Out shuffled the lama to the main hall , and , the Curator beside him , went through the collection with the reverence of a devotee and the appreciative instinct of a craftsman . Incident by incident in the beautiful story he identified on the blurred stone , puzzled here and there by the unfamiliar Greek convention , but delighted as a child at each new trove . Where the sequence failed , as in the Annunciation , the Curator supplied it from his mound of books -- French and German , with photographs and reproductions . Here was the devout Asita , the pendant of Simeon in the Christian story , holding the Holy Child on his knee while mother and father listened ; and here were incidents in the legend of the cousin Devadatta . Here was the wicked woman who accused the Master of impurity , all confounded ; here was the teaching in the Deer-park ; the miracle that stunned the fire-worshippers ; here was the Bodhisat in royal state as a prince ; the miraculous birth ; the death at Kusinagara , where the weak disciple fainted ; while there were almost countless repetitions of the meditation under the Bodhi tree ; and the adoration of the alms-bowl was everywhere . In a few minutes the Curator saw that his guest was no mere bead-telling mendicant , but a scholar of parts . And they went at it all over again , the lama taking snuff , wiping his spectacles , and talking at railway speed in a bewildering mixture of Urdu and Tibetan . He had heard of the travels of the Chinese pilgrims , Fu-Hiouen and Hwen-Tsiang , and was anxious to know if there was any translation of their record . He drew in his breath as he turned helplessly over the pages of Beal and Stanislas Julien . '' Tis all here . A treasure locked . ' Then he composed himself reverently to listen to fragments hastily rendered into Urdu . For the first time he heard of the labours of European scholars , who by the help of these and a hundred other documents have identified the Holy Places of Buddhism . Then he was shown a mighty map , spotted and traced with yellow . The brown finger followed the Curator 's pencil from point to point . Here was Kapilavastu , here the Middle Kingdom , and here Mahabodhi , the Mecca of Buddhism ; and here was Kusinagara , sad place of the Holy One 's death . The old man bowed his head over the sheets in silence for a while , and the Curator lit another pipe . Kim had fallen asleep . When he waked , the talk , still in spate , was more within his comprehension . ` And thus it was , O Fountain of Wisdom , that I decided to go to the Holy Places which His foot had trod -- to the Birthplace , even to Kapila ; then to Mahabodhi , which is Buddh Gaya -- to the Monastery -- to the Deer-park -- to the place of His death . '
The XXXXX lowered his voice .
Annunciation Buddhism Devadatta Gaya German Kapila Mahabodhi Simeon devotee lama