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The Commoner.
VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2G
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same yard, was thus drawing heavy timbers and
went about his work uncomplainingly so long
as ho was permitted to draw one at a time, but
when two of these timbers wore fastened to
gether, ho raised his volco in a pathetic lament
which grow more touching when he received a
, pointed suggestion from his driver. These
trumpetings were really terrifying to a stranger
but did not seem to alarm the Burmese. Tho
oars of tho old elephant showed signs or age;
in fact, they woro thin and frayed with flapping
and looked like drooping begonia leaves.
Tho elephants which we saw weighed about
two tons each and consumed about 800 pounds
of feed per day. When I was informed that an
elephant ate regularly one-fifth of his own weight
por day, I could understand better than ever
beforo what it means to "have an elephant on
one's hands." The fact that they can bo profit
ably used in business shows their capacity for
work. The old song that credits the elephant
with eating all night as well as all day is founded
on fact, for the animal requires but two hours
sleep out of twenty-four, and when not otherwise
employed, he puts in his time eating.
Tho elephant, notwithstanding hi3 huge bulk
and massive strength is a very timid animal,
and can bo put to flight by a dog or even a rat.
tA short time ago a drove of Rangoon elephants
was stampeded by an automobile, and as is
well known, the shipping of an elephant is a
difficult task. The elephant has a small hole
resembling a knife cut, on the side of the head,
and at times a watery fluid is discharged there
from. For some reason, apparently unknown, the
animal is subject to frenzy during the period of
this discharge and must be kept in confinement.
Mandalay, the second city of Burma, is 386
miles north of Rangoon, by rail, and Is situated
on tho Irrawaddy river. Kipling, in his poem,
declares that "the flying fishes play," "on the
road to Mandalay," but he has been guilty of
using poetic license. The captain of one of the
steamers warned us in advance that no flying
fish would be seen on the river, and one English
man went so far as to say- that the poet had
never been in Mandalay. We planned to take
a ride up tho river, btfc our purpose was thwarted
uy a sandbar which detained our boat from noon
intil tho next morning, so that our view of
-tho river while very "thorough at that point, was
, not very extensive. Most tourists go to Man
dalay by train and return as far as Prome" by
boat, but the scenery is finer in the defiles above
Mandalay.
In going by land from Rangoon to Mandalay
one sees nothing but rice, but this is piled along
the road in seemingly inexhaustible quantities.
One is reminded of tho wheat and corn states
of our own country as he sees the piles of
sacks and loose grain awaiting shipment. While
there are other industries in Burma, the rice
fields and the piles of teak wood are most in
evidence. In northern Burma there are some rich
ruby mines and the jewelry stores are as fas
. clnating as those of Ceylon.
The gongs of Mandalay are famous through
out the world for richness of tone, and carving
in ivory, teak and sandalwood gives employment
to many artisans. Elephants and images of
Buddha in wood, brass and alabaster are exposed
for sale in all the shops, and the silks are delicate
in texture and beautiful in color and design.
Tho Burmese have alarge mixture of Chinese
blood as is shown by their features and traits
of character, but they are darker in color. They
are a cheerful and docile people, and their women
have never been the victims of the seclusion
that burdens th lifo of the women of India.
Both men and women wear gay colors, which
lomls picturesqueness to the scenes of the street.
In China and Japan we were amused at the
small pipes used by tho men. In Burma one Is
amazed at the enormous cigarettes 'Six inches
long and an inch thick which the women smoke.
In Burma, as in other Oriental countries,
the streams are tho washtubs of the nation, and
a flat stone takes tho place of a washboard. It
was wash day on the Irrawaddy when we started
on our boat ride, and the bank of the river
looked like a flower bed, so bright and varied
were tho colors of the turbans and dresses of
the long rows of washers, swinging the clothes
high above their heads and beating them upon
the stones.
Burma -is the home of the pagoda; one is
never out of sight of them, but they differ In
shape from those seen in China and Japan. The
Burmese pagoda is usually circular, though some
times octagonal. The largest of these is known
as the Shwe Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon. It is
a solidly built pyramidal cone, with gradually
diminishing outline and is surmounted by a tl
or "umbrella" spire of concentric iron rings from
which hang little bells wliich tinkle when moved
by the breeze. This pagoda has a circumference
of 1,355 feet at the base, rises to a height of 370
feet and stands upon a terraced mound which
is itself 160 feet above the level of the country
around. The upper part of the pagoda is gilded
and its base is surrounded by many elaborate
shrines containing images of Buddha. Here the
faithful offer their devotions during the day and
evening, and tho vendors of candles, incense and
flowers do a thriving business. Here also as
semble the lame, the halt and the blind, to
gather their penny-tribute from the passersby.
Mandalay is still more liberally supplied with
pagodas. At the largest, the Aracan, one sees
repeated the scenes of the Shwe Dagon, only
the beggars seem more numerous. At this pagoda
there is a filthy pool in which live a number of
sacred turtles, and they must have charmed
lives to live at all in so foul a place. They rise
to the surface when food is thrown into the
water, but they are so slow in their movements
that the kites which hover about the place gen
erally snatch up the morsels before the turtles
reach them.
Par more beautiful than the Aracan Pagoda
is the group known as the Four Hundred and
Fifty Pagodas. This remarkable group, which
actually numbers 729, stands at tho foot of
Mandalay Hill and was built by an uncle of King
Thebaw. In the center of the group is the usual
pagoda and around it in parallel, rectangular
rows are small square pagodas, each terminating
in a graceful tower and containing a slab in
scribed on both sides. These slabs together con
tain all the writings of Buddha, and the smaller
pagodas viewed from the central one, present an
imposing spectacle. These pagodas are well
kept, and all the buildings are snowy white. I
emphasize the fact that these are in good re
pair because so many of the Buddhist pagodas
and monasteries are in a state of decay. Whether
this is due to decrease in the zeal of the followers
of Buddha or to the fact that the Burmese King,
Thebaw, has for more than twenty years been
a political prisoner on the west coast of India,
I do not know. A writer for one of the. Rangoon
newspapers naively describes the annexation of
Burma by the English as "necessary" and this
"necessity" has deprived the Buddhist buildings
of the governmental patronage which they form
erly enjoyed.
About six miles above Mandalay, near the
Irrawaddy, stands the foundation of a pagoda
which its builder intended should be the largest
in the world. It was begun by King Bodopaya in
1790 after an unsuccessful campaign against Siam.
In his disappointment his mind turned to religion,
and he hoped to "acquire merit," as the Buddhists
say, by the erection of this temple. The struc
ture begins with four galleries; the first is five
hundred feet square, and each succeeding one is
a little higher but fifty feet less in diameter. Then
the base of the pagoda proper, about two hundred
and fifty feet square, rises to a height of one
hundred and sixty feet. The entire building as
planned would have reached to a height of five
hundred feet, but the labor expended had become
so great that the people complained and he was
compelled to abandon the enterprise. He was
warned by the experience of a former king whose
extravagance gave rrae to the proverb, "The
pagoda is finished and the country is ruined."
King Bodopaya is not the only "captain of indus
try" who has attempted to "acquire merit" by
constructing monumental buildings with the labor
of others, but he was not so successful as some
of our trust magnates have been.
To match this great pagoda a bell was cast
weighing ninety tons, said to be the largest
sound bell in the world. The great bell of Mos
cow is larger, but is cracked. .The Mingoon bell,
as this one near Mandalay is called, is eighteen
feet in diameter at the base, nine feet at the top
and thirty-one feet in height to the top of the
shackle. It was formerly supported on immense
teak wood beams, but the foundation of one of
these gave way and for years one side of the
bell rested on the ground. Lord Curzon, while
viceroy of India, caused the bell to be suspended
from iron beams and put a roof over it.
The Buddhist priests seem to have made
Mandalay their Mecca, for of the fifty-seven
thousand in Burma, more than seven thousand
reside there. The Buddhist priesthood is the
greatest mendicant order in the world, the mem
bers of it being pledged to live by begging. Hav
ing occasion to ride out early one morning we
saw a hundred or more bareheaded, barefooted,
their only garb a yellow robe, carrying their
rice bowls from door to door., They can not ask
for food by word of mouth; they simply hold out
the bowl and if food is denied, they move silently
to another house. They are permitted to own
no property except a robe, a bowl, a leather mat,
a razor, a needle, a fan and a filter-cup. They
must live under a tree unless someone furnishes
them a house and must live on roots and herbs
unless better food is given them. They have no
parishes or congregations, but are expected to
spend their lives in meditation, free from all
worldly cares, except when engaged in expound
ing Buddhistic writing or in teaching the young.
They live, as a rule, in monasteries, built for
them by pious Buddhists, and from what we saw
of, these buildings no one would accuse them of
being surrounded by luxury.. These monasteries
rest upon posts some distance above the ground
and each room has an outside door about large
enough for one to enter upon his hands and
knees.
I visited one of these monasteries at Ran
goon In company with a native Christian whose
father was half Chinese. To my surprise the
first priest whom I met was an Englishman who
turned Buddhist five years ago and donned the
yellow robe. While I waited for the native priest
to whom I had a letter, this Englishman gave me
something of his history .and a brief defense of
his new faith. He came from London six years
ago as a ship carpenter and a year after adopted
Buddhism, which, he explained to me, does not
require one to believe anything. While his par
ents were members of the church of England,
he had never connected himself with any church
and,' being an agnostic, the doctrines of Buddha
appealed to him. He described his adopted re
ligion as one of works rather than of faith, and
declared that the slums of Christendom had no
counterpart in Burma. The visitor, however, sees
everywhere poverty and squalor which can only
be paralleled in the most destitute portions of
our great cities, and nowhere the comfort and
refinement which are general in the United
States.
Buddhism is reformed Hinduism and in its
teachings presents a higher system of ethics than
the religion from which it sprung. Gautama,
called the Buddha or the( Enlightened, was born
between five and six hundred years before Christ,
and was of the .Brahmin caste. Not satisfied "with
the teachings of the Hindu philosopher concern
ing life, he went Into seclusion at the age of
Vwent'y-nine and devoted himself to meditation.
Six years later he announced his doctrines, des
tined to impress so profoundly the thought of the
Orient, Accepting the Hindu theory that the
soul passes from person to person, and even from
the human being to the animal and back, he
offered Nirvana as a final release from, this tire
some and endless change. , Nirvana, a state of
unconsciousness which follows the absorption of
the individual soul in the soul of the universe.
This was the, end to be sought, and no wonder
it came as a relief to those whose philosophy
taught perpetual transition of the soul through
man and beast and bird and reptile. The means
of reaching Nirvana was through the renuncia
tion of self. Life, he conceived to he prolonged
misery, infinitely drawn out, and love of self
he declared to be the root of all evil. So long as
one loves life, he argued, he can not escape from
the bondage of existence. In the entire elimina
tion of self by the relinquishment of a desire for
a separate existence here or ' hereafter in this
alone could he find a path to Nirvana.
The next forty-five years of his life he spent
in expounding and elaborating his doctrines, in
formulating rules and in perfecting the details
of his system. Many of his precepts are admir
able. - For instance, he divides progress toward
the blissful state into three stages. In the first,
he puts those who abstain from evil through fear
of punishment; these he commends though he
considers the motive comparatively low. In the
second stage are those who, passing from negative
harmlessne3s to helpfulness, do good from hope
of reward; these he praises as acting from a
higher motive than the first. In the third state,
the seeker after Nirvana does good, not for hope
of reward but foV the sake of love alone. The
last gift love has to give is to give up love of life
itself and pass from further change to changeless
changelessness.
At one time Buddhism spread over India and
promised the conquest of all Asia. Two hun
dred years after the Buddhist's death, a great
king, Asoka, sent out eighty-four thousand mis
sionaries and the doctrines of Gautama were ac
cepted as far east as China and Japan, and as
far south as Java. But the wave receded; India
returned to Hinduism, China to Confucianism and
Japan to Shintolsm, and Mohammedanism -nov
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