Three centuries ago there was created at the great monastery of Tashilhunpo a gilded figure of the then Grand Lama of Tibet. It was physically modelled and psychically magnetized in his presence. In the course of time the statuette belonged to the late (thirteenth) Grand Lama at Lhasa. Through a close friend of his, it passed into the possession of the writer. Now it sits silently on his desk, half-smiling at the bustling mechanically aided literary activities which are a vivid and visible symbol of the renewal of an age-old knowledge stirring out of long hibernation. Is there not a profound significance in this conjuncture of ancient Asiatic and modern Occidental attitudes? For these two currents of calm contemplation and practical service flow, I hope, through my pages towards a common goal and bring about in the hearts, minds, and actions of those who respond to it a better understanding of life's activity. Nevertheless my emphasis is modern because this iconoclastic century is compelled to live chiefly for the shining hour rather than the buried past.
-- Notebooks Category 12: Reflections > Chapter 2 : Philosophy and Contemporary Culture > # 210
