In 1774 a deputation was sent to carry back an answer to the Lama, and
to offer him suitable presents. It was furnished also with a variety
of articles of English manufacture, to be produced as specimens of
the trade in which the subjects of the Lama might be invited to
participate. The result was, that in 1779, when the Lama visited
the Emperor of China at Pekin, desirous of improving his connexion
with the Government of Bengal, he desired the British envoy to go
round by sea to Canton, promising to join him at the capital. The
Emperor's promise was at the same time obtained to permit the first
openings of an intercourse between that country and Bengal, through
the intermediate channel furnished by the Lama.
The death of both the Lama and the envoy, however, which happened
nearly at the same time, destroyed the plans thus formed.
Soon after the receipt of the letters announcing the Lama's death,
intelligence arrived of his reappearance in Thibet! His soul, according
to the doctrines of their faith, had passed into and animated the
body of an infant, who, on the discovery of his identity by such
testimony as their religion prescribes, was proclaimed by the same
title as his predecessor.
Warren Hastings then proposed a second deputation to Thibet, and
Captain Turner was accordingly nominated on the 9th January, 1783.
His mention of the sculptured stones and inscription is as follows: -
"Another sort of monument is a long wall, on both faces of which
near the top are inserted large tablets with the words 'Oom maunee
paimee oom' carved in relief. This is the sacred sentence repeated
upon the rosaries of the Lamas, and in general use in Tibet. Of the
form of words to which ideas of peculiar sanctity are annexed by the
inhabitants, I could never obtain a satisfactory explanation. It
is frequently engraven on the rocks in large and deep characters,
and sometimes I have seen it on the sides of hills; the letters,
which are formed by means of stones fixed in the earth, are of so
vast a magnitude as to be visible at a very considerable distance."
M. Hue's account of an explanation of the formula, which he received
from the highest authority at Lassa, is as follows: - "Living beings
are divided into six classes - angels, demons, men, quadrupeds,
birds, and reptiles. These six classes of beings correspond to the
syllables of the formula, 'Om mani padme houm.' Living beings by
continual transformations, and according to their merit or demerit,
pass about in these six classes until they have attained the apex
of perfection, when they are absorbed and lost in the grand essence
of Buddha.
