Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/159

THE CHRONICLE OF THE PARLIAMENT. I3I Buddha attained to the perfect enlightenment ; Kapilavastu, where Buddha was born ; the Deer Park, where Buddha first preached, and Kusinagara, where Buddha entered Nirvana. Two thousand nine hundred and twenty years ago — that is, 1,026 years before Christ — the world-honored Prince Siddharta was born in the palace of his father, King Suddhodana, in Kapilavastu, the capital of the King- dom Magadha. When he was 19 years old he began to lament men's inev- itable subjection to the various sufferings of sickness, old age, and death; and, discarding all his precious possessions and the heirship to the king- dom, he went into a mountain jungle to seek by meditation and asceticism the way of escape from these sufferings. After spending six years there, and finding that the way he seeks after was not in asceticism, he went out from there and retired under the Bodhi tree of Buddha Gaya, where at last, by profound meditation, he attained the supreme wisdom and became Buddha. The light of truth and mercy began to shine from him over the whole world, and the way of perfect emancipation was open for all human beings, so that every one can bathe in his blessings and walk in the way of enlight- enment. When the ancient King Asoka, of Magadha, was converted to Buddhism he erected a large and magnificent temple over the spot to show his gratitude to the founder of his new religion. But, sad to say, the fierce Mohammedans invaded and laid waste the country, there being no Buddhist to guard the temple, which possession fell into the hands of a Brahminist priest, who chanced to come here and seize it. It was early in the spring of 1891 that the Japanese priest, the Rev. Shaku Kionen, in company with Mr. H. Dharmapala, of Ceylon, visited this holy ground. The great Buddha Gaya Temple was carefully repaired and restored to its former state by the British Government ; but they could not help being very much grieved to see it subjected to much desecration in the hands of the Brahminist Mahant, and communicated to us their earnest desire to rescue it. With warm sympathy for them, and thinking, as Sir Edwin Arnold said, that it is not right for Buddhists to leave the guardianship of the holy center of Buddhist Religion of Grace to the hand of a Brahminist priest, we organized this Indo Busseki Kofuku Society in Japan to accomplish the object before mentioned in cooperation with the Maha-Bodhi Society, organized by H. Dharmapala and other brothers in India. These are the outlines of the origin and object of our Indo Busseki Kofuku Society, and I believe our Buddha Gaya movement will bring people of all Buddhist countries into closer connection and be instrumental in promoting the brotherhood among the people of the whole world. S. HoRiucHi, Secretary.