Pictures Of Buddhist Ceylon And Other Papers

This small book is an eclectic collection of short essays that the author wrote on Ceylon. Though it says Buddhist Ceylon, all the essays are not on Buddhism alone; there are six essays offereda Buddhist Sabbath in Ceylon; Olcott day at Galle; the Story of the Weavers Daughter; an Ordination for the Buddhist Monk; at the foot of a tree; and the last essay is on the Metteyya (Maitriya) Bodhisattava. In the first chapter, the author describes the light is breaking in the east. Already in the gloom of the tall trees the squirrel’s strange chirping bark is heard, and the hoarse grating cough of the monkey mingles with the coppersmith’s metallic note and the earliest pipe of halfawakened bird Dawn is at hand. Already kaka, the black crow, is impudently demanding his early meal. Yet a few moments and the sun will strike the brass pinnacle of the temple, and we must offer flowers as he rises, so let us hasten onwards. It is a Buddhist holy day, New Moon or Full Moon in the dry season, or maybe Wesak Day, the day of days, in LanuaDipa, the land beloved of the children of the Lord, the fairest isle on earth, where the yallow robe still studs the palmgroves, and the white dome of the dagaba gleams beyond the nameless bluegreen of the tracts of paddyfields. Thus this book is full of fascinating stories to make it worthreadable. It contains a portrait of a BuddhaRupa and seven illustrations, which was first published in 1914.