Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-20

$50 years before Christ was born, and the
present structure was already in place
100 years before Boston was founded.
Today the Buddhsts consider 1t an al
most sure passport to heaven to erect a
small pagoda about the base of the great
Shwe Dagon; and now there are hun
dreds of little temples. most exquisitely
carved and often plated with gold, run
These are on the average, | should say,
something like thirty feet high, ending
in spires plated with gold. They are
much like chapels. and inside each OF
them Is a sitting statue OF Buddha. often
of more than life size. Some Of these
statues are gold plated, others are of
silver. and not few OF alabaster or
marble. They hug the base of the
mighty pagoda.
Round the edges of the platform, leav-
ing court several hundred feet wide
between, are other temples Of exquisite
carving. some OF which have reclining
Buddhas hundred or more feet IN
length. and at the back at one corner is
the great Buddhist bell, which is said to
be the third largest of its kind in the
world. 1t weighs forty-two tons. and it
would take something like eighty horses
to haul it If Ii could be put upon wheels
and dragged over the roads. 1t is so
thick that the yellow-gowned priest who
acts as my guide can just touch the in
side of the rim with his fingers while
the outside rests in the crook of his ell
the sound booms out on the air.
This bell was presented to Buddha by
a native king about seventy years ago.
When the English took the country they
trophy. They got the bell down as far
as the Irawadi river. but in attempting
to load it on vessel it fell into
the stream and their engineers could not
raise ii again. Upon this. some Burmans
came up and asked if they might have
the bell If they could put it back in its
place. The English, with a sheer, granted
their request. having no idea that they
could succeed. The Burmans went at
once to work. They used no machinery,
but by means of thousands of men work
ing together they lifted the great mass
up the banks and carried it back to
where it now stands on Pagoda Hill.
But let US stroll around the pagoda plat
form and have a look at the people at
prayers. All the worshiping is done
in the open. There are scores Of men,
women and children kneeling on the bare
bricks. Their hands are folded and they
look up at the spre as they pray. They
are not idolaters. They do not worship
the spire nor the images but come to this
holy place to renew their vows to think
upon Buddha and repent of their sins.
Their worship is real. See this woman
kneeling here at my right. Her pink silk
gown is wrapped tightly about her body, and
her bare feet stick out behind. She is
rising and falling and counting her beads
as she sings out her prayers. She has
flowers in her hands and as we watch
she rises and lays them on the lap of
Buddha in one of the chapels.
On the other side OF us are three Bud
6hist nuns. They are dressed In plain
yellow cotton and have little more than
sheet Of this stuff wrapped around them.
Their heads are shaved close. They hold
out cloths. upon which the people throw
offerings as they pass by. Each nun has
a rosary about her neck, and she tells her
beads as she prays.
The Buddhist religion takes but small
account Of women, and the rules are
such that a monk cannot reside under
the same roof with q nun. He cannot
travel in a cart or boat with q woman,
and one Of the books of the law says
that he must not touch her, and that II
into a ditch. he must not offer his hand
to help her out. He may hold forth a
stick but If she grasps IT he must mag
Inc he Is pulling at a log of wood. Ac
cording to q Buddhist saying the sins of
the worst man are a thousand times less
than those of the best woman that ever
lived. Nevertheless there are numerous
converts all over this country, and nuns
are everywhere found
We see many priests worshiping about
the pagoda. Here comes one now. He
must be sixty years old, and his brown
face is withered, his neck shrunken and
his thin legs seem to totter. He is clad
only i'm two strips of bright yellow cot
ton. his right shoulder and arm being