“The following data is extracted from the book Working and Waiting for Tibet. The full source and bibliography are below.”
We will devote a separate chapter to a former lama, Sodpa Gjalzan, whose baptismal name is Nathanael.
His father was an official of high rank at the court of the Dalai-Lama. The son accordingly received an education in keeping with his father’s position, and such as should fit him for the high rank to which it was hoped that he would attain. For seven years he studied in a lamasery, gaining an unusually thorough acquaintance with the Buddhist religion and history. Of a clear, keen understanding, of extensive culture, of deep and earnest thought, he was far superior to the mass of his fellow students in knowledge and mental capacity. In character, he combined the habitual self-restraint of a lama with the excitable nature and hasty temper of a son of the soil. Cautious as a merchant, suspicious as a Chinese official, he had yet a certain frankness, which scorned to give a false reason instead of the true one. When his studies were completed, his thirst for knowledge drove him out into the world, and he spent four years in traveling, not only in his own country, but beyond the borders of the Chinese Empire.
Clad in the ordinary dress of a lama, the long red robe, sewed up from top to bottom, reaching almost to his shoes, with a girdle round the waist, and the jacket worn over the robe, he wandered about as a begging friar. His family was rich and influential, yet he might possess nothing but what he could carry about with him. Two leather wallets contained his whole property—a cooking utensil, a spoon, a brass drinking cup, a book, and any food that might be given to him.
Such was Gjalzan when a chance visit to Poo made him acquainted with Pagell. Some tracts seen at a farmer’s house induced him to attend the Christian service, and to seek an interview with the missionary, in order to learn something more about the religion of the white man. At this interview, Pagell presented him with the Gospel of St. Matthew in Tibetan. Again and again, he came to converse with the “white sahib” on Christianity and Buddhism, their points of similarity and their differences. His keen intellect showed him the greater depth and universal sympathy of Christianity, and his reverence for “The Light of Asia” steadily gave way to a growing love for “The Light of the World.”
Ere long he brought three little pictures of Buddha, printed in gold on a kind of black paper, which he had hitherto worn as an amulet, and gave them up to the missionary because, he said, he had no more faith in them. He no longer prayed to Buddha, but to Jesus. As a sign of his growing confidence, he asked his new friend to read some papers, in which he recorded his own spiritual impressions. “Though my thoughts be sinful to the end,” so he prays in one place, “let me not go on the way that leadeth to destruction. I pray Thee to make me a believer in Thy Gospel.” In another place, he says: “We must forsake even the slightest evil, and strive after even the slightest good.” Again: “Jesus Himself has brought us this doctrine. He is our only salvation. That He may draw me to Himself, and keep me as the apple of His eye!” “O God, when I was still in my own country, I had never heard of Jesus; now that the white sahib has told me of Him, I believe in Jesus Christ. When the name of Jesus was unknown to me, I was ignorant; enter not into judgment with Thy servant for this sin.” He refused to perform the duties of a lama, though he was thereby reduced to great want. Some of the farmers asked him to read aloud portions of the Buddhistic books at different places on their estates, in order to ensure a plentiful harvest. The lamas always receive good pay for doing this; but Nathanael firmly declared that it was deceit and sin, and he would not do it. Another time he was less firm. Having been called to a sick man, whom he was to cure by superstitious formula, he went home to fetch a book he needed and found the door fastened. He hesitated, went to Mr. Pagell, told him the whole story, and agreed that it was no mere chance, but a direct interposition of God.
At last, he made up his mind to remain at Poo and to become a Christian. When he asked for instruction preparatory to baptism, Pagell’s joy knew no bounds. This was a real reward of his toil; a man whose earnestness and thoughtfulness contrasted so favorably with the superficiality of his fellows; a man whose knowledge of Buddhism would make him a splendid instrument for the spread of the Gospel among his countrymen; a man who might be able to enter into the stronghold of Buddhism still closely barred and defended against the white man, the dreaded “Peling,” whom they fear will come over from Calcutta and conquer Tibet.
In order to strengthen his resolution by acquainting him with the life and intercourse of Christian Europeans, Pagell took Gjalzan on a visit to Simla. The kindness and sympathy he experienced there from Europeans and Hindu Christians, the solemn services in the large, well-filled churches, the Christian life in several English families, all made a deep impression upon Nathanael. On his return to Poo, he set to work to thoroughly master English, and being appointed teacher in the school, he went to live at the mission house. This act created an immense excitement, especially among the lamas. It amounted to an open declaration that he was a Christian. For, though the Buddhists have intercourse with the missionaries and attend services in the church, yet they look upon it as defilement for a servant of Buddha to live under the same roof with them, or to eat with them. One lama after another came to ask for an explanation of his conduct. To all alike, he confessed joyfully and resolutely that he had found peace for his soul in the Gospel. They shook their heads. They could not understand it. But his words produced the greater impression because they felt themselves inferior to him even in his knowledge of Buddhism. Half a year after the visit to Simla, he was baptized and received the name, Nathanael. Well might Pagell rejoice; for Nathanael was the first-fruits of the Buddhist priesthood, and his life after his baptism was at first an eloquent witness to the power of that faith to which he had sworn allegiance. Not that he was faultless. He was too stern and too impatient as a teacher; but he was glad to be corrected and improved greatly.
It was feared that the lamas would seek to kill him, as they have sought to kill others; but they respected him highly, partly for his knowledge, partly for his godly life. Some of the more bigoted peasants, who had formerly loaded him with tokens of honor and esteem, now treated him with neglect, but he did not mind it. He of his own accord proposed to go to Lhasa to preach the Gospel to his own people and spoke with sadness of the failure to reach the Mongolians, whom he considered superior to the Tibetans on account of their religious earnestness.
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Suddenly, however, there was a change, as though a hailstorm should gather and threaten the golden harvest. “How honestly he came; how earnestly he sought after peace and truth,” mourns Pagell; “how truly had he learned that the Lord is gracious! How he delighted in the assurance: ‘The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’ How willingly he endured shame and contempt! He refused even to copy out a heathen book, because he was no longer a Buddhist and wanted to have nothing more to do with such things. As a Tibetan, I have never seen his equal; a cultured, intellectual man, able to express himself on the Christian doctrine with such clearness as to amaze us—in short, he was our ornament and our pride. Now the house built for him stands empty, and we feel ready to weep; for we miss him sorely. Yet the Lord has assuredly some wise purpose in view, and we do not give up hope. The remembrance of our love will go with him, and may the Lord cause him, like the prodigal son, to ‘come to himself,’ and to arise and return, if not to us, yet to Him, the Saviour of sinners.”
What had happened? The old instincts of heathenism had been aroused; the pride of the lama had been awakened in him. He had yielded to sudden temptation and committed an act of violence. Helping to build his house, he quarreled with one of the masons. The man challenged him with insulting words, and Nathanael seized his opponent by the hair and stretched him senseless on the ground with a blow from his hammer. The news was brought that Nathanael had committed a murder. Pagell hastened to the spot, helped to carry the injured man to his house, where he soon recovered so far that he could be removed to his own home. But Nathanael was an altered man. In vain were all attempts to induce him to confess his fault. He declared he would leave the village, where retribution threatened him. He was advised, at any rate, to go to Kyelang, but he replied: “I might be made angry there also, and then I should be transported to the Andamans. I had rather go back to Tibet.” He stayed in Poo a few days, but neither went to church nor visited the mission house. When he sent for his possessions, Pagell gave up everything but the implements of magic; these he broke in pieces and burned, saying: “Tell him I will give them up to nobody, least of all to a convert.” The next day, Nathanael had disappeared.
A short time after, news reached Kyelang that Nathanael had been making his way through the Spiti valley, telling the people wherever he stayed that he “was a Christian,” and asking whether they were afraid of defiling themselves by eating with him. No better proof could have been given of his honesty. He need have said nothing about it, especially as he wore the dress of a lama. A few days later, he made his appearance in Kyelang and asked to be received there. All the time between his disappearance from Poo and his arrival at Kyelang, all through his wanderings in the lonely valleys, the Spirit of God had been at work in his heart. He reached Kyelang a different man. Of his own accord, he confessed that he had done wrong and declared that he must write to Mr. Pagell to ask his forgiveness. The missionaries at Kyelang gave him a trial. His repentance proved itself to be real. He became a most useful assistant to them. His linguistic attainments and his thorough knowledge of Buddhism were invaluable in the work of Bible translation. This he did partly alone, partly in conjunction with one of the missionaries, displaying great talent and still greater conscientiousness. Often he was in dread lest, by the use of wrong Buddhist terms, he should misrepresent the truth and depth of Christian doctrine.
After he had been in Kyelang some time, he began to undertake preaching tours in the neighboring provinces. He thus became the first native assistant. He knew the language and customs of the country better than the missionaries and was a native speaking to natives, whilst they were, after all, foreigners. Mr. Heyde met with many traces of Nathanael’s work. In one village, a woman told him that “the monk from Kyelang” had spent a whole day with her, teaching her out of books that the religion of Buddha could not bring salvation, and that one could find rest only by giving up the service of idols and serving the living God. Then he met Nathanael himself in the busy market town of Leh and found that he had been addressing large audiences in the bazaar. “I do not feel nervous,” he said, “when preaching Christ. On the contrary, I feel strengthened in my faith.”
Unfortunately, this continued only a few years. Then this son of a nomadic race announced his resolve to go down into the plains. He left Kyelang for Simla, whence he went to Lahore. He is still in the North of India, bearing a good character wherever he has been. Whether he will ever return to his home or resume his missionary career, we cannot tell; but for the invaluable aid he rendered in the great work of translation, his name deserves to live in the annals of the Mission in Tibet.
Source: Translated and Revised by Ward, Arthur. Working and Waiting for Tibet: A Sketch of the Moravian Mission to the Western Himalayas (London: Morgan and Scott). Chapter I: In the Valley and in the Height. XI “Nathaniel. Originally written in German by H. G. Schneider), 1918. (Office of “The Christian”) 12, Paternoster Building, E.C. Moravian Publication Office, 32, Fetter Lane, E.C).
MORAVIAN CHURCH 