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Show ; DETERIORATION IN OLD FAITH . Priests of Buddha in China Unworthy j of the Great Traditions of tr.e Fast. Buddhism in !"odc-rn Cliio.-i h:i fallen jnio a s-hocVng state of c!"gia elation and d; c-f.y. according to lit. con-fcpci.Jr;-, o; the London Tune-who Tune-who is traveUrg across the Ce'fsii.i empire. He v.ikes: "At the first in where hot ca:.es were being sold, n: men rested, 'l iters was a tetnp.e Lc; and 1 went across to see it. Ti: priest politely im ited me into 11,1 guest too. it He probably did not u. pect me to enter, but I did so ar,:: lound in a snt;ul room some V) m- r. ' brooking opium or drowsing after the debauch. And it was the priest who had supplied the opium and the opium pipes. Could the Buddhist laith as exemplified in its degraded minivers in China sink much lower? "On the fourth day out we reached the Kuan Yin Tang, the hall ol the goddess or mercy, a fine temple, which however, in a filthy slate. Us two hexagonal towers are used as a eo... I on .cui.itjg house. in this degraded temple the goddess herself and all her teniaie aitendanu are rcptv: e:itcti with the umiiktit of small feet Frescoes Fres-coes of considerable iorce and even oi beauty adorn the walls of this dce.n ing buiki ng, which the expenditure ol a few hundred dollars would re.-tore to iis pristine glory. A few rents would i, nke it clean, but the cents are not spent. It is no one's business. busi-ness. Opium is smoked , in the dirty rooms." Ag..in: -Next !:' we reached llu "im .Viiao. one of the finest temples t have seen in China. It lies within an enclosure comparable with that of the Temple ol Heaven in Peking and has splendid halls and courts and pavilions. pa-vilions. Yet what a ruin! The roots have decayed or fallen in, the triumphal tri-umphal archways are lettering. Manure Ma-nure is dried in courtyards fit lor a palace. I have seen no more striking evidence of decay. Truly lluddhism In China is sadly deteriorating." |