Page:The Visit of the Teshoo Lama to Peking.djvu/48

38 The Emperor here, it will be noticed, does not claim that the Pan-ch‘an came to assist in the celebration of his "萬壽," as he rather complacently relates in his letter to the Dalai Lama.

Next, the Emperor extols the extraordinary capacities and the great merits of the Lama. The "圓覺" "yüan chüeh" is a watchword of Buddhist vernacular, applied to the Pratyêka Buddhas, those ascetics who have attained Buddhaship individually and are usually deprived of the ability to save others. It will be explained later on that the Lama was not lacking in this capacity.

The Emperor enumerates attributes of the Lama which are again watchwords of Buddhists, and especially of the "wu-wei." He is the one "who adds to the eternal Radiance the eternally burning lamp of the law of Buddhism." This could be done only if he is credited with the faculties which distinguish the eminent exponents of the "wu-wei," as characterized by Edkins thus: "If there is light with in me, it illuminates all heaven and earth. If my own nature be always bright, heaven will never become dark."

Another such attribute is described in the phrase "his benefit was all pervading alike to heaven and earth," just as we find it often expressed: "The pure doctrine of the 'wu-wei' is pure incense, pervading all heaven and earth." And the honorific designation of the Holy Man in the heading of the inscription "The Pure and Peaceful One" (清淨) appears likewise in a work attributed to the founder of the "無為教" in China' the 清淨卷.