Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-09-14
THE OLD B6NAhGo'
r,. place where Gautams iS"s"'
INV Heautifui philosophy.

INV peautjfui Philosophy.
Rut had forgotten to speak oil our
ro,h the old Benares OF many centu-
ries ago. 1t lies some four miles oa'
Of the present city, and is all cu''''e
Cd over. except where great heaps 81
broken brick mark the spot where s's
costly edifices once stood. A ioi'y ON
round tower-looking structure aoou'
- hundred feet in diameter ana Over
that in height. solid mass Oh pr'cN,
MARKS the spot where Gautama tansn.
hi, religion, and probably benea,i' IL
we're buried some Of his bones or nair'
mart of its outer easing OF stone Is III
GOOD condition, exhibiting exquisite de-
SION and finish in its elaborate ana lhtri-
cate carving. 1t is said to be over TWO
thousand years old. and is probably 'he
original "stupa" from which the paso-
das of Burmah were modelled they'
however, taking more of bell form
It was touching thing to sit under
this old "stupa." and go back in fancy
twenty odd centuries, and to imagine
myself listening to the gentle tones OF
his man who abandoned the luxuries
of princely possessions. the power Oh
ROYAL position, to become for long years
recluse, that he might spin from his
brain the thread which binds and
uuites man to his God; and who.
after he believed he had found
the soft, silken bond, gave him"
self up to life of labor and deprlva-
ton while he preached his beautiful
MISUNDERSTANDING loneliness OF
spirit, absolute purity of life, love to
God and boundless charity toward
all living things. Here close by he
lived for many years, founding reilg-
ion which has mare vAtaries than any
other faith professed by men; here he
preached that exquisite charity which
can give pain to nothing breathing the
breath of life-which can take life
from no thing into which God has
blown breath; which teaches that no
living thing is so degraded that it may
not hold soul which God has created
and which can never die. Here he
lived. who to-day is worshiped by
countless millions as II god. Here he
walked and here he sat- utterng those
nlAxims which soon crystalized into Il
faith, and this is claimed to be the
Light of Asia" | sat and thought.
Around me were more than a dozen
little boys and girls, bright, but all
begging-lithe, healthy and pretty,
but all stepped in poverty and igno-
rance, and all followers of Buddha, or
rather the children of his followers.
How much had his teaching to do
with their degradation9 Though his
philosophy be so beautiful; though his
religion be SO full of charity-that
quality which proves that man is akin
to Deity; though he taught love for God
and for every thing He has created
yet his religion has depressed and re.
pressed his followers. He taught thai
II life of purity was life of tranquility
and of calm. inactive reflection.
Man must constantly step for
ward. He must not stand still. The
moment he pauses in an onward pro
gress, that moment the deaC
weights of the earth from
which he sprang begin to pull hin
downward. His mental as well as hi
physical being sprang from germ o
life-side by side with which was th,
germ of decay. When growth stops
decay begins its deadly work. eau
tama may have caused the Light o
Asia to spread over the mighty East
1t was light beautiful, poetic, cain
and sweet; it was not light to vivif
the dead into life; it was not lieh
which warns the torpid into activity
1t lacked glow and was without intens
ity. The pale moon rises in the east
spreads its mild light over sleepin
world. and all nature continues it
slumber. The sun rises later; its in
tense rays not only tighten, but war;
nature, and all its children awaken
from slumber into activity, man an
beast, tree and flower. Buddhism ma
have been the Light of Asia," but
was not till close to the Mediterranean
new and better brightness was Dor
that "the light of the world" aros,
Under the sweet, calm light the cart
lies in the lap of lethargy, frol
which it may not for ages free itsel
Under the other, the warm. burnin
hight, the West marches with eiar
strides. Garter H. Harrison, IN Chica0
Mail.