During a recent visit that I made to a gonpa," he began, "one of the lamas told me about a certain prophet, or, as you would say, a Buddha of the name of Issa. Can you tell me anything relative to his existence?"

        "The name of Issa is held in great respect by the Buddhists," replied the lama. "But little is known about him save by the chief lamas who have read the scrolls relative to his life.

        "The documents concerning his existence-brought from India to Nepal and from Nepal to Thibet--are written in the Pali language and are now in Lassa. But a copy in our language-that is, the Thibetan--exists in this convent."

        "Would you be committing a sin to recite these copies to a stranger?" Notovitch ventured.

        "That which belongs to God belongs also to man," said the lama. "I am doubtful where the papers are to be found. But if ever you visit our gonpa again, I shall be pleased to show them to you."

        Dr. Notovitch was doubtful when he would consider returning to the wilderness of Hindustan. He remembered the "carnivorous inhabitants" of Kangra. And Zodgi-La, where his caravan tiptoed across projectures in the rock no more than a meter wide. "My heart stood still more than once during my perilous journey."

       The caravan arrived back at Himis late that evening.

        "Hearing of my accident, everyone came out to meet me," Notovitch recalled. "I was carried with great care to the best of their chambers under the immediate surveillance of the superior, who affectionately pressed the hand which I offered him in gratitude."

        The affable lama kept Notovitch entertained throughout the following day with endless stories. At last, "acceding to my earnest entreaties," he brought out two large yellowed volumes and read to him the biography of St. Issa. Notovitch enlisted a member of his party to translate the Tibetan while he carefully noted each verse in the back pages of his journal.

        The legend begins with the crucifixion.

        The earth has trembled and the heavens have wept because of a great crime which has been committed in the land of Israel.

        For they have tortured and there put to death the great and just Issa, in whom dwelt the soul of the universe,

        Which was incarnate in a simple mortal in order to do good to men and to exterminate their evil thoughts

        And in order to bring back man degraded by his sins to a life of peace, love, and happiness and to recall to him the one and indivisible Creator, whose mercy is infinite and without bounds....

        At this time came the moment when the all-merciful Judge elected to become incarnate in a human being.

        And the Eternal Spirit, dwelling in a state of complete inaction and of supreme beatitude, awoke and detached itself for an indefinite period from the Eternal Being,

        So as to show forth in the guise of humanity the means of self-identification with Divinity and of attaining to eternal felicity,

        And to demonstrate by example how man may attain moral purity and, by separating his soul from its mortal coil, the degree of perfection necessary to enter into the kingdom of heaven, which is unchangeable and where happiness reigns eternal.

        Soon after, a marvelous child was born in the land of Israel, God himself speaking by the mouth of this infant of the frailty of the body and the grandeur of the soul.

        The parents of the newborn child were poor people, belonging by birth to a family of noted piety, who, forgetting their ancient grandeur on earth, praised the name of the Creator and thanked him for the ills with which he saw fit to prove them.

        To reward them for not turning aside from the way of truth, God blessed the firstborn of this family. He chose him for his elect and sent him to help those who had fallen into evil and to cure those who suffered.

        The divine child, to whom was given the name of Issa, began from his earliest years to speak of the one and indivisible God, exhorting the souls of those gone astray to repentance and the purification of the sins of which they were culpable.

        People came from all parts to hear him, and they marveled at the discourses proceeding from his childish mouth. All the Israelites were of one accord in saying that the Eternal Spirit dwelt in this child.

        When Issa had attained the age of thirteen years, the epoch when an Israelite should take a wife,

        The house where his parents earned their living by carrying on a modest trade began to be a place of meeting for rich and noble people, desirous of having for son-in-law the young Issa, already famous for his edifying discourses in the name of the Almighty.

        Then it was that Issa left the parental house in secret, departed from Jerusalem, and with the merchants set out towards Sind,

        With the object of perfecting himself in the Divine Word and of studying the laws of the great Buddhas.