SHWE DAGON PAGODA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12483, 23 November 1918, Page 12

SHWE DAGON PAGODA.

BUDDHA'S GREATEST MONUMENT. (By FRANK G. CARPENTER, in the Now Orleans “ Timos-Democrat.”) Como with mo this morning for a look at the Shwo Dagon Pagoda, the holiest shrino of the Buddhist religion. It is the mecca of ono-tenth of mankind, and tho nine million followers of the prophet who live hero in Burma consider it the most sacred spot upon earth. Tho pagoda stands on a little hill on the banks of the Irawadi river in. tliis red-hot town of Rangoon. Wo can see the great pagoda long before we reach it. Its golden spire kisses the sky five hundred feet above the spot where wo get down from onr gharry, and as wo look up we are dazzled by the blaze of gold upon it, and the wonderful structures which form its base. The sides of tho hill are covered with carved buildings, each of which is a jewel, and a gorgeous covered avenue of gold, with a ridge roof upheld by white marble pillars, leads by stairways to the platform above. The platform itself covers fourteen acres, or as much space as the Pyramid of Cheops, and it is from this that tho gold spire starks.

BUDDHA’S GOLDEN MOUNTAIN. I despair of describing the pagoda. It is a mountain of gold which ends in ft spire nearly 400 feet high. The stone platform whore wo are standing would make a half-dozen blocks of one of our cities, and the monument alone has at tho base a circumference of a quarter of a mile. That golden umbrella which you seo on the spiro looks small from this point. It is big enough to cover a good-sized house, and it is studded with jewels. Listen to the golden bolls which hang around its nm, tinkling in tho breeze. The sound is mingled with the singing of birds and the rustling of the palm leaves. That umbrella cost more than 200,000 dollars when it was made, something like ft generation ago. A FREE GIFT TO BUDDHA. This great structure and all its surruuudmgs were formed by unforced guts Iron the worshippers of Buddha. , mbour upon it was voluntary, and nlien the King sent out notice that it was to be money and jewels flowm to him from all parts of Burma. Hie monument is kept up by the freewill offerings of the people. It has been plated with gold leaf again mid until the brick and stucco of winch it is made contain more of tho precious metal than the best ore of our mg Western mines.

Ouo of the last Kings or Burma once made a vow that lie would give Ms weight m gold to the monument. After he had taker, a bath, and scrubbed himself down to the lowest possible number of periods, he jumped on one side of the scales and piled up gold on the other. It took iust enough to make it cost him 40,0C0 dollars. With the money more gold leaf was bought and the uppoi part of the pngodfi received n fresh coat. I say fresh, but I doubt whether even then the new part could have been distinguished from the old. Iho whole mighty monument has hardly a tarnis.ied spot on it. It is covererl with gold, and it shines like a new wedding ring. The lower part of the structure is much like a beehive, it is terraced around as it goes upirard, growing smaller and smaller until it ends in the spire. EIGHT HOLY HAIRS OF THE PROPHET. Pile monument stands over certain relics of Buddha, including eight hairs uliicli the prophet pulled from his head and gave to the two Burmese brothers uho planted them here. That was many years ago, and since then the followers oi Buddha have come here to worship. The first pagoda- was erected on the site 588 years before Lhnst was born. To-day the Buddliists consider it an almost sure passport to heaven to erect a small pagoda about the base of the great Slnvo Dagon; and now there are hundreds of little temples, most exquisiteiy carved and often plated with gold, running clear around the great monument. These are on the average, I 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 statue of Buddha, often of more than life size. Some of these statues are gold plated others arc of silver, and not a few alabaster or marble. They hug the base of the mighty pagoda. THE THIRD BIGGEST BELL IN THE WORLD. Round the edges of the platform, leaving a court several hundred feet wide between, are other temples of exquisite carving, some of which have reclining Buddhas a hundred or moro feet in length, and at the back at one corner is the great Buddhist bell, which is said to be tho third largest of its kind in the world. It- weighs fortytwo tons, and it would take something like eighty horses to haul it if it could be put upon wheels and dragged over the roads. It is so thick that the yel-low-gowned priest who acts as my guide can just touch the inside of the rim with his fingers while the outside rests in the crook of his elbow. He strikes it with a deer horn, and the sound booms out on the airThis bell was presented to Buddha by a native king about seventy years ago. y ben the English took the country they decided to carry it off to London as a trophy. They got tho bell down as far ns the Irawadi river, but in attempting to load it on a vessel it fell into the stream and their engineers could not raise it again. Lpon this -dine Harmans .aam up p tln-v might have th t . l„qi p t i,„ v

put it back in its place. The English 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 mon working together they lifted the groat mass up* the banks and carried it bade to where it now stands on Pagoda Hill. BUDDHIST’S: AT PRAYER. But let us stroll around tho pagoda platform and have a look at tho people at prayers. All the worshipping is done in.the open. There are scores of men, women and children kneeling on tho bare bricks. Their hands are folded, and they look up at the spire as they pray. They are not idolaters. They do not worship the spire nor tho images, but come to this holy place to renew their vows, to think upon Buddha and repent of their sins. Their worship is real. The Buddhist religion takes but small account of women, and the rules ere such that a monk cannot reside under tho same roof with a nun, He cannot travel in a cart or boat with a woman, and one of the books of the law says that ho must not touch her, and that'if any woman, oven his mother, should fall into a ditoh, ho must not offer his hand to help her ouk Ho may hold forth a stick, but if she grasps it ho must imagine he is pulliiifc at a log of wood. According to a Buddhist saywig tho sins of the worst man are a thousand times less than those of the best woman that ever lived. Nevertheless there are numerous convents all over the country, and nuns are everywhere found. ABOUT THE SHRINES.

Later on we made a tour of the shrines. . There are a hundred or more, all ending in spirts of gold far below tho spire of this great golden mountain. All are beautifully carved, and some aro walled with coloured glass, so set in golden wires that when the sun shines they show the many splendours of the peacock’s toil. The Buddhas within have offerings of flowers, fruit and rico lying before them. At some candles are burning, llU j °*o t ¥ ir ' aps offerings of brocades and silks have been, placed. lam told that tho Burmese nrq naturally reliCtioua, They are charitable, and whenover one has a surplus ho spends it in erecting rest houses, or places along the road where travellers can have a cool drink of water. They have spotted the whole country with pagodas; Jiey are to be found in everv town and village and on almost everv "hill. There are monasteries everywhere, and the country has moro religious monuments, perhaps, than any other of its size in the world. A census taken some years ?-°nm °wed that there are more than to,UOO monasteries, and that Burma had on the average one for even-ninety-three houses. At that time there were 90,000 men in the monasteries. or more than 2 per cent of the whole population.