MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUte, etc., LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & CO., LIMITED, 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. 1895. (All rights reserved.) ΤΟ . WILLIAM TENNANT GAIRDNER, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., IN ADMIRATION OF HIS NOBLE CHARACTER, PHILOSOPHIC TEACHING, WIDE CULTURE, AND MANY LABOURS DEVOTED WITH EXEMPLARY FIDELITY TO THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE AND THE SERVICE OF MAN, THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. N° O apology is needed for the production at the present time of a work on the Buddhism of Tibet, or "Lāmaism" as it has been called, after its priests. Notwithstanding the increased attention which in recent years has been directed to Buddhism by the speculations of Schopenhauer and Hartmann, and the widely felt desire for fuller information as to the conditions and sources of Eastern religion, there exists no European book giving much insight into the jealously guarded religion of Tibet, where Buddhism wreathed in romance has now its chief stronghold. The only treatise on the subject in English, is Emil Schlagintweit's Buddhism in Tibet 1 published over thirty years ago, and now out of print. A work which, however admirable with respect to the time of its appearance, was admittedly fragmentary, as its author had never been in contact with Tibetans. And the only other European book on Lāmaism, excepting Giorgi's curious compilation of last century, is Köppen's Die Lamaische Hierarchie 'Leipzig and London, 1863. That there is no lack of miscellaneous literature on Tibet and Lamaism may be seen from the bibliographical list in the appendix; but it is all of a fragmentary and often conflicting character. |