The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 22, 1897, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL. SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 24, 1897. 21 A MISSIONARY BRINGS STARTLING NEWS TO SAN FRANCISCO He Says That One of the recent steamers from Japan arriving at San Fraucisco brings a bit of startling news concerning the spreading of Buddhism in that country. Just why this doctrine thould take fire now and blaze into a contagion throughout a com- paratively modernized country like Japan professes to te is a problem which is, from all accounts, taxing the philosophy of the statesmen as well as the ingenuity of the veracious historians in even Japan itself. To say that these self-same statesmen and historians are alarmed in a properly suppressed way is to describe the state of their feelings in the matter with a mild- ready viewing the situation with a du- bious but taciturn demeanor. Most of us have been taught to regard India as the center of Buddhism. Itis distinctly a revelation to learn now that Japan is rapidly approaching that dis- tinction, if it has not already done so. It is asserted that within the past five years the number of acknowledged believers in Buddhism in the Mikado’s domains have increased at least 40 per cent. In an interview with a CALL writer the missionary spreader of information lays on a thickness of entertaining incidents relating to the Buddhistic development which makes instructive reading, if noth- *“At Nikko. Japan,” he points out, “there is a collection of stone Buddhas which every European and American who has studied Japan at all 1s familiar with. They are called the hundred Buddhas, but the faithful Buddhist will tell the vis- itor that this number is only conjecture, for it is the law of tihe Buddhas that no two persons shall count the stone figures that sit solemnly ina row and arrive at the same result. “These Buddhas have long been a cen- ter to which pilgrims frequently came, but now they are a veritable Mecca for the faithful, and never bave the crowds of supplicants for favor ana cleansing from ) N Faith in Buddha Japan at the Rate of Forty Per Cent ' This Photograph Presents ness born of American magnanimity. The American missionary who conveys avers tbat learned of the Mikado’s advisers are al- Decade. . information the most man’s veracity). which depend entirely upon the gentle- the Goddess Who Presides Over the Destinies of Children. ing else comes of it—or if it comes of noth- earthly degradation been anything lixe as ing else (a difference and a distinction numerous as at present. “The Buddhist has no original and su- preme God who has existed for all time, but believes in the latest and newest Buddha—that is, the man who by knowi- edge gained for himself the supreme as- cendency upon history, showing that the original Buddba himself died at tie ace of 80 years. However, there are those among the Buddhists who still believe that cer- tain Buddhas can yet accomplish certain things; that the law of nature and relig- ion in their case—reincarnation in some form—has been suspended, or rather that they have been absorbed into the soul of the original Buddhas. **This explains why there are a hundred or to Buddhas in line at the Nikko. The stone images are by no means representa- tions of the same Buddha, but the Buddba who is known as Jizo is assuredly the most popular. Every one knows how the Japanese and Chinese increase and multi- ply and how it is true that death claims the little on=s in these countries in more various forms than eisewhere. In a way, Jizo is the cnildren’s god, for the disciples of Buddkism hold that only he can save the children that have passed bevond from spending eternity piling up stones on the banks of the Buddhist Siyx. To this fate are they all originally condemned by an evil feminine personage known as Shozuka, over whom none but Jizo has power. “Thus it is that many of the one hun- dred Buddhas at Nikko are seen to have piles of stones in their laps. Sirange offerings to make to a god! Yet there is nothing more sad in connection with this row of stone images than the fact that each of the stones in the laps of therepre- sentations of Jizo represents a little child who is dead and whose mother has placed this stone in the lap of the god that he may not overlook ber prayers and peti- tions for her little one anc save it from the eternal stone-pile. The piles of stone have never grown so rapidly as withrin the last year or two.” This is but one of the facts which not only the missionary but many writers in the East indicate as evidence of the spread of Buddhism among the Yankees of the Orient., “Strange, indeed, it scems,’” re- marks one, “that these, the most enlight- ened of the Orientals, should embrace so freely in these days of modern advance- ment the most mythical of all religions, but there is nodoubt that they have done so. The element in Buddhism which more than any otber.is said to have contributed to the present state of affairs is that it constantly impresses 1ts followers with the belief in the wisdom of universal charity and sympatbhy. This doctrine appeals very strongly to persons of naturally just dispositions like the Japanese. It is well known that the Japanese are steadily becoming more democratic, and Buddhism is an exceedingly democratic religion. Every Buddhist is his own priest. The class of men who are known as Buddhist priests, and of which there are thousands, are merely devotees who have given upallelse for their religion. They are not, however, of any higher standard than any devout Buddhist, and therefore the American doctrine that one man is as good as another findsa prototype in one of the central thoughis of the Buddhistic religion; wherefore, at the shrine of the hundred Buddhas at Nikko one never sees a priest performing riles for the benetit of others. The appeals to the stone Buddhas are made by tke suppli- cants direct. Thus, it is pointed out, the middleman is unknown in this particular form of re- ligion. The bundrea Buddhas have iong been the most nctable collection of this sort in existence. Explorers and writers upon Buddhism have told about the images being found in secluded places and forests and else- where, but in Japan the representations of Buddha ere never at all secluded, and may be found in all sorts of localities. An odd fact that this spread of Budd- hism in Japan recalls to another contem- porary is that it 1s allegad to have been Chinese or Asiatic missionaries who first introduced the Buddhist faith into Thibet and Incia. To-day Buddhism is dying cut in India, so it is said, althougn in Thibet, where it 1s known as Liamism, it still flourishes. The question asked by the missionary is, *‘Can it be that while Christianity has in a measure caused the decline of the Buddhistic faithin its for- mer stronghold, India, Buddhism is des- tined to act as Christisnity’s greatest foe among the Japanese and Chinese?” C. D. And adds some details of Romantic and Historie value not Common to Casual Students of Religion. A WOMAN JOURNALIST WITH MKINLEY ON A VACATION SHE SAT AT THE DINING TABLE AND WITNESSED HIS SPLENDID GENIALITY| AS HE ATE HIS MEAL WITH THE REGULAR GUESTS OF| THEPRET 1Y SUMMER INN| The experience of sitting in a dining- room with President McKinley and wit- | nessing his splendid geniality and democ- racy as he ate his meals among the ordi- nary patrons of the house has been af- | forded to few women of California. It was recently my pleasure to add my- self, albeit quite unintentionally, to that limited and fortunate few, and to do so in & quite natural and unassuming way, as though the meeting of a President of the United States was a mere routine inci- | dent in the life of ‘“any old American” > \at happened to come along. It was up in the Adirondack forests at a | secluded resort, on account of its loca- tion, that | found myself undergoing this interesting experience almost before 1 realized what I had stumbled on. There, ss I sauntered into the dining- room of the big hotel one afternoon, I en- countered the spectacle of President Mc- Kinley sitting at one of the tables sur- rounded by a bevy of transient acquaint- ances and indulging in a jolly good time with a fare not a whit more pretentious or | particular than that of any of the chance hotel guests who were satisfying their ap- petites at that time of the day. All politics aside—for I am only a rer of the President. Frankly, Ido not think that most women who meet him tzke to him offhand. To be sure he has a kindly face and is a thorough gen- tleman clear to his finger tips, but you know women as a rule are attracted by some 1ndefinable charagteristic that does not appear on which they alone happen to see or imagine they see, which amounts to precisely the same thing, A man may wear the essence of polite- ness upon his person like a perfume and make you veritably feel his gentility like 2 touch upon your arm and yet fall short of companionability to a woman. Butl had the advantage of waiching the Presi- | dent of the United States and his family for two weeks, and the best thing I can y of him is that he isalady’s man. Sturdy, self-reliant, yet exceedingly ¢ntle, when he takes your hand he has the power to make you feel glad he has done so. You know that you are shaking hands with a man whom any woman might trust. Ever so much has been printed about the President’s attention to his wife. I the surface—something | y always thought it was greatly exagger- | | ated. Not so. She is his best girl now | just as much as she ever was, and that's more than you can say of the wives of | most men. | Not thal the President objects to a | pretty girl. Oh, dear, no! I have watched | him as be sat on the veranda and looked | out at the people as they strolled about. When the girls looked up at him, as they always did, he had a kindly, pleasant | smile for every one of them. In fact, he | always smiled back at them as if he liked it, and not as if he was the President of the United States showing a favor. He never danced, but many a time I saw him watching the dancersat the hops as 1f he would like to go on the floor him- self. He has a very expressive face. 1t was interesting to quietly watch him through the different events which transpired day in and day out. When he left the people whom he had been talking to in a social way and met others who had official busi- ness with him, the change was just like when the ciouds pass over the sun. The pleasant lvok deepened into one of care, and the duties of the office which he had temporarily put aside were again full upon him. Isaw him cne day when Whitelaw Reid took him off to a conference about some state matter. When Mr. Reid came the President was in conversation with sey- eral maids and matrons. He looked jolly | enough then, bat th inute . an. I had never been much of an | £ L e Reid his expression changed, and he looked the President of the United States, every inch of him. With all his democracy, this man of the people—tor tnat is what he is—dearly loves his personal comfort. I cannot say that he is to blame for that, but he has a | frankness in indicating it that a good many people in high places whom I have seen might imitate 10 advantage. Mr. | McKinley is no bypocrite. One day he went to Burlington, Vt. It hat been un- derstood that the steam yacht Washita, owned by ex-Governor Urban A. Wood- bury of Vermont, was to convey the | President and party to Burlington, but instead of that one of the smaller steam- ers of the Champlain Transportation Com- pany was delegated to the service, making the trip as a regular passenger boat, per- mitting any one who would pay his or her fare to ride. There was nothing for the President and his party to do but to go aboard and plant themselves down among the other people. That is not nearly so pleasant a way of taking a trip as aboard a well- appointed steam yacht, and the President said so in very plain language, and 1 beard it. At first he said he would not go aboard at all, because the promise that was made him should have been kept. But finally he consented to, and, to the delight of the passengers aboard the | steamer, made the trip. I suppose that if | | he had been like some officials he would have covered up his disappointment, but | that is not McKinley's way. I The President does not like golf. That may be the unpardonable sin in the eyes of a great many persons, but it is true. | He said just that to me when I asked him. He said that he supposed golf was a ve | good game for the people that liked it, | and he had no objection to every body else playing it if everybody else wanted to, but he thought if he had to do one of two things he wou!d prefer swinging a base- ball bat to a golf stick. He intimated | that there was far more joy in knocking the ball after the fashion of the milk- | maid’s three-legged stool, galley west and crooked, than in teeing any golf ball that | ever was made. Add to this the fact that the President likes to play croquet and you have enough to stamp him as un- usual. The President does not go fishing, He is notlooking for deer, although the close of the season for the latter ended August 15 and begins for the former September 1, He told me that he liked to eat the trout much better than to catch them, and that fishing was not his way of getting rest. It is very evident that the President is no nimrod, also, any more than he is a dis- ciple of Izaak Walton. Secretary Porter was there, also Secre- tary Alger, although the two secretaries occupied slightly different positions. Other members of the Cabinet were con- ! stantly coming and going and their ex- ample was foilowed by various public | | men. There was a full staff of clerks from | the White House, for unless the President took a lighthouse tender and went to sea | he never could get away from executive | business. He mever did shirk a duty, even the s'ightest. He had an office and receplion-room very near the ballroom of the hotel, and if he was not off visiting at some other place he was attendine strietly | to business during certain hours of the day. There were in this vacation of the Presi- dent’s all the elements necessary to a charming novel. Cupid was present, or rather had joinea hands with a member of the President’s official family. While the President was, of course, the center of interest, so far as the young people were concerned Miss Frances Alger and Charles B. Pike of Cuicago divided attention with him. Miss Alger i~ the daughter of the Sec- retary of War, and next winter she will | become Mrs. Pike. The tragedy was found in the office- seekers who came there and hopelessiy failed. The comedy was in the manner in | hotel one Sunday a hvmn was started the | To cap the climax with the ultra-fash- | tune of which was very fine, but the words stance, at the religiousservices held at the | | ple who were constantly salaaming before | fonable people the President exhibits de- | were ones which nobody seemed to know. | bim. The pathos was apparent in the | liberately old-fashioned tastes. For in- | Just one verse had b-en sung when the | lustily. » President’s tender love and solicitude for his invalid wife. which the President poked fun at the peo- President spoke up, something that everybody knows.” then, in a full barytone voice, he started | during the President’s stay. “Nearer, My God, to Thee,”” and sang it Tbis was followed br several “Oh, let us have | other old-time hymns, and no more new- And | fangled cburch music was heard there