Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-20

ia Kk all of the followers of th'
liza. %EkI Prophet Mohammed, believe
lkfa2MS&N that the island OF Ceylon Il
the Garden of Eden II
which the human race first came Z
consciousness. Connecting Ceylon witt
India and the mainland of Asia is
! low-lying chain of islands and sand
! banks known as Adams bridge. II
the southern part of the island is
beautiful mountain which has beer
| known for centuries as Adams peak
A railroad built like the Florida Keys
road to Key West Will soon run across
Adams bridge to connect Eden with
Asia, and the angels with the flaming
swords who stand guard at the gate
will be made to do signal tower service
/ for a government railway The high
slopes of Adams peak are devoted
| to growing tea for the afternoon de-
| lectation of some daughter of Eve who
| long ago forgot the garden, the
serpent and the exile. But despite all
these modern" improvements and de-
velopments, Ceylon Is still a 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 a depression in the stone which re-
sembles a footprint-the track left by
a giant in the form of a man. Good
Moslems and the vast majority of
Oriental Christians firmly believe that
1t is the footprint of Father Adam
when he turned to leave his Paradise.
Good Buddhlsts believe that it is the
imprint of the bare foot of Gautama
Buddha, who brought the enlighten-
ment of his wisdom to Ceylon. De-
vout Hindus believe that the footprint
is that of one of the thousand and
eight manifestations of the second per-
son in the Brahminical trinity.
So pilgrims of every religion make
their way to Adams peak to pray for
the salvation of mankind at the spot
where many of them believe the first
sin came into the world. The Chris
tian and the Moslem hold to the same
theories of the beginning of the hu-
man race, and the Buddhist and the
Hindu have the same traditions of the
dawn of history. All of them ascribe
to Ceylon the honor of being the old
est seat of man.
Here they are today, in this beauti-
full island. two million Buddhists, a
million Hindus, half-million Chris
tians and a quarter of a million Mo-
hammedans. The Buddhists are the
Sinhalese, the original Inhabitants of
the island, who maintained a separate
royal existence here for twenty-five
centuries and who boast the oldest,
continuous, authentic written history
of any people in the world. The Hin
dus, or Brahminical worshipers, are
the Tamils, invaders from India. some
of whom came centuries ago as
marauding warriors and some of whom
came last week and the week before
as coolie laborers imported by the tea
planters.
The Christians are of many and di-
verse varieties. The great majority of
them are Roman Catholic natives, both
Sinhalese and Tamil, descendants of
those ancient people who were forci-
bly, converted by Portuguese soldiers.
or others genuinely converted by ST
Francis Xavier, who did spendid mis-
sionary work in Ceylon. Others are
Dutch Protestant descendants of the
men who ruled Ceylon when IL was a
Dutch colony. Others are Anglicans.
Methodists and Bap-
lists, the result of English occupation.
Scotch banking and American mis-
sionary effort.
Buddhism is the prevailing religion,
and 1t is the most influential in shaping
the destinies of the people here. Budd- |
hism In Ceylon survives in a purer form
than In any other country. In Japan, |
Buddhism exists only as a supplement
to the Japanese Shinto. In China. |
TO carry along the materialistic philos-
ophy Of Confucius. In India, where
Buddhism was founded, the Brahmins
have blotted its purer doctrine from
the minds and memory Of the people. |
In Ceylon, Buddhism approaches most
nearly to the purity of its ancient
teachings. The Buddhist monk-clad in |
his flowing yellow robe, which leaves
one arm and shoulder bare, holding
under his clerical cloth the begging
bowl which is the symbol of his humil-
ty, protected from the sun by an In
palm-leaf fan-may be seen
everywhere about the island. He is
man of influence, and be bears himself
accordingly. But 1t is not to yellow
robed monk, nor yet to an impeccable
and incorruptible priesthood, that Cey-
onese Buddhism owes it's high stand
ng.
Twenty-Five years ago Buddhism was
noribund in Ceylon. Hardly monk
,ould be found, the temples were given
'ver to the proclamation of the Hindus
md their disgusting worship. Every
,ody recognized that Buddhism was
lying out in Ceylon, just as It had al
eady died in India.
Then came Col. Henry S. Olcott. an
american who had proclaimed himself
disciple of Madame Blavatsky, the
ounder Of the Theosophical society.
7he essence of the teachings of Buddha
that life is sorrow, that life Is the
esult of desire, that desire will cease