Bismarck daily tribune., 1908-08-28
NOTED |! TElMlP / !. rs / Al
HOME OF BUDDHISM


DIR. EDWARDS WRITES INTEREST
{ INGlY OF ANGIE MT RELiGl-,
/ ;:lS Gus RITES.
shanghai, China, MI arch s5 Special
correspondence to the Steele Ozone.
I'm my letters from Japan, L had
much to say about the temples, and
the manner III which [ they, were
kept. \. Naturally one would imagine
that In China, the home Of Buddh-
ism, the temples would be on most
gniflcant order, equently / was
anxious to visit some of the places
of worship. As 7 passed along the
street I stopped at several Buddhist
temples, but they. were SO dirty and
dilapdated that any description Of
them would fill my readers with dis
gust, and IL were to attempt to de-
scribe them you would think Twas
exaggerating. These ancient homes
OF the God of the Chinese, which
were built ages ago, are going to
ruin, and it is pitiful to see these
once splendid structures going to de-
cay without single effort made to
preserve them. IN. .,. Il III "a.
One of the most noted temples in
China is to be found here, and in or
der to obtain an adequate idea of
how these places of worship are cared
for by the people, I spent some time
examining it, despite the fact that my
voyage of discovery was under the
imost trying difficulties. In general,
the style Of architecture, with great
gateways and huge carved dragons
and figures at the door ways, were
similar to those in Japan, but here
all similarity ended. Everything was
dilapitated, and extremely dirty. In
the inner court were some thirty
! priests, chanting their various Offices.
while dozen Chinese stood about
looking like SO many curious people
gathered around some strange rite,
They were not worshipers, nor did
they seem at all interested in what
the priests were doing. -.
The priests were dreary and dirty.
and bedraggled and the Enclosure
looked as If it had never been swept
since the temple was built. Sticcks
stones and indescribable litter was
strewn over the floor, and pools OF
stinking water were. everywhere
Back of the temple was a famous
/, flower garden in an equally dilapid-
ated condition. Some curiously train.
ed evergreens in pots adorned the
| sides Of the wall, and those were the
most interesting things to be found
They were trained in shapes resemb.
ling men and animals or figures, suct
as fans, fruits or flowers. s2S
/ As I wandered about a new seem
assailed my nostrils which, if it zbe
possible, was even worse than of the
others which I had come across, ant
| in looking for its origin I came across
1 the pen of the sacred hogs. Here
wallowing in filth were the sacred
hogs, about twenty Of them, and
was told that none of them was evel
killed, but that they were allowed
to die natural deaths. The priest.
attended them and they were so fat
they could not walk. They were in {
most horrible condition, and theil
| pen had never been cleaned. They
wallowed in their filth and were GOV
cred with swarms of flies, spreading
over the neighborhood a most horri
i BILE stencil. ], 81
4 In Japan the peopse pay much at
4 tention to their temples, care fo,
them and clean them scrupulously
In China the temples are neglected
and / am sure people have no tho
of the religion which they symbolic
I noticed several Chinese coming ou
of the temples looking very mucl
bored, yawning and stretching them
selves as If they were dead tired O
their devotion. They would burn ,
little strip Of paper before the doc
and then go their ways. This burn
ing of incense paper is done in mos
perfunctory manner, as if it wer.
simply done to be rid of It, and thei
attention to this part Of their wor
ship reminded me Of an old preache
4 I used to know when a boy. He al
ways prayed hurridly, with both eye
open looking out over his congrega
ton, and whenever little boy go
sleepy, or did mischief, he woul,
stop in the midst Of his prayer t,
scold. These Chinese do their relig
ious acts in much the same way, an,
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