The European traveler is accustomed to seeing Asia from above. By that I mean that...the European is generally a good deal better off than the people through whose territory he is passing. So the foreigner tends to ride the high horse of privilege and view the backwoods and their denizens from above. It was otherwise with Herr Harrer.
During the period he rose - from the confidence he inspired rather than because he angled for preferment - from being a destitute and alien vagabond to a well rewarded post as tutor and confidant of the young Dalai Lama.
One of the best characteristics of the Tibetan people is their tolerance of other creeds.
Their monastic theocracy has never sought the conversion of infidels.
It is not lack of work or dire necessity that makes people beggars; not, in most cases bodily infirmity. It is pure laziness.
[The Dalai Lama's] greatest worry was whether his knowledge equaled that of a western school boy of the same age, or whether he would in Europe be classed as a backward Tibetan. Tibetans are anything but dull witted; they are confusing education with intelligence.
[The 13th Dalai Lama] wished to enact new laws but met with bitter opposition from his conservative entourage, who quoted the utterances of the 5th Dalai Lama on the same context. To which the 13th Dalai Lama replied "and who was the 5th former body?" The monks, thereon, prostrated themselves before him for his answer had left them speechless. As an incarnation he was all other Dalai Lama's as well. It entered my mind when I heard this story how lucky Tibet has been never to have a ruler like Nero or Ivan the Terrible. But to a Tibetan such a thought could never occur, for how could an incarnation of the God of Grace by other than good?
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