"i prayed and saw that which is hidden from the eyes of the people.

a vast plain was spread before me surrounded by distant mountains.

an old lama carried a basket filled with heavy stones. he hardlymoved. from the north a rider appeared in white robes and mountedon a white horse. he approached the lama and said to him:

"'give me your basket. i shall help you to carry them to thekure.'

"the lama handed his heavy burden up to him but the rider could notraise it to his saddle so that the old lama had to place it back onhis shoulder and continue on his way, bent under its heavy weight.

then from the north came another rider in black robes and on ablack horse, who also approached the lama and said:

"'stupid! why do you carry these stones when they are everywhereabout the ground?'

"with these words he pushed the lama over with the breast of hishorse and scattered the stones about the ground. when the stonestouched the earth, they became diamonds. all three rushed to raisethem but not one of them could break them loose from the ground.

then the old lama exclaimed:

"'oh gods! all my life i have carried this heavy burden and now,when there was left so little to go, i have lost it. help me,great, good gods!'

"suddenly a tottering old man appeared. he collected all thediamonds into the basket without trouble, cleaned the dust fromthem, raised the burden to his shoulder and started out, speakingwith the lama:

"'rest a while, i have just carried my burden to the goal and i amglad to help you with yours.'

"they went on and were soon out of sight, while the riders began tofight. they fought one whole day and then the whole night and,when the sun rose over the plain, neither was there, either aliveor dead, and no trace of either remained. this i saw, bogdohutuktu khan, speaking with the great and wise buddha, surroundedby the good and bad demons! wise lamas, hutuktus, kampos, marambasand holy gheghens, give the answer to my vision!"this was written in my presence on may 17th, 1921, from the wordsof the living buddha just as he came out of his private shrine tohis study. i do not know what the hutuktu and gheghens, thefortune tellers, sorcerers and clairvoyants replied to him; butdoes not the answer seem clear, if one realizes the presentsituation in asia?

awakened asia is full of enigmas but it is also full of answers tothe questions set by the destiny of humankind. this greatcontinent of mysterious pontiffs, living gods, mahatmas and readersof the terrible book of karma is awakening and the ocean ofhundreds of millions of human lives is lashed with monstrous waves.