during my stay in urga i tried to find an explanation of thislegend about the king of the world. of course, the living buddhacould tell me most of all and so i endeavored to get the story fromhim. in a conversation with him i mentioned the name of the kingof the world. the old pontiff sharply turned his head toward meand fixed upon me his immobile, blind eyes. unwillingly i becamesilent. our silence was a long one and after it the pontiffcontinued the conversation in such a way that i understood he didnot wish to accept the suggestion of my reference. on the faces ofthe others present i noticed expressions of astonishment and fearproduced by my words, and especially was this true of the custodianof the library of the bogdo khan. one can readily understand thatall this only made me the more anxious to press the pursuit.

as i was leaving the study of the bogdo hutuktu, i met thelibrarian who had stepped out ahead of me and asked him if he wouldshow me the library of the living buddha and used a very simple,sly trick with him.

"do you know, my dear lama," i said, "once i rode in the plain atthe hour when the king of the world spoke with god and i felt theimpressive majesty of this moment."to my astonishment the old lama very quietly answered me: "it isnot right that the buddhist and our yellow faith should conceal it.

the acknowledgment of the existence of the most holy and mostpowerful man, of the blissful kingdom, of the great temple ofsacred science is such a consolation to our sinful hearts and ourcorrupt lives that to conceal it from humankind is a sin. . . .

well, listen," he continued, "throughout the whole year the king ofthe world guides the work of the panditas and goros of agharti.

only at times he goes to the temple cave where the embalmed body ofhis predecessor lies in a black stone coffin. this cave is alwaysdark, but when the king of the world enters it the walls arestriped with fire and from the lid of the coffin appear tongues offlame. the eldest goro stands before him with covered head andface and with hands folded across his chest. this goro neverremoves the covering from his face, for his head is a nude skullwith living eyes and a tongue that speaks. he is in communion withthe souls of all who have gone before.

"the king of the world prays for a long time and afterwardsapproaches the coffin and stretches out his hand. the flamesthereon burn brighter; the stripes of fire on the walls disappearand revive, interlace and form mysterious signs from the alphabetvatannan. from the coffin transparent bands of scarcely noticeablelight begin to flow forth. these are the thoughts of hispredecessor. soon the king of the world stands surrounded by anauriole of this light and fiery letters write and write upon thewalls the wishes and orders of god. at this moment the king of theworld is in contact with the thoughts of all the men who influencethe lot and life of all humankind: with kings, czars, khans,warlike leaders, high priests, scientists and other strong men. herealizes all their thoughts and plans. if these be pleasing beforegod, the king of the world will invisibly help them; if they areunpleasant in the sight of god, the king will bring them todestruction. this power is given to agharti by the mysteriousscience of 'om,' with which we begin all our prayers. 'om' is thename of an ancient holyman, the first goro, who lived three hundredthirty thousand years ago. he was the first man to know god andwho taught humankind to believe, hope and struggle with evil. thengod gave him power over all forces ruling the visible world.

"after his conversation with his predecessor the king of the worldassembles the 'great council of god,' judges the actions andthoughts of great men, helps them or destroys them. mahytma andmahynga find the place for these actions and thoughts in the causesruling the world. afterwards the king of the world enters thegreat temple and prays in solitude. fire appears on the altar,gradually spreading to all the altars near, and through the burningflame gradually appears the face of god. the king of the worldreverently announces to god the decisions and awards of the'council of god' and receives in turn the divine orders of thealmighty. as he comes forth from the temple, the king of the worldradiates with divine light."