The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-04-07
|BUDDHA'S
BIRTHDAY
Observed Sunday
at Japanese
Mission.
WHITES ALSO HELP
TO CELEBRATE
English Speakers Attempt to Prove
Buddhism Superior to the
Christian Religion.


helped celebrate Buddha's birthday al
the Buddhist mission on Fort street
| Yesterday There were a goodly num-
Der of English-speaking people present
| and the services were in two languages
because of this fact. The first part OF
the program the Japanese were in
charge of. The celebration began with
| the singing of a Buddhist hymn, the
| reading of the Scriptures and then a
hearty welcome by the Rev. Y. Ina
| mura. A song by the Sunday school
pupils, and a reading by one. of the
members, preceded the principal Jap
anese address, which was given by DR..
S. Kobayashi, his subject being Hail
the Buddha.'
After a second song by the Sunday
school pupils, the English service be-
gan.
MRS. MESICK'S ADDRESS.
Mrs Lillian Shrewsbury Mesick spoke
upon 1.-THE Light of the World She
said:
The coming of the Buddhist. priests
and the establishing of the missions OF
their religion seems to have aroused
some apprehension on the part OF the
members of the Christian churches
here. That there is no real foundation
for this feeling any one who has made
even a brief study of the Christian and
Buddhist religions knows well. The
Buddhist missionary is not here to
work evil to the Christian churches or
to attempt to gain converts from
among them. He will make no effort
to thrust Christianity from the high
MI has long nccInip6 in 1a-
wall to gain the exalted position for
Buddhism. But the presence OF so
great number of Buddhists here has
made it necessary that their desire to
worship God according to their GUS
toms and inclinations, should be re-
sponded to, and the result has been
the erection of Buddhist temples in
several places in Hawaii. The Bud.
dhist priest is here to care for his own
and will not seek to interfere with
those who are satisfied elsewhere.
If the churches feel a sense of pro-
prietorship in these Islands because
Christianity has been the religion OF
the country for so long a time, and
therefore regard the Buddhists as in
truders, let them remember that con-
sistency is a jewel and one of the great
boasts of the Christian churches is
that they have spent thousands of dol
lars annually for many years past in
keeping up their missions in the lands
of Buddha.
Some timid church people seem to
fear lest the spread of Buddhism here
should cause Christianity to lose it's
prestige. Surely they do not for a mo-
ment doubt the triumph of their faith
when brought into rivalry or contact
with any other faith in the world. They
should consider the present a glorious
opportunity to convince these thou
sands of Buddhists of the superiority
of the Christian faith
the real trouble seems to be that the
Christian church is not willings to ac-
knowledge that any other belief is
worthy Of either considera ton or toll
Grafton. Therefore if a religion is not
sheltered under the wing of Christian
ity, they think it must be evil. Very
few church people know anything
about the Lord Buddha or his teach
ings, but that does not deter them
from opposing Buddhism.
She spoke then of the spread of Bud
dhism in the principal cities OF the
United States, and the opposition with
which il has been met. She briefly
sketched all the great changes which
had been at first condemned, from the
oiogy down to science, and how finally
the new movement generally triumph
ed. She suggested that probably God
had sent Buddha as well as Christ, and
attempted TO prove from the Bible that
even Christ did not regard his mission
as worldwide. Christ, she contended.
could not have carried his message
further than five days journey and
there are still places where his mes
sage has never been heard. The Chris
tien church, she commended, still bad its
weak and crumbling walls, as well as
does that of Buddha. Concluding, she
said:
Perhaps a little competition between
these great organizations may not be
the very worst thing that could hap
pen, from any point of view, for while
they are arranging to pick the notes
out of each ether's eyes the beams in
their own will begin to trouble them.
and perhaps, after a while, the result
will be a religion we will not be afraid
to look at closely for fear of it's falling
to pieces-a religion founded on the
great fact that both Lord Buddha and
Christ Jesus taught and lived-the doc
trine of the universal brotherhood Of
humanity.
Jesus said THE Kingdom of God is
within YOU" and His mission seemed
to be to teach through words and deeds
and point out the way to His followers,
just as Buddha did to his, that we
shall be saved if we walk in the light
not because they walked therein, but
because ii is the right way, whether
followed by Christ, Buddha or others
who have never heard of either, and
finally that we may reach perfection
for they reached it.
But so far as we of Hawaii are con-
cerDed It might be we'll for us to take
pattern by the Christians and Bud
dhists in Japan, who seem to work to-
gether in harmony. and certainly ac-
complish much more than they would
were they to stop to argue or fight
over the matter.