *e a wonderful chance of space e.plora$
tion Thin! of all the worlds there are Thin! of *eing
a*le to visit a world in a matter of seconds Some of the
worlds can never *e visited *y orthodo. humans *ecause
the atmosphere may *e wrong, the climate may *e wrong,
or the gravity may *e wrong "ut when a person is doing
transmigration he can ta!e over the *ody of any native of
the planet, and so then can e.plore the planet without any
difficulties whatever
,umans, well versed in the science of transmigration
could enter the *odies of animals so that they could *e
studied effectively This has *een done *efore, it has *een
done frequently *efore, and *ecause of a racial memory

?H@
there are certain false *eliefs that humans are re*orn as
animals They are not9ever &or are animals *orn as
humans Animals are not inferior to humans, either "ut
*ecause there is a racial memory of ;ardeners of the
(arth ta!ing over the *odies of certain animals, the
!nowledge of that has lingered on in a distorted form
Thus it is that good religions are de*ased
We have traveled e.tensively in Canada I have *een
from Windsor, #ntario, to %ort (rie and on to 7rescott,
and then we went to Saint >ohn, &" %or a time, as you
can read in others of my *oo!s, we lived quite happily in
&ew "runswic!, in the very pleasant city *eside the sea
"ut as my accountant said, an author must travel, so we
moved to 6ontreal and we lived in ,a*itat for some time
,a*itat is that funny loo!ing collection of houses piled
one on top of the other li!e childrenIs *uilding *ric!s
Anyway, it was quite a nice place to live, and in fact we
li!ed it so much that after we had left it we later returned
to it ,ere again, in 6ontreal there were always stri!es,
there was a language difficulty, too, *ecause the %rench$
Canadians were not at all friendly to those who did not
spea! %rench, and my own firm opinion has always *een
that Canada was an (nglish spea!ing country and I re$
fused to spea! %rench
Soon came the time when we moved again, this time to
5ancouver, "ritish Colum*ia, where we lived in a hotel,
actually a hotel which also had apartments to it 5an$
couver has gone down a lot lately under what I consider to
*e a most horri*le form of government And another
complaint against 5ancouver is that )no pets+ was the
sign everywhere, and as one hotel !eeper once said, pets
had never hurt his *usiness *ut children had and so had
drun!s and so had people who smo!ed in *ed and set the
place on fire
I have moved a*out a lot in my life I have learned
much, and there are certain things I )wish+ could *e9
I wish, for instance, that there could *e a censorship of
the press *ecause I have seen so much misery caused *y
inaccurate press reports I am glad to note that now many

?HH
many more people are o*viously agreeing with me on this,
*ecause the accuracy of the press is often in dou*t now$
adays
The predictions made a*out me so very very long ago
have *een utterly accurate It was predicted that even my
own people would turn against me Well, they have9they
have indeed, *ecause in my time of trou*le no one came
forward to help me or to attest the truth of my story, and
true that story is
I had so many hopes a*out helping Ti*et I thought, for
e.ample, that with recognition I would *e a*le to spea!
for Ti*et *efore the Bnited &ations I hoped that with
recognition I could have had a radio program a*out
free Ti*et, *ut no, no help whatever has *een given to me
*y the people of Ti*et who have left that country Sadly
enough it is their loss as well as mine So much good could
have *een done 6y name is widely !nown, it has *een
conceded that I can write, it has *een stated also that I
can tal! I wanted to use *oth in the service of Ti*et, yet
they have not *een at all an.ious to recogni=e me, 1ust the
same as in the past a Dalai -ama would not recogni=e the
7anchen -ama and vice versa It is 1ust the same, we will
say, as one political leader ignoring the e.istence of an$
other "ut I get a vast num*er of letters, on this day, for
e.ample, I had one hundred and three It has often *een
much more, and the letters come from all over the world
I learn things which are closed to many, and I have *een
told, rightly or wrongly, that the present people who
escaped from Ti*et cannot )recogni=e+ me *ecause another
religious faction who is helping them would *e cross I
have all the evidence that that is so, actually "ut9well9
there is no point in starting a miniature religious war, is
there0
It is mainly the lower orders of refugees who seem to *e
opposed to me I had a letter some months ago from an
important man who had *een to see the Dalai -ama and
had discussed me The Dalai -ama, it was reported to me,
had e.tended an invitation to me to return to the 7otala
when it was freed from Communist aggression

?H:
And 1ust a few wee!s *ac! our adopted daughter 3we
)name no names,+ remem*er04 received a letter saying
that the Dalai -ama was very concerned a*out Dr
'ampaIs health, and the Dalai -ama was praying for him
daily That letter is now in the possession of my pu*lishers
Another )wish+ I have is this8 there are quite a num*er
of occult *odies a*out, some of them claiming to *e very
very ancient even though they were started again *y an
advertising man 1ust a few years ago "ut my complaint is
this8 if all these people are so holy9so good9so devoted
to spiritual enlightenment then why cannot we all get to$
gether *ecause if they are truly genuine they would reali=e
that all paths lead ,ome
A num*er of students from some of these cult$colleges
have as!ed me why I did not get in touch with ;roup so$
and$so or ;roup something else, and the answer is that I
have done, and I have had some shoc!ingly insulting re$
plies from these groups all *ecause they are 1ealous or
*ecause they have *een poisoned *y the press Well, I do
not see it that way at all I maintain that it does not matter
what religion one *elongs to, it does not matter how one
studies the occult If people are genuine they would *e
a*le to wor! together
Some years ago I was approached *y a man who was
the founder of a so$called Ti*etan Science ,e wrote to
me and suggested that we could ma!e a lot of money if I
1oined with him and he used my name Well, I do not do
things li!e that, I do not go in for this wor! as a money$
ma!ing gimmic! 6y *eliefs are my everyday *eliefs and I
live according to the code under which I was taught
I would li!e to see many of these so$called metaphysical
societies or #rders licensed after careful e.amination So
many of them are fa!es 1ust out to gather money I !now
of one particular group who admit quite freely that they
ta!e what they consider to *e the *est from a whole load
of writers and hash it up as something quite different
Well, that is dishonest
This is a good opportunity to tell you once again9in
case you start at the *ac! end of this *oo! instead of the

?:D
front, as so many do9that all my *oo!s are a*solutely
true (verything that I have written is fact (very meta$
physical e.perience I write a*out I can do, and it is my
most sincere wish that there will come a time when people
will indeed recogni=e the truth of my *oo!s *ecause I still
have a lot to teach people &owadays, *ecause of the lies
propagated *y the press, I have *een treated as a leper or
pariah 6any people )dip into+ my *oo!s and then write
things as if it was their own idea Some time ago I listened
with great satisfaction on short waves to a long e.tract
from one of my *oo!s, and then at the end of the reading I
was almost stunned to hear that authorship has *een
ascri*ed to some woman who can hardly sign her name!
"elieve me, then, all my *oo!s are true, and I *elieve I
have the system where*y peoples of this world can visit
other worlds in safety

RRRRRRRRRR

I want to than! 6rs Sheelagh 6 'ouse who has typed
fifteen of these *oo!s I typed the first one She has typed
them without a groan, too

Another thing in which you may *e interested is thisK 6rs
'ampa has now nearly completed a *oo! giving her side
of all this affair If you want to !now a*out it9well, you
will have to watch for advertisements, wonIt you0 or you
can write toK$

6r ( Q Sowter,
A Touchstone -td,
JJ Ash*y 'oad,
-ough*orough, -eics,
(ngland


So ends "oo! %our
As It Is &ow


?:?