Parade of the Lamas

Out of the hidden and forbidden fastness of Tibet comes the background for this little excursion into improbability. A Lama, to a Tibetan, is a superman capable of little parlor stunts like levitation for an indefinite period, or a stark naked marathon run of hundreds of miles over 20, 000 foot high anthills that make up the Himalaya's. Mental projection of astral images, telepathy, all the things that we in our devious ways attempt to imitate under the guise of magic, are reported to be actualities to these fantastic sorcerers.

Shrouded in Sanskrit are directions for performing these miracles. Since, however, most of the formulae call for a twenty year residence in an isolated cave plus a meager subsistence ration, perhaps it would be easier to call on Sakya-t 'Ubpa and see what we can do with a playing card representation of the “Green Lama.” Effect: Three playing cards, printed as Green Lamas are shown. See the illustration for the type of picture to use.

They are placed in a face down row, end to end. On to each are dealt two cards at right angles. Then, to one side, are dealt three indifferent cards in a pile. The first of the original three stacks is picked up and the Lama card openly pushed between the two other cards.

The master, you, mutters “Ommani-padme-hum,” (a Tibetan prayer saying,

“Hail the shining jewel in the lotus blossoms,” and, allegorically, “Greater glory to Buddha.”) The three cards are shown to be indifferent to the prayer. But the Lama card has vanished. The off-side indifferent heap is fanned face up and the Lama card is among them.

The second original stack is picked up and its Lama card inserted. In the same manner it is shown to have disappeared, and then revealed to have travelled to the off-side pile. In the last instance, some spectator holds the pack while the Lama again vanishes from its packet. The per-former shows the off-side stack now containing all three Lama cards, and all is open for inspection by the unbelievers.