The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-12-20

Il e,
rapid advances on the way to true civ
illzation. 1 deem Ii a very great honor
and privilege to be present on such an
occasion as this in an assembly that
begins as if it were on new era for
! mankind-an era, 1 believe, of real
brOtherly love. It is a sad spectacle.
when the mind ranges over a whole uni
verse. to see that multitude of 1900
100000 of human beings created by the
same God, destined to the same happi-
ness, and yet divided by various bar
riers; to see that instead Of love pre-
vailing from nation to nation, there are
barriers of hatred dividing them I
believe an occasion like this is the
strongest possible means OF removing for
ever such barriers.
Our next presentation is that OF the
gentle Dharmapala," who always ap-
peared in robes of pure white, which
contrasted beautifully with the raven
curls that adOrn his head. But not this,
so much as his serene intelligent face,
and gentle demcaner, held in the eye OF
the observer II. Dharmapala was intro
duCed amid cheers. and spoke briefly,
| from which W. quote the following;
Friends bring to you the good
wishes Of 475000000 Of Buddhists, the
blessings and peace of the religious
founders of that system which has pre-
| vailed so many centuries in Asia,
which has made Asia mild and which
is today, In its twenty-fOurth century Of
country. I have sacrificed the greatest
of ali work 70 attend this parliament I
have left the work Of consOlidatiOn-an
important work which we have begun
after zoo years-the work of CONSOLE
dating the different Buddhist countries
which is the most important work in the
history of modern Buddhism. When I
! read tho program Of this parliament Of
religion L saw it was simply the re-echo
Of a great cOnsUmmatiOn which the In
dian Buddhists accomplished twenty
. four centuries ago.
At that time Asoka, the greet empe-
/ Tor. held d council in the city nj Palma
Of 900 scholars. which was IL session
for seven months. The proceedings were
epitOmizHi ana carved on rock and
scattered al over the Indian peninsu-
la and the then known globe. After
the contamination Of that program the
great emperor sent the gentle teachers.
the mild disciples of Buddha in the
: gerb Jha.l YOU see on this platform, to
instruct the world. In that plain garb
they went across the deep rivers. the
Gyuz iayas. to the plains Of Mongolia
ana She Chinese plains, and to the far
off beautiful isles. the empire Of the
rising sun: and the influence Of that
CONGRESS held twenty-four centuries ago
is today a living power because you
! eve; where see nildneSs I'm Asia.
Go 90 the Buddhist country and where
DO you ind such healthy compassion
and tolerance as you find there?
E For one year / meditdted whether this
parliament would be a success Then
I wrote 10 DIR. BarrOws that this would
be the prOudest occasion of modern his
; tory and the browning work of nineteen
/ centuries. And 1 hope that the
I noble lessons of tolerance learned in this
I majestic assembly viii result in the
: dawning of universal peace which will
/ las for twenty centuries more"
/ Here closed the forenoon session Of
/ the parliament. The first speaker of the
afternoon was Mr. Carl Won Bergen of
: translation of the Swedish literature,
which we will pass by.
a short address was made by Mr..
/ Vichand A. Gandhi. lawyer Of Bonn
I bay and an exponent of Jain religion of
that oriental country. He spoke as fol-
{ lows:
Mr. President, Ladies' and Gentlemen
! = will not trouble you with a long
! speech. I. like my respected friends.
! Mr.. AIoZOomdar and others, come from
! India the mother of religions. repre-
/ sent Jainism- a faith older than Budd-
/ hism, similar to il in it's ethics, but
/ different from 1t in its psychology and
| professed by loo 900 of midas most
| peaceful and law-abiding citizens. You
have heard so many speeches from elo-
/ quent members, and as 1 shall speak
/ later on at some length 1 will, therefore,
\ at present only offer on behalf Of my
/ community and their high priest, Mont
} Alma Ranti. whom 7 especially repre-
/ sent here, our sincere thanks for the
I kind welcome you have given us. This
/ spectacle Of the learned leaders Of
/ thought and religion meeting together
on common platform and throwing
| light on religious problems. has been the
I dream OF Alma Ranii's life. He has
! commissioned me to say to you that he
! offers his most cordial congratulations
! on his own behalf and on behalf Of the
/ Jain community for your having
/ achieved the contamination Of that
! grand idea OF converting parliament
/ OF religions"
! The next was a greeting from old Ar
\ menia by Prof Ainas TcheraZ, repre-
] sentative of the Armenian church Of
/ London, England, and also editor of an
Armenian newspaper published in Lon
don. We note ony few Of his words.
| He said:
name Of Armenia, the oldest country Of
the old world. Solicitations TO the Ameri-
can people in the name Of Armenia
| which has been twice the cradle of the
/ human race. Old Armenia bless
| es this grand undertaking of young
America and wishes her to succeed in
laying, on the extinguished volcanoes OF
| religious hatred, the foundation of the
temple of peace and concord
Prof. G. n. ChalSravarti. a theOsophist
/ ITOfil Inuitts WIS next Introduced ana
| said:
81 came here to represent a religion
! the dawn Of which appeared IN a misty
antiquity which the powerful micro
| scope Of modern research has not yet
| been able to discover. From time imme-
] mortal spirit has been represented by
/ white and matter has been represented
| by black. and the two sister streams
which join at the town from which L
! came, Alahabad, represent two sources
| Of spirit and matter, according TO the
! philosophy of my people. And when 1
think that here, in this city Of Chicago.
/ this vortex of physicality, this center Of
material civilization, you hold a parlia-
! ment Of religions; when I think that. Ia
the heart Of the worlds fair where
abound all the excellencies Of the physi-
cal world, you have provided also a hall
for the feast Of reason and the flow of
soul l am once more reminded Of my
| native land.
why? Because here, even here / ind
the same two sisters, streams Of spirit
| and matter. Of the intellect and physi-