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splash, and the man disappeared completely. Then there was a
flurry of water, and the man's head came above the surface, his
clutching hands reached the bank, and he hauled himself to the
land. His language was truly horrible, and the threats of what he
was going to do to me almost curdled my blood. I hurried off to
the far bank and when I, too, reached shore, I think that never
before had I traveled so fast on stilts.
One danger of stilts was the wind which always seems to be
blowing in Tibet. We would be playing in a courtyard, on stilts,
and in the excitement of the game we would forget the wind and
stride out beyond the sheltering wall. A gust of wind would billow
out our robes and over we would go, a tangle of arms, legs and
stilts. There were very few casualties. Our studies in judo taught
us how to fall without harming ourselves. Often we would have
bruises and scraped knees, but we ignored those trifles. Of course
there were some who could almost trip over their shadow, some
clumsy boys never learn breakfalls and they at times sustained a
broken leg or arm.
There was one boy who would walk along on his stilts and then
turn a somersault between the shafts. He seemed to hold on the
end of the stilts, take his feet from the steps, and twist himself
round in a complete circle. Up his feet would go, straight over his
head, and down to find the steps every time. He did it time after
time, almost never missing a step, or breaking the rhythm of his
walk. I could jump on stilts, but the first time I did so I landed
heavily, the two steps sheared right off and I made a hasty descent.
After that I made sure that the stilt steps were well fastened.
Just before my eighth birthday, the Lama Mingyar Dondup told
me that the astrologers had predicted that the day following my
73
birthday would be a good time to  open the Third Eye . This did
not upset me at all, I knew that he would be there, and I had com-
plete trust in him. As he had so often told me, with the Third
Eye open, I should be able to see people as they were. To us the
body was a mere shell activated by the greater self, the Overself
that takes over when one is asleep, or leaves this life. We believe
that Man is placed in the infirm physical body so that he can learn
lessons and progress. During sleep Man returns to a different
plane of existence. He lays down to rest, and the spirit disengages
itself from the physical body and floats off when sleep comes.
The spirit is kept in contact with the physical body by a  silver
cord which is there until the moment of death. The dreams which
one has are experiences undergone in the spirit plane of sleep.
When the spirit returns to the body, the shock of awaking distorts
the dream memory, unless one has had special training, and so
the  dream may appear wildly improbable to one in the waking
state. But this will be mentioned rather more fully later when I
state my own experiences in this connection.
The aura which surrounds the body, and which anyone can be
taught to see under suitable conditions, is merely a reflection of the
Life Force burning within. We believe that this force is electric,
the same as Lightning. Now, in the West, scientists can measure
and record the  electric brain waves . People who scoff at such
things should remember this and remember, too, the corona of the
sun. Here flames protrude millions of miles from the sun's disc.
The average person cannot see this corona, but in times of total
eclipse it is visible to anyone who cares to look. It really does not
matter whether people believe it or not. Disbelief will not extin-
guish the sun's corona. It is still there. So is the human aura. It
was this aura, among other things, which I was going to be able
to see when the Third Eye was opened.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
THE OPENING OF THE THIRD EYE
My birthday came, and during that day I was at liberty, free from
lessons, free from services. The Lama Mingyar Dondup said, in
the early morning,  Have an amusing day, Lobsang, we are coming
to see you at dusk. It was very pleasant lying on my back, lazing,
in the sunlight. Slightly below me I could see the Potala with its
roofs agleam. Behind me the blue waters of the Norbu Linga, or
Jewel Park, made me wish that I could take a skin boat and drift
along. South, I could watch a group of traders crossing the Kyi
Chu ferry. The day passed too quickly.
With the death of the day the evening was born, and I went to
the little room where I was to stay. There came the murmur of soft
felt boots on the stone floor outside, and into the room came three
lamas of high degree. They put a herbal compress to my head and
bound it tightly in place. In the evening the three came again, and
one was the Lama Mingyar Dondup. Carefully the compress was
removed, and my forehead wiped clean and dry. A strong-looking
lama sat behind me and took my head between his knees. The
second lama opened a box and removed an instrument made of
shining steel. It resembled a bradawl except that instead of having
a round shaft this one was  U -shaped, and in place of a point
there were little teeth around the edge of the  U . For some
moments the lama looked at the instrument, and then passed it
through the flame of a lamp to sterilize it. The Lama Mingyar
Dondup took my hands and said,  This is quite painful, Lobsang,
and it can only be done while you are fully conscious. It will not
take very long, so try to keep as still as you can. I could see
various instruments laid out, and a collection of herbal lotions,
and I thought to myself:  Well, Lobsang, my boy, they will finish [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]