The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-01-30
where it may now be seen in one of
the cases of that institution.

| where 1t may now be seen In one o.
the cases of that institution.
Japan has the biggest Buddhas OF
the world. One in a park at Nara,
not far from the old capital, Kioto, is
he largest. The statue is in a temple
taller than any New York fiat. There
are dozens of gold gods all about it.
Some of these gods, though eighteen
feet high, look like pygmies beside
the great image, which sits with its
legs crossed and his right hand up
lifted on pedestal above them. A
fence prevented me from taking meas.
urements, but the priests told me it
was fifty-three feet in height. This
Buddha is over a thousand years old.
The other great Buddha is that at
Kamakura, which has been written
about by nearly every traveller who
has gone to Japan.
Some of these Buddhist temples
have enormous incomes. There is one
right near the new temple / have
described which takes in about 5000, :
900 year, and this church has fire.
quently raised in one year from half
million to million dollars. It is
known as the Nishi Hongwandi tenn
pie. and it is q wonder in the richness
of it's interior decoration. 1t has
hundreds of rooms walled with gold
leaf, and 1t contains hundreds of
screens painted bY the old Japanese
masters. A famous lefthanded artist
of Japan, Jingoro, did most of the
carving within it, and it is ceiled in
some places with black and gold lae-
quer, and it's trimmings are of won.
derfully carved brass. 1t has bell
almost as big as a small seaside cot
tage, and this is rung by big log Of
wood, which is hung outside Of the
bell to rope, and can be pulled back
so that it will strike the bell on the
rebound. It has one audience room
which takes nearly 1000 yards of mat
ting to cover it, and the brass lanterns
which hang from the great rafters of
this room are each as big as hogs
head.
There are many Buddhist seots in
Japan. They all believe in Buddha,
but they have different doctrines and
different modes of worship. There
is one sect which sell medicine and
charms which will protect you against
coughs. consumption, the devil or the
smallpox. They sell all kinds of sand,
which is supposed to make the limbs
of the dead soft and flexible, 80 they
can be easily doubled in the boxlike
cofins which are used by the Japanese.
These are known as the Tendi sect,
and they have between four and five
thousand temples in Japan. The
Monte sect, the Nichiren and the Jodo
sect may be called the three most
powerful branches of the japanese
Buddhists. The Montos worship
Amida Buddha, and they say that
earnest prayer, noble thoughts and
good works are the elements of their
faith. 1t is to this sect, think, that
these two big temples which have
described belong. 1t has also immense
temples in Toxic and elsewhere. The
Nichiren sect are the shouting wor-
shippers of the faith. They are vio-
lent and noisy, and they think that
all other sects except themselves go
straight to hell. The Jodo sect do
not eat flesh, and they insist that their
priests should not marry. They pray
without ceasing, and spend great
part of their time squatting before
bells of wood and brass, on which they
pound in order to wake up the gods.
About the Buddhist temples are lit.
tie wooden gods for babies diseases,