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Show Davip An Amercian Version of Buddhism's Advent Into Japan AT THE BATH DON'T think of coming to Japan without making Mi-yanoshita Mi-yanoshita and Hakone, heart of the natural hot springs country, coun-try, part of your itinerary ; that is, if you w ish to meet nice people peo-ple and clean people, like, for example, one of my own countrymen country-men who blew me to a beautilica-tion beautilica-tion in one of the numerous boiling pools prevailing in that region. Not only was he a bearcat for taking the waters twice a day at any and all temperatures, but a guide book as well In matters pertaining per-taining to history following the dawn of the Christian era. lie was at his best when reviewing the introduction in-troduction of Buddhism into Korea, China and Japan. At 118 degrees Fahrenheit, seated on a hot rock, his skin glowing like a boiled lobster's, lob-ster's, he was 100 per cent when discussing the past. "Actual dates never meant anything any-thing to me," he said, "and I don't think they do to most people. One hundred, three hundred, five hundred hun-dred years one way or another Is near enough. What I'm interested In is legend and mythology, if you get what I mean. Now, take the Buddhist Bud-dhist religion and the story of how it came to this part of the world. Swell stuff I call it and worth telling, tell-ing, If you don't mind listening. It shows how that thing called faith takes root and becomes permanent, belief that time cannot shake from its foundations. Monks Camp in a Tree. "Anyhow, 53 Buddhist monks shook from their sandled feet the dust of India, reaching, after a year's pilgrimage, the peninsula of Korea, now called Chosen. Making their way to the northeastern section sec-tion in the region of the Diamond mountains, they came to Yutenji. I was there In 1918 and know the country thoroughly, but don't get the idea that I guarantee the legend which was handed out to me. Accept Ac-cept or reject it, as you please. Remember, Re-member, however, that the prevalence preva-lence of Buddhism in Korea and its spread to China and Japan is founded found-ed on what occurred at the time to which I refer. "Wasn't this information to be found in existing books?" I queried. "Never as I'm giving it to you," said the American, "and I very much doubt that you will find it anywhere between covers. Appears to have been handed down from century to century, along with a thousand other tales, many of which I have heard. But of the bunch, this one is the best "As I was saying, the 53 monks, fed up on touring, finally came to a mammoth spring, beside which grew one whale of a tree, with branches extending into a considerable area of space. In its welcome shade the monks rested, bathed in the pool and had a pow-wow. Night came down. 'We may as well pitch our tents and stay here for a spell,' said the head monk, 'but not on the ground. Safety first, in a strange country. Let's climb the tree and sleep in its branches.' Dragon Disturbs Sleep. "About midnight, as the monks, all spread out on the leafy branches, were sleeping like one man, and dreaming of India, a dragon, dra-gon, with flaming eyes, a long tongue and a spine of sharp prongs suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the pool and began to bellow bel-low in thunderous tones, inviting the Buddhists to come down and get theirs. Nothing doing ; the tree suited the lodgers all right, all right, and that was that What does the dragon do but cause a hurricane to come romping down." To all intents and purposes, the history of Buddhism in Korea should at this point have come to a conclusion; it was quite abrupt. To lighten the suspense, my informant inform-ant slid from his hot rock, deflated his lungs and sank from view, returning re-turning rather playfully after a few seconds and blowing like a pup seal. Monks Vanquish Dragon. "Well, sir," he went on, swiping the hot water from his jowls, "it certainly looked bad for those 53 monks when the tree left for parts unknown. But Buddhists don't quail from trouble; they can take It After the tree had disappeared, what did the dragon behold but the batch of 53 holy men suspended in mid-air between heaven and earth, reclining or seated in the same positions posi-tions they had occupied in the tree before the blast and with no visible means of support It was a sock in the eye for the dragon. "Into the pool below, the monks cast prayer scrolls and magic gadgets gad-gets that caused the water to boil violently and to till the air with steam. Blinded by this vapor, the dragon, confused for the first time in his long life, floundered about, los his footing, tumbled Into the hoi water and sank, boiled to a turb. never to rise again. At day-brt?ik, day-brt?ik, the victorious Buddhists, descending de-scending to earth, set up a shrine." CcHyrlt,-lu. W.'u Swivlce. |