Have you ever seen the dusty cobwebs and the mould in the cellarsof some ancient castle in Italy, France or England? This is thedust of centuries. Perhaps it touched the faces, helmets andswords of a Roman Augustus, St. Louis, the Inquisitor, Galileo orKing Richard. Your heart is involuntarily contracted and you feela respect for these witnesses of elapsed ages. This sameimpression came to me in Ta Kure, perhaps more deep, morerealistic. Here life flows on almost as it flowed eight centuriesago; here man lives only in the past; and the contemporary onlycomplicates and prevents the normal life.

"Today is a great day," the Living Buddha once said to me, "the dayof the victory of Buddhism over all other religions. It was a longtime ago--on this day Kublai Khan called to him the Lamas of allreligions and ordered them to state to him how and what theybelieved. They praised their Gods and their Hutuktus. Discussionsand quarrels began. Only one Lama remained silent. At last hemockingly smiled and said:

"'Great Emperor! Order each to prove the power of his Gods by theperformance of a miracle and afterwards judge and choose.'

"Kublai Khan so ordered all the Lamas to show him a miracle but allwere silent, confused and powerless before him.

"'Now,' said the Emperor, addressing the Lama who had tendered thissuggestion, 'now you must prove the power of your Gods!'

"The Lama looked long and silently at the Emperor, turned and gazedat the whole assembly and then quietly stretched out his handtoward them. At this instant the golden goblet of the Emperorraised itself from the table and tipped before the lips of the Khanwithout a visible hand supporting it. The Emperor felt the delightof a fragrant wine. All were struck with astonishment and theEmperor spoke:

"'I elect to pray to your Gods and to them all people subject to memust pray. What is your faith? Who are you and from where do youcome?'

"'My faith is the teaching of the wise Buddha. I am Pandita Lama,Turjo Gamba, from the distant and glorious monastery of Sakkia inTibet, where dwells incarnate in a human body the Spirit of Buddha,his Wisdom and his Power. Remember, Emperor, that the peoples whohold our faith shall possess all the Western Universe and duringeight hundred and eleven years shall spread their faith throughoutthe whole world.'

"Thus it happened on this same day many centuries ago! Lama TurjoGamba did not return to Tibet but lived here in Ta Kure, wherethere was then only a small temple. From here he traveled to theEmperor at Karakorum and afterwards with him to the capital ofChina to fortify him in the Faith, to predict the fate of stateaffairs and to enlighten him according to the will of God."The Living Buddha was silent for a time, whispered a prayer andthen continued:

"Urga, the ancient nest of Buddhism. . . . With Jenghiz Khan onhis European conquest went out the Olets or Kalmucks. Theyremained there almost four hundred years, living on the plains ofRussia. Then they ret............