The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-03-16
WEALTH OF OMAR KYAM.
1T WAS IN RARE ATTAINNIENTs AND
HIGHEST CONFINEMENT
The CingaIese who Lived in Honolulu
His Beliefs and Reasons-Beautiful
Legend of Buddha.

EDITOR STAR:-LaSt winter, II
that season of the year i'll Hawaii
in which nature seems to renew
her life, can be designated by such
an incongruous term, Cingalese
gentleman kept a little curio shop
on the right hand side of Nuuanu
Avenue as one goes toward the
Pail, in which he exposed for sale
tea from Ceylon, Oriental gold and
diamonds, and moon-lit pearls from
the hidden splendors Of midas sum
kissed ocean.
He used to wander about the
streets of Honolulu, visiting the
hotels and places of business, seek
ing purchasers for his gems, and,
incidentally, creating lazy little
ripples of excitement in the minds
of the idle strangers on whose
hands the glass of time hung heavy.
His style of dress was most odd;
and he went about with
uncovered head on which his raven
black locks were neatly arranged
beneath the clasp of handsome
shell comb. He appeared at little
distance to be dressed in some sort
of womans reform suit, neither
male, female, nor mixed; and he
was the butt of never-failing jibes
and witticisms from the merry
gamins of the city.
During the many quiet hours
which always follow the bustling
activity of steamer day, the writ
er used, occasionally, to wander
into this gentleman's shop, and,
amid the fragrance of real Ceylon
tea and the mild glow of Eastern
rubies, listen to Omar Kyams spec
ulations on Buddhism and his de-
scription of the life, character and
faith of its noble founder, Prince
Gotama of India. He was a splen-
did conversationalist, speaking, be-
sides his mother tongue, the
Dravadian, English, perfectly,
Greek, French, German, Sanskrit,
and Latin, and it was not difficult
to lose oneself, as Omar talked on
and on, in the nameless quiet
which succeeds the going out in
the heart of lust, anger and dn-
fusion, when the soul reaches the
Buddhist's Nirvana.
Omar Ryan had read and studied
our Christian bible in the Greek,
and thought much of it,-how
many Christians can say the same?
And he pointed out the fact that
prayer OF Buddha-
"Kill not, for pity sake, and lest you
The meanest thing upon its upward
way.
Give freely and receive, but take from
| none
By greed, or force or fraud, what is
his own.
Bear not false witness, Islander not, MOI
lie;
Truth is the speech of inward purity.
Shun drugs and drinks which work the
wit abuse;
Clear minds, clear bodies, need no Soma
juice.
Touch not thy neighbours wife, neither
Commit
Sins of the flesh unlawful and unfit
Was the foundotion of the Lord 5
Prayer.
Of course, Omar could not see
that Christianity had anything to
offer the followers of Gotama as
good as that which they already
possessed.
What, said he, do 1 care for a
religion which teaches me to love
my neighbor as maself, when that
which 1 already have teaches me tc
IOOe every lining thing as / do myselR'
had no answer to offer; 1 was
busy thinking of the illustriou:
Prince who is worshipped by ovel
four hundred and seventy millions
of the human race, and whose per
sonality, so imperfectly known tc
Christian nations, appears the gent
lest, the most exalted and the holi
est, with one exception, i'll the
regions of human thought.
why" continued Omar, Ulster
to this" And in his musical Cey
lonese tongue, he repeated the fol
lowing tale, which, with his patien
assistance, l arranged in this form
The Masters Love.
IT'S written in the holy books of ancient fam
That, when Buddha wore the lowly form o
Brahm,
And dwelt among the rocks in Daldd's deser
vale.
Drought withered all the land and scorche,
the rushing gale;
The rice dried out before quail could hide
Beneath 1t: the fierce sun every rivei'dried;
The heritage and the flowers in mead rn
We're burned while creatures pinned an
moaned for food.
At such time, beneath nullah's walls, ther
A starving tigress on the naked stones, an
Buddha's way
Was close beside her. Hunger glared froI
ou' her cruel eye,
Beyond her gaping jaws her tongue lolle
parched and dry;
Her jowl was shrivelled and her painted hid
Hung wrinkled on her ribbed and shrunke
side,
AS when, with rains all rotten, sinks thatc
of straw
Beneath the rafters; and two lean cubs di
gnaw,