the head of the Yellow Hat sect of Buddhist monks, take over the powers of the state. The Dalai Lama was a ruler rather like the Pope before 1870, who, as well as ruling the church was also the ruler of a state in Italy. According to their religion (which included the idea of transmigration of souls), when a Dalai Lama died his spirit went into a new-born child. The monks therefore would search the country for a child born at the moment of the Dalai Lama's death. They usually waited for about five years. When they had found a suitable child he was brought to Lhasa the capital and educated to be the new ruler. This was a rather unusual method of choosing a ruler but not all that ancient - the British and Japanese monarchies are much older. Other, lesser, rulers of monasteries, such as the Panchen Lama, the most recent of whom died in 1989, were chosen in the same way. Monks claim to have found his reincarnation in 1995. The child was taken to Beijing.

This method of choosing a new ruler might be slightly superior to hereditary succession by the eldest son as was practiced in Europe. The theory of transmigration of souls (also believed in by Hindus and by Pythagoras and perhaps by ancient African religion) does not have to be true in order to practice this method. The main effect of the method is that the ruler is educated to rule and the monks can choose someone with the character they want. There were political aspects to the choosing of the Dalai Lama. This is illustrated by the fact that the fourth Dalai Lama was a child of the Mongolian Royal family, who were politically dominant in the area at the time. The office of Dalai Lama seems less mysterious if we realise that it was a political position which could be subject to the usual political influences. The Dalai Lama lived in the Potala in Lhasa. This building was both monastery and palace and the seat of the government. The present Dalai Lama now lives in exile at Dharamsala in India. It is now his religious activities which are most prominent. The theory is that he is a highly developed person (Living Buddha) and that such people can choose whether to be reborn after they die. It is possible that the idea of such a ruler came from the Buddhist kings of Bamian in Afghanistan, whose kingdom was converted to Islam in the first century of Islam.

The Chinese took away the powers of the Lamas when they conquered the country and made it a province or colony of China. The exact international political status of Tibet in the past is disputed. At present - 1989 - the Tibetan people are showing that they wish to regain their independence and to be ruled by the Dalai Lama rather than by the Chinese. The Chinese claim that Tibet has always been a province of China. Culturally the Tibetans are quite different from the Chinese, who have tried to destroy the Tibetan culture, especially during the Cultural Revolution period (1965-1975). The Dalai Lama has advised that an independent Tibet would have a parliament elected by the people and a government responsible to that Parliament. That is, the Dalai Lama would no longer be the absolute ruler.

Magic
Probably you have heard stories about how people greeted the first bicycles, matches, radios and other objects which are now familiar modern machines. Some people may have used the local word for "magic" about these. Now of course we use them every day. Most of us still don't know how they work or are made but we know that somewhere there are human beings who do know and that if we took the necessary educational courses we could know too. Quite possibly the Tibetans in their isolation heard rumours about these mechanical objects and regarded them as magic. Magic is a word for things we do not know about. As soon as we know how something is done it is no longer magic; it becomes technology.

In the modern world what people regard as magic are stories about people influencing other people or things by using the mind alone. Does this kind of magic really exist, and if it does, is it important? Scientific investigation - parapsychology - has been going on to find out whether people can affect physical objects or know what others are thinking about. The general conclusion is that although there seems to be evidence that this sort of thing happens occasionally it is very unreliable and not worth pursuing. Radio, television and satellite communications are considered to be much more reliable methods of transmitting information. Parapsychological events seem to occur occasionally as, for example, when identical twins seem to be able to communicate by telepathy. Unlike television these phenomena do not occur to order and thus are difficult to investigate in the laboratory.

What is known is that human beings can be influenced by suggestions given by someone with enough prestige. Advertising men use these techniques as much as any traditional magicians. It seems likely that much of what has been known traditionally as magic is what is now called psychology. At least part of what traditional magicians do is dependent on influencing people by suggestion - a technique described in academic textbooks of psychology. The use of drums, darkness, fire and smoke and strange smells are well-known means of influencing people in this way. A particular type of suggestion is called hypnotism. People who have been hypnotised can be persuaded to believe that they can see things which are not there, or hear sounds which do not exist.

In Tibet, a very large country, there was, as well as the Buddhist religion of the Lamas, a popular religion similar to some types of traditional African religion. This is known as Bonism and existed before the Buddhism of the Lamas came from India. There have been reports from Tibet of Bonist ceremonies such as walking on fire which have also been reported from other parts of the world. As this can be explained entirely by science, this is not magic. This sort of practice was discouraged by the Lamas who did not approve of