The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-21
IN CEYLON'S
SPICY ISLE
1.-THE MANY eoDs-oF EDEN,
BY Frederic J.sHaskin.

Colombo. Ceylon. July s.-Millions and
millions Of the devoif Christians Of the
/ Orient and all Of tie followers Of the
Piophet Mohammed Believe that the ISL
ana Of CeylO7 is The Garden Of Eden in
Wnlch the human race first came to con
seriousness. Connecting CeylGn with In
ola, and the maitland OF Asia. is d low
iying chain Of ISLANDS and sandbanks
known as Adam s Bridge. In the south
/ ern part Of the Island is a beautiful
mountain which has been known for cen
tuIles as Adams Peak" A railroad
1uilt IKE the Florida Keys road To Key
/ West VIII soon run across Adams Bridge
] 10 connect Eden with Asia, and the an
gels W IN the flaming swords who stand
guard at the gate viii be made TO DO sig
nal tower service for a government rail-
way. The high slopes of Adams Peak
are devoted 10 growing tea for the after
noon qelectation Of some daughter of
Eve who has long ago forgot the garden. 7
the serpent and the exile But despite
an these modern Improvements and de-
NeIOpments, CeylOn is still q Garden of
Eden, although it is much confused as
to who is the master of the garden.
Near the top Of Adams Peak there is q
depression in the stone which resembles
a footprint. the track left by a giant
IN the 70 rm Of man. Good AIOslems and
the vast majority Of Oriental Christians
firmly believe that it is the footprint of
Father Adam when he turned to leave
his Paradise. Good Buddhists believe that
It Is the imprint Of the bare foot of Guat-
.
ment OF MS wisdom TO CeylOn. DevOut
Hindus believe that the footprint is that
Of one Of the thousand and eight mani 4
Iestauons Of the second person IN the
Brahminical trinity.
So pilgrims of every religion make their
way to Adams Peak to pray for the sal
vatlon OF mankind at the spot where
many of them believe the first sin came
into the world. The Christian and the
Moslem hold to the same theories of the
beginning of the human race, and the
d HEH i H.
traditions of the dawn Of history All of
them ascribe to Ceylon the honor of be-
ing the oldest seat of man.
Here they are today, in this beautiful
island two million Buddhists q million
itindus, p half-Uilhon Christians and A
quarter Of million Mohammedans. The
Buddhists are the Sinhalese. the original
inhabitants OF the island. who maintained
4 separate royal existence here for TWEEN
ty-flVe centuries and who boast the old
est, continuous. authentic written history
OF any people in the world. The Hindus,
or Brabminical wOrshippers. are the Tam
lis, invaders from India. some of whom
came centuries ago as marauding war
nO!s ana some Of whom came last week
and the week before as coolie labOrers
imported by the tea planters.
Inc CHRISTIANS are of many and diverse q
varieties. The great majority of them are
Roman Catholic natives both Sinhalese
and Tamil, descendants Of those ancient
people who were fOrcibly converted by
POrtugese soldiers or others genuinely
converted by Saint Francis Xavier who
did splendid missionary work in Ceylon /
Others are Dutch Protestant descendants
OF the men who ruled CeylOn when it was
d DuJcn colony Others are Anglicans, !
Fresbyterians. MethOdists and Baptists |
the result of English occupation, Scotch
banking and American missionary effort ,
buddhism is the prevailing religion and [
II IS the most Influential in shaping the
destlnies of the people here. Buddhism in [
Ceylon survives in pureT form than in
any other country. In Japan. Buddhism /
exists only as a supplement to the Jana
nese ShintO. In China, Buddhism is only
the spiritual vehicle to carry along the ,
materiaiistie philOs lphy Of Confucius In (
india, where Buddhism was founded the
brahmins have blOtted its pUrer doctrine r
from the minds and memory Of the pao-
pie. In CeylOn. Buddhism aDDrOachps
most nearly to the purity of lis ancient
teachings. The Buddhist monk clad in .
MS flowing yellow robe which leaves one /
I'm ana shoulder bare. holding under his
clerical cloth the begging bowl which is
the symbol OF his humility. protected from
the sun by an inevitable DaIm-leaf fan .
may De seen everywhere about the island
de Is man Of influence and he bears
himselt accordingly. But il is not TO vel
lOW-rObed monk, nor yet to an impeccable /
ana 4heofrupted priesthood that Ceylonese
Buddhism owes its high standing
twenty-five years ago Buddhism was
mOribund in CeylOn. Hardly monk
could be found. the temples were given
over 70 the PROCLAMATION Of the Hindus and
their disgusting worship. Everybody rec
ognlzed that Buddhism was dying out in
GeXlon just as it had already died in
Then came Colonel Henry s. OIcott. an
american who had proclaimed himself d
disciple of Madame Blavltsky. the found
er OF the Iheosophical society. The es-
S99SuCe OF tHe teachings Of BudGha-that
IRE Is sorrow, that life is the result Of
desire. that desire will cease when man
IS slnless' that the end to be striven for
through countless lives and reincarna-
tons. IS perfection, and that the reward
or perfection is the lifting of the burden
OF sorrow called life and annihiladng
absorption in "Nirvana appealed strong
~ TO Colonel Olcott. although many of his
Fellows in the Blavatsky movement IoolzeI
more tayorably TO the Hindu faith.
colonel otCOt resolved to reform Budd
hlsm. Enough Of his Christian training
ana Occidental heritage remained with /
MIN TO convince him that faith, if IL
nave not works is dead" He established
a Buddhist college. i'm which bovs and
young men were to be instructed in the
branches of learning and in the
9uIe pTecepts Of their fathers ancient
aith. soon after cam Mrs. Marie Hfg-
guns, also al American who established q 4
alulllar college for girls. The yellow
rooed monks rubbed their eyes in wonder
ana then they too caught some Of the in
srn religion.
A great Buddhist Theological seminary
was established here fin Colombo close ro I
colonel Olcotts college Young men were
trained for the mOnastic life the sacred
an language was revived and taught to
~ ----- ->eN te4llplls were Dullt and I
pa ones W5ra purEed Of their Hindu pro- j
.anauons. Finally the government was Y
forced TO dlsestablsh the church of Eng !
and- and Buddhists gained the right to
lOiG Once under the government without
prejudice on account Of faith A prince
)I the rei2ning royal family Of Siam 4
-ame to colombo and became a monk &
The plety and learning of the CevI0D n
monks was spoken Of throuEhout the o.
8uddhistic world. and the pilgrims from
Japan. CHM. Thi5et. Burma and Sisa1
began TO flock here. The TemnIe of tba I
Tooth at Randy. where a reputed tooth Y