We came away, and the abbot told us the story of the sect.
“ These men,” said the abbot, when we questioned him,
“ live here in this mountain of their own free will I a few
of them are allowed a little light whereby reading is
possible, but these are the weaker brethren, the others
live in darkness in a square cell partly hewn out of the
sharp slope of the rock, partly built up, with the window
just within reach of their upraised hand. There are
three periods of this immurement. The first is endured
for six months ; the second, upon which a monk may
enter at any time he pleases or not at all, is for three
years and ninety-three days ; the third and last period is
for life. Only this morning,” said the abbot, “ a hermit
died here after having lived in darkness for twenty-five
years.” The thing was almost more revolting because
the men entered willingly upon it. “ What happens
when they are ill ? ” O’Connor asked the abbot. The
answer came concisely enough, “ They never are.” It is
true that when pressed he qualified this statement a
little, but it seemed still to have considerable truth. He
himself was waiting for the moment, now not long to be
delayed, when he should bidf his final farewell to the
world.
Voluntary this self-immolation is said to be,
and perhaps technically speaking it is possible for the
pluckier souls to refuse to go on with this hideous and
useless form of self-sacrifice, but the grip of the lamas
is omnipotent, and practically none refuse. These
hermits store up such merit— for themselves-||by these
means as no other life ensures. That may be some
consolation for a Tibetan mind; it would be little
enough for anyone else. On our return the children in
the courtyard were invested with a terrible pathos. To
this life of painfully useless selfishness they are condemned,
and the very difference in their coiffure is one
more link which ties down their young lives. After their
first immurement their hair is allowed to grow, and the
sanctity which enhaloes a Nyen-de-kyi-buk hermit
Waiting for immurement; a group of lamas and children at Nyen-d6-kyi-buk. Those
who have been immured for the shorter preliminary periods have long hair, others
are shaven.
whenever recognised by his tresses, effectually prevents
his turning back. He is a marked man, and,
as in so many other cases in this world, he ends by
doing what he is expected to do. Our horses were made
ready and we said farewell to our kindly host and rode
away into the warmth and life of the valley in silence.
This memory still makes a deeper impression than one
v o l . 1. 1 5 *