Note 4 — Chapter XXX · THE BURIATS.

Inside the cylinder is placed the oft-used prayer of the Buddhist, “Om mani padme houm,” of which a Russian near the monastery said the meaning was Gospodi pomilui,—i.e., “Lord, have mercy upon us!” Its real meaning, however, does not appear to be very clear. Klaproth understood it to mean, “O the gem in the lotus. Amen!” and Huc paraphrases it into, “O that I may obtain perfection, and be absorbed in Buddha. Amen.” The lamas assert that the doctrine contained in the marvellous words is immense, and that the whole life of man is insufficient to measure its depth and extent. At Lhassa the formula is heard from every mouth—is everywhere visible in the streets, in the interior of the houses, and on every flag and streamer floating over the buildings, printed in Tatar and Thibetan characters. Certain rich and zealous Buddhists even entertain, at their own expense, companies of lamas for the propagation of the mani; and these strange missionaries, chisel and hammer in hand, traverse field, mountain, and desert to engrave the sacred formula on the stones and rocks they encounter in their path. There was a stone with inscriptions, in the temple yard at Cheelantoui; and I found other stones, bearing the mani, on the supposed site of a temple at Tyr, on the Lower Amur.