RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Lainez Lamaism
and America now make provision for lay representation in their general meetings (synods, conferences, conventions, etc.) . In Germany and in England State control involves the preponderance of lay authority. In the disestablished Episcopal Church of Ireland lay representation is provided for. In the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States three lay delegates from each church participate in the diocesan conventions, and each diocesan convention sends four lay delegates to the general convention (with an equal number of clerical delegates), which legislates for the entire body. The Reformed bodies of the Presbyterian type amply provide for lay representation in the ruling elders, appointed for life, who participate with the ministers in the presbytery and in the graduated synodical meetings that culminate in the general assembly. Original Wesleyanism made no provision for lay representation. A growing and insistent demand for it led to controversies and schisms. It was adopted in a limited measure, after years of discussion and thorough testing of the sentiments of the constituency, by the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States in 1872. A still more liberal representation (equal to the ministerial) had been accorded to laymen by the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1866 and put in full operation in 1870. All the Anglo-American congregational bodies (Congregationalists, Baptists, Disciples, Unitarians, Universalists, etc.) have always accorded equality of privileges in general meetings to laymen. — A. H. N.
Bibliography: E. Hatch, Organization of the Early Christian Churches, lecture v., London, 1895; Bingham, Origines, I., v (gives citations from original authorities); L. Coleman, Ancient Christianity Exemplified, pp. 107— 109 et passim, Philadelphia, 1869; H. B. Restarick, Lay Readers; their History, Organization, and Work, New York, 1894; Schaff, Christian Church, ii. 123-131; Neander, Christian Church, consult Index, p. 131; DCA, ii. 912- 916; and the literature on the Didache and the Apostolical Constitutions. The development of the distinction between clergy and laity is usually treated in discussions of post-apostolic Christianity.
LAMAISM.
Tibet (§ 1). Development into Lamaism
Visits by Occidentals (§ 2). (§ 4).
Introduction of Buddhism Characteristics of Lamaism « 3). (§ 5).
Tibetan Literature (§6).
Lamaism is the name given to the religion of Tibet and a large part of Mongolia. It is a composite faith consisting of a debased (not the classical) Buddhism, which accommodated to itself elements of the early native " bon " (see below, § 3) •eligion and of Hinduism and then developed its Jwn forms of belief and of government. The word arm means a " superior," and is applied by courtesy to all monks above the grade of novice, though Jriginally given only to the abbots.
Tibet is a region of Central Asia, bounded south )y the Himalaya, north by the Kuen-luen Mountains (which almost meet on the west),
i. Tibet, west by Kashmir, and east by China.
It is a region of high plateaus cut
>y extremely deep and often precipitous val-
eys, divided by a lofty mountain range running
iast and west so that geographers make two main
divisions — the northern, inhospitable, entirely unknown to occidentals, intersected by parallel mountain ranges running east and west, between which are valleys and lakes frozen eight months in the year, where the population is sparse; the southern, richer in its possibilities and possessions, several times traversed in whole or in part by western travelers, and containing the sources of the Brahmaputra, Indus, Sutlej, Ganges, Mekong, Hoangho, Yang-tse-kiang and other important rivers. The population is estimated at between one and a half and three and a half millions, of whom about half a million are said to be monks. The ethnological affinities, as indicated by the language, are with the peoples of the Himalayas and Assam, but observation points to a mixing with the Chinese on the east and the Hindus on the south. In the settled regions polyandry is the rule, among the nomads monogamy prevails, while the wealthy are frequently polygamous. The culture is of mixed native, Chinese, and Indian origin. The principal points of the history, so far as it is known, are necessarily related in the story of the religion. China claims the region as a part of the empire, and a resident at the capital, Lhasa, is the representative of the suzerain power.
The first European visitor of record was Odoric of Pordenone (Odoricus Forojuliensis), who in 1330 led a company of monks into the country and reached Lhasa, which he described (cf. H. Cordier, Les Voyages en Asie . du frere Odoric de
Pordenone, Paris, 1891). Of the result of his preaching nothing is known. In 1624 the Portuguese Jesuit Antonio D' Andrada (q.v.) 2. Visits went from Delhi to western Tibet and by Occi- was kindly received by the local chief dentals. ofTjaprang. His success as a preacher was such that the foundation of a cathedral was laid, but the position was abandoned when apparently all was favorable. Lhasa was again visited in 1706 by the missionaries J. de Asculi and F. M. de Torin, who stayed but a short time. During 1716-27 Hippolytus Desiderius and Emanuel Freyre resided in the land, protected by the local ruler against the prejudice of the people, in whom the tendency toward isolation was beginning to show itself. Other missionaries were sent out in 1719 and 1730, but the opportunity to establish Christianity was lost. About 1760 the isolation of the country was brought about, and thereafter entrance was difficult to effect and was usually accomplished only by craft. In 1811 an English physician reached Lhasa disguised as a Hindu and in attendance upon a Chinese general. The Abbe E. R. Hue (q.v.) arrived there by way of Mongolia in Jan., 1846, but was compelled to leave in March of the same year. In spite of the policy of exclusion, reports from Hindus, from Mongolians, and from Russian subjects have made the situation and appearance of Lhasa and its vicinity well known. From nearly all sides the city has been approached by numerous travelers, but access to the capital was strictly barred until the recent British expedition, which failed, however, to reach the Lama, who retired as the English drew near, and finally went to Pekin, where he stayed
Lamaism Lambert