*****
Tsereh Wang Tuei had the tall lithe body of an athlete but whre his eyes hould have been were two sore holes and one hand was a twisted claw. Without emotion he told us that he was born a serf of Depung in the village of Pelchang, on the edge of the grasslands where we met him. He became a herdsman, looking after sheep and yaks. When he was 20 years old he stole two sheep belonging to a petty official of the monastery, named Gambo. oFor lthis crime he was taken before the monastic magistrate who ordered that both his eyes should be put out.
Tsereh Wang Tuei drew his hand across his face as he described how one was gouged with a knife and the other sucked from its socket with a half-hollowed ball. Then adding a little private punishment of his own, Gambo instructed the 'executioner' to tie up Tsereh's left hand with rope and twist and pull it until parts of two fingers came off. To complete the torture, the bleeding hand was wrapped in salted yak hide. When the leather had shrunk it was permitted to be removed. What was left was a useless piece of flesh and crushed bone.
We asked Tsereh Wang Tuei, "Are you a Buddhist?"
"I was," he said.
"But not now?"
"No," he replied. "When a holy lama told them to blind me I thought there was no good in religion. (p. 113)*****
Thirteenth Dalai Lama's tomb contains 300,000 ounces of gold. Photographs (many in color) in _The Timely Rain_ of the enormous riches embedded in architecture and art in Tibet in themselves tell the story. That much surplus wealth, in a wretchedly poor country, is not accumulated without immense suffering.
Carrol