in higher forms of being, the conquerors of the five evils, the flame that burns up sin, the hammer that breaks up torment, and so on. _Om_ saves the gods, _ma_ the Asuras, _ni_ the men, _pad_ the animals, _mí_ the spectre world of _pretâs_, _hûm_ the inhabitants of hell! _Om_ is ‘the blessing of self-renunciation, _ma_ of mercy, _ni_ of chastity, etc.’ ‘Truly monstrous,’ says Koeppen, ‘is the number of _padmís_ which in the great festivals hum and buzz through the air like flies.’ In some places each worshipper reports to the highest Lama how many _om manis_ he has uttered, and the total number emitted by the congregation is counted by the billion.” Grueber and Dorville describe _Manipe_ as an idol, before which _stulta gens insolitis gesticulationibus sacra sua facit, identiden verba haec repetens_:--‘O Manipe, mi hum, O Manipe, mi hum; _id est_ Manipe, salva nos!’ Rémusat (_Mélanges Posthumes_, Paris, 1843, p. 99) translates this phrase by: “Adoration, O thou precious stone who art in the lotus!” and observes that it illustrates the fundamental dogma of Buddhism, viz.: the production of the material universe by an absolute being; all things which exist are shut up in the breast of the divine substance; the ‘precious stone’ signifying that _the world is in God_. Mr. Jameson says that the sentence _Om mani padmí hung_ is formed of the initial letters of various deities, all of whom are supposed to be implored in the prayer.[143] In reverential salutations, the cap is removed by the inferior, and the arms hang by the side. The bodies of the dead are placed in an open inclosure, in the same manner as practised by the Parsees, where birds and beasts of prey devour them, or they are dismembered in an exposed place. Lamas are burned, and their ashes collected into urns. As soon as the breath has departed, the body is seated in the same attitude as Buddha is represented, with the legs bent before, and the soles of the feet turned upwards. The right hand rests upon the thigh, the left turns up near the body, the thumb touching the shoulder. In this attitude of contemplation, the corpse is burned. ~TIBETAN TYPES AND CUSTOMS.~