Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-02

dressed people, for Orientals are Away!
at leisure, and always in mood to enjoy
sightseeing. When the pile is to be ig
nited, lighted papers are plentlfully dis
tributed by the priests, and applied by al
who are near enough to reach the pyra
mid. Rejoicing and music are kept VI
during the burning to celebrate the happy
Liberation of the spirit of the deceased.
There is one other ceremony connected
with the incarceration of the body at all
Booddhistic funerals that l must not neg
lect to mention. While the flames are
cleaning most ffercely, sending forth
their forked tongues Of glowing fire, the
nearest relatives toss bundles of clothing
across the flaming bier, uttering mean
while, in low, plaintive tones, solemn,
earnest inyOcatiOns which can be heard
ONLY occasionally in the pauses Of the
waiting dirge and the fierce clang Of in.
struments. | had witnessed these strange
proceedings. so like child's play to us, at
several different funerals before [ was
able to comprehend their signifcancy.
To the imaginative Oriental they are no
unmeaning ceremony, but species of
necromancy, by means OF which he would
peer into the unknown future to catch q
glimpse of the fate or the loved and lost
All Booddhists believe IN transmigration,
and their sacred books tell them that six
times at least the souls OF even the best and
purest must cross the fiery gulf that sep
arates this state of being from the Nigban
for which they pine-the Elysian fields,
where, in shady groves and amid faded
flowers, the faithful ever securely slum-
Der in dreamless uncOnsclOusness, insensi-
BILE alike to pain and pleasure and utterly
incapable of volitiOn, thought and action,
vet not dead. When guilt has been in
CURED by any breach of BoOddhistic law
the number of probationary lives is
increased in proportion to the magnitude
of the offense-Often, aye, generally,
reaching to hundreds and even thousands
of states of being-tiIl, "by oft-repeated
trials and sufferings, the soul is purged
from sin and rendered meet for the com
partnership Of the blessed" But six lines,
at the very least, the soul must have
inhabited an earthly body; and if, in
tossing the bundles of clothing across the
pyre, they fall not a single time, the sur
vivors believe that the deceased has
passed his last ordeal, and is thence for
ward safely housed in Nigban. But if
the bundles fall they read in this casualty
an omen of additional states of trial and
discipline, just as many in number as the
failures in catching the bundles. After
eight or ten falls they give up in despair,
thinking it useless to peer further into
the dismal future of one who has still so
many lives of discipline before him.
There is no childish trifing in this mat
ter, as some travellers have supposed; it is
an affair of the gravest moment and of
heart-thrilling interest, while its results
are watched with intense anxiety. In this
ceremony is doubtless to be found the
reason why a devOut Booddhist never
plays in any game that requires ball or
other object to be caught in the hands
To him such pastime is sacrilege-a
profane trifing with things sacred-sure
to be visited in some future state with a
severe penalty.
l have spoken of the lack of cemeteries,
yet | have read many Oriental epitaphs,
engraved, not on pillars or tablets of mar
BILE, but on those precious gold and silver
urns which, to the imaginative Oriental,
form the tangible links in the chain that
binds him to the dear ones that have faded
from his view, and, watering them daily
with his tears, the very spots where they
rest become to him hallowed ground.
The epitaphs are characterized by touch
ing simplicity. THE flower that once
lay in my bosom" 1.-The heart where I
loved to nestle" My withered bud,"
Joy of the harem,'' "Earth's fairest
flower" "Pure as a dewdrop," Sunlight
Of my home," and "Sleep sweetly, !"
without the name and age of the deceased,
are some of the inscriptions l have read,
not without emOtiOn.-Fd7l7lGe p. Feudge,
IN Lipp5ncOtt'S Magazine.