Note 2 — Chapter XXX · THE BURIATS.

At Lhassa, the capital of Thibet, dwells the Dalai Lama, who is the head of the Buddhist religion; and though his followers acknowledge him to be mortal, they believe his soul to be an immediate emanation from the essence of their supreme deity, Buddha. In places where this worship prevails are found religious communities gathered round the temples dedicated to the rites of their faith, and monasteries, or, as they are called, lamaseries, containing the various orders of priests. It was one of these we visited at Cheelantoui. When the great lama dies, it is held that his spirit immediately enters the body of another human being, who thus becomes successor to all the rights and privileges held by his predecessor, and some little difficulty often occurs in discovering who may be the favoured individual; but as the priests are the chief actors in the scene, their search is generally successful. Commonly the spirit is recognized as having animated some new-born infant, who is at once taken to the religious establishment and educated by the lamas in the mysteries of their faith.