Schlagintweit, Emil: Buddhism in Tibet: illustrated by literary documents and objects (Leipzig, 1863)

THE SQUARE TORTOISE.

309

In order to discover the region required, various
circumstances have to be taken into consideration; of
the numerous books in which they are detailed the
greatest variety of rules is contained in the books
Yangsal Domi (already quoted p. 280), Chungpa kundus
tsis, and Thangshin-gi tsis. The astrologers are very re-
served in communicating these laws; this would make
their art too popular and would deprive it of the char-
acter of sublime mysticism and science, with which they
now array it. All I can say is this: A quantity of
numerals corresponding to the number of years of the
questioner is inscribed successively in the nine com-
partments of a circle in the order in which the sym-
bolical names of the quarters of the world are enumerated
in the following verses:—

"The centre, the heaven, the iron, the mountain and
"The fire, the water, the earth, the tree, the air,
turning."

' The centre means the nadir,
the tenth of the regions of the uni-
verse which the Tibetans acknow-
ledge (the ninth region, the zenith,
is omitted). From the number
which takes the place of the nadir,
the succession of the others depends; which number has
to occupy the centre I do not know, I have been only
informed that attention must be paid to the sex, as the.
central number is one with males, another with females.

Air

(North-west)

Fire

(North)

Earth

(North-east)

Tree

(West)

Centre

Iron

(East)

Mountain
(South-west)

Water

(South)

Heaven

(South-east)

1 The Tibetan text is printed sub No. I., 1. in Plate XVIII.