LAMA, LAMAISM, is the name given to the Buddhist religion in Mongolia and Tibet. Lama in these lauguages properly means priest, but is only applied to those persons who enjoy the higher dignities of the Buddhist hierarchy. first became an illustrious appellation after the conquests of the Mongols under Genghis_ Khan and his successors had elevated the individual who pretended to be the succes sor of Buddha to the dignity of Dalai Lama. The name was first confined to eight subordinate chiefs, who were appointed to act as his council, but was afterwards extended by the Dalai Lama to all other priests whola certain degree of authority. The title of Lama is given to every monastery, and every Lama is considered a vicar of the deity, and requires implicit obedience to all his com mands, like the Dalai Lama himself. The opinions of this sect are fully developed in the article Humana.; and their religious rites and ceremonies resemble those of the BONZES in Japan.
M. Hue (` Souvenirs d'un Voyage dane la Tarterie, le Thibet, et la Chine, pendant les ann6es 1844, 1845, et 1846,' Paris, 1850), says the Lamas of Tibet are persons of the most limited information, and that their creed is little more refined than that of the vulgar.
The Lamas of Tibet are the physicians; they cure by prayers and some insignificant medicament.
At the Lamasery of Tchort-chi there are 2000 Lamas : it is a favoured place of the emperor, and in it the Mantehou language is taught.
The death of a Grand Lama, says M. Hue, occasions no visible grief or mourning, they only consider the death as a disappearance, and with fasting and prayer the Lamasery await the announcement of his re appearance. This is revealed by certain augurs, who inform the dis ciples when and in what place a child will be found in whom the new Buddha has taken up his abode. When found, the child, usually about five or six years old, is examined as to tho circumstances of his recent death, and of the events of his previous existence ; the answers are usually satisfactory; he is conducted in grand procession to the Lama sery, and becomes at once the Grand Lama of the particular Lama sery, for there is no Tartar kingdom which does not possess in one of its chief Lamaseries a living Buddha.
In all the great Lamaseries are placed barrel-like figures, formed of a number of sheets of paper pasted together, into a thick board, and turning on an axle. On these sheets of paper are written the most usual prayers of the district ; and those who want the power or the will to perform long and tedious ceremonies, set this barrel in motion, by which the same effect is produced—the praying and the proatm Hens are done for them.