c3vzzjrzT tjzi&st w
t
IWO vwki ro 100 Jfapanea rl-
denta of PortUnd uninbM In a
littla room at 4S North Flrat
atrmt that ia balng used aa a
Uuddhlat temple, commmo-
rats
tt annlvaraarr of tha blrtb of
hydarrha Oauuuna, tha moat Important
iL-ilirtoua avant of the year. It la to
liuddhlata what the twaatr-flftn o( De
cember la to Chrtattana.
Kav. 8. Wakabayaahi. local prleat la
charire of the Buddhlat temple, prealded
at the oeremonlea. ' There waa a repre
snntrntlve of praotfcally ererr Buddhlat
or Japaneae family la Portland at the
met-tlna.
The aervlcee were almple. They oon
alated of propitiatory rltea to the dead.
rartaklna; of food and tea, and provld-1
lng- nourishment for the aplrlt not only
of the one whoae birth, they were com
inemoratlna but of other dead, and of a
uermoa by the prleat. - . ' x
The aermon waa vastly different from
a Buddhlat addreaa of ancient daya of
Japan. It told that on the morrow,
April 4, 1451 yeara ago. Bydarrha Gau
tama waa born.1- it told who be waa, hla
nsplratlona during; hla lifetime, hla
fichievementa and deeda, ' and the re-t-ulta
of hla having Jived.
Gautama waa a Brahmin, he aald,. but
(Uncovered prlnclplee which forced him
t it abandon tuat faith, and he told of
the reaulta -of that abandonment: He
uIho told of the early blatory of Japan
i.nd or the ancient ouatoma and early
mruffglee of Buddhtam. He devoted
i articular attention to the Buddhlat and
Japaneae ouatom .of anceator-worahlp,
:uid of lta connection with Buddhiam.
History of Cuatama.
The aermon waa translated Into Eng
lish In part by Mr. Wakabayaskl. He
in regarded aa a acholar of note among
Ma people and,' though unable to apeak
the Engllah language with fluency,
rada and wrltea It with perfect under
standing. Ha tranalated that portion
i I hla aermon which, he thought, would
l e of general lntereet.- The aubject. he
nld, waa-"What Shall the Harvest Bar'
h aubject,' by the way, that la uaed with
irpouency by Chrietlan preachera. Hla
translated verelon followe;
"Tomorrow, the ' ath of April. 1451
'oura a hall have paasod ainoe Sydarrha
i .rnjtama waa born,- Who waa hat Hla
father, waa king or 'rajah of a prlnci-
tality la India, near the foot of the
ittmalavaa He waa an only child, and
i reatly beloved by hla father. A life of
rase and luxury araa at hla - command.
lie had a charming wife and son. . He
waa heir to a - well-ruled " kingdom.
Nothing that can make mere earthly
existence happy waa lacking to htm.
"He waa a Brahmin of a deeply rellg-
loua mind. It atruck him that earthly
life la only a mere apeck in eternity;
that other existence will follow It. like
othere have preceded It, and that how
fver glittering earthly exlatence may be
for aoroe. life generally la full of tnla-
fr. - ' " SrfT - '' -
"Therefore, when'l yeara of age, ha
n-parated himself from father, wife and
ma. left all luxury he waa accustomed
to. and penniless and alone went forth
Into the world, to mix wnn omera in
oil claaaea of life, and to ponder on
the great problem e of exlatence. '
Combated Evil for Yeara. V "r
"Far It yeara of wandering and pri
vation be had to oombat evil spiritual
iMfluenoea which were endeavoring to
mislead him on a wrong track, and he
t -led one way after another without
finding a eolutlon te the problema which
I nrplexed him. At last, when 16 yeara
i f age. light ' by - Intuition - dawned
t pnn him. He got light on the
.ay man baa to travel for reaching
a heavenly goal. He Improved on the
i hiloeophy of Brahmlam and evolved
a religious aystem alnoe called Bud
dhism,
"He hlmaelf became the most enllght-
ned aeer who yet had appeared, tne
jiuddha above all others. , The light
which had dawned on him be apread
till he became 10 yeara of age, when ha
riled In peace near Kushlnara, A city on
the border of the river Shlrennla-wy-thla,
in India. All the yeara alnce hla
enlightenment he had been traveling and
enduring hardahlpa. waking up people,
Inspiring them with lofty Ideaa and
bracing them to a higher life. -
The great Buddha aystem of morale
and athlca haa never yet been Improved
By Carolyn Prescott. '
w
OVLD you bellove that In the
., United states there lived sad
breathed a girl who ' would
rather do housework than to
appear behind the footlights?
There Is. Bhe la away out in Denver,
.re. perhapa, the high altitude la re
oneible for high-minded sctlons. Her
i me Is Lulu Kicharda. " Bhe is good
king and has good prospects of fol
ding In her alster's footstnpa and ef
. .lining a footlights favorite. But she
set her little No. 1 down on the
'.J-rt and baa aald, "Rather a houae-
M drudge than a public play toy,"
.1 that aettlee It.
! wish there were more girls who would
' her example. If there were, we
V..1 have fewer divorcee, and fewer
if and murders than we have now.
riure of footlights la the flame that
ninny moths, who learn too lata
i It lu fatal warmth and flitter that
rtd them; And when the moth
I rain withdraw It finds Its wings
- g ne and It haa no further useful-
! t girl who seeks glory oa the stags
i at the beginning renounce any
A Girl Who Prefers the Kitchen
THE
erf Alt &r
Hla law of cauae and effect, an
Improvement on the old Brahmlnlo con
ception, la universally accepted by all
men spiritually minded. The alma and
methods of Buddhism are the same aa
those of Christianity. The two relig
ions together have nearly two-thirda of
mankind aa . followers. The weat la
more Christian and tha east more Bud
dhlat , -.. i . '
The two principal : rellgtona tally
with each other. No Buddhlat becom
ing a Christian ahould therefore cease
to be a Buddhlat; and no Christian
adopting Buddhlat metaphyilea ahould
therefore cease also to be a Chrietlan.
Buddhiam and Chiiatlanity, blended or
aide by aide, are here forever.
All Loyal to Buddha, t ."V , ,)
"Let no Buddhlat aver waver' In hla
loyalty to .? the great Buddha.' When
here where Buddhiam . la but ' little
known, he meets any one who knows
only about Chriatlanlty. let him aay
'I practice thoae aame virtuea which
Christianity preaches, and I am apt to
fall short like yon. , My alma and aa
Iratlona are the aame.'
1 "Do not act as if you were aahamed
of Buddha. Reapect him whom you
ahould bonor, and reapect youraelvea.
Then othere will likewise respect you.
Never deny your . faith, proclaim it
boldly, and live up to It
. 'Then the harveat will be a higher
and better exlatence in the next world,
be you Buddhlat alone or Chrietlan Bud
dhlat The karma muat bear fruit
Chriatlanlty ia Buddhism with a karma
renewed in Chrlat"
The total number of Buddhlata ia aald
to be 460,000,000. There are perhaps
$00 In the city of Portland, though all
Japanese residents of thla city are not
followera of that religion. A majority,
however. , are faithful Buddhlata, and
nearly every family waa represented at
the aervlcea two weeka ago.
Buddhiam aroae out of the phlloaoph
ical and ethical teachtnga of Gautama.
In celebration of whoae birth meetings
almllar to the one in thla city were held
In all parte of the world April 7. She
religion la professed by the Inhabitants
of Ceylon, Blam, Burma, Nepal, -Tibet
China and Japan. - The local priest In
hla aermon told largely of tha early
Buddhlat cu stoma and teachings In Ja
pan, for both he and hla hearers were
Japanese. -
Legends of Miraclea. :
- About the early life of Gautama there
are numeroua legendary and mlraculoua
tales. These tales, among the Japanese
Buddhlata especially, have all tha weird
and fantaatlo glamour peculiar to that
country,
He waa the eldest son of Buddhodana,
who was rajah and chief of the tribe of
Sakyas. an Aryan clan living during the
fifth century B. C on the banka of the
Kohana, about 100 miles north of the
city of Banares and about B0 miles
south, of the foot of the Himalaya
mountaina. Hla religion and teachlnga
spread rapidly even during hla lifetime
and have an lmmenae following at the
preaent time. Perhapa Japan la the
moat Important nation where It could
be unlveraally accepted. '
While Buddha maintained that only
hla own religion, eould take men to what
he termed Nirvana, yet he waa tolerant
toward others, provided they laid stress
hopes she. may have for a peaceful and
contented married lire, ine exigencies
of the profession are such that In order
to be eucceaaful the home life muat
retreat farther and farther Into the
background. In direct proportion to the
amount of success. - '
The girl of Denver is wise In choosing
rather a life In the home. Bhe knows
something of the drudgery of the pro
fession, having sisters who are actresses.
Bhe knows that they have a hard row
te hoe, starting, ss she would be com
pelled to do, at the -foot of the ladder.
Bhe knows of the trials and tribulations
that come to the chorus gtrl who Is try
ing to live an honest, womanly Ufa, and
she Is sensible In choosing housework
rather than the life that the stage of-
fera her.
And, -after all. what would her life oa
the state bring her? Btara are few and
tar oetween. For every star--- there are
a hundred grubs, who plod along, earn
ing a few dollars a week, playing In
strange towna among atrange people,
leaving the theatre lata at night Bleep
ing -until noon. Surely thla Is not the
most enjoyable life in tha world.
And If the girl of the stage marries,
what thent
OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, ' FORTLAND, SUNDAY
upon ethlca. Ha admitted that a former
religion had taken men to heaven and to
God, but not to Nirvana. Gautama de
clared that naked aacetlca rarely . are
permitted to enter paradise because of
their neglect of athlca Moat Buddhlat
scriptures, however, affirm that only
Buddhlata are assured of. final release.
At the same time Buddhism haa alwaya
been tolerant, and when It enjoyed po
litical power did not persecute other
faiths, but only heretics of Its own.
A Japanese poet haa described Budd
hism In theae worda: "Ceaalng to do all
wrong, initiation Into goodneaa, cleans
ing the heart: thla is the religion of
Buddha." Patience and long-aufforlng
are the aupreme aecetiolsm, the supreme
nirvana,, mo auinor says. , . . v
Ancestor Worihip a Feature,
With' all followera of the faith, but
especially among Japanese Buddhists is
ancestor worship an especial reatore.
Reverence for tho dead la one of the
greatest of all virtues and rites In be
half of departed ancestors are never
neglected by the Japanese. ( -
Before the Japanese were united Into
one kingdom there re vartoua forma
of funeral rltea. or religious - services
over their dead. Between the ancient
Japanese funeral customs, however, and
tboee of antique Europe there waa a
vast difference. - In early European
countries It was the custom to bury the
family dead within the llmlta of the
family estate. Sometimes the dead
were buried close to the house. :
But In ancient Japan men fled from
the neighborhood of death. For a long
time It waa the custom to abandon,
either temporarily, or permanently, tha
houae In which the death had occurred.
Some Japanese authorttlea declare that
In the very earliest ages there waa no
burial.' and that corpeea were merely
conveyed to deaolate placea and there
abandoned to wild creatures,
If she and her husband are engaged in
different companies, which Is usually
the case, they see each other for a few
weeka In the summer. The rest of the
time one may be in Ban Francisco, tha
other in Boaton. Holidays paaa, sick
ness and sorrow come, it makes no dif
ference; both are under contract which
cannot be broken.
No; the outlook ianot pleaaant.
' Place beside it the vision of the home
whers the girl, as wife or daughter, is
leader. If shs is st all tactful and clever.
Bhe is something in- that home, eome-thina-
bealdea one of fifty or a hundred
other chorus girls, all dressed exactly
alike, and making the same gestures, all
singing the same song, all getting the
aame pay she Is the queen, or may be
queen If she possesses even ordinary In
telligence, Home I How much better tnan same
room In a big hotel Is a home with hus
band and children to watch over and to
care for.
Children! Here's another mark against
the life of the actor and actress. Where
la the child'a place In a theatrical com
pany? What can the mother do with
her child when her time la all taken up
with rehearsals and the 1,17 T At beat
- In early Japan the dead were left for
a certain period, called the period of
mourning, either in the abandoned houae
where the death occurred, or In a shel
ter especially built for the purpose;
and, during the period of mourning, of
ferings of food and drink were set be
fore the dead and ceremonlea performed
without yie houae. One of theae cere
monlea consisted In the recital of poems
In praise of the dead.- The poems were
called "ahlnoblgoto." There, waa music
also of flutes and drums and dancing,
and at night a fire was kept burning
before the house. After all - this had
been done for fixed period of. mourn
ing, the corpse was interred. -
-.At regular Intervals - after burial.
ceremonlea were , performed at the
graves, and food and drink were then
aerved to the spirits. The.custom still
survives according to the Buddhlat
rltea Even at thla time' every spring
an imperial meaeenger preaents at the
tomb of the Emperor Jtmmu the aame
offerings of birds and fish and seaweed,
rice and rice wine, which were made to
the spirit of the founder of the empire
more than 1,600 years ago. ,
Human Sacrifices Common. ,
In the early days the family worshiped
Its dead only before the mortuary house,
or at tha grave; and the spirits were yet
supposed to dwell in their tombs with
access to some mysterious subterranean
world, ' They were supposed to need
other things beside nourishment, and it
waa customary to place in the grave
various arttclea for their ghostly use
a sword for a warrior; a mirror in case
of a woman; together with other objects
especially prised during lifetime.
At the funerala of great personages
human eacrtflcee were common. These
eecrlflcee are aald to have been the most
cruel recorded in history. . The human
victims were burled up to the neck In
a circle about the grave, and thus left I
the child la left In the hands of some
one else, where it grows up to regard
its parents as some strangs creatures,
who are always going somewhere, or
coming from somewhere, who have no
time, though they have plenty of money,
for their little boy or girl.
The Denver maiden is far wlaer than
the - great crowd of girls who would
Jump at the chance of going on - the
stage. Bhe knows her mind, and sticks
to it, and wers there more girls like her,
who loved the home aa thoroughly aa
she, home life would mean- more, would
be lifted to a higher plane la every sense
of the word. .
I bops she will stick to her decision.
120,000 First Kichtere.
The theatres of New York, sll of
them together, hold about 110,000 persona-
If It be supposed that at an aver
age performance they are only two
thirds full. It followe that (0,000 per
sona In the metropolis must go to the
play every week day night a number
equal to the population of Savannah,
Georgia.
. Our Impossible Sky Scraper.
An Ingenious statlaticlun has reck
oned that if a flat house were butlt cov
ering one entire block, with 60 apart
ments on each floor and five peraona to
each -family. It would have to be K.000
stories high in order to accommodate
the entire population of Oreater New
York.:
MORNING. APRIL 21. 1807.
to perish under the beaks of birds and
the teeth of wild beasta. This custom
was abolished by the Emperor Sulnln
about 1900 years ago. Being grieved
by the crying of the victims interred In
the funeral, mound erected over1 the
grave of hia brother, the emperor la
recorded to have said: - -
"It la a very painful thing to force
those whom one has loved In life to
follow one in death. Though It Is an
ancient custom, why follow It if It la
bad? From this time forward take
counsel to put a stop to the following
of the dead."
The aubatltutton - of earthen Imagea
of men and horses for living, victims
was then suggested and approved. It
continues to a certain extent to the
present time, according to the Buddhist
rltea Bui the voluntary following' of
the dead continued for many hundred
years after. . ' With the rise of the mili
tary power there gradually came Into
existence another custom of following
one's lord . In death eulclde by - the
sword. , ,
Suicide by the Sword. '
It Is said to have begun about lilt,
when the last of a certain family of re
gents committed suicide, and a number
of bis retainers took their own lives
by "hara-kiri,"- in order to follow their
master. This Incident Is said to have
really started the practice of ' "hara
kiri," which haa never been entirely
abandoned. By the sixteenth century
it had become an honored custom among
the Samurai. Loyal retainers esteemed
It a duty to kill themselves: after the
death of their lord. In order to attend
upon him during his ghostly Journey.
A thousand years of Buddhlat teach
ing had not sufficed .to eradicate all
primitive notions of sacrificial - duty.
The practice continued for centuries,
when laws were made to check It These
lawa were rigidly applied, the entire
family of the suicide being held re
"" By Camilla Flemmarton."
INT A comparatively ' few yeara, as
tronomically speaking, this beautiful
planet upon which we live, so full of
' life today, so full of activity, so
. noisy, ao rich on whose surface
generations - succeed generatlona so
repldly, will be dead, more destroyed!
Just aa aha ernceala in her bosom
today the elemepta and dates of her
beginnings, so she contains there the
germs of ber decadence and end.
And no only she, but her companions
also Venua, her younger sister, who
resembles her so closely snd whose
present humanity Is undoubtedly cen
turies behind our present stage of pro
gress; Mercury, fiery and swift; Jupi
ter, now pursuing his course with noble
and majeatlo movement; Saturn, girdled
with his triple ring and guarded by his
eight satellites; Uranus, slow and Ven
erable; Neptune, whose years ars cen
turies all these worlds will shortly
have ceased to exist
Inside an infinitely small fraction of
eternity they will have lost all heat-
water, air, llqulda. gases, cehealon.
affinity all the elements of exlstenoe
sod of life will have disappeared.
llent daaarta roulM la msjaacholv
.1 JLjiXLi
sponsible.' Yet. tha eustom eannot be
aald to have become extinct until long
after. Even now there are eccaatonal
survivals . some of a very touching kind
suicides performed in the hope of be
ing able to serve or aid the spirit of
master or husband or parent in the in
visible world. , i.
By degreea, 'under the Influence ' tf
Buddhiam, the household religion be
came a religion of tendemeaa aa well
aa of duty, and changed and softened
the thoughts of men about their dead.
Ancestor worship is now the universal
religion of Japan. In every home there
is a shrine devoted to it If the fam
ily' worships Its ancestors according to
the Buddhist rite, the mortuary tableta
are placed - In the Buddhlat household
shrine, which occupies the upper, shelf
of one of -the Inner" apartments. One
miy be seen In the Buddhist temple In
.his city, and Indeed all good Buddhists
In Portland have one In their home. '
Soul-Commemoration.' -
' The Buddhist mortuary tablets are
called by a Japanese term which signi
fies "soul commemoration." They are
lacquered and gilded, usually havtng a
carved lotus flower as ledeatal; and aa
a rule they do not bear the real, but
only the religious and posthumous
name of the dead. The mortuary tablet
In shape suggests a miniature tomb
stone. The shape or form ia slightly
varied to indicate sex and age.
The number of tablets In a Buddhist
household shrine does not generally ex
ceed five or six only grandparents
and parents and the recently dead be
ing thus represented. The names of
mere remote ancestors are Inscribed
npon scrols .which are preaerved with
th greatest care. v - i ' - j
The family rltea of a Buddntat house
hold are not neglected under any cir
cumstances. - Their performance la us
ually entrusted to- the elders or to tha
women. There Is no long ceremony, no
space, they will present only Ice end
barren rocks to the enfeebled rays of
tha san. i . , -
' Meteors, winds and rains will have
leveled the mountains with the plains,
dried up the beds of' the lakes and
gradually augmented tha extent of the
ocean, 'which today covers' Uiree quar
ters of the earth's surface, knd which
will at last cover It completely.
The sota on the sun. which are even
now scaring many people, will have In
creased in number, and this great
luminary will have been exhausted, of
Its best by 1U long radiation into
sfcaca. ' . ,-,..
At first theea spots will be seen to
spread themselves, like two dark sones,
on either Bide of the equator of the sun,
and meteorologists will observe a sen
sible diminution In its heat and light
When mlUlone of centuries shall have
passed, this loss of heat will have be
come ao great that all organlame on the
plar.ete will perish to glvs jilare to new
beings constituted to live ia ths cold.
But sn age will come when the sun,
flrat growing dark red. then obscure,
will eeaae to be the source of heat ta
the family of planets which , have so
long drawn from It their magnetism and
rule about prayers, and nothing sol
emn. The food-offerings are sal acted
from the family cooking. Tha mur
mured or whispered prayara are short
and few. But . trifling aa they ' may
seem, the rites must never be over
looked. So long as the family exists
thw must hai m.d.
' la the household the! dead are not
thought Of as dead; they are believed
to remain among those who loved
tbem. They guard the home and watch
over the welfare of He inmates. They
dwell most within the lettered tablets,
according to the Buddhist rites. They
may animate a tablet change It Into the
- substance of a human body and return
in that body to native life, la order to
succor or console. . ;
Require Va'por of Food. .
. They require " nourishment, but the
vapor of food contents them. They only
exact the daily fulfillment ef duty.
From their shrine they observe and
hear what happens In the -house. The
prayer that Is dally rendered to them
la very simple.- ' A Japaneae priest baa
I translated It aa follows! ... ;' :
f "For aid received, ' by . 4ay 'and by .
. night, August Ones, our . reverential
.gratitude Is offered." ' ' - -
. The Buddhist dead . are not called
gods, but Buddhan, the Japanese term
for which expressing a pious hope rath- .
r than a faith. The belief la that
they- are only on their - way to some
higher state of exlstenoe; and they .
should not be Invoked or ' worshiped
sfter the manner of the regular god a.
Prayers should be said (or them, and
not to them. - - . ,
From this worship of ancestors there
has evolved a religion of filial piety. It
la the supreme virtue of the Japanese..
By the term' filial piety, however, it -is
not mesnt what Is commonly- signi
fied by that term the devotion ef chil
dren to parents. . .
Reverence for-the dead, a a wen aa
the sentiment of duty towards the Uv-'
tng; the affection of children to Bar
ents; and the affection Of parents to ''
children; the mutual duties of the hue- .
band and wife; the duties of sons-in-law
and daughters-in-law to the family .
as a body; the duties of servant to mas
ter, snd of maater to dependent all -theae
are Included under the term.
'' i
Family Itself a Religion.
The family Itself Is a reHgtonitKe
ancestral home is a temple. Filial piety
in Japan meana the cult of ancestors,
reverential service to the dead, the
gratitude of the present to the past and
the oonduct of the Individual In rela- .
tlnn to the entire household. One of
the most noted of old Japanese au
thorities declared that all virtuea are
derived from the worship of anoeatora,
A translation of hla words follows:
. "It is the duty of a subject te be
wursniping me anoeatora,
whoae minister he should consider hlm-
..I. . A k. . . - . ..
j u, tm ouatom ox adoption
aroae from the natural daalre of havtng '
aome one to perform sacrlflcea; and
thla desire ought not to be rendered of
no avail by neglect Devotion to the .
memory of ancestor ia the mainspring
of all virtues. . No one who discharges
hla duty to them will ever be dlareapect
ful to the gods or to his living parents.
Such a man will also be faithful to his
prince, loyal to his friends and-Jtlnd
and gentle to his wife snd children. For -:
the eesnce of this devotion la lndut
filial piety." , . .., , ,, . . .
their life, and will shed only a livid and
sinister light ,
The days shall be turned Into nights,
snd there will be no longer either spring
or summer. The worlds, dark and
hetvy, will revolve like - black balls
arnina another black ball
- The heavens will have hecnm h.m
ognlsoble, the earth decrepit, dried up,
disintegrated, will have fallen into '
fragmenta which, spreading themselves
slong her orbit will continue to revolve
arnu'id the dead sun.
' Diminutive skeletons revolving around
a giant skeleton, aerolites carrying Into
dkrkness the laat fragmenta of a form
erly inhabited earth, they will, perhapa.
be entalnne4 In v
hyperbolic comet which, carrying aome
" mm i in us course, will sot
ter them In another system on some
unknown planet whoae Inhabitants,
gathering them up to preserve them un
der glaaa in a museum, will analyse
them, without finding In them any clew
to the hlafTy of the globe from whsnoe
they came.
But how can Cuhsna K. i- '
- ' ..iwi.i 19
behave themselves, with Magooa sitting v
oa the eockflghtlng lid'