TEMPLES AT BANGKOK.--THE FOUNDER OF BUDDHISM.
A letter from Fred was in the same mail with Frank's. The dutiful boy
remembered his mother, and wrote as follows:
"Frank has told all about our arrival in Bangkok, and what we saw on our
first day in the city. I know you will hand our letters around for both
families to read, and so I will try to avoid repeating what he has said.
"One of the first things we wanted to see was the temples, for which
Bangkok is famous. You must know that Siam is a country where the
Buddhist religion has a very strong hold; and the king is supposed to be
the defender of the ancient faith. A large part of the annual revenue of
the country is expended in the repair of the temples now in existence,
or the construction of new ones; and also in processions and other
religious ceremonies. We are fortunate in coming here at the season of
the year when the king goes to make his visits to all the temples; and,
as there are many of them in the city, he has enough to do for two or
three weeks. We have seen one of these processions, and expect to see
more: as the one we have seen is not the grandest of them, I will keep
the description of this part of our sights in Bangkok for another
letter.
[Illustration: BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF BANGKOK.]
"The first temple we went to was the one known as _Wat Seh Kate_. It has
the general appearance of a pyramid, and is about two hundred and fifty
feet high, with a winding pathway that leads to the top. From the
platform, on the summit, there is a fine view of Bangkok, or rather the
form of the city can be seen, though the most of the houses are
concealed by the trees. It is a curious sight, as the trees are nearly
all tropical ones, and wherever you look you see palms in some form or
other, with their long leaves bending in the wind, and their stems
rising, often as straight as arrows, for fifty or a hundred feet. Off in
the distance there are rice-fields, some of them of great extent; and
close below you is a bewildering mass of temples, and palaces, and
pagodas, with the river shining here and there, and forming a sharp
contrast to the dark green of the foliage. Some of the spires of the
temples look as pointed as needles; and though you might think they
would fall down with the first high wind, I am told they have stood for
a long time, and are apparently as firm as ever.
"I enclose a picture representing a view from one of the temples, so
that you can see what Bangkok is like.
"Some foreigners have been talking of proposing to the government to
convert this temple into a reservoir for water, which would be brought
into the city by an aqueduct, just as water is supplied to New York and
other American cities. Wouldn't that be a novel idea? The city has no
aqueduct whatever, but all the water that the people use must be taken
from the river or caught in cisterns during the rainy season.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF WAT CHANG.]
"The temple is not yet finished, and therefore the view from the top is
the most interesting thing about it. On the other side of the river is
another remarkable temple known as _Wat Chang_; it stands in a large
enclosure, perhaps fifteen or twenty acres in extent, and this enclosure
contains small gardens, the houses of the priests, and a great quantity
of stone statues, some of them very grotesque in character. There are
some nice fish-ponds full of fish; and in two or three places we saw
grottoes of stone and brick that were very pretty. I should think that
the priests had considerable taste, and were not the lazy fellows one
often finds around these temples. Perhaps they did not do the work
themselves, but only laid it out for others; even if that is the case,
they deserve some credit for their good taste.
"The general shape of _Wat Chang_ is that of a bell; and there is a
spire at the top that would make a very good handle, if some one could
be found large and strong enough to take it up and ring it. Doctor
Bronson guessed that the building was two hundred and fifty feet high,
and about the same in diameter; it is built of brick, and the outside is
covered with plaster, which was stuck full, while it was moist, with all
sorts of curious things. These include plates, and cups and saucers, and
all manner of dishes with as many colors as the rainbow, and arranged
into a mosaic that forms figures of animals, fruits, flowers, and other
things, some of them hideous and unnatural. As you might suppose would
be the case in the Land of the White Elephant, the largest animal that
we know of is frequently represented. Sometimes he has only one head, as
he has in actual life; but occasionally they give him three heads, which
the Doctor says is to symbolize the Buddhistic Trinity. Besides these
mosaics, there are other elephants in the form of statues, which are set
in niches half-way to the summit. The sun was shining brightly when we
visited this temple, and at every step the rays were flashed into our
eyes till they almost ached with pain.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE SLEEPING IDOL.]
"We went to the 'Temple of the Sleeping Idol,' which is one of the
wonders of Bangkok. It is not a great ways from the royal palace, and
gets its name from the fact that there is a statue of Buddha in a
horizontal position that fills the most of the interior of the building.
The figure is one hundred and sixty feet long, and lies on its side; the
soles of the feet are sixteen feet long, and each of them is inlaid with
mother-of-pearl as delicately as though it was a finger-ring. The
figures represented by this inlaid work are entirely fruits and flowers;
Doctor Bronson says the fable is that fruits and flowers sprung from the
earth wherever Buddha planted his footsteps. The figure of Buddha is
built of brick, and then heavily gilded, so that you might easily
suppose it was of gold. When I tell you that the arm at the elbow is six
feet in diameter, you will get an idea of the greatness of the work.
"The Sleeping Idol is not the only wonder of this temple. There are
nearly a thousand other idols there, most of them of life size, and they
are so thickly packed as to make you think they would be liable to get
in each other's way. The temple itself is about two hundred feet long,
and has a high roof with sharp peaks at the ends, and three stages
rising one above another. The eaves are supported by tall columns, and
thus quite a veranda is formed between them and the doors of the
building; and there is a high wall around the temple, so that it would
not be easy to get in without permission. The enclosure contains the
houses of the priests, and some small pagodas and temples; and the
priests evidently have an eye to business, as they would not open the
doors till we had paid a tical for each person of our party. The tical
is the Siamese coin in which everything is reckoned; it is worth about
sixty cents of our money, and consequently the price of admission to
the temple seemed rather dear to us.
[Illustration: BRASS IDOL IN A TEMPLE.]
"There is another temple that has a statue of brass nearly fifty feet
high, and, like most of the statues, it is intended to represent the
divine Buddha. It is in a sitting posture, with the legs crossed, and
the pedestal on which it sits is of the same material, and delicately
ornamented. In front of the altar there are cups and flower-vases in
great variety--some of brass, others of copper, and others again of
bronze thickly covered with gold. Offerings of fruit and flowers were
lying on the altar, and on each side of the figure of Buddha there was
the statue of a priest, standing erect, and with his hands folded in the
attitude of prayer. We could not help admiring the beauty of the work,
and regretting that so much money and labor had been devoted to the
worship of a heathen god. The temple of the Sleeping Idol is said to
have cost not less than a million of dollars, and probably ten millions
would not cover the expense of the temples within half a mile of the
royal palace, to say nothing of the others in the city.
"The Chinese that live in Bangkok have a great many temples of their
own, but none of them are as fine as the Siamese ones. The temples that
the Chinese build must be paid for out of their own contributions; while
those of the Siamese are erected by the government, and the priests that
take care of them have an official character. There were formerly thirty
or forty thousand priests in Bangkok: they were so numerous that the
father of the present king determined to compel them to work for a
living, and so he took away the government support and turned them out.
For a few years after he did so they were not very numerous; but they
have gradually increased, until their number is now reckoned at twenty
thousand. They can be recognized by their yellow robes, and they have
their heads shaved as smooth as door-knobs. They live about the temples,
and every morning they go around begging.
"This morning we started out early, in order to see the priests on their
begging missions; and it was a curious sight, you may believe.
"Each begging priest has a boat, and generally a boy to paddle it. In
front of the priest there is a basket with a cover, and as the boat is
rowed up to a house the priest says not a word, but raises the cover of
the basket. On the platform in front of the door there is a kettle of
freshly boiled rice, and somebody, generally a woman, lifts out a quart
or so of the rice with a ladle and pours it into the basket. When the
operation is completed, the priest moves on; he never says 'Thank you,'
and the giver never speaks. If another priest comes a moment after, he
gets the same quantity, and the same silence is preserved. Charity is
enjoined by the Buddhist religion, and what is given is given from a
sense of religious duty. Captain Salje says that nobody need starve in
Bangkok, as it is the privilege of every one to go to the temples and be
fed. The priests receive from the people, and are expected in turn to
give to those that need. But if you went to the temples you would get
nothing more than boiled rice, with an occasional fish; and, as I should
tire of those things in a short time, I don't think either Frank or
myself will become a mendicant in the capital of Siam.
[Illustration: PRIESTS PLAYING CHESS.]
"The priests have a very lazy life of it. They lie around the temples
and spend much of their time in sleep; some of them study the sacred
books of their religion, and for those who are inclined to read there is
a library attached to each of the principal temples. They are fond of
games like chess, and several times we have found groups of them seated
around tables and completely absorbed in their sport. Their chessmen are
like buttons, and they hold them in little baskets, which are kept under
the hands of the players. Many of them are great smokers, and when a
party is at chess they usually have their pipes where they can be ready
for use at a moment's notice.
"Talking about the priests naturally leads up to the religion of the
country. Doctor Bronson says it is Buddhism of the purest character, and
was brought to Siam from Ceylon hundreds of years ago. There is
considerable difference in the authorities about the origin of the
religion, but the statement most generally received is that it began
about two thousand three hundred years ago in India. Prince Gautama, who
afterward became Buddha, was famous for the goodness of his disposition
and his care for the happiness of his fellow-men. The religion of his
time was mixed up with a great deal of cruelty, and he determined to
reform it. With his title of prince, he belonged to a very rich family
near Benares, which was then considered one of the most sacred cities in
India; and it remains so to this day in the eyes of the native people.
He became a wanderer, and for five years he travelled over the country,
living on charity, and doing all the good that he could.
"At the end of five years he came back to Benares to establish a new
religion, and dispute with the teachers of the old. The people were
ready to listen to him, and in a short time, under his new name of
Buddha, he had many converts. Among them were his father and brothers,
and other members of his family; and in a few years he was able to send
out apostles to all parts of India and to Ceylon, and other countries.
Conversions were made very fast, and the histories say that in less than
two hundred years from the time Buddha began his work five hundred
millions of people in Asia had embraced the new doctrines. Temples were
erected everywhere, and priests became numerous; but the new religion
led to a bitter war with the old, which lasted for centuries. Buddhism
was finally driven out of the most of India, and the only places where
it now exists are the countries to which it was carried by the
missionaries.
"An English author and journalist, Edwin Arnold, who lived some time in
India, has written a poem, entitled 'The Light of Asia,' in which he
endeavors to portray the life and character of Prince Gautama of India,
the founder of Buddhism. In the preface to his interesting and highly
instructive production, Mr. Arnold says:
"'A generation ago little or nothing was known in Europe of this
great faith of Asia, which had nevertheless existed during
twenty-four centuries, and at this day surpasses, in the number of
its followers and the area of its prevalence, any other form of
creed. Four hundred and seventy millions of our race live and die
in the tenets of Gautama; and the spiritual dominions of this
ancient teacher extend, at the present time, from Nepaul and Ceylon
over the whole Eastern Peninsula to China, Japan, Thibet, Central
Asia, Siberia, and even Swedish Lapland. India itself might fairly
be included in this magnificent empire of belief; for, though the
profession of Buddhism has for the most part passed away from the
land of its birth, the mark of Gautama's sublime teaching is
stamped ineffaceably upon modern Brahminism, and the most
characteristic habits and convictions of the Hindoos are clearly
due to the benign influence of Buddha's precepts. More than a third
of mankind, therefore, owe their moral and religions ideas to this
illustrious prince, whose personality, though imperfectly revealed
in the existing sources of information, cannot but appear the
highest, gentlest, holiest, and most beneficent, with one
exception, in the history of Thought.'
"Another authority says that the real name of Buddha was Sakya Muni, and
he was the son of the Rajah of Kapila, a small territory north of
Benares. According to some of the accounts, he acquired his divine
character by silent meditation; and it is one of the principles of his
creed that any one can, by meditation and good works, become equal to
divinity. He was said to be thirty-five years old when he attained these
powers, and it required seven years of meditation to reach this
condition. He lived to be nearly eighty years old, and was actively
engaged in pushing his new doctrines until the time of his death.
[Illustration: GATE-WAY OF A TEMPLE AT BANGKOK.]
"There are two reasons why I shall not write much about the religion of
this wonderful man. One is that I am afraid you would not be greatly
interested in what we call Paganism, and the other is that I don't feel
able to describe it so that you would understand it. People who have
lived here for years say it is full of mysteries, and they are not able
to comprehend it. If that is the case, you could hardly expect a
traveller who is only a few months in the East to tell you all about the
beliefs of the natives, and their modes of worship. I am told that the
creed of Buddha is a very simple one, and is founded on kindness and
benevolence. It is enjoined on all believers to be charitable, and never
to inflict pain on anything that lives. This part of the doctrine is not
closely observed by the ordinary followers, and its strict observation
is specially appropriate for the priests. They are not allowed to kill
any animal for the sake of food, but they may eat what others have
killed, though they are not expected to do so if vegetable food is to be
obtained. They are expected to remain poor, like the monks of the
Catholic Church, and whatever is given to them belongs to the temple
they are attached to. The temples are sometimes very rich, but the
priests have nothing they can call their own property.
"Children are instructed in the temples, and one of the duties of the
priests is to give instruction when it is required. Some of the temples
have schools attached to them; and there are Buddhist colleges that have
acquired considerable reputation for the learning of the men attached to
them.
"Attempts have been made to convert the Siamese from their present
religion to Christianity, and a good many missions have been established
here. The Roman Catholics came to Siam three hundred years ago, and
began to preach their religion; and in the early part of this century
the Protestant missions were established. The government allows the
missionaries full liberty to preach and teach among the people, and
makes them gifts of land when any is wanted for the erection of a church
or school-house. Some of the missionaries have exercised considerable
influence over the high authorities, and it is largely due to their
efforts that many reforms have been adopted.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE EMERALD IDOL.]
"I will close this letter by telling you something about the last of the
temples we visited. It is the _Wat P'hza Keau_, or the Temple of the
Emerald Idol, and is so called on account of an idol of emerald a foot
high and eight inches wide. It stands on an altar about fifty feet high,
and all over the surface of the altar there are images representing
idols, human figures, and animals, the latter including some forms that
are very grotesque. The emerald idol stands in a niche which is
beautifully ornamented, and the altar terminates in a long spire above
the idol's head. There are paintings on the walls superior to anything
we saw in the other temples, and we found that the bricks on the floor
were of polished brass instead of baked clay. The hair and collar of the
idol are of pure gold, and from the way the light fell upon them it
looked as though they were thickly set with precious stones. Some one
who has seen it more closely than we did, says that while the gold was
in a melted state a handful of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and other
precious stones were stirred into it; perhaps this was so, but I should
think it would be injurious to the diamonds to be thrown into melted
gold, which must be of a very great heat.
"This is the temple where the king comes most frequently to say his
prayers. We had hoped to see him there, but were disappointed."