The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-05-27
BURMA, STRONGHOLD
OF BUDDHISM
Continued from Page 4.

must i've on roots and herbs IN
less better food is given them.
They have no parishes or COngrega-
| tons. but are expected to spend
their lives i'm meditation. free from all
worldly cares. except when engaged in
| eXpoundiuS BUddhistic writing or i'm
teaching the young. They live, as a
rule. in mOn3steries. built for them by
pious Buddhists, and from what We
saw of these buildings no one would
/ accuse them Of being surrounded by
( luxury These monasteries rest upon
/ posts some distance above the ground
and each room has an outside door
a bout large enough for one to enter
! upon his hands and knees.
/ I visited one Of these monasteries at
/ RangoOu in company with a native
I Christian whose father was half Chi
nese. To my surprise the first priest
( whom ] met was an Englishman. who
/ turned Buddhist Eve years ago and
donned the yellow robe. While I
l waited for the native priest. to whom
/ 7 had letter, this Englishman gave
/ me something Of his history and a
/ came from London six years ago al a
I ship carpenter and a year after adopt
4 ed Buddhism. which, he explained to
/ WC. does not require one 20 believe
1 anything. While his parents were
( members of the Church Of England he
I
/ church and, being an agnostiC the
! doctrines of BUddha appealed to him.
! He described his adopted religion as
/ one of works rather than of faith, and
/ declared that the slums Of Christen-
/ uom had no counterpart I'm Burma
/ The visitor. however, sees every where
/ poverty and squalor which can only be
! psralleled i'm the most destitute por-
; tons Of our great cities, and nowhere
+ the comfort and refinement which are
/ general i'm the United States
( Buddhism Is reformed Hinduism and
/ I'M its teachings presents higher sys-
/ lem Of ethics than the religion from
{ which it sprung. GsUtaua. called the
/ Buddha or the Enlightened. was born
4 between 500 and 500 years before
+ Christ. and was Of the Brahmin caste.
( Not satisfied with the teachings Of the
Hindu philosopher concerning life he
/ went into secIusion at the age Of %
I and devoted himself to meditation. Six
. years later he announced his doctrines.
F destined to impress so profoundly the
. thought of the Orient Accepting the
Hindu theory that the soul passes
! from person TO person. and even from
/ the human being to the animal and
/ back. he offered Nirvana as a final re
( lease from this tiresOme and endless
! change-Nirvaus. a state of unCOn-
/ sCiCUsneSs which follows the absorb
/ of the universe This was the end to
4 be sought and no wonder il came as
! a relief to those whose philosophy
taught perpetual transition of the soul
through man and beast and bird and
. reptile. The means Of reaching Mir
/ vaua was through the remuneration Of
self. Life. he conceived to be pro
/ lcnged misery. infinitely drawn out
I and love of self he declared to be the
root of all evil. So long as one loves
] life, ne argued. he cannot escape from
4 the bondage Of existence In the en-
tire elimination of self by the relin-
7 quishment of a desire for separate ex-
/ istcnCe here or hereafter-in this alone
could he find path to Nirvana-
/ The next fCrty-fvP years of his life
he spent in eZpOUnding and eIaborat-
ing his doctrines, I'm formulating rules
and in peTfeCting the details of his sys-
TEN. Many of his precepts are admira-
bic. for instance. he divides progress to
ward the blissfuI state into three
stages. In the first. he puts those who
abstain from evil through fear Of pun
iShment. these he COmmonds. though
he considers the motive comparatively
low. Tn the second stage are those
who. passing from negative harmless
ness TO helpfulneSS, do good from hope
of reward. these he praises as acting
from higher motive than the first.
Tn the third state the seeker after
Il NiTvana does good not for hope Of re-
ward but for the sake of love alone.
The last gift love has to give is to
give up love for life itself and pass
from further change to Changelessness-
At one time Buddhism spread over
=. India and promised the conquest Of
Asia. Two hundred years after the
Buddhists death Great king, Asoka,
sent out $4,000 missionaries and the
/ doctrines Of Gautawa were accept ed as
far east as China and Japan and as far
r south as Java. But the wave TeCeded,
India returned to Hinduism. China 20
C0nfUcianism and Japan to ShintOisnl.
and Northumberland now Outnumbers
Buddhism on the Gauges. Tho BUdd-
hists still hold Burma, Thibet and
CeylOn, but even I'm these countries
, there is evidence of decline Handy.
the capital city of CeylOn. has the dis
, ttuctiOn Of guarding a sacred tooth,
thought by the ignorant to be one Of
. the eve teeth of the Buddha. It IS
! kept i'm gold and jeweled casket en-
= closed I'm six larger ones, and is an OBJ
, ieCt of worship, but the more intelIi-
gent Buddhists know that il is
p fraud.
At RanSocu found q Baptist school.
: conducted by Americans, with nearly
, 600 pupils. and learned of the crafty
. ing success which has attended mis-
Sionary work in Burma
And yet there is a Buddhist propa-
canda i'm Europe and AmeriCaI In a
review called Buddhism, published at
Rangoon by the international Budd-
r hist society. 7 read that Kaiser VII
S helm is alarmed at the progress that
e. this religion is making i'm GERMANY
and ] also read that our country offers
J. a promising field for Buddhist mis-
z siOnarieS.
As a religion Of agnOsticism, requir-
- ing belief in neither God nor inmor-
r. talfty nor yet in the mortality taught
2 by Christ it may appeal to some who,
like the Englishman whom I found in
- the monastery. have already rejected
Z Christianity. but it is not likely to ap-
70 peal TO those who have had a religious
q experience. Those who emphasize good
4 works and fail to recognize the need
e Of an inspiring faith behind the works.
{ may take refuge in the teachings of
/ Buddha from the more eXacting re
e. 0uirements of the Nazarene. but no
one is likely to be led astray who COM